Chapter 40 – The House has been Built
The wood was gathered by several warriors taking turns up the mountain to cut them down. They had experience in building animal skin tents so naturally, they knew what wood was strong and easy to use. Luo Zhen only had to tell them the right size.
In just a day’s work, the forest near the clearing area were full of various trees with roots, branches and leaves. The warrior actually uprooted those trees and carried them back.
“We can directly burn the parts that are not needed in this way as firewood.” The warrior in charge of felling trees told Luo Zhen.
Although the people of the Black Panther tribe live in a primitive and backward environment, their thinking is not solidified at all but as long as they are given a little guidance, they will have a sense of bluntness and use the best method they can think of to solve the problem.
The reason why they don’t understand a lot of things, in the final analysis, is that they have too little knowledge.
Hei Ya was now in charge of making the bone utensils. The bones of the prey that they hunted before have been specially left behind. Hei Ya’s legs and feet are not suitable for walking but it does not require much movement to build the bones. This job was just right for him, he was originally a warrior and was much stronger than others.
Jiao Zhu knew that the other party wanted to build a bone tool so he went out to pick up some rough stones and gave it back for him to use. Among them, a black stone found by the river at the foot of the mountain which looked like a primitive grindstone, and it was easier to use to polish bones than other stones. The first bone tools were polished with this grindstone.
With a bone shovel and hoe, it was more convenient to dig the foundation. After all, this was the first house, and Luo Zhen didn’t want to make it too big or complicated. More often, he was using this first house as an experiment and to gain experience.
This time, everyone in the tribe joined in and Luo Zhen encouraged them to speak up when they encountered problems. If he didn’t understand something, he would discuss with everyone, and if they couldn’t discuss a feasible solution, they would experiment one by one.
Thanks to the various animals living in the basin for providing them with enough food, so that these people can devote themselves to the construction of the house. About a week after coming here, a wooden house was built.
The gap between the wood was filled with cement and sand mixed with cement. The beams were inlaid with simple dowels and then fixed with the cement. Luo Zhen tested the load-bearing capacity so that even if a few large rocks were pressed on it, there would be no problems.
The roof has a triangular shape and was slightly inclined to prevent it from collapsing during a blizzard in winter. Taking into account the rain and the cold in winter, the ground was also paved with wood, and then filled with sand to level it. With the cement and sand, it becomes extremely hard. At first glance, it looks a bit like a concrete floor. It has good waterproofing ability. Even if it rains, there is no need to worry about rainwater infiltrating the house.
The area of the house is not large, it was made up of square single rooms, one on the left and one on the right. One of the windows is facing the sun, light shines in when the sun rises in the morning, making it look not so dim.
“Is this the ‘house’?” The little warrior A-Qing swallowed, for fear of breaking the silence at the moment, but he couldn’t help the commotion in his heart, he could only ask gently with his breath.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The others couldn’t help but nod secretly, and they had already begun to dream about living in such a house in the future.
Luo Zhen didn’t know the thoughts of these people. He sat inside and outside the house several times with satisfaction. Although there were a lot of stumbling through during the construction, at least he felt very satisfied with this house. The next house, he aimed to be completely satisfied and they can continue improving on this basis.
“Let’s use animal skins as a partition in the middle and let ordinary people and children live in first.” Luo Zhen returned to the crowd and said this to Hei Fu.
Hei Fu was stunned when he heard the words, “Let the children live in it first? Isn’t this your and Lu Zhan’s house?” Even if they want a house, they should wait for another house to be built before they can move in.
“This is a house everyone built together.” Luo Zhen looked at him questioningly. He obviously didn’t understand why Hei Fu would say this, “Now that the wind is strong at night, and the resistance of ordinary people and children is weaker than that of warriors. After living outside for too long, I’m afraid they will get sick.”
What’s more, there are so many insects and ants in the wild. Ordinary people are much slenderer than their big and thick warriors. Luo Zhen often sees them sleeping unsteadily but they were also helping them with so much physical work during the day. Luo Zhen was really afraid that they will not be able to stand it. Now that the first house has been built, the most important thing is to arrange for ordinary people to live in it first.
No one else expected Luo Zhen to say this, even Lu Zhan looked at him unexpectedly, “Then let them live in first, and we can build another house.”
“Well, we can improve on the next house.”
“Can the house be improved?” They all felt that the house was better than they had imagined, and they couldn’t think of anything else that could be improved.
“Of course.” Luo Zhen explained to them patiently, “Now this house does not have a chimney, if the weather turns cold, should we go outside to burn a fire? And it is better to build a stove in the house so this way, we can cook directly in the house, without having to set up an earthen stove every time we cook.”
“Now you don’t like bathing but it’s because the stream is too cold. If we can build a bathroom in the house, we can wash ourselves directly in the house, and we can also boil hot water to wash ourselves, so we don’t need to get out just to take a shower every time.”
The more Luo Zhen said, the more excited he was, wishing to get a modern house out immediately but his words have caused other people to suffer. They all listened for a while, not sure whether they were in a state of understanding or not. Can a house originally contain so many things?
