Chapter 174: Preparing to Build a Bridge and Assigning Tasks!
Of the Beast-eared Girls present, only Xing had been to the Xu Shi. The other Beast-eared Girls either had no idea what it was or had only heard of it. Even Xing’s sister, Yun, was too young at the time and hadn’t gone. So, when they heard Lin Ye’s words, their first reaction was to look at each other in confusion.
“What is a Xu Shi?” some Beast-eared Girls asked others doubtfully. Immediately, some Beast-eared Girls who knew explained it simply to them.
At this moment, Ganyu looked at Lin Ye and asked, “Ye, you said we need to prepare. What do we need to prepare?” Shi also pondered for a moment and asked Lin Ye, “Right, Ye, do all the people need to prepare? Are you taking everyone there?” After Shi finished speaking, all the Beast-eared Girls became excited.
However, Lin Ye shook his head at the Beast-eared Girls and said, “No, I only plan to take three people with me: Xing, Shi, and Ganyu. You three will go with me. The others will wait in the tribe. The three Beast-eared Girls whose names were called nodded excitedly at Lin Ye. But the other Beast-eared Girls lowered their heads in disappointment.
At this time, Xing turned to the other Beast-eared Girls and explained, “Just the journey to the Xu Shi will take at least ten days, and there will be countless dangers along the way. Moreover, there might be dangers at the Xu Shi. Ye not letting you go is for everyone’s safety. Don’t be like this.” After Xing’s explanation, the other Beast-eared Girls, though still regretful, raised their heads and smiled at Lin Ye. Lin Ye also looked at Xing and nodded with a smile.
After taking a few breaths, Lin Ye continued to speak to the Beast-eared Girls, “I’ve thought about it for a long time. For the safety of the tribe, we will only bring straw shoes and straw mats to exchange this time. Bringing other things might attract the covetousness of other tribes. Therefore, in the remaining days, everyone needs to weave more straw shoes and straw mats. You can weave fewer straw shoes, but the more straw mats, the better.”
Lin Ye considered that other tribes might not know what straw shoes were. If everyone had to spend a lot of effort explaining, it would be too time-consuming. However, straw mats took up little space, and once they got there, a touch would let them know the benefits of straw mats. Upon hearing Lin Ye’s words, all the Beast-eared Girls nodded seriously at him, ready to go find dry grass and start weaving.
Seeing how eager the Beast-eared Girls were, Lin Ye quickly stopped them. “Everyone, don’t rush. There is still plenty of time. We have more important things to do now. First, we need to build a bridge over that river.”
When the Beast-eared Girls heard Lin Ye finish, all of them looked at him with confused expressions. Xing was the first to ask Lin Ye, “Ye, what is a bridge?” Shi also asked, “To be built over the river? Ye, the river is full of water. How can we build something over the river?”
Lin Ye pondered for a few seconds this time, then raised his head and said to the Beast-eared Girls, “A bridge is a small path connecting both sides of this small river. Once the bridge is built, everyone can cross to the other side of the river at any time, without having to wait for the river to dry up. We will start building the bridge tomorrow. I will tell you how to build it then.” After speaking, the Beast-eared Girls looked at Lin Ye excitedly. Xing’s face lit up with surprise, her joy uncontainable as she asked Lin Ye with a smile, “Really? Ye, so we can go find Mingyun and the others anytime from now on?” Sakura and Diona also widened their eyes in excitement, eagerly awaiting Lin Ye’s answer.
Lin Ye smiled and nodded at Xing, then said, “Yes, you can go to the other side of the river to find Mingyun and the others anytime from now on.” After Lin Ye finished speaking, the smile on Xing’s face bloomed even brighter. Sakura and Diona on the side jumped and danced with excitement, cheering happily, “Great! We can go play with Ling’er too!”
Lin Ye and the others’ attention was drawn to the two cat-eared little girls who were holding hands and spinning and jumping excitedly. The other Beast-eared Girls didn’t have much expectation for being able to cross the river at any time. But seeing the two little girls so happy, gentle smiles appeared on their faces.
At this moment, Shi blinked and looked at Lin Ye again, asking, “Ye, do we need to prepare anything today?” Hearing Shi’s words, the other Beast-eared Girls also shifted their gaze from the two little girls to Lin Ye.
Seeing all the Beast-eared Girls looking at him, Lin Ye nodded and said, “To build the bridge, we need a lot of hemp rope, and each strand needs to be longer and thicker. So, everyone needs to go and collect some bark today to weave hemp rope. Ganyu, I’m entrusting you with weaving hemp rope and later weaving straw mats and straw shoes. You will be responsible for leading everyone in weaving. Many Beast-eared Girls haven’t learned to weave straw mats yet, so you also need to teach them. Xing, you will lead the hunting team and come with me. We need to find very tall trees, as they will be needed for building the bridge.”
After Lin Ye assigned the tasks, Xing and Ganyu both nodded at him. Lin Ye could see that Ganyu became a little nervous after hearing the task assigned to her. However, Ganyu had done a great job leading everyone in firing pottery before, and Lin Ye believed she would do well this time as well. Then Lin Ye took the seven Beast-eared Girls from the hunting team and went out. The seven Beast-eared Girls from the hunting team often went out hunting, so they were familiar with the surrounding terrain. This time, Lin Ye had them ride with him, and he used his Beast Taming Technique to control these wild horses, so there was no need to worry about them getting spooked and running wild.
After leaving the camp, Lin Ye asked the seven Beast-eared Girls, “Do you remember where there are very tall trees? The taller the better.” As trees grow upwards, they get thicker towards the top. The trees used for building a bridge should be as uniform as possible. That’s why Lin Ye was looking for very tall trees, so that cutting a piece of sufficient length from their trunks would be more uniform. As for the thickness of each tree, it didn’t matter much. These trees would definitely need to be planed flat. The bridge surface couldn’t be uneven, otherwise, one wrong step could lead to falling into the river.
Upon hearing Lin Ye’s words, the seven Beast-eared Girls from the hunting team each mentioned several places, chattering so much that Lin Ye couldn’t understand any of it. Moreover, Lin Ye didn’t know where these places were. However, seeing the Beast-eared Girls name so many places in one go, Lin Ye was quite happy. After all, if the Beast-eared Girls knew where those trees were, they wouldn’t have to search everywhere. So, Lin Ye gestured downwards and said to them, “First, let’s go to the place where we are going to build the bridge and find the closest trees to that spot.”
When the trees were cut down, they would have to be transported to the riverbank. Such large trees would be incredibly heavy. Therefore, the closer the trees were, the better. It was the first time Xing and the others had ridden horses out of the tribe. They were in a good mood along the way. Although Lin Ye controlled their speed and they didn’t progress very quickly, the smiles on the Beast-eared Girls’ faces were still brilliant.
The group arrived at the place Lin Ye had chosen. Lin Ye also re-estimated the distance from there to the other side of the river, which was about fifteen meters. Lin Ye only made a rough estimate of the distance. When building the bridge tomorrow, he would need to call the Winged Tribe for help using a whistle arrow, otherwise, if only Lin Ye could swim to the other side, the bridge couldn’t be built.
Upon arriving at this place, the few Beast-eared Girls exchanged glances, nodded, and then said to Lin Ye, “Ye, not far upstream from this small river, there are many very tall trees.” Lin Ye’s eyes lit up. Judging by the look of the Beast-eared Girls, the distance should be very close. However, the next sentence from the Beast-eared Girls made Lin Ye’s expression solemnly.
