[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

It was getting late, and a golden setting sun lay on the calm surface of the Euphrates River.

"Don't worry, you can stay here for one night at most. If the gods don't want to see you, I will row this raft to pick you up here and send you back to that boy."

Yi Nan has arrived at a small island located in the middle of the big river at the mouth of the sea.She was sitting on the shore right now, with her chin propped on her hands, looking at the opposite bank and the waterway when she came.

"I can't bear that guy now, right? If I had known that I couldn't bear it, I wouldn't have been brave just now. You were happier when you were with him than you are now, do you know?" The uncle holding the raft laughed loudly at Yi Nan, "It's not like now, Mr. face."

Yi Nan pursed her mouth and ignored the talkative uncle, but she was quite upset.

——She knows that this "Enki" on the island is definitely not a "god".

Here "Enki" is a mortal like her.

But as soon as she entered Eridu, she sensed Enki's influence over the seaside city, and could sense that Enki was spying on them all.

It has to be said that Enki’s influence and control over the city of Eridu is something that even Inan admires—if Uruk’s witches are half as capable as this one, Inan won’t be able to make any waves in Uruk at all .

But in the same way, the tour group from Uruk has tried their best to show their sincerity and trust, showing wisdom, skills and willingness to share actively. She believes that this trip will definitely achieve her goal-who knows in the end Enki played her such a game.

Why did Enki suddenly test her companion's "loyalty" to her on this final journey?

In Yinan's view, this proposition simply does not hold water.Does "loyalty" mean asking the other party to risk everything for themselves, and sacrifice for themselves?Yi Nan never asks the people around her like that—as a modern person, she doesn't think she has the qualifications.

The answer Yinan gave to this question was to refuse the people around her to take risks for her; what Enki tested was whether Dumuzi was willing to sacrifice bravely for her——

This, the exam is not the same subject at all!

"Don't be upset, what if your companions don't worry about you?"

Although he received a cold reception, the uncle refused to leave. He stayed on the bank with a sheepskin raft, and said to Yi Nan with a smile: "Although my raft can only carry one person, I have to watch here. Did you really swim this way when your head got hot?"

"In a while, the tide will be the lowest, and it will be the safest time to swim over—but I just forgot to ask, can your companion swim?"

Inan shook his head.

Dumuzi is a shepherd who was born in a small village. If he hadn't come here with her, he might never have seen the grand scenery of the sea and the river in his life.

"Then don't even think about it. The water of the Euphrates River is relatively gentle in this section, but it's not something people who can't swim can swim over. Unless, unless he can find out..."

At this time Yi Nan jumped up, stretched his neck, and looked at the far opposite bank.She seemed to have heard the barking of the shepherd dog Xiao Hei just now.

"Oh, he really discovered the one that was originally hidden on the shore!" The uncle on the sheepskin raft said happily and loudly.

Yi Nan also noticed that there was an unidentified object on the surface of the water on the shore. When he got closer, Yi Nan saw clearly: it turned out to be a few air bags made of sheepskin, which were bulging and full of air.

A few simple pieces of wood were used to form a platform on the sheepskin airbag. Dumuzi knelt on one knee and tried his best to maintain his balance.He held a long wooden stick that looked a bit like an oar in his hand, and was trying to paddle.The shepherd dog Xiao Hei swam happily in the water beside Dumuzi.

Perhaps it was Dumuz who went back to the pier he passed by before, borrowed enough materials through Ake, and then tied a simple sheepskin raft with the fastest speed.

Taking advantage of the low water level of the river and calm wind and waves, Dumuzi bravely boarded this simple raft and headed for Enki's small island.

Although every movement of his oars was clumsy, although the raft spun uncontrollably in the river at the beginning.But Dumuzi's ability to learn is also super-Yinan guessed that he should have carefully observed how the uncle on the sheepskin raft was operating just now.

"Hahaha," the talkative uncle looked up to the sky and laughed, "I'll go pick him up now, we now have two rafts, so it's not against the will of the gods!"

No wonder the uncle had always emphasized that "his" sheepskin raft could only carry one person—Enki didn't forbid others to imitate the sheepskin raft and cross the river on their own.

Soon, the two sheepskin rafts met in the middle of the river.Dumuzi put away his oars, directly put on the uncle's raft, and was led by the front raft, and they approached this side together.

Yi Nan walked up and down the bank excitedly.

It was true that she had overlooked that there was room for loopholes in Enki's instructions earlier, and she hadn't paid attention to the environment on the shore, and she didn't find that there were materials on the shore that could be used to make sheepskin rafts.

However, Dumuzi thought of all this.

He did come up with "a better idea."

