027 A New Beginning

The environment was such that change seemed nearly impossible. Lin Yan could only do her best to make life easier for her people within the existing constraints; survival was no simple matter. She knew that once the houses were completed, improving their tools had to be the next priority. The beasts in this region were massive, and without sharp weapons, it was far too difficult for humans to overcome them.

Everyone in the Sun Tribe worked together, contributing whatever they could to the construction of their new home. A fortnight later, the first courtyard was finished. Built with red bricks and tiles, it had sturdy walls, with the yellowish-brown mud between the bricks standing out clearly. Windows were left in the walls to allow for ventilation and light. After the tribe’s warriors personally tested the structural integrity of the walls, everyone felt at ease. It was certainly much safer than the caves.

The interior was spacious, bright, clean, and airy. Seeing such a house brought tears of joy to those who entered. They had never imagined they would be able to build homes to live in, and from then on, they would no longer have to endure the damp, stuffy stench of the caves. To Lin Yan, these houses were primitive, but to everyone else, they were paradise.

With the first courtyard complete, the people grew more confident. Within ten days, ten more were finished. Seizing the time before the cold season arrived, they rushed to fire more bricks and tiles, building as many courtyards as they could. Once the first was ready, Lin Yan led a group of ten, directing them in the construction of heated brick beds and cooking stoves. She had found these ideas in books; the principles were easy to grasp and the construction was simple, making them perfect for the cold season. With the first house as a model, she no longer needed to oversee the work; those who had already done it could teach the rest.

Lin Yan realized that being surrounded by smart people was a blessing—they understood instructions instantly and mastered skills after a single attempt, requiring very little oversight. Previously, people had been so preoccupied with hunting for survival that they had never focused on anything else, which was why their lives had been so difficult. Now, as long as she provided the ideas, they could be realized quickly, saving her much trouble.

Sixteen days later, the temperature began to drop, and everyone knew the cold season was approaching. Within three days, a bone-chilling cold arrived, and the temperature plummeted. They had built sixty-five courtyards in total. The last five were not yet habitable, but the other sixty were ready for occupancy. These sixty courtyards had been built in a flurry of collective effort. While the brick walls were relatively level, the roofs were crooked and uneven.

Lin Yan didn't dare look too closely, fearing her obsessive-compulsive tendencies would drive her to tear them down and start over. She consoled herself, reminding herself that under such primitive conditions, achieving this much in such a short time was impressive. At least they didn't have to live in the dark, underground dwellings anymore.

Once the houses were finished, people moved in one after another. With a little crowding, sixty courtyards could house everyone. They didn't mind at all if ten people had to squeeze onto one heated bed. Each room featured a large, common heated brick platform where twenty adults could sleep side-by-side, or even more if they squeezed together. Everyone was incredibly satisfied to have a house to live in and a warm bed to sleep on.

Old Lin sat on the toasty, heated bed and said to Old Hei beside him, "This bed is truly wonderful—so warm and cozy. Sleeping is such a treat; I'm no longer afraid of the cold."

Old Hei, who had trouble with his legs—which usually ached to the bone during the cold season—had also experienced the marvel of the heated bed. He praised it heartily, "Indeed, this bed is truly a blessing. Lying on it during the cold season, my legs don't hurt anymore, and my body feels much better. This room is so bright, too; I don't have to stay huddled in the dark, gloomy cave, afraid to go out for a breath of air."

"It's true," agreed another man, Old Shi, joining the conversation. "In the past, when the cold season came, who didn't just huddle in a cave sleeping the days away? We could never sit together like this, laughing and chatting, without even stopping our work. It’s even more wonderful to gather around the fire and roast meat together."

Before long, the group was chatting animatedly, showering Lin Yan with praise for her brilliant idea. Most of them decided that once the cold season passed, they would build courtyards for their own families as well. Who wouldn't want to live in such comfortable, spacious, and bright homes? Through this emergency construction project, everyone realized that building houses wasn't actually that difficult. How wonderful it would be to have rows of courtyards where every family could live side-by-side.

Lin Yan lived with a group of children, along with Hua Hong and Ye Zi, who helped care for them. Now, both adults and children prepared their own meals. The options were limited to simple roasted meat or boiled meat broth, but it was something everyone could manage. During the day, they would roll up the grass mats covering the windows, and the people would study with Lin Yan, with Hua Hong and Ye Zi learning alongside them. Since nobody went out during the cold season, spending three months cooped up indoors, Lin Yan didn't want to waste such precious time. She wrote the characters they needed to learn and simple arithmetic on stone slabs, sending them to the other courtyards so everyone could study. She believed that popularizing education shouldn't just start with children; adults should participate as well. Both adults and children were more than happy to do so; they had nothing else to do, and this gave them a meaningful activity.

As the cold season dragged on, their stored food began to dwindle. People understood that if things continued this way, they would soon run out of food. Seeing the growing anxiety, Lin Yan comforted them, telling them the cold season was almost over. She had calculated that the previous cold season had lasted ninety days. Seventy-five days had already passed, so they only needed to hold on for fifteen more.

Taking the opportunity, she introduced the concept of measuring time, teaching everyone about years, months, and days. She had counted two hundred and seventy-three days in the warm season and ninety days in the cold season. Lin Yan defined a year as three hundred and sixty days, consisting of twelve months, with each month lasting thirty days. The warm season began in the first month, and after thirty days, the second month began, and so on.

Through the popularization of numbers, the people of the tribe quickly grasped the concept and calculation of time, picking it up very rapidly. With the calendar, they could judge the arrival of the warm and cold seasons more accurately, rather than relying on mere intuition as they had in the past, where they often lost track of how much time had passed. At the same time, Lin Yan proposed that the current cold season was the first year of the Sun Era. Once the cold season ended, it would be the first month of the second year of the Sun Era. She instructed people to use this era-based system to calculate the ages of newborns. As for those already born who were truly insistent on knowing their age, they could come to her, and she would tell them.

Just as the food supplies were nearly exhausted and the people had mastered the new method of keeping time and memorizing their ages, the temperature began to rise. The cold season was coming to an end. Everyone was overjoyed. Although this cold season hadn't been unbearable, the shortage of food had made everyone instinctively eat less, fearing that if they ate even a little extra, the food would run out before the season ended. Fortunately, they had finally reached the warm season—a fresh start.

On the first day of the first month of the second year of the Sun Era, the temperatures climbed back up. Everyone walked out of their courtyards to welcome the arrival of the new era. Lin Yan felt just as happy as the rest of them; she had been cooped up for three long months. Being able to step outside felt completely different from being huddled indoors. Although they had improved their clothing, wearing linen and furs, the warmth was insufficient to truly fend off the bitter cold. After walking around outside, the biting chill made people want to retreat back inside.