Chapter 34 – Change of style (2/2)

So when seeing that old Ke took things out at that hour, people gathered.

“Hey, old Ke, why are you doing business at this time now?”

“Hi, old Ke, these things are not Ah-Xuan’s handcraft, right?”

Many people knew that Shao Xuan was learning stone crafting from old Ke, but people were not optimistic about it. Some would discuss in private how long Shao Xuan could manage to keep learning, and whether he would be like old Ke’s former apprentices that left, or got kicked out by old Ke forcefully. However, unexpectedly, Shao Xuan was still learning, and it seemed that old Ke was not frustrated or mad as well.

Wasn’t that strange?

Actually, the one who guessed the stoneware was made by Shao Xuan laughed at himself after he finished his sentence. People coming with him also laughed over it, and none of them took it seriously. After all, in their perspective, Shao Xuan had only been learning for a few days, and it was impossible for him to craft such successful stoneware. They were just messing with old Ke.

“This is a nice stone arrowhead, and it could be used for setting up ground bows… Hey, the barbs are wonderfully polished! I like that!” one squatted down and began to select his favorite items.

Seeing that someone had begun choosing, the others stopped messing around and hurriedly began to choose their own favorite items, as if fearing that all the good stuff would be bought by others. After all, the stoneware from old Ke’s place was much better than the other’s.

“Hey, old Ke, have you changed your style? The barbs on your arrowheads used to be shorter.” A warrior said as he touched the wings of a stone arrowhead.

Ke just sat there with his poker face as usual, in silence.

The warriors that came to do the trading were already used to old Ke’s character and did not expect old Ke to explain. After all, it was normal that a stoneware crafter changed his style.

When hunting, warriors had a large consumption of stoneware, because unlike metals which could be recycled, the stoneware could only be used once. This resulted in a rather high scrap rate, which led to warriors preparing a lot of stoneware before every hunting mission.

Almost twenty days had passed since the other hunting team left, normally speaking, hunting teams would return home in twenty days. Even when they met some hardships or other difficulties, the hunting period would not be more than thirty days. Their families were still in the tribe after all, and they would starve if the warriors did not return.

So if someone did some calculations, one would know that the hunting team was about to return. Meaning the other hunting team was preparing to leave. Once the hunting team returned, the other one would set off for hunting after handing over their daily duties. The earlier they prepared their stoneware, the better.

“They will return in a couple of days. In the morning I saw that wounded people were sent back. This time two warriors were badly injured, but not fatally. I heard that no one got killed this time.” Someone said as he chose the items.

“So we are about to set off? I have to go back home and take a few more things to trade with old Ke.”

“You said that two were injured? Who were they?”

“…”

People began to discuss but their selection speed did not slow down. Once they had chosen an item, they would grasp it tightly in their hand, and the others would regret not grasping it sooner.

“You do the trading or not, hold your tongue, and get lost if you’re done with trading!” Old Ke waved his arm with an icy face. They’d better do the discussion elsewhere. Ah-Xuan was still in the room, crafting, they might disturb him!

In the eyes of the crowd, old Ke was a tough guy and he was not easy to deal with. It seemed that he cared about nothing but stoneware. He was also quite aggressive when yelling. However, in fact, old Ke valued Shao Xuan more than anyone else in his heart. He became unhappy when people started making noise and he began to drive them away.

People were not angry. They stopped talking and hurriedly continued their picking.

When the majority of the stoneware was picked out by others, and seeing that no more people were coming, old Ke collected the remaining small stoneware into the wooded box. He shook his head as he talked to himself, “Why are the small stoneware unappreciated? When used properly, they can be more lethal than the big ones.”