More importantly, Dumuzi's move directly proved how "loyal" he was to Yi Nan—for some reason, when Yi Nan thought of this, his pretty face turned slightly hot.

It seems that there is one more person in this world, who will never leave her, and is willing to stand by her in this life to overcome any difficulties and dangers.

From this perspective, is it possible that she, the misunderstood "god", has the same degree of influence on the people around her as Enki, the main god of Eridu? ——Thinking of this, Yinan felt very proud again.

Soon, the person who should arrive finally arrived.Dumuzi jumped ashore and faced Yi Nan who came up to meet him.

Yi Nan's pretty face was flushed with joy, and she opened her arms, ready to give the young shepherd a hug at any time.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Xiao Heiwang, who had been swimming all the way, suddenly ran between the two of them, shook his body and began to throw water, and the dense water points quickly flew towards Yinan and Dumuzi.Amidst the uncle's laughter, Yinan and Dumuzi quickly closed their eyes, turned their faces away, and avoided the water spots on Xiao Hei's body.

When the shepherd dog finally calmed down, raised its head obediently, and waited for Yi Nan to rub it, Yi Nan was no longer ashamed to hug Dumuzi; Er opened his mouth, as if he didn't know how to face Yinan.

Yi Nan could only turn around and rub the cute shepherd dog with its head raised.

At this time, the uncle on the sheepskin raft said goodbye to them: "Young people, this island is yours now—"

With a wave of the wooden oar in his hand, he paddled the sheepskin raft and left.

Yinan hurriedly took Dumuzi together and dragged the simple raft to the shore—so they at least had the initiative and could leave freely.

Immediately afterwards, the two went to the island together, ready to take a good look at the small island of the "temple" of the main god Enki.

The two of them quickly entered a courtyard, and the door leading to this courtyard was opened, as if someone had specially invited them in.

But the actual situation is quite the opposite.In this courtyard, Yinan and Dumuzi did not see a single person——

The compound was empty, and probably the island too.

But Yinan and Dumuzi parted ways and walked around the courtyard.They immediately found that although there was no one in the courtyard, it had all the daily necessities.There is clear water in the clay pot, and there is even dough that has risen in the kitchen. Light a fire, bake it, and it is bread.

I can't starve to death, I just don't know what will happen tomorrow.

"Yinan, come and see—"

Du Muzi suddenly found something, and asked Yinan to look.It was getting late at this time, and Dumuzi held a pottery lamp in his hand and came to a small house made of pottery bricks in the courtyard.

Yi Nan opened the door and said firmly, "It belongs to us!"

Neatly placed in the room are all the supplies brought by the tour group from Uruk, barley and wheat, various spices and cheese, large and small pottery bottles and jars...

When Yinan and the others were in the fishing village and saltworks of Eridu, the items used to exchange dried fish and salt, and the things that were finally entrusted to the villagers of the saltworks for safekeeping were all sorted and neatly placed in this room.

This was not beyond the expectations of Yinan and Dumuzi. She felt that Enji was very concerned about the tour group early on, so the things brought by the tour group would naturally be sent to Enji by the villagers from all over the place.

Soon Yinan saw the stone knife that Guda carried all the way from Uruk—she reached out to weigh it, but it was still so heavy.Even the weapons, the Eridu packed them as they were, and sent them to her.

This Enki seemed quite honest and generous.

Dumuzi was holding a pottery lamp by her side, while Yi Nan inspected the stone knife, he discovered the bag of "gems" that Gu Da had brought with him.She took it off to look at it with great interest, and saw that the minerals inside were really mixed, and there were all kinds of them.

Yi Nan roughly flipped through it, and found a palm-sized, light, black "ore" with a jelly-like surface.

Yi Nan proudly tossed this black "gem" in his hand, and said with a smile: "With this in hand, Enki will definitely beg to come to see me this time."

Dumuzi leaned over curiously, took a closer look, and said, "There are a lot of this kind of stones around Uruk!"

"That's right!" Yi Nan said triumphantly, "It's because of this that Eridu can't do without Uruk."

"This god Enki has a reason to come to see me."

Unexpectedly, Yi Nan's "prediction" did not come true immediately.

That night, Yinan and Dumuzi were resting in the small courtyard, only the sound of the surging river flowing into the sea could be heard, other than that, there was no other movement.Throughout the night, even Xiao Hei didn't notice any abnormalities, and slept extremely peacefully.

Early the next morning, Inan and Dumuzi set out to explore the island.

This island seems to be about the same size as the Inanna Temple in Uruk.

Yinan and Dumuzi soon discovered that the area they could reach was actually only a part of the island.

