Ch89.1 – Moving
Today, they didn’t have to hunt, so Xiong Ye took some people to dig out a small pond by his and Zhou Ji’s new home early in the morning.
He had experience with this!
However, digging out a pond this time was much more troublesome compared to last time.
The pond Zhou Ji wanted wasn’t big, but if the pond they dug was too small, the water inside would easily turn into still water… Zhou Ji wanted to connect this pond with the stream nearby so that the water would be fresh. Like that, not only could Xiong Ye bathe and wash prey in the pond right by their doorstep, they could also throw any kind of sewage into the pond without worrying that the water would eventually smell.
Domestic sewage in this era basically consisted of waste water from washing vegetables, rice, and so on. Not only would it not pollute the environment, it was also useful for raising fish when poured back into the pond.
This was a big project, but fortunately there were now many people in the tribe. With the addition of Zhu Zhan and the others, they also didn’t need as many people when they went out to hunt.
Half of the slaves who had just arrived at the Big Bear Tribe now worked on Zhou Ji’s new place every day.
And Xiong Ye was the one who directed their work, “Pile up the mud that you’ve dug up over here.”
“Follow this line to build the foundations, then tamp down the ground everywhere else.”
“We can start to put up the walls tomorrow.”
……
Every night, Zhou Ji would usually teach him how to recognize new words or solve more math problems, but recently, Zhou Ji hadn’t been teaching any of this. Instead, he spoke to Xiong Ye about their new house.
The more Zhou Ji spoke, the more Xiong Ye looked forward to it. He started feeling that the cave they lived in now wasn’t very good.
The ground was cold, and they needed to go outside to use the toilet. It was also troublesome when they wanted to wash things… It would be different once the house was built. Zhou Ji had dug out a pond just outside and also intended to make a… well?
In addition to all that, Zhou Ji also said that they could build several rooms, some of which would be for sleeping, some for cooking, and some for eating and entertaining guests…
Xiong Ye really didn’t know how Zhou Ji had managed to develop such a brain. How could he come up with so many things?
He was a little worried now.
He always felt that Zhou Ji was very weak and had intended to take care of Zhou Ji, but now… Zhou Ji was much more amazing than he was!
Would Zhou Ji stop liking him?
He felt a little uneasy but soon decided that he was thinking too much.
They were mates and would always be together. Zhou Ji was so good to him; there was no need for him to worry.
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However, the children who hadn’t awakened an animal form were different. These children were vulnerable to the cold and began to wrap their bodies tightly in animal hides. They also lit a fire in the collective cave.
It wasn’t a hunting day, so Xiong Ye used the candy that Zhou Ji had given him as a snack to trade for two birds and headed to the pottery area to look for Zhou Ji. He noticed that some of the children of the tribe were playing by the fire while wrapped up in animal hides. Some women were also holding their young children and staying near the pit, roasting meat as they chatted together.
“Recently, why have the children been hanging around here as well?” Xiong Ye didn’t understand it. “It’s very dangerous here, and it won’t be good if they accidentally fall into the pit.” The tribe had been firing pottery on and off, and the fire was lit today. If these children accidentally fell into the pit as they ran around playing…
Seeing that Xiong Ye was rather worried, the priest who was currently enjoying barley tea said, “It’s become cold recently, so these children came over here because it’s warm.” They had built some walls here not long ago and also set up a few more huts. They had been dried out with fire, and not only could they serve as dwellings, they were also quite warm. The people of the tribe liked to come here whenever they were idle.
More people tended to show up when pottery was being fired––After the weather became colder, the place where pottery was made was no longer a place people wanted to avoid, but rather a place that people didn’t want to leave in order to soak up some warmth.
Xiong Ye subconsciously looked towards Zhou Ji when he heard the priest’s words and discovered that Zhou Ji, who had previously always stayed far away from the pit under the shade of a tree, had also moved his recliner closer to the fire pit. Zhou Ji just happened to be looking over when Xiong Ye’s gaze swept past, and he smiled back at Xiong Ye.
Xiong Ye suddenly remembered that Zhou Ji didn’t have an animal form. That meant that he wasn’t able to hold up against the cold that well…
The weather wasn’t bad now, but it would become colder day by day…
“However, we should put up a fence around the fire pit area to prevent the children from accidentally falling in.” The priest finished drinking his barley tea and poured the grains into his mouth to chew on them.
He had watched Zhou Ji make barley tea and drink it, so he followed suit and made himself some barley tea and discovered that he quite liked it.
After drinking the tea, the barley had also become soft from soaking and was perfect for him to eat.
“Yes.” Xiong Ye absentmindedly agreed, then strode towards Zhou Ji with big steps, “Zhou Ji, the weather’s been getting cold recently. Do you feel cold?”
“No.” Zhou Ji replied.
“In winter…”
Zhou Ji smiled and said, “We’ll soon be moving to a new home. By then, we can light a fire there and stay warm.”
From his point of view, living in a cave during the winter wasn’t very comfortable. They could light fires in a cave, but there was no way to deal with all the smoke. That was bad enough, but stone was always cold, and it would definitely be very chilly whenever they came and went from the cave. Even so, it wasn’t as though they could simply refrain from going in and out.
Fortunately, their house was about to be finished.
“Yes.” Xiong Ye nodded. He handed over the two birds that he had already cleaned to Zhou Ji, then added, “I’ll go over there and keep an eye on them so that they finish building the house faster.”
Zhou Ji thought for a moment, “I’ll head over too.”
