She was sneering.
This woman left him with a rather deep impression, when other A’wu clan women saw him they would generally look at him with veneration, gratitude or adoration. Only this woman would be expressionless whenever she saw him. Last time he took her pulse he found that she had worms in her body, so he prescribed her an anti worm medicine, but she didn’t say thanks or anything like that.
Now that he thought about it, this woman didn’t look for him again after that, and he had no way of knowing if the worms in her stomach had been dealt with or not.
All A’wu people have worms, some more serious, some more light. Especially the kids. Of course, their eating habits largely influenced this.
It’s not that Yan Mo felt like this woman should thank him, but her cold poker face that carried a hint of mockery, really made him uncomfortable.
The woman’s age was the oldest amongst the women in the tribe, but Yan Mo knew that the other party was almost forty at the most.
Almost forty… in the primitive age, this age was already really close to death.
The woman was different from the other women in A’wu clan, she cleaned herself up well. Though her hair was just as dry and dull as the other women, she tied them up to the back of her head using a cord and left two strips of hair on the sides of her face. She had washed her face clean and her beast skin clothes also looked very neat.
This woman was very tall. Guessing with eyesight, she looked about 175 cm tall. The curves of her body were concealed under her clothes, but her slender and straight legs were still very eye-catching.
Though she’s quite old now, there were still many men who are attracted to her and wanted to pair up with her. However, she never said yes to anyone. It seemed like she had never had a fixed male partner, even her kid was brought up by her alone, but those men and the tribe still helped her raise her kid.
“Sha Lang, what will you do?” This woman even gave herself this manly name.
The name was originally supposed to be (Kill Wolf) Sha Lang, but he changed it on his own into (Sand Gem) Sha Lang when he heard it was for a woman. But after that she ran over to him and said she wanted to be called “kill wolf”, not “sand gem”
Yan Mo tried to talk her out of it. He said that the surname “kill” is not really good, and it would affect her kid’s name in the future.
Maybe it was because of her kids, The woman reluctantly agreed to change “kill” to “sand” in the end, but wouldn’t agree to changing the Lang to Gem no matter what.
And so the tribe had one female sand wolf from that day on.
Sha Lang’s eyes looked up. She spoke calmly, a bit rough and in simple words. “Lord Priest, decides.”
Hm? This sort of tone doesn’t sound like letting him decide everything but more like “##, didn’t you already decided everything for everyone?” That type of sarcastic tone that’s full of complaints.
Yan Mo lightly knocked on the table and thought over what he had done to offend this woman. Or is the way he does things rubbing the A’wu people wrong?
As expected, there’s no such thing as being loved by everyone. It doesn’t matter how much he had done for them.
However, he can’t reprimand Sha Lang because of this. On the contrary, he had to find out where the key problem lies.
“Do you really want me to decide for you? If you really think so, I’ll just decide for you.” Yan Mo flashed out his signature warm and gentle smile. He didn’t get into an argument with her about whether he was taking control of their entire clan, to the point he even controlled their thinking, because it’s true that that’s what he’s doing.
Sha Lang took a deep breath. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know how to express it properly. She pushed away the person beside her, then went around the table, getting close to Yan Mo.
This move made the guards alert. One of them even looked ready to shove her away.
Yan Mo raised a hand to stop him and looked at the woman.
Sha Lang pointed at her forehead and said stiffly, “Touch me. Hear me.”
Yan Mo shook his head. “No need, just say it. You don’t need to use Jiuyuan language. I can understand what you say.”
But she didn’t have a good grasp of the A’wu language either. Or should he say that A’wu language was not a very rich language to begin with? Their sentences are made of just the key words, so the way she speaks sounds rigid.
Sha Lang didn’t force Yan Mo to touch her forehead. With two steps backwards, she returned to the crowd. She stood in front of all the A’wu people and used both Jiuyuan and A’wu language to speak, “Why, woman has follow man live?”
Does Sha Lang mean that she thinks the men should follow the women instead?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Another thing Yan Mo found is that A’wu clan was in the middle of alternating Matriarchy and Patriarchy. Their clan was so small, but they have both a man and a woman as the head of the family. Most of the matriarchal families are the ones with one wife and many husbands.
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Sha Lang’s question and the trouble he had today made him realise that he might have meant well, but he tried to close between an enormous gap in one go and it might be hard for the locals here to accept it.
