From Chief to Ball

"A simple thing."

Chen Jian drew a rectangle on the ground, and said: "You make a few pottery bowls with this bottom, not round ones, but square ones, and square ones around. After the dishes are finished, cut them in half from the middle and fire them."

He compared it and found that it was about two feet long and one foot thick, which is not too difficult for today's acorns.

Acorn didn't ask what to do, this thing can't be used with a potter's wheel, but his technique of spinning clay rods has also improved a lot in the past few days.

Roll out the mud cake, cut it with a wooden scale, and roll it around to form a cuboid without a cover.

"Is it something like this?"

"Yes. Cut in the middle."

Acorn took out a stone knife, dipped it in water and cut it open, and asked, "How much do you want?"

Chen Jian thought that acorns might not be able to count to 99, so he broke dozens of small sticks and said, "There are so many, burn them out as soon as possible."

After finishing speaking, he was about to go back, and Acorn shouted from behind: "Jian, why is there always broken pottery every time I burn it? Also, look at this, what's wrong?"

He hurriedly caught up with Chen Jian and took out a pottery bowl. The pottery bowl was broken, but the outside was different from other pottery. It was extremely smooth, as if it was like ice in a snowy day.

I don't know if it's because of the high temperature or something else, but a layer of simple glaze appeared, but there was only one of the hundreds of pottery bowls, and it was burnt to pieces. Acorn felt that it was a pity, and wanted to get an answer from Chen Jian.

Chen Jian thought for a while and said: "You burn these first, and then talk about it after the house is built."

Acorn didn't say anything more, and continued to pan those cuboid weird things, and put a straw stick on each one when he made one.

In the early morning of the next day, a pair of cuboid pottery appeared in Chen Jian's hands. After touching it with his hands, he felt that it was okay.

Yesterday, the clansman built the house significantly faster, and gradually became proficient in various movements.A room and a half was built, and someone even proposed to finish the half overnight, but was persuaded by Chen Jian to go back.

The people of the tribe got up early today, and Chen Jian walked into the crowd with that strange pottery, stopped everyone's movements, and said that he would do other things first today.

"Is there anything more important than building a house?"

"Yes, to make the house better."

So the clansmen stopped asking questions and followed Chen Jian to the pottery field by the river.

This time I was familiar with the road, digging soil and mud, and cleaning up the site. The only difference from the last pottery firing was that this time it didn't need to be all clay.

Sand, gravel and grass blades are mixed inside, and the soil is piled into a volcano-like shape, and water is added to the "crater" on the top, and the most powerful ones go up with their feet and mud.

Spread some water on the cuboid pottery container to moisten the inside, and pour the soil mixed with grass leaves and stones into it.

Stepping on it was firm, two people lifted it to the leveled ground, separated the two halves of the pottery vessel, and a square piece of mud was completed.

If you want to have kangs, stoves, and chimneys, you can't just rely on the brickwork method, and you can only use bricks for those delicate places.

It is not impossible to burn bricks nowadays, but it is too time-consuming, and the brick kiln must be dug first, and the first batch of bricks fired must be reinforced to control the temperature of the kiln. Ten days is not enough.

Chen Jian decided to wait until the tribe stabilized.

The mud is easy to form, just let it dry in the sun. Generally speaking, it is still strong, but it is very tiring. It is the most hated job of the rural plasterers in the previous life.

Dozens of sets of molds were distributed to the clansmen, in groups of three or five, and the sound of gurgling feet stepping on the mud resounded by the river.

Hundreds of mud blocks were produced all day long, waiting to be dried in the sun.

Five days later, that is, the tenth day of work, the mud was finally dry, and it took another morning to carry it to the hillside.

Now there are thirteen simple thatched houses, and the speed of building houses by the gradually skilled clansmen is also accelerating. It is calculated that only one hundred people build two mud houses that do not need foundations every day. The efficiency is outrageously low.

The thirteen rooms are lined up in a straight line, and they finally look like a village from a distance.

