Orc Girl's Tribal Daily Life

Chapter 124 Child Labor Employment in Yuerdong

After learning from the side that the cubs were preparing to make a new batch of fishing line, they approached Brown and subtly suggested that Brown prepare more for the cubs.

They can wait until the cubs have finished making the fishing line before coming back to trade with them—provided they have enough, otherwise they won't be able to trade.

The tribesmen who were in charge of dealing with the hook vines also wanted to save themselves trouble, so they handed over most of the hook vines to Brown.

Normally, these cleared plants have two outcomes. One is that they are reused. For example, hook vines are simply processed and used as ropes. Most of the ropes used to bind large prey are these long vines.

It can be considered a disposable item, but there are so many of these that we can't even use them all, so no one has bothered to research reusability.

Another solution is incineration. These plant vines are quite resilient. Simply pulling them out by the roots and discarding them may cause them to regrow and grow into a new clump. To avoid this, the only option is to burn them to completely eliminate their chance of growth.

Burning so many hook vines is no easy task in itself, and now that someone finally wants them, they'd love to give them all away to save themselves the trouble.

Jiang Luoluo looked at the small mountain of vines and fell into deep thought. If there were twenty or thirty of them, she could still finish it herself with the help of a few more people.

But hundreds... she couldn't possibly finish them all, even if she worked herself to death.

"Luo, we need to get rid of these hooked vines as soon as possible," Brown reminded him.

"If this goes on for too long, the bottommost hook-like vines will take root again and grow back."

Jiang Luoluo looked at He with a resentful expression. He coughed and also felt that this was not appropriate for the cub. Just because the cub was capable, they shouldn't entrust so many things to the cub. "How about... I ask them to take it away and burn it?"

Jiang Luoluo, however, thought about it herself and then shook her head in refusal.

I didn't expect there to be so many, but since I've already given them to her, there's no reason for me to just throw them away.

If she can't finish it by herself, then she should find a few more people to help her!

Jiang Luoluo quickly went through all the people she knew in her mind.

He couldn't do that. He had to go up to Little Stone Mountain to teach children every day. It was already quite good if he could spare some time to help her with something. He didn't have time to play with her fishing line.

Mao... that won't work either. His father, Ke, took over the jam-making job, and he has to help his father pick fruit and chop firewood every day. He can only occasionally find time to help Jiang Luoluo with some things, but he can't help for long periods of time.

Moreover, Mao has been following Chi's lead lately and has even stopped going to his classes at Little Stone Mountain. Jiang Luoluo doesn't want to disturb Mao's learning with Chi.

Jiang Luoluo really didn't expect that these two could get together - Chi is twenty-four or twenty-five years old this year, and Mao is fifteen years old this year. The two are more than ten years apart and are completely in a master-disciple relationship.

Of course, for Chi, it was more about finding himself a little follower to play with.

After all, Chi's peers... can all participate in the hunting team normally, and they can't usually hang out with Chi. If it weren't for Jiang Luoluo, Chi wouldn't have realized that he could actually take his little brother along to play.

As for Xihezhuang and the other school-age children from Xiaoshishan, it goes without saying that Jiang Luoluo couldn't let the children "drop out of school" and "work" with her. She herself wasn't old enough to go to school yet, but the children were attending school properly, so she couldn't let them come over and work as child laborers for her.

After much thought, Jiang Luoluo realized that the task of finding the fishing line should still fall to Yuerdong.

Children under ten years old in the Fish Cave are confined to the cave, relying on minimal movement to conserve their energy. Even when they reach the age of ten and go to "school" on the small rocky mountain, they are more likely to only go for a short time.

I would spend one or two days out of ten learning, and the rest of the time I would think about how to go down to the river to catch fish and how to enrich my stomach.

Although having the children from Fish Cave do the work will increase their food consumption, many tribes have already pre-ordered the fishing line. Once completed, it will bring in a large amount of food, which will be more than enough to make up for their consumption during this period, and may even generate a considerable surplus.

Most importantly, fishing lines are the most useful thing for the children of Yuerdong. Even if no one comes to exchange fishing lines after this wave of enthusiasm, the children of Yuerdong can still use these fishing lines themselves, so they won't go to waste.

Once she had an idea, Jiang Luoluo went to do it.

