Chapter 13: Planning the Cave Dwelling
“Changxia, you've worked hard,” Muqin smiled, stepping into the den. She looked around, her gaze falling on the vine baskets and small baskets of various sizes in the corner; immediately, her eyes lit up.
Seeing this, Gen understood.
“These were woven by Chen Rong,” Gen picked up a small vine basket and handed it to Muqin, his words full of praise for Changxia.
Muqin took the small vine basket and examined it repeatedly.
“These small vine baskets are good; they're convenient for gathering and collecting,” Muqin said.
The tribe's children used backpacks, which were inconvenient. They had never thought of making the backpacks smaller. Today, seeing the backpacks and baskets of various sizes in Changxia's den, she immediately understood.
At the same time, Muqin deeply agreed with Gen's praise of Changxia.
Except for being a little weak, Changxia was excellent in every other way.
It was a pity that Nanfeng was a female.
Muqin had really thought about letting Nanfeng live with Changxia to take care of her for the rest of her life.
“Changxia, Mother knew you could make a good life for yourself,” Muqin patted Changxia on the shoulder, put down the small vine basket, and walked around the den, full of satisfaction. Especially when her eyes fell on the food on the stove, her expression was filled with happiness.
The child they had raised could finally live on her own.
Besides relief, there was a more complex feeling of reluctance.
“Mother Muqin, sit down quickly. Try the food I've cooked; it's all prepared for you,” Changxia was overjoyed and invited Gen and Muqin to sit. The den didn't have tables and chairs; she pulled out the vine mats as cushions. The baskets and small baskets were turned over to serve as tables.
Fish ball and vegetable soup, fried meat with stir-fried vegetables, stewed meat, blanched river shrimp, and steamed river crab. This meal was very sumptuous.
Gen and his family were amazed.
The tribe's daily staple food was roasted meat and stew.
Roasted meat, as the name suggests, was raw meat roasted and eaten. Stew was meat cut into pieces and added to various plant roots, stems, or wild vegetables. Meat was the main ingredient in stew, but the beastmen didn't know how to remove the fishy smell, so you could imagine how terrible the stew tasted.
The fish ball and vegetable soup was delicious and juicy, the fried meat with stir-fried vegetables was crispy and fragrant. And the stewed meat was soft and easy to eat, the river shrimp were chewy, and the river crab was delicious.
As soon as they started eating,
Gen and his family ate without lifting their heads.
“Ah! So full.”
“Changxia, if you need anything, tell Mother Muqin.”
Fifteen minutes later, the table was a mess.
Everyone lay on the vine mats with full stomachs.
Their faces showed expressions of satisfaction; they felt they had wasted the previous decades of their lives.
“Changxia wants to build a cave dwelling and needs to exchange resin with the tribe. The wood and stones will temporarily use Nanfeng's; other things need to be exchanged,” Gen explained. Even without saying it, the tribe would more or less provide support knowing Changxia wanted to build a cave dwelling.
Muqin nodded and said, “Changxia, if you need to do anything, just tell Nanfeng and have her help you. In a few days, the witch will come. I'll go back to the tribe later and help you exchange for a few pottery items; the den can't lack pottery.”
Before Changxia could speak, Gen and Muqin made the decision.
In their eyes, Chen Rong wasn't much better than Changxia, who was sickly.
Seeing this, Chen Rong remained silent, choosing to be a kept man.
Changxia smiled, filled with happiness.
“Mother Muqin, I won't be polite with Nanfeng,” Changxia nodded; with the tribe's help, she might be able to finish building the cave dwelling before the rainy season. Just thinking about it made Changxia very happy.
So she took a branch and began sketching on the floor.
“…To build a cave dwelling, first, we dig the foundation; second, we dig the cave; and finally, we build the walls and install doors and windows.”
Changxia had carefully checked the soil layer here.
It was thick and sturdy.
Very suitable for building a cave dwelling.
Digging was simple for beastmen.
The difficult part was the doors and windows. The doors could be made of wood, but the windows were troublesome. Changxia hadn't found a substitute for glass yet; if it didn't work, she could only make gridded wooden windows. Then she would hang animal hides to block them, just like the animal hides on the roof of the den.
This meant:
The light in the cave dwelling would be poor.
