Chapter 25

Previously, Emily hadn't gone to see the new construction because her foot hurt. Yesterday morning she was busy with the bamboo house, and in the afternoon, she was setting up traps, so she didn't pay attention. Now, however, she was excited to take a look.

Male instructed everyone to distribute the game they had caught, sending what they needed to eat and the hen they intended to keep alive to Bajiao and Yue Liang. Then, he took Emily's hand and led her to see the newly built toilet.

Emily never thought she would be so enthusiastic about inspecting a toilet!

The toilet was built close to the place where they had previously composted fertilizer, on the outskirts of the tribe's buildings. Emily thought it would be best to build a public toilet at each of the four cardinal points around the tribe since there were quite a few people. However, she knew that this was only a dry toilet, mainly meant for storing feces and getting people used to the idea of separate male and female toilets.

Although they designed it with wooden covers to reduce odor, it wasn't a flush toilet and would still emit smells. If they built four at once, the Nuwa tribe might end up surrounded by toilets or, worse, by the smell.

Emily knew that eco-toilets existed in the future, which were environmentally friendly and could still store and compost feces. These even collected methane gas for cooking. However, she didn't have the technology for that, not even the pipes needed to vent the gas.

She regretted her lack of practical skills when they were needed most. So, they built a large toilet a reasonable distance from the surrounding buildings, where the smell wouldn't reach the tribe.

The toilet was square and straightforward, with the men's section on the left and the women's on the right. Both sides were identical, with a row of narrow squat pits, each covered with a wooden lid with a handle. Below was a deep pit for the composting process.

A wall separated the men's and women's sections, and the walls of the toilet were much higher than usual buildings, with many windows at the top for ventilation to prevent gas poisoning.

Thinking about the convenient and eco-friendly flush toilets of the future, Emily sighed. She never thought she would miss even a flush toilet so much.

Still, this was much better than finding a random spot outdoors, and she felt content with what they had.

Even without a blueprint, Male had managed to get the Nuwa tribe members to build the toilet just from her description. Emily was very satisfied.

She knew that the toilet was a new concept for the Nuwa tribe. Some people might quickly accept it, while others would find it hard. Therefore, promoting the idea of using the toilet for hygiene became Male's task, which Emily assigned him with ease.

Male accepted it as a matter of course, without any objections.

As they walked toward Bajiao's house, they encountered a group of people gathered together. Uncle Feng's loud voice came from the crowd, vividly recounting how Male tried to capture a wild rabbit alive but ended up killing it on the spot, as if he had been right there.

The tribespeople laughed heartily. Emily sneaked a glance at Male, who remained expressionless as he strode over.

"Male!"

"Male!"

"Male!"

The subject of the gossip had arrived, and the Nuwa tribe members looked a bit embarrassed. Uncle Feng, however, showed no such awareness and cheerfully approached: "Male, did I tell it right? Hahaha..."

Male smiled slightly without answering and instead brought up the toilet: "The toilet is finished. Everyone should spread the word to use it for both peeing and pooping."

After a brief explanation, Male continued, "There will inevitably be children who miss the pit. Keeping the toilet clean requires ongoing effort, and we need people for that. Uncle Feng, since you are observant, I'll leave this task to you."

Uncle Feng's smile froze on his face as he widened his eyes and exaggeratedly wailed, "Male, don't do this! I'm too old to handle such shocks."

The Nuwa tribe members burst into laughter. Emily was also amused by his exaggerated, expressive face, but she also learned something new about Male: he could be quite petty!

He was blatantly using his position for personal revenge. As the tribe leader, this was a definite mark against him! Yet, why did the Nuwa tribe still hold him in such high regard?

Male's face was serious. "The toilet is related to farm fertilizer, which affects the harvest of our crops and vegetables. This is crucial for the tribe during the cold season. Although cleaning the toilet only requires doing it three times a day—morning, noon, and evening—it is very important. Uncle Feng, because you are diligent, morally upright, and mature, this important task is yours. You won't need to go hunting in the mountains anymore; we'll share the game with you when we return."

Diligent! Morally upright! Mature! Important task!

Cleaning just three times a day and no more hunting in the mountains! It sounded quite leisurely!

Uncle Feng proudly puffed out his chest. "Male, since you think this task is mine to handle, then rest assured, I'll take care of it!"

