The clan's first hut was a small house made of rammed loess, next to the slope of the cliff frontage.

There was no yard or flowers in front of the hut, only wormwood, thorn rose, and small thistle. The front of the door was covered in an intricate of footprints and gravel and dirt, and even a cute little lilac wildflower on the ground was trampled to death.

There was no kang, no stove, no bed, not even a chimney, and it was filled with the strange smell of dirt and the bitterness of grass juice.

It was already evening, and the mosquitoes flying in the grass, the grubs dug out of the soil, and the slightly crazy earth bees surrounded the tribesmen, all of which could not stop the excitement of the tribesmen.

Chen Jian squatted on the roof, not paying attention to the scenery under his animal skin skirt being exposed to the fields of early summer.

Fortunately, the eyes of the clansmen were not fixed on him, but at the humble thatched hut, fantasizing about what it was like to live in it.

The uncle walked to the door frame and touched the door frame he had carved with his hand, with pride. The old grandmother and a few others went into the house to take a look, and were very satisfied that the flat ground was free of the rocks in the cave that tripped people over.

There was no need to make a fire, the sun's rays came in through the window frames, everything was so clear. Children crawl up and down the window frames, giggling and laughing, and the adults slap their hands against the dirt walls, which they ram out with their hands.

Chen Jian staggered to the roof of the house, pointed to the excavated dirt pit and said, "That will be our house, and that piece of grass will bring us food this time next year." There are grown wolf cubs on the lookout for wild beasts, and those grown up birds and geese will lay eggs on these haystacks, and those grown piglets can be grabbed and eaten by their hands at any time. This is the life I promise my family! ”

He spoke of the future in inflammatory language, and this time he had enough confidence.

bow and arrow, he used one day to let the people see the promise; It took him two days to make the people happy, and now he used five days to give the people hope in the house.

Since then, he has finally been able to extend his vision and promises to a year-long cycle. The hope and trust that was sown from the beginning has reached the season when it can be harvested once.

The eyes of hope and the roar of excitement of the people were gone, and the words that had been skeptical were all lost with the humble house.

Jian Chen climbed down from under the roof, picked up a stone hoe, and said in a very indifferent tone: "Okay, go back to eat." ”

The tribesmen followed in his footsteps, looking back at the hut, and finally came to the river.

The old grandmother looked at the clansmen with a smile on her lips. The experiences she knew from her ancestors had been broken by her grandson, and she might be really old.

Not the body, but the mind. Those things that have been handed down from ancestors can already age with their own bodies, and then they are burned by the clansmen with fire, and sprinkled on the land with the mountain wind.

She felt that the future of her people was something she could not imagine, but she also knew that she might not be able to see that day.

Yu Qian'er helped the old grandmother, looked at the old grandmother's strange expression, and couldn't help but scream, the old grandmother laughed, stroked Yu Qian'er's braids, and said Let's go, let's go back.

By the river, I glanced back at the houses that towered over the slope. It occurred to her that if she died one day, she would not want her people to burn it, but would bury it in the soil of the village. It would be better to plant another tree, a straight pine tree that grows tall and will not rot for a long time, and just quietly watch the lives of her children and grandchildren, the kind of life she never thought of.

Yu Qian'er didn't know that the old grandmother thought of this, and helped the old grandmother to sit in the birch bark boat. The young man rowed the pulp, and Yu Qian'er snuggled affectionately beside the old grandmother, and a willow bark whistle in her mouth, whining, not knowing sorrow, nor thinking of death.

After dinner, the tribesmen snuggled up to the fire, and the women used lit wormwood to repel mosquitoes, and after a tiring day, no one could sleep. Every time I think of Jian Chen's words, I look forward to the sun appearing earlier.

People look up at the starry sky and look at the twinkling stars, which carry people's beautiful visions, more mysterious than the moon.

Only Yu Qian'er stared at the moon that had risen from the river and was already somewhat rounded, thinking about the moon in the past few days, and ran to Chen Jianjian's side.

"Brother, I found that the moon turns round every ten days."

"So how many days are it all?"

Yu Qian'er shook her head, signaling that she didn't know, and took out a piece of birch bark with many moons painted on it with charcoal.

She pointed to the first bend like a boat and said, "You see, this is the first day you go, and the moon appears from the place where the sun sets. ”

She pointed to a moon that was already rounded and said, "This is the moon tonight, and it came from where the sun rose." ”

Jian Chen smiled and asked, "Then you said that when the moon is full this time, how long will it take to be full again next time?" ”

Yu Qian'er shook her braid and said, "I don't know, don't you know either?" ”

"I don't know, I want to know, so I'm waiting for Yu Qian'er to tell me. Remember, be sure to tell me, I want to know too. ”

"Hmm." Yu Qian'er took the bark, nodded firmly, looked up at the moon in the sky, held her cheeks and thought about the story of the moon, and slowly fell asleep.

The humid air made Jian Chen very uncomfortable, and he couldn't sleep with his arms on his pillow. Today's houses can be said to be golden and jade, and it is shocking to look at them, but if you want to really become a house that can extend the life of the clan, it still needs to be improved.

A damp house can make people sick, and long-term lack of sunlight in a cave can lead to calcium deficiency and rickets, all of which are closely related to longevity.

The process of human conquest of nature is actually a process in which one can qualify for geriatric diseases, and so far I have not heard of anyone in the clan living to the age where they can suffer from geriatric diseases.

"Before I die this time, I want a few people in my clan to live to be sixty years old."

