Original War

Chapter 17: Winter Arrives

When Shao Xuan went back, the children in the cave had already returned from the river. Today’s harvest was good. You can tell from the unstoppable smiles on their faces that there are two groups that have more fish than whoever pulls them.

“A Xuan, someone came to you just now to change something. You weren’t there. They said they would come back tomorrow.” said Tu, who was sitting next to him weaving straw ropes.

When I was in the cave, Tu had a small courage and was thin and weak. During this period of time, I let go a lot, people became more energetic, and gradually became more talkative.

“Okay, I see.” Shao Xuan nodded.

It should be someone in the tribe who was tempted again and wanted to go fishing. After exploring the experience, he came to Shao Xuan for the kind of black block that could float on the water.

At night, the moon hanging on both sides of the sky became darker, and the crescent was thin, and only the arc that was not bright could be seen. Looking out from the vent, there is pitch black near the cave, and only the sound of the wind whistling outside the cave and the noise made by the flying Ye Yan. Winter is coming, and Ye Yan is not energetic. They used to fly. There was not such a big move when it was.

In the next few days, whether it was the children in the cave or the people in the mountainous area, as long as the sun was not setting, they would run to the river frequently, thinking about pulling quickly while the river was not freezing.

Probably because the people of the tribe in the past years had never had the idea of ​​catching these fishes. There were many fish in the river. So many people were pulling fish here all day, but there were few fish. These fish are extremely fierce, but not high in IQ, and easy to pull. As long as you master the knack, the number of fish will increase.

Fortunately, the fishing went smoothly for several days, and there was no such thing as a creature with tentacles.

It was not until one morning when Shao Xuan took Caesar to dig stone insects on the gravel that there were fewer stone insects, and it took a long time to dig three.

Suddenly there were fewer fish by the river, and the stone worm was thrown down for a long time before only a small fish was pulled up.

Whether it is the children in the cave or the people of the tribe, it seems that this situation seems to be a sign.

“A Xuan, why is this?” The children in the cave were lingering, staring at the straw rope on their hands with a heartbroken look.

“Because winter is coming.” An older child said. He once heard people say that in winter, many prey will be hidden. . Because of this, the people of the tribe do not like winter, because winter is full of depression caused by various difficulties.

Seeing other children still staring at him, Shao Xuan sighed, “This may indeed be the reason. Because in winter, stone insects no longer appear on the surface, but will go deep underground to spend the winter. The ground is warmer than the surface. And the river bank. The piranhas will also leave the shallow waters near the shore and swim into the depths of the big rivers to areas that won’t freeze in winter. So we can’t catch stone worms or fish.”

Shao Xuan’s voice fell, and a depression and gloomy atmosphere immediately filled the cave.

In the impression of many children in the cave, it is very cold and dark in winter. Sometimes when they are sick, they don’t know, they just fall asleep in a daze, and when they arrive at the meal, they are called to eat something and continue to be confused. Sleeping on the ground, I don’t know that outside day and night, it’s like walking corpses. It’s nothing normally, but now I suddenly think about it, and look at the sunny days of fishing recently. It’s only strange that I feel good.There are also children sitting in the corner sorrowful holding the fish newly pulled this afternoon, feeling the fish’s head while sorrowing. Only with the big, dark red eyes on the dead fish’s head, and the cracked mouth full of fine fangs, how weird this person and fish would look, if it were the peace of Shao Xuan’s previous life In the age, such a person will definitely be labeled as “**” and “psychological distortion”, but here, it is too normal.

Shao Xuan covered his face, looked away from there, and stopped looking at the sad person holding the fish in the corner.

In the past few days, the hay used for sleeping in the cave has been moved out by Shao Xuan and dried, and even the fur in exchange has been washed and dried. The preparations are actually sufficient, but no one can eliminate the shadows of the coming winter. The experience left in the hearts of the children in the cave is too deep, no matter how much sunlight can’t get up.

It was only noon, and the sky outside had become gloomy.