The way he regarded these women and how he arranged them made him seem like he was underestimating them and seeing them as weak. But he forgot that though they may not be strong at combat, the feudal “womanly virtues” haven’t twisted their personalities. They don’t think of themselves as below men. On the contrary, the kids follow their mothers, it makes the families seem matriarchal. Many of the native women might have a tougher attitude and personality than the men.
He was going at it the wrong way.
Although he tried to not let the patriarchy dominates too much within their rules, things he put forward like the people chosen to be the judges or how union is between one man and one woman, had actually improved the status of men in a disguise and placed the women in a supporting and subordinate position, even though that was not his intention.
Moreover, who can say that following the patriarchal path is the right way? He can refer to his previous world’s history, but it doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
Maybe he can make both matriarchal and patriarchal system develop alongside each other.
He didn’t come to this world to be a supreme overlord or anything. He himself is not a chauvinist — or the nine rules would have more than just nine items. He only wanted to reduce his scum points and create a good living environment for his son and himself.
Since it’s like that… Won’t he get more points if he supported female rights?
And wouldn’t that be more interesting, too?
Yan Mo suddenly became excited. This feels like he’s experimenting, not just on one person but on an entire tribe, an entire country and even… the entire world!
“Huff…” Yan Mo gently exhaled and smiled sincerely towards Sha Lang this time. “Thank you, you made me realise what I’ve done wrong. You did well!”
Sha Lang’s expression changed, her cold mocking face from before now became red with blood. She didn’t expect that Lord Priest would thank her. She had even had the scary thought that she’d be driven out of the tribe.
Why did the Priest thank her instead? What about her words? Isn’t she just asking a question?
Just as puzzled as Sha Lang, were the rest of A’wu clan present. No one knew why Lord Priest would suddenly thank Sha Lang. They thought the Priest would punish her for being disrespectful.
Dofie was lurking behind the crowd, keeping a close eye on the situation. She was secretly happy when Sha Lang stepped out. There’s still someone in the tribe who doesn’t listen to the young priest’s every word.
“Tell me what other question you have. I will clear everything up together.” Yan Mo said gently.
Sha Lang stared at the young boy’s white hair, at the Lord Priest who has a weathered face now. She suddenly felt ashamed, Lord Priest had always been helping them, even giving them his own life force to bless them, but she had never accepted him just because he was an outsider. Was she actually wrong…?
Though she’s ashamed of her previous behaviour, she still needed to get a clear answer for her questions. Sha Lang gripped her fist tightly and started her row of questions, second: “Woman also can hunt. Leader Meng teach man, not woman. Woman listen to you, spin thread, make food, take care kids, why?”
Third: “Kids born from woman. Kids follow their father’s last name, why?”
Dofie curled her lips. Sha Lang’s questions were simply laughable. Whose surname would the women follow if not her father’s? If the women don’t cook or make clothes, are the men supposed to do it?
The A’wu people were thrown into turmoil seeing her aggressive questioning at the Priest and hearing these questions that addressed their major concerns.
The old shaman whisper-shout at her to shut up.
But Sha Lang is not as reserved to old shaman as she is with Yan Mo. She glared at the old shaman and cursed back, “You shut up, kid-killer, why don’t you drop dead!”
The old shaman’s whole body shook with anger. Ever since they learnt the language with the Priest, their vocabulary had grown a lot bigger, curses are learnt the fastest among them. Their own teacher, the Priest curses frequently, and more than him, Lord Chief and Leader Meng would go all out when cursing someone.
Sha Lang’s attitude at the old shaman did not puzzle Yan Mo. After Sha Lang left him with a deep impression, he asked around about her. Out of all the women in the clan, Sha Lang had lived the longest. She’s also the one who had the most kids in their clan, but the old shaman took most of her kids to be sacrifice to the sky and earth, or to Jiu Feng. Some were even… eaten. That’s why the old shaman who was respected by the A’wu people don’t dare throw his weight around in front of her. He couldn’t find anything to say even as she cursed at him.
If you look at their situation, the standing of women in A’wu clan might be higher than the men. Almost like this: Clan leader, old shaman, women, men, little kids, old people.
At present, Sha Lang only had one kid, who’s one of his students. The kid’s not that bright, but he got guts and really good at fights. He’s six years old at the most, but he dared to fight people older than him by several years.
