Chapter 511 - 41: A New Journey
The rainy season passed, and another round of drought arrived.
Zhao Shu’s corpse hung on the renovated gallows, gradually decaying into a skeleton amidst the wind and rain.
It didn’t take long for people to forget him, just like they forgot those comrades who died in tribal conflicts.
Life must go on.
The wooden and stone walls on the beach were taken down and rebuilt, and the piled building materials rose high like a small mountain.
From the mountain top, one could overlook the lush primeval forest, visibly missing a small piece, as if gnawed away by some giant beast.
...
Saturday had his own office space, which the Leader called a school, meaning it was a place for learning.
However, currently, Saturday was the only teacher at the school.
Chen Fu, Chen Lu, and Chen Shou, who often followed the Leader, would occasionally teach at the school, but what they taught was obscure and hard to understand, not very helpful for life. Only those who enjoyed studying so-called "mathematics" and "mechanics" would attend their classes, like the zebra.
Most of the time, the three of them were nowhere to be seen, and since presiding over Zhao Shu’s execution, Sunday also rarely appeared in public.
The veterans were relieved by this; they all remembered Sunday’s fierce demeanor when he killed. Even though they had been on the island for so long, the psychological shadow left by Sunday remained.
Not seeing this calamity was undoubtedly a good thing for them.
Of course, even if Sunday continued to appear frequently, it wouldn’t have much impact on their lives.
Without the interference of rain, their work resumed its usual busy state.
The Leader said that we must protect the environment and develop sustainably.
So they replanted saplings in the deforested areas, allowed nutrient-depleted farmland to rest, and reclaimed new fields—
this was the crop rotation Saturday taught them.
The Leader said that transportation should be emphasized.
So they built stone roads in frequently traveled areas.
The new carts made by the Leader were much more useful than the old wooden ones, rolling easily and sturdily, and only those who worked the hardest had the privilege to use them.
Those two creatures called "oxen" birthed calves that grew stronger as if inflated.
The Leader asked Niu Yang to bond more with the calves and train them to pull carts, and it has been quite effective now.
They pierced a ring through the oxen’s noses, and as long as they pulled the ring, the oxen would follow.
Niu Yang was a name given to him by the Leader, as it reportedly fit his occupation and was related to the ocean; other people envied Niu Yang for receiving such a name from the Leader, an honor not just anyone could enjoy.
Apart from the Leader’s bestowed name, Niu Yang also owned a large bullock cart. Every few days, he would deliver cow’s milk, goat’s milk, or dairy products to the factory.
Others benefited from the Leader’s favor and sometimes received some dairy to eat.
People emulated the Leader, cooking milk with salt and tea leaves to make salty milk tea, which could be poured over rice or buns, tasting both good and convenient.
It’s just that tea leaves were hard to come by; such rarities could only be obtained by those with exceptionally outstanding work.
Not everyone who had tea leaves was as generous as the zebra; most of the time, they would hide the tea leaves in some corner of their home, saving them to enjoy during festivals.
Even though the natives were not very appreciative of the bitter taste of tea leaves.
But on this island, anything the Leader liked represented "trends" and "fashion," and everyone aspired to be like Saturday, Sunday, or the trio of Chen Fu, Chen Lu, and Chen Shou, to become "superior people."
However, except for a few model workers, most people saw no hope of promotion.
Of course, to the islanders, their current life was already good enough, almost like Heaven.
After all, not everyone was like the zebra or the deceased Zhao Shu, yearning for higher status.
They felt that if they could live like this until they died, it would be the happiest thing. Finding a "wife" and having a few children would make it even more complete.
...
In early February 1664, before the next rainy season began, the islanders embarked on a new project—
building ships.
Last year, they worked together to build a sailboat that could hold about twenty people.
According to the newcomers to the island, it was that sailboat that brought them to this place called Heaven.
Now, they were going to build a bigger ship, which also meant the Leader had a more ambitious goal.
The smart ones had already speculated whether the island would soon welcome a new group of people.
The veterans were eager—
although they couldn’t improve their status through the Leader’s favor, merely residing on the island was a form of potential identity; the more newcomers arrived, the more valuable the veterans, who knew more secrets and mastered more knowledge, would become.
The newly assimilated islanders were also particularly excited.
There were only 24 people on the island, excluding the rarely seen Leader, Sunday, and the trio of Chen Fu, Chen Lu, and Chen Shou; the people they interacted with daily were just a few.
Seeing each other every day and talking every day inevitably became tiresome.
Moreover, the first group of people to arrive on the island were young or middle-aged, making it not very harmonious with them, who were youthful and had lively minds.
People of their age still held more expectations for life, hoping to gain more new experiences.
Building ships was undoubtedly an exciting endeavor; when this ship was larger, more complex, and sturdier than their Canoe, going to sea became ever more alluring and worthy of expectation.