Chapter 20 Getting up at night
Jian Mo ran outside the house and found that it was snowing.
The new snow covered the ground, making the sky and the earth white. It felt great to step on it with a crunching sound.
But the light was a bit dazzling.
Jian Mo's pupils could not change with the light like the local beastmen or sub-beastmen.
He could only turn his head to avoid the large area of white and hurried in to see the tuk-tuk beast.
The tuk-tuk beast was indeed timid. The female beast was preparing to give birth in one nest, and the male beast was also shivering in the other nest, looking scared by the female beast's birth.
After Jian Mo checked the condition of the two tuk-tuks, he called Wu Jiong in a speechless manner: "Help me take the male to another place to raise it, otherwise it will be scared again when the female screams."
Wu Jiong nodded and came to take the male: "I'll take it into the house first."
Jian Mo: "Okay."
The female's amniotic fluid had broken, and the amniotic fluid that flowed out was clear and did not look polluted.
Its condition was not bad. Although it was panting uneasily and its stomach twitched from time to time, its vital signs were very stable.
As a very experienced veterinarian, Jian Mo did not do more and just watched by the side.
Animals only need human help when they have difficulty giving birth. When they are in good condition, it is best not to disturb them.
After Wu Jiong brought the male tzu beast into the house and tied it up, he came over again: "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Jian Mo: "Can you see if you can light a fire and come over? The weather is quite cold, and I'm afraid the little tzu beast will be frozen when it is born."
Wu Jiong agreed: "I'll go right away."
Wu Jiong not only made a fire but also brought a bunch of dry grass.
With the dry grass under the tzu beast, it doesn't have to give birth on the cold ground.
Jian Mo had something to do today, so Wu Jiong took the initiative to cook for him.
After the two of them ate a few bites while talking to each other, they continued to watch over the tzu beast.
Not long after breakfast, the tzu beast began to give birth.
The little beast was about the size of a newborn puppy, all pink, covered with a layer of translucent fur, and was screaming with its eyes closed. This
was probably not the first time the mother beast had given birth. After the little beast was born, it held the little beast to its mouth and licked the mucus on the little beast's body.
Jian Mo was relieved to see that it could handle it.
If he intervened, he couldn't do much in this situation of insufficient medicine.
The little beasts were born one by one.
The mother beast gave birth to a total of six little beasts, all of which were about the same size, none were particularly strong, and none were particularly thin.
What surprised Jian Mo was that after the mother beast licked the little beasts clean, she fed them milk, and when they were almost finished eating, she held them on her back and carried them.
The mother beast's body temperature provided a good heat source for the little beast.
After Jian Mo checked to make sure there was no problem, he walked out of the animal shed.
Wu Jiong came up to him: "How is it?"
Jian Mo: "No problem, if nothing unexpected happens, the little tutuo beast should be able to survive."
After answering, Jian Mo asked about the flying beast: "Have you fed the flying beast? It's so cold, how is it?"
The flying beast is too big, so they didn't build a shed for the flying beast for the time being, so they let the flying beast live under the tree.
If it rained heavily or thundered, Wu Jiong would take the flying beast to the cave near the tribe for shelter.
Wu Jiong: "It has been fed. It has a good appetite and thick fur. It won't be cold."
Jian Mo breathed a sigh of relief: "I'll go over and take a look."
When Jian Mo went over, the winged beast was gnawing on meat and bones.
Maybe because it was carefully fed, the winged beast has gained some weight recently, and its flesh is plump, and its fur is even more shiny and smooth.
Seeing Jian Mo coming over, it called out happily: "Chirp!"
Jian Mo touched its butt: "Go ahead and chew yours, I'll give you a snack tonight."
Winter has just arrived, and they have a lot of things to do.
Jian Mo followed Wu Jiong to the river to dig mud, added dry grass to mix it, and applied it to the gaps between the stones.
They need to apply it once outside and then apply it again when they return to the house.
