Over half a year had passed since the last time Shao Xuan had seen this small crocodile. Now, it’s already more than two meters long, it grew faster than common crocodiles. It’s said by the Drumming tribe that these crocodiles would grow faster and faster in future, especially in rainy seasons; every time when they left and came back again, they would experience a crazy process of growth.
“My little boy, Long time no see.” Said Shao Xuan. Looking at the little crocodile crawling towards him, reached out his hand and touched the slightly hard skin on the head of the crocodile.
At the sight of the intimacy between Shao Xuan and the little crocodile, the warriors of the Drumming tribe who led them into the tribe wore even bigger smiles and treated them with even more enthusiasm. However, Jiao Wu felt scared when seeing their big mouths.
‘Their eyes are really a lot like those of the crocodiles.’ Jiao Wu and the others thought to themselves.
If they saw the combat state of the Drumming tribe, this feeling would be even stronger.
After the winter, the temperature warmed up, but it was not yet what they liked. Nevertheless, in the Drumming tribe, crocodiles were already everywhere to be seen.
Several of the patrolling guards were around Yan Zhi and the others for protection, leading them into the tribe. If no one led them in, those crocodiles would attack any strangers who entered the tribe and eat them as food.
Some crocodiles emerged out of the pond, watching the passersby coldly, and then went down into the pond again.
Jiao Wu and the others were tense the whole way, while the two kids had better mental states, and were gazing at those large and small crocodiles around them curiously.
Since they came to the Drumming tribe, they would naturally visit the chief and the shaman first. Moreover, Shao Xuan also had something to discuss with them.
Last time, when Shao Xuan paid a visit, those two men had showed friendship and hoped that the two tribes could cooperate with each other on good terms. This time, Shao Xuan was here to talk about the cooperation.
The shaman and the chief of the Drumming tribe had received the report of the patrolling guards and were waiting outside the house.
Waiting outside for reception instead of sitting inside the house also showed the attitudes of the chaman and the chief. This indicated the importance of Shao Xuan to them.
“Long time no see, Shao Xuan.” The shaman of the Drumming tribe said to Shao Xuan while looking at him.
“It’s not that long. Just half a year.” Shao Xuan went over and took out a jade as a gift to them.
Chief Fan Mu took over the jade. A lukewarm feeling came up when he touched the jade, making the stress in his mind ease a lot.
It’s not that they had never seen jades, but that their tribe was located in remote regions far away from the central region. Also, they didn’t like long travels as the people of the Pu tribe did, and the Pu tribe seldom brought back jades, so few people of the Drumming tribe had ever seen jades, except for some of the higher ranks.
The shaman of the Drumming tribe looked at Shao Xuan with a more eased face, not only for the gift from Shao Xuan, but also for the knowledge of Shao Xuan’s strong strength, who had nothing but some water moonstones with him before he left, but was able to bring members of his tribe back safe and sound after traveling the central region with the Pu tribe.
As a shaman, what he saw was not the short-term gains, but something more lasting and favorable for the development of the tribe.
Not understanding why all those brought here by Shao Xuan looked like just un-awakened common people, but this shaman knew that it should be something related to the tribe’s secret. Therefore, he didn’t ask more details, but let someone take Yan Zhi and the others to the houses nearby for rest, while he and Fan Mu led Shao Xuan inside the house for detailed talks.
“Move the tribe?”
After listening to Shao Xuan’s words, both the shaman and the chief of the Drumming tribe were quite astonished. Generally speaking, if it’s not for great changes and events, the tribe would not migrate at random. The larger the tribe was, the more difficult it would be to migrate.
“Yes. To be honest, the shaman and the chief of our tribe had thought of moving the tribe to the central region since a long time ago, as our tribe used to be there in the past, but left for some reason later on. After I return, I’ll report the situation of the central region to our shaman. He will probably issue the decision of the tribe’s migration together with the chief.” Shao Xuan explained with some omissions.
“In case our tribe migrates, it’s likely that we’ll land at the side of the Drumming tribe. So we hope the Drumming tribe can give us a hand at that time. I promise that we’ll never be threats to the Drumming tribe, neither will we invade or forcibly occupy the territory of the Drumming tribe.” Shao Xuan said.
It’s not for Shao Xuan to decide on whether to invade or occupy, so they didn’t believe in his words immediately; after all, Shao Xuan was neither the shaman nor the chief of the Flaming Horns tribe. As the chiefship of the tribe, both Fan Mu and the shaman needed to take much into consideration.
Shao Xuan was not in a hurry either. He would stay in the Drumming tribe for half a year, until the end of the rainy season. This was also what the shaman and Fan Mu permitted, and they would make a decision within this half a year.
After talking in the shaman’s house for quite a while, Shao Xuan went out and headed to Fu Shi’s house with Yan Zhi and the others.
