011 Juma

For more than a month, these children had come to admire Lin Yan greatly and often sought her out.

Whenever Lin Yan called, they would drop whatever they were doing and eagerly come running.

“What are we going to do?” Little Stone asked with a giggle, bouncing along as he walked, casually picking grass or throwing stones—never able to stay still.

“We’re going to find wood and grass to make something new,” Lin Yan replied.

The children’s eyes sparkled as they stared at her.

Little Stone said, “You have another new idea? What is it this time?”

Wild Sprout asked, “What do you want to make?”

Grass Twig said, “Is it a new weaving pattern?”

Flower asked, “Why look for wood? There are trees everywhere, wood is easy to find.”

Mu Shi walked behind the children, keeping an eye on them, his heart pounding as he wondered what Lin Yan was up to this time. Judging by what she had made recently, it was bound to be something new and unseen before. But his limited experience left him clueless.

Living in a place lush with vegetation, these ordinary things were of little use to the people of the Sun Tribe; except for the edible ones, they paid no attention.

It was Lin Yan who transformed the very common cattail into something useful for everyone.

She possessed something extraordinary, recognized by all in the Sun Tribe.

Lin Yan did not hide the truth: “We’re going to make some useful tools and clothes.”

“What kind of tools?” Wild Sprout immediately asked.

Flower simultaneously asked, “What is clothing?”

Little Stone pushed Wild Sprout aside and pressed close to Lin Yan, his eyes shining with curiosity. “Tell us, tell us! I can’t wait!”

“You wouldn’t understand if I told you now. You’ll see once it’s made,” Lin Yan said with a smile, her dark, chubby face—the plumpest among the children.

Over these days, she had seen many children from other tribes, but none as robust as her.

Therefore, Huahong was always very satisfied and smiled warmly whenever she saw her daughter.

“The wood we need isn’t picky; thick or thin will do. We’ll just bring some back to try. The grass should be thin, even thinner than cattail, and very tough.”

“All right, let’s go find them!”

Mu Shi memorized the requirements, watching the children ahead while keeping an eye out for suitable grasses and plants nearby.

They dared not venture beyond the tribe’s living area, staying within the relative safety of the settlement. Outside the residential zone, piles of stones marked boundaries that must not be crossed.

Everyone lived underground, often just clearing the entrances simply, with wild grass and shrubs everywhere.

Once the fire was lit, insects and ants kept away from the cave entrances.

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Following the worn paths trodden by the people, the children bounced and skipped about, lively and restless.

They kept pulling up grass, holding it up to Lin Yan to ask if it could be used.

Lin Yan examined them carefully, listening to Pang Bao’s hints to confirm each grass’s name and use.

In a short while, they had gained over a hundred contribution points.

These weren’t mere weeds; they were all useful plants, most of which were recorded in the Science Museum.

The children’s height limited them to gathering wild grasses; wood was hard to find.

Lin Yan kept her eyes on various trees and asked Mu Shi to help break off branches, but all they could get were thin ones. She wanted something thicker.

She made a note to bring a stone knife next time to chop wood.

After about half an hour, Lin Yan had identified what she wanted.

Juma, a plant that flowers and bears seeds called hemp seeds, which can be eaten raw or fried, and more importantly, pressed for oil. The stalk’s bark can be peeled off to make hemp rope and hemp clothing.

She hadn’t expected to come across a whole patch of Juma so soon.

The growth was vigorous, each stalk two meters tall, about the thickness of a child’s arm.

Lin Yan had Mu Shi break off a small Juma branch, already bearing seeds close to ripening.

They had arrived just in time; in two or three days, it would be ready to harvest.

Lin Yan explained the uses and harvesting methods of Juma to everyone, telling them to remember what it looked like so they could come back in three days to gather it.

Then she peeled the bark off the Juma branch to show them. It was long and tough, exactly what they needed.

Cattail was good, but its stalks weren’t as soft and flexible as Juma’s; for now, it could only be used to weave straw shoes and mats.

Though they hadn’t yet seen what the finished products would look like, after Lin Yan’s introduction to Juma, the children were very excited.

Each child broke off a branch to take home, so their parents could keep an eye out when they went out—just in case they came across it.

With Juma discovered, everyone grew more enthusiastic and began searching for different kinds of plants everywhere.

They also found several kinds of medicinal herbs, but Lin Yan didn’t collect them—she only told the children their names and uses.

You can’t become an expert overnight; first, they needed to learn to identify them, and then worry about the rest later.

The morning passed quickly, and they returned with a huge pile of branches and wild fruits.

The children were extremely excited, having learned about many new things today.

Lin Yan’s family and Wild Sprout’s had no fresh meat; they could only make some soup with dried meat to fill their stomachs, supplemented with the wild fruits they had gathered.

The children and Mu Shi ate contentedly, but Lin Yan was not very satisfied—fortunately, she was small and ate little.

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They hadn’t had fresh meat for days. Lin Yan thought hunting beasts was no easy task.

Her mother went out early and returned late every day, but her harvest was almost nothing—only wild fruits to stave off hunger.

It was truly a survival crisis; food was scarce, and staying alive was incredibly difficult.

She had never seen a wild beast and couldn’t assess their fighting strength. Once she grew a bit older, she was determined to see one with her own eyes.

Besides meat, she also wanted to find edible wild vegetables and grains.

She didn’t know if the tribe had any; she hadn’t found any that morning and planned to explore more in the afternoon.

Since they could discover Juma, other useful plants should exist too—they just hadn’t found them yet.

After lunch, Mu Shi took the children out wandering again.

This time he brought a stone knife, ready to cut some wood for Lin Yan.

He hadn’t prepared earlier and had no way to deal with the trees.

Lin Yan looked at the stone knife and silently prayed it would be able to cut through thinner branches; she had no hope of chopping down a whole tree.

The stone knife looked sharp but was actually quite limited in use.

Cutting flesh required great effort and took a long time to slice off a piece.

Trees were tough, and chopping them with a stone knife was very difficult.

At this moment, she suddenly realized that the tribe’s tools were all very crude—either stone or wood, with all sorts of odd shapes, basically picked up and used after simple polishing.

These stone and wooden tools didn’t have much effect. To change this would be a long and difficult road.

Improving basic tools should be a priority; otherwise, many things couldn’t be made.

She wanted a machete, an iron pot—such simple desires were hard to fulfill.

Lin Yan never imagined she would face such hardships.

However, the key to making these tools was to find iron ore or other metal ores; otherwise, it would all be in vain.

Without raw materials, everything was just wishful thinking.

Each compartment on the first floor of the Science Museum required a thousand contribution points to unlock; her points were enough to open compartment 0102.

She planned to open it tonight to see what treasures lay inside.