The heavy snow would occasionally fall in a flurry, and the result was that the snow that had already fallen hadn't melted much before the new snow covered it again.
During this time of widespread snow, the primitive tribes living on this land led lives that seemed similar yet different.
When the mining team from the Green Sparrow Tribe set off, a distant tribe was also living quietly under the heavy snow.
This tribe was different from the usual tribes of the season. Outside the blocked cave entrance, a dirt wall over a person’s height encircled the entire entrance to form a small courtyard.
Inside this courtyard were two crooked, rudimentary huts made from earth, stones, branches, and some dry grass.
Under one of the huts was some firewood, while the other housed more than twenty rabbits.
The blocked cave entrance was opened from the inside, and a person wrapped in thick animal skins came out.
The leader was a relatively strong male primitive person, followed by several others.
Compared to other tribes that lost weight in winter due to hunger, the people in this tribe were all relatively plump, indicating that they had an adequate food supply.
The leader walked out, holding a basket from branches filled with dry grass.
As he got closer, his disheveled hair and beard revealed a somewhat familiar face.
This person was none other than Shu Pi, who had been driven out of the Green Sparrow Tribe but had miraculously survived.
Shu Pi and several others carried the dry grass with the rabbits to the hut.
Upon arrival, the rabbits jumped and dashed to the other side of their pen, looking anxiously at the two-legged creatures outside.
They hadn’t yet been tamed.
Shu Pi poured the dry grass from the makeshift basket into the rabbit pen.
Then, he crouched by the pen, imitating the tribe's shaman, quietly observing the rabbits.
If it weren’t for the rabbits that had dug their way out earlier, the tribe would have had many more rabbits by now.
However, those escaping rabbits made Shu Pi realize that the rabbit pen needed to be built with stone, not just earth.
Several months ago, the tribe’s former leader died, and Shu Pi became the new leader.
After the old leader passed, Shu Pi was inevitable to become the new chief, as he had brought the tribe bows and arrows, fish traps, and walls.
His arrival had brought an abundance of food to the tribe, and the people now lived with a sense of security.
After the old leader died, there was no conflict over leadership, and Shu Pi became the tribe’s chief.
Standing there, Shu Pi felt uncomfortable looking at the still relatively low walls of the tribe.
The tribe's people praised the things he had made, calling them fantastic, but he knew there was a far more incredible tribe in a distant place.
In that tribe, things that were unimaginable in dreams could be seen.
The things he had made for his tribe paled compared to that tribe, and the difference was far too significant.
Not to mention, just the sight of the walls in front of him caused him distress.
He could never build particularly tall walls.
Thinking about the towering walls of that other tribe, Shu Pi felt deeply uncomfortable looking at the ones in his tribe.
Back then, Shu Pi caused a commotion and was subsequently exiled precisely because he had grown tired of constantly hauling stones to the tribe to build high walls and houses.
Yet now, he was the one who took the initiative to lead people in building a wall, and he was even troubled that the wall wasn't tall enough.
Such is the strange nature of life; after a series of conditions unfold, a person can exhibit behaviors that are the complete opposite of their previous actions.
An exceptionally talented and enviable student could become a mentally distorted psychopath, while a person who once engaged in petty and criminal activities could have an epiphany overnight.
Wearing large gold chains, a tough, muscular, tattooed man could squat in the grass and gleefully catch grasshoppers, only to lovingly feed them to a kitten. After such events, nothing seems particularly strange.
Just like the people who didn’t study hard when they had the chance, Shu Pi deeply regretted his laziness back in the Green Sparrow Tribe.
If he had stayed a bit longer in that tribe and done more work when he arrived here, his tribe would have been in a better position than it is now.
This feeling of regret had already been growing in Shu Pi’s heart.
Once he had integrated into this tribe and gained respect from its members by applying what he had learned in the Green Sparrow Tribe, he was glad to be expelled.
Had he not been exiled, he would have probably still been carrying stones or doing other tiring tasks in that tribe, and it would have been impossible for him to become the leader of another tribe.
His mindset was similar to the saying, “If I’m not welcome here, I will find another place to stay,” and for a while, that feeling lasted. But over time, it gradually disappeared when he realized that no matter what, living in this tribe never felt as secure as living in the Green Sparrow Tribe.
In Green Sparrow Tribe, he only had to complete the assigned tasks and didn’t have to worry about anything else.
He didn’t have to worry about running out of food, not having enough clothes, or someone attacking the tribe...
Most people are —unaware of what they have until it’s gone and then wishing to have it back.
Reflecting on the shaman from the Green Sparrow Tribe, Shu Pi, crouched by the crude rabbit pen, watched the rabbits for a while. He stamped his cold, numb feet and rubbed his stiff hands before leading the group back to the cave and sealing it up again.
Inside the cave, there were more people, mainly children, than when Shu Pi first arrived.
With plenty of food and warm clothing, newborn babies survived more easily, and the women in the tribe became pregnant more readily.
The people in the tribe were delighted with their current situation, as their lives had already improved considerably compared to how they had lived before.
However, Shu Pi, who had lived in the Green Sparrow Tribe for a while, was not content because he had seen better.
Putting aside the houses and walls for now, just in terms of population, his tribe was insignificant compared to the other.
Shu Pi wasn’t helpless when quickly increasing his tribe’s population.
When the weather warmed up, he could lead people to attack a nearby tribe and capture their population to bring back.
This way, over time, his tribe would become the strongest in the area, and no other tribe would be able to compete with them.
As he thought about these plans, Shu Pi, who had been silent for a long time, finally smiled.
He didn’t think this would be too difficult because his tribe had long-range bows that could shoot arrows at great distances.
The tribe they attacked would likely meet the same fate as the prey they hunted: defeated without knowing what hit them...
The cold winter winds and thick ice could not stop some people’s desire to expand.
Shu Pi felt this way, and so did the Black Stone Tribe, located a hundred miles north of Shu Pi’s tribe...