Chapter 010 I'm Playing Mud in Another World

After the snow werewolf cubs made up their straw sandals and ran to the river to wash their feet and put the shoes on, they did not immediately follow Xiao Yun left, but went back to the tribe and made up a bunch of shoes...

The snow werewolves still have a spirit of sharing a lot in the resources, or in the life on the grassland, perhaps the environment made these grassland tribes accustomed to helping each other and not engaging in isolationism. Even Sal, whose bed was demolished by these snow werewolf cubs, was given a pair of straw sandals...

That's right!'Because mine is yours, so yours is mine too. ' With this simple sharing spirit, the snow werewolf cubs are not a psychological burden to break Sal's bed.

After weaving a bunch of straw sandals to complete their contribution to the tribe, a few snow werewolf cubs followed Xiao Yun out of the tribe. Of course, their range of activities must be within the range of the tribal warriors patrolling, too far from the nest is still dangerous for the cubs.

"We need to find a container that can hold water, a container larger than the pottery pots and buckets in the tribe." There is no water tank in the tribe. Xiao Yun wanted to explain his intentions to the snow werewolf cubs a little difficult, "The bottom of this container can't leak, and you can cover it with something to prevent light. Such a container meets the standard. Do you have any ideas?"

His string of unheard terms made Fleece look at each other in speechless. After scratching their head for a long time, Fleece asked: "Well can't we dig a hole by the river? It's the same as the water hole we dug."

"Huh..." Xiao Yun hadn't really thought about this. He thought that the containers for sending bean sprouts were pots, buckets, or something. If it didn't work, he could try to dig a stone trough. Obviously, pots and buckets require professional craftsmen to make, if they make it own, they have no skills and no tools, If they dig a stone trough, the workload is not easy. "Let me think about it, just digging a hole on the river bank... It seems feasible, so let's try it first."

Coming to the river again, Xiao Yun was very careful to observe the land on the river bank this time, digging up the grass, pulling out a few clumps of weeds, and digging out some dirt with his hands to take a closer look.

The quality of the soil on the grassland is very good. After tens of thousands of years of precipitation and accumulation of the humus layer and natural fermentation, most of the land is black soil. Xiao Yun looked at the water pit dug by the snow werewolf. It was about one meter deep, its bottom was still black.

"It seems to be possible... Keep a distance between the dug pit and the river water, connect it with a ditch, to dig open the ditch to drain the water when changing the water, and add fresh water... Spread a layer of pebbles on the bottom of the pit, and then a layer of vine cushions, avoid touching the ground... the pit cover can use the reed pole to weave directly...

The more Xiao Yun thought about it, the more he found it feasible, and he observed the terrain, selected a higher river bank, stepped on the ground with his feet, and visually estimated the drainage height required for the growth of bean sprouts pit when changing water, tapped his right fist lightly on his left palm to express he took a decision: "Okay, just dig here!"

Using a horn knife which made by Oxhorn, Xiao Yun cut a rectangle about half a meter wide of width and one meter long of the length on the ground about two meters away from the river bank, and then pulled out a reed pole and folded it into four sections about 30 centimeters in length as a object of reference, after finishing the preparation, Xiao Yun and other three snow werewolf cubs dug the pit.

Although there is an object of reference, it is difficult for the snow werewolf cubs to dig out a nice pit that it's height must has the same height on four side.

Hmm... Anyone who has experience in handcrafting knows that no matter how careful the design is, it will inevitably cause problems when working on it. Xiao Yun started to dig out this beveled bottom of the pit by himself, and found that there will always be places with different heights or other problems. No good way, he could only get up and take a few steps away from the bottom of the pit for a while, using the naked eye to measure the slope of the bottom of the slope as much as possible.

The bottom of the pit was almost finished, and the snow werewolf cubs also picked up a large pile of pebbles. Xiao Yun drew a straight line on the south side of the bean sprout pit facing the river and asked them to dig a drainage ditch. He squatted over and picked pebbles of the same size, paved the floor to the bottom and side of the pit carefully.

