Chapter 224: Didn’t bring enough leather? You can put it on the tabs
The enthusiastic reception from the Eldest Senior Brother made the chief of the Sheep Tribe, who had been feeling guilty, suddenly calm down.
He stopped rushing to leave and instead looked at the primitive version of the Lei Feng hat the Eldest Senior Brother wore and the gloves with ropes hanging around his neck.
Then, he danced around and asked the Eldest Senior Brother if they could exchange these two items.
To show his sincerity, he took out a pottery bowl from the pile of pottery they had just obtained.
This bowl could be exchanged for five small sheepskins or two large ones.
The Eldest Senior Brother received instructions from the Divine Child a few days ago, saying that pottery was very durable. Once the tribes had exchanged it a few times and had inventory in their tribes, they would no longer use food to exchange for pottery.
To maintain this primitive trading system, exploit neighboring tribes, and lay the foundation for the slowly expanding salt policy, it was necessary to continually develop new things for these tribes to exchange, making them even poorer.
The chief of the Sheep Tribe focused on the gloves and hat worn by the Green Sparrow Tribe, in addition to their own need for protection due to their hands being cracked from raising sheep. Frequently inserting and pulling out of hands into the gloves and occasionally adjusting the hat were related to this.
Han Cheng decided to promote leather gloves and hats to these visiting tribes this winter.
It was an excellent time to have gloves and a hat for warmth in such cold weather.
As for whether the people of these tribes would not exchange due to the price, this
This was non-existent because Han Cheng demanded things for exchange, not necessarily their life-saving food, but also a considerable amount of fur.
Although these tribes were unwilling to exchange food for gloves and hats, they were willing to exchange fur.
With the continuous development of the uses of fur, the demand for fur in the Green Sparrow Tribe was now very high.
Apart from anything else, just bedding alone required a lot of furs.
Developing two more items for trading was also beneficial to the Green Sparrow Tribe.
The chief of the Sheep Tribe thought he was very generous to exchange a pottery bowl for a hat and gloves. However, to his surprise, the person who had just spoken to them with a smile and had told them they could come for salt, shook his head.
Seeing him touch the hat on his head and the gloves hanging around his neck and then pointing at the pottery bowl while raising two fingers to himself, the chief of the Sheep Tribe felt extremely angry.
He felt they had been significantly taken advantage of by this exchange.
"!"
He danced around, bargaining with the Eldest Senior Brother.
But the Eldest Senior Brother, who was very generous with the salt, surprisingly became stingy regarding the leather hat and gloves. He stubbornly insisted on not budging from the price of one bowl for one hat or a pair of gloves.
After a round of bargaining with the chief of the Sheep Tribe, he became even more furious.
In his opinion, such hats and gloves didn't require too much fur, yet the people of this tribe wanted them to exchange two bowls that cost a lot of fur for them. This was simply unacceptable!
"$%#$*^$^^"
He growled to the Eldest Senior Brother, then turned around firmly with the pottery bowl in his hands, indicating that he would not exchange anymore.
The Eldest Senior Brother, now looking like a cunning merchant, was not in a hurry after the negotiation fell apart.
He stopped the chief of the Sheep Tribe, took off the hat he was wearing, and put it on the chief of the Sheep Tribe's head while it was still warm.
The Eldest Senior Brother was cautious, even tying the ropes underneath the "ear flaps" of the hat around the chief of the Sheep Tribe's chin.
His actions were gentle, not even showing such tenderness when dealing with his spouse.
At first, the chief of the Sheep Tribe was hesitant, but as the warmth spread, he soon stopped resisting.
Because his ears, which had been exposed to the cold air and were aching from the cold, were now firmly protected by the warm "ear flaps" of the hat pressed against his cheeks. It felt a bit cool initially, followed by a slightly itchy sensation, but overall, it was extremely comfortable.
So comfortable that the chief of the Sheep Tribe didn't want to take them off!
The Eldest Senior Brother then removed the gloves hanging around his neck and put them on the chief of the Sheep Tribe's neck, carefully covering his hands, which had many cracks from not washing them often and not wearing gloves for protection.
Once again, a warm sensation enveloped his hands, which were freezing and somewhat numb.
The chief of the Sheep Tribe's eyes lit up. He tried to flex his hands continuously, feeling that these fur-made items were very soft and did not hinder the movement of his hands much.
For a pair of hands that had not been warm since winter began, except when placed in his pants or hugged by his spouse, feeling warmth from this small fur-made item was a pleasant surprise.
Seeing their chief enjoying himself like this, the people of the Sheep Tribe couldn't help but become curious and hopeful. Was this thing really that good?
As it turned out, these two items were so good that even the chief of the Sheep Tribe didn't want to take them off.
After hesitating, he took off the hat, feeling a shiver from the cold air. His skin, which had just felt warm, now felt even colder, especially his ears, which had frostbite.
He danced around, bargaining with the Eldest Senior Brother.
But the Eldest Senior Brother, who was very generous with the salt, surprisingly became stingy regarding the leather hat and gloves. He stubbornly insisted on not budging from the price of one bowl for one hat or a pair of gloves.
After a round of bargaining with the chief of the Sheep Tribe, he became even more furious.
In his opinion, such hats and gloves didn't require too much fur, yet the people of this tribe wanted them to exchange two bowls that cost a lot of fur for them. This was simply unacceptable!
