Title: A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse
Translator: Little Bamboo Spirit
Chapter 217 - Bei Nuan, I discovered that you won't do the task if it doesn't come with a punishment (1)
Along the way, they walked, chatted, and occasionally took breaks. Before noon, they arrived at their destination. It was a canyon between two steep mountains.
The canyon had the mountains as barriers, and there was a high fence made of wooden stakes that could keep zombies out of the camp.
Through the gaps between the wooden stakes, Bei Nuan could vaguely see people busily building houses inside the fenced area.
As soon as they arrived at the entrance, she saw a large group of people waiting under the bright sun. When that group saw them, they hurried over to greet them and saluted Yawen in unison.
Saint Yawen ignored them. She looked disappointed after briefly scanning over the crowd.
From this, Bei Nuan could easily guess that the person Yawen was acting cutely spoiled on the phone wasn't here.
The welcoming group respectfully escorted Saint Yawen away while the rest of the returning group had to be checked for injuries before being allowed inside.
The person checking Bei Nuan for injuries was a middle-aged woman. Middle-aged women were universally friendly, and this woman at the border wasn't an exception. She chatted with Bei Nuan during the checkup and also said that Bei Nuan and the others were quite lucky.
Although their tribe accepted outsiders, their standards were very strict. They only accepted people that haven't been greatly affected by Xiuye to avoid destroying the tribe's peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.
After the middle-aged woman was done with the examination, she brought Bei Nuan a new set of clothing. It was a white shirt and white pants, the same as what everyone else was wearing. The shirt had a mandarin collar, and the pants were slightly loose for easy movement.
Not only did the middle-aged woman give Bei Nuan a new set of clothes, she also seriously taught Bei Nuan how to salute for all occasions.
The past day had shown to Bei Nuan that this tribe regarded saluting as a daily exercise and the tribespeople bowed to each other at the drop of a hat.
As it turned out, depending on who you were saluting, the occasion, and why you were saluting, the salute would be different.
For each salute type, there were subtle differences in where you placed your hand and the angle, the gesture of your fingers, the angle of your bow, how you raised your head, how you placed your feet, where you were looking, etc. Different salutes expressed different meanings.
From simple meanings like "Hello", "Thank you", and "That's alright" to complicated ones like "I'm very grateful you helped me, and I'm willing to reciprocate", they could all be expressed with a salute.
Bei Nuan calculated the various permutations of salutes under possible scenarios and came up with at least a hundred types.
Not showing enough etiquette was bad, too much was also wrong. If you did it incorrectly, they would think you were crude and not well educated.
For example, if you used the greeting salute for a young person on an older person, that person would probably feel disrespected. If you use the greeting salute for an older person on a younger person, that person might think you were calling them old. All in all, it was extremely troublesome.
What was the point of insisting on using so many different types of greetings? What a hassle. What was wrong with a simple, "Have you eaten yet?" That was affectionate and genuine.
After learning for a long time, Bei Nuan only had a rough grasp.
While learning the various salutes, Bei Nuan asked the middle-aged woman, "I heard your tribe has a saint."
The middle-aged woman told her everything she knew without reservation.
"That's right, Saint Yawen. Our tribe has passed down the portrait of the saint for the past hundreds of years. It was foretold that the end of the world was approaching, and when that time comes a saint will descend to the earth to save everyone."
Bei Nuan thought; how magical, a saint and a prophecy.
"See, isn't the world in chaos now?" The middle-aged woman continued to say, "Our previous chief saw Saint Yawen in a village when the saint was younger, felt that the saint looked like the person in the portrait, and brought her back to be the saint."
"The previous chief?" Bei Nuan was curious.
"Yes, the old chief has passed away. The current chief is Chief Jia Han."
Bei Nuan changed her clothes and saluted the woman according to their tribe's rules.
The middle-aged woman looked very embarrassed.
"Is that wrong?" Bei Nuan wondered aloud, "You're older than me, so shouldn't I use the salute from a junior to an elder?"
The middle-aged woman explained, "Although I'm older, I'm serving you now, so you can't bow that deeply."
The middle-aged woman also helped Bei Nuan reposition her hands.
Bei Nuan was puzzled. "It's not noon yet. Isn't this the right way to place my hands?"
"That's the hand position used for morning greetings because we'll meet each other again, but I'll be stationed here to check on people all day. We probably won't meet again today, so the salute should be a bit more formal."
Bei Nuan wanted to scream. If this was a class, she would definitely fail with no room for discussion.
Bei Nuan finally went out and entered a sea of white clothes. She felt well integrated.
On the other side, the guys had also come out and were wearing white shirts and white pants too.
Bei Nuan looked over Lu Xingchi. Not bad, although his clothes were thin, it wasn't see-through at least.
Jue Niu saw that she had come out and immediately saluted her.
Bei Nuan carefully judged and comprehensively analyzed the time, the location, and the event as well as the other party's gender, age, status before solemnly saluting.
Jue Niu's face twitched. Still, he had a good temper. His heart was as calm as water, and he didn't allow any negative emotions to leak through. He endured it and said nothing.
Jue Niu led the group to where they would be staying.
The camp was being built, and there were people busy building homes everywhere. They were using wood, bamboo, and thatch to build small houses with indoor balconies where the second floor overlooked the first floor.
Although Bei Nuan and the others were wearing the same clothes as everyone else, their outstanding looks attracted the attention of everyone in the camp along the way.
Seeing so many girls' lingering gazes on Lu Xingchi, Bei Nuan contemplated, wasn't this against the tribe's rules? These girls should quickly turn to face the wall and reflect on themselves.
Little Three suddenly sighed and interrupted her wild thoughts, "Bei Nuan, I discovered that you won't do the task if it doesn't come with a punishment."
Bei Nuan stuck out her tongue. Too many things had happened. She forgot about that task.