After two times, the house is basically airtight.
While applying, Jian Mo saw traces of old mud in the gaps between the stones, which should have been applied before.
Jian Mo knocked gently with his hand.
The dry soil was actually quite solid and could not be knocked off easily, but it could not withstand the passage of time.
Under the action of weathering, it still needed annual repairs.
They worked for most of the day until night fell. In the absence of lighting, they could not continue working, so they went back to the house to cook and prepare to rest.
Jian Mo said that he wanted to give the winged beast a snack, and finally stewed a pot of meat for it, plus the hay and stems prepared in advance by the tribe, and sent it to it.
The winged beast did not care about the changes in the weather at all, and ate happily.
Today was also a tiring day.
After checking on the tuk-tuk cubs and making sure they were fine and that the brazier on the shelf used to keep the tuk-tuk warm was working well, Jian Mo climbed upstairs to sleep.
He didn't even feel cold, he fell on the bed and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, he got up as usual.
It was snowing outside again, and looking out through the cracks in the window, it was all white, even on a cloudy day it was bright.
It was just cold and windy.
After getting up, he obediently put on his fur coat and fur boots, no longer disliking them for being heavy and smelly.
The first thing Jian Mo did when he got up was to go see the tuk-tuk.
The male had been taken back to the animal shed and was lying diagonally with the female.
The six cubs were sleeping peacefully on the mother beast, whether they had been fed or not.
The fire in the brazier was still burning, and the air in the shed was fine, not too turbid. Everything was fine.
He cleaned the entire animal shed, replaced the dry and thick hay for the beasts, and then saw that the fire in the brazier was about to go out, so he planned to get some new firewood.
At this time, he suddenly found that something was wrong with the brazier.
The firewood in the brazier was not the firewood he put in yesterday.
He put a big tree branch in the brazier yesterday, and he remembered it very clearly.
Today, the big tree branch in the brazier was gone, and Wu Jiong must have replaced it.
Jian Mo used a wooden stick to hold the brazier out. He had to clear the ashes in the brazier before adding new firewood.
Otherwise, the brazier would not be able to fit it.
Jian Mo ran out and asked Wu Jiong under the eaves: "Did you add new firewood last night?"
Wu Jiong: "The fire was almost out in the middle of the night, so I changed it twice."
Jian Mo was surprised: "Twice?!"
Wu Jiong nodded: "The firewood nowadays is not durable. I will go to chop some durable firewood later. Just change it once at night."
Jian Mo didn't know much about firewood, so he said: "Then I'll go with you."
Wu Jiong: "It's cold, you stay at home."
After breakfast, Wu Jiong really took a few beastmen to chop firewood.
Jian Mo went to meet other beastmen in the open space. He wanted to take this opportunity to make clothes with the cloth he had exchanged at the hunting meeting. Others also needed to spin yarn, repair beast leather clothes, etc.
Gathering together, chatting and warming by the fire while working, it was not so boring.
Wu Jiong and his men came back in the afternoon carrying a large and thick log in the shape of a beast.
Jian Mo went out to take a look and after careful observation, he found that it was indeed different from ordinary firewood.
He also noticed that the two stone axes that Wu Jiong brought out were all broken.
Seeing Jian Mo's eyes fall on the stone axes, Ban Ming said, "These stone axes have been used for a long time and are easy to break. If the stone axes hadn't broken, we could have chopped more firewood today."
Jian Mo: "Thank you for the hard work."
Ban Ming rubbed his cheeks: "It's okay, it's just that this kind of hard firewood is too difficult to chop. I lost patience halfway through chopping, and bit it directly with my upper teeth. Now my teeth are still sore and tender. I probably won't be able to eat meat tonight."
Qing Kuang patted Ban Ming on the shoulder: "Don't be so coquettish, who told you to bite it directly with your upper teeth? It's a good lesson for you."