Together, Xiong Ye and Zhou Ji went to the place where the house was being built.
The pond and the creek that led to the nearby river had already been completed, and the house was almost finished.
Zhou Ji ultimately chose to build three main south-facing rooms, with a smaller room attached behind each room.
He intended to use the room in the middle for dining, and if guests came, it could be used to seat guests as well. The small room attached behind it would be made into a kitchen.
The room to the east was Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye’s bedroom, and the smaller room behind it would be their toilet and washing area.
Stepping out of the door from the bedroom would lead to the washing area, and then opening another door from there would lead to the toilet. Zhou Ji didn’t want to smell any odors, so even though it was called a toilet, in fact, it was just a self-contained wooden toilet and not a pit.
Zhou Ji hadn’t yet thought of a use for the room to the west and the little room behind it, so it would be left empty for now.
In fact, Zhou Ji had originally wanted to build a two story house, but he later realized that it would be very troublesome to do so with the current technology they had on hand and could only give up the idea.
At the same time, in order to deal with the coming winter, he had also dug out a hole in the bedroom. This made it convenient for them to have a fire for indoor heating in the future… In short, this house was still really quite primitive.
Right now, the walls of the house were almost complete. They were finishing off the roof––they first created a triangular shaped wooden frame, then covered it with layers of dinosaur hide, before adding on a thick layer of mud, and finally covering the whole thing with layers of broad leaves. At the moment, Hou Shi, whose animal form was a monkey, was currently doing the final work of covering the roof with a series of leaves.
This was what Zhou Ji had told them to do. Their work was a little rough and hadn’t completely met Zhou Ji’s requirements, but from Zhou Ji’s point of view, it was already pretty good. It should be usable after he scanned through it all with his spiritual powers and reinforced it after it was finished.
These things seemed to be done sloppily to Zhou Ji, but in Xiong Ye’s eyes…
Xiong Ye felt that everything here was very perfect.
There couldn’t be any house more beautiful than this one in this world!
“Zhou Ji, Zhu Zhan says that this house is better than the best house in their tribe!” Xiong Ye said. According to Zhu Zhan, most of the houses in their tribe were made of wood. Even if they were covered with dinosaur hides, they were still very low to the ground and weren’t as good as the house that Zhou Ji had instructed people to make.
“Do you like it?” Zhou Ji asked him.
“Of course.” Xiong Ye replied.
Zhou Ji laughed lightly and went inside the house.
The house was now empty, but it would be livable after furniture was put in. Unfortunately, the furniture hadn’t been made yet.
Zhou Ji glanced at Xiong Ye, “Let’s go back.”
“Alright.” Xiong Ye nodded.
After the weather turned colder, the people of the Big Bear Tribe began to prepare for winter. When the two of them returned to the valley, they saw Xiong He just as he was taking people to do some of the necessary preparations.
Xiong He had taken out the smoked meat and barley and was drying it all out in the sun again. They had started to make more smoked meat, and the food that he now distributed to everyone in the tribe mainly consisted of the earth eggs that could go bad.
In fact, according to Zhou Ji, they should first eat the smoked meat that had been made long ago, and then turn the prey they had hunted recently into smoked meat. This way, their smoked meat would be more fresh. However, the salt in the tribe was limited, and they couldn’t do things this way.
Although they had gone to the Little Brook Tribe before, and their tribe wasn’t short on salt, they wouldn’t have enough if they used it up too fast now.
Fortunately, they now knew the route for salt exchange from the survivors of the Green Hill Tribe who had come to the Big Bear Tribe.
The people of the Green Hill Tribe went to the East and traded for salt with the coastal tribes by the sea.
The coastal tribes lived by the sea and based their survival on the sea. They were very far from here and probably hadn’t been affected by the Giant Tiger Tribe… Of course, to Zhou Ji, as long as a sea existed, they could get salt even if there were no coastal tribes.
Finally, they planned to wait until next spring before making a trip to the sea.
“Zhou Ji, you’re back.” Xiong He smiled and greeted them when he saw them.
Zhou Ji nodded to him and went back to their own cave with Xiong Ye.
After seeing that their new home was about to be finished, Zhou Ji suddenly felt a wave of dislike towards this valley.
The assorted smells here were really quite unpleasant…
Zhou Ji thought for a moment, then said, “Xiong Ye, should we move tomorrow?”
“So soon?” Xiong Ye showed a slightly awkward expression.
“Are you reluctant to?” Zhou Ji asked. Xiong Ye had lived in this cave for a long time. Could it be that he was reluctant to part with it?
“No? Why would I be reluctant?” Xiong Ye’s expression was blank with confusion, “It’s just that I have to go hunting tomorrow. How about we move the day after?”
Zhou Ji started laughing, “Alright.”
After deciding that they would move the day after tomorrow, Zhou Ji went back to check up on their house. He added some reinforcements and told people to obtain a lot of firewood and dry out both the inside and the outside of the house with fire once again.
With walls made of earth, not only did roasting them this way remove any moisture, it also served to make the structure more sturdy.
As for furniture… Zhou Ji had people bring over some coarse wood and hammer it into the dirt inside the bedroom like a fence, making two low rows. He then laid a plank on top of the stakes and made it into a bed.
In fact, he also wanted to make a pit for fire, but not only did he not know how to make such a pit, they also didn’t have bricks, so he gave up the idea. In any case, he and Xiong Ye weren’t particularly afraid of the cold.
Zhou Ji’s work took him all day. At this time, the Giant Tiger Tribe was also preparing for winter.