Chapter 9: CH 9

They heated up the remaining roast venison from last night. It really was a little uncomfortable to eat roasted meat this early in the morning. Chen Qi pulled out two apples and took a small piece of barbecue to count as breakfast. Aze did not seem to be affected, and he finished up the rest of the antelope meat by himself.

Before heading out, Chen Qi asked Aze to help cut a long strip of hide for him, which he used to carefully wrap one end of the horn, and then further wrapped it in another thick piece of hide before putting it in his coat pocket. Although Aze was always with him, in this wilderness, having a weapon handy made Chen Qi feel a little more reassured.

As they journeyed outside, Chen Qi had the illusion of returning to the Dora Plains again. He even saw a fat hare dart out in front of them. Upon hearing the two men’s movement, the hare quickly turned back, dashed into the grass, and disappeared. Perhaps the only difference was that there were many tall trees around, such as acacia and fig trees, each of which was at least 10 meters tall, forming a natural barrier around the house.

The two of them walked for about ten minutes and ended up standing in front of a thick tree trunk. Aze pointed to this tree and said, “This is the gum tree.”

Chen Qi looked at the tall tree in front of him. It was about ten meters tall, with a radius of nearly two meters wide. The tree was bare, with only a few branches growing out from the top of the tree trunk like an outstretched hand. This tree… no matter how you look at it, this is a baobab* tree, right? At the end of each branch were a few orange-yellow and yellow-orange colored fruits, which looked very much like pineapple buns fresh from the oven. At that moment, Chen Qi had the urge to shout out to the sky that bread was really growing on the breadfruit tree*.

*Baobab tree 猴面包树 hóu miànbāo shù = baobab. But literally: Monkey bread fruit tree.

All four limbs in motion, Aze smoothly climbed to the top of the tree. Chen Qi had no idea how the man was able to find a grip on anything as he climbed up this bare tree. When he came back to his senses, there were already two of those pineapple bun-looking gum fruits by his feet.

Chen Qi crouched down, picked up a straw stick, and poked at one of the “buns”. The gum fruit was very hard and there were no traces left behind even after poking at it for half a day*.

*not literally half of a day. Common expression to exaggeratedly indicate a long time had passed

Aze jumped neatly back to the ground, picked up the gum fruit and explained, “The rubber fruit is very hard. It is difficult to cut even with my fingernails. It must be burned to melt it.”

“Is it the same with the gum tree?” Chen Qi asked thoughtfully.

Aze nodded and demonstrated by scratching the trunk beside him, leaving only a shallow nick. Chen Qi knew how sharp Aze’s nails were and thought for a moment before he asked, “Aze, can you help me break a small branch off the gum tree? It doesn’t need to be very thick, just about the size of the horn you gave me last night. I want to use it as a knife handle.”

“Okay.” Aze didn’t know what a knife handle was, but as long as Chen Qi needed it, he was happy to find it for him. He placed the gum fruit back on the ground and climbed up the tree again. This time, it took Aze a short while before he broke off a small branch. The branch was darker than the trunk. Chen Qi took it joyfully, thinking that this would allow him to make a small, simple dagger.

On the way back, Chen Qi found a perilla* plant hidden in a patch of withered grass which was only as high as his calf. If a serval had not suddenly sprung out from the grass, Chen Qi would not have found it. Chen Qi excitedly plucked a piece of the plant for Aze to check its toxicity. The female could tell whether something was poisonous or not simply by smell and touch, which helped them avoid many dangers. After confirming that it was non-toxic, Chen Qi picked a large handful of them and stuffed them into his pocket, practically stripping all the leaves of the poor perilla plant.

*紫苏 zǐsū perilla frutescens, beefsteak plant

After the unexpected harvest, Chen Qi was much more attentive to their surroundings on the way back. He ran over to check out everything he saw. Aze patiently accompanied him, and although he did not know what these things would be used for, if Chen Qi asked him to dig something up, Aze would stretch out his paw without question and act as free labor.

It was a pity that Chen Qi’s understanding of plants was also at a state of semi-illiteracy. They were busy for half a day, but besides the handful of perilla leaves, they only collected a few pieces of wild ginger. Although it wasn’t much of a harvest, Chen Qi was still very happy to get wild ginger, since he could at least improve the taste of the food.

It was already noon by the time they got back home. Chen Qi originally wanted to make the handle for the horn, but upon seeing Aze pick up the two pheasants he’d caught earlier that morning and a clay pot, he asked curiously, “Aze, where are you going?”

Aze held up the pheasants in his hand. “I’ll go by the river to process the food.”

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“By the river?” Chen Qi’s eyes gleamed with interest. “I’ll come with you. Aze, do you have any extra fur hide clothes?” Chen Qi had not had a bath since he came to this world and felt that his body had a dirty, sour smell.

Aze naturally guessed the other’s plan and rummaged through the pile of animal skins beside the stone bed for a bit before pulling out two of the softest pieces and handing them to Chen Qi. “These two may be a little too big for you. When we go to the tribe in the evening, I will ask Uncle Ali to help you make some new ones.”