Upon arriving at the entrance of the Fish Cave, it was the worm's turn to guard it again. The worm silently gestured to Jiang Luoluo for a long time before finally turning its head and shouting into the Fish Cave.

"Fat!"

Little Fish King Biao came out upon hearing the sound, his gaze falling on Jiang Luoluo, his expression showing no surprise.

"Go talk to Luo. I'm too old to manage these things anymore," Chong said, waving his hand at the two of them.

Jiang Luoluo doesn't need to express many simple meanings to be understood, but some complex things require a lot of tacit understanding and cognition.

There's a lack of understanding, and the thinking can't be switched.

If you lack sufficient understanding, you won't be able to think of it even if you try to change your perspective.

The insect tried to understand what the young meant, and then felt a headache coming on. Fortunately, at his age, he had a more open-minded view of things and had his own insights into life.

That means things that can be delegated to others, there's no need to insist on doing them yourself.

So after calling out Little Fish King Biao, the insect felt relieved and left the trouble to Little Fish King Biao, then went back to the doorway and continued weaving the straw basket.

Jiang Luoluo looked at Little Fish King Biao, not expecting him to be in the fish cave at this time. She waved goodbye to Brown, who had brought her there, telling Brown to leave in peace. Jiang Luoluo then pulled Little Fish King Biao to a tree trunk nearby.

The sun is shining like it's in September right now; it's quite hot at midday.

Aren't you going to catch fish? Jiang Luoluo tried to exchange a few pleasantries first.

"They went fishing," Little Fish King Biao replied casually.

Catching a few soft-shelled fish each day is enough to sustain the fish cave for the day. The only fish that could consistently bring in profits was Little Fish King Biao, which is why he became Little Fish King.

Now that there are fishing lines, others can also catch a few soft-shelled fish every day, and some even catch so many that they can't eat them all.

If it weren't for the need to ensure that this one and only fishing line could last longer, and to stop fishing after catching enough fish each day, those children probably wouldn't want to come back from the river every day.

Jiang Luoluo couldn't help but take a closer look at Little Fish King Biao. With the fishing line, Biao's title of "Little Fish King" was somewhat undeserved.

I've caused the other person to lose their "Little Fish King" status; I wonder what they'll think.

To Jiang Luoluo's surprise, she saw a sense of "relaxation" in Xiaoyu Wangbiao, as if he had been tense for a long time and was now relaxed from the inside out after realizing that he no longer needed to bear so much pressure.

Little Fish King Biao didn't feel like he had lost the honor of being the "Little Fish King." On the contrary, he was genuinely happy that he had provided a more stable food source for the children of Fish Cave.

Many people might think that the children in the Fish Cave are in competition, rivals for food, with one eating more and the other eating less.

But they are also family, who have been with each other for over a decade since childhood.

It's about huddling together for warmth during cold nights, relying on each other for care when sick... It's about being family without any blood relation, yet inseparable.

"What are you going to do now?" Little Fish King Biao looked at the cub in front of him, without any disdain or other intentions, just a simple question.

Jiang Luoluo felt that seeing is believing, and no amount of gesturing could compare to letting Little Fish King Biao see it for himself, so that he could better understand her meaning.

"..."

Little Fish King Biao looked at the small mountain in front of him, a pile of hook-like vines.

Even with his stable personality, he couldn't help but let some of his emotions slip out.

"You want me to help you turn all these hooks and vines into fishing line?"

This is something that two people can't possibly finish!

Jiang Luolu blinked, amused by Xiaoyu Wangbiao's reaction, then shook her head with a smile, "Of course not!"

She came here precisely so that one or two people wouldn't have to do all of this!

Little Fish King Biao silently watched the cub point in the direction of the fish cave, hesitated for a long time before speaking, "You mean, you want the other people in the fish cave to make these into fishing lines?"

Jiang Luoluo nodded.

"They..." Little Fish King Biao's voice trailed off, not quite understanding what he wanted to say.

Is it possible or not?

It was a mixture of doubt that they could meet the requirements of the young, and an instinct that made it impossible for Little Fish King to give up such an opportunity. Even though there were still many things he couldn't understand, Little Fish King had a feeling that he absolutely couldn't miss it.

