Orcs through the age

When I woke up in the morning, I still felt very warm. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I was alone on the bed, and Luo Lei also covered me with his animal skin. The pot of fresh bacon that I prepared yesterday was roasting on the hide.

He didn't wear a blindfold, but he tied up his hair like I did yesterday, and it looks good, and this hairstyle is also good, making his edges and corners more sharp, and covering him so that he doesn't want people to see The place.Seeing me wake up, Luo Lei nodded at me: "It's still early, you can continue to sleep. We're going to hunt early today."

I also nodded to him, and after being lazy on the bed for a while, I got up and folded the two animal skins, and then folded the big animal skin that was laid, and put the hay into the bag again. Put the boards upright and set one of the tent posts, and the three bed-posts beside it.

I saw that the hot water being boiled on one side of the firepit was almost boiling, so I took some of the water out with a wooden spoon and put it in two clean large bowls, and put some in a clay pot to cool down. Throw the residue of the filtered sweet potato into the earthenware pot to cook - although there is no rice to cook sweet potato porridge, you can also try sweet potato soup.

At this time, Luo Lei has been roasting meat silently. I told him that I was going to wash my face, so I picked up my deerskin towel and a small handful of salt and fled under his attentive gaze. Yesterday, Xin Mu When they were here, I still felt that Luo Lei's coercion was calmer than last time, and today I feel that he gives people a high-pressure feeling.

Luo Lei ate eight or nine catties of meat, drank another wooden bowl of salty sweet potato soup, and asked me to fill his bamboo tube with a can of water before going out to gather.

I checked that the stone basin for water storage was already full of water, and scooped out the clear water on top of the sweet potato powder that had settled overnight, and continued to bake the stone slab that was made into a pan shape on the fire. I poured some animal oil to prevent it from sticking to the pan, so I scraped some of the pulp into another large wooden bowl, added some warm salt water, and spread it on the slate.

In the past, I saw that sweet potato vermicelli was made of dried sweet potato flour in the countryside, but I thought that since it can be made with dried sweet potato flour and water, then this kind of sweet potato pulp that already has water should also be able to make it ?Even though I think so, I don't dare to do too much, so as not to waste it. Every bit of food is precious now.

Fortunately, although the cooking was not very good, the small bowl of sweet potato pulp was still spread out into a not-so-thin sweet potato vermicelli. Of course, it is not as good-looking as the thin transparent sweet potato vermicelli, but when food is scarce, just ask for it. It doesn't matter how you look when you're full.

I hung an animal skin rope on the two pillars supporting the tent, hung the large sheets of sweet potato skins on the rope, washed the slate, and piled the remaining sweet potato pulp on the slate. Drying at the door, I went around the back of the tent to look at the two young wild boars tied to the tree and the deer tied to the tree, and fed some grass to the two young wild boars tied to the two hind legs in the house. I'm a female rabbit, and I'm going to make a rabbit cage tonight.Only then did he carry two animal skin bags, crossbow and arrows, and prepare to go out with the long fork.

Not long after I went out, I saw the patriarch's female coming to me. He came to ask Luo Lei about staying overnight.I didn't expect that in just a short while, he already knew about Luo Lei's stay. Looking around, it seemed that many people in the clan knew about it, so I had no choice but to explain, because Luo Lei and I both ate a meal yesterday. Tudou, I was afraid that something would happen to him if he fell asleep alone at night, so I left him to stay in my tent for one night. If any accident happened to one of the two, the other could find out and go to the priest as soon as possible.

It happened that Sim Mu's female Ah Man was passing by, so I pulled him over to testify.This explanation finally made the patriarch's female feel reasonable, and sighed again: "Although you haven't officially married yet, it's good that you are engaged, otherwise what will you do in the future? But, in this way, you can't Temporarily repent."

I don't know why and said there, I can only nod in frustration: "I won't go back on my word." This answer also made the patriarch's female nod in satisfaction.

Seeing that I seem to be going out, the patriarch's female is a little unhappy, there is no way, I have already had two bad records, I smiled bitterly: "Ah, the patriarch's family, I just want to dig some sweet potatoes today, it is the last time I took the exam The food for you, I used up all of that yesterday."

The patriarch's female is very serious: "Then you can't go out alone, you don't know when you will come back when you go alone."

Well, this attitude is like treating a bad kid who doesn't care about himself, so I grabbed Ah Man who was standing aside: "I'm going with Ah Man, right? Ah Man?"

Ah Man was stunned for a moment, but after seeing me winking at him, he understood: "Yes."

The patriarch's female obviously didn't believe it, but he couldn't do anything about it when we joined forces, so he nodded: "Then you must come back before noon, especially Arnold, today Luo Lei will come back early to discuss things, you must come back earlier."

