I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 363 – Retting hemp and Cold Dew
After unloading the wild hemp, Han Cheng made arrangements before the four people from the Fire Tribe.
Including not firing kilns and using bows and arrows as little as possible while these people were present.
Do not disclose confidential matters such as the method of salt production.
This was necessary.
The four members of the Fire Tribe, who had been completely stunned by everything before them, did not understand the meaning of what the enthusiastic, hospitable, and seemingly magical Divine Child had just said. If they understood, who knows what their mood would be like…
The iron bacteria, about half the size of four pottery jars, were carefully placed on the ground in the room and left to dry, much treasured by Hei Wa and his companions. These were valuable items that could be used to make iron tools.
While Hei Wa and his companions were doing these tasks, Han Cheng, along with the senior brother, several others, and the four members of the Fire Tribe, went downstream of the creek.
They blocked a ditch connecting the creek with a bone shovel, drained the water out, and then began digging and expanding it.
After the expansion, they opened the mouth and let the river water in before sealing the opening again.
While they were doing these things, the underage members of the tribe, as well as the elderly and the weak, were not idle. They plucked the hemp seeds from the wild hemp, stored them in pottery jars, and kept them as seeds for planting the next year.
Bundles of wild hemp with the seeds removed were thrown into the expanded pit and then covered with stones.
Retting hemp was an indispensable step in obtaining hemp fiber and weaving cloth.
Through retting, the microorganisms in the water would decompose the useless parts of the hemp bark, leaving behind the flexible fibers.
These fibers were what was truly needed for spinning yarn and weaving cloth.
Moreover, the bond between the hemp bark and the core became loose through retting, making it easier to peel.
But when it was time, the smell…
Thinking about it, Han Cheng couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose.
It was not much better than a sewer and was too smelly!
While performing these tasks, Han Cheng occasionally asked Bai Xue to explain what was going on to the members of the Fire Tribe, making sure they remembered the procedure.
When it was time to transport the retted hemp, only the outer hemp bark stripped after retting was transported. To help the members of the Fire Tribe understand what was going on, Han Cheng took out a bundle that had been immersed in water for ten days and demonstrated the peeling process to them.
Ten days of retting was certainly not enough, and the hemp was taken out so quickly and peeled because the four members of the Fire Tribe were about to leave.
Han Cheng’s plan for the Fire Tribe to weave cloth and transport it here would not be implemented this year because retting hemp alone took a long time.
Furthermore, they had not yet perfected the spinning yarn and weaving cloth processes themselves, so the instructions given to the four members of the Fire Tribe could only cover the retting process.
As for the next step of weaving cloth, they could only wait until next year when they returned.
Han Cheng was confident that they would be able to weave cloth by next year.
As for the fact that the four members of the Fire Tribe would not return the next year, Han Cheng was not worried because, among the people of the Fire Tribe, only they knew how to row a boat on the water.
Another reason was the allure of salt.
Once accustomed to eating salt, enduring a long period without it was truly unbearable.
First, there was the taste, and second, there was the effect on the body.
For those accustomed to robust health, they truly did not want to return to a state of physical depletion…
A small boat moored on the creek’s bank contained two jars of salt, some salted fish, two stone sickles, and other items donated by the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Han Cheng walked up and shook hands with each member of the Fire Tribe, expressing his reluctance to see them go.
The rest of the Green Sparrow Tribe also came over to shake hands with them.
“When the leaves fall, we’ll come back.”
Bai Xue conveyed Han Cheng’s meaning to the four people from the Fire Tribe.
The four members of the Fire Tribe, almost moved to tears by the enthusiasm of the Green Sparrow Tribe, nodded vigorously, indicating that they would come back.
As the light boat left the shore, the figures of the people standing on the bank gradually became blurred by the sound of the water, turning into black dots and finally disappearing completely.
In their field of vision, only the earth-yellow wall connected to the mountain range remained.
The four members of the Fire Tribe looked at the precious items on the boat and recalled the experiences of the past ten days, feeling as if it had all been a dream.
It turned out that what the underage member of their tribe had said was true, and people could live like this…
At this moment, all four of them had the idea of returning to this aquatic tribe, living here permanently, and never leaving again, just like the underage member of their tribe who had been sick and then cured.
Come back when the leaves fall! With hemp bark.
They thought to themselves as they looked at the neatly bundled hemp bark on the boat.
As long as they and their people brought back such hemp bark, they could still exchange it for these precious items.
As they thought, they kept recalling the process of making hemp bark in their minds, afraid that they would forget some of the steps.
Ten days later, the four members of the Fire Tribe returned to their original location on a boat.
Returning with a large number of precious items, they were warmly welcomed and treated by the people as if they were brave warriors who had captured a large number of prey.
The four of them recounted everything they had seen and heard in the Green Sparrow Tribe to the people who crowded around them, eager to know whether Bai Xue’s words were true. The people of the Fire Tribe were astonished when they heard it.
They had thought that what Bai Xue had said was already exaggerated enough, but they had not expected that everything was true, and the current situation of that tribe was even better than what Bai Xue had described!
With the return of the four individuals, the people of the Fire Tribe became even more eager for the mysterious aquatic tribe.
Even the leader of the Fire Tribe, who kept examining the hemp bark brought back by the four individuals, had the idea of seeing it for himself…
Some grass had turned yellow, while others had become even greener. These grasses and the leaves on the ground were now covered with a layer of cool dew.
It was already the time of Cold Dew, and next would be Frost Descent.
Standing outside the wall and looking out together with Han Cheng, Shi Tou recorded this feeling on the pottery tablet he carried. The tablet had thirty squares, each with a moon drawn inside. Corresponding to today’s square, he recorded this sensation.
Under Han Cheng’s guidance and inspiration, Shi Tou’s gaze was no longer solely on the moon’s changes. The daily changes in weather and corresponding plant changes were within his observation and recording range.
Calendars never existed in isolation; they should also have a series of extensions.
What Shi Tou was doing now was supplementing and expanding the calendar.
Many people in the tribe disapproved of Shi Tou’s behavior, feeling that it did not contribute to obtaining food.
As a newcomer, Han Cheng understood the significance of Shi Tou’s work and gave it affirmation and strong support.
Besides Cold Dew, another item was recorded in today’s square on the pottery tablet…