So he opened his mouth, not knowing how to express himself.

Jiang Luoluo didn't care. Instead, she persuaded Little Fish King Biao, explaining that many of her clansmen had reserved fishing lines and were ready to exchange them.

It describes the many benefits of having the children in the fish cave make fishing lines.

Watching the cub's expressive gestures, Little Fish King Biao suddenly asked, "And what about you?"

What benefits have you gained from this? You've done so much for these children in Yuerdong who have nothing to do with you, but what have you gotten in return?

Jiang Luoluo scratched her head; she wasn't doing all this for any personal gain...

But meeting Xiaoyu Wangbiao's gaze, Jiang Luoluo tilted her head and thought for a moment, then tugged at Xiaoyu Wangbiao's arm, making him lean down slightly, and gently poked Xiaoyu Wangbiao's cheek with her hand.

I received smiles from everyone.

I did it so that I wouldn't be sad anymore.

"I'll talk to them." Little Fish King Biao looked at the smile on the cub's face, felt his own lips slowly drooping, and slowly straightened up, naturally taking the cub's arm.

"I'll take you back."

After sending the cubs back to their cave, Little Fish King Biao returned to Fish Cave. Standing at the cave entrance, he first told the insect guarding the gate what the cubs had said. The insect thought about it and also felt it was a good thing.

But this was not something he could decide alone, so the insect asked Little Fish King Biao to run errands and tell the other elderly clansmen who were also in charge of the Fish Cave about it.

They gathered together to discuss it and decided it was feasible, so they formed a group and went up the mountain to find the shaman.

Chief Jing led his team out hunting. How could he stay in the tribe and do nothing during such an important time as the Great Beast Season?

The one who led the team the deepest into the territory and returned the fewest times was Chief Jing.

Fortunately, the shaman never leaves the tribe, so he can be found anytime. Otherwise, given how often Chief Jing goes out, by the time he finds out what's happening in the tribe, it would be too late.

When the shaman heard about this, he strongly agreed and supported it, and even took the initiative to suggest increasing the amount of food in the Fish Cave. Just in time for the arrival of the Great Beast Season, food was the last thing the tribe lacked.

It's quite tragic that even during the Great Beast Season, the children of Fish Cave rarely get a proper meal.

It's not that there's a lack of food supply, but rather that the tribe is intentionally controlling the amount of food and never provides too much food to Fish Cave.

The simplest and most basic reason is that if you eat more food, your appetite will increase, and you will need even more food.

However, not every season is the season of beasts. The tribe will also encounter natural disasters and man-made calamities, and there will be times when food is scarce and there is not enough to eat.

Rather than feeding the children in the fish cave until they have big appetites, it's better to let them grow up half-starved. At least that way, they won't feel more miserable when there isn't enough food.

A child who has never been well-fed will not know that hunger is an unbearable thing.

But if we could ensure they have enough food and never have to fear hunger again, I doubt anyone would refuse to do so.

Moreover, to get those children to work, it's essential to increase the food supply; you can't expect the horses to run without feeding them.

However, the reason why Wu was determined to support this matter was that he realized something else—the great river in the snowy season is not completely frozen, but it is cold in the snowy season and the river water is icy cold, so few people can enter the great river to catch fish in the snowy season.

However, when fishing with a fishing line, you don't need to go into the river. All you need is some bait and a stable foothold to catch the fish.

This means that with fishing lines, even during the cold snowy season, the tribe will at least have enough soft-shelled turtles for food.

For the tribe, the most difficult season is the snow season. After all, no matter how difficult it is to go out during the rainy season, it cannot erase the fact that plants grow rapidly during the rainy season, and many specialty plants grow there.

During the rainy season, if one is willing to take greater risks, it is actually possible to obtain enough food.

However, unless there is no other choice, tribes usually find other ways to get through the rainy season.

After all, even being hungry for a while during the rainy season is better than risking your life in the rainy season forest, where you're practically guaranteed to die.

However, during the snowy season, it is truly impossible to find any food. The heavy snow covers the entire forest, plants wither and are buried by the snow, and wild animals hide deep in the snow and no longer venture out.

Let alone soft-shelled turtles that can be cooked into fish soup, even not-so-dry tree branches can be eaten as food during the snowy season.