The first snow of winter was particularly heavy. The falling snowflakes quickly accumulated on the trees and the ground.
The trees with broad leaves have now lost all their leaves, and are standing upright bare. However, some trees with relatively small leaves still have leaves holding on.
But after it snows, I'm afraid it will be "light" again.
Zhou Ji quite liked this sight, but Xiong Ye didn't let him look at it for long: "It's so snowy and cold. Let's stay at home and don't go out, lest we get frozen."
Xiong Ye was really worried about Zhou Ji. Seeing that Zhou Ji didn’t react, he continued, “You don’t know, a few years ago in the winter, a child in the tribe was starving and ran out to find food. As a result, he walked in the snow for too long and his feet were frozen. After he returned to the tribe to warm himself by the fire, his feet even fell off his legs... He died later.”
As Kumano spoke, fear and sadness appeared on his face.
"This won't happen again in the future." Zhou Ji hugged Xiong Ye.
Kumano is not very old and was not even an adult a few years ago. The person he was talking about... might be a companion of similar age to him. As for feet being frozen off...if you stay in a cold place for a long time, your fingers and toes can easily be frozen and frozen to death, and if not treated properly, they may fall off.
"That's right!" Xiong Ye quickly became happy: "Everyone will definitely not go hungry in the future. Now, local eggs and barley alone can feed many people. We can grow more of these things next year."
Zhou Ji nodded.
A tribe cannot grow and develop by relying solely on hunting and gathering to obtain food, but if planting is developed... it can feed many, many people.
Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye returned to their bedroom together.
Considering that the beast form of Xionghe is very large, their bedroom is also built very large, about five meters long and wide. In this bedroom, in addition to a bed, there is also a large pit.
Zhou Ji spread animal skins around the pit and lit a fire in the pit, and the room became warm.
The walls were made of very, very thick mud, and the windows were sealed. The room was lit only by a burning fire...and it suddenly became warm in the room.
Zhou Ji placed his recliner next to the fire and took out some pumpkin seeds for Xiong Ye to eat.
After he brought back the pumpkins, the tribe started planting them.
The pumpkin has a sweet taste and the priests and children in the tribe like it very much. They carefully saved the pumpkin seeds and prepared to use them as seeds to plant next year.
Zhou Ji took all the seeds and told others that he had the seeds and they would be ready for planting next year, but in fact... he roasted half of them into pumpkin seeds - you don't need that many seeds to grow pumpkins anyway.
Heat the ceramic pot without putting anything in it, then pour the pumpkin seeds in. After frying for a while, add a little bit of water with a lot of salt dissolved in it and fry for a while more. The salty pumpkin seeds are ready.
Unfortunately, there are too few.
"What is this?" Kumano asked.
"Pumpkin seeds, try it." Zhou Ji said.
Xiong Ye grabbed a few pumpkin seeds, threw them directly into his mouth, chewed them and ate them: "It's delicious."
Zhou Ji chuckled: "Eat more if you like it."
He said, took a few and knocked them slowly.
Xiong Ye found it somewhat amusing to see Zhou Ji peeling the shell while eating such a small thing.
The outer shell of this pumpkin seed is not hard, so there is no need to peel it! But it would probably taste better if peeled.
Seeing Zhou Ji eating so slowly, Xiongye stopped touching the pumpkin seeds. He could finish such a small amount of pumpkin seeds in just a few bites, and he didn't think it tasted that good. He decided not to eat it and save it for Zhou Ji.
However, the shelling process made Kumano think of something he could do - he found tools and a large bucket of barley and started shelling the barley.
After the new house was built, Zhou Ji planted a lot of barley in his yard. The barley had been harvested and dried long ago, but there was no time to husk it. Now they just happened to have time.
Zhou Ji was eating pumpkin seeds while Xiong Ye was gently tapping the barley to husk it. The two of them sat around the fire, enjoying their rare leisure time.
"This house is great. We used to live in a cave, and even if we lit a fire, it was still freezing cold," said Kumano. He used to live in a cave, and even though he had put a lot of animal skins and feathers under his body, he still felt cold. But this house is different.
The soil under their feet had been compacted and heated, and now another fire was lit... Sitting next to the fire pit, the soil under him was warm, making him want to lie down.
"Next year, we can let the people in the tribe build more houses so that everyone can live in houses." Zhou Ji said. Although that valley is safe, the living conditions are definitely not as good as those in a house.
"I think so too!" Xiongye told Zhou Ji about his many thoughts about the future, and began to talk about the various things he had encountered during the winter in the past.
"In the past, during the winter, I didn't have salt, so the meat I ate became rancid. Later, I made a pile of snow outside to freeze the meat, but I don't know who stole the meat..."
"I used to go fishing in the winter. I would dig a hole in the ice and the fish would stick their heads out. I could always catch one! I'll go catch some for you in a few days!"
"Just after winter, when the snow melts, a lot of tender green grass will grow, which is delicious."
…
Zhou Ji touched Kumano's head. What Kumano was talking about was real grass, which must not taste good. The reason he thought it tasted good must be because he was very hungry.
"Don't touch my head..." said Kumano. As he was speaking, something was stuffed into his mouth. He chewed it and found that it was shelled pumpkin seeds.
Zhou Ji had been peeling the shells just now. He peeled out a small handful and gave it to him to eat!
Xiong Ye said: "Forget it, just touch it if you want." Zhou Ji liked his fur very much, probably because he didn't have an animal form, and touching his head... was it because after he turned into a human form, only his head had hair?
Kumano felt that he could still tolerate his partner's little hobby.
Xiong Ye had been very busy in the past few days, but now that he was suddenly free, he had nothing to do. After husking the barley, Xiong Ye said, "Now that I'm full and warm, I don't want to hibernate or go out at all. I have nothing to do."
"We have something to do." Zhou Ji said, "Let's learn to read."
Xiong Ye: “…”
Zhou Ji added: "If you can learn twenty words today, I will tell you a story."
Xiong Ye immediately became energetic: "Okay!" When Zhou Ji taught him how to fight, he had told him stories. Those stories were very interesting and he really wanted to listen to them.
"Then start learning. After you've learned it, I'll tell you the story of Big Bear and Little Bear." Zhou Ji said again, and while teaching, he recalled a cartoon with a bear as the main character that he had glanced at a few times, and started making up a story.
It would definitely not work to just tell the story from the cartoon, so he just told the story of Big Bear and Little Bear going on adventures outside and eventually becoming the king of beasts. Kumano would definitely like this story.
When Kumano was thinking about listening to the story and started to learn excitedly, in the priest's cave, the tall Kumahe was sitting opposite the thin priest with a look of despair on his face.
In winter, a strong man like him with plenty of food should have been sleeping in his own cave with his woman in his arms. Why was he here facing the wrinkled old face of the priest and carrying things on his back?
Xiong He couldn't help but said: "Priest, I can't communicate with the Beast God. I don't think I'm suitable to be a priest." He has never felt the Beast God!
The priest was very calm: "It's okay, I can't communicate with the beast god just like you."
Xiong He: “…”
When Xiong He was depressed, Xiong Ye had already learned twenty words. Then he lay comfortably beside Zhou Ji and began to listen to Zhou Ji telling stories.
Big Bear and Little Bear are so awesome! He wants to learn from them!
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