"$%#$*^$^^"
He growled to the Eldest Senior Brother, then turned around firmly with the pottery bowl in his hands, indicating that he would not exchange anymore.
The Eldest Senior Brother, now looking like a cunning merchant, was not in a hurry after the negotiation fell apart.
He stopped the chief of the Sheep Tribe, took off the hat he was wearing, and put it on the chief of the Sheep Tribe's head while it was still warm.
The Eldest Senior Brother was cautious, even tying the ropes underneath the "ear flaps" of the hat around the chief of the Sheep Tribe's chin.
His actions were gentle, not even showing such tenderness when dealing with his spouse.
At first, the chief of the Sheep Tribe was hesitant, but as the warmth spread, he soon stopped resisting.
Because his ears, which had been exposed to the cold air and were aching from the cold, were now firmly protected by the warm "ear flaps" of the hat pressed against his cheeks. It felt a bit cool initially, followed by a slightly itchy sensation, but overall, it was extremely comfortable.
So comfortable that the chief of the Sheep Tribe didn't want to take them off!
The Eldest Senior Brother then removed the gloves hanging around his neck and put them on the chief of the Sheep Tribe's neck, carefully covering his hands, which had many cracks from not washing them often and not wearing gloves for protection.
Once again, a warm sensation enveloped his hands, which were freezing and somewhat numb.
The chief of the Sheep Tribe's eyes lit up. He tried to flex his hands continuously, feeling that these fur-made items were very soft and did not hinder the movement of his hands much.
For a pair of hands that had not been warm since winter began, except when placed in his pants or hugged by his spouse, feeling warmth from this small fur-made item was a pleasant surprise.
Seeing their chief enjoying himself like this, the people of the Sheep Tribe couldn't help but become curious and hopeful. Was this thing really that good?
As it turned out, these two items were so good that even the chief of the Sheep Tribe didn't want to take them off.
After hesitating, he took off the hat, feeling a shiver from the cold air. His skin, which had just felt warm, now felt even colder, especially his ears, which had frostbite.
He put the hat back on and then brought two pottery bowls to the Eldest Senior Brother.
Pottery was already very common in the Green Sparrow Tribe, and they needed more fur. The Eldest Senior Brother pushed back the two bowls brought by the chief of the Sheep Tribe.
This puzzled the chief of the Sheep Tribe greatly.
They had argued so fiercely just now for the exchange, insisting on using two pottery bowls, so why didn't they want them now? Could it be that this guy suddenly had a conscience?
Of course, the Eldest Senior Brother didn't suddenly have a conscience. He pointed to the hat on the chief of the Sheep Tribe's head, then to the bowls he was holding, patted the sheepskin wrapped around him, and then raised one hand, extending all five fingers, indicating that one hat required five small sheepskins in exchange.
He then patted the sheepskin wrapped around him again, making an enormous gesture, and then held up two fingers, indicating that it could also be exchanged for two large sheepskins.
At the same time, he said some words to assist in communication.
The Eldest Senior Brother, who liked to use their tribe's less valuable items to exchange for many things from other tribes, now felt a bit troubled.
In their tribe, expressing the number of things was easy; they could say "one, two, three, four, five" directly taught by the Divine Child. But when trading with these tribes, they could only use fingers. When too many items and fingers weren't enough, they also needed to use small stones or tree branches, which was troublesome.
The chief of the Sheep Tribe couldn't understand the meaning of "five" and "two" in the Eldest Senior Brother's mouth, but he could understand the fingers the Eldest Senior Brother was holding up.
After understanding the Eldest Senior Brother's meaning, the chief of the Sheep Tribe seemed a bit discouraged because they had used all the sheepskins they brought this time to exchange for pottery. Now, the neighboring tribe's chief was asking for sheepskins to exchange for these things they called "hats" and "gloves," which they couldn't afford.
It seemed they could only wait until next time to exchange.
If it started snowing heavily, they might not be able to have these two items for the entire cold season.
This made him quite distressed.
After thinking for a while, he reluctantly took off the hat and gloves and handed them to the Eldest Senior Brother, expressing his intentions.
He initially thought that according to the personality of this tribal chief, he would take back the hat and gloves and exchange them on the spot. But he didn't expect the chief to smile and put the hat and gloves back on him. The chief then told him that he could take these two items back first and bring the sheepskins needed to exchange for these two items next time.
After some contemplation, the chief of the Sheep Tribe, who understood the Eldest Senior Brother's meaning, was both surprised and delighted.
He raised the hand with the glove and touched the hat on his head, then walked over to hug the Eldest Senior Brother forcefully, pressing his forehead against the Eldest Senior Brother's shoulder to express his joy and gratitude.
Then, he thumped his chest to reassure the Eldest Senior Brother that they would bring the fur and let the Eldest Senior Brother rest assured.
This kind of deferred payment behavior, which was very common in later generations, immediately had a good effect after being used in advance.
Because once the facade of increasing sales volume is stripped away, it still carries an implicit trust relationship. While most people in later generations are not very sensitive to this aspect of relationships, it is highly valued by simple and primitive people. This is also why the leader of the Sheep Tribe reacted the way he did after understanding the intentions of the Eldest Senior Brother.