Chapter 10. Cang Li said with a smile, "...
Cang Li smiled and said, "It's been almost a month and we haven't seen any other humans. Maybe you really are the first humans in the world. Big cub, you are the first one. Let's call you Ji (pronounced ji with a second tone), one person, hehe~"
Big Cub: ?
What did my older sister say?
Cang Li made a confident decision: "Very well, the eldest child will be called Ji."
The freshly baked man looked at Cang Li with a bewildered expression.
Cang Li then looked at the second child: "Since you're the second one, let's call you: Jie. Hmm, as expected of me, you're a little genius at naming!"
Erzai Jie: Huh?
"As for the three kids, there are three of them!"
"Let's call the four kids 'the crowd'. Three or more people make a crowd, and it even has four strokes. That's just how I am!"
Third and Fourth Sons: Huh?
The bewildered Wu Zai tilted his head to look at Cang Li, who pinched Wu Zai's cheek: "You're a bit redundant, just call me Yu."
Wu Zaiyu: "Ah! Ah!"
Cang Li laughed heartily after choosing a name.
The five cubs didn't know what Cang Li was laughing about, but after Cang Li said their names, they all clearly realized that these were their names, names recognized by the Heavenly Dao.
Cang Li was still laughing when Da Zai walked over and pointed at himself, saying, "Sister, it's me, Ji."
Erzai Jie also pointed to himself and said, "Sister, Jie."
Third son: "Big sister, little one!"
The fourth child pointed at himself, his speech somewhat unclear: "Everyone."
Then, pointing at the five children, he exclaimed, "Yu!"
Cang Li's smile vanished, and she said stiffly, "I was just joking. Who has that name? I just couldn't think of a good name for the moment. I can't exactly call you Zihan, can I?"
Ji shook his head seriously: "Sister, I'll just call myself Ji. That's my name. My sister and brother will be the same. From now on, we'll be called Ji, Jie, Er, Zhong, Yu."
Cang Li: ...
Cang Li: "Never mind, as long as you like it."
After saying that, he muttered to himself: "I should have known better than to joke around. These little brats are taking it quite seriously."
Ji was very happy; he had a name now. Then, in the manner of an older brother, he called out to the other kids:
"Jie, go and collect the clothes. Er, go and put the firewood in the cave. It might rain. Zhong, take Yu to play."
The tasks were assigned well. He went to pour water into the pot and add firewood. His older sister was so tired from taking care of them every day, and he wanted to try his best to help her share the burden! When Mother Goddess woke up, he would also praise his older sister to her, so that his older sister could stay by Mother Goddess's side and become an immortal!
He already knew these things; he had always had this concept in his mind, but he couldn't express it before because he didn't have language. It wasn't until Cang Li taught them to speak that he was able to clearly express the general impression in his mind.
Cang Li sat on the steps, munching on a wild pear. It wasn't very tasty, but it was better than nothing. As she ate, she watched her children work. And to be honest, after a month of her tireless teaching, the children were doing a pretty good job. Although they were still young and couldn't do any heavy work, they had no problem starting a fire, gathering firewood, washing clothes, or washing dishes.
It can also be used to water plants and feed chickens.
Because the children were so well-behaved, Cang Li's resentment at being inexplicably thrown into this primitive society lessened considerably.
Cang Li crossed his legs and shook them, casually tossing the pear core he'd finished eating into the vegetable garden. He then picked up his hoe and said to the others:
“Big brother, we’re almost out of meat. After so long, the wild boar family must have forgotten about us. Go up the mountain and set a trap, otherwise we’ll have no meat to eat and will only be able to eat fish in a couple of days.”
The main reason was that she was almost out of steamed buns and needed to go up the mountain to store more food.
Ji nodded, ran off, slung his little basket over his shoulder, picked up a small wooden stick, and followed behind Cang Li.
Jie also wanted to go, but the man turned to Jie and said, "My sister and I will be back soon. You stay here and let them water the vegetable garden."
Hearing this, Jie obediently nodded and didn't insist on following along.
Cang Li led the group up the mountain, where there were even more ripe wild fruits. Cang Li picked the edible ones and threw them into the group's basket. Wild vegetables were also growing vigorously, and Cang Li wanted to find some wild vegetables suitable for home cultivation.
When Cang Li arrived at the place where she had cut down the trees, she found that the bushes she had previously pulled up had grown back, even more lush. Cang Li searched through them but didn't see any delicious wild strawberries, so she lost interest. She asked Ji to take her to the place where the little ones had picked mushrooms before. The mushrooms were all gone, and she wanted to pick more mushrooms to dry.
It's getting hotter and hotter now, probably in the height of summer. Cang Li is very prepared; she wants to gather some dried goods to store for the winter. She knows nothing about what winter is like here and has to figure it out by trial and error. If winter is too difficult to get through, they will have to hide in caves, so they need enough food and firewood.
She could put meat in the collector's backpack to keep it fresh and prevent it from spoiling, but Cang Li kept thinking about the fact that the collector would detach itself after she had exchanged all the items in the shop. So apart from meat, Cang Li preferred to use human preservation methods to handle other things.
Cang Li took out a fan from the box behind her and wiped her face. Although it wasn't noon yet, it was already a bit hot. Fortunately, the temperature inside the cave was relatively even, and the temperature would drop at night, so it wouldn't be too hot to sleep.