Of course I nodded quickly, so I urged Ah Man to go back to get the animal skin bag.

Ah Man didn't expect that I really wanted to take him there, and I was even more embarrassed. He just said that he just ate my food yesterday, so how could he grab the fruit I found.

In fact, I can't finish eating such a large slice by myself, but I dare not let others take risks with me easily.There are currently 97 people in the clan, which is said to be the most powerful among the three nearby tribes, and the largest number of people. There are 56 males and 41 females. Among the males, the chief is the oldest, and there are six hunting Among the retired hunters who were injured and disabled to varying degrees, they could only do patrol in the clan, and there were thirteen little males who were unable to successfully transform from the age of six to 14. Only 37 of them could actually go out to hunt.There are 41 females, among which the high priest is the oldest, there are three priests in the tribe, there are three older females who have lost their partners, and six females who are five to 13 years old are still unable to leave the tribe, because The job of the priests is to heal the wounds and diseases of the clansmen, prepare medicinal herbs, etc. Unless they don't know the plants, they generally don't pick wild fruits and vegetables.There are only 32 females who can actually pick wild fruits and vegetables.

However, the wild vegetables and wild fruits that can be collected on the mountains and slopes around the tribe are limited.There used to be more game in the mountains and grasslands, but over the last decade or so, as hunting and gathering have increased, both hunting and gathering have become more difficult, and maybe soon we'll have to move to another area go.It's as if we moved here from somewhere else more than a decade ago.

Although Luo Lei always said that he would hunt enough prey to feed me, I knew it would not be easy.In summer and autumn, the females can still pick wild fruits and vegetables to satisfy their hunger, but in winter, when the mountains are covered by heavy snow, everyone can only hide in caves, relying on the food stored after the harvest festival to survive the cold and winter. hungry winter.

The climate here is like a more extreme temperate marine climate, and the summer is not very hot. At least during the hottest time of this year, I wore a sleeveless thin buckskin jacket and shorts, although I also sweated , but it is estimated that it should not reach forty degrees, but the winter is relatively cold, perhaps because it is close to the mountains, and there is a freezing period of nearly two months in winter.

While snow doesn't fall every day during this two-month-long freeze, it's mostly snow that hasn't melted yet, and it's covered with another layer, making even grass roots hard to find.The prey also hides in the deep mountains, or migrates to warmer places. Even if there are prey, it is not easy to hunt, and they have to face equally hungry and difficult opponents.

There are no very old people in the clan, and there are no people who cannot move. In fact, when food is scarce in winter, those who are too old to go hunting, picking, or severely disabled, and those who have lost their partners and are old The females will leave the cave and go to the wild by themselves, leaving more food for other people in the clan.If we don't prepare well, we may lose some people next year.

At first I didn’t feel much about this. I saw those patrol members the day before yesterday. I saw a patrol member smiling and telling Roy that if Roy didn’t work hard this year, he wouldn’t even be able to do patrol next year. When I saw Luo Lei lowering his head, when I saw the patrol member laughing and talking about his fate, when I saw them obviously wanting to survive so much but their eyes flashed with desire and helplessness, when I saw Luo Lei When I entered my tent, I still exuded a trace of heaviness and sadness from my body. I suddenly felt that maybe I could do something, even if it was a little, at least I could do something. For the sadness I saw, for Rolei who wanted to take care of me but was so helpless.

Of course, I didn't dare to act rashly, after all, this is a matter of human life, and secondly, I don't want A Nuo, who used to be ordinary and out of gregarious, to become too big after being thrown into the water, although the current changes are very impressive. People are shocked.Fortunately, people here don’t get jealous easily. Even if I got my prey these days, there are small wild boars and deer, and I brought back bags of wild fruits, they don’t see anything but envy for me. The meaning of jealousy.The females I met on the road, regardless of whether I have any impression or not, greeted me with a smile.Let me secretly make up my mind and try again. If everyone has not changed, then I will go to the patriarch and tell the patriarch that even if the patriarch and the clan are suspicious, even if they may be kicked out, go and try.

Because I was with Ah Man, I restrained myself a lot regardless of my forward attitude, and every time I took a step, I had to stretch out the long fork to explore the way.Ah Man was very interested in my long fork. Hearing that Luo Lei made it for me, he said enviously that it was great.I just laughed at him and asked Sim Mu to make one for him too.Ah Man was very honest, saying that Sim Mu couldn't do anything except hunting, and his workmanship was even worse. Every time he was asked to chisel a stone basin or something, he could always smash the stone into pieces.

