Chapter 12
The renaming trend he had personally started wasn’t going to pass anytime soon. The next morning, Hua Shi’an walked out of his tree hollow with dark circles under his eyes. Before he could even wash his face, five sub-beastmen who had been waiting for a long time swarmed him, asking for help with their names.
One wanted a name as beautiful as a flower, another as hard as a rock, another as straight as a tree trunk… Everyone had different requests, and he could only add one character to their original names. Hua Shi’an was so stressed he started losing hair.
After sending off the sub-beastmen with their new names, the gathering team was already counting heads, preparing to set off. They hadn’t boiled enough salt yet, so Hua Shi’an didn’t have to go with them, but he still needed to wash up and eat quickly to start his own busy day.
He stretched and was about to head to the river when a soft call came from behind. Hua Shi’an turned around. With the weeds and bushes cleared, he could clearly see the beastman hurrying toward him from a distance.
Another one coming for a name change. The beastman’s slightly awkward expression revealed his purpose. He seemed too embarrassed to trouble him, so Shan walked very slowly, hesitating to speak, unable to get a single word out for a long time.
“You called me but you’re not saying anything. Should I go then?”
Hua Shi’an was in the mood to tease him. He deliberately lifted his leg, pretending to leave.
Shan was visibly flustered. He rushed in front of Hua Shi’an in one breath, forgetting his nervousness, and stammered with a red face, “L-Lord Priest, I, I’d also like to trouble you to help me change my name.”
Hua Shi’an frowned imperceptibly, the smile in his eyes fading slightly. “How do you want to change it? The surname Hong, like the chief and the others, right?”
Although Shan’s beast form was a Pallas’s squirrel, he was also from the Red Pine Tribe. Just as Hua Shi’an was thinking of changing his name to something like Hong-something-Shan, Shan shook his head vigorously. “No, not the surname Hong. I, I want to use the surname of my old tribe.”
“Your old tribe?” Hua Shi’an asked with interest.
Shan grunted in affirmation and explained, “Our Pallas’s squirrels used to have our own tribe, called the Moshan Tribe. Later, later, our numbers dwindled, and we were assigned to the Red Pine Tribe.”
“Why Moshan? Shouldn’t it be Moshan?”
“Mo… Mo sounds the same as the word for demon, which is unlucky. The old chief said we should avoid it.”
“Oh, I see.” Hua Shi’an had a sudden realization, then continued, “It’s not a problem if you want to use your old tribe’s surname, Mo, but aren’t you afraid Chief Mu will be unhappy? He used to be the chief of the Red Pine Tribe.”
Shan shrugged and grinned foolishly. “I’m a little afraid, but you said yesterday that you have to fight for what you want. Now that I’m the only Pallas’s squirrel left in the tribe, I want to remember my tribe firmly.”
The beastman usually stammered a bit when he spoke, but this sentence was delivered with unprecedented firmness.
A sense of accomplishment welled up in his heart. The smile returned to Hua Shi’an’s lips, and he nodded with satisfaction. “Not bad, not bad. What kind of name do you want to change to? Flowers, grass, trees, or the sun and stars in the sky?”
It seemed he had already thought about it. Shan said without hesitation, “Water, a name related to water.”
Hua Shi’an didn’t ask why. He immediately gave him a character: “Huai.”
“Huai,” Shan repeated, blinking blankly. “Does Huai mean water?”
Hua Shi’an turned to look at the meadow, at the gurgling creek, and said to himself, “In the distant east, there is a river called the Huai River, a very large, long river that never runs dry. Also, like Rangrang, Huai has another meaning, symbolizing resilience and courage.”
“Mo Huaishan, Mo Huaishan…”
Shan muttered his new name to himself. His emotions, which he was not good at hiding, were all on his face. He smiled like a child. “Thank you, Lord Priest. I, I like this name.”