A clay brick wall was built in the middle of the island, dividing the island in two.A door had been left in the wall, but it was barred and impenetrable.The two ends of the wall are built directly into the water and cannot be bypassed.

The side where Yi Nan and the others were located seemed to be a place specially used for rest and accommodation for those waiting for an audience.

It is reasonable to infer that Enki's residence and activity place should be on the other side of the island.

Then Yinan and Dumuzi began a long wait.Dumuzi opened any room on the island that could be reached to take a look, and took stock of all the supplies they had——

Food was plentiful, after all, even if the dough and bread left in the kitchen were eaten up, they still had food brought from Uruk.

Fresh water can be taken directly from the Euphrates River, and the kitchen here is equipped with charcoal for purification, and various tools for boiling water, stewing, and baking.In addition to condiments, there are many small dried fish in the kitchen.

In addition, the empty houses here can accommodate dozens of people.

What Yi Nan observed carefully was the geological structure of the island—she found that the center of the island was land above the water, and even had a piece of fertile soil.The surrounding areas of the island are low-lying, so the houses look like they are built on the water.

This is an island formed by the alluvial sediment carried by the Euphrates River from upstream-this island will become larger and larger in the future, and it may even be connected to the land and become part of the land.

After all, according to Yinan's understanding, due to the continuous alluvial of the big river, the estuary plain of the Euphrates River will gradually advance towards the Persian Gulf.After thousands of years, the ancient city of Eridu was no longer even a city by the sea.

Even if this small island is excavated by future archaeologists, it is absolutely unimaginable that at this moment, it is a temple above the waves, between fresh and salt water, belonging to the god Enki.

But now, the Eridu people have transformed a small piece of fertile soil on the island into a garden with wooden sheds and many rare plants.Seeing some of these plants, Yinan even wondered whether the Eridu people had already connected with the South Asian subcontinent.

While she was carefully inspecting the vegetation on the island, Dumuzi took care of all the trivial things for the two of them to live on, prepared clean drinking water, baked bread, soaked small dried fish, and Try to make the dog's eating habits gradually approach the cat.

The day passed quickly—until night fell, and they did not wait for the god Enki to come out to meet them.

Uncle Sheepskin Raft, who had sworn by oath last night, did not come to pick them up as promised.

It was as if Enki neither said he would not see them nor wanted to see them.

Dumuzi asked Yinan: "Are we still waiting?"

Yi Nan nodded: "Of course I'll wait."

After spending so much time and energy, and already knowing that Enki is next door, wouldn't it be foolish to give up on her now?

"Actually, if we want to leave, we can leave at any time. But the other party is probably testing us on purpose to see if we are sincere enough to see Enki."

If they wanted to leave, Yinan and Dumuzi could use the sheepskin raft in their hands to leave at any time—but in this case, the trip to Eridu would be futile and meaningless.

"I think so too." Dumuzi agreed with Yinan's point of view, "Maybe this is Enki's last test for us: to see if we have enough patience."

Yi Nan rolled his eyes: "Patience is definitely enough for me. But when I see Enki, I have to keep it up until he cries and begs me—"

When Dumuzi heard Yi Nan say such angry words, he knew that the girl said she had "patience" verbally, but she was actually suffocated in her heart.

He thought for a while and said, "Why don't we think about it and do something to pass the time?"

Yi Nan smiled immediately: "I've already thought of something that took a lot of time. Since Enki refused to see me, I just started to do it slowly - Enki will definitely thank me in the future."

Dumuzi also smiled: "I think, if Enki could hear you, he would be like me, scratching his head and scratching his head, really wanting to see what wonderful ideas you are full of."

"My dear Nan, what do you want to do?"

Being praised by Dumuzi, Yinan immediately gave up the idea of ​​"selling the door", and took out a flower from her hand, which she had picked from the garden on the island earlier.

With the dim light of the oil lamp, Dumuzi saw clearly that it was a huge blue flower, which filled Yinan's entire palm.The petals are layered on top of each other, like pine cones, wrapping the center of the flower.

Yi Nan stretched out his hand in front of Dumuzi and let him smell the flowers.

"Fragrant, but also bitter—"

It's like love.

"What is this?" Dumuzi asked curiously, "I've never seen this before."

Yinan smiled and said, "This is a hop. To be honest, I didn't expect to see it here."

Hops are hops, and their modern habit is to grow in temperate climates with low temperatures.Therefore, Yi Nan did not expect to see it in a place with a warm climate like Mesopotamia.

However, it now appears that the hops may also have been collected from elsewhere by the Eridu people and transplanted here.Its appearance has a certain chance.

But no matter what, the appearance of hops reminded Yi Nan of her plan to "brew beer".Besides, it's still uncertain when we can see Enki now, so Yi Nan decided to do it first.