I just laughed, even then you chose him.Ah Man blushed when she was next to me, and said: That’s because even then, Sim Mu is very good to him, he will always feed him first if there is food, and would rather eat less himself. Although he can’t make stone tools, After hunting in the clan, he would always come back late by himself, fetch some small prey to trade with others, and would not tire his females too much.

I think this is probably the simple love of primitive people.So I told Ah Man: In the future, everyone will be able to eat enough and live a better life.Ah Man also nodded: I believe in you, and I also believe in Luo Lei.

I don't even know what this has to do with Rory, but when he said that, I nodded curtly.

When I got to the sweet potato field, I told Ah Man to be careful where he stepped, and after a brief demonstration of how to dig sweet potatoes, I asked him to dig by himself.

Because I dug a few more traps last time, I went to check those traps first. Today’s harvest is relatively small. Only three of the eight traps have rabbits. It is estimated that there will be fewer and fewer in the future, because animals will also Because experience is wise.

I covered up the eight traps as before, and went to dig sweet potatoes myself. This time, because I only planned to dig sweet potatoes, I dug more.Ah Man didn't plan to dig a lot, I said we can dig two for each of the tribe so that everyone can taste it.So he carried more than 70 catties, and I carried more than 40 catties, and went back with three rabbits.

It was the first time for Ah Man to leave the tribe and go to another mountain. He was very excited. Besides the sweet potatoes on his back, he insisted on picking some wild vegetables he knew on the road. When he was picking wild vegetables, I found a nearby There are several things that look like pumpkins hanging on the tree!

I said hello to Ah Man and asked him to dig his wild vegetables first, so I leaned under the tree to look, only to find that not only this tree, but also a few nearby trees had hung a lot.Only then did I hate that I was timid and dared not climb trees when I was a child. Unfortunately, for some reason, these things all grow towards the tree. I finally found two on the ground that failed to climb the tree.

I cut off the two pumpkins with a bone knife, only to realize that today's harvest is too much for me to handle. There are sweet potatoes, rabbits, and now pumpkins. I really don't know how to handle them.Fortunately, Ah Man who came to watch took the initiative to carry some sweet potatoes for me.

Aman is four years older than me, not much taller than me, but he can endure hardships better than me. He carried sixty catties of sweet potatoes in a fur bag and insisted on walking back to the tribe, just to see him become red because of the fur bag. Two shoulders, let me make up my mind to catch a calf or something to raise, but first I have to try to make a bamboo basket or something, after all, there is a big clump of bamboo next to the tribe, it is easier and easier than catching a calf Get it done soon.

When we returned to the tribe, it was almost noon. The hunters had already returned, but they hadn't started to divide the prey yet.We went straight to the patriarch's house.

The patriarch didn't go hunting today either, because he was busy discussing things like the harvest festival and winter storage with the priest, and I heard that there were other things to discuss today.

When Ah Man and I went in with our things on our backs, the High Priest was also there, looking at me with strange eyes, I didn't have time to pay attention to him, but simply nodded.The high priest is the oldest female in the clan, and also a relatively prestigious old man in the clan, and the two young priests are his apprentices.

Because the priests in the clan are more physicians than divination gods, they only occasionally preside over the sacrificial ceremonies, and other times they heal the clansmen, deliver females, and so on.So they are very respected in the clan, and they are very talkative.I don't know what he is doing here today, and it seems that no one in the patriarch's family was injured.

Ah Man happily reported to the patriarch about the edible food I found. He also showed the patriarch the sweet potato and said that I would like to share it with the whole clan. The female of the patriarch sat beside Luo Lei.

Because the patriarch also ate sweet potatoes last time, the patriarch just nodded and asked Ah Man to go back first and let me stay.Ah Man was very obedient, put down the animal skin bag containing the sweet potatoes, and went back with only the few wild vegetables he dug himself.

Let me sit down too, and the patriarch said, "Arnold, you have discovered a lot recently, which is a great improvement compared to before."

My heart skipped a beat, and I looked at Luo Lei subconsciously, and found that he was also looking at the patriarch with a frown, and then gave me a reassuring look. I nodded, "Yes, because I'm hungry..." Of course Just rambling.

The high priest glanced at me, and said again: "You used to dare not even go out, but now you dare to go out hunting and gathering alone. I am very happy."

I nodded to him too, "Thank you."

At this point, the patriarch couldn't proceed further. While fiddling with the fire, the patriarch seemed to be thinking carefully. The patriarch's female just looked at Luo Lei.

The high priest saw that everyone was silent and looked at him as an old man, so he sighed faintly and said, "Are you really A Nuo?"

I don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing for these primitive people to resurrect the dead, but for the ancient Chinese, it is definitely an evil thing. I dare not admit it, but I can't object.

So I just kept my head down.