After the pebbles were paved, the irregularly shaped bean sprout pit looked like a handmade swimming pool for children. Xiao Yun was complacent for a while, and suddenly discovered a new problem: the pebbles in the soil pit cannot stop the water from running away. If the water have all gone to the ground, how will he grow the bean sprouts at all?

Xiao YUn scratched his scalp for a while... he remembered the video of a foreign internet celebrity using mud mixed with water to make a swimming pool.

"There is no cement, but the finer mud is mixed with water and kneaded, and it seems to be able to prevent water?"

If he said nothing, Xiao Yun squatted next to the dug out mud and pinched the soil. He felt that it was not bad and delicate, so he piled up all the soil, picked out the stones inside, and asked Fleece return to the tribe to get the bucket.

The soil from which the stones were picked out was mixed with water and kneaded until it was half dry. Xiao Yun pulled out some reed poles and mixed them into the mud... He remembered that old houses in the countryside would also mix straws in mud bricks. It seems to increase the toughness and viscosity of mud bricks.

Paste the mixed mud onto the surface of the bean sprout pit like playing with plasticine, smooth the surface with the back of a horn knife, and Xiao Yun straightened up and beat his waist: "Let's do this first... to observe it will keep water or not when it be dried."

It was almost noon after doing this. The snow werewolves who had eaten two meals a day were hungry right now, so Xiao Yun and the snow werewolf cubs went back to the tribe to eat.

In the afternoon, the snow werewolf cubs refused to run around with Xiao Yun. They had tasks to do every day. Xiao Yun also assigned them a job to gather wild vegetables. They had no time to go to the river to dig the pit.

Reluctantly, Xiao Yun could only perform his duties like ordinary clan teenagers, picking up cow dung and wild vegetables for a whole afternoon, and found a mouse hole in the middle wool, and a group of snow werewolf cubs tossed for a while. Catching mice—the mice on the grassland are not the same size as the field mice and house mice. Each weighs four or five catties. After being peeled off, they are fleshy, especially fat.

On the way to catch the mouse, Xiao Yun found portulaca oleracea. Needless to say, one more item was added to the wild vegetables menu.

This day's tribal dinner, wild vegetables accounted for half of the meat. Of course, the reason is not that the snow werewolf cubs can expand the range of wild vegetables in addition to collecting cow dung, but the patriarch went there the night before. I recognized the appearance of plantain, perilla, dandelion, and gray ash. When grazing in the daytime, the patriarch led the two clans to pick wild vegetables... When he saw the newly found wild vegetables by the cubs, the patriarch was happy to say that he has seen this weed in the daytime.

It ran out of wild lard oil yesterday. The wild vegetables for this dinner were cooked with meat. Everyone knows that the vegetables are very oil-absorbing. So the taste of this day's dinner was actually not as good as that of thoroughly domesticated vegetables, they are still popular...

The evening breeze blew all night, and early the next morning, Xiao Yun rushed to the river to see his bean sprout pit, and then he found...the mud surface was dried by the wind, and at the same time, it cracked...

Xiao Yun:'...?'

He squatted down and buckled the mud with his hand, and the mud fell down...well, even if it didn't crack, this quality, if blisters, it would be game over.

"What's wrong with the mud? Can't this mud work?" 　　

Xiao Yun squatted anxiously next to the bean sprouts pit and scratched his scalp, but other adult snow werewolves did not understand his anxiety at all, and a group of people happily carried the straw sandals, came to the river to wash their feet together, and the river surface stained by their dirty feet that they didn't wash perhaps so many years...　

"Ayun, don't delay your tasks with playing in the mud today." The patriarch was kind and persuaded to Xiao Yun.　　

"I'm not playing..." Xiao Yun looked anxious, but couldn't explain it yet.

"Need it a clay...that's the kind of yellow mud. I remember that the old houses I saw when I went to the countryside were all yellow mud houses...Damn it! Where did I get the yellow clay mud?" 　　

