Weaving

The beast fur was quite soft. He could see if he could make a pair of socks from it.

He had only one pair of socks. He washed them every night and wore them every day, and they were nearly worn through. He desperately needed a new pair.

Perhaps he could make a few extra pairs to have on hand.

The sub-beastmen didn't understand, but they still helped gather the scattered tufts of fur for him.

Xi Lu looked at the tufts. "They're a little dirty."

Jian Mo said, "It's all right. I'll wash them with soapy water when I get back."

At that moment, Jian Mo was a little glad he had made soap before.

Soap cleaned much better than things like ash water and sand. A good soak and wash should get these grimy tufts clean too.

Everyone had originally planned to gather some herbs and food today, but they hadn't expected to find so much Wood-Stabilizing Root in the cave.

They dug from morning until evening, and they still hadn't finished when the sun was nearly down.

There wasn't much left, and no one wanted to come back and dig again tomorrow.

As it grew dark, several sub-beastmen's partners came together to find them and took the hoes from their hands.

With the beastmen helping, they dug much faster.

The back baskets they had brought weren't enough to hold everything, so the sub-beastmen went out to cut some vines and used them to tie the Wood-Stabilizing Root into bundles. Then they had the beastmen carry the bundles down the mountain.

When they finally returned to the tribe and counted everything, they had dug up thirteen baskets and twenty-one bundles of Wood-Stabilizing Root that day.

Jian Mo hefted some of it. By his conservative estimate, they had dug up at least 1,500 jin of Wood-Stabilizing Root today.

Half the yield from group hunting and gathering had to be set aside for the tribe. Only the remaining half was divided equally among the hunters or gatherers.

In the end, Jian Mo received more than half a basket of Wood-Stabilizing Root, enough to feed him and Wu Jiong for five or six days.

Wu Jiong helped carry the Wood-Stabilizing Root back. "Was it especially hard work today?"

Jian Mo said happily, "It was all right. We gathered so much that it didn't feel hard."

Wu Jiong smiled.

They carried the Wood-Stabilizing Root back and put it in the corner where they stored food.

Jian Mo looked at the pile of tubers, wild fruit, and wild vegetables in the corner, then at the various kinds of meat hanging outside. For once, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.

He had contributed a small part of the effort to gathering this food too.

Wu Jiong looked at the tufts of fur and Wood-Stabilizing Root fruit left in the basket. "Do you still have a use for these tufts and fruit?"

"Yes." Jian Mo came back to himself and explained to Wu Jiong, "I'm going to plant the fruit as seeds, and see if I can spin the fur into yarn and weave something."

Wu Jiong nodded. "Where are you going to plant them?"

Jian Mo asked tentatively, "Would it be all right to plant them behind the house? I noticed there's a fairly large open space back there. It doesn't seem to be used for anything else?"

Wu Jiong said, "That's fine. Let them grow near the foot of the mountain."

Jian Mo said, "No problem. I'll plant them tomorrow!"

Wu Jiong said, "Call me tomorrow. I'll plant them with you."

Chapter 7: Weaving

In the morning, after breakfast, Jian Mo got out a hoe, intending to plant the Wood-Stabilizing Root behind the house.

Wu Jiong came over to help.

Wu Jiong regularly cleared the weeds behind the house, so it looked quite clean.

Jian Mo walked over to the end nearest the foot of the mountain. "Shall we plant the Wood-Stabilizing Root here?"

Wu Jiong nodded.

Jian Mo raised the hoe. "I'll dig the holes first."

Wu Jiong took the hoe from him. "I'll dig. How deep do they need to be?"

Jian Mo thought for a moment. "They probably don't need to be very deep. No one dug holes for them on the mountain. Just dig a shallow hole, enough to bury them."

Wu Jiong nodded and gave the ground a light dig with the hoe, making a hole six or seven centimeters deep. "Like this?"

Jian Mo tossed a Wood-Stabilizing Root seed into the hole, then grabbed a handful of plant ash and threw it in. "Yes, that's fine. Now fill the hole back in."

Wu Jiong pushed the soil he had just dug out back into the hole, filling it in quickly.

Jian Mo directed him. "Dig the second hole an arm's length away."

Wood-Stabilizing Root could grow as thick as a person's thigh, so the rows might need to be spaced a little farther apart, leaving it plenty of room to grow

space

Wu Jiong raised no objection and dug the hole as Jian Mo had asked.

One dug the holes while the other put in the seeds. Working together, they planted them quickly.

As they worked, Wu Jiong looked up. "How many fruit are there altogether?"

Jian Mo glanced down at the basket. "Two hundred and seventy-seven."

Wu Jiong said, "That's more than I expected. What do we need to do after planting them?"

"It doesn't seem like we need to do anything." Jian Mo didn't have much planting experience either. "I saw that they grew very well in the wild, so we probably don't need to water them often or anything. At most, we'll give them some water if the weather gets too dry, then bury some fertilizer around them when they bear fruit."

Wu Jiong turned to look at the fruit they had just planted.

There were so many fruit that, even if they didn't grow very well, they would still yield a huge harvest when they matured and were dug up.

Wu Jiong lowered his head and continued digging. "If I see any Wood-Stabilizing Root fruit when I go up the mountain, I'll bring them back too."

Jian Mo hadn't expected him to grasp the significance of planting so quickly. He gave him a somewhat surprised look and smiled. "All right."

After they finished planting the Wood-Stabilizing Root, Jian Mo planted the herbs they had dug up beside it.

That way, they could use them whenever they needed them, without having to search the mountain in an emergency.

They had gotten up fairly early that day. After they finished planting all the Wood-Stabilizing Root and herbs and watering them, most households in the tribe were still making breakfast.

Cooking smoke curled into the air, and the aromas of various foods drifted out.

Children who had already gained human form ran around the tribe with cubs who couldn't yet transform, their laughter and shouts carrying far into the distance.

Looking at the peaceful tribe, Jian Mo began to like this world.

A quiet, ordinary life like this was pretty good too.

The sun gradually climbed higher, and most of the adults in the tribe went out to hunt or gather.

Jian Mo had walked a long way and spent a long time digging Wood-Stabilizing Root yesterday. His whole body ached, so he rested in the tribe.