CH 31

Sa Lei finished his breakfast and urged Qin Fei to eat as well. Qin Fei’s hastily hopes of having some fruit for breakfast were dashed, so he ate the stewed meat under Sa Lei’s supervision. Sa Lei was not happy about this and warned Qin Fei that if he dared to save food by himself, he would follow suit and not eat. The tribe followed Sa Lei’s declaration, saying that if Qin Fei saved food in this way, then everyone would follow suit.

Qin Fei was both embarrassed and touched by the caring looks he received from the tribe. Looking at Sa Lei who was still sulking, Qin Fei coughed awkwardly and changed the subject, saying to Sa Lei as he ate, “Just lend me four males to catch the baa beasts, there’s no need for more.”

Still a little angry, Sa Lei saw that all the males in the hunting party had finished their breakfast, so he asked Benert and Mocha to leave three males for him and let them lead the males away. The three males left behind were a little disappointed, they had wanted to use their new spears to put it to good use and hunt more food, but they had not expected to be left behind. But Qin Fei had asked for it, so they didn’t say anything. After all, Qin Fei’s contribution to the tribe was clear for everyone who had eyes to see, not to mention that the Boss Sa Lei had been left behind too. Although Qin Fei was very easy-going, his proven ability still made a few people nervous.

Qin Fei finished his stewed meat and washed his hands again. He went to Ruma’s tent and brought him some bottle gourd bowls and two bottle gourd pots. Another dozen animal skins were then brought out from Ruma’s tent.

These were some unused animal skins that he had agreed with Ruma in the morning and with his permission to borrow it from everyone.

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When Qin Fei saw that after talking for a while with them, several of them were no longer as nervous as they had been at the beginning, he began to explain to the four of them how to catch the baa beasts.

“As you all know, the bleating beast’s main attack comes from the sharp horns on top of its head, followed by its powerful hooves. Being touched by either of these can cause serious injuries, even fatal. Today I am taking you to catch the bleating beast and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. So listen carefully to every word that I’m going to say.”

Qin Fei saw the four of them nodding,so he continued, “First of all, I will give each of you some animal skins which I have borrowed from the tribe and we will have to return it after using it, so try to keep it well and not lose it. You all know that it can be dangerous to catch a baa beast, especially to keep it alive, so we need to take some precautions before we hunt it. You need to watch carefully how I tie these animal skins for protection next.”

With that Qin Fei took out a large piece of animal skin and carefully wrapped it around his body, just enough to protect the area from his chest to his thighs. He took out another narrow strip of animal skin and tied it around his body, tuck one end into the tied rope and another end went across the crotch to protect the key part of the male creature before tucked it into the leather rope at the back, a few more small pieces of animal skins were secured to the thighs and arms, with that, a simple protection was complete.

The four men looked at the simple protection he had made and were all interested to try it on their bodies as well.

Sa Lei had long since stopped being angry with Qin Fei and felt the protection strapped to his body. “With a thick layer of animal skin, even if the horns of a baa beast cut into him, it will not tear the skin.”

Qin Fei was afraid that the four of them would be careless, so he hurriedly said, “It’s better not to get scratched, if you are hit hard on the chest and abdomen, even with the protection of these animal skins, your body will easily be injured. Therefore, we must not be careless.”

All four of them nodded seriously and Qin Fei began to explain the main points in how to capture the bleating beast again, “Because the bleating beast’s main attack is with the horns on its head, so when we catch a bleating beast we have to be the first to make its horns ineffective. First we need to find the right moment to grab the horns with both hands and then force the head down to the ground so that it can’t raise its hooves and attack your front. Its horns will also lose their effect because they are close to the ground. Those who are not involved in subduing the animal head-on will then cooperate by tying up the animal’s hooves with animal skin ropes. We need to catch a minimum of two bleating beasts today, the rest will be up to you guys’ performance.”

After that, Qin Fei gave the four a simple demonstration of the movements and explained the small details that they needed to pay attention to. The four of them were excited, the left behind three males who previously had a wilted appearance were all eager to try it out and show off their skills now. Their admiration for Qin Fei rose to another notch.

Qin Fei took off the tied animal skins and put them into his own animal skin belt. The four of them also took off their animal skins, put them into their own bags, brought some food and water before they headed for the spot where the baa beasts were.

The place where Qin Fei and the others went was the large mountain forest where the picking team had encountered the bleating beasts while picking. Along the way, they heard from Sa Lei that they often encountered herds of bleating beasts there, small groups of a dozen or so, and even large groups that could reach hundreds. Sa Lei had seen two kinds of bleats, one growing in the dense forest which were only slightly smaller than the brown furries and were so aggressive and tasted so strange that Sa Lei would not hunt them. The baa beasts in this mountain forest were more docile than those in the dense forest and rarely attacked people. But the meat tasted strange and even if it dried, it was rare for people to eat it even in the cold winter months. Their fur was thick and heavy and their actual size was a few sizes smaller. Although such hind fur can withstand the cold, the odd smell on the fur was difficult to remove, so the tribesmen did not collect it for the winter.

Qin Fei also explained to the four of them the breeding and the uses of the bleating beast, and apart from Sa Lei who already knew about the ranch, the other three clicked their tongues in amazement . Not only were there baa beasts and brown fur beasts, but there were also many other beasts that could be caught and kept, what was even rarer was that even the birds that could fly could be bred and the eggs they laid could be eaten. When they heard that the animals were called ‘poultry’ or ‘livestock’ after their wild nature had been sapped and that the places where such things were kept were called pastures, the three men’s eyes lit up.If they could have such pastures in the future, then they would not have to go hungry during the food shortage season, let alone worry about famine.