Qin Ziwen finished giving instructions and left with Qin Ziwu.
Watching their departing backs, Li Yue withdrew his gaze.
He sat on a damp rock nearby, staring blankly at the river surface.
This seemingly sunny and cheerful young man had become unusually quiet.
He never expected Brother Qin would have so many families willing to follow him.
Li Yue sighed inwardly.
It made sense though - someone as kind as Brother Qin would naturally attract followers.
But all the other families had more than one person. Even that Doctor Zhao had two people in his household. Only he was fighting alone.
Seeming to sense his master's low spirits, the large Golden Retriever stuck out its tongue, approached its master, and licked his cheek.
Li Yue wiped the drool from his face and laughed, "You stink."
He hugged the Golden Retriever, feeling a warmth in his heart. He had almost forgotten - you're my family too. I'll work hard with you to survive well in this world.
It's not like I have no advantages either. My advantage is the knowledge in my head.
Thinking this, Li Yue gained more confidence.
Since transmigrating to this world, Li Yue had never felt secure. Compared to others who had family companions, he slept alone in an empty house, often waking from nightmares at night.
During the early days after transmigration, he actively contacted several friends from his usual dog-walking group, and they formed a team together.
To gain the others' trust, he even gave them the cold weapons he usually collected.
But what he got in return was abandonment.
He thought he would die in the forest, but then he met Brother Qin, Brother Deng, and the others, who took turns carrying him back to the residential complex.
That night, feeling the cool breeze, gazing at the moon above, and listening to the conversations around him, was when he felt most at peace.
......
"Brother, all these woods are soaked with water. Li Tieshan told us to find dry wood, but where can we find dry wood?" Qin Ziwu swung the stick in his hand, constantly brushing through the grass ahead.
Qin Ziwen spoke while observing the branches around them, "Aren't they all on the trees? No hurry. Tieshan said slightly bent branches are fine too - we can straighten them by heating and bending."
In the grass, a black snake disturbed by the stick quickly slithered away.
The two stopped, confirming the snake had gone far before continuing to scout ahead.
Qin Ziwu suddenly pointed at a tree not far away, "Brother, do you remember this place? We picked mulberries here before."
Qin Ziwen looked in that direction, "Of course I remember. It was the first food we found. Now all the mulberries on the tree have been picked."
"Hey, brother, I remember Li the Blacksmith saying mulberry trees can also be used for spear shafts, right? Not the best choice, but usable."
"Yes."
Qin Ziwu continued, "Are mulberries the fruit of mulberry trees?"
"They both have 'mulberry' in the name, so I think so."
The two looked at each other.
Perfect.
Finding mulberry trees at least gave them a backup option.
Their knowledge of trees wasn't extensive. If a tree happened to bear fruit or flowers, they might recognize what kind of tree it was.
But if it had neither, then it became more difficult.
Their recognition of most trees was limited to: this tree is thick, this tree is tall, this tree grows very straight.
So along the way, their method for finding suitable spear shafts was simple and crude - they would break off branches or chop them down with a firewood knife, then swing them to test if they were hard, dense, flexible, and usable. If they worked well, then they were good material.
Qin Ziwu climbed the tree, looking for parts suitable for spear shafts.
Soon, he cut down two sections of branches about two meters long with appropriate thickness.
The two picked up the branches, carried them on their shoulders, and continued searching.
This time they walked up the northern hillside where the trees were dense and light was sparse.
In the gap between several trees, a tree attracted Qin Ziwen's attention.
(Image: Cudrania Wood)
Mainly because there were several tilted branches lying on the ground beside this tree, their stems already naturally air-dried and straight in length.
The only flaw was that many thorns grew on the sides.
He picked it up, used the firewood knife to shave off the thorns, swung it a few times - it made whooshing sounds, felt good in hand, was heavy, and he could feel the high density of this wood in his hand.
Besides this wooden branch in his hand, there was a smaller branch on the ground nearby. But compared to the one in his hand, this one was thinner and shorter.
"Being shorter doesn't matter - it can just be used for throwing spears."
With their harvest, the two returned home with four long branches.
After Li Tieshan finished his work, he came to identify them.
Taking the two mulberry branches, Li Tieshan first nodded, then shook his head, "Sir, mulberry branches can be used for spear shafts, but their hardness is limited. They're fine for dealing with people, but if used against fierce beasts, they can easily break during collisions."
"Then look at these two."
Taking the two new branches, Li Tieshan's eyes lit up with recognition, "Sir, this is Cudrania Wood! Not only hard, but also moisture-resistant and rot-resistant. It's one of the best materials for spear shafts, and it's also good material for making bows."
"Can both of these be used for spear shafts?"
Li Tieshan first picked up the larger one, nearly 2.8 meters long, "This one can. Not only long but straight. With just a little processing, it will make a good spear shaft."
He then picked up the smaller one, only 1.7 meters long, "This one is a bit short. It could be used for making bows or short spears, but I don't know how to make bows and would hate to waste the material."
"No hurry, let's set it aside for now. How's the animal trap coming along?"
Li Tieshan said, "Sir, it can be completed today, but there's one key component I've tried several times - the ones I've forged all fall short of the requirements on the blueprint. The animal trap's power might only be about fifty percent of what's shown on the blueprint."
"What's missing?"
"A spring."
Qin Ziwen roughly understood, pondered for a moment, and said, "Don't worry about the spring. I'll solve it."
After leaving the blacksmith, Qin Ziwen said to his brother, "Go to where we found the Cudrania Wood branches earlier and cut down the remaining Cudrania Wood."
"Okay." Qin Ziwu nodded.
After going out, Qin Ziwen went straight to the river, found Li Yue, and explained his idea.
When Li Yue heard Brother Qin needed a spring, he said without hesitation, "Springs that can be used on animal traps... these things are everywhere. Modern industry uses them in many places, and they're not uncommon in the residential complex either.
The most suitable would be motorcycle or electric bike valve springs - they have high strength and suitable size. Then there are car suspension springs - their quality is actually better than valve springs, but they're too hard to process, and the size is too large. If we used suspension springs of corresponding size for animal traps, I estimate they could trap dinosaurs."
Saying this, Li Yue laughed. Dinosaurs were extinct, where would we find dinosaurs anyway.
......