I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 164 – Discovery of Cement
After lunch and a short break, the people of the Green Sparrow tribe did not go back to work as usual. Instead, they stayed near the cave, glancing at the Divine Child and then at something not far from the cave, enclosed by a few wooden sticks.
The Divine Child had mentioned that they could see the results after the break, so they were eagerly anticipating what delightful changes the ordinary ash would undergo in the hands of the Divine Child.
When Han Cheng woke up and noticed the constant glances from the people, he didn’t delay any further. He scooped some clear water from the jar, washed his face, and became more awake. After that, he led the people out of the cave to see the results.
It had been four and a half days since the creation of the cement cakes using the two ash molds.
The day before yesterday, when Han Cheng checked, the cement cakes had already dried and solidified. However, considering that they might differ from real cement and wanting to see the better side of them, he waited until today at noon to unveil the results.
The several wooden sticks serving as molds around it were stuck to the solidified cement cakes. Han Cheng had to use a thin stick to pry them open. Watching the uneven tree bark peeling off the sticks, Han Cheng couldn’t help but feel delighted. This substance could be used as an adhesive!
The cement cakes enclosed in the middle were fully exposed with the sticks removed. Han Cheng first used a thin stick to lift and loosen it before forcefully flipping it.
Regardless of whether sand was added or not, neither of them cracked during this process.
Han Cheng casually picked up a nearby stick and tried to strike the portion without sand. It produced a ‘thud, thud’ sound, somewhat resembling the sound of a woodpecker pecking at a tree to catch insects.
This unconventional cement cake was sturdier than he had imagined. It was only after he used all his strength to strike it seven or eight times that the cake, leaning against a stone, finally broke in the middle.
The people around were even more confused. The Divine Child spent more than four days carefully tending to these creations, fearing they might be damaged. Yet, now that they were completed, he used a stick to break them into pieces. What…
Han Cheng wasn’t content with breaking just one; he continued the one-sided attack on the cement cake with added sand.
Han Cheng’s hand became numb after seven or eight strikes in succession. However, this cement cake only sheds some debris.
Cement cakes at this level were more than usable!
He stood up, revealing a smile to the onlookers.
Although most of the surrounding people didn’t understand what the Divine Child had just done, seeing the Divine Child so happy, they understood that the task was successful.
They immediately became excited after waiting a long time, especially the children waiting here for the past few days. They were even more thrilled.
The contemplative Shaman, driven by this atmosphere, was also excited. Although he couldn’t contain his excitement, he had many doubts. He felt like he was genuinely getting old. He could more or less guess the Divine Child’s intentions in the past, but this time, even after the Divine Child thoroughly revealed the items, he still knew nothing about their purpose.
The Eldest Senior Brother also harbored doubts. As someone who frequently built houses, when he saw this stone-like, neatly shaped thing, his initial thought was to use it for wall construction. However, he quickly shook his head, realizing that using this for building houses would be too cumbersome and far less convenient than using stones or compacted earth.
Han Cheng had already seen the confusion in everyone’s eyes. He stopped the overly excited people and then turned to pick up four tiles stacked together from the nearby mountain wall.
In the middle of the tiles was the completely solidified ash. It looked like a uniquely shaped chocolate sandwich cookie.
These were the ones he had made before. Initially, he only wanted to make two cement cakes for a simple experiment. Later, he thought that the primary purpose of making cement was not to make cement bricks but to seal the edges of the roof. So, he made some more and created two special ‘sandwich cookies.’
Han Cheng first tried to break them with his hands. When he couldn’t break them, he handed them to the Eldest Senior Brother, indicating that he should use force to separate the two pieces of tiles stuck together.
Upon seeing the two tiles stuck together that Han Cheng brought, the Eldest Senior Brother immediately guessed something. He looked at Han Cheng with surprise, and Han Cheng smiled, nodding in confirmation.
The Eldest Senior Brother took one tile in his hand and began to exert force slowly.
His joy increased when he used considerable force, and these two tiles remained firmly stuck together without any sign of separation.
“Crack!”
A slight sound echoed as a piece of the tile couldn’t withstand the force of the Eldest Senior Brother and was forcefully broken off. However, the rest of the tiles remained firmly stuck to each other.
“Divine Child!”
The Eldest Senior Brother held the broken piece, and the two tiles stuck together, looking at Han Cheng excitedly.
He had understood entirely the Divine Child’s intention in making these things. In the past, when building walls for houses, they used mud for filling, and the walls were quite sturdy. Now, using something like these tiles that couldn’t be separated by force to build walls would make the houses even more robust.
There’s a saying, ‘talks about one thing but thinks about another, talks about something else but thinks about their trade.’ For the Eldest Senior Brother, who had been mainly dealing with walls, deer enclosures, and houses for over a year, upon seeing this magical substance made from wood ash, his first thought was related to these constructions.
Of course, this was also related to Han Cheng experimenting with a few tiles.
The tiles stuck together were then passed around among the people of the Green Sparrow tribe. They were amazed at the transformation of the initially soft and shapeless wood ash into something sturdy, able to attach two tiles firmly.
This discovery deeply moved the Eldest Senior Brother and Tie Tou.
In the same incident, they sighed for wasting fertilizer when they saw it. However, the Divine Child was able to find something good in it. The Divine Child’s wisdom was truly admirable.
Next, a few skilled individuals were tasked with washing the wood ash, going to the downstream bay to collect sand, and mixing it with cement. They started removing the tiles that covered the sides of the roofs of the three completed houses, washing away the mud on the tiles, and using cement to build and seal the edges.
Others who couldn’t contribute to these tasks went out to continue their efforts in plowing and clearing land with fire. Until now, the Green Sparrow tribe hasn’t kept many idle individuals.