The next day, Yinan and Dumuzi fought together.

They first took out all the bottles and jars brought from Uruk, and picked out a few particularly large ones for spare.

Then Dumuzi went to prepare a large amount of clean fresh water; Yinan took out the barley they brought from Uruk—what she had to do was actually the same as making maltose, that was to germinate the barley to produce sugar, and then Let these malts ferment.

But unlike making maltose in Tibila Village, Inan waits until the barley has germinated, then roasts the germinated barley on the fire.The malt is easily shaken off after roasting.

After the malt was ready, Yi Nan poured the malt and hot water into the clay pot, and threw a little bit of stale bread in the pot.

After that, Yi Nan covered the clay pot with a lid and tried to make a water seal.

Dumuzi watched the whole process by Yi Nan's side. His pair of beautiful eyes never left the clay pot in Yinan's hand. It was not until Yi Nan finished all the processes that Dumuzi said: "You look like you have planted a pot. A plant is waiting for it to grow up."

Yi Nan smiled: "Isn't it? But I actually planted a lot of yeast and I'm waiting for them to grow."

"Yeast? The kind of yeast used to bake bread?" After walking in a big city like Uruk, Dumuzi knows a lot now.

"Yes—" Inan said triumphantly, "It's them. It's just that they can create a lot of air bubbles in the dough, making our bread soft."

"But now," Yinan patted the clay pot, "these guys don't have enough air, so they can't produce those bubbles. They can only produce something called 'alcohol'."

"Alcohol is a good thing." Yi Nan couldn't help laughing when he thought of the wide range of uses of this substance.

"The stale bread I just threw in is the leavening agent, which makes the yeast grow up quickly."

"Nan, you know a lot." Dumuzi admired sincerely.

"Come on, let's get on with it and brew more!"

Yinan directed Dumuzi, and the two brewed a lot of beer according to the steps just now.Inan added hops to two of the cans, and honey to two more.

After the bottles and cans they brought were filled with beer, Yinan and Dumuzi finally calmed down, and the two returned to a state of doing nothing—Enji still did not appear.

One day, Yinan was sitting on the porch of the courtyard, teaching Dumuzi how to play backgammon - the rules of backgammon are relatively simple, and Dumuzi can master it as soon as he learns it. It didn't take long for Yinan to fight repeatedly and was defeated by Dumuzi. .

Just as Yinan sighed and secretly sighed: she is a modern person, and her intelligence may not be much stronger than that of the ancients, Dumuzi suddenly moved his body and whispered: "Shh—"

"Someone is coming, and I heard the sound of the raft paddling."

Yi Nan suddenly woke up: someone came to the island again.

Yinan and Dumuzi looked at each other, but before they could judge whether it was a blessing or a curse, they suddenly heard a loud voice outside: "Miss Nan, Dumuzi, are you here?"

"Hamti!" Yinan and Dumuzi said at the same time, then got up at the same time, and ran away to the outside of the courtyard.

It was indeed Hamti.His ankle looks less swollen and better.

The uncle who sent Hamti ashore waved to Yinan and Dumuzi, and left on his own without saying a word.

The next day, the uncle's sheepskin raft brought Ake to the island again.On the third day it was Guda's turn.

The tour group actually reunited on this island.

There are two remaining members: White Ox and Claret Horse.It was more difficult to send them ashore, so these two guys are said to be properly cared for by the Eridu people now.

Since Hamti came to the island, there has been almost no peace for a moment.

After the first can of brewed beer was tasted by Hamtie, the little guy only commented that "it tastes weird", and then gulped down the whole can.

Then the fellow began to blush and talk at the top of his voice, telling all the anecdotes of his childhood in Bad Tibila.If anyone interrupts, Hamti can get back to the original topic in just three sentences.

Tasting the same beer, Ake’s reaction was to sing loudly—even Dumuzi and Hamti, two companions who grew up in the same village, were stunned, saying that they saw the “other side” of Ake that he had never shown .

But Gu Da just fell asleep, no matter how many people around him were singing and chattering, he would not move.

Inan himself tasted a bit of the filtered beer—the beer of this era was not fermented at low temperature, so it could not produce a rich head, but the taste of the beer was already there.Even the Maillard reaction from earlier roasting the malt adds a hint of caramel to the beer.

In addition to alcohol, beer also contains many nutrients, such as vitamin B, which can bring healthier bodies to people in the Mesopotamia.

Yi Nan himself was very satisfied with this.

——The most important thing is that with this group of happy companions here, drinking beer and singing, she couldn't believe that Enki could bear it and refused to see them.

If she could bear it, she would really have obeyed Enki.