The birth of pottery: a mixed race clan in the forest
The dark clouds that had been churning in the sky for so long finally settled down, and a torrential downpour began.
Jiang Yunlan, inside the cave, felt the rain had come at just the right time. She picked up the three empty wooden buckets and placed them at the cave entrance to collect water. Now, they had water to mix the mud, and Feng Hong and A Bai wouldn't need to run to the river anymore.
The heavy rain pounded against the trees, and lunch ended amidst the sound of the rain.
After Jiang Yunlan finished eating, she saw that it was still raining, so she simply picked up the vines and taught the beastmen how to weave vine baskets.
The impromptu lesson lasted until the rain stopped. When Feng Hong learned that she no longer needed to weave this strange thing, she quickly threw the poorly woven vines in her hands into the corner of the junkyard.
She was truly terrified of this thing; it was so difficult to make, and she didn't know how Lan had come up with the idea. Lan had already finished one, but the vines in her hands remained unchanged.
Seeing this, Jiang Yunlan chuckled helplessly. She then put down the half-finished product she was working on and got up to look at the three wooden buckets outside the cave.
She washed the three wooden buckets with rainwater before filling them with water, and now the full buckets of water look crystal clear.
The sky had cleared after the rain, the sun was setting in the west, and it was almost night.
The rain lasted all afternoon, and Jiang Yunlan was very fortunate to have returned to the clan before the rain started, so the beastmen didn't get wet.
Smelling the cool scent of the moisture, Jiang Yunlan walked barefoot out of the cave and beckoned the beastmen of the gathering team to carry their vine baskets down the mountain. The gentle slope outside the cave led directly to the flat land at the foot of the mountain, and the semi-circular platform tilted slightly outward, preventing rainwater from flowing into the cave but instead sliding down the slope to the foot of the mountain.
The tiny squirrel-beastman cub stepped barefoot onto the damp mud. As if it were not used to it, its furry tail stiffened for a moment, and its gray triangular pointed ears stood up straight, but soon bent to the side in grievance.
She was very uncomfortable with the texture under her feet and was thinking about how to weave some straw sandals out of dry grass when she had some free time.
She could go down to the river to plant rice seedlings, but she could never get used to the sticky feeling, especially when she couldn't see what she might touch.
Feng Hong followed closely behind her, clearly seeing her reaction and realizing that she didn't like walking on the wet, sticky ground. She decisively reached out and pulled her under her arms, lifting her to her chest. Lan was very light; she could easily carry two people in one arm.
Jiang Yunlan was suddenly lifted into the air, her heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively looked behind her. Feng Hong gave her an innocent smile, her honey-colored eyes devoid of much emotion. For a moment, she couldn't understand why Feng Hong had suddenly picked her up.
"Lan, let's go!" Feng Hong, carrying a basket of vines on her back, spoke without hesitation, even though she didn't know what Lan was going to do with them in the evening.
The belief in Lan gradually became ingrained in the beastmen's very bones. Even the nights that terrified them were no longer frightening as long as Lan was there.
"No need to go."
Jiang Yunlan smiled helplessly, raised her hand and patted Feng Hong's shoulder, signaling Feng Hong to put her down.
They didn't need to go far; the black soil they needed to build the kilns could be dug up at the foot of the mountain. The soil was very moist after the heavy rain, making it suitable for carrying back and shaping.
Feng Hong scratched her head, chuckled sheepishly, put Lan down, and followed her. When she saw Lan stop and take out a stone knife, she understood that Lan needed the soil. She quickly put down the basket behind her and took out the stone knife from inside. Mianhua was a beat slower, taking out her stone knife and quickly digging.
Two lemming orc cubs, their furry paws outstretched, were about to dig when a pair of hands stopped them. Those hands, smaller than their own, held two stone knives and placed them in their own.
After handing over the items, Jiang Yunlan looked at the two cubs' bewildered expressions and pointed to the soil, explaining, "Dig with a stone knife."
When the two cubs were half-beasts, the wounds on their claws became more noticeable. The wounds weren't large, but they shouldn't be able to use their claws anymore.
With its furry paws gripping the stone knife, the creature remained puzzled and silently reverted to its half-beast form.
The enlarged claws shrank into a dark hand, and the small wounds became even smaller. Mo Rong looked at her hand that held the stone knife and suddenly realized that it had many wounds, wounds that the beastmen could not call wounds, but which still stung.
He, who was always smiling, was momentarily stunned and subconsciously looked at Heitu.
Black Soil, who was half a head taller than him, had also shed her half-beast form. Her dark hands gripped the stone knife tightly, and her expressionless face remained unchanged. She didn't see Lan's good intentions and continued to silently obey Lan's commands.
As expected, only he realized it; Kurotsuchi wouldn't know. Just like back then.
Mo Rong touched her scabbed wound, smiled brightly at Lan, and pulled Hei Tu, who was standing there, to dig in the soil with great interest.
He knew that Lan was a good clan leader, completely different from his former clan leader who had sent Kurotsuchi to his death as a hunting party warrior. If it was Lan, even Kurotsuchi, who couldn't understand anything, would be safe now.
The black soil in the two vine baskets was dug up. Jiang Yunlan raised her hand and called out the names of the beastmen, urging them to return to their clan.
Hearing her name called, Feng Hong stood up, shook the dirt off her hands, picked up one of the vine baskets, and then scooped up Lan. She knew Lan didn't like the ground, and she could carry Lan back to the clan.