“I’m glad you like it.” Hua Shi’an rubbed his empty stomach and started walking. “Have you eaten? I’m going to wash my face and eat.”
“I’ve, I’ve eaten. Jian and I will move the stone pots over first then.”
“Alright, remember to bring the stone knives too.”
“Mm-hm, okay. The chestnuts I saved for you are by the fire.”
…
After a simple wash-up, Hua Shi’an found the still-warm chestnuts by the fire in the clearing. He walked and ate, holding a few branches, passed through the dew-covered bushes and the quiet bamboo forest, and arrived at the rocky beach piled with dry firewood.
He had thought he hadn’t delayed much, but the beastmen’s speed was beyond his imagination. By the time he hurried over, thick smoke was billowing from the rocky beach. The fire had already been started, and the two stone pots were boiling with saltwater.
Their efficiency was a bit too high. He felt like a spare part.
Fortunately, there was still a lot to do. Hua Shi’an swallowed the last chestnut and walked straight to the open space behind the firewood pile.
As per Hua Shi’an’s request, the two beastmen had split the Moso bamboo into different sizes.
The old bamboo was split into three-finger-wide strips, the ones with many nodes were split into thumb-thick slats, and finally, the straight and upright “young bamboo” with straight grain had its yellow layer removed, leaving a thin layer of bamboo skin.
Their craftsmanship was quite good. It was already impressive to be able to cut out bamboo skin with a stone knife. The key was that there were very few burrs on both sides of the bamboo skin; it was smooth, flat, thin, and light.
The pressure was on Hua Shi’an. He had often watched others make bamboo utensils in documentaries and had learned a lot of theoretical knowledge, but when it came to hands-on production… he had never done it, a pure master of theory. Faced with this pile of materials, he didn’t even know where to start.
All the bamboo had been split, and the fire in the pit was raging. There was no need to add firewood. The idle Mo Huaishan, Hong Yinglan, and Hong Jian all gathered around, waiting for Hua Shi’an’s next move.
Whatever. Hua Shi’an grabbed a handful of bamboo strips and decided to start with the simplest thing: a bamboo door.
Different pots required different lids. Since their “houses” were still dark and simple tree hollows, Hua Shi’an was certainly not going to put in the effort to make a finely woven bamboo door. So he planned to use the method of weaving a fence to make a bamboo door that could block the rain and was not so drafty.
He had bamboo strips and bamboo skin. The skin could be split in two to serve as rope, and the strips just needed to be connected side by side. The only difficulty was that the entrance of the tree hollow was curved. To achieve a proper aesthetic, the bamboo door also had to be curved.
The branches he had been holding all this time came in handy. They were the measurements of his own tree hollow entrance that Hua Shi’an had taken earlier. All he had to do now was cut the bamboo strips to the same length as the branches and trim the edges into a curve, and it would be perfect.
The entrance wasn’t large, so it didn’t require much bamboo. With the help of two beastmen, a pile of curved-top bamboo strips of varying lengths was soon placed in front of him.
The bamboo strips were thick, feeling almost like thin wooden planks. One layer should be enough.
Hua Shi’an moved a bit to the side with the bamboo strips, found a relatively flat open space, and arranged the strips in a short-long-short pattern. He then took the split bamboo skin and began to weave deftly.
Without proper tools, making a bamboo door was not as easy as he had imagined. Hua Shi’an tried several fixing methods. Either the gaps between the bamboo strips were too large, or they were not secure, causing the strips to slide and become misaligned.
In the end, he chose the most simple and unadorned cross-fixing method. He twisted the bamboo skin once and inserted a bamboo strip, leaving only a tiny gap in between.
The disadvantage was that it wasn’t very sturdy. So after connecting the bamboo strips for the first time, Hua Shi’an, like sewing clothes, used the bamboo skin to sew from beginning to end, turning the bamboo curtain that could fall apart at any moment into a sturdy bamboo door.
His legs were almost numb from squatting, but he was finally done.
