Chapter 33: Sudden Inspiration
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Although they were busy, they were all smiling. Their smiles were filled with hope for life, making people feel that they were living a good life.
Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smile. He turned around and walked to the ground where the corn stalks were placed. Then, he placed the corn stalks he had collected this morning on the ground.
Zhao Hai had no intention of hiding it from these people. These people were slaves of the Buda family. They had already been branded by the Buda family’s mark which would not disappear for the rest of their lives. Their fate was already linked to the Buda family, so there was no need to hide it from them.
Those slaves seemed to have adapted to Zhao Hai’s magical performances, so they did not react when they saw Zhao Hai take out so many corn stalks.
Zhao Hai looked at the female slaves holding the corn stalks and said, “These can be used to spread on the ground or to start a fire. But remember, you have to be careful when you start a fire. Also, these corn stalks are still damp. It’s best to dry them first before you use them.”
The female slaves quickly responded, but this time, they did not kneel in a hurry. It seemed like Meg had communicated well with them.
In fact, Zhao Hai guessed wrongly this time. The credit this time was really not Meg’s. Although Meg was a retainer, she was still the granddaughter of the butler of the Buda family. Even before the Buda family was forced to retreat, not many people in the entire family dared to look at her coldly. Her status was much higher than those commoners, and she had not interacted much with them. Naturally, she would not communicate with these slaves who were lower than commoners.
The reason these slaves had such a change was all thanks to Ju. Although Ju was a commoner in the past, she had been a slave for several years. In addition, she had the brand of the Buda family on her now. Although she had been restored to commoner status by Zhao Hai yesterday, in the eyes of these slaves, she was still easier to get close to than Meg.
Most importantly, although Ju had regained her status as a commoner and changed her room, she still worked and joked with the slaves. Therefore, it was easier for these slaves to accept Ju.
Slaves had the lowest status in the entire continent. Sometimes, they were even inferior to their masters’ dogs. There was news that a dog of a noble family died, and the noble family killed a hundred slaves to bury with it. It could be seen how low the status of a slave was.
It was also because of this that the slaves were very wary of anyone with a higher status or related to the nobles. They never believed the words of anyone related to the nobles.
Ju’s identity was special. She was also a slave, but she had been restored to the status of a commoner. Moreover, Ju had always been very honest and had a good relationship with these slaves. That was why these slaves could accept her so quickly.
When women were together, they would naturally chat. Even the slaves were the same. While working with Ju, these people naturally asked Ju about Zhao Hai. Ju did not hide anything from them. This surprised the slaves. They really did not expect Zhao Hai to be so easy to talk to.
At the same time, Ju also knew from Merlyn that Zhao Hai did not like people kneeling in front of him. Therefore, Ju had told the slaves about it. In addition, Zhao Hai’s friendly behavior over the past few days had lowered the vigilance of the slaves, so they did not kneel to Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai did not care. To be honest, even though he had accepted all of Adam’s memories, he was not used to having people kneel to him like this every day. However, in order to not let Merlyn and Grimm say anything about it, he accepted it. Now, these slaves did not kneel to him like before. This made him feel more at ease.
Zhao Hai and Merlyn went to the courtyard again. Meg and the others wanted to bow, but Zhao Hai waved his hand to tell them to continue with their work. He walked to an empty space beside the courtyard and released the stone he had just received.
Then, Zhao Hai watched Meg and the others weave the straw mats. Clearly, those slaves were used to this kind of work and were very agile. Even those who did not know how to weave in the past learned quickly. On the other hand, Meg was far inferior to those slaves.
There was a large pile of grass beside everyone. However, there was more grass beside Meg, almost blocking her entire body.
Seeing Meg’s expression, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but think of a saying ‘borrowing arrows with thatched boats’. Zhuge Liang had sent straw-made scarecrows in boats to deceive the enemy from which he got many arrows. Wait, borrowing arrows with thatched boats? Thatched boat!?
Zhao Hai patted his hand hard. He finally thought of what to use to make a boat. He remembered that when he was on Earth, he had seen a news report that someone had used grass to make a thatched boat and was going to conquer the Pacific Ocean. Although he did not know if that lunatic had succeeded in the end, at the very least, there was one thing that was certain. Grass could be used to make a boat!