Xiao Yun tried hard to recall his short memories of rural life. After thinking about it, Xiao Yun finally remembered that when my uncle's house was repairing the pigsty, he seemed to be digging mud by the river.　　

Xiao Yun lifted his spirits, immediately transformed into a wolf shape, and chose a place farther from the river bank to dig wildly.

"Ah, Ayun playing with mud and madness~" The tribesmen who washed their feet watched him carelessly. The tribe adopted a meal-sharing system. After eating their own portions, they would be gone. To play, you must either find wild food by yourself, or be hungry for two days.

Xiao Yun dug a pit more than three meters deep, and finally found loess under the fertile black soil...　　

As we all know, it takes 300 years for a one-centimeter thick black soil to form naturally.

The Loess Plateau was originally a fertile land with serious soil erosion. Only then did the loess underneath be exposed. After being poor for hundreds of years, it wasn't until the earth communist party made all the effort to rectify it... Now Xiao Yun doesn't need black soil but yellow clay, which is strange enough. It was easy to dig out the loess.

Xiao Yun quickly crawled out to restore his human form, put on animal skin pants, ran back to the tribe and took a few straw mats and buckets made of rattan and straw, and stopped the horns who had not left the tribe. I can still make delicious food here, but I want your help, can you come?"

"Come!" Oxhorn did not hesitate.

With the strong labor of Oxhorn, things really will be too simple. The loess, transported from the bottom of the pit, adding the water mix the loess and water together, Oxhorn took off his shoes and stepped on the loess until they were sticky, then paste them onto the bean sprouts pit. It can be seen that the muddy surface of the yellow mud paste is more delicate and tighter than the black mud.　　

"What are you doing this for?"

Oxhorn, who had been in the mud for a long time, was not flushed or panting, and his physical strength was better than a livestock.

"When this sprout pit is air-dried, try it whethere water seepage, and then we can use this pit to grow bean sprouts." Xiao Yun was a little bit pant after digging a hole and sticking to the wall. "The black beans grown in the tribe are soaked in water here, and after four or five days of soaking, a bag of black beans can sprout out ten bags sprouts."

Oxhorn's head a little to side his to understand the difference between one bag and ten bags, and his expression was a bit horrified:" Can it change so much? But, black beans are not delicious...so what taste about sprouts of black bean?"

"It's not the same. The bean sprouts are countless times more delicious than black beans. The taste is not only similar to the wild vegetables we eat now, but also they are more delicious than wild vegetables."

"It's not the same. The bean sprouts are countless times more delicious than black beans. The taste is not only similar to the wild vegetables we eat now, but also they are more delicious than wild vegetables."

"Let's try this pit first. If it will be popular in the tribe, we can dig other bean sprouts pits. If you grow too many bean sprouts in one time, and in case that we can't eat it completely, it will wast the food. So it's safer to use in batches." Xiao Yun waved his hand and suddenly thought of something. "Wait... Oxhorn, you know I'm not playing in the mud anymore, don't you? But others don't know yet. Fleece and the others cubs are not willing to help me today."

"Everyone knows the delicious bean sprouts when they come out." Oxhorn's soothing words were particularly in the style of the snow werewolf. "No, wait a minute... I think we can make something new." Xiao Yun thought a while, "The old houses in the countryside used to be loess to build mud bricks. For the mud bricks, it seems to be put out with a wooden mold--Oxhorn, let's just build a mud brick house." 　　

"Mud bricks...houses?" Oxhorn was puzzled.　　

"Doesn't it matter if you spare a few days for hunting?" Xiao Yun asked.　　

"Um... to ask Ashan take a little more time to help me patrol, it well be okay." Oxhorn said.

"That's OK." Xiao Yun took a breath and made a decision. His eyes were shining and looked at Oxhorn, "Oxhorn, let's do something that shocked the others, let's build a mud-brick house that is particularly strong, windproof and warm, sleeping in it when it's snowing won't be cold at all."

