Chapter 23

However, the system did not take away the bamboo house. It said that the bamboo house could be placed anywhere as it was a great piece of craftsmanship, perfect for decoration!

Even though Ba Jiao, Moon, Emily, and Qing Ye spent half a day making this thing and didn't receive a pair of baby rabbits as a reward, it was still worth it. The pair of baby rabbits could be seen as an extra bonus.

Moreover, if they needed to build a bamboo house in the future, this bamboo house could also serve as a teaching model. The Nuwa tribe was at a basic stage in animal husbandry and agriculture, relying mainly on hunting for sustenance. Emily was certain that she would eventually promote animal husbandry.

Thinking about this, she felt much better.

The exquisite bamboo house and the two adorable little white rabbits made the previously busy group's eyes light up. Moon looked at the bamboo house and exclaimed, "This house is so beautiful. It must be very comfortable to live in such a house!"

Ba Jiao and Qing Ye each held a baby rabbit, showing gentle affection. It reminded Emily of girls in the future who kept pets.

It seemed that whether in a primitive tribe like the Nuwa tribe or thousands of years later, women tended to love cute creatures. However, Emily had to remind them, "These two baby rabbits are a male and a female, awarded by the Nuwa Divine Messenger as breeding rabbits. We will raise them, and when they have baby rabbits, when the baby rabbits grow up... they are meant to be food. Don't get too attached to them now to avoid difficulties later."

In modern times, vegetarians advocate for not harming animals, but Emily believed that in the natural order, survival was paramount when food was scarce!

Ba Jiao and Qing Ye looked slightly reluctant but soon nodded in agreement.

Moon tilted her head, still looking at the miniature bamboo house. "Sister-in-law, you said the lower floor of this bamboo house is for raising livestock? What are livestock? Are they rabbits?"

Emily smiled and nodded, deciding to take this opportunity to educate them about domesticating livestock and poultry. "Currently, the Nuwa tribe's food source comes from animals hunted during hunting. But that's too unstable. If we can gather and domesticate those animals, even without hunting, we can have meat at any time. Poultry refers to domesticated feathered animals like mountain chickens. Livestock refers to animals with fine fur, such as wild boars that we can try to domesticate. The lower floor of the bamboo house is suitable for raising some poultry and livestock, but we only have two baby rabbits for now. We can make a simple rabbit hutch to start."

Moon listened with great interest, her eyes shining with curiosity. "In the past, when my brother and the others brought back extra prey from hunting, they wanted to keep them, but they were already injured and couldn't survive."

"Exactly, injured and frightened animals are indeed hard to keep alive. So, the best livestock candidates should be uninjured. We can use traps."

Moon, who had been hunting with Male and the others since childhood, naturally knew about traps. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "I'll go with Big Mountain tonight to set some traps and check tomorrow morning to see if there are any uninjured prey."

Emily agreed wholeheartedly. "I'll go with you!"

After her foot healed, Male had no reason to stop her. She had wanted to explore the mountains for a long time, looking for suitable grains and vegetables to plant and checking out the wild fruits on the mountain.

Having readily available resources would reduce their reliance on the system.

The food for the day remained rabbit and mountain chicken. If placed in an era where artificial breeding was prevalent in the future, such wild game would be highly sought after. Unfortunately, in this primitive tribe, apart from a hint of saltiness, roasted rabbit only smelled good but tasted average.

The stew made from mountain chicken was passable, with a taste not far from the clear stew of the future.

However, the various grains and foods that Ba Jiao had collected earlier were gone. They had all spent the morning making the miniature bamboo house, and no one had gone to gather wild vegetables. So, the food for lunch today consisted purely of meat.

This made Emily, who had developed a good habit of balancing meat and vegetables, quite uncomfortable. There was a feeling of not being able to eat much, yet the stomach still felt empty. After eating a few fruits to replenish vitamins, she still felt a bit empty, probably due to the lack of carbohydrates. After all, her habit for the past twenty years was always to have rice with vegetables.

This further strengthened her determination to go up the mountain to find ready-made food or seeds.

In the evening, accompanied by Male and Big Mountain, Emily and Moon went to the foot of the mountain. This time was not suitable for going further up the mountain to set traps; they might not make it back before dark. They could only set some traps at the foot of the mountain.

The planned trapping was unsuccessful because there were no suitable baits. They simply dug a few large pits covered with banana leaves.

