Three Dukes and Nine Ministers

The Beastmen all looked at Qiao Yan with admiration in their eyes. Naki smiled and took the piece of roasted meat from the fire rack. "Not bad, Qiao Yan. You're really too powerful. You actually know so much! I, Naki, am really convinced by you. I want to be your male even more! Why don't you ask the Patriarch? The three of us can just live together!"

Qiao Yan looked expressionlessly at Naki. I can accept your praise, but forget about making me live with you. As a woman from the new era, she really can't accept this. People in the new era all practiced monogamy.

Qiao Yan's face turned slightly red. She thought to herself, "They're all saying that I'm very powerful. I just read a lot of books. If you have a teacher to teach you, you'll be very powerful too."

"No, no. I just read more books."

"Books? Then you must be very knowledgeable, Qiao Yan? Were you a Shaman before?"

The person who asked was a female. She was very tall, about 1.7 meters tall, almost reaching 1.8 meters. At first glance, Qiao Yan would accidentally see her as a male Beastman.

"Ah? No, no. I just happened to encounter some knowledge. And someone taught me as well."

Oh no, what should she say? If she had known, she would not have said that she'd learned everything from the books.

This world was comparable to a primitive society. If there was anything new, they would get to the bottom of it, let alone her special background.

She was under a lot of pressure now!

The Beastmen sighed. There was actually someone who was willing to teach others what they knew?

Weren't those knowledgeable Shamans always very stingy? They never leaked their knowledge!

The Shaman who taught Qiao Yan was too magnanimous.

"Don't surround Qiaoqiao anymore. Qiaoqiao isn't from our tribe, so she naturally knows a lot. There's no need to ask anymore."

That's right. Qiao Yan was not from the tribe. She had been brought back by the Patriarch.

"Then, Qiao Yan, you must be from the Imperial City!"

Imperial City? Is there an Imperial City in this world? Qiao Yan looked at Xue Ran in confusion.

"Don't be so curious about Qiaoqiao's background. Do your own things well first."

The Beastmen saw that the Patriarch was trying his best to protect Qiao Yan and knew that they would not be able to get anything out of her. They consciously packed their things.

Qiao Yan sat against a tree, her head drooping. Oh my god, it was too scary. Everyone was really too curious.

If not for Xue Ran helping her out, she would have been dumbfounded by the questions. It seemed that she had to talk less and do more in the future.

However, there was actually an Imperial City in this world. What was that Imperial City like? Was it similar to those royal palaces in ancient China?

Or perhaps one of those elaborate castles where Western kings lived?

After Xue Ran was done with his work, she had to ask him properly.

"Qiaoqiao, this is for you." Qiao Yan looked up and saw that it was Xingyue. She was holding a handful of red fruits. Qiao Yan took a closer look and realized that they were strawberries!

This world was so mysterious. Didn't strawberries only exist in summer? Why were there strawberries in spring?

Qiao Yan gave Xingyue a sweet smile. "Thank you, Xingyue. How did you know I liked this!"

Xingyue blushed slightly. "I… I saw that many females in the tribe liked to eat this red grass fruit. I happened to pick it and thought that you should like it, so…"

"Thank you, Xingyue. I love it. Sit down and let's eat together."

"Alright…"

When the group returned to the tribe, the sun was almost setting. When the sunlight hit their bodies, they no longer felt the heat. Instead, it was very cool.

After Xue Ran finished arranging the other matters, everyone returned to their residence with the salt.

"Wait a minute. If everyone wants to learn how to marinate meat with salt, you can come to Xue Ran's place tomorrow to look for me. I can teach everyone the method."

All the Beastmen were excited when they heard this. They all agreed to come and learn about marinating meat from Qiao Yan tomorrow.

"Xue Ran, what do they mean by the Imperial City? Do you have an Imperial City here?"

Xue Ran sat by the wooden bed in the house and explained to Qiao Yan seriously, "There's an Imperial City, but not just one. There are four of them. One is the main Imperial City, and three are the Central Imperial Cities. There are also three Lower Cities under each of the three. The ruling class is relatively strict."

Xue Ran looked at Qiao Yan and thought that she should be very interested in this matter. He said, "There's a clear hierarchy between the cities. Most of the four relatively high-level Imperial Cities are helmed by the Royal Family. The Lower Cities under them are usually headed by the nobles."

The division of the Imperial Cities was a little like the system of three dukes and nine ministers during the Qin Dynasty.

This main Imperial City was equivalent to the core of power. The three Central Imperial Cities were equivalent to the Grand Commander, the Prime Minister, and the Imperial Censor. Then, the nine Lower Cities were the officials below.

It seemed that this world was not that backward. According to Xue Ran's introduction, the Imperial City should be relatively developed. The remote areas were more backward, which explained this situation.

"Xue Ran, now that you mention it, you remind me of a system in the place where I originally lived."

"What?"

"There was a powerful Emperor. Well, to you, he should be called a King. He's very powerful and intelligent. He relied on his own abilities to unify the other small countries around his land. In order to facilitate the management of these small countries, he created a system called the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers. Your management system is very similar to this."

"I see."

"Right, Xue Ran, is it very rare to find food in winter?"

Xue Ran was puzzled by Qiao Yan's words and said, "Yes, what's wrong, Qiaoqiao?"

"It's fine. Tomorrow, I'll teach everyone to marinate meat together so that we can preserve food for a long time. This situation of starvation might be greatly reduced."

The technology of this world was relatively backward. Perhaps they could not do much else about it, but there was one thing they could do, and that was to produce cured meat.

It was currently the season where there was the most prey in spring and summer. Every year at this time, the people in the tribe ate extremely well. If they marinated the excess meat into cured meat and stored it, there would be one more type of food in winter to reduce hunger.

This situation was equivalent to the people in the tribe eating desperately every spring and summer until they were stuffed. In autumn, they would start to think of ways to store food, and they would never be able to store it well. In the end, in winter, everyone would just wait to starve. During Spring, the vicious cycle would repeat, year after year. This was actually very unhealthy for the body.

However, after she taught everyone how to marinate meat tomorrow, this situation would be greatly improved.

Qiao Yan looked at Xue Ran proudly, like an arrogant little peacock, as if she was taking credit for her achievements. Her face was filled with words like "Quick, praise me, praise me!"

Xue Ran felt that his little female was really cute. He smiled and said, "Qiaoqiao is so awesome!"

When Qiao Yan heard Xue Ran's praise, she smiled like a peach blossom that had just bloomed. She covered her face and said, "Ah, what nonsense are you saying? I know I'm very good! Don't praise me, I'm shy!"

Xue Ran also laughed at Qiao Yan's actions. Why was his little female so cute?

When he mated with this little female, she would definitely give birth to a nest of wolf cubs like her.

It seemed that he had to speed up the search for the little female's sister. Only when he found the little female's sister would she agree to mate with him.