Yan Mo can understand her feelings. If someone took Dudu away from him and used him as sacrifice… he would’ve strapped that person on his dissecting table and keep him alive for a hundred years to keep cutting him!
So he didn’t stop her or scold her for being disrespectful to the old shaman. Only when she looked like she and the old shaman was about to fight each other, did he call her attention away.
“Just these three questions?”
Sha Lang’s attention was immediately called back to him. “Yes, Lord.”
Yan Mo smiled. To think he’d actually hear her call him “lord”.
“Then let me explain each of them. First, about kids following their father’s surname. I think you and some of the clansmen had misunderstood. There’s no tribe rule that said the kids have to follow their father’s surname. Look at Sa Yu, isn’t he following his mother’s surname?”
Sa Yun was embarrassed about this, “Actually, I followed my kid’s surname.”
Everyone laughed out loud and the surrounding atmosphere relaxed.
“Lord, then, let kids follow their mothers!” Sha Lang immediately said.
Oh… She’s smart, Yan Mo laughed. She might not know the long-term effect of the kids following their father’s surname, but she was acute enough to let her know what would give women the most benefits.
Well, should he make this a rule?
But if all the kids follow their mother’s surname, will the men later have to be called “marry-in husbands”? Will the women then have the sole right to the continuation of their family?
Does he have to choose between either matriarchy or patriarchy?
Yuan Zhan and some warriors were rushing over from the distance. Did something happen? Or did he come over because he heard what happened here? Yan Mo waved his hand to Yuan Zhan, who had a frosty face, to tell him that everything’s fine here.
Yuan Zhan didn’t stop, instead speeding up his pace.
Some people noticed Yuan Zhan. In an instant, many of them greeted him one by one, and cleared out a path for him.
Yan Mo was a bit jealous. These people seem to be more scared of Yuan Zhan than him. Should he be more cold and aloof?
Forget it, it’s hard to be cold or aloof when he needs to reduce his scum points.
Yuan Zhan stopped beside Yan Mo — and carefully moving so he didn’t touch Yan Mo — Yuan Zhan stood right beside him, as if showing he was backing Yan Mo, by being there.
Yuan Zhan being there really made everyone quieter. Even Sha Lang looked pale. Lord Priest won’t kill her, but what about Lord Chief?
Yan Mo didn’t tell Yuan Zhan to leave, it’s also good if he stayed and heard what he’d say next.
“They can follow their mother’s name, or their father’s name. Whichever is fine, Primordial God wants us to remember that we are all people of Jiuyuan before all else. Our first surname is Jiuyuan. For example, I’m Yan Mo of Jiuyuan, and you are Sha Lang of Jiuyuan.” Yan Mo used this opportunity to deepen their sense of belonging to the tribe, taking them out of that small label of “tribe” and “family” and growing the notion of “country” inside them.
“As for which of your surnames your kids will follow, you can discuss this with your partner. I imagine it won’t be an issue if you have many kids. The tribe won’t enforce one way or the other, is this acceptable for everyone?” As for the issue of “inheritance”… He’ll slowly explain and instil that concept in them after their people more of their own private property.
Everyone, including Sha Lang looked at each other. One of them nodded first, then everyone else nodded.
Yan Mo raised two fingers. “The second question, why didn’t I tell warrior Meng to teach the women to hunt, but made the women spin flax, weave cloth, cook and take care of the kids? Sha Lang, did you feel that the tribe’s decision was unfair, that it created inequalities between men and women?”
Sha Lang caught onto the keywords: “Equality? Status?”
“Yes, equality and status.” Yan Mo patiently explained these words to her. He’s not only explaining it to her, but to the other A’wu people as well.
“What you were demanding before is ‘equality’. Women will do everything that the men do, and vice versa. However, have you ever thought of this: a man like Da Ze can move stones over 50 kg in one go, what about a woman? I told the men to move the stones, does the women have to do that too?”
Many A’wu women were shaking their heads.
“Likewise, women get pregnant and can give birth. During this time, everyone in the tribe will take care of her and will not let her strain herself during this period. Then, should the women still go out and work during this period, just to treat them equally?”
Sha Lang pursed her lips, and started to get worked up, “Man can’t give birth, it’s…”
“It’s unfair, isn’t it? That’s why equality doesn’t always make things fair.” Yan Mo gave everyone some time for that to sink in.
