The trade caravan came and then left.
They brought many things when they arrived, and when they left, they didn’t go empty-handed. They took back the copper and tin ingots that the people in the Copper Mountain settlement had smelted during this time.
After the trade caravan departed, the people left behind in the Copper Mountain settlement no longer felt the same sadness they had before.
Because they knew the tribe hadn’t forgotten them. Many people from the main tribe were still thinking about them, just as they missed the people from the main tribe.
By now, the people guarding the Copper Mountain settlement had developed a new habit: from time to time, they would visit the location where the clay tablet calendar was stored and gaze at it, eagerly hoping for that special day to arrive sooner.
Looking at the jars of wine stored in the rooms, many people secretly drooled.
Drinking this kind of wine in this weather would be truly comforting.
Yet, no one dared to drink any now because they all wanted to save it for the New Year.
The aroma of food spread through the Copper Mountain settlement. A large group of rough, clumsy people worked busily both inside and outside, their antics being both funny and heartwarming.
As night was about to fall, firelight lit up the courtyard’s center, casting glowing light on the lively figures and the radiant smiles on their faces.
On Copper Mountain, Meng, wrapped in dirty furs, stepped out of the mine cave. Wrapping his fur tighter, his body shivered as he looked at the courtyard below with longing in his eyes.
He had experienced this kind of thing before. Back then, even though he was a slave, he could still get a share of tasty food, which often included plenty of meat. But now…
Numb as he was, the festival’s stir made Meng pound his head a few times hard, regretting why he’d tried to escape from a good life.
The slaves in the Copper Mountain settlement also danced around the perimeter. At this moment, one slave looked toward Copper Mountain and remembered the fugitive who lived alone in the mine, eating poor food.
There was no sympathy, only contempt for such a person…
In the main camp of the Green Sparrow tribe, it was like a sea of celebration. People laughed, danced, and the joyful atmosphere could infect anyone, making many envious of this era.
Even the cold north wind passing through here softened considerably…
The bitter north wind hardened the earth, hardened soft water, and froze the life out of the plants.
This kind of sickness from the inside out is hard to heal—only the spring maiden’s kiss can cure it.
The spring maiden is always a very kind girl. Her broad heart holds a golden, gentle, and kind soul.
She gives a gentle kiss to the frozen, lifeless earth, and then a miracle happens.
The hard ice and snow melt, the solid earth softens, and the dead and dull world quickly shakes off winter’s yellow, gray, and desolation. Everything revives, full of vigor and vitality.
The spring maiden’s kiss makes the whole world bright.
This effect is much greater than the prince’s kiss on Snow White.
This also made Han Cheng realize the difference between a loser and a high-status, rich guy.
Seven dwarfs, poor, short, and ugly, wholeheartedly served Snow White—but their devotion couldn’t compare to the prince’s single kiss…
Just like the tribe’s obsessive people desperately wanting the ice and snow to melt and seal the breach—but the ice wouldn’t melt, until the spring maiden’s kiss finally came…
The Green Sparrow tribe’s obsessive folk suffered for nearly three months, but once the ice melted, the first thing they did was to close that annoying breach.
They worked like they were pumped full of energy. What should have taken a week was done in less than six days.
As they looked at the repaired walls, many in the tribe sighed in relief, feeling a sense of relaxation all over.
After finishing this, the house-building work was done.
The next focus was spring plowing.
The poor deer in the tribe were brought back into the fields. With their not-so-strong limbs and bodies, under the driving of cruel two-legged beasts, they pulled wooden plows fitted with plowshares, walking through the spring fields.
The bees, now developed to eight boxes, also sensed spring’s breath. They stopped being quiet over winter and began buzzing wildly, grouping up to become “flower thieves”…
While the Green Sparrow tribe was busy with the melting ice and spring activities, others weren’t idle either.
Far away from the Green Sparrow tribe, an older female shaman emerged from the central round house.
By her command, the tribe organized food, tools, and other essentials.
Heavier items were packed into baskets and placed on the backs of domesticated animals to be carried.
Longer tools, unsuitable for carrying by animals, were carried by the people themselves.
Once everything was packed, they left the fenced courtyard. The tribe members all looked back at the round houses standing quietly there, at the land they had cultivated around the houses. Many hesitated to move their feet.
After watching for a while, the female shaman shouted first. The strong chief followed suit. Then the two of them led the way forward.
The tribe members helped the old and the young, carrying many things, and followed the two most respected people in the tribe as they walked toward the setting sun.
During the journey, many couldn’t help but turn around to look back, to see their home shrinking in the distance—a home they had lived in for so long…
After seven or eight days, these increasingly primitive people stopped in a place.
For them, this was a strange place. Besides two nearby small rivers that flowed separately, then merged and flowed northward, there was nothing else.
No familiar round houses, no cultivated fields, only some barren land.
But the female shaman smiled, clearly very pleased with this place…