The Primitive Adventures of a Chipmunk 15

Chapter 15

“Lord Priest, what are we doing with the tree bark? Do we need this much?”

“Lord Priest, Lord Priest?”

The tribe member’s calls echoed in his ears, and Hua Shi’an abruptly snapped out of his daze. He turned to see the worried face of Ju Ming and shook his head. “I’m fine. What did you just say?”

“It’s good that you’re fine. You scared me,” Ju Ming patted his chest and then pointed to the towering Formosan sugar palm in front of him, repeating his earlier question, “I was just saying, what are we going to do with all this bark? Isn’t it a bit too much?”

The saltwater was boiling, and they had gathered enough firewood for the day. One beastman stayed at the rocky beach to watch the fire, while the other, Ju Ming, followed Hua Shi’an, cutting coir sheets in the thicket of Formosan sugar palms.

One sheet after another, a thick stack of coir sheets had already piled up behind them, but Hua Shi’an still showed no signs of stopping.

They had been out for a while. Worried that the saltwater would boil dry and his companion wouldn’t be able to handle it alone, Ju Ming used curiosity as a pretext to subtly remind Hua Shi’an.

With a swift cut of the knife, Hua Shi’an sliced off a coir sheet. He looked back and realized they had enough. He stood up to gather the coir sheets and explained to Ju Ming, “Our grass skirts are about to fall apart. There’s no suitable grass in the forest, so I want to try making skirts out of coir sheets.”

“Skirts?”

Ju Ming was suddenly stunned. He looked down at his own tattered grass skirt, then at the flat coir sheet in his hand, and exclaimed excitedly, “Oh, right! Why didn’t I think of that? A coir sheet is so big. We can just wrap it around our waists and tie it with a vine, and it’s a skirt! It feels even sturdier than a grass skirt!”

“Right?” Hua Shi’an said with a smile, busy organizing the coir sheets. “Coir sheets have many uses. Not just for making skirts, but also for laying on the ground to sleep more softly and comfortably. Most importantly, they can also be twisted into coir rope for weaving.”

Ju Ming looked puzzled. “Coir rope?”

Hua Shi’an shook the vine in his hand. “Something similar to a vine.”

“Oh, then why not just use vines?” Ju Ming asked again.

Hua Shi’an: “Vines don’t last long; they’re very fragile. Coir rope is different. As long as it’s twisted well and thick enough, it won’t break for a long time.”

He didn’t understand, but he was impressed. Ju Ming looked at the lush Formosan sugar palm in front of him and rubbed his hands in excitement. “Lord Priest, since coir sheets have so many uses, let’s cut some more and take them back.”

As they talked, Hua Shi’an had already rolled the thick stacks of coir sheets into two large bundles and tied them tightly with pre-prepared vines.

They looked heavy but were surprisingly light to lift. Hua Shi’an took the lead and shouldered a roll of coir sheets, then turned to Ju Ming and gestured with his chin. “Let’s not cut any more for now. It’s getting late. Let’s go back to the rocky beach first. Twisting coir rope will take a lot of time.”

“Twisting coir rope? Didn’t you say we were making skirts first?”

Ju Ming shouldered the other bundle of coir sheets and followed closely behind Hua Shi’an.

Hua Shi’an: “We are making skirts, but not by just wrapping the coir sheets around our bodies and tying them with vines. I want to try making a better-looking, more durable coir skirt.”

The words “durable” stuck in Ju Ming’s mind. He was curious and looked forward to what kind of coir skirt Hua Shi’an would make. Little did he know that in the next few days, he would be driven to tears and laughter by a skirt.

The first step in weaving a coir skirt was twisting coir rope. The first step in twisting coir rope was extracting coir fibers.

The natural coir sheets were not that strong. It wasn’t difficult to extract the fibers. By pulling hard along the fibers at the bottom, the coir sheet, like a piece of clothing with a loose thread, easily unraveled into strands of coir fibers.

But there were too many coir sheets. Five minutes per sheet, fifty minutes for ten sheets, one hundred sheets…

Besides boiling salt, all they did was extract coir fibers. The three of them worked tirelessly, and it wasn’t until noon the next day that they had turned all the coir sheets into fine, light coir fibers.

This was just the beginning. Ju Ming’s mentality gradually changed. He had gathered wild vegetables and caught fierce beasts before, but he had never done such meticulous and tedious work.

Strangely, he suddenly felt that it wouldn’t be so bad to just wrap a coir sheet around his body. At worst, he could just get a new one when it wore out. After all, there were plenty of Formosan sugar palm trees in the forest.

Like Ju Ming, Hua Shi’an’s mentality also underwent a subtle change, but his came at the third stage, when he started weaving the coir skirt after twisting the coir rope.

The coir rope was twisted by hand, bit by bit. It was a little thicker than the thickest chunky yarn, but coir rope was not as soft as chunky yarn. This meant that during the weaving process, Hua Shi’an struggled to push it in and pull it out, and his fingers were almost worn out.

Hand-weaving ended in failure. To not waste the past two days of effort, Hua Shi’an had the beastmen help him sharpen a few smooth, round bamboo sticks to serve as knitting needles, and he started knitting the coir skirt like a scarf.

Hua Shi’an didn’t know any complicated knitting techniques, but he hadn’t been on the internet for so many years for nothing. He knew a little about the simplest garter stitch.

He picked up the “yarn” and knitted from bottom to top, then from top to bottom. It required no skill, just mechanical repetition of the steps, ensuring the rows were even and neat, without overlapping or showing the bottom.

