I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 26 – Han Cheng Making Pottery
Seeing the fish in the river, Lame was excited, as this marks a turning point in his bleak life.
Watching Lame with a tree branch approaching the river, ready to spear the fish inside, Han Cheng stops this enthusiastic fish spearer.
Han Cheng instructs the others to clear the grass within a circle of about one meter that he marked. Then, he asks Lame and Hei Wa, wielding versatile pointed tree branches suitable for hunting and fishing, to dig the soil.
Unlike ceramics, which require specific types of clay, pottery does not have strict requirements for the type of soil. Pottery was widespread globally in ancient civilizations, while porcelain, a more advanced form, was mainly found in China.
Having examined the soil here, Han Cheng knows its stickiness is suitable for making pottery. He chose the riverside instead of near the cave for pottery-making because pottery does not require special soil, but it does need water to mix with the clay.
Digging a layer of soil, Han Cheng stops the actions of Lame and Hei Wa. He uses tree leaves to scoop water from the river and pour it onto the exposed soil. Then, under the gaze of the onlookers, he kneads the clay.
Lame and the seven students who followed him are wide-eyed at this scene. They don’t understand why Divine Child has called them out and solemnly asked them to watch him play with mud. Or perhaps is Divine Child trying to teach them how to play with mud?
However, everyone has played with mud before. After heavy rain stops, digging mud outside the cave is their favorite activity. Could it be that Divine Child can bring some new tricks to playing with mud?
Their minds are full of doubt and confusion, but they watch silently as Divine Child plays with mud out of respect for Divine Child, who often creates useful and novel things.
Han Cheng pays no attention to what they might be thinking. He concentrates on shaping the clay into blocks and then takes a block, patting and kneading it into a round cake with a diameter of about ten centimeters.
He places this cake on a stone they picked up on the way, which is covered with dry grass to prevent the clay from sticking to it. Then, he takes more clay, rolls it into strips about half a centimeter thick, and wraps them around the edge of the circular clay base on the stone, creating layers until it reaches a height of about five to six centimeters.
The onlookers, who are now witnessing the creation of a pottery piece with a small bottom and a large mouth, no longer look down on the process as they did at the beginning.
Divine Child did not call them here just to play with mud.
Han Cheng adjusted the barely recognizable bowl-like object, making it look more like a bowl. He then signaled Hei Wa to fetch water from the river using tree leaves.
Although the well-prepared clay was not used up, Hei Wa was puzzled about why water was needed. However, he followed the instructions.
Han Cheng scooped some water held by Hei Wa and poured it onto the pottery embryo. He carefully smoothed out the rough surface using wet hands, gradually reducing the visible marks. It was a meticulous task that required extra care, but even with the utmost care, Han Cheng, being a novice at this, sometimes left unintended imprints.
Nevertheless, after about thirty minutes of effort, a bowl-shaped embryo appeared in front of everyone. Despite its larger base, smaller mouth, uneven height on the left and right sides of the mouth, and an overall asymmetrical shape, it could barely be considered a bowl. After all, considering it was the primitive era, expectations shouldn’t be too high.
“This is what I’m giving you today. We can use it to drink water, hold rice, and even boil eggs,” Han Cheng, with muddy hands, improvised a speech. Of course, those learning Mandarin with him for about two months could not fully understand his words, especially phrases like “hold rice” or “boil eggs.”
However, they got the general idea of what Divine Child meant. Even the Lame, who respected Divine Child the most, couldn’t help but widen his eyes. He couldn’t understand how this odd-looking thing made of clay could be used to drink water.
After all, anything made of clay would be ruined when it encountered water. Even if it didn’t break, the mud would still stick to the mouth, making drinking impossible.
How could something made of mud be used to drink water?
Han Cheng explained excitedly, but when he turned around, he found everyone looking at him and then at the pottery bowl with dumbfounded expressions.
Han Cheng believed that if it weren’t for his divine status and the fact that he had performed many miraculous feats in the past, these people would have shown an even more obvious look of bewilderment.
“What are you looking at? Follow what I just did. Now, everyone starts working,” Han Cheng, with a somewhat embarrassed face, snorted, pretending to be angry. Then, he ignored them and continued playing with his clay.
“Pfft.”
Someone couldn’t hold back their laughter, and soon, laughter echoed. These underage individuals, who had been learning from Divine Child for so long, had never seen the usually calm and seemingly omniscient Divine Child in such an embarrassed state. After the first burst of laughter, the rest couldn’t help but join in.
“A bunch of little bastards laughing at me now. In a few days, I’ll show you the skills of the Divine Child,” Han Cheng muttered in his heart with some frustration. He habitually touched his nose with his hand, only to realize that his nose had picked up a chunk of clay.
Seeing this, the little troublemakers burst into even more laughter, and even Lame on the side couldn’t help but laugh, his face red and his neck thickening from holding back the laughter.
Despite the laughter, the work that needed to be done had to be done. Since Divine Child wanted them to do it this way, they followed suit. Whether the clay could be used to drink water was not important. The important thing was that it was fun.
Especially today, witnessing the usually mysterious and serious Divine Child in such an embarrassed state was worth doing a lot of useless work. Moreover, apart from learning the divine language and writing introduced by the Divine Child recently, they didn’t have much else to do.