This is Jian Chen's ambition at this time, tiredness and sleepiness finally hit, and he fell asleep on the damp riverbank.

When he woke up the next day, his uncle was already squatting beside the fire and carving wood, and next to him lay a few logs that had been dug out of tenons.

Looking around, he was the last of the clansmen, the water in the clay pot had boiled away, the mother was carrying the fish in the wicker basket with her sisters near the reed pond, the hillside on the opposite bank had already been lively, and the woodblock of the second house had taken shape, and the earth was in full swing.

I grabbed a cooked tuber from the side and filled it in my mouth to the other side. After a few glances, it was okay, everything was in order, the only flaw was that the planks were a little tilted.

So a word called a sling appeared in Chen Jian's mouth. As he had said, the people hung a string and a stone hung from underneath, and only then did they realize that the plank was a little crooked.

"Remember to hang the line until next time. As for the wolf's skin, let him continue to take people to cut down trees, and there is still no need to hunt today. I'm going to see Cousin Acorn. ”

This is the most primitive division of labor between the brain and body, and the clansmen didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and motioned for him to hurry up.

In the pottery field by the river, the acorns were in that pottery bowl, and seven or eight people were busy here, waiting for the evening to burn together.

Seeing Jian Chen coming, Acorn knew that something new was definitely going to appear.

"What are you going to do this time?"

"A simple thing."

Chen Jian drew a rectangle on the ground and said, "You pinch a few pottery bowls with such a bottom, don't be round, be square, and square all around, and after the plate is finished, cut it in half from the middle and fire." ”

He measured it, and it was about two feet long and one foot wide, which was not too difficult for an acorn today.

Acorn didn't ask what to do, this thing can't use a potter's wheel, but his technique of panning mud strips has improved a lot in the past few days.

Roll out the mud cake, measure it with wood and cut it, and roll it around to form a rectangle without a lid.

"Is that something?"

"Yes. Cut in the middle. ”

Acorn took out a stone knife, dipped it in water and cut it, and asked, "How much?" ”

Chen Jian thought that the acorns might not be able to count to ninety-nine, so he folded dozens of small sticks and said, "So many, burn them out as soon as possible." ”

After finishing speaking, he was about to go back, and Acorn shouted from behind: "Jian, why is there always broken pottery every time I burn pottery?" Also, you look at this, what's going on? ”

He hurried after Chen Jian and took out a pottery bowl, the pottery bowl was broken, but the outside was different from other pottery, it was extremely smooth, as if it was ice on a snowy day.

I don't know if it's because the temperature is high or what's wrong, a simple layer of glaze appeared, but there is such a thing among hundreds of pottery bowls, and it was burned, Acorn felt a pity and wanted to get an answer from Jian Chen.

Jian Chen thought for a moment and said, "You burn these first, and then talk about it when the house is finished." ”

Acorn didn't say anything more, and went on to plate the cuboid oddities, placing a straw stick on top of each one.

Early the next morning, a pair of rectangular pottery appeared in Chen Jian's hand, touched it with his hand, and felt that it was okay.

Yesterday, the speed at which the clansmen built the house was noticeably faster, and they gradually became proficient in all kinds of movements. A half-room blank was built, and some people even proposed to complete the half overnight, but Chen Jian persuaded him to go back.

Today, the clansmen got up early, and Jian Chen walked into the crowd with the strange pottery, stopped everyone's movements, and said that he would do something else today.

"Is there anything more important than building a house?"

"Yes, make the house better."

So the clansmen stopped asking questions and followed Jian Chen to the pottery field by the river.

This time, digging and mud, clearing the site, the only difference from the last time is that this time it doesn't need to be all clay.

It is mixed with sand, gravel and blades of grass, and the earth is mound into a volcanic shape, and water is added to the "crater" above, and a few of the most powerful ones go up with their feet and mud.

Moisten the inside of a rectangular pottery container with some water, and pour the soil mixed with grass and stones.

The two men lifted it to the leveled ground, and separated the pottery vessel that was divided into two halves, and a square piece of clay was completed.

If you want to have a kang, a stove, and a chimney, you can't just rely on the plate construction method, and you can only use bricks for those fine places.

Nowadays, it is not impossible to burn bricks, but it is too time-consuming, and it is necessary to dig the brick kiln first, and the first batch of bricks fired must be strengthened to control the fire, and it is not enough to have more than ten days.

This work, Chen Jian decided to wait until the clansmen stabilized.

The mud blank is simple to form, just dry it naturally, and it is generally strong, but it is very tiring, and it is the most hated job of rural plasterers in the previous life.

Dozens of sets of molds were distributed to the clansmen, in groups of three or five, and the sound of gurgling feet stepping on the mud sounded by the river.

Hundreds of mud blanks were made all day, waiting to be dried and dried.

Five days later, on the tenth day of work, the mud was finally dry, and it took the morning to carry it up the hillside.

Today, there are thirteen simple thatched huts, and the rate at which the gradually skilled clansmen are building houses is also accelerating, and it is only a hundred people to build two mud huts that do not need a foundation every day, which is outrageously inefficient.

The thirteen rooms are lined up in a straight line, and from a distance, they finally have a little bit of a village taste.

Each room had to fit ten people, and crowding was inevitable.

But look at the fish scale clouds in the sky, I am afraid that there will be a heavy rain in two or three days, if it rains heavily, there is no way to live on Luo Island, in case of water, the birch bark boat can not be controlled at all.

Chen Jian put down the last piece of mud and shouted at everyone, "Tonight, let's stay here." Song, you bring people back all those pots and jars. We're not going to build a house today. ”