Not having seen Shao Xuan for half a year, Fu Shi and his family were still very hospital and brought meat out as a treat. Then, Yan Zhi and the others saw the “boldness” and bloodiness on the dining table of the Drumming tribe.
Hearing that Shao Xuan would stay in the tribe for half a year, but had no place here to live temporarily, Fu Shi rolled up his sleeves, “I’ll build the house for you! Just on the land nearby. You can live there when it’s built up. After Chen Jia has his own family and kids in the future, he can also live in that house.”
Houses of the Drumming tribe were built with some part in the water. Shao Xuan was not yet familiar with this kind of architectural techniques and Fu Shi’s assistance was indeed in need. Fortunately, there was lots of manpower and Shao Xuan had great strength to carry the wood and build the house. After one day, a stilt house of similar size as that of Fu Shi’s house was completed.
The house was divided into three rooms: one for Yan Shuo and his family, one for Yan Zhuo and his wife and the rest one for Shao Xuan, Yan Zhi and his brother. It’s only for a short-term stay, so there was no need for a complicated house; moreover, they all had work to do in the daytime on the whole and only lived in the house at night. It was only a foothold for the kids.
“Let’s make do with it.” Shao Xuan said while looking at the house.
“Well……That……” Jiao Wu pointed to the crocodiles swimming around in the pond beneath the house, a little bit stammering. Won’t you have nightmares when living here?
“It doesn’t matter. As long as you don’t provoke them, they will not attack you.” Shao Xuan said.
Bang!
Chacha threw down a deer he caught from the mountain and flew away.
With Fu Shi’s instructions, Yan Zhuo and the others dragged the deer to the riverbank to treat it and brought it back into the house afterwards.
Before roasting, Shao Xuan asked Yan Zhuo to cut a piece of meat from the deer. He walked over to the side of the window and threw the meat to the little crocodile in the pond.
Although they looked slow while squirming and swimming in daily life, they had quick movements when hunting. The meat Shao Xuan threw out was precisely caught in its mouth.
For the time before the rainy season, they would live in this house. Surely, Shao Xuan also paid “the housing fee” for living in the Drumming tribe, that at times he would send some prey he caught to Fu Shi and his family; after all, this belonged to their territory. Moreover, Fu Shi and his family did them a lot of favors in daily life.
Shao Xuan intended to leave before the rainy season, but they needed to build another ship for departure, a ship tougher and more durable than the previous one.
As to the lumber for shipbuilding, Shao Xuan would look for usable lumber everyday in the mountains and forests nearby the Drumming tribe. He would carry the lumber back if it was satisfactory, or he would go further if no satisfactory lumber was found. Seeing that Yan Zhi and the others wanted to build a ship, people of the Drumming tribe also came over to help. Of course, many of them were sent by the shaman to learn. They also would like to learn the techniques of shipbuilding. Usually they used the crocodiles as ships, but sometimes they would need something like this. The “Ship” looked much better than the rafts of the Pu tribe.
Most important of all, they were in high spirits when they heard that ships were often used in the central region. Sometimes, when Shao Xuan went out, many warriors of the Drumming tribe would follow him out readily and when Shao Xuan returned, they would also come back with various lumber.
The shipbuilding at this time concerned whether they could return to their tribe successfully or not. About the requirements and designs of the ship, Shao Xuan had discussed with Yan Zhi and the others since a long time ago. Here in this place, there were no trees big and strong enough to make canoes, they could only use the lumber to make a ship.
Yan Zhi and the others paid all their energy into building the ship. It could be said that all their hopes were put on this ship. Any carelessness was not allowed at all.
The necessary rubbers, fish glue, wooden dowels, rock dowels, fish skins, bamboo, rattan and other things were all prepared in large quantities and tried one by one. After a decision, they would be used on the ship.
Without metal, it would surely be more difficult and need more stuff to make it.
Certainly a sail was a necessity. In the middle, Shao Xuan paid several visits to the Luo tribe. Fish glue and fish skin used in the Luo tribe were what Shao Xuan needed, as well as the materials for net-knitting. Shao Xuan asked them to weave a more compact net. A layer of thin but tough fish skin used for summer clothes by the Luo tribe was stuck on the net. After paying the reward, Shao Xuan went back with this kind of “sail”.
He had also brought some linen back from the central region, so the fish skin sail was used as a spare.
During the time living in the Drumming tribe, Jiao Wu was no longer afraid of those crocodiles. Although he would still keep away from the crocodiles when he ran into them, he was not that scared as he was in the beginning. Moreover, Shao Xuan told them that during their way back to the tribe, they would encounter more dreadful things than these crocodiles. If they didn’t even dare to look at these crocodiles directly, how could they go on sailing?
When the ship was completed, the rainy season was also around the corner. And as their sole hope for returning to the tribe, Yan Zhi and the others built a wooden shed for the ship as protection.