Hua Shi’an clapped his hands and stood up. He took a few steps back to get a better look at the bamboo door.
It didn’t look like much up close, but from a distance, it was alright. The green bamboo strips were tightly fixed together, with only very slight gaps in between. The bamboo skin used to fix the strips seemed to have become a decoration, carving patterns on the somewhat monotonous bamboo door.
Even the simplest bamboo door had taken so long. Hua Shi’an couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated. But the beastmen were very good at providing emotional support. As soon as he propped up the bamboo door, Hong Yinglan, who had returned from adding firewood, exclaimed:
“Wow, I just went to add some firewood, and it’s already done?”
Hong Yinglan hurried forward, took the bamboo door from Hua Shi’an, and examined it with wide eyes. “You’re so amazing, An, no, Shi’an. You made such a complicated thing just by hearing about it from a stranger.”
Mo Huaishan, who had returned with her, also came over and praised the bamboo door unstintingly, “It looks beautiful and sturdy! I’m going to make one for my entrance too. That way, the cold wind won’t blow into the tree hollow in winter, and it’ll be warm.”
“Not only warm, the Lord Priest just said, there’s also that thing called… right, a sense of security! With a bamboo door, people won’t be able to see inside the tree hollow at a glance. You can sleep however you want, full of a sense of security!” Hong Yinglan genuinely liked the door. The more she spoke, the more excited she became, her cheeks flushed with excitement.
“But it looks very light. Will it really not be blown over by the wind?” Hong Jian raised a doubt.
That reminded Hua Shi’an. He picked up an arm-length piece of bamboo skin from the ground and squatted down in front of the bamboo door.
He threaded the bamboo skin through the gaps between the bamboo strips, wrapped it around several times, and finally tied a slipknot. A simple bamboo buckle for fixing was done.
It was like children playing house; everything was so simple.
Hua Shi’an sighed silently and turned to the three of them. “Alright. Later, we’ll chisel a hole on the side of the tree hollow, thread the bamboo buckle through it, and it will be convenient to open and close the door, and it won’t be easily blown over by the wind. But the door is only this big, so it won’t be able to withstand particularly strong winds.”
Hong Jian was still puzzled and asked, “You said the door is for a sense of security and to shelter from the wind and rain. Then why not use wood to make a door? Wood is stronger and more solid than bamboo, and it probably wouldn’t be afraid of stronger winds and rain.”
“Because…” Hua Shi’an spread his hands. “It’s troublesome.”
“We don’t have the time now, and our only tools are stone knives and stone axes. It’s too much trouble to make a wooden door. Of course, you’re right, a wooden door is indeed sturdier than a bamboo door, but that’s something to worry about in the future when we have enough to eat and drink, have proper tools, and have free time.”
Hong Jian nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”
“The bamboo door is already very good. I like this bamboo door. At least I won’t have to freeze in winter!” Hong Yinglan caressed the bamboo door lovingly, wishing she could move it back to her tree hollow immediately.
Hua Shi’an smiled. “Try making one yourself tomorrow.”
It wasn’t that Hua Shi’an was being stingy and unwilling to give it to her. The main reason was that the tree hollows, being purely handmade, were of different sizes. Even if he gave it to her, it might not be usable. Of course, Hua Shi’an could make another one for her, but with so many people in the tribe, if everyone wanted a door, he would be worked to death.
Self-reliance brings ample food and clothing.
First, teach three apprentices, then let the apprentices teach apprentices. Mm, the plan was quite perfect.
Without taking a break, Hua Shi’an picked up a bamboo slat and said solemnly to the three of them, “You’ve all learned how to make the simplest bamboo door, right? Next, we’ll use bamboo slats to weave back baskets and bamboo skin to weave winnowing baskets. You have to watch carefully and ask if you don’t understand.”
“Huh? The bamboo door was the simplest?”
“I’ll watch carefully!”
