I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 190 – The Useful Charcoal
Within the tribe, there was joy as everyone lay on the heated beds, surveying their new homes. Each person wore a satisfied smile, deeply feeling that the hard work of the past six months had not been in vain.
The earth pits were smooth and dry, far superior to the uneven caves. Even without laying down dry grass or fur, sleeping on them naked was more comfortable than in a cave. Not to mention that the heated beds were covered with hay and fur that had been dried and warmed in the sun for half a day.
It wasn’t just the children who were cheering and jumping on the heated beds; even the adults in the tribe were lying there, reluctant to get up.
As for the concern that the earth-heated beds would be too hot to sleep on in the summer, that worry had long been thrown out the window. Over this period, they had already figured out how to use the earth-heated beds.
When the weather wasn’t cold, there was no need to light a fire, so the heated beds naturally wouldn’t be hot, and sleeping on them wouldn’t be uncomfortable.
That wasn’t the main point; the main point was the scene described by the shaman.
Outside, snow fell heavily, and the cold was biting, with even urine freezing. Inside the rooms, a faint light from the fire pit of the earth-heated bed leaked out. The thick, heated bed was warm from the flames, and lying on it with an extra layer of softened skin after being treated made one want to moan in comfort just thinking about it.
In the past, the people who least liked the arrival of winter and heavy snow were now eagerly anticipating the severe cold to come early. If this kind of anticipation of the Green Sparrow tribe were known to other tribes, they would surely be cursed…
Even Lame had a happy expression on their faces. After lying on the heated bed for a while and feeling the beauty of the earth-heated bed with their spouse, this particularly diligent person got off the heated bed.
At this moment, he held a broken pottery shard with some smashed, unburnt black charcoal.
He came to the edge of the newly installed door, squatted down, pinched a few small clumps of charcoal crumbs into the stone pit below the door hinge, and then used his hand to move the door back and forth.
With the movement of the door hinge, these crushed charcoal crumbs gradually spread evenly around the hinge. Some unlucky ones had already run to the bottom of the door hinge and were crushed.
Compared to before, the door was much lighter to open and close.
After doing this at one door, Lame did the same at another door.
He didn’t care about the charcoal crumbs that weren’t crushed. As time passed, with everyone’s daily opening and closing of the doors, these charcoal crumbs would gradually wear out in the friction between the door hinge and the stone pit, becoming their lubricant.
As he put charcoal crumbs into the stone pit below the door hinge, Lame couldn’t help but marvel at the Divine Child’s wisdom.
He originally thought putting grease under the door hinge was a very good method, but he didn’t expect the Divine Child to develop an even better method like this!
Unburnt charcoal was very easy to obtain, and compared to delicious grease, it was not so painful to use. And the effect was even better.
With grease, you had to add some to it occasionally, and it was also easy to attract small insects. Charcoal crumbs had none of these troubles; you only needed to put some in now and then at the beginning, and then you didn’t need to worry about it anymore.
Moreover, after adding charcoal crumbs, the door hinge became smoother and lighter as it wore down. Besides the reasons Lame knew, there were two other reasons why Han Cheng changed the original method of adding grease and used charcoal crumbs instead.
One reason is that Fu Jiang, the gluttonous fellow, just stumbled over to lick the door hinge and got kicked several times on the buttocks for it, but he still enjoyed it.
Another reason is that when thinking about solutions, he remembered the later generations when the lock on the front door couldn’t open and close well, and family members would scrape some pencil lead into the keyhole, then insert the key, move it back, and forth a few times, and the lock would become smooth.
There was no lead in the Green Sparrow tribe, but there was plenty of unburned charcoal, even blacker than lead.
There was some resemblance between the two, so Han Cheng tried his sudden inspiration, and the effect was surprisingly good.
There was no trace of the Divine Child image when rolling around on the spacious earth-heated bed, so naturally, he didn’t know that someone was praising his wisdom behind his back.
Fortunately, this world didn’t have any capricious gods and spirits. If it were another world, Han Cheng felt that if things continued to develop like this, he might gather a lot of wishes and become a deity…
No one was in the east wing room; it was empty in the room reserved for the shaman.
At first, when they saw the completed deer fence, they associated it with a house. Those who wanted to build similar houses for the tribe suddenly became hesitant and started to regret it when it came time to move in. They said they would let everyone else move into the rooms and stay in the inner cave themselves.
This unexpected change caught Han Cheng off guard. When he asked the shaman why he didn’t want to move in, he just shook his head and refused to say, but when Han Cheng pressed him, he finally revealed the truth.
He said he had lived in the inner cave long and couldn’t bear to leave. Moreover, there were totem poles, bone wands, and feather crowns in the inner cave. These important things needed someone to guard them, and he was the shaman; he should guard them.
Han Cheng was touched and amused at the same time. After persuading him for a long time, the shaman refused, so Han Cheng had no choice but to let him be.
Since the weather wasn’t too cold, if the shaman didn’t want to leave, let him stay inside temporarily.
When the weather got colder, he would figure out a way to get him to move in.
“Time to eat! Time to eat!”
Someone shouted from outside.
Upon hearing this voice, the people in the room started to move, pouring out from the two doors and heading towards the cave.
Even though the children had short legs, they ran to the front, reminiscent of students in later generations who were ready to run to the cafeteria when the school bell rang.
Han Cheng also stepped out of the door and headed towards the cave. Influenced by the scene, his pace quickened involuntarily. Whether he walked fast or slow, the first meal was his…
As people moved out of the cave to live, the once crowded and lively cave became empty and deserted. With the influx of people, it once again regained its lively atmosphere.
The empty cave would be used to store tools in the future, and it would serve as the dining hall of the Green Sparrow tribe.
Han Cheng had no plans to change the practice of communal dining. Not only was it convenient, but gathering together to eat also fostered camaraderie. Moreover, by determining the order of serving food, it subtly maintained and reinforced the order of the Green Sparrow tribe.
As for private ownership, that was something to consider only after the productivity had greatly improved and the size of the tribe had expanded, which was unsuitable for the current Green Sparrow tribe.