Jiang Xi glanced at the larger wooden house on the other side.
Is it still necessary to watch it?
The result should be the same, right?
But clearly, Yan Zheng still wanted to confirm it.
He walked over, and this time he didn't open the door directly. First, he pounded on the door with his hand, and then leaned in to listen.
A few breaths later, he shook his head at Jiang Xi.
There was no need to open it anymore; he could hear swarms of flies buzzing inside through the wooden door, so it must be another granary.
There was nothing else in the cave besides that. The air inside was stagnant and the smell was unbearable, so Yan Zheng took Jiang Xi out with a torch.
As Jiang Xi walked toward a wooden house, she suddenly felt her foot kick something, making a clanging sound. Startled, she stumbled.
Yan Zheng quickly gripped her arm and asked anxiously, "Are you alright?"
Jiang Xi shook her head and looked down at her feet, and Yan Zheng followed her gaze and shone the torch over there.
It was a lump of iron.
Jiang Xi picked it up; it was rather heavy. After examining it for a moment, she said, "It's a handbell from the Ming Dynasty."
Three trumpet-shaped handbells, which are also a type of wind chime, were often hung under the eaves by the ancients. They would make a sound when blown by the wind and also had the meaning of praying for blessings.
This string of handbells is strung together with rattan fiber rope, one large and two small, the large one being the size of an egg and the small one the size of a jujube.
The material is iron, and it is rusted on the outside. Although the workmanship is not exquisite, the patterns on it show the maker's care.
Seeing that the three plectrums inside were still in good condition, she gently shook the bell with her hand. The plectrums moved and lightly touched the bell, making a tinkling sound.
The sound of the bell pierced through the dust in the cave, breaking the silence. Jiang Xi vaguely heard whispers, as if she were using the sound of the wind chimes to communicate with her ancestors from a hundred years ago.
They probably never imagined that hundreds of years later, someone would ring that bell again.
"Let's go, Yan Jing'an is getting impatient waiting outside."
Yan Zheng noticed that Jiang Xi was lost in thought and quickly interrupted her.
When Jiang Xi discovered the murals in another cave last time, Yan Zheng noticed her emotions.
Jiang Xi studied archaeology, and sometimes she had some inexplicable feelings about these things.
Or perhaps she's a bit too sentimental. This sentimentality is a double-edged sword. On one hand, such a person lives a very vibrant life; her emotions are always richer than others.
But precisely because of this, she is also prone to internal strife. Jiang Xi's own energy is not strong enough, and Yan Zheng is afraid that the wind chimes will stir up some thoughts in her mind, causing her to have nightmares at night.
Jiang Xi only came to her senses after hearing Yan Zheng's words. She raised the torch, looked around, and walked straight to a wooden house. There was a small iron hook under the eaves of the wooden house.
Jiang Xi hung the wind chimes back up before turning to Yan Zheng and saying, "Let's go."
The two came out of the wooden house's corridor, but did not see Yan Jing'an, who should have been standing at the door.
They exchanged a glance, and Yan Zheng felt nervous again.
He called Yan Jing'an's name twice.
"Here, here."
Yan Jing'an's anxious voice came from the side of the cave. He waved to the two of them, signaling them to come over.
Jiang Xi leaned closer to take a look.
Another mural.
Yan Jing'an clicked his tongue twice: "I knew they must have changed the location to paint it. Look, this is another wall."
Jiang Xi could tell that the colors of the murals here were much more vibrant than those in the previous cave, indicating that they were from a more recent period.
Jiang Xi took out a pig bristle brush and carefully brushed away the dust, explaining as she brushed.
This time, Jiang Xi wasn't as excited as before, so she was much slower.
But the more Yan Zheng scrolled through the images, the more he noticed that Jiang Xi's condition was becoming increasingly strange. She was scrolling faster and faster, unable to stop, so Yan Zheng curiously went over to interpret the content of the images.
This mural is clearly not as exquisite as the previous cave mural. It is mostly a simple sketch, and even the colors are not as vibrant and rich. However, the content of the mural is more detailed and realistic than the previous one.
But the more Yan Zheng looked, the more alarmed he became.
Because this mural depicts the mountains and caves where they are now.
A closer look at the mountain ranges in the painting reveals that they represent the area where they were active over the past two days.
The painting depicts a group of people who, when they first settled here, numbered around sixty or seventy. They cut down trees and built their first settlement in this cave.
A few years later, they built a cluster of buildings, each with its own function, on the mountain ridge. These were the same stone and mud houses they had seen before.
Yan Jing'an, who was standing next to him, said in a puzzled tone, "It's so cold in this cave, why don't they stay outside and instead choose to stay in this cave?"
It just doesn't seem right. Jiang Xi said that it was during the Little Ice Age, when the temperature was low and the winters were unbearably cold.
Since they can build stone houses on the mountain ridge, why don't they all move there instead of squeezing into this dark and crowded cave?
Jiang Xi, who was cleaning dust nearby, answered his question: "This can be considered a kind of safety awareness of the ancients. Living in a cave can protect the safety of infants and young children very well."
“The cave has only one entrance and exit. But if they are exposed to the open, they are at risk of encountering wild animals at any time. It might be okay for men, but wouldn't it be dangerous for children and women?”
Yan Zheng happened to see this, and he nodded in agreement, then pointed to a spot on the mural: "This is where the wild animals near the mountain are depicted. It looks like a bear."
Then he pointed to another spot: "There's another one drawn here."
He leaned closer to examine it: "It's a wolf. Looks like things aren't very peaceful around here."
As Yan Zheng continued reading, his heart began to pound.
These people actually cleared land in the mountains and planted dozens of acres of fertile fields, which were located right in the middle of these mountains.
The painting depicts crisscrossing paths, and the people there even use deer as cattle and horses to plow the fields and transport grain.
Yan Zheng asked Yan Jing'an, "Don't you have any cows here?"
Yan Jing'an was completely bewildered by the question: "Cow? What's that?"
Yan Zheng remained silent. Never mind, that's not important.
He then continued reading.
“There’s another road here,” Yan Jing’an said, pointing.
I don't know when he turned around, but he was looking at the same picture as Yan Zheng.
Beyond those stone houses on the mountain ridge, there is another road leading into the mountains, and inside those mountains are the dozens of acres of fertile land that were just drawn.
Yan Jing'an exclaimed, "This is a living map! We must go and take a look later."
As he looked down, his heart suddenly jumped again.
Just like the previous mural depicted, a plague broke out, killing many people. The tribe's doctor was helpless until he too died. Only about forty people remained in the tribe before the plague gradually receded back into nature.
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