When Shao Xuan was thinking about what to do in winter, he stuttered and walked over.

“A Xuan… I… I want to… want to…”

Stuttering for a long time before clearly expressing the meaning of own.

There was also a Little Sister who stuttered and lost his parents that year. When he was sent to the cave, Little Sister was also adopted by a family on the mountainside. The tribe values ​​girls, and those who adopt girls can also get more subsidies from the tribe.

Most people in this tribe will awaken the power of totems. Boys will basically awaken when they are about ten years old. It will not be too late, not more than fifteen. This is why these children in the cave and those living near the foot of the mountain Children usually eat and sleep regardless of other reasons, because they don’t need to work hard, as long as they don’t starve to death or die of illness, they will naturally become totem fighters when they are old.

Compared with boys, there are fewer girls who have the power of awakening totems. Nearly one-third of them will not be awakened in their lives. However, the tribe will not treat them badly because of this. On the contrary, girls are in the tribe. The treatment received is much better than that of boys. Therefore, even if they are both orphans, some families are willing to take in girls. Because of this, there is no girl in this hole in Life, and they all bring children.

Stuttering wanted to visit Little Sister before winter came, and sent a fish to him, and deducted it from the share he had received. He came over to ask for Shao Xuan’s opinion. Since Shao Xuan took the children in the cave to fish, his status is indestructible. As long as Shao Xuan agrees, the two eldest children will not refute it even if they are unwilling in their hearts. Now, if something happens, Shao Xuan will be asked for his opinion.

He stammered and said the meaning of own, standing there rubbing his fingers restlessly, he was worried that Shao Xuan would refuse, and his eyes were cautious when he saw Shao Xuan.

“Of course, it’s fine to come back before dark.” Shao Xuandao.

“Thank you, A Xuan!” Stuttered and ran back excitedly, dragging a fish out of the hole.

Seeing the stuttering happily dragging a fish away, Shao Xuan smiled, “He doesn’t stutter anymore when thanking him. It seems that he still has to be agitated. Perhaps if he gets excited, the stuttering problem will be corrected. ”

Not long after stammering away, Moore’s mother came again. The reason was the same as before. He wanted to take Moll up the mountain, but Mohr was not happy.

In the end, Morta’s mother left a thick fur sweater and some dried meat and left with tears in her eyes.

In the afternoon, Ge brought food and brought Shao Xuan some dried meat, an animal skin blanket and a piece of clothing.

“This is for you by Mai, and the clothes are from Langga.” Ge said, “They are busy today, and Wu said that winter is coming. Everyone is checking the house and preparing for other matters, so they asked me to help deliver things. ”

Mai’s hunting team came back yesterday and completed the last hunting operation of the year before the arrival of winter. The harvest was very rich. Yesterday Shao Xuan saw the prey they carried or pulled, enough to survive this winter, let alone the hunting team. Many people still have food at home, so they won’t be hungry in winter. Everyone of the hunting team soldiers who returned yesterday smiled lightly.

Shao Xuan took it over and took a look. The jerky was fresher and the quality of the meat was good. The blankets and clothes were better than the fur he had exchanged in the past few days.

It is impossible not to be moved.

“Thank you Uncle Ge, and thank Uncle Mai and Langga for me by the way. Oh, yes.”

Shao Xuan dragged two fish over and asked Ge to help bring Mai and Langga. Although he knew that Mai and the others had harvested enough prey for the winter, Shao Xuan still wanted to express his gratitude. These two fish belonged to Shao Xuan’s own share, so other people in the same group would naturally have no opinion.

“Hey, you are not afraid that I will cut off the fish.” Grid threw the fish into the empty stone tank and left with one arm.

Since Wu said that it might be winter tomorrow, Shao Xuan told the other people in the cave that the fur had been separated, so he didn’t need to say more about what to do. The children still know how to protect themselves.

That night, the sky was pitch black, and a crescent crescent could be seen two days ago, but today I can’t see it at all.