Dofie’s expression slightly changed. Why is this young priest’s words so different from what everyone said? Ever since she was small, her father, the priest, and even her tutor… No matter who it was, they just told her what a woman has to do, what a princess should be like. No one had ever told her why that is.
Yan Mo noted everyone’s expression and continued, “Sha Lang, I understand your grievances and your thoughts. But I gave everyone tasks that suits their strengths, not because someone is a woman or man. Sha Lang, you are very strong, you’ll be a good warrior after you get some training, but it doesn’t mean that all women are like you. If I make the women train and hunt with the men, that’s being unfair to the women.”
Yan Mo then paused a bit. “That being said, you also reminded me that the people of Jiuyuan are naturally different from other tribes. Our women are strong as well, even if not everyone can be warriors, they have to be able to protect themselves. Starting from today, I will let Wu Chen teach everyone self-defence and how to properly exercise your body. I’m looking forward to seeing more female warriors in the future.”
The A’wu women instantly perked up. The priest said that they’re different from other tribe’s women! They’re strong too!
Sha Lang was trembling with excitement. She clenched her fists, she was wrong. The priest is not like the old shaman, they’re not the same at all!
Dofie slowly lowered her head. Women are strong? If so, why does her father keep asking for a son?
Yan Mo raised three of his fingers. “The third question, why is it the women following the men? I think everyone misunderstood this one too, the rules didn’t say that a woman have to be with a man, just like how the children can follow whichever one’s surname. It’s up to the person, it doesn’t matter who enters whose family.”
Sha Lang thought a bit, hesitantly pushed three words out of her mouth: “Rule, not good.”
Yan Mo asked gently, “What’s not good?”
“Few women, one man not enough. Eat little.” When Sha Lang said this, many of the A’wu people had faces saying it’s what they thought too, only they didn’t dare to speak out like Sha Lang.
Yuan Zhan at this time glanced at Yan Mo to see his reaction. He was actually wondering the same. He’s still not very clear about the concept of ‘private property’ that Yan Mo advocated. Yan Mo had already explained it to him, but he still didn’t really understand the what’s it for or why it’s good.
Yan Mo understood what Sha Lang wanted to say. “You mean that in the future when the tribe implements the private property system, one family is one unit and one man is not enough to raise a family. If one family has more men, that family will be able to live well, is that so?”
Sha Lang nodded vigorously.
Yan Mo’s gaze flitted across the A’wu people. Clearly, everyone had the same mindset as Sha Lang, that’s the real reason why most women from before were willing to have more than one husband.
Primitive people may have simple thoughts, but they are not stupid. After they understood the rules, the first thing they’ll discover is how the rules would badly impact them because of their survival instinct.
“I used to think the same way as you.” Yan Mo first acknowledged everyone’s thoughts, then continued, “But the Primordial God told me that that was wrong.”
Everyone looked at him at the same time. Why would the Primordial God say that it’s wrong? Does Primordial God want people to have little food?
Yan Mo tried to explain to them using the simplest words he can: “How many men can a woman be in her life? Five? Six? These men can band together and hunt, but what if they encounter a pack of beasts or a very strong beast?”
“Get another…” Ye Xing had already answered before he knew it.
Yan Mo nodded while smiling. “Yes. Humans band together because we want to be safer, because we want to get more food. This is how tribes come to be. Whether it is one wife with many husbands or one husband with many wives, it’s because of the poor living environment. People do this in order to increase their chance of survival. What if your tribe can keep everyone full and warm? If a woman can provide for herself even without hunting, does she still need that many men?”
Sha Lang and the women, including Dofie, fell silent. They’re learning to think and understand more things.
“Moreover, if the tribe allows polyandry when there are few women, do we allow polygamy when we have more women in the future? You might as well ask yourself, are you really willing to share your husband or wife with other men or women, when we have enough to eat and clothes to keep us warm?”
Yuan Zhan responded first in his head, I’m not! He automatically substituted the role of wife to his Lord Priest. When he thinks of his Mo, being forced to go to other man or woman, he feels the urge to kill!
The faces of A’wu people, man and woman, slowly changed. That’s right, who actually wants to share their man, or woman? It’s just because they have to survive! Even if they themselves want to have more husbands or more wives, is that something their own husband or wife would want?
