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After waking up, Wu Yue stared at the tent roof made of old fur for a while, and reached out to wipe the saliva from the corner of his mouth.
There will be noodles, there will be fried eggs, there will be pottery, and there will be a good life.
I don’t know if it’s because of the rest or the herbs, but the injury on my ankle has basically healed, except that it still hurts a little when I walk.
Xiao and his men went hunting. After washing up, Wu Yue went to check on some of his crops. The weather had been getting warmer recently, and the plants were growing well. Wu Yue watered the dried soil and checked to make sure there were no pests on the plants before returning to the campfire in the center of the tribe.
He took out the clay and asked someone to fetch him a basin of water. He called people in the tribe who had no important work to do and started to knead the mud.
He had already mastered the basic techniques yesterday, so it was relatively easy for him to teach. Thinking that the tribe was most in need of pots, he taught how to make a clay pot.
Everyone learned very seriously, especially the women and children with nimble fingers. The surface of the clay pots they made was very flat and smooth, without a trace of fingerprints.
This naturally includes Xiaoshu who is good at handicrafts.
"Well done." Wu Yue gently took the pottery pot and examined it. This guy even added handles on both sides of the pot without any instruction. It looked like they were glued together very tightly, so it should not break during firing or use.
With Xiaoshu's help in guiding the others, he began to look for a place in the tribe where a kiln could be built.
You can't make pottery by simply burning semi-finished clay products in the fire. The temperature of firewood burning in the open air is simply not high enough.
He needed to create a relatively enclosed space that would allow the temperature of the firewood to rise very high.
He looked towards the mountains to the north. The easiest way was naturally to find a stable mountain, dig a hole inside, and slowly expand it. In this way, he only needed to seal the entrance hole with stones and soil to form a relatively enclosed space.
However, he was not very familiar with these mountains and did not dare to start construction rashly. If the mountain collapsed during the excavation process, it would be fatal.
We still have to wait for Xiao to come back.
The hunting team came back quite early today, but they didn't get many prey, only small animals, and some people were even injured.
"We hunted a deer today, but a pack of wolves suddenly rushed out to snatch it away. Luckily, we were all wearing rattan armor, so only Shan's arm was injured." Xiao frowned and said to everyone, "I think those wolves are starving. Everyone must be careful and try not to leave the tribe to avoid danger."
Wu Yue went forward to check the arm of the man named Shan. There were several bloody holes on his arm that were bitten by wolves, and blood was oozing out of them.
"Shan, move your fingers." Wu Yue said as he took out antibiotics and white medicine from the space.
Shan's fingers moved slightly, which made Wu Yue feel a little relieved. It looked like there was no bone or nerve damage. After cleaning the wound with salt water, applying medicine and giving him two antibiotics, Wu Yue told him to return to the tent and rest.
"There are plenty of prey in spring, so those wolves shouldn't have any worries about food. Why would they target you?" Wu Yue asked in confusion.
Xiao shook his head. "I don't know either. Those wolves used to turn and leave when they saw us from a distance. They never rushed over to grab the meat. And they were very ferocious. Their eyes were bloodshot, their teeth were bared, and they kept drooling. They looked like they were risking their lives to take it."
It was because the wolves behaved strangely that even the people who had been hunting for years were inexplicably scared, and Shan was injured again, so they chose to give up the deer and hurried back to the tribe.
Wu Yue fell into deep thought. It sounded like these wolves were sick.
He was horrified. This was a primitive world! Animals and humans who had never been vaccinated were very likely carrying some terrible viruses that he knew or didn't know about.
If those wolves really had some infectious disease, and if this disease could be transmitted to humans like rabies...
He grabbed Xiao's wrist, his face pale. "Find two strong men to watch the mountain. They should keep their eyes on it and take turns sleeping. If there's anything wrong with the mountain, tell me immediately!"
Seeing how serious he was, Xiao quickly agreed and found two honest and serious men to guard the tent on the mountain.
Wu Yue still frowned as he whispered to Xiao, "There's a disease in my hometown called rabies. It affects both humans and dogs. Dogs... just think of them as docile wolves. Both humans and dogs can get this disease. It can be prevented before it's diagnosed, but once it's confirmed, even with the advanced medical care in my hometown, it can't be cured."
Xiao's expression also became nervous: "Is it the same disease as those wolves I mentioned?"
Wu Yue didn't shake his head or nod, but bit his lip. "I don't know if the wolves are sick, what disease they have, or whether the disease can be transmitted to humans. I don't know anything."
He looked at Xiao and said, "There are many deadly viruses in nature, so I encourage everyone to clean themselves, drink boiled water, and eat thoroughly cooked food. Although this cannot guarantee that we will not get sick, it can at least reduce the chance of us getting sick."