Chen Qi shook out the fur hide clothes in his hand. Though he said they were fur hide clothes, they were really just animal hides with two openings to make it convenient to put his arms through. He secured it with a slender piece of fur around his waist as a belt and wore a knee-length fur skirt, which was also fixed with a belt. Chen Qi looked at the sun outside. It was the hottest time in the middle of the day. He thought that he’d wash his clothes and let them dry in the sun for an afternoon so that he could change back into them at night.

When he headed out, Chen Qi also carried a pottery jar. He planned to fetch some water to remove impurities from the salt stone. He was really fed up with the bitter taste on the barbecue. The pottery here was not only a little crooked, but also heavy. Chen Qi felt like he was walking with a half-full bucket of water. He originally wanted to keep an eye out for new edible things along the way, but now he could only give up that idea.

For Aze, it may have only been a journey of a few minutes, but because he was accompanied by Chen Qi, it took them nearly half an hour to reach the riverside. The Chishui River here was a little different from what Chen Qi had seen by the plains as it was bordered by a long stretch of floodplains a few meters wide, which were covered with a mixture of soil, sand and gravel. Because of the low rainfall on the Dora Plains, the river’s water levels would not rise and the floodplains were dry and not at all muddy.

Aze chose a relatively secluded riverbank, where there was a huge river stone to block his view. Chen Qi couldn’t wait to jump into the water. He’d just taken off his shoes and top when he noticed Aze squatting on the other side of the river stone, pulling out the pheasant’s feathers. He couldn’t help but lean out his head and ask, “Aze, don’t you need to scald it with hot water before plucking?” When pulling the feathers directly like this, it wouldn’t be cleanly plucked and would waste a lot of energy.

“Why?” Aze raised his head in bewilderment and saw Chen Qi naked from the waist up. He quickly turned his head away in fright. Although he still maintained his usual indifferent expression, his reddish ears exposed his panic in the moment.

“This is a better way to do it.” Chen Qi didn’t notice anything unusual from Aze and he picked up the pottery jar, filling it halfway up with water. Then, on the floodplain, he dug a hole with ventilation on both sides. Although the sand on the floodplain was dry, it was not hard. Chen Qi dug it up by himself very quickly. The pottery jar would fit nicely above the hole. After finishing it, Chen Qi ran off nearby and easily brought back a large pile of dry grass and stuffed it into this simple stove. “Aze, lighter.”

Aze lit the hay with the lighter from his pocket. The heat conductivity of the pottery jar was pretty good. It didn’t take much time for the water to heat up. There were many large cattail leaves by the riverbank. Chen Qi picked a bunch and dug a shallow pit that would fit the two pheasants. The pit was lined with several layers of cattail leaves. Then he slowly poured the hot, boiling water over the pheasants in the pit.

The cattail leaves prevented the hot water from leaking out of the pit very well. Chen Qi blanched the pheasant in the hot water for several minutes, and only took it out after the feathers started to fall off. Handing it to Aze, he said “Try it and see if the pheasant’s feathers are easier to pluck now.”

Aze reached out his hand and took it. With little effort, he plucked a large swath of feathers in a single swipe. He said in surprise, “It’s really much easier to pluck, and it’s cleaner than before.”

Chen Qi smiled and decided to continue his job of bathing. Though when he saw that Aze was throwing the plucked pheasant feathers into the river, he hurriedly stopped and said, “Don’t throw away the feathers. They are very useful.”

Aze stopped in confusion. “What’s the use of these small hairs?”

Chen Qi rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. What’s the use of feathers? Making feather dusters? Although he’d seen them before, he’d never made any himself and wasn’t sure if he’d be able to. Making quilts? Just how long would it take to make some bedding with only this tiny bit of feathers? “I haven’t figured out what I can do yet, but this stuff is very useful. It is more useful than animal skins. Don’t throw it away.”

Aze nodded and placed the chicken feathers away on a bigger leaf of cattail. Only then did Chen Qi head back over to the riverside with peace of mind, holding on to two figs Aze had handed to him when they’d reached the river. Chen Qi completely forgot about this thing that could be used as soap. When he’d arrived, his mind was so full of thoughts of bathing that he didn’t even think to bring the soap. He had to say that Aze was unexpectedly thoughtful in some aspects.

The fig just needed to be twisted gently and green juice would flow out. After rubbing it on his head and body, white foam popped up in an instant. Having seen the ferocious carnivorous fish earlier, Chen Qi dared not rush into the river to have a good swim. Standing in the shallow waters of the river, he used his shirt as a washrag and gave himself a thorough cleaning.

By the time Chen Qi had also finished washing his clothes and came out from behind the river stone, Aze had already cleaned up and processed the pheasants and the two pottery jars were full of water. Aze’s hair was dripping wet, and his body wore the unique fragrance of the fig fruits. He had obviously also washed up in the river just now.

Aze tied the two pheasants together with tough hay and carried them over his shoulders. Then he stuffed the bag of pheasant feathers into Chen Qi’s arms, picked up a pottery jar filled with water in each hand, and said to Chen Qi, “Let’s go home.”

Seeing Aze looking completely at ease despite his load, and thinking back on how tired he had been on the way here with just an empty jar, Chen Qi gave himself a moment of silence, then replied, “Yes, let’s.”

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