How is this even possible?

Emily could hardly believe it.

What she hadn't realized was that hunting wasn't always about catching harmless game like today. Predators like tigers, leopards, wolves, and bears posed a real threat to the hunters' lives. Every cold season, some tribe members who went hunting in the mountains never returned.

Compared to the younger hunters, Uncle Feng was older, with less strength and agility. Despite his cheerful demeanor, he was secretly worried about being devoured by a beast one day.

Having settled the matter, Male took Emily's hand and started to leave. After a few steps, he paused and turned back. "When cleaning the women's restroom, make sure it's empty first."

Uncle Feng replied confidently, "Don't worry about that. Just because I can't find a partner doesn't mean I'll do anything indecent!"

Male smiled appreciatively.

One of the Nuwa tribe members kindly joked, "Since you don't need to hunt, you can spend more time getting to know the single or widowed women in the tribe. You might find a partner."

Another person, even more imaginative, said, "I heard Male say that once the idea spreads, everyone in the tribe will use the toilet. You could set up a table and chair by the door and keep watch."

Uncle Feng's face turned red with embarrassment as he reached out to swat at them, and everyone ran off, laughing. Emily found their interactions refreshingly lively and genuine.

Emily had heard about Uncle Feng's situation from Male. Uncle Feng had some trouble with his legs and wasn't very agile. Male had long told him he didn't need to hunt, but Uncle Feng felt that as a solitary man, if he didn't even hunt, he'd be a useless freeloader, sitting idly and waiting to die.

Uncle Feng talked a lot and wasn't particularly handsome, but he had good relationships within the tribe. However, he hadn't been successful in finding a mate.

In his youth, he had liked a girl who felt the same about him, but before they could be together, she died of illness during an especially harsh cold season.

To Emily, Uncle Feng looked about forty, which, in her time, would be considered a prime age. He might not have the vigor of a young man, but he was experienced and socially adept—qualities that should have made him quite successful.

But in the Nuwa tribe, everything depended on labor, hunting, and surviving the cold season. Without the ability to work, one faced elimination. Such a reality was brutally harsh!

When they arrived at Banana's house, Banana was still outside on the hearth, roasting chickens and pigeons. Big Mountain was nearby, occasionally turning the roasting rabbit. Moon had just returned, carrying a wooden basin filled with rabbit hides of various colors, indicating she had been cleaning them by the river.

Emily's eyes lit up. She hadn't seen how they processed hides before, aside from the fox fur she wrapped around herself, which was a whole pelt and quite soft with good color. It was clear that the people of the Nuwa tribe had their own methods for handling animal hides.

As Moon greeted Emily and Male, she set down the basin and expertly took down a bamboo tube hanging on the wall outside Banana's house. She poured out some white powder mixed with gray-black into the basin, stirring until fully dissolved, then carried the basin into Banana's house.

Seeing Moon place the basin down and prepare to leave, Emily quickly grabbed her. "When will these rabbit hides be taken out?"

"Tomorrow they can be taken out," Moon replied earnestly, noticing Emily's curiosity. "Then they need to be dried and softened. They shouldn't be dried too much, or they'll become too stiff."

"Oh, that sounds simple enough," Emily nodded. "And what's in the bamboo tube?"

"Hair soaking powder. Given by Maple Granny."

Haha, hair soaking powder! That name was so straightforward!

It seemed Moon didn't know the ingredients or the process for making it. Emily decided she would ask Maple Granny about it when she went to learn about medicinal herbs in the afternoon.

After dinner, Emily and her companions went to see the chubby sheep. When Emily mentioned she planned to shear the wool and make clothes from it, the sheep was tied to the crooked tree outside Big Mountain and Moon's house. At the moment, several children were feeding it grass.

The sheep didn't seem to mind whether it was hungry or unafraid of humans, it calmly chewed on the tender grass the children offered. Its thick wool was tightly curled, and Emily's heart swelled with excitement, as if she could see a finished garment with each piece of wool.

For shearing, they didn't have scissors. This was where Male's "magic tool" came in handy.

Following Emily's instructions, Male approached the sheep, which was happily eating grass, without any reaction. He gently lifted a tuft of wool, but when the knife approached, the sheep seemed to feel a sharp pain and bleated in distress, dodging Male's hand.