He knew his requests weren't always followed. For example, when it came to drinking water, the hunting team wouldn't bring boiled water with them. When thirsty, they'd just find a pond or stream to drink from. For meat, these hungry people, after a day of hunger, didn't have the patience to wait for the meat to be cooked through. They'd usually dig into it when it was about 70% to 80% done.
He hadn't forced them to change their lifestyle before, but now he thinks he can't let it go any longer.
Xiao obviously understood this and nodded, saying, "I'll talk to them. Starting tomorrow, all hunting teams must bring boiled water with them."
Wu Yue nodded.
Looking at the tents on the mountain, Wu Yue prayed sincerely that if the wolves were sick, they would not have a disease that could be transmitted to humans.
Unable to bear seeing his frown, Xiao changed the subject: "How's the pottery you said you were going to make yesterday?"
Knowing that he wanted to stop worrying, Wu Yue felt warm in his heart. He smiled at him and took out a half-dried clay pot from his space and handed it to Xiao: "This is made by Xiao Shu. Look, isn't it beautiful?"
Xiao took it carefully, looked it over, and nodded. "Not bad, very light. If we had a lot of pots like this, everyone could cook meat. You said cooking meat is better for the body, right?"
Wu Yue nodded. "When you grill meat, the smoke will produce some substances in the areas that are exposed to it. Those substances are not good for the human body. Also, large pieces of meat are not easy to grill thoroughly, and sometimes the inside is still raw. Boiling meat does not have these problems. It is easier to preserve the nutrients in the meat and is easier to digest and absorb."
He took the beautiful pottery pot and put it back into the space. "I was just about to discuss something with you. Firing pottery requires a kiln. I'd like to dig a small cave in the mountains to the north. Do you think it's feasible?"
Xiao thought about it and shook his head. "These mountains near the tribe are all rocky and difficult to dig. If we go deeper into the mountains, there is a suitable location, but it's too far, and there's a high chance we'll run into those mad wolves."
"Oh..." Wu Yue was a little disappointed. It seemed that he had to find another way.
Maybe he could find a place to dig a hole down? That way, he would just need to roughly seal the top.
While he was thinking, the meat was cooked and the soup was ready. He decided to forget it and eat first and think about it tomorrow!
After a night, because there were too few prey hunted yesterday, Xiao still took people out hunting today, but he also left people to watch the mountain.
Wu Yue also went to see the mountain. Fortunately, he did not have a fever and did not have any strange symptoms. He was just wondering why someone had to stay to take care of him for such a minor injury.
Since there was no extra prey to make blood sausage, Wu Yue gathered the free women and talked to them about digging the kiln.
It’s not that he wants to use women to do physical work, but he is really short of manpower.
Fortunately, women in primitive society were very strong, and they quickly started working at the place chosen by Wu Yue, a flat ground near the river.
Although they only had simple tools like branches and stones, with so many people working together, dozens of people quickly dug out a pit of about two square meters. This pit was a test piece, so Wu Yue didn't have high requirements, as long as it was enough to burn the semi-finished products in the space.
Everyone went to pick up some firewood and dug a basin of yellow mud by the river.
A large amount of firewood was spread in the pit. Wu Yue carefully took out the dried semi-finished products and laid them mouth down on the firewood, and then laid firewood on the semi-finished products.
Use a few longer branches to cover the upper hole, paste yellow mud on the branches, and slowly seal the opening smaller by bit.
When the opening is almost sealed, take a few burning woods from the big bonfire and put them into the kiln. After making sure that the firewood inside is ignited, seal the opening of the pit, leaving only a small ventilation hole.
After staying by the kiln for a while and making sure that the vents could let in enough oxygen to keep the firewood in the kiln burning, Wu Yue felt a little relieved. He just didn't know whether the temperature of his homemade earth kiln could be maintained and whether he could harvest a kiln of mud flakes tomorrow.
The semi-finished products were burning silently in the earthen kiln, and people were watching silently outside the kiln. They were all very curious about what the pots and pans they had made with their own hands would look like.
Wu Yue tried to persuade them twice but to no avail, so he simply gave up and let them watch as much as they wanted. He just repeatedly reminded them not to get too close to avoid getting burned.
He went to check the crops. Before he reached the vegetable field, he saw a few birds flapping their wings and taking off from the ground in the distance.
Wu Yue was frightened and rushed over to check. Fortunately, the birds seemed to be just looking for insects in the turned over soil and did not harm his seedlings.
The fast-growing beans already have four or five leaves and are about ten centimeters long. The slower-growing wheat and peppers are also four or five centimeters long.
The sweet potatoes were probably the best-performing ones, with some even starting to climb and sprout thin roots. Wu Yue planned to wait until the vines grew a bit longer before cutting some branches and using them as cuttings.
After taking care of the plants, the hunting team returned. They changed their direction today and did not encounter the group of crazy wolves again. They also had a good harvest.
Seeing that Shan was alive and well and everything was normal, Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. As the leader of the tribe, he simply couldn't imagine what he would do if Shan became like those wolves.
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