When Luo Zhen finally stopped talking with a dry tongue, he found that there were only blank faces around him looking at him with confusion.
Lu Zhan tenderly handed out a bowl of water to let Luo Zhen moisten his throat, patted his shoulder, and suggested: “I think our house can be improved step by step. Let’s start with the chimney you mentioned, okay?”
Luo Zhen: “…”
“Okay.” Luo Zhen nodded slightly regretfully. Indeed, for their novice construction workers, it would be too difficult for them to build a modern building all at once.
However, when the construction of the second house started, Luo Zhen deliberately planned it. He vacated a passable road between the two houses, and the area of the second house was larger than the first. He also set aside a yard. In the future, he will teach them to plant some things. It is much more convenient to have a yard at home.
Because a lot of new things have been added, even if they already have some experience, the time spent in the second house is not less than that in the first house.
This time Luo Zhen did not ask Hei Ya to help. He found that Hei Ya had a talent for making various equipment, and his hands-on skills were also very strong. Luo Zhen planned to ask the other party to help make some furniture, such as stools and beds.
“Luo Zhen, Granny Qian is looking for you.” Luo Zhen was teaching Hei Ya how to make a simple dowel when A-Shui walked over with Hei Fu’s child in his arms.
Granny Qian is the oldest person in their group, she is not an ordinary person but a warrior who can transform into a beast. Her strength is much lower than that of the male beastmen, and there were only occasional opportunities for her to go out when she was young, later, she went out hunting with the hunting team and lost my feet one winter and never went hunting again.
Granny Qian did not have a partner but she raised a child without parents. The child was a warrior and because she was worried about Granny Qian, she became one of the fighters who stayed this time.
Luo Zhen looked at Granny Qian and knew she was getting older, so he didn’t let her do any physical work and only handed over a few children who still needed someone to take care of for her to take care of.
He doesn’t know if it’s because of the environment but the children here became more independent earlier. Even a one or two-year-old child knows how to stay aside and not mess around with his parents, like a child of A-Shui’s age who has already begun to help his two fathers. Unless it is those little babies who can’t crawl yet, they really need someone to take care of them.
“Granny, what did you call me for?”
Granny Qian is very thin and it was hard to see that she was once a warrior as she is usually silent. Luo Zhen seems to have never heard the other person speak in his memory. There were not many people in this group and Granny Qian lived like a transparent person among them.
However, Granny Qian’s body is very good, even when they were on the road before, she could walk by herself without any hindrance. Even when Luo Zhen was full of blood blisters, she could still clench her teeth and insist on walking to the goal.
Granny Qian hesitated for a while before she came over, her eyes were a bit inconsistent with her age, very sharp, as if they contained the thought of not admitting defeat. She glanced at Luo Zhen, and then slowly said, “These little babies don’t need me to take care of them. Do you have anything else for me to do?”
Recently, everyone was messing around about the house under the command of Luo Zhen. She was the only one who sat idly with a group of little kids in a daze. Granny Qian felt uncomfortable and after struggling for a few days, she decided to ask Luo Zhen if he had things that she could help with.
Hei Ya, who is also a warrior, knows the thoughts of Granny Qian very well. Seeing that Luo Zhen hadn’t realized the intention of Granny Qian, he whispered to Luo Zhen’s ear to explain it, and Luo Zhen suddenly came over.
“Do you want to find something to do?” Luo Zhen’s gaze swept across the wrinkled face of Granny Qian, a little surprised.
Granny Qian stood upright and nodded heavily.
Luo Zhen smiled, “Then you came just at the right time, and I was worried about something I could not find anyone to help with.”
“What’s the matter?” The Granny Qian concealed the joy on her face and asked quietly. Her age is really not suitable for expressing emotions on her face.
“Sit down first.” Luo Zhen pointed to the location next to him. The area of the first house was too small for all of them to squeeze in. Hei Ya felt that he was a warrior, and he wanted to accompany Jiao Zhu so they were still staying in the straw shed outside, they only drove A-Shui to live in the wooden house.
Granny Qian found a place where she could see what Hei Ya was working on, and when Hei Ya saw her looking over, he smiled and pushed something forward, “Luo Zhen said that this thing is called a stool. It’s for sitting, and when I’m done, I’ll send one to everyone.”
“That kid knows a lot of things.” Granny Qian stretched out her hand and touched it curiously.
The stool was still in its rudimentary form, it looked just like a piece of wood, but Granny Qian was looking at it like it was some precious treasure.
Soon Luo Zhen came over with his animal skin backpack and a piece of animal skin. The animal skins were just peeled off and everyone here except him knows how to tan animal skins, so he doesn’t worry about Granny Qian not knowing how to deal with it.
Luo Zhen first opened the backpack and took out a few bone needles of different sizes, a wooden plank with a pattern drawn long ago, and a small handful of weeds that were cleared from the open space where the house was built during this period of time, and a rope made of fibers.
He laid out these things one by one next to the Granny Qian, smiled, and looked at the Granny Qian, “Granny Qian, I want to ask you to help make clothes.”
Yay, finally they will have clothes 🥳