However, Nanfeng had told Changxia that birdmen had luminous stones.
Changxia planned to ask the witch to exchange these luminous stones with the birdmen and use them to replace torches/lights.
Beastmen, birdmen, and fishmen wouldn't trade directly.
They could only do so through the witches of each race or at the Normandy market. The same was true within the beastmen.
In Changxia's memory, the beastmen tribes didn't interact much.
Every time they interacted, it was at Mount Kana, asking for the witch's opinion. Only after the witch nodded would the tribes interact and exchange. Of course, there were exceptions. In the event of natural disasters or major events, the tribes would also interact.
This seemingly closed and primitive way actually greatly protected the development and reproduction of each tribe.
“It sounds like a cave,” Nanfeng muttered.
Changxia shook her head and retorted, “A cave is not comparable to a cave dwelling. I plan to build a cave dwelling leaning against the hillside to the west, digging the cave dwelling and incorporating the entire hillside.”
Changxia was ambitious.
She hadn't originally planned to build a large cave dwelling.
Nanfeng said that the cave dwelling was like a cave, and she immediately became unhappy.
The hillside by the lake was very large; Changxia decided to go big. She would directly build the entire hillside into a cave dwelling, in the style of a courtyard, combining the hillside with the cave dwelling to form a square-shaped cave dwelling, like a sunken cave dwelling.
Thinking about it, Changxia compared the terrain of the hillside.
She found that this idea was quite good.
She would place the main entrance on the side facing the lake and dig two cave dwellings on the left and right, making it look like a two-story building. It would be very suitable for living or storing things.
Changxia liked to hoard things; the den's area of several dozen square meters couldn't hold many things.
If the cave dwelling was large enough, Changxia could store things in a categorized manner. The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.
On the side,
Gen and the other three listened to Changxia's description.
They were all stunned.
Even the witch's residence didn't seem as good as the cave dwelling Changxia described.
Could they really build such a cave dwelling?
At this moment, even the experienced Chen Rong quietly fell silent.
“Changxia, such a cave dwelling…can we really build it?” Gen cautiously looked at Changxia, his eyes flashing with unconcealed excitement.
The He Luo tribe had lived on this land for thousands of years; their dens were not as good as the birdmen's nests, but they provided shelter from wind and rain.
Unlike some beastmen who lived in caves, the He Luo tribe preferred to live in dens.
Even though it rained in the rainy season and they were cold in winter,
Dens were still the first choice for beastmen.
“Chief, how would we know unless we try?” Changxia asked back.
During those years in the apocalypse, social order had collapsed.
Humanity had regressed from mechanical civilization; making things by hand was no longer just talk. Before, limited by her weak body, Changxia had been forced to adapt to everything in the He Luo tribe. Now that she had a choice, Changxia naturally didn't want to wrong herself.
Using everything around her that could be used; this was what an intelligent life form should do. Otherwise, what was the difference between them and beasts?!
“I can't help you, but I can let Nanfeng help you. If any tribespeople are willing to help, I won't stop them,” Gen said seriously.
He represented the He Luo tribe and couldn't make a casual statement.
But Nanfeng was different.
She already doted on Changxia and would stay to help Changxia do some unusual things. Even if the tribespeople had objections, they wouldn't say much.
Changxia grinned, smiling lightly.
“Thank you, Chief!”
Looking at the sun outside, Gen and Muqin got up and prepared to leave.
Things like vine sandals, the methods of making fish balls and fried meat, etc., needed them to handle. Of course, more importantly, they needed to get things for Changxia.
“Father and Mother really spoil you!” Nanfeng shouted.
Changxia stuck out her tongue at her and happily said, “Nanfeng, I picked a lot of white fruit this time, and we don't have pottery jars to store the fruit powder. You have to help make wooden barrels this afternoon.”
“Changxia, aren't we digging the cave dwelling this afternoon?” Chen Rong asked.
“I want to build the entire hillside into a large courtyard-style cave dwelling; I need to replan. You and Nanfeng make wooden barrels first and process the salt crystals,” Changxia thought for a moment and didn't rush to start digging. If she was going to do it, she wanted to do it well. Otherwise, she wouldn't do it at all.
(End of Chapter)
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