Emily looked at this super simple trap and thought that if they could catch prey like this, it would be too easy! She looked at Male and Big Mountain, but they clearly also believed that this method would not catch anything, as if digging pits was just a game to accompany her and Moon.

Moon, however, was excited and dug a few more pits before leaving.

The next day, just as dawn broke, Emily and Moon followed Male, Big Mountain, and other members of the Nuwa tribe into the mountains for hunting. Since there were many prey animals recently, hunting wouldn't take much time to provide enough food for everyone. Therefore, not many people came this time, and there were even fewer women.

Passing through the forest where traps were set the night before, Moon checked each trap one by one. As Emily expected, they found no prey.

She wasn't discouraged and restored the traps. "We were just unlucky and didn't catch anything! Let's continue to the mid-mountain."

After walking for about half an hour, they reached the mid-mountain. Emily was panting from exhaustion, and they had been hurrying without time to look around.

Male waved his hand, "Two or three people together, hunt separately, don't go too far, and if you encounter people from the Leopard tribe, call out loudly. Meet back here later."

The tribe members dispersed, leaving only Male, Big Mountain, Emily, and Moon.

Hunting in the early morning was relatively easy to encounter prey because hungry animals would go out foraging after a night's rest.

For Emily, this was her first time hunting after two lifetimes combined, so she was slightly excited.

Perhaps to avoid disturbing the prey, even Moon, who was usually talkative, remained silent, paying close attention to the surroundings.

Soon, there was a slight movement in the grass ahead that wasn't caused by the wind. Moon and Emily focused their attention there, only to see Male and Big Mountain simultaneously drawing their bows, slowly moving towards that area.

Emily and Moon also tiptoed over. A gray long-haired rabbit was nibbling grass there, looking fat either due to its long hair or naturally plump.

Seeing it was a small animal, and Emily and Moon had already told Male and Big Mountain that for animals like rabbits and wild chickens, if possible, they should be captured alive. Male and Big Mountain glanced at each other.

Big Mountain still aimed his bow and arrow at the long-haired rabbit, while Male handed the bow, arrow, and quiver to Moon, then quietly moved behind the rabbit.

Although Emily knew that Male and Big Mountain had been hunting together since childhood and had a very high level of mutual understanding, she couldn't help but feel anxious as she watched Big Mountain aim the bamboo arrow at the long-haired grey rabbit, while Male clearly intended to capture the rabbit alive. What if Big Mountain accidentally shot Male with the arrow?

While she was still worried, she saw Male seize the opportunity and pounce forward. In the blink of an eye, he had the long-haired grey rabbit in his hands.

Wow! How amazing! Emily and Moon happily ran over, both wanting to hold the long-haired grey rabbit, but they didn't notice that Male's expression darkened as he looked at the rabbit in his hands.

As they approached, Male awkwardly moved aside, his voice filled with frustration, "It's dead." And it died quite miserably...

Huh? Emily and Moon were stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: Male had not controlled his strength well and accidentally squeezed the long-haired grey rabbit to death...

Moon lamented repeatedly, "Brother, you have such great strength now, I'm really worried that Sister-in-law will get hurt by you unintentionally!"

Male also thought the same. He sometimes forgot that he now had increased strength and continued to use his previous level of force. Should he avoid touching Emily too much? What if he accidentally hurt her one day? And since Emily also wanted children, he needed to control his strength soon and spend more time with Emily doing things that could lead to having children, to fulfill Emily's wish sooner.

Of course, Emily was unaware of how Male felt. She quickly comforted Male, "Moon, don't worry, he won't hurt me. Male, don't rush, after all, you've just activated the power of your bloodline not long ago. It's normal to not be accustomed to it. Take it slow, you'll get used to it."

Oh dear, for some reason, this frustrated Male looked so cute! She really liked it!

Feeling comforted by Emily's words, Male regained his composure. "Let's continue to find prey. I'll be more gentle next time."

Perhaps they were just unlucky in the direction they chose today. Almost ten minutes later, they finally spotted some abnormal movement in a clump of grass.

The next prey they found... was a cauliflower snake... they gave up.

Due to the Nuwa tribe's reverence for Nuwa, who was part human and part snake, they never ate snake meat. Of course, if they encountered poisonous or aggressive snakes, they would kill them without hesitation.

Emily couldn't help but stifle her laughter when she saw Male's constipated expression.