Three days, a full three days. As he threaded the appropriately-lengthed waistband into the reserved holes, Hua Shi’an rubbed his sore arms. By the time he held up the flattened coir skirt, it was already dusk on the third day.

The twilight was deep, and the setting sun had dyed half the sky red. The coir skirt, shaped like a neck warmer, was held up in the air. It was opaque against the light, and its neat, dense texture was clearly visible.

Although he used the simplest garter stitch, Hua Shi’an’s craftsmanship was quite good.

Except for the first inch, which was a bit uneven and showed some inexperience, the rest of the coir skirt had tight stitches, a clear texture, and almost no burrs on the surface. Without a close look, you couldn’t even tell it was knitted from coir rope.

Hard work paid off. The coir skirt was finally finished, but Hua Shi’an wasn’t happy at all. Because three days! It took three days to knit one skirt, which was too much effort.

His arms were sore, and he had two blisters on his right index finger and thumb. Was it really worth it? Hua Shi’an leaned listlessly against a large rock, staring blankly at the sky reddened by the setting sun, a sigh escaping his lips.

The fire was burning brightly, and the saltwater in the pot was boiling vigorously. The two beastmen sat in front of the stone pot with long faces, adding firewood to the pit while struggling with their knitting needles and coir rope.

The three of them had started at the same time. Hua Shi’an had already finished, but their progress was only halfway. And the coir skirts they knitted were sparse and rough, uneven, as if chewed by a dog.

It was indeed a bit difficult for two big, rough men to do needlework.

Perhaps the way they held their crochet hooks and pulled the yarn was too clumsy and comical. The frustration in Hua Shi’an’s heart dissipated, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

It was this faint, almost imperceptible smile that made Ju Ming immediately turn to look at Hua Shi’an. When he saw the already-formed coir skirt in his arms, the beastman put his own half-finished product on a nearby rock and quickly walked over to Hua Shi’an.

“Lord Priest, you’ve already finished? So fast!”

“What?” The other beastman, hearing the commotion, also stood up.

The two beastmen rushed over. Hua Shi’an didn’t hide it and handed the coir skirt over. “It’s done, and the waistband is attached. You can wear it now.”

Ju Ming was quick and snatched the coir skirt. He examined it with wide eyes, instantly turning into a little frog. “Wow, as expected of the Lord Priest, you’ve knitted it so well! So much better than the two of us.”

“Isn’t it?” The other beastman nodded like a chick pecking at rice and praised him unstintingly, “The coir ropes are so close together, so dense, with no gaps at all. The Lord Priest’s hands are so skillful, just like my mother’s.”

Like whose? Hua Shi’an almost choked on his saliva and coughed for a while, turning to the side.

They had no time to care about their Lord Priest; the beastmen were completely captivated by the coir skirt.

Ju Ming and his companion turned the coir skirt over and over, caressing it lovingly. They then held it up to themselves and muttered, “It’s so nice, this coir skirt is so beautiful. It’s just as you said before, beautiful and sturdy. I wonder what it feels like to wear it.”

With that, the two beastmen looked at Hua Shi’an at the same time.

“Lord Priest, can, can we try it on?” Ju Ming asked.

Looking at the eager beastmen and their waists, which were a circle thicker than his, Hua Shi’an shook his head. “It’s not your size. Just look at it. Don’t stretch it out for me.”

“It does seem a bit small.” Ju Ming was not discouraged. He wrapped the coir skirt around his waist. It probably wouldn’t even fit around his thigh. Only then did he give up.

But his fighting spirit was completely ignited by the coir skirt. He forgot all the previous suffering and hardship, his mind and eyes filled only with a desire for the coir skirt.

As if preparing for a long battle, the beastman clenched his fists, his face filled with excitement and anticipation as he looked at Hua Shi’an. “Lord Priest, let’s cut more coir sheets and twist more coir rope tomorrow. This coir skirt is really too beautiful. I want to knit one for my mate too. No, that’s not right, I want to knit one for everyone in the tribe!”

Good, good, I can see you’re very motivated. Hua Shi’an nodded with satisfaction and coughed lightly into his hand. “Mm, then… good luck to you.”

The fired-up Ju Ming: “Good luck! We’ll knit two tomorrow.”

The other beastman sensed that something was wrong and asked tentatively, “We’ll have good luck? What about you, Lord Priest? Aren’t you going to knit with us anymore?”

He couldn’t be too obvious about shirking his responsibility. Hua Shi’an put on a profound expression, rested his chin on his hand, and said seriously, “I have other things to do. I’ve taught you the basics. With more practice, you’ll get faster.”

“You are the smartest beastmen I’ve ever seen. Good luck. Whether the tribe members can wear beautiful coir skirts depends on you. But there’s no need to rush. We’ll take it steady and slow.”

The smartest beastmen, so we have to be responsible for the entire tribe’s coir skirts…

Not poisoned by the chicken soup, Ju Ming and the other beastman looked at each other, their smiling faces turning into frowns.

“How about…”

The less determined beastman wavered and started to back down. “How about we just make coir sheet skirts? The coir skirts are beautiful, but they take too long to knit. Didn’t the Lord Priest say before that we should focus on food and drink for now, and for these clothes and things, it’s better to keep it simple.”

Before Hua Shi’an could speak, Ju Ming immediately shook his head in opposition. “No, the coir skirts are beautiful, sturdy, and durable. Although it’s troublesome and time-consuming to knit them, if we take good care of them, one skirt can last for half a year without any problem.”

“It’s only troublesome this one time. We have to knit them, even if we have to grit our teeth!”