"Uh..." Oxhorn was reluctant. He really didn't think it was a bad thing for Ayun to be thought of like playing with mud. Anyway, if the bean sprouts Ayun said could be grow out, the people would understand him; as for what kind of mud-brick house, Oxhorn was completely unconceptual. If he doesn't go hunting for a few days for things he doesn't understand, Oxhorn intuitively felt that this was wrong.

"Or if you just do it with me in the morning, you can still go hunting and patrolling in the afternoon." Xiao Yun struggled for their work, "Anyway, I will go with Fleece and the others cubs to pick up cow dung and dig wild vegetables in the afternoon. We can just spend half a day to come and do this. What's delicious in the future, I'll be the first to think of you, okay?" 　　

"Good!" Oxhorn answered immediately.　　

Xiao Yun: "..." Does this guy only hear the last sentence clearly! Why is he so unsure in his heart!

The calories consumed by the body when exposed to the cold and not exposed to the cold are different. Now the tribe people don't consider letting him go grazing(only the cubs with their parental care can go to the pasture), and he has no chance to come into contact with the grazing cattle and sheep's fur to spin yarns. So to solve the problem of housing is the first step--although Sal's tent is strong enough, having to cover the animal skins at sleepy time. After all, an anti-cold ability of a house is much better than a tent.

Find a tree with a relatively straight body on the bank of the river, cut down the branches and cut them into three-finger-thick, two-palm-wide, elbow-long wood pieces, and then laboriously dig out the simplest tenon structure... just in two longer pieces.

Two square openings were dug out at both ends of the wood chip, and the other two wood chips were left with protruding square blocks at both ends, and then combined together. This technique Xiao Yun told Oxhorn to describe that for a long time, but Oxhorn was a dumb face and showed him. Reluctantly, Xiao Yun could only copy the horn knives by himself, and coordinate with the claws to sharpen them a little bit. In the morning, he finished the mold of mud bricks, and nothing else was done.

By the afternoon of the tribe's voluntary work hours, Xiao Yun felt the malice of the world... In the morning, he turned into his wolf-form to dig the pit for a while and this short time like he hadn't eaten lunch. Fleece heard his stomach calling all the time, and caught some mouse roasted on the spot to Xiao Yun to satisfy his stomach--so Xiao Yun felt the taste of barbecue without salt again.

Dinner was still a large amount of wild vegetables with meat. With the addition of wild vegetables, a non-staple food force, the snow werewolf's consumption of meat was obviously reduced. After the meal, the patriarch summoned the four snow werewolf cubs left behind and asked them to do more in their work tomorrow. The job of cutting the extra prey into strips and air-drying...In previous years, the dry meat was only started during the big hunting before the heavy snowfall, this year, they have wild vegetables as a non-staple food, which can be advanced.

After sleeping in Sal's bed for another night, at dawn, Xiao Yun rushed towards the river to check his bean sprout pit—this time the malic of this world finally didn't make trouble for him, the mud on the surface of the bean sprout pit was almost dry. There was no dry cracking and no soil slag.

Xiao Yun felt that he should wait for the mud to deep dry, so he didn't rush to put bean sprouts and pour water in the pit.

First, he grabbed Oxhorn, which is a better labor force than the three snow werewolf cubs, to coax him making mud bricks... Add reed poles and appropriate water in the loess, and put them in a wooden frame. The mold was set in shape and spread out on the flat ground on the river bank to dry in the shade; Xiao Yun calculated the area of the mud brick house and the number of mud bricks required by mathematics which he was learning in the middle school that he almost forgot at all, in line with the principle of nimbleness. Make as many mud bricks as possible-the extra ones can be built a earthen stove and a heatable brick bed (this bed is usual in North China), or try to build a small brick kiln that can burn pottery and blue bricks. In short, there will be no waste.　　

After two busy days, after the bean sprouts pit was completely dry and the water did not seep, Xiao Yun finally started his bean sprouts work...