By now, the Green Sparrow Tribe had established two relatively stable festivals.
One was the “Nian” (New Year), strongly advocated by Han Cheng, and the other was the pre-harvest “Kailian Feast” held before the autumn harvest each year.
The “Nian” had a fixed time, while the “Kailian Feast” did not; it was held depending on the time of the millet harvest.
The Kailian Feast was the last leisurely moment before the busy farming season. After this feast, people would work tirelessly from dawn to dusk during the harvest, with little time to think about food.
Most of their energy and time would be focused on the gratifying but labor-intensive autumn harvest.
Compared to the leisurely New Year celebrations in winter, the Kailian Feast before the autumn harvest felt rushed and straightforward. However, the food was still much more abundant and tempting than usual.
This was evident in how people wiped the sweat from their foreheads while eagerly devouring the food.
After nearly a day of preparation, the food was quickly consumed. As everyone sat back, rubbing their full stomachs and gazing happily at the crops about to be harvested, Han Cheng, the Divine Child, who hadn’t taken any significant actions in a long time, announced good news to the tribe.
In front of everyone, Han Cheng announced that, as long as the tribe members worked hard during the autumn harvest, he would prepare an extremely delicious dish for them to enjoy after the harvest.
Upon hearing this, the crowd became inexplicably excited.
For people like Second Senior Brother, who salivated easily, just hearing those words made them start drooling.
The Divine Child’s food would surely be a masterpiece.
After so many years, the people of Green Sparrow Tribe had formed a consensus about this, especially when it came to food.
So when Han Cheng made the announcement, the tribe members immediately became thrilled.
Everyone cheered, and some people began asking the Divine Child what delicious food it would be.
However, Han Cheng did not reveal the details, simply telling them to focus on their work and promising that they would prepare something that would delight them after the harvest.
Curiosity transcended time, and Han Cheng’s words and teasing only heightened the anticipation among the tribe’s food lovers, making them feel restless, as though a mischievous lamb was licking their feet.
After discussing amongst themselves, the tribe members couldn’t figure out what the food might be. They concluded that they should work hard to complete the harvest quickly so they could soon taste the delectable food the Divine Child promised.
Liang had some idea and believed the food would involve the small fruit called “Sichuan pepper” that the Divine Child often spoke of.
But Liang had no clue what kind of dish the Divine Child would make with it.
He didn’t tell anyone else about the Sichuan pepper. As someone who knew some of the inside information, he wanted to experience the others’ ecstatic reactions when they tasted the delicious food made by the Divine Child.
And as someone with this knowledge, he would feel an unusual sense of pride and satisfaction.
It must be said that human thoughts can sometimes be quite strange.
The people of the Green Sparrow Tribe, in their excitement for the upcoming harvest, once again proved the undeniable power of food lovers.
Moreover, the harvesting speed was dramatically increased as the sickles were upgraded from stone and bone to sharper and more efficient bronze sickles.
The autumn sun bathed everything in light, and a cool breeze occasionally swept across, bringing some relief.
Despite the brutal “autumn tiger” heat and the sweat pouring down, the tribe’s enthusiasm for the harvest did not diminish.
Everyone worked quickly, cutting down crops, transporting them to the fields in wheelbarrows, drying them, and then threshing them.
At this time, Dou, the leader of the former Huangguo Tribe, was pulling a hemp rope along a stone-paved road.
The rope was tied in a loop over his shoulder, and the other end was tied to the front of a wheelbarrow filled with piled-up millet. Behind the cart, an elder from the Green Sparrow Tribe was pushing it, guiding its direction.
The people from the Huangguo Tribe had only joined the Green Sparrow Tribe less than a year ago.
Although they had learned a lot in the months they had been here, many of them were not skilled in tasks like harvesting crops, pushing carts, or threshing, as they had never experienced an autumn harvest before.
Most of the tasks they were assigned involved basic physical labor, like pulling carts, which required strength but little technique.
Dou pulled the cart, working with the elder from the Green Sparrow Tribe to transport the millet to the nearest threshing area.
During a brief pause after unloading the cart, Dou turned around and observed the people working in the fields, efficiently and rapidly harvesting the crops. His eyes were filled with amazement.
He had never witnessed such large-scale collective labor before.
The intense, enthusiastic atmosphere created by everyone working together was something he had never experienced either.
Being part of such a collective naturally stirred his passion, and he became energetically engaged in the thrilling, albeit tiring, labor.
It was truly an incredible and unprecedented feeling.
As the tribe continued to work hard, the fields around them became increasingly barren, and the whole area became more open.
In the threshing area, the haystacks continued to grow larger and larger.
More than half of the autumn harvest had been completed when a cloud appeared in the sky. It grew larger and eventually covered the entire sky.
The harvest came to a halt. With Han Cheng’s order, everyone hurriedly transported the harvested crops to the field, moved the dried grains, and covered the stacks with the harvested straw…
After a brief flurry of activity, they managed to get everything in order just before the rain started to fall.
The rain came, effectively cooling down the scorching autumn heat and refreshing the air.
Finally, after working tirelessly since the beginning of the autumn harvest, everyone was able to rest their weary bodies during this brief respite.
However, not many people in the tribe were happy about the rain. Most were cursing the weather.
The reason was simple: their harvest had yet to be fully collected, and the rain could potentially ruin all their hard work over the past year!