"No, Dad." Ban Ming hugged Qing Kuang's shoulders, "Let's have stewed noodles and fruit cakes tonight, I can bite that."
Jian Mo heard this and looked at Wu Jiong.
Wu Jiong simply wrapped himself in a fur skirt: "I didn't bite."
Jian Mo: "Oh. Oh oh!"
Wu Jiong: "I'm going to take a shower and will come back to deal with the firewood later."
Jian Mo saw him getting the soap and about to go outside, and called him in surprise: "It's snowing outside, are you still going to wash in the river?"
Wu Jiong: "We have washed like this in previous years, it's okay."
Jian Mo: "But no matter how okay it is, it's still cold to take a cold shower in this season."
Let alone a giant wolf like Wu Jiong, even if it was an ordinary big dog, Jian Mo couldn't bear to let the other party take a cold shower in this season.
Jian Mo pulled him and said, "Let's heat the water and wash it. It will be more thorough and clean."
Wu Jiong was about to speak, but Jian Mo knew he wanted to refuse, so he quickly said, "I want to wash it too. I haven't washed it for two days, and I smell like a beast."
Wu Jiong didn't refuse after hearing that, "I'll go get some water."
When the two of them finished their bath and sat by the fire, it was already dark.
The firelight shone on Jian Mo's face, reflecting his superior features very clearly, and also making his pensive expression particularly obvious.
Wu Jiong paused and sat down by the fire: "What are you thinking about?"
Jian Mo came back to his senses: "I'm thinking about charcoal."
Wu Jiong had heard him talk about charcoal but didn't ask much: "What is charcoal?"
Jian Mo organized his words: "Probably the black lumps left after we burn firewood? After burning away the impurities, the remaining charcoal can burn hotter and longer. It is a very useful material."
Jian Mo wiped his hair and added: "If we have charcoal, we don't have to get up in the middle of the night to change the firewood for the tuo beast."
Wu Jiong: "It doesn't matter, we can go back to sleep soon after changing it."
"That's tiring too." Jian Mo paused, "Do you remember the pottery we burned?"
Wu Jiong nodded.
Jian Mo: "Maybe it's because the temperature is not high enough - the fire is not hot enough, so the pottery we make is thin, transparent and not durable. If we can reach a higher temperature, maybe we don't have to make pottery in every season, and the quality of the pottery will be better, at least it won't leak."
Wu Jiong understood: "You want to burn charcoal first and then burn pottery."
Jian Mo nodded: "Charcoal is very useful. Don't we have nothing to do in winter? We can give it a try. The materials are ready. Just use the tree you just cut down."
Wu Jiong reminded: "The tree I cut down is wet wood. It needs to be dried before it can be burned."
Jian Mo: "Wet wood is used to burn charcoal. Dry wood is not so good."
Jian Mo wanted to try it, so Wu Jiong went to discuss it with Qing Kuang.
Qing Kuang didn't quite understand what charcoal was when he heard him talk about it before, but now he immediately said he could give it a try.
Qing Kuang: "It sounds very useful. I'll ask the people involved to keep it a secret, and you should also ask the other people in the tribe to keep it a secret."
Wu Jiong nodded: "I know."
Qing Kuang was a little excited: "I'll ask Jian Mo how to burn it tomorrow morning, and put this on the agenda as soon as possible."
Jian Mo also had a vague understanding of burning charcoal. He knew that the key point was simmering, so that the wood would not be completely burned in the absence of oxygen, leaving charcoal.
When Qing Kuang came to ask, he said, "It should be similar to the steps of firing pottery, but leave less air inlet, let it simmer slowly, and don't burn it out. Then put out the fire in time before the wood is completely burned."
Qing Kuang's eyes were bright: "How to put it out? Pour water in?"
Jian Mo was not sure either: "I think, we should try to extinguish it with water first, and if it doesn't work, then think of other ways."
Qing Kuang said, "Then start firing today."