Having experienced this before, Jiang Yunlan's reaction to being suddenly picked up again wasn't as panicked as before; she simply looked at Feng Hong with confusion. She didn't know why Feng Hong had picked her up, but Abai, who wasn't carrying a vine basket, was also holding two cubs, probably to get back to the clan as quickly as possible.
She and her two other cubs weren't fast enough, so when they needed to travel, Ah Bai and the others would carry them through the forest.
No longer having to walk on the wet, muddy ground, Jiang Yunlan breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Cotton. The branch that could be made into a walking stick was still in Cotton's hands. She immediately felt relieved and obediently sat on Feng Hong's arm, watching the cave approach her.
Orcs seem to be more used to carrying things, probably because they are strong enough to pick up anything.
...
The orcs climbed the gentle slope back to the cave, where two moons hung in the sky and countless stars gathered.
Jiang Yunlan landed back on the ground, her bare feet stepping on the hard stone surface. She looked left and right, then chose the right side of the cave and had the beastmen put down their vine baskets, intending to build an earthen kiln against the wall.
There's a path to the left of the cave entrance that leads outwards. To the right of the cave entrance is a gentle slope leading downhill. The semi-circular platform connecting the two paths is quite wide, about the size of a classroom, and can hold a lot of things.
Jiang Yunlan knew that building a clay kiln for firing ceramics required two spaces: the upper space for placing the ceramics and the lower space for starting the fire.
Therefore, there must be a fire vent and a chimney between the fire and the ceramics. She frowned for a while, then took out a twig and roughly laid out the shape of the bottom of the kiln, a square, or perhaps a rectangle.
"It's time to get started," she said, instructing Feng Hong and A Bai to empty the soil from the vine basket and leading them to pick out the debris from the soil.
She had never built a kiln herself; she only had a general idea of how to make one. The era of big data has given her a superficial understanding of many things, but when it came to actually doing it herself, she felt like she knew nothing at all.
She is more familiar with the land, the plants that grow there, and the forests and mountains throughout the four seasons.
"Luckily, there's still time. If it doesn't work the first time, we can just try again," Jiang Yunlan muttered.
Unbeknownst to her, she had become more talkative without even realizing it, and would occasionally mutter to herself when not talking to the beastmen.
On Blue Star, she was always a listener, listening to the troubles and inner voices of those around her. She was good at talking about herself, and although she was cheerful and sunny, she was surprisingly a quiet person, often described by those around her as "a gentle but unapproachable person".
The impurities in the black soil were thoroughly removed, and Jiang Yunlan temporarily put down her work and told the beastmen to wash their hands and eat.
Dinner that evening consisted of dried meat that had been smoked the night before, along with some berries. She and the beastmen would finish off the food that was likely to spoil. As for the partially spoiled food, she would wait for it to completely deteriorate.
When she was very young, her grandparents told her that she should never eat spoiled food, even if it was only slightly spoiled, unless there was absolutely no food left in the house. She remembered this, and she still does, so she doesn't want the beastmen who are kind to her to eat spoiled food, even if it's only slightly spoiled.
After dinner, Jiang Yunlan continued to lead the beastmen in making pottery, with Maple Syrup joining in as well, while Qiuguo was sharpening a stone knife.
Two of the stone knives used by the orcs in the gathering team broke, and Qiuguo is sharpening new ones. The clan originally had only eight stone knives, and with two broken, only six remain. Fortunately, the stone knife specifically for Lan was forged today, giving them one more.
The black soil was mixed well. Jiang Yunlan took some sturdy tree branches and stuck them upright in the soil to support the earthen wall.
The bottom of the kiln, the fire vent, and the three walls around the fire vent were built and set aside to dry in the shade. The beastmen then turned to the red clay, picked out the impurities, added water, pounded and kneaded it, and shaped it into round balls to make bowls.
MapleRed and MapleSugar, being the strongest, were assigned to knead the mud. The two cubs sat beside them, responsible for picking out impurities from the soil. Abai and Cotton took out the kneaded mud and shaped it into bowls.
While the lower part of the earthen kiln was still damp, Jiang Yunlan made a square block of red clay and poked neat round holes in it to serve as a ventilation opening in the middle of the kiln.
The production of earthen kilns and pottery continued late into the night.
Two lemming orc cubs huddled together, their heads resting on each other's shoulders. Jiang Yunlan was still kneading pottery while teaching Cotton how to make pottery teapots using the coil-building method.
The earthen kiln is already built; all that's left is to put in the clay pottery for the first firing.
After she finished making the pottery and waited for it to air dry, she turned to ask the beastmen to put the pottery into the prepared kiln. She saw them huddled together, like chicks pecking at rice. She couldn't help but chuckle softly as she saw Feng Hong and A Bai groggily open their eyes and walk towards her.
The tall deer-beastman and rabbit-beastman obediently squatted in front of the tiny squirrel-beastman cub, took the clay pot from her hand, put the clay pot into the earthen kiln, and then lifted the semi-circular clay seal, which resembled a pot lid, to block the opening where the clay pot was placed.
As red flames rose, the mixed-race clans in the forest began to fire pottery.
022 watched as the tiny squirrel-beastman cub lit a new flame, silently recording the scene. It was witnessing the birth of a civilization.
This is a miracle meeting another miracle, giving birth to a civilization.
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