Zhao Hai paced back and forth. If the thatched boat was really completed, the problem of the boat would be resolved and it would be easier to move the people to the valley.
At the thought of this, Zhao Hai could not help but be even more excited. This shocked Merlyn, who was standing beside him. She did not understand why Zhao Hai had become so agitated when he had just glanced at Meg. Merlyn quickly said, “Young Master, Young Master, what’s wrong?”
Zhao Hai came back to his senses. He turned to look at the others. As expected, everyone was looking at him. Zhao Hai was embarrassed. He quickly said, “Grandma Merlyn, call Meg and Ju to the living room. I have something to tell them.” With that, he quickly walked to the living room.
Although Merlyn did not know what Zhao Hai was doing, she knew that he must have thought of something good. She quickly called Meg and Ju and walked into the living room.
Zhao Hai was already in the living room, pacing back and forth while touching his forehead habitually. He stopped when he heard footsteps. He saw that it was Merlyn and the other two.
Seeing the three of them enter, Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Come and sit. I have something to say.” The three of them walked to Zhao Hai but did not dare to sit down.
Zhao Hai smiled and sat down first. Then, he waved his hand and said, “Come and sit.” The three of them sat down. Ju sat the furthest with her head lowered.
Zhao Hai looked at the three of them and said, “Grandma Merlyn, we need a boat now. Someone has to take care of the land in the valley, but we have too few resources now. We can’t build a boat at all. Just now, I saw Meg weaving grass and suddenly got an idea. Can’t we use grass to weave a boat?”
Merlyn and the others were stunned. Even Ju looked up. This was the first time they had heard of someone using grass to build a ship.
Merlyn said with uncertainty, “Young Master, will this work?”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Yes, it will definitely work. However, this kind of boat uses a lot of grass. You have to compress the grass and tie it tightly with ropes. I looked at the grass on the mountain. It’s very tough. It shouldn’t be a problem to use it to build the boat. How about this, Meg, you and Ju lead others to try it first. You don’t have to be afraid of failing. In any case, the grass on this mountain is good. We can definitely make it after a few tries.”
Seeing Zhao Hai’s confident expression, Merlyn could not say anything. On second thought, she decided to let it go. After all, even if they failed in making the boat, they would only lose some grass and ropes. It was not a big deal.
Zhao Hai continued, “Meg, follow me to the study. I’ll draw the thatched boat. Just follow the drawing.” With that, he walked upstairs, and Meg quickly followed.
After arriving upstairs in the study, Zhao Hai drew a rough image of a thatched boat according to his memory. It was not very complicated, and the shape was like an Arabian shoe. The front of the boat was raised high, and the back was relatively flat. The bottom of the boat was very thick, and the middle was tied tightly with ropes.
Zhao Hai had only seen the picture of this thatched boat on the computer and roughly remembered it.
After Zhao Hai finished drawing, he handed the paper to Meg and said, “The boat should look like this. Try this first and see if you can make it. It’s okay to try a few times.”
Meg nodded and left with the blueprint. Seeing that Meg had left, Zhao Hai did not know what to do. Suddenly, he looked at the books in the room and his eyes lit up. He looked carefully at the books.
Fortunately, although Adam was a good-for-nothing, he was still a noble child. Therefore, he had learned to read since he was young. Zhao Hai knew all the words in this book.
It was strange. The language spoken on this continent was Chinese. Although pronunciation was different in some places, the difference was not that big. The written part, however, was very different from Chinese. Fortunately, he had received Adam’s memories. Otherwise, he would be illiterate.
Zhao Hai looked at the books in the study. There was nothing too useful. There were only a few miscellaneous books and a few history books. There were also a few books on magic and battle aura.
Zhao Hai picked up a history book and looked at it. He felt dizzy. What kind of history book was this? It was an entire myth and a holy scripture. Moreover, the words were difficult to understand, making Zhao Hai feel a headache.
After reading two pages, Zhao Hai threw the history book to the side and picked up a book that covered various topics. It was a little like a personal travel diary. There was also a lot of information about the local customs on the continent. There were also some legends that suited Zhao Hai’s taste. Zhao Hai could not help but read it seriously.
Seeing that Meg had been out for a long time and Zhao Hai had not come out of the study, Merlyn could not help but feel puzzled. She went to the study door and saw that it was not closed. Zhao Hai was sitting inside and reading a book seriously.