Chapter 21 Cattails
“…There will be.”
Sang Yu paused when asked. She wanted to have one, but unfortunately she couldn't conjure one out of thin air.
However, bamboo is not a particularly hard plant. If you don't have a knife, you can use a stone to smash a hole in it, and then you can break it by trying to bend it in the opposite direction.
After Sang Xingjia's question, Sang Yu had another goal while observing on the road, which was to find materials suitable for making knives.
If you want to make a knife in the wild, there are only two materials.
First, stone. After being sharpened, it is no problem to cut meat or chop wood, but it needs to be replaced regularly.
The second is bones. The hard leg bones of wild animals can also be made into bone knives after polishing, but compared with stone knives, they are not as practical and are more decorative.
If there is a choice, a stone knife is naturally better. Along the way, Sang Yu was looking for hard stones such as flint, obsidian or quartz.
However, the mountain where they were had not been visited for a long time, and there were weeds everywhere. It was really not easy to find a stone suitable for making a blade.
They entered the mountains early, and there were drops of dew on the plants and leaves, but there was no fog.
Sang Yu was not strong enough, so the three of them took turns leading the way.
Now it was Sang Xingjia's turn. He was walking but suddenly stopped. He turned around with a look of fear and shouted, "Dad, little sister, don't come over here! I think I stepped into a trap and I can't move my legs."
Originally, he followed the method taught by his younger sister. He first used a wooden stick to sweep across to scare away the snakes and insects in the grass, and then he felt sure of the situation ahead and made sure that he would not miss before taking another step.
But after he took a few steps this time, he found that he could not move. His ankles seemed to be firmly clamped by something, and he could not even move.
Sang Yongjing and Sang Yu were already a few steps behind him. Upon hearing this, they immediately stopped moving forward, stood still, and stretched their necks to look at him.
Sang Yu asked anxiously, "What kind of trap? A trap or a ground spike?"
She didn't know what kind of traps hunters of this era would use, but if it could restrict the movements of an adult male, it must be quite large.
"I don't know either." Sang Xingjia was in a panic. He felt that he would die at any time, so he had no time to carefully observe his feet.
He suddenly cried out again, "I feel like I'm sinking!"
Even if he didn't say it, Sang Yu would have discovered it.
She reacted immediately and stopped Sang Xingjia from waving his hands wildly: "Brother, don't move. The more you struggle, the faster you will sink. We will come to rescue you immediately."
That's not a trap, it's clearly a swamp.
It is estimated that he was not careful enough when exploring the way and did not notice that the ground was soft and wet. It was only when he walked in and stepped on a sunken place and could not pull his leg out that he realized that something was wrong.
Sang Yu glanced around and quickly found a vine of suitable length and thickness on the nearby tree trunk.
"Dad, come and help me." She called out to Sang Yongjing, and the two of them worked together to pull the vines down.
Then she threw the thin end of the vine toward Sang Xingjia, "Brother, tie the vine around your waist twice first, and then we'll pull you over."
She spoke calmly and calmly, which gradually helped the originally panicked Sang Xingjia regain his sanity.
Picking up the vine thrown beside him, he obediently tied the vine around his waist twice and tied a knot.
After confirming that it was tied, Sang Yu and Sang Yongjing pulled the other end of the vine and began to pull hard.
Fresh vines are very resilient and show no signs of breaking even when stretched.
Sang Xingjia held the vines tightly with both hands, feeling himself being pulled backwards, and his legs slowly struggled out of the mud.
When he was pulled onto the solid ground, his heart finally settled down and a smile of surviving a disaster appeared on his face.
He thought he would die here today, what a blessing.
Sang Yu ran to his side and saw that he was grinning and silent. She thought he was scared and waved his hand in front of his eyes: "Brother, brother, are you okay?"
"Ah, it's okay." Sang Xingjia finally came back to his senses.
At this time, the area below his knees was covered with a layer of black mud, and his clothes and shoes could no longer be seen in their original appearance.
Sang Xingjia untied the knot on his body and said, "Little sister, this forest is too dangerous. Why don't we go chop wood?"
Although chopping wood is hard work, at least it is stable and there is no danger to one's life. As the book says, "A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall."
I think as long as he is willing to chop wood diligently and save the wages, his family's life will get better and better.
Sang Yongjing next to him was also terrified. If Yu'er had not come up with a solution in time, Jia'er would have been in great danger today.
In comparison, chopping wood is not a bad idea.
"Chopping wood?"
Sang Yu was wiping the mud off his calves with leaves she had picked up from the ground. Hearing this, she sneered, "Oh, chopping wood is a physically demanding job. And you think chopping wood isn't dangerous?"
The two people in front of me probably have never even held an axe, let alone chopped wood.
Do you know how many strokes it takes to chop down a tree? Do you know how strong the recoil is when you chop it down? Do you know that if you're not careful, you could be killed by a falling tree?
The governor of Lingnan County is not a kind-hearted person. If one can earn enough money to settle down by chopping wood, who would do such hard work as chopping trees after settling down?
Chopping wood does pay, but it is extremely physically demanding, and I'm afraid I'll have to spend most of the wages on food.
Sang Yu couldn't say these words directly. Even if she did, she was afraid that the father and son would not believe her. So she simply agreed: "Then let's wait until tomorrow and give it a try when Dad and Big Brother go to the firewood chopping place."
"good."
When they heard her agree, they both smiled happily, feeling that a wonderful life was just around the corner.
Sang Yu simply cleaned the mud off Sang Xingjia's calf, then stood up and looked forward.
Generally speaking, swamps not only bring danger to people, but also bring a large amount of material resources.
There live various aquatic plants, fish, shrimps and other animals, and even many birds.
In the past, she would have to care about whether the birds were first- or second-class protected animals, but now Sang Yu only cares about whether the eggs are big and whether the nest is high.
The leaves were too dense to see clearly whether there were any bird's nests in the treetops. Sang Yu was not discouraged. He looked down at the ground and gazed deep into the swamp.
Soon she found a familiar plant - cattail.
It’s not that her eyesight is very good, but the brown and yellow cattails that look like big sausages among the green grass are too eye-catching and hard to ignore.
Sang Yu stared at the endless cattails in front of her with shining eyes, and was so excited that she wanted to do eighteen backflips on the spot.
She was still worried about the staple food last night, but now the problem is solved.
Although cattails may look like weeds growing everywhere, they are actually full of treasures.
Cattail leaves can be used for weaving, pollen can replace flour, cattail sticks can be used for lighting and are known as water candles. The young shoots are fresh and tender, and the rhizomes are rich in starch.
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