"No, no, no." Jian Mo didn't expect him to be so skillful and quickly refused, "To burn charcoal, you have to use wet wood, and it's best to use hardwood, so that the charcoal will be better. And after burning the charcoal, I want to use the charcoal to burn batches of pottery. Should we make a batch of pottery blanks in advance?"
Qing Kuo: "Isn't the pottery you burned last time not easy to use?"
Jian Mo tactfully said, "Maybe we can burn better pottery."
Qing Kuo: "Okay, let's make the pottery blanks first, and let the beastmen go cut down trees."
Jian Mo was much more skilled at making pottery the second time than the first time, and it looked quite professional.
Zhou Fu was watching the pottery he made: "Jian Mo is really skillful. We don't need to repair this pottery."
Jian Mo looked up: "The clay is well mixed."
Zhou Fu: "Yes, this batch of clay is really good. Hey, what is this you made? It feels a bit strange."
Jian Mo showed it: "Shallow clay pot."
Zhou Fu blinked in confusion: "What is that?"
Qing Kuo: "Since you said it's a pot, it's a cooking utensil, right?"
Jian Mo's cooking was famous for being delicious. When he said he wanted to make a pot, no one was surprised. They just thought that this pot was a bit shallow and might not be able to hold anything. Moreover, if you put vegetables in it to cook, the soup and oil might splash out.
Jian Mo carefully smoothed the outer wall of the pot: "It's okay, I know what I'm doing."
Everyone stopped talking.
The beastmen went to chop firewood and came back.
This time they scrapped more stone axes, and the results were more obvious, with piles of hardwood firewood piled up in the open space.
Jian Mo led everyone to split these long pieces of firewood into even small pieces, and then said that they could be burned.
Everyone was a little nervous, worried that it would not burn well, and all the firewood would be burned to ashes in the end, and everyone would have worked in vain.
Jian Mo was also worried in his heart, but he pretended to be calm on the surface and comforted everyone that there should be no problem.
Jian Mo asked everyone to pile up the wood like building a pottery kiln, and then use mud to build the pile of firewood into a hemispherical shape.
This time, there is no need to open so many holes. Only a small hole is opened at the bottom and a small hole is opened on the top, a total of two holes, to allow oxygen to circulate slightly, so that the firewood in the kiln can burn.
These firewoods were all wet wood, and they put some dead leaves and dry wood underneath to start the fire.
After it was ignited, the fire burned smoothly, and the small hole at the top of the kiln successfully emitted black smoke.
Qingkuan asked: "How long will it burn?"
Jian Mo shook his head: "I'm not sure, I'll watch here, maybe I'll know when it's almost burned."
Qingkuan: "I'll accompany you."
Jian Mo quickly refused: "No, I can do this job by myself, you do your thing."
Qingkuan: "There's nothing to do, I'll get some thread, and it's the same if I weave cloth here."
Jian Mo thought for a while: "Then I'll get some cloth to make some clothes, it's warm here because the kiln is burning."
The vent is at the top of the kiln, so they won't be smoked if they sit nearby.
Sitting in a sheltered place in the howling cold wind, doing some work with the heat of the kiln was indeed comfortable.
Slowly, most of the tribe came.
Whether orcs or sub-orcs, they were all spinning and weaving, or sewing and mending clothes.
The firewood in the kiln was burning all the time, with green smoke rising from the top. It was
Jian Mo's first time to burn charcoal, and he couldn't tell when it was done, so he could only watch.
Qing Kuang and the others said they would help, so everyone stayed here.
By the evening, Qing Kuang said, "The charcoal should be almost done."
Jian Mo turned to look at the kiln and said uncertainly, "Is it almost done?"
Qing Kuang nodded and said, "I smelled it with my nose."
Jian Mo looked at him and then at the kiln: "Can you smell it directly?"
Zhou Fu interrupted impatiently, "Yes, I smelled it too. The smoke smells different."
