009 Introduction to Mental Strength

The shoes made by Yeya and Mushi were all the same size as hers. Although they looked a bit crooked, only she could wear them.

Lin Yan rested her forehead in her hand and sighed, "Straw sandals can be made larger or smaller. You should adjust them according to the size of your own feet."

Yeya immediately asked, "How do I adjust them?" He had followed Lin Yan's instructions perfectly to make them exactly as they were.

Lin Yan thought for a moment, then began to demonstrate, teaching them hands-on. By using more cattail reeds for the soles, they could be woven into larger sizes.

After this lesson, it was as if a lightbulb went off for Mushi. He immediately exclaimed, "If there are enough cattail reeds, could we weave a very large sheet?" He stretched out his hands to demonstrate, his expression filled with excitement.

Lin Yan nodded. "Yes, we can weave them larger. Instead of making shoe uppers, we can make a large flat piece. Hmm, that thing should be called a mat."

"What is a mat?" Yeya asked curiously, his hands never stopping their work.

Lin Yan walked around, gesturing as she explained, "If you weave a mat this big with cattail reeds and lay it on the ground, you can lie or sit on it. If you put it in the cave, you won't have to touch the dirt. You could even line the cave walls with them..."

The more she talked, the more excited she became. How had she not thought of this sooner? Mats had so many uses.

As Lin Yan shared her vision, Mushi and Yeya were stunned; they never imagined she could come up with so many ideas. However, what she said made perfect sense—mats were indeed incredibly versatile.

The three of them brainstormed for a while, full of motivation. Forgetting their hunger, they worked until the sun dipped low in the west, and even then, they did not stop.

When Huahong and Yezi returned and saw them working with such focus, they were extremely curious, watching for a long time without quite understanding. But when they saw the fruits of the trio’s afternoon labor—several crooked, mismatched straw sandals—and heard their explanations, they became just as excited. Cattail reeds were everywhere; finding them was no trouble at all.

Two more people joined the straw-sandal-weaving team. By the light of the fire, the five of them worked a little longer, but fearing that the light would attract wild beasts late at night, they were forced to stop.

Before falling asleep, everyone was thinking that they must get up early tomorrow to weave straw mats. While stone slabs were useful, they were heavy and inconvenient to move, but straw mats were different—they could be made to any size and carried with ease. And the straw sandals were especially wonderful for protecting their feet. Filled with excitement, they drifted off to sleep.

When Lin Yan opened her eyes the next day, it was already bright, and the sun was high in the sky. Perhaps she had been too exhausted from the previous day; she had slept very soundly.

When she climbed up and stepped out of the cave, she saw a large group of people gathered in front of her home. Lin Yan watched quietly. Everyone was busy struggling with the cattail reeds in their hands. There were twelve people in total, eight of whom she had never seen before.

Walking over to Huahong, Lin Yan asked in her small, milky voice, "Mother, who are these people? Where did they come from?"

She guessed they must be neighbors living in the area. Her family had been making quite a stir lately with their fire and straw sandals, and it was hard not to draw attention. Sure enough, she heard Huahong say, "They all live in this area, not far from our home. This is Lanhua, this is Honghua..."

Most of their names were either flowers or plants. They were all women, and they looked younger than Huahong. Everyone smiled at Lin Yan without reserve, their expressions simple and honest.

Lin Yan confirmed that they came from five different families living less than twenty meters away. Usually, they were busy coming and going from dawn to dusk, so they rarely crossed paths. When the fire was lit at night, some had noticed and observed for two days before finally coming over to ask about it.

Huahong and the others didn't mind at all; they enthusiastically promoted the benefits of the fire and recommended the straw sandals and mats. Yezi’s family also chimed in to help. Thus, the current scene unfolded.

They looked at Lin Yan with joy and delight in their eyes. Such a clever little child must be a blessing from the Sun God to the tribe.

Lin Yan smiled shyly and told them to continue with their work. She ate a red apple, drank some boiled water, and went back to studying her straw sandals. She wanted to make a thick-soled version, which she hadn't gotten around to yesterday because she was busy with the mats.

With many hands, the work went faster, and news traveled quickly. By the time Lin Yan finally finished a three-layered straw sandal and tried it on, it felt great; the thick sole was much more comfortable. By then, her name had spread throughout the Sun Tribe. Everyone except those out hunting was curious, and they came to visit Lin Yan’s home one after another.

The house was exceptionally lively that day, with people coming and going. Lin Yan stopped making sandals, instead sitting under the shade of a tree, waiting for people to see her and ask her all sorts of questions. She smiled, talking to everyone, asking for their names, and never once feeling impatient.

She had finally met the other members of the Sun Tribe; she was no longer seeing the same fixed group of people every day. Although everyone looked somewhat similar—dark skin, cracked and rough, wrapped in tree leaves, and looking like pure, primitive wild people—Lin Yan was delighted.

A preliminary count showed that 324 people had come to visit, all of them female, of varying ages. Among them, the repetition rate of names was incredibly high—there were twenty-five named Honghua. They were all simple and kind, with no calculation or greed in their eyes, only sincerity and goodwill.

Lin Yan thought that the lives of these wild people were simple, without ulterior motives; they spent their days working just to get something to eat. They had no other thoughts, only the instinct to survive.

Having made initial contact with the tribe, Lin Yan received great admiration. From that day on, more and more people sought her out. Whenever they encountered a problem they couldn't solve, their first instinct was to find Lin Yan.

Though she was small and short-legged, limiting her mobility, she was more than happy to help others clear their doubts. In just ten days, every household in the Sun Tribe had lit a fire, and people began to eat cooked food, wear straw sandals, and lay out straw mats.

One day, an eight-year-old girl brought a straw mat she had woven to show Lin Yan. Lin Yan was startled when she saw it. The girl, who had come to her for advice a few days prior, was named Caozhi. Lin Yan had felt that Caozhi was very bright at the time, so she had mentioned in passing that there were many ways to weave cattail reeds—beyond the simple over-under pattern, one could use more strands or change the weaving steps.

Only a few days had passed, and Caozhi had already grasped it completely. In the mat she had woven, she had twisted the cattail reeds into thin ropes, some thick and some thin, making the mat much more refined and tight.

Lin Yan praised her, "Caozhi, you are so clever to think of weaving it this way. It looks better and is more useful."

Caozhi smiled shyly. "Really?"

"Of course it's true. You did a great job. In the future, you can think of other weaving methods to create even more patterns."

Encouraged and affirmed, Caozhi beamed with joy.

That night, Lin Yan finally remembered to visit the Science and Technology Museum. She had been too busy lately and hadn't managed to get in. Perhaps because she had been so busy, her little body couldn't handle the fatigue, and she had been feeling very sleepy, often oversleeping.

As soon as she entered, she heard Pangbao’s voice.

"Ten days ago, your mental energy reached Level R."