I Became The Chief Of A Primitive Village

Chapter 1092, The Kapok Fruit

Translator: Silavin

Su Bai woke up that morning to find a number of unfamiliar objects on the table. He walked over to have a look.

“Shaman, breakfast is ready. You can wash up and then eat.” Yu Ying’s gentle voice came from across the room.

She untied her apron and walked out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of steaming lean-meat congee.

Since Min had begun training people to prepare crayfish, the kitchen had been taken over by Yu Ying. Yu Ying did not mind this in the least. She had always had a particular fondness for cooking.

“Who brought these things to the table?” Su Bai asked.

“The people from the farmland brought them over. They said they found a new species in the forest and did not know what it was. They thought the Shaman might know, and that it might be useful, so they brought it back.” Yu Ying explained.

“These things are indeed useful.” Su Bai had examined them at length and finally worked out what they were.

“Shaman, what is this? I have never seen it before.” Yu Ying gave her fox tail a curious flick.

Yu Ying had studied the objects herself that morning for quite some time and still could not make anything of them.

“These are called Kapok Fruit. What is inside them is extremely useful.” Su Bai smiled.

What he was holding were the fruit of the Kapok Tree. Back where he had lived in the modern world, there had been several Kapok Trees growing just outside his building. He knew Kapok Fruit better than almost anything.

The Kapok Fruit of this primitive era were noticeably large, but the colour, appearance, and smell were exactly the same as the ones he was familiar with.

“Kapok Fruit? I have never heard that name before. Shaman, what use could something this shape possibly have? It does not look edible.”

Yu Ying picked up another Kapok Fruit and examined it, resisting the urge to take a bite.

She had heard it described as a fruit, and had been told it was useful, so her thoughts had gone immediately to food. After all, every new thing the Shaman had ever brought out before had been something to eat. She assumed this would be no different.

“Silly girl. This is not for eating. It is for using. We can fill quilts with the fluff inside, or pillows, or weave it into cloth. We can even use it to make padded clothing, padded quilts, cushions, and so on.”

Su Bai’s smile broadened as he spoke. He drew out the seeds from inside a Kapok Fruit and continued, “As for the seeds, they can be pressed for oil, or made into soap and fertiliser.”

The more he said, the more pleased he became. The Kapok Tree was, from root to tip, a treasure of the first order.

The roots and stems were useful too. Their extracts could be made into astringents and analgesics. The sap could be used to treat dysentery. The root bark, stem bark, and spines, ground into powder and made into an ointment, could treat acne. And then there was the Kapok Flower itself, which was a traditional medicinal ingredient.

Boiling Kapok Flowers in water produced a remedy with benefits for rheumatoid arthritis and bronchitis. It also promoted urination, aided digestion, cleared heat and dispelled dampness, treated postnatal blood stagnation, regulated the digestive tract, and eased chronic gastritis and dysentery. It could relieve pain, improve sleep, ease numbness and swelling, and more besides.

Was something with all of that to offer not a treasure? That was why Su Bai had been so delighted the moment he realised these were Kapok Fruit.

“How can something so strange-looking be so useful? How is it that none of us ever noticed it before?”

Yu Ying examined the cotton-like fluff inside the Kapok Fruit with curiosity. She found it soft and yielding to the touch, and the texture seemed truly fine.

“There are plenty of things you have not come across yet. You will learn them slowly, in time.” With that, Su Bai forgot entirely about washing up and eating. He sat down at his place and picked up paper and a charcoal pencil and began to draw.

“Shaman, are you not going to have breakfast first? What are you drawing?” Yu Ying, for her part, also forgot about breakfast.

“A drop spindle. Now that we have cotton fluff, we need to spin it into cotton thread. Once we have cotton thread, making clothing, scarves, hats, and that sort of thing becomes much easier.”

Su Bai drew as he spoke. The moment he saw the Kapok Fruit, the shape of a drop spindle had come to him at once. He had watched a number of short videos about it in the modern world. A drop spindle was perfect, capable of turning a mass of cotton fluff into a length of thread in no time.

“Shaman, is there anything I can do to help?” Yu Ying had heard another unfamiliar word.

“Not for now. Once I have finished drawing, take the plans to the carpenter workshop and ask them to make one for me to have a look at.” Su Bai smiled.

He was already eager to try it. If it worked, the Tribe’s development would have taken another large step forward.

He had been waiting for this for some time, expecting either the System to provide him with cotton seeds, or for someone in the Tribe to discover cotton out in the forest.

He had included cotton in the illustrated guides he had given to the Warriors previously, for precisely this reason. He had been hoping all along for the Tribe to begin producing cotton goods, which would raise the standard of living. That way, when the snow season arrived, having cotton products would make getting through it far easier.

“Yes.” Yu Ying waited quietly at his side.

“No, no, no. A drop spindle would be too slow. I need to make a spinning wheel. That is the only way we can produce in large quantities later on.”

Su Bai muttered to himself as he set aside the plans he had just drawn and took out a fresh sheet to start again. He had only been thinking about the wilderness survival videos, where a drop spindle was made out of necessity when proper tools were unavailable. But now he was managing an entire Tribe, and he had very capable carpenters at his disposal.

[A spinning wheel is clearly the thing we should make first. The efficiency it provided would be far greater.] With that thought, Su Bai’s drawing pace picked up. The charcoal pencil moved across the Wolf Tail Grass Paper with a steady, soft scratch.

“Shaman, would you like to eat breakfast first? I am worried you might be getting hungry.” Yu Ying knew what was coming would be a significant undertaking.

“I am fine, I am not hungry yet. Go and let the farmland people know I need a large quantity of Kapok Fruit. Ask them to collect all they can find and bring it here.” Su Bai told her.

If they were going to spin cotton thread with a spinning wheel, the single Kapok Fruit in front of him would not be anywhere near enough.

“All right.” Yu Ying nodded immediately and turned to leave.

Su Bai watched Yu Ying go and then turned his full attention back to recalling the precise working principles of a spinning wheel. The plans needed to be drawn in very fine detail, or the carpenters would not be able to make it.

After all, the people of this primitive era had no concept of spinning. He would simply have to put in the extra effort himself.

“Wait, the Tribe is already making linen cloth. I really am being slow today.” Su Bai laughed at himself.

The linen operated on exactly the same principle. Kapok’s fluff would be even simpler.