As he spoke, Zhou Fu even transformed his nose and sniffed again, "It doesn't have that wet feeling anymore."
Jian Mo also sniffed it and didn't think the smoke was any different from the previous smoke.
He hesitated.
Zhou Fu emphasized: "Really, I cook every day, the smell of wet wood and dry wood is completely different, and the smoke does not have the smell of wet wood."
Jian Mo decided to listen to them: "Then put out the fire."
Zhou Fu rolled up his sleeves: "Just pour the water in?"
Jian Mo nodded: "Pour it in, there is still residual temperature in it, after the fire is put out, the water will evaporate, it doesn't matter." Jian Mo
personally picked up the bucket and slowly poured water in from the vent to put out the fire inside.
The cold water hit the hot kiln and made a sizzling sound, fortunately it did not explode.
Jian Mo looked at the kiln and breathed a sigh of relief.
The current kiln is still a bit crude. If they want to use the kiln for a long time in the future, it is better to make a special kiln.
He was more familiar with this one, having visited it specially when traveling.
The fire in the kiln was extinguished, and the smoke was no longer coming out of the top.
Qing Kuo asked, "Are you waiting now?"
Jian Mo: "Well, we'll come and open the kiln tomorrow morning like we open a pottery kiln."
Jian Mo packed up and went home.
After arriving home, he went to see the tutuo beast first.
The tutuo beast was in good condition, the mother beast and the little beast were all fine, but the tutuo beast milk that he had been thinking about could not be squeezed out for the time being.
This was the food for the little beast, and if he squeezed the milk away, the little beast would starve to death.
They can only wait until the little beast is one month old, and then they will continue to feed it carefully and keep the milk of the beast, and then they can squeeze it.
Wu Jiong came back and saw Jian Mo, and asked: "How is the charcoal burning?"
Jian Mo: "I don't know yet. I will know when the kiln is opened tomorrow morning. Shall we go and take a look tomorrow morning?"
Wu Jiong: "I will get up early tomorrow morning."
Charcoal was a completely new thing made by Jian Mo. Wu Jiong and Qing Kuang were willing to work with him, but some people in the tribe were not optimistic.
If one really wanted to make charcoal, the charcoal left after burning the wood was still charcoal. Why bother to work with it all the time?
Jian Mo's status in the tribe was different now. Some people were not optimistic in their hearts, but they didn't say anything.
It was just that when the kiln was opened, they ran over early in the morning to watch the excitement.
Jian Mo was already used to everyone gathering together, and he didn't think it was a big deal when so many people came.
He and Wu Jiong waited for Qing Kuang and De Jiang by the kiln.
After everyone was gathered, Jian Mo glanced around and said, "You can start the kiln now."
Qing Kuang: "I'll do it. I really want to know how the charcoal inside is burning. If it's burned out, I'll put out the fire earlier next time."
Jian Mo smiled at him, "No."
Everyone moved quickly, and in a few moves, they peeled off the outer layer of kiln mud, revealing the black charcoal inside.
The charcoal was very long, and it looked like the firewood that was put in yesterday.
Not only was it long, its surface was also very smooth, and even a little reflective.
It was not the texture of firewood at all, nor was it the texture of the remaining firewood in the fire pit.
Qing Kuang picked it up, and the charcoal felt heavy, even heavier than wet wood.
Take two pieces of charcoal and tap them lightly, and it will make a crisp sound like stone.
Qing Kuang exclaimed: "How could this happen?"
Jian Mo raised his head slightly: "This is what good charcoal looks like. It looks like this time the burning should have been successful."
Qing Kuang: "Good guy, I've been burning wood for decades, but this is the first time I've made charcoal like this. It's great. You said it's very durable, so the fire must be very hot, right?"
Jian Mo: "It should be."
Zhou Fu squeezed his head over from the side: "Then can we make pottery?!"
Jian Mo: "I think so."
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