Emily guessed that shearing with a knife was different from using scissors and could pull on the wool, causing the sheep pain.

She quickly stopped Male, not wanting the sheep they had finally caught to be scared or harmed by the pain of shearing, making it difficult to keep or shear in the future.

Scissors... The principle wasn't complicated, but homemade ones probably wouldn't be sharp enough!

Emily felt a bit frustrated. Just as she had the opportunity to spin and make clothes for herself, she couldn't use a large amount of wool! It was really...

Emily's frustration was something Moon and the others couldn't understand. Moon was enthusiastically instructing Male and Big Mountain to build a real bamboo house, similar to the delicate miniature bamboo house they had made before.

Moon and Banana had been involved in the entire process of building the bamboo house and had a model to work from, so Emily wasn't worried about the bamboo house. She just reminded them that a real bamboo house had to be built on the ground, and the support poles didn't necessarily have to be bamboo; sturdy straight trees could also be used.

Emily didn't need to participate in building the real bamboo house, but she did need to visit Maple Granny.

Emily had several things to attend to. First, she had to accompany Maple Granny to learn about medicine. Second, Banana mentioned that Qingye had taken the pair of baby rabbits to the mulberry tree outside Maple Granny's house, so Emily had to go and deliver the rabbit grass.

In the past few days, she had discovered the statue of Nuwa and other things in the forbidden area, contributed significantly to the Nuwa tribe, had daily tasks, and led people to cultivate the land. Additionally, her foot had been injured again, so Maple Granny advised her to rest.

Maple Granny wasn't strict with Emily about learning medicine; it was entirely up to her whether she wanted to go or not. However, Emily did want to go. Although the system had touched on medical matters, it lacked in-depth knowledge. Currently, all medical knowledge she could acquire had to come from Maple Granny, and at crucial moments, that knowledge could be life-saving!

However, compared to medicine, there were no specific symptoms at the moment, and it wasn't something that could be learned overnight. Food and clothing were her two most urgent problems to solve.

Coincidentally, the system mostly provided rewards related to food and clothing at the moment, so she spent much less time on medicine.

Emily actually felt guilty. She felt like she was wasting time, considering how important medicine was!

But when Emily learned what Qingye and the others had been studying at Maple Granny's over the past few days, she was astonished...

During this time, Qingye and the others had only been learning about medicinal herbs from Maple Granny—how to recognize them, how to grow them, and how to remove weeds from them. After a full seven or eight days, they had only learned to recognize two kinds of herbs, along with their main medicinal properties.

Hmm... Perhaps she had spent too long living in a world with such advanced technology, where she could simply search for information about a medicine's properties using various search engines or look it up in books at the library. This slow progress was unbearable to her!

No wonder Huangye had been studying medicine for so many years and still had only average skills. At this rate, Emily wasn't confident she could surpass Huangye.

That day, Emily went with Maple Granny and several medical students to the valley where Maple Granny cultivated herbs. Emily stood aside, watching as Maple Granny questioned the children about the names of the two herbs they had learned and their respective properties.

Some of the children answered hesitantly, while others answered clearly.

Maple Granny sighed, then explained the names and properties of the two herbs in detail once again before questioning them again.

This time, the child who had answered hesitantly earlier answered much more confidently.

Emily listened and felt it didn't seem too difficult. After the last child finished answering, she also pointed to one of the herbs and began to describe its name and properties. After finishing, a mechanical voice sounded in the system: "Congratulations, Master, you have acquired a new piece of medical knowledge from the Nuwa tribe. Would you like to store it in the system?"

Emily confidently selected to store it and then saw Maple Granny looking at her with shining eyes, while the children admired and envied her.

Emily awkwardly ran her fingers through her hair. "Did I... make a mistake?" She didn't think she had; it was so simple, with fewer words than the "Memorial on Leaving Office."

Maple Granny shook her head, then pointed to another plant, her voice trembling with excitement. "And this one?"

"This one is called..., it blooms in summer, bears fruit in autumn, and ripens in winter. It has a cool nature and can clear heat and detoxify, as well as kill bacteria when used externally. It can also relieve itching when applied externally, mainly used for mosquito bites or unknown red swelling on the skin."