Depressed black.

Shao Xuan woke up in the middle of the night, feeling as if lying in the ice and snow, shaking with cold. The strange thing is that after waking up, it is not so cold again.

Sitting up, Shao Xuan pulled away the thatch blocking the air vent a little bit, and the biting cold wind that penetrated into him immediately stirred the ice.

Winter is officially here.

With the arrival of winter, the life of the children in the cave has become the same again, except for eating and sleeping. The temperature outside the cave is very low, they can’t do anything when they wake up, they can only sleep, and look forward to leaving in winter when they wake up next time.

With food, the blankets on their bodies are thicker. This winter they sleep quite comfortably, at least better than the winter in the impression, and they want to sleep peacefully.

In winter, Ge still came every day as usual, delivering food in the cold, storm and snow. Shao Xuan felt that there was no need to suffer in this way. After discussing with Ge, Ge brought three days’ worth at a time, and then every three days. Now the cave is not as chaotic as it used to be. Ge knows that Shao Xuan can control the cave well, but he has no objection. He still leaves Shao Xuan with a igniter so that Shao Xuan can ignite the fire.

In fact, winter is not without other things, such as people sent by the tribe to teach literacy and counting. As always, someone will come over every 20 or 30 days, and winter will be as usual.

On this day, it was the day when the instructors came over. The day before, Ge gave Shao Xuan a word to prepare Shao Xuan. It saves time that the children in the cave slept one by one and missed this rare learning opportunity.

So, when the old hunter in charge of teaching wrapped in animal skins and tremblingly lifted the curtain into the cave, before he felt the warmth of the fire in the cave, he saw that he should have been sleeping on the ground. The child, all sitting there vigorously, his eyes shining, making him shiver vigorously.

Because he lived on the mountain, there were other things that were delayed in the previous period. If you calculate it carefully, he hasn’t come here for nearly forty days, and he doesn’t know much about what happened in the Xiashan District. Yesterday he first went to Grid and asked about the situation in the cave during this time. Originally it was just a routine questioning, but I didn’t expect that in just twenty days, great changes had taken place in the cave.

Yesterday, when I heard that Shao Xuan, who was less than ten years old, was in charge of managing the cave, the old hunter was still very dissatisfied. Isn’t this bullying? Are the kids in the cave easy to get along with? Before he went to the cave to teach, only Shao Xuan was the only one who could study seriously. This old hunter had a good impression of Shao Xuan.

He didn’t believe it when Ge explained it, but now seeing the situation in the cave with his own eyes, it seems to be different…

With more than twenty pairs of rather abnormal eager eyes, the old hunter walked in stiffly, sat on the stone bench he had been sitting on, took out a piece of animal skin with numbers written in his arms, and faced the fire. Dui Diguang looked at it and took it correctly. He was sure that it was this animal skin roll, and cleared his throat.

“Ah, this, today, I will teach you how to count from one to ten. Listen well, I will read it first, cough, one, two, three…”

After reading it again, the old hunter felt that the surrounding atmosphere was a bit wrong. He moved his gaze away from the hide roll and looked up. He saw that the eager gaze in the surrounding circle became impatient, and some were obviously with contempt. .

What’s the matter? Are you impatient at the beginning? The old hunter was not happy in his heart. It was like this when he came to teach before. After reading two numbers, the group of people yawned and wanted to go to sleep. His anger made his old man’s brain hurt.

Just as he was being reprimanded, the old hunter heard a child complaining: “If you don’t sleep in the winter, just let me listen to this?”

“Only one to ten? This old man can’t do it.”

“that is!”

“Hey, old man, can you do it? Are you only one to ten?”

“A Xuan, let this old man go if it doesn’t work, and replace him.”

“that is!”

“Substitution!”

“Substitution!”

“Let him go!”

Shao Xuan looked at the old man holding the animal skin roll and found that the green veins on the old man’s forehead were jumping suddenly.

How rare, the old hunter would never have thought that these little boys would love to learn.