NOVEL WEB Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Molding Clay Figures
Humans are always easily satisfied. After a day’s work, even though they were tired, even though it was arduous, and despite the dangers, when they gathered around the fire pit, enjoying delicious food, their hearts were always filled with happiness and contentment, smiles on everyone’s faces.
Two mud-covered beggar chickens, well, let’s just assume they were chickens. The thick clay shells were cracked open with wooden sticks, revealing tender, juicy chicken meat. Without any seasoning, only a bit of coarse salt was smeared on top, which was said to be precious, having been exchanged from other tribes. Two large birds resembling turkeys, three big snakes, over ten mud-covered roasted bird eggs, and finishing off with some fruit for dessert made for a delightful dinner.
(Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org
Beggar’s chicken)
The delicious chicken earned unanimous praise from everyone. It was understandable; eating roasted meat every day got dry and boring, and who could endure it? Hopefully, more pottery would be made so that soup could be boiled and enjoyed.
The leisure time after meals wasn’t wasted either. The newly peeled snake skin was torn into small strips by the women, who imitated Luo Chong’s style to tie up the children’s hair. Once the hair was tied, the women began weaving baskets. After a day of experimentation, it was proven that backpacks were indeed very useful. Even though there were fewer people in the foraging team today, the harvest was greater instead. The women’s enthusiasm for weaving backpacks clearly increased significantly.
When the moon reached its zenith, two round moons, one large and one small, intersected in the sky, forming an eerie silver ring. Just moments later, they separated once again.
All the clan members in the cave were asleep, Luo Chong included. Having worked hard all day, he was already exhausted, after all, his body was still that of a ten-year-old child. But most importantly, it was the lack of salt that made him feel physically drained from doing too much work.
The autumn wind swept through the fallen leaves as the sun slowly rose above the horizon. The warm sunlight baked the dew covering the earth, creating white mist in the air, just like the dream Luo Chong had the previous night.
By this time, Luo Chong had already woken up. Last night, he didn’t sleep with the adults but continued to cuddle with the two little kids in the hay pile. Hugging the little balls of flesh was actually quite comfortable, as long as they didn’t wet the bed.
The women’s backpacks were all completed, and they even exceeded the goal of one per person. So last night, these children received animal skins. Although they weren’t enough for each person to have a full set of clothes, a few children could huddle together and use them as blankets at night.
After stepping out of the cave, Luo Chong first performed a set of military boxing exercises. Physical training was skipped because without salt, he truly couldn’t endure it. The elder said that other tribes had salt, so perhaps it was possible to exchange some pottery for it.
After finishing the set of boxing, the sun had fully risen above the horizon, the fog had dissipated, and the clanspeople also came out of the safe cave to welcome a new day of work. Luo Chong, however, went to check the results of the pottery kiln.
Lame Man was the first to pull the elder over, babbling something anxiously to him. Luo Chong was nervous too.
It must succeed. My meat broth, my grand plan to trade for salt.
Muttering softly, Luo Chong touched the outer wall of the kiln. After a night of natural cooling, the outer wall of the kiln was still warm, indicating that the kiln’s insulation performance was decent. Luo Chong’s confidence increased a little.
Surrounded by puzzled onlookers, Luo Chong, with the excitement of opening a golden egg, lifted the soil cover of the kiln top and peeked inside.
Whoa.
Haha, brothers, did you come here for lodging?
There were two large snakes with black backgrounds and gold patterns coiled together in the kiln. They had obviously come here while it was still warm.
If you break my pottery during your business, you’re dead.
At this moment, Lame Man took action. With his ever-present cane, he flicked the snakes out. They were immediately killed by One-Ear and Stone upon landing outside.
Only then did Luo Chong carefully examine the situation inside the kiln. The temperature seemed really high, as there were signs of melting on the surface of the pottery, although not too severe.
Since the pottery bowls didn’t directly touch the firewood, they appeared a bright earthy red. The high temperature caused the surface of the bowls to melt slightly, but unexpectedly smooth, almost like glazed, reflecting faint light under the morning glow.
Lame Man snatched one of the pottery bowls, sobbing with excitement, stroking it up and down as if a modern person was playing with a piece of premium jade.
He discarded his ever-present cane, pushed through the crowd, and stumbled back to the cave. His agile posture made people doubt whether his limp was all an act. Not ten seconds later, he returned carrying a bowl of water, shouting excitedly, showing the clanspeople this beautiful container that could hold water.
The clanspeople passed it around to look, and Lame Man ran back to see Luo Chong continue taking things out. He remembered that more than one item had been placed inside yesterday.
One by one, the terra cotta items were taken out of the kiln, bringing shock and excitement to the clanspeople.
Four sandpots and four small water jars, being thicker, were perfect. Their smooth surfaces had no cracks, making them very successful. Two of the four pot lids cracked, possibly due to uneven thickness, causing them to crack during cooling. Of the eight spoons, only two were usable, the rest having melted and stuck to the pottery bowls. Out of over 20 pottery bowls, only 12 were unaffected.
This success rate was relatively high. If the calcination time was slightly reduced next time, there should be more finished products.
Shouya and Dali were the fastest, each holding a jar and running towards the river. In no time, they returned with two jars of water.
Although the elder was excited, he remained calm. He gestured and spoke to Luo Chong, asking how this was done. Before Luo Chong could answer, the two little helpers from yesterday rushed to explain that it was made by firing clay.
What Luo Chong cared about most was whether it could be exchanged for salt. When Luo Chong expressed this issue to the elder, the elder looked at him as if he were a wasteful son.
While pointing at the various sizes of pottery and the adults and children of the tribe, the elder painfully explained to Luo Chong in the local dialect just how valuable these items were, shocking Luo Chong.
A small water jar could be exchanged for two adult women or one adult man; a sandpot could be exchanged for one adult woman or two nearly grown boys; a bowl could be exchanged for one nearly grown boy or two girls; even a spoon, well, the elder didn’t know what it was used for, but according to this price, it could probably be exchanged for a small child.
Whoa, this was practically like molding clay figures into humans, rivaling Nuwa.
Living beings naturally settle near water, and humans are no exception. However, containers for holding water are extremely rare. It’s common for someone to spend their entire life crafting a single stone basin. To obtain more containers, some tribes don’t hesitate to exchange them for population.
What’s the point of increasing the population? Isn’t it a waste of food? If anyone thought that way, they were brain-dead.
Increasing the population, while consuming more food, also increases the amount of food obtained and enhances the tribe’s combat capability. This gives greater leverage in the harsh survival competition. These benefits are the most direct ones visible. There are also unseen advantages, such as the infusion of fresh blood, which can at least reduce the probability of abnormal births like six-fingered children.
With such good deals, how could they not exchange? Anyway, there were plenty of fish this year, and the cave was spacious enough. Luo Chong could afford to support a few more people. Exchanging was a must, and Luo Chong immediately assigned the trading tasks.