Male seemed to wish that a dozen or more prey animals would appear immediately for him to capture gently, to wash away the regret of accidentally killing the prey earlier.

Male and Big Mountain were diligently searching for signs of prey and didn't notice Emily's expression, but Moon did.

Moon didn't know that Emily found her brother cute at this moment, nor did she know that Emily was worried about her brother's inability to control his strength after activating his bloodline, and the fact that Male was acting quite impatient now, which was different from his usual self. Moon immediately wanted to defend her brother's reputation.

Moon pulled Emily aside and whispered softly, "Sister-in-law, my brother is not usually so impatient. He's the most patient hunter."

Emily nodded slightly without thinking too much.

After activating the power of his bloodline, not only did Male gain much greater strength, but his agility also increased significantly. His vision and hearing were much sharper than ordinary people.

At this moment, Moon's whispered words to Emily were clearly heard by Male. It made him suddenly realize.

How could he be so impatient just because he couldn't control his strength for a moment?

Male adjusted his emotions and then heard the faint, unhurried sound of four hooves hitting the ground. He raised his hand to signal everyone to stay quiet and sharply looked towards the direction of the sound, only to see a plump sheep eating the tender grass on the ground as it walked.

Emily didn't know how to describe her feelings when she saw this sheep. The word "excited" couldn't begin to capture it. The sheep had thick wool, making it appear very plump. She had traveled to Qinghai with her parents before and learned about sheep from a tour guide.

Sheep are a type of livestock well-suited for domestication and farming. There are many breeds of sheep in later generations, and based on human use, they are mainly divided into wool sheep, meat sheep, and dairy sheep. Wool sheep can be further divided into lambskin sheep, coarse wool sheep, fine wool sheep, meat sheep, and dairy sheep.

Regardless of the type, all sheep have at least two to three uses. All sheep meat is edible, and the skin or wool can be used in the textile industry. If it's a wool sheep, its wool can be sheared five times a year, with each shearing producing ten to twenty kilograms of wool. Annually, one sheep can produce fifty to one hundred kilograms of wool.

The natural lifespan of a sheep is generally up to fifteen years. Imagine how much wool a sheep can produce in its lifetime if raised properly. The wool can be made into blankets, carpets, and other items, and also into yarn for knitting sweaters.

When they were in Qinghai, her mother bought some yarn to hand-knit sweaters for her. She still remembered the shop owner saying that for someone of her size, if knitting a fitted sweater with fine yarn, one pound would be more than enough. For a loose, medium-length style using thicker yarn, two to three pounds would suffice.

Although she only had theoretical knowledge about making yarn from wool and hadn't practiced it, this time, even if the wool sheared amounted to only ten kilograms, it would be enough for her to slowly try making yarn. Even if half of it was wasted, she could still knit at least ten sets of summer tops and skirts or shorts, similar to sports underwear, from the yarn. Although woolen clothes are hot, they would still be better than clothes made from animal hides.

Moreover, this sheep had no horns on its head, clearly indicating it was a ewe. If they later captured a ram to breed with it, they could also drink nutritious sheep milk!

Emily's thoughts flashed in an instant. She saw that Dashan was aiming his bamboo arrow at the plump sheep, while Male was circling around to approach the sheep from behind. Emily's heart was in her throat.

She didn't know if sheep were common in this area and hoped that Male could capture it alive instead of accidentally killing it, and also hoped that Dashan wouldn't injure it with his arrow.

Without thinking much, she tugged at Moon: "Let's go surround it."

Moon agreed wholeheartedly and quietly moved to one side, while Emily moved to the other side, preparing to encircle the sheep and try to capture it alive.

Seeing Emily and Moon's actions, Dashan understood that they wanted to keep this ugly but delicious sheep alive.

If hunted for food, this sheep would be worth more than ten chickens or small animals like rabbits. But raising it? Dashan had never thought of that. However, since both his sister-in-law and Moon wanted to capture the sheep alive, he decided to cooperate.

Just as Dashan lowered his arrow, Male grabbed the plump, ugly sheep.

"Baa…" The sheep struggled and screamed miserably, but its movements were not significant.

Was the sheep injured? Could it be domesticated? Emily and Moon, with their hearts in their throats, ran towards Male.

Moon asked bluntly, "Brother, did you hurt it?"

Male, with his good-natured temperament, shook his head: "I don't think so."