Chapter 6 Building a Bamboo House

Building a house is a relatively large project, especially building a stone house or a wooden house. Just moving stones or cutting trees takes a lot of time.

Jiang Xuan didn't plan to spend so much time. He planned to build a bamboo house according to local conditions.

Bamboo usually grows tall and straight, is lightweight, strong and durable, making it ideal for building houses.

The only problem is how to cut it down.

Bamboo is very hard, and it is not easy to knock it down without iron tools.

But this did not pose a problem for Jiang Xuan. He had seen people use fire to burn bamboo. This method saved time and effort.

Jiang Xuan said to Uncaria, "Pile all the bamboo leaves and branches from the surrounding areas to the base of the bamboo, then light a fire to burn the bamboo. But be careful not to set the entire bamboo forest on fire."

Uncaria nodded: "Don't worry, we will be careful."

"Okay, let's get started. Each of us will be responsible for a fire."

Jiang Xuan chose a large flat area in the bamboo forest, and then gathered the thick bamboo leaves and dead bamboo on the ground to the root of a bamboo.

Chishao took a burning bamboo from the fire in the bamboo shed and set it on fire with the bamboo leaves and dead bamboo that Jiang Xuan had piled up.

“Crackle, crackle…”

The flames soon burned fiercely. Under the high temperature, the bamboo's surface soon seeped out a large amount of oil and water vapor, making a "hissing" sound.

Chishao squatted beside Jiang Xuan and also collected dead bamboo and bamboo leaves and burned a bamboo. She looked at Jiang Xuan from time to time.

She found that her younger brother seemed to be different from before and always came up with some strange and weird ideas.

Perhaps it was the destruction of the tribe that stimulated him and made him grow.

Chishao didn’t think too much about it. It was a good thing that Jiang Xuan had grown up.

Bamboo is hollow and flammable, and even when raw, it will burn quickly.

After Jiang Xuan burned the two bamboos, he moved the fire to the roots of the bamboo nearby and continued burning.

“Rustle…”

Jiang Xuan struggled to hold the burnt bamboo and pull it down.

The bamboo forest is very dense, and the branches and leaves of the bamboos are intertwined. It takes a lot of strength to pull them down.

"Let me do it."

Chishao walked over, took the bamboo from Jiang Xuan's arms, and forcibly pulled both bamboos down and dragged them to the open space outside the bamboo forest.

In this regard, Jiang Xuan could only sigh again: The women in the primitive tribe are too fierce.

With the efforts of the five people, it took half a day to burn down dozens of adjacent bamboos and create a clearing in the bamboo forest.

This open space is rectangular, about six or seven meters long and four or five meters wide, with densely grown bamboos around it.

In the center of the open space, Jiang Xuan deliberately left three rows of bamboos in a straight line, which would be used as pillars for the bamboo house.

If you dig holes and erect pillars by yourself without the right tools, it will not only be time-consuming and laborious, but it may not be stable.

Living bamboo does not have these problems. It has deep roots and is quite stable.

After the bamboo house is built, you only need to burn the outer skin of the living bamboo roots, and it will naturally die.

There were still many protruding bamboo stakes on the ground. Jiang Xuan asked everyone to continue burning until all the bamboo stakes were burned and the ground became flat.

Next, we will start building the bamboo house.

Jiang Xuan's idea was very simple. He left live bamboos as pillars in the middle and around the bamboo house where pillars were needed.

Then, he only needs to remove the branches and leaves of the burned bamboo and burn it into the required length.

These live bamboos are used as pillars, and the beams needed for the roof are tied to the pillars with rattan.

Then use the burned bamboo to form a triangular roof to facilitate drainage.

After the roof is built, you need to climb onto the roof and use stones to cut off the excess part of the living bamboo with a stone knife or stone axe and burn the root surface.

Finally, cover the roof with bark, bundled hay, etc., and then complete the four walls and doors.

Building a bamboo house in this way is not only strong, but also saves a lot of time and effort.

The work of building the bamboo house began immediately after clearing the land.

While building the bamboo house, Chishao would take some time every day to go deep into the bamboo forest or to set some hunting traps in the forests on both sides of the stone mountain.

It is estimated that no one has ever been to this place before. There is a lot of prey. Chishao can harvest some prey every day, such as muntjacs, roe deer, pheasants, bamboo partridges, mountain rats, etc.

With enough meat, the five people worked very hard and spent a full ten days to complete the construction of the bamboo house!

“It’s finally built!”

Jiang Xuan stood in the bamboo house that he had built with his own hands, and for some reason, he felt like tears welling up in his eyes.

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A house is not just a place to eat and sleep, it can also give people peace of mind. Without a house, you always don’t know where to go tomorrow, like a rootless duckweed.

"From now on, this will be our home!" Jiang Xuan pointed at the bamboo house and announced it to everyone.

Chishao, Uncaria and others were equally excited. With a house, they could sleep peacefully at night without having to stay up all night and worry every day.

However, the bamboo house is empty and needs to be filled with furniture.

The first thing is to make a few beds. Jiang Xuan doesn’t want to sleep on the cold and damp ground all the time.

The material used to make the bed is, of course, bamboo.

Jiang Xuan led his men to burn down dozens of bamboos in front of the bamboo house again. Not only could they clear up a space in front of the door, the fallen bamboos could also be used to make various furniture.

He burned the bamboo into pieces of similar length, and then tied them into bamboo rafts with rattan, which became a simple bed board.

Afterwards, Jiang Xuan found some thick bamboos and tied them horizontally under the bed board so that the bed board could be suspended in the air, away from the cold and damp ground.

With the efforts of five people, they made five such beds, so that everyone could have one.

This made them very happy, especially Chishao. After all, she was a girl and didn't want to sleep next to anyone except Jiang Xuan.

Over the past few days, a large amount of wood ash and bamboo charcoal were burned. Jiang Xuan sprinkled a large amount of wood ash and bamboo charcoal on the place where the bed was to be placed in the bamboo house, which could prevent insects and dehumidify.

He then moved five single beds into the bamboo house.

Because of the limited space in the bamboo house, the bamboo beds for the four teenagers to sleep on were placed on the left side of the bamboo house, side by side, while Chishao's bed was placed alone on the right side of the bamboo house.

Jiang Xuan and others found a lot of hay and spread it on the bed. On top of the hay, they spread a thick layer of bamboo leaves, and on top of the bamboo leaves, they spread a layer of soft moss. This way, they would be much more comfortable when sleeping and would not hurt.

Finally, Jiang Xuan used a large amount of bamboo as a screen to make a partitioned single room for Chishao so that she could have a separate room to sleep.

This made Chishao very happy. Who doesn’t want to have an independent space?

After making the bed, Jiang Xuan and others moved a pile of relatively flat stones from the creek and built a fire pit in the middle of the house. After lighting the fire pit, this brand new bamboo house became lively and full of the atmosphere of life.

As for other furniture, including pots, pans, and other things, they can be added and completed later.

After all this was done, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At night, Jiang Xuan lay on the bamboo bed, looking sideways at the closed door and the flames burning in the fire pit, and felt at ease for the first time.

Things will definitely get better in the future. With this thought in mind, Jiang Xuan fell asleep with a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)