Chapter 20 – The color of wildness (1/2)

Translated by Sunyancai

The lyrics from that song came true.

Shao Xuan had an urge to slap himself in the face for singing that stupid song!

When the sun came out and the snow melted, Ge, together with some men, blocked the kids’ way when they were holding the fishing tools, intending to rush to the riverside to go fishing.

Seeing Ge’s familiar smile, and looking at the men Ge brought, the kids finally realized what he was up to. Fuck! Every year when winter ended and before the opening of the rituals of the Snow Festival, they would be dragged to the stream to take a bath.

The most annoying bath!!

If put it in an elegant way, it was required to take a bath before tribal rituals. While the realistic situation was that, those who were unwilling to go take a bath themselves would be carried to the stream and be given a brush-bath by force. Looking at the warriors that Ge brought! One had to be brushed anyway!

Luckily, Shao Xuan wanted to take a bath. Throughout the winter, he hadn’t even washed his face a single time, and his hair became a sticky mess long ago. If Ge had not mentioned it, he would have never imagined how he looked like now.

Shao Xuan walked towards the stream and looked at his reflection in the water. The image was blurred by ripples, but still, he could roughly see that he looked disheveled.

Strong and powerful warriors could jump directly into the freezing cold stream, but it was totally different for kids. Ge had told someone to boil some water before they arrived so that the warriors could mix the hot water with the cold stream water in a ladle, and then pour it on the naked whelp that was being pinned down on a flat stone. At the same time, they used something like grass vines to scrub his body constantly. Together with every single scrub, streams of black water would flow down. Those whelps were just as dirty as mud!

Poured on with water, and scrubbed by grass vines, those who had completely experienced the whole process would be tossed to the haystack on the side. Someone would wrap them in clean animal skins and carry them back into the orphan cave. The animal skin that they had used to wear and the blankets they used to wrap on were also taken away by women in the tribe. They would be sent back after they were washed and dried.

Shao Xuan’s eyelids twitched seeing this.

He felt like that he was in a meat processing factory…

Seeing Ge approaching, Shao Xuan said immediately, “Give me a ladle and I’ll do it myself!”

Since Shao Xuan was willing to comply, Ge tossed him a ladle and then focused his attention on the other kids. None of the kids who had survived the winter could escape from this.

Three days after winter was over, the thick layer of snow by the entrance of the cave had melted away quickly. Of course, the ice covers in the vents lasted no longer either. But as the winter ended, the temperature rose quickly. So if covered with animal skin blankets, one would not feel too cold. Everything seemed to be vivid again.

The deepest impression that these two days left on Shao Xuan, was that many people who used to pay no attention to their appearances and were as slovenly as beggars, suddenly cleaned themselves up and were appropriately dressed up. Even if their clothes of animal skins were no good in quality with holes here and there, they were at least clean and tidy. Also, their hair, long or short, was carefully combed.

At the very day of the Snow Festival, all the kids were sleeping in the cave. The rituals wouldn’t be starting until the night, and now they were not permitted to go fishing by the river. So they continued sleeping, as someone would come and wake them up when it was time.