The little guy would dart into the grass and then pop out again every now and then. Soon his little basket was filled with all sorts of edible wild fruits, wild vegetables and other things. He was a very capable little guy.
Cang Li wandered around, plucking unfamiliar plants and putting them into her collector to exchange for collection points. After exchanging all her collection points for seeds, she only had about fifty points left. For the past month, she had been able to keep her fingers balanced, and her progress was very slow. She still hadn't unlocked the fourth page of the shop.
So another purpose of Cang Li's trip up the mountain was to go a little further into the mountains to see if he could collect any valuable plants or animals that he had never seen before. He had previously lost half a pound of wild boar meat to the collector and changed five collection points.
After realizing that pork could be exchanged for collection points, Cang Li regretted it. He should have used the waste that shouldn't have been thrown away to exchange collection points for the collector.
But since it was already gone, and they had caught quite a few fish, Cang Li felt it wasn't a big deal; he could just not throw them away next time.
After walking for about ten minutes, Cang Li stopped and started setting up the traps he had used to catch pheasants, rabbits, and wild boars. He also put some food in the traps.
After setting the trap, Cang Li changed direction and continued walking. After walking for a while, she found several fruit trees, all of which were laden with fruit. She hadn't come this way before, so she hadn't noticed these fruit trees.
After identifying the dining chairs, Cang Li found that the green, unripe ones looked like apples, and there were also peaches. Many of the peaches were ripe and rotten and had fallen to the ground. There were still a dozen or so good ones left on the tree. Cang Li climbed up and picked them all. The peaches were quite big, bigger than wild pears.
There are also jujube trees behind, but the jujubes aren't ripe yet and they're not easy to pick. She'll get a long pole to knock them down later. Behind these three trees are a dozen or so chestnut trees, and the thorny chestnuts have just started to grow. Cang Li walked around the chestnut grove. These chestnuts will all be ripe by now, and she can take them back to eat for quite a while. Ideally, her rice will be harvested successfully, so she can have some chestnut rice to eat.
Cang Li pondered for a while, then turned around and went to find Ji, who had just gone to pick mushrooms.
As they walked back, Cang Li heard Ji's voice every now and then. Ji sounded very happy, as if he had found something delicious.
Cang Li followed the sound, parting the bushes to find Ji standing among a patch of low-hanging vines, holding a green melon in his hand. He looked very happy and, upon seeing Cang Li approaching, called out loudly:
"Sister! It's delicious!"
Cang Li walked over and saw that it was a field of cantaloupes. Each cantaloupe was the size of two fists. There were at least dozens of cantaloupes in the field. About ten of them had lost, and the rest were either newly grown or only half-grown.
The man handed the melon in his hand to Cang Li and said, "Sister, it's delicious! You brought us here before and we ate this. I remembered that it was available here today, so I came to check, and it's really back!"
The meaning of "Cang Liming Bai Ji" is roughly the cycle of spring and summer. Every year, melons grow here, which can feed the children and the original owner for a period of time. However, they do not know the concept of time, nor do they know what the cycle of spring and summer is. They only know that after the melons here are eaten, it will be a very long time before new melons grow.
“That’s great. Let’s pick it and take it home. Don’t throw away the seeds inside. I’ll plant them for you next year at the door, so you won’t have to come all this way to find them.”
Everyone knew what it meant to plant. The older sister had also planted food in the field by the door. Although it was still a bare patch, they all knew that food would soon grow from the ground. Everyone nodded vigorously, squatted down, and began to pick the ripe melons and put them into their small baskets.
Cang Li packed everything from the man's basket into her backpack and started picking melons too, but after picking only one, the man grabbed her hand and said very seriously:
"Sister, it's not cooked yet."
Cang Li looked at the green melon in her hand, then at the one picked by the man. They were the same size and about the same, so why weren't they ripe?
Ji patted the melon in his hand, making a crisp sound, then patted Cang Li's melon, making a dull sound. He then pointed to the stem of his own melon, which had withered, while the stem of Cang Li's melon was still very green.
Cang Li abandoned the area he was not good at, tossed the melon to Ji and said, "Then pick it yourself, but don't go too far. I'll go check what else is around here."
The man nodded happily and quickly continued picking melons.
Cang Li left the melon patch and walked for a while when she suddenly saw a tree covered with vines. But that wasn't the main point. The main point was that there were many plump, juicy gourds hanging on it! Cang Li quickly walked over and confirmed that they were indeed gourds. When gourds are young, they are delicious, and when they are old, they can be used to hold water. They can also be split open and used as water ladles, which solved her problem of not having a water ladle.
Cang Li picked one and put it into the collector. After identification, it was indeed a gourd, but it was a bit old. Cang Li then gave it to the collector to change the collection point.
There were still a dozen or so gourds on the gourd vines that were climbing the big tree. Cang Li kept two gourds that were obviously old, intending to save them for seeds. She would pick them and split them open when they were completely dry. As for the rest of the gourds, Cang Li reached out and pinched them. She kept the ones that were easy to pinch and left marks on them, and threw the ones that were not easy to pinch to the collector, or let them continue to grow. She also wanted to get a few gourds for her children to use as water cups when they went out.
Finally, Cang Li took the three young gourds back to meet up with Ji. The two of them had been out for a while, and they were still a little worried about leaving the younger ones at home, so it was better to go back as soon as possible.
A note from the author:
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