Ten people must be crammed into each room, and crowding is inevitable.

But looking at the fish-scale clouds in the sky, I am afraid that there will be a heavy rain within two or three days. If it rains heavily, we will not be able to live on Luodao.

Chen Jian put down the last piece of mud and shouted to everyone: "Tonight, let's live here. Song, you bring back all those pots and pots with someone. We won't continue to build houses today. .”

Chapter 23 Thirteen Days Model Village (End)

When the rain finally fell, it was already the morning of No.13. When the last drop fell, the sun had not yet set, so a curved rainbow appeared in the sky.

Many years later, every time the clansmen see a rainbow, they always think of the scene when Chen Jian took them to the top of the cliff to see the rainbow that day.

At that time, the rain had just stopped, and the water in the Caohe River was a bit muddy. Standing on the cliff, you could still hear the sound of roaring water downstream, and white waves churning up.

The rainbow hangs in the lower reaches of the Caohe River, like a gate, through which the river water seems to pass through places that the tribesmen did not expect. Occasionally, a few big golden fish jump up, their scales glistening in the sun, as if they want to jump over that place. A colorful door.

At the foot of the mountain, thirteen thatched cottages lined up in a neat line. The thatched roofs were still dripping with light yellow drops of water soaked in the thatched grass, and fell into a drainage ditch behind the houses, which was dug out last night. .

Diyu Qian'er carefully discovered that the tribe spent thirteen days building thirteen houses.

This is just a coincidence, but in the eyes of the tribe, the number thirteen has a different meaning. It is the guidance brought to them by their ancestors. It is a lucky number and a number worth celebrating.

Behind the thirteen thatched cottages are thirteen chimneys built of mud, emitting milky white smoke, and the slightly bitter smell can be smelled even standing on the top of the mountain.

In three of the rooms, a kang was made of mud, covered with sheepskin and robe skin.It was the dwelling of old people and children and some women who were breastfeeding.

In the rest of the house, there is only one stove because of the mud and lack of time. The flue made of mud walks in a curve like a long snake, leading to the chimney behind the house.

Above the flue is a simple bed propped up with wood and ropes, covered with grass blades, fiber cloth and a little animal fur.

The window was sealed with two layers of bark fiber, a handful of mugwort hung upside down, and a strip of cloth dyed red with ocher was tied.

In the first room to be built, on a stick hung a burnt, glazed, broken earthenware bowl tied to a rope.

Whenever the wind blows, the broken pottery pieces collide together, making a tinkling sound, as crisp as birdsong.

On the open space in front of the house, a pergola made of wood and thatch bark was set up, which was very wide and long.

There are five hearths piled up with mud slabs below, and there are huge pottery pots on it. This is the place where the tribe cooks and eats.

There are many neat twigs inserted in a pottery pot. People in the clan know them as chopsticks. It is said that the ancestors in the dream used this kind of thing to eat.The clansmen tried several times, but it was difficult to pick up the desired food as skillfully as Chen Jian.

At this moment, white steam is coming out of the two cauldrons in the stove, and the venison with pepper leaves has an intoxicating aroma. arrive.

A few little wolves played around the stove, and a small nest was built next to the first room, which was covered with soft grass.There are still a few of them lying on their stomachs and taking a nap. There are some rotten leftovers in the small pottery bowl in front of the nest, and now there is only a small half of the bowl left.

A little wolf cub was chasing a little goose and goose, but was scared away by the old man who stayed at home with a stick.The little goose fluttered into a pond.

It was a pit left by the clansmen who dug soil and mud. Yesterday, more than a dozen people spread a layer of soil to fill up the gullies, attracting a small stream not far away to fill them up.

Yesterday evening, Chen Jian led his people to dig out some white, arm-thin rhizomes from the muddy pond far away, some of which had sprouted.

The old grandmother didn't recognize it, but Chen Jian told the tribe that it was called Lian.After the tribesmen folded a little and tasted the sweet, fragrant and crispy taste, another food was added to the tribesmen's recipe.