Chapter 78 - Pottery Shard (2/2)
Such a powerful person actually allowed his life to revolve around Zhou Ji…
Zhu Zhan looked down on him a little.
However, at the end of the day, they were outsiders, and it wasn’t convenient for them to say anything…
Xiong Ye had no idea that his behavior had caused Zhu Zhan to disdain him.
At the moment, he had been pulled over by Zhou Ji to learn how to write.
Before, when Zhou Ji had had him solve math problems, he had already found it very difficult. Unexpectedly, he had now encountered something even harder!
These words… What exactly were these things?!
How could there be something this difficult in this world?!
Just regarding his own name… Why was the word ‘bear’ so hard to write? He found himself regretting that he had awakened as a bear, but the words for other animals were also very hard to write!
People’s names shouldn’t start with the word for their animal form. That way, he could be called ‘一一’!
In this primitive tribe, someone began to think like the people from Earth, and began to wish they had called themselves ‘一一’.
“Zhou Ji, why do we have to write words. I feel that it’s better to just draw a bear.” Xiong Ye complained.
Zhou Ji: “There are so many bears in the world. If you just draw a bear, how will someone know whether this bear is you or someone else from the tribe?”
That was true… Xiong Ye nodded.
“But if you write ‘Xiong Ye’, that will represent you.” Zhou Ji continued.
Xiong Ye nodded again, then said, “But… The priest often gives a person’s name to someone else in the tribe after they die… There was another Xiong Ye before me.”
Zhou Ji: “……” He really hadn’t known about this matter…
Zhou Ji tried again, “You can carve my name and your name together on the stone for future generations to see.” Teaching someone who had never been exposed to words how to write simplified Chinese characters was actually very difficult. Zhou Ji had never had any plans to do so at first.
However, since he and Xiong Ye would be together for the rest of their lives, they needed to find more stuff to do together.
Moreover, the meaning behind words was very important. Only with words could some knowledge and cultural information be passed on and inherited.
Of course, it wasn’t a big deal if it wasn’t passed on. He was very unlikely to be able to use an iron pot again in this lifetime. Since that was the case, what was the point in talking about culture…
Xiong Ye was very interested in Zhou Ji’s suggestion. How great would it be if he and Zhou Ji’s names were engraved in stone and passed on forever?
He suddenly had the motivation to learn to recognize and write words.
Zhou Ji slowly taught him how to write, and while he was writing, he casually made some clothes.
He had made clothing for Xiong Ye, but Xiong Ye didn’t wear it often. After all, those clothes would be scrapped as soon as he switched into his animal form.
In contrast, an animal hide skirt was much simpler. Only the tie would break when he changed into his animal form, so when he turned back into human form, he could pick it up and continue to wear it.
Zhou Ji was considering making him several skirts that were similar to Xiong Ye’s animal hide skirts for him to wear.
He didn’t know if the people here would develop in the same direction as they had on Earth. If that was the case… the people on the streets who were wearing suits would suddenly burst out of their clothing when they turned into their animal forms or something…
Zhou Ji suddenly rather wanted to see that scene.
Gradually, the sky turned dark.
Today hadn’t been a hunting day for the hunting team. As time went by, even the people who had gone out to collect firewood were making their way back… Everyone was gathered together next to the fire pit.
The priest even waved his hand and allowed everyone to eat directly next to the fire pit.
After the priest agreed, the people of the tribe borrowed some fire from the fire pit and began to roast earth eggs and reheat some smoked meat nearby.
Out of all these people, Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye were eating the best food.
Zhou Ji fried the chili peppers with oil again, then stir-fried the smoked meat slices along with a bean-type vegetable. It tasted very good when paired with roasted earth eggs.
And they didn’t only have that one dish.
Zhou Ji had sun dried some mushrooms before, and now he made mushroom soup with salted vegetables. In this era that didn’t have MSG, soup like this could be considered delicious beyond what words could describe.
The people of the Giant Pig Tribe could feel their eyes burning with envy as they looked on.
Although they looked down on Zhou Ji, they had to admit that the food that this person made was really good.
After glancing at the feast laid out in front of Zhou Ji, they continued to gnaw on their smoked meat and fill their stomachs with their earth eggs.
In fact, the food they had was already very delicious. Why did they now feel that the taste wasn’t good enough?
It wasn’t only the people of the Giant Pig Tribe who thought this way.
The people of the Big Bear Tribe were just as greedy.
At this time, Zhou Ji said, “The things inside the pit are basically done. There’s no need to add any more firewood.”
Zhou Ji had been observing the situation inside the pit with his spiritual strength and reminding people to add firewood from time to time.
Even so, the vast majority of bricks and pottery in the pit were still blackened and cracked.
However, for better or worse… they had still managed to create ‘pottery shards’?
Hearing Zhou Ji’s words, the people of the Giant Pig Tribe prepared to watch this farce play out in front of them.
How could pottery be made so easily? If the people of this tribe were really able to create pottery out of mud and fire, they would also join in and serve Zhou Ji in the future!
The people of the Giant Pig Tribe didn’t believe that the Big Bear Tribe could make pottery with tricks like these, but the people of the Big Bear Tribe believed in Zhou Ji.
“I wonder what pottery looks like…”
“When will that fire go out?”
“I must see this pottery thing before I go to sleep tonight!”
……
The fire in the pit slowly burnt out as no more firewood was added.
About seven hours after they had begun the fire, the priest had people stamp out the still burning embers from the pit, and everyone finally saw the things piled up in the middle.
One of the stones that made up the ‘kiln’ had fallen down, and the pottery things inside couldn’t be seen clearly because it was already dark.
They had to wait another hour or so for it to cool down before someone turned into their animal form and went down into the pit to get to the things inside and bring them out.
Many of the bricks were cracked. Some were red, some were black, and they looked strange. There were some other stones that looked like… they had become pottery from the outside.
As for the dishes and pottery that Zhou Ji had told them to make that they had placed in the middle, most of them were shattered.
“It’s all broken.” The priest was a little downcast, but he then said, “This piece of pottery shard is very beautiful, I want to decorate my cave with it!”
“There really isn’t a single usable piece.” Zhou Ji found a plate that was barely intact out of the pile of things, then discovered that there were still some structural problems with the plate. It would likely break if it was used.
Zhou Ji was lamenting, but Zhu Zhan and the others were completely dumbfounded, “You guys… actually made pottery!”