On the side of the shaman and the chief of the Drumming tribe, after such a long time of considerations and discussions, they made a decision that they were willing to help when the Flaming Horns tribe arrived and permitted people of the Flaming Horns tribe to enter their tribe, while Shao Xuan took an oath on his totem that neither would they rob the Drumming tribe of the water moonstones and things of the like, nor would they hurt people of the Drumming tribe maliciously when the tribe arrived.
Both parties discussed with each other for the whole day inside the small house of the shaman. Though people of the Drumming tribe would not beat about the bush or think too much, the shaman and the chief, as the leadership of the tribe, were wiser, had more careful considerations and concerns.
After having finished discussing the details of the cooperation between the two tribes, the shaman of the Drumming tribe also particularly wrote a letter on an animal skin roll to the shaman of the Flaming Horns tribe. At the end of the animal skin roll, the totem pattern of the Drumming tribe was drawn. This the was formal communication between the shamans, the first talk of the seniors of the two tribes who had never seen each other.
Seeing the shaman writing a letter, the chief also wrote something. Shao Xuan would take what they wrote back and believed that his shaman and chief would be glad to see these.
“The rainy season is coming soon. Are you well-prepared?” Standing by the side of the window and looking at the sky outside, the shaman of the Drumming tribe asked.
Behind the shaman, Shao Xuan put away the animal skin roll and replied: “It’s almost done. We’ll prepare some food during the rainy season and take it with us in due time.”
Shao Xuan had said that he was not sure when the Flaming Horns tribe would migrate exactly, but it would migrate as soon as possible.
In comparison with other elders of the Drumming tribe, the shaman preferred to trust Shao Xuan and the Flaming Horns tribe. From the first time when he felt the power of the shaman of the Flaming Horns tribe from the stone plate, which had the drawing of the totem pattern of the Flaming Horns tribe, he had got this faith. That’s the intuition and feeling belonging to shamans.
“Looking forward to your soon return.”
“So do I.” Shao Xuan replied.
Coming out of the house of the shaman of the Drumming tribe, Shao Xuan looked up to the sky. It would rain soon. When the rain falls down, the rainy season will be here.
The biggest change in the rainy season of the Drumming tribe was the crocodiles.
In this great river spreading as far as the eye could see, many river beasts would move around in the rainy season. It was the same with the crocodiles of the Drumming tribe.
When the rain fell with pitter-patter sounds, it also meant the beginning of the rainy season in this year.
Large and small crocodiles went over in the direction of the great river one after the other. Those usually staying in the pond in front of Fu Shi’s house also left.
When these crocodiles came out from the gorges, branches, mires and ponds, it was a spectacular scene to see them moving their big claws, slowly crawling on the ground while dragging their huge bodies.
Those small crocodiles, which couldn’t leave with the team last year, could also follow the team and depart this year after one year’s growth.
Because of the rain, Shao Xuan and the others didn’t go out today.
Watching those large and small crocodiles outside passing by the house, Jiao Wu said: “I didn’t think that there were actually so many crocodiles.”
“That’s because many of them do not come out, so you don’t see them.” Yan Zhi said.
Lying in front of the window with his little brother, Yan Nian moved his eyes away from the group of crocodiles outside and asked Shao Xuan: “Brother Xuan, does our Flaming Horns tribe have this kind of crocodiles?”
“Nope.”
“Then what does it have?” Yan Nian was very curious.
“Apart from humans, there are only some strange guys.”
“Are they like Chacha?”
“They look different.” With a charcoal pencil in hand, Shao Xuan drew some drawings on a wooden plate, “This is Caesar, a wolf; this is Liao, a cave lion; and this is Si Ya, a babirusa, it looks a bit like a wild boar but without the thick fur. You’ll know it in due time. And……”
Shao Xuan also had told Yan Zhi and the others about these things, as well as the situation of the tribe, getting them prepared in their mind. Nevertheless, for Yan Zhi and the others, it didn’t matter whether the tribe could make pottery, whether it had jades, silk garments or big boats, etc... What they wanted was to return to their tribe. This was their biggest wish.
As the days of the rainy season went by, the group of crocodiles in the Drumming tribe also all left gradually. When the rainy season was over, the crocodiles that could be seen in the Drumming tribe were only those small ones not born in the breeding seasons. They were unable to leave, but people in the tribe would take care of them.
“It’s time to set off!”
Shao Xuan asked all the others to pack up and carried the ship out to the riverbank.
The shaman, the chief and some elders of the Drumming tribe all came to the riverbank to see them off.
Having said goodbye to the people of the Drumming tribe, they boarded the ship.
Having come to this place from the tribe, Shao Xuan was only here for preliminary investigations. There were many places that he had not been to. After the whole Flaming Horns tribe migrated here and settled down, he would travel all around, pay a visit to the Thousand Masks tribe, Hui tribe,... and Yang Sui’s Rain tribe.
Setting the sail, they began their return journey.