"Yu." Ye said carelessly, "Can you give each of our families a jar like this?"
Qiao Yu said, "The hunting team will keep half of the prey they kill and give the other half to the tribe. The same goes for the pottery we make. Once it's finished, half will go to the nine of us, and we'll divide it among ourselves according to our contributions."
She wanted to establish a rule of "rewarding according to merit," so she couldn't erase her own contributions simply because she was the leader. Whether it was the traps, the snares, or the subsequent success of the pottery, she took significant credit. If she tried to show her selflessness by forgoing the benefits, only to end up suffering for herself and her family, others would privately call her a fool.
Everyone cheered when they heard this.
After making more than twenty pieces, Qiao Yu stopped because it was already noon. "Hang these up and then eat. After eating, move the ones that dried yesterday over there and prepare to fire the kiln."
Everyone ate quickly, then moved the dried pottery pieces to a nearby village. Qiao Yu went into the kiln first, and had Xiaoxi pass the pottery pieces in one by one from outside, placing them in order. After they were in place, he filled some of the pottery at the kiln entrance. Qiao Yu then left the kiln and sealed it with mud.
He extended the torch he got from the tribe to the kiln entrance and lit the dry firewood. Only after watching the firewood burn fiercely did Qiao Yu breathe a sigh of relief.
Time was tight. Shan estimated that the first snowfall was only about twenty days away, so Qiao Yu couldn't afford to fail. Therefore, aside from the intentionally crude craftsmanship, she paid attention to every detail of this kiln's pottery. If she couldn't succeed, she would definitely miss the trade fair.
Success or failure depends on this one move.
"There's not enough firewood. Bring out half of the dry firewood the tribe has stored," Qiao Yu ordered. "When the trade fair comes, all men and women who aren't going to the trade fair should go up the mountain to collect firewood to make up for the winter."
Living in the mountains, the tribe had no shortage of firewood. Women and children would gather dry, fallen branches as they went, providing enough for a day's burning. Because winter was approaching, the tribe had accumulated a lot of dry firewood.
Because time was tight and a lot of firewood was needed to burn the kiln, Qiao Yu set his sights on the firewood in the tribe.
Collecting firewood was not difficult, so everyone had no objection and followed the instructions to carry the firewood out.
The kiln would burn for two days and nights. Qiao Yu arranged shifts based on the eight people's personalities, with one person guarding half the night or most of the day. She herself planned to stay here the entire time, sleeping when she felt tired. Besides worrying about the men, she also worried about wild animals attacking and putting them in danger.
After all, this was outside the tribe, without any fortifications. If a wild beast attacked, there wouldn't even be time to call for help from the tribe.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that Qiao Yu had been guarding here.
Qiao Yu is someone who can kill a tiger. Having her by your side makes people feel safe, even if she falls asleep.
Lu, Shi, and the others had come to see the kilns when they were building them. Returning hunters and gatherers also gathered around curiously for a while, but as darkness fell and they couldn't see anything interesting, they dispersed.
In her previous life, Qiao Yu had seen others firing earthen kilns, and it seemed to take sixteen to twenty hours to heat up, two to four hours at high temperature, and ten to ten hours to cool down. She planned to follow this schedule, too.
For two days and nights, Qiao Yu stayed at the kiln, estimating the time and controlling the temperature. Late the next night, after she had completely extinguished the fire and instructed the last shift to keep a close watch, she finally settled in for a good night's sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, it was already daybreak. Perhaps knowing the kiln would be opened today, the hunting party, along with the women and children, hadn't gone out. Everyone sat or stood nearby, talking in low voices. Lian Shan had been carried out by the witch and was half-lying there.
Qiao Yu sat up embarrassedly and asked Ah Hua who was guarding her, "Why didn't you call me?"
"You are too tired. And Xiaoxi said it's not time yet, so you can have a good sleep." Ahua smiled and lovingly tidied Qiao Yu's hair.
In primitive society, both men and women wore their hair loose. Qiao Yu, however, found this a nuisance and simply tied her hair back in a single ponytail with a piece of resilient grass. Seeing this, others followed suit, tying their hair up in this way. Sometimes, from behind, it's impossible to tell whether they're male or female.
There is no way. There were no scissors in that era, and the bone knives were not sharp, so it was not easy to cut the hair. Given the conditions, it was impossible to be particular.
Everyone became excited when they saw Qiao Yu stand up.
Xiaoxi ran over and asked, "Yu, the earthen kiln is cold now, can we open it and take a look?"
"Yes, sure." Qiao Yu understood everyone's feelings. Not only them, but she herself was also looking forward to it.
She carefully removed the clay covering the kiln mouth piece by piece. Fearing the kiln would collapse, for safety reasons, she did not go inside when the kiln was opened. Instead, she continued to remove clay or stones until the pottery inside was exposed. Then she stopped and picked up the pottery.
Seeing the pottery in front of her, a smile appeared on her face: "It's done."
This pottery jar is brown in color. Whether it's due to the temperature or the mineral content of the clay, it's slightly greenish, not reddish. It's crack-free, solid, and makes a crisp clang when struck. While it appears rougher and perhaps more prone to breaking than the pottery jars Qiao Yu saw in modern times, it's undeniably a truly successful one.
"Is this pottery?" Everyone stared at the pottery jar, with curiosity and excitement in their eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
