Before sunset, the two finally reached the campsite. Wang Lun put down his load of firewood and took the bundle of firewood that Li Ling was carrying. Li Ling carried her basket to the pond to process the wild vegetables and mushrooms. Wang Lun first piled up the firewood and put it in the shed. After finishing this, Wang Lun went into the shelter. As soon as he entered, seeing the empty shelter, he slapped his forehead and thought to himself, "We've moved into a new home, why did we come this way?" But when he got here, he remembered the seasonings he had buried earlier, but he wasn't in a hurry to get them now. He took out the pot and fetched water first. So he turned around and went to the earthen house, took out the pot and a basket, and handed the basket to Li Ling to put the mushrooms and wild vegetables in. Wang Lun squatted by the pond, washed his hands and face, and then fetched a pot of water so that Li Ling could wash the vegetables and go back.
Wang Lun placed the pot on the stove, added some thin firewood, and then fetched a burning piece of wood from the hearth to start a fire. Soon, the fire in the stove was burning. Li Ling also washed and brought back the vegetables. He told Li Ling to stay and cook while he took a trowel to dig out the seasonings, and also to cook something nice to celebrate moving into their new home. Li Ling readily agreed, so she poured in some second-grade kudzu root powder and cut half a porcupine rib. She separated the porcupine rib, put it in the pot to cook, and then added some wild vegetables and mushrooms—it smelled delicious. She stirred the kudzu root powder into a paste, added some meat chunks, then lit the stove next to her, placed a stone slab on it, and continued to fry pancakes on the slab. Before frying the pancakes, Wang Lun brought over all the seasonings. Li Ling considered it for a moment, then added some chili powder to the kudzu root paste before starting to fry the pancakes.
While Li Ling was busy cooking, Wang Lun retrieved the seasonings and went to the shed to find some wooden sticks to start making a small table. He cut several sticks into pieces, first binding four of the same length together to form a square, then inserting sticks of the same length into the square, one by one, tightly packed together. Actually, Wang Lun had originally planned to split the sticks first, but he needed to make it in time for dinner, so he would just make do with this for now and refine it after dinner. He also installed the four legs. Now, Wang Lun only planned to make a tabletop; as for how to set it up, that was easy—he just needed to find a rock. Besides, he usually ate on rocks anyway, so it wouldn't be a problem.
After finishing the tabletop, Wang Lun found some wooden sticks and started making a frame. This time, he made three rectangular frames of the same size, and then found four wooden sticks of the same length to tie to the four corners of the frame. Just then, Li Ling called for dinner, so Wang Lun dropped the sticks, ran to the sink, washed his hands, and ran back into the house.
The two sat around the campfire, with a table in the middle. On the table was a pot of stewed spare ribs and a pile of kudzu root cakes. Each picked up a cake. Wang Lun took a bite first, finding it a little spicy, which made it even more enjoyable. So he put down the cake, picked up a piece of spare rib, deboned the meat, rolled it in the cake, and ate it bite by bite – that was even more satisfying. Seeing this, Li Ling followed suit, making kudzu root cakes with meat, which were delicious. Of course, they couldn't just eat meat and cakes; they also ate wild vegetables and drank the soup, after all, they couldn't waste anything.
The two spent nearly an hour eating. By the time they finished, it was already quite dark outside, but they didn't really care because they had a safe shelter with a water source in the camp, so they didn't have to risk fetching water to wash their pots. Of course, if there really wasn't a wall, then it wouldn't matter whether they washed their pots or not.
Li Ling washed the pots while Wang Lun held a torch for her. After washing the pots, Wang Lun continued making the frame, while Li Ling began weaving a mat out of tree bark. Time passed quickly as they each did their own thing, and they grew tired. So they washed up together and returned to the house, each lying down on one side. Wang Lun lay at the end of the kang (heated brick bed), close to the wall and window, so he could easily observe and get up if anything happened. Li Ling lay at the head of the kang, next to the stove. Although they were said to be far apart, they were actually quite close together, practically in the middle of the kang.
However, the two seemed a little uncomfortable, tossing and turning on the kang (a heated brick bed), feeling somewhat out of place. So they started chatting, and as they talked, they both fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, Wang Lun woke up to find it was already quite bright. He got up, washed, fetched water, and started cooking. When the rice was almost ready, Li Ling got up on her own. After washing up, the two ate, following their usual routine: dried fish stewed with wild vegetables.
After eating, the two shouldered their baskets, grabbed their spears and knives, and continued chopping firewood. They also planned to bring back the termite mound they'd discovered the day before, to make some pottery to make life easier. They'd discussed it the night before: make one earthenware pot for cooking rice; two earthenware jars, one for storing starchy foods and the other for fetching water; two small bowls and two large bowls, the small ones for rice and the large ones for serving dishes. Of course, to ensure a successful firing, if they had extra clay, they'd make an extra of each type to guarantee a higher success rate. If they had even more clay, they could make more large bowls and jars, especially the jars. Of course, this was all just wishful thinking; the few things they already had might not even be enough.
When they arrived at their destination, Wang Lun first used a shovel to shovel the termite nests into his basket. Then the two ran to the other side to start chopping firewood. Wang Lun chopped the wood while Li Ling trimmed the smaller branches, sorting them into different categories and putting them into one pile.
During this time, Li Ling went to the restroom and came across a cassava plant. She called Wang Lun to dig it up. After digging it up, Wang Lun weighed it and estimated that the edible roots and stems weighed about ten or twenty pounds. The two continued searching the surrounding area for more than ten minutes but did not find any other cassava plants, so they continued chopping firewood.
The two didn't return to camp until the sun was directly overhead. This time, however, Li Ling was carrying a significantly heavier load. A basket full of termite mounds, plus ten or twenty pounds of cassava, made it even heavier. Wang Lun stopped her from carrying another bundle of firewood. Although Li Ling wanted to carry more, she tried and found it too heavy, so she didn't insist. Wang Lun, as usual, carried two bundles of firewood. This time, however, he also brought the cassava he had dug up earlier. Although he had removed all the edible parts, Wang Lun wanted to try planting it. If it grew, they could dig cassava at the camp later. In this way, Wang Lun and his companion were the first team to start planting, although they hadn't yet started raising animals.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com