Dofie was quick to see the bigger picture. Her father has so many women, and she’s seen more than enough of their grievances, schemes, and nasty looks. If a tribe only allows one husband and one wife for everyone… will their children be happier? Will a woman feel happier as a wife?
Seeing that the fire was stoked, Yan Mo added more wood to the flames. “Why dooes our tribe exist? Why did I and the chief issue the rules? It’s because Jiuyuan is not like other tribes. In our tribe, everyone will be able to provide for themselves, not counting on others to provide for them. Everyone in Jiuyuan is under the care of Primordial God. Our women can be warriors, our men can spin cloth and farm, our old and young contribute to the best they can do, even disabled people will still work. No one in Jiuyuan is useless! No one here is a beggar who needs others to take care of them! Every one of us can provide for ourselves! Whether it’s our hearts or our bodies, we are strong!”
Yuan Zhan shouted, his deep voice was steady and his fist made wild gestures, “No one is useless! Jiuyuan people don’t need other’s pity! Every one of us is strong! Our men, women, kids, elders, are warriors!
People shouted and roared, “We are strong! Strong! We are Jiuyuan!”
Finally after so long.. thank you so much for the precious update ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
💖 sorry for the wait!
It’s oky love..no rush just tk ur time 🤗
This story is kinda insane but i love it. Hope you guys end up completely translating it as it is kind of a very long story.
so i wonder how the private property and the sharing everything will go??? cuz he’s saying he wants to instill a sense of private belongings/property into everyone but also wants all resources to be shared. i think we’re gonna get a socialist system?? and sha lang feeling like she was being rude for questioning him hurt. like no your opinion matters which is why i hope they come up with a democratic system of ruling soon. anyway ik this is being too serious but since the author is focusing on the development of the tribe im curious to see how they’ll do it
From what I read before, it’s more like our modern day, not really socialist…. A bit more capitalist imo.
spoiler:
The internet definition for Socialist is similar to Communism and has public ownership, but what I remember is they get their own stuff, the “state” only store items produced. Members of tribe own their own wages, they are as rich as they are willing to work for.i binge read up to chapter 81 months ago so ive forgotten most things….
it’s a bit disappointing it’ll be capitalistic. tho if they’re going to get as much money as they work for that means their labor wont be exploited by yan mo; seeing as a huge part of capitalism is exploited labor maybe i can have some hope?? thank you for the reply!
aye 👁👃👁
v
I don’t remember everything in pristine detail, but it shouldn’t be able to be our capitalist definition. After all it’s a different world and do not have our historical projection.
hmm maybe it’s going to be more of a social democracy / a mix of socialism + capitalism? tho socialism is supposed to be a mix of communism + capitalism so idk lol ig we’ll see
Ay me da ganas de ir a la serva y construir una tribu, tanta motivación! ….. pero después pienso en la fata de internet y los carnívoros…… y se me pasa jajajajajaj
Respect for the author for discussing issues like this in a reasonable and respectful way.
At the same time tho, polygamy in modern society where the partners haven’t been forced into a relationship due to outside circumstances/influences do actually exist. They’re with multiple partners because that’s what they all want, even though they’ve been raised in a society that has monogamy as the ideal and often even part of their laws. So my question is where do they fit into this discussion?
Also maybe this is too heavy a topic for the comments under a web novel XD
I was waiting for you to get here!
that’s what I thought too, but it might be influenced by the year this was made and also the home country’s culture. Monogamy is part of the ‘socialist values’ afaik
He’s influenced by the world he lived in the past, of course. And regarding multiple partners, Yan Mo has already given okay sign to many families already. And in case of special circumstances, the ruling party or whatever is there. Anyways, there are countries where polygamy is legal, but we all know the status of women in those countries. Polygamy or polyandry does hurt the status of one gender enormously.
Yup that’s what I am saying!
As long as it’s an exception not the norm. Besides having multiple spouses is really when inheritance gets mess up. Hell even actual full blooded siblings
Many families had been torn because of messy inheritance. Also, no way will legal children will want to share with the illegitimate ones, of course there’s always an exception. But there’s a reason why they’re exceptions. This path is always less convenient and more effort, if they’re willing then go I guess.
Wow, this is so cool.
I’m rereading the novel, and this chapter is still the best chapter of this novel. This chapter alone makes the novel stand out from the rest of CN novels.