When Shao Xuan went back, the children in the cave had already returned from the river. Today's harvest was good. From the unstoppable smiles on their faces, one could tell that there were two groups that pulled more fish than whoever pulled them.
"A Xuan, someone came to you to change things just now. You are not here. They will come back tomorrow." Tu, who was sitting next to the weaving straw rope, said.
When he was in the cave before, Tu was a little timid and thin, but after this time, he let go a lot, and he became more energetic, and he gradually became more and more talkative.
"Okay, I see." Shao Xuan nodded.
It should be that someone in the tribe was excited again and wanted to go fishing. After exploring the experience, they came to find Shao Xuan for the black block that could float on the water.
At night, the moon hanging on both sides of the sky is even darker, the crescent moon is thin, and only the arc that is not bright can be seen. Looking out from the vent, it was pitch black near the cave, only the wind whistling outside the cave and the noise made by the flying Yeyans. Winter is coming, and Yeyans have no energy. They used to fly. It wasn't that big of a movement.
In the next few days, whether it was a child in the cave or a person going down the mountain, as long as the sun did not go down, they would run to the river, thinking about pulling the river before it freezes.
Probably because the people of the tribe never had the idea of catching these fish in the past years, and there are many fish in the river. These fish are extremely fierce, but their IQ is not high.
Fortunately, the fishing went smoothly for several days, and there was no such tentacled creature.
Until one morning, when Shao Xuan took Caesar to the gravel to dig stone worms, he found that there were far fewer stone worms, and it took a long time to dig three of them.
There were suddenly fewer fish by the river, and the stone worm was thrown down for a long time before only a not-so-big fish came up.
Whether it is the children in the cave or the people of the tribe, their hearts are heavy, and this situation seems to be an omen.
"Ah Xuan, why is this happening?" The children in the cave languished, staring at the straw rope in their hands with a heartbroken expression.
"Because winter is coming," said an older child. He once heard people say that in winter, many prey will hide, and you can't find them no matter how you look for them. They will only come out when winter is over. . Because of this, the people of the tribe do not like winter, because winter is full of depression caused by various difficulties.
Seeing other children still staring at him, Shao Xuan sighed: "It may indeed be the reason. Because in winter, stone worms will no longer appear on the surface, but will burrow deep underground to spend the winter, and the ground is warmer than the surface. The piranhas also leave the shallow waters they land on and swim deep into the big rivers, to areas that don’t freeze over in winter. So we can’t catch stone worms and we can’t pull fish.”
Shao Xuan's voice fell, and a gloomy atmosphere filled the cave.
In the impression of many children in the cave, winter is very cold and dark, and sometimes they are sick and drowsy and don’t know, they just fall asleep in a daze, and when it’s dinner time, they are called to eat something and continue to be drowsy Sleeping on the ground, I don't know the day and night outside, like walking dead. Usually nothing, but now I suddenly think about it, and look at the sunny days of fishing recently, it's no wonder that I'm in a good mood.
There are also children sitting in the corner with the newly pulled fish this afternoon in sadness, and touching the fish's head reluctantly while feeling sad. Just to match the dark red eyes on the head of the dead fish, and the cracked mouth full of fine fangs, how strange this person and fish look, if this is the peace of Shao Xuan's previous life In the era, such people would definitely be labeled as "perverted" and "psychologically distorted", but here, it is too normal.
Shao Xuan covered his face, looked away from there, no longer looked at the sad person holding the fish in the corner.
In the past few days, the hay used to sleep in the cave has been moved out and dried by Shao Xuanrang, and even the fur that was exchanged has also been washed and dried. The preparation is actually quite sufficient, but no one can eliminate the shadow of the coming winter. In the past The experience left a deep impression on the hearts of the children in the cave, no matter how the sun shines.
It's only noon now, and the sky outside has become overcast.
When Shao Xuan was thinking about what to do in winter, the stuttering who was sitting beside him came over.
"A Xuan... I... I think... think... "
He stuttered for a long time before expressing his meaning clearly.
Jiba also has a younger sister. In that year, Jiba lost both parents. When he was sent to the cave, his younger sister was also adopted by a family on the mountainside. The tribe values girls more, and those who adopt girls can also receive more subsidies from the tribe.
Most of the people in this tribe will awaken the power of totems. Boys will wake up when they are about ten years old, not too late, no more than fifteen. This is why these children in the cave and those who live near the foot of the mountain Children usually just eat and sleep regardless of other reasons, because they don't need to work hard, as long as they don't starve or die of illness, they will naturally become totem warriors when they get old.
Compared with boys, there are fewer girls who awaken the power of totems. Nearly one-third of the people will never awaken in their lives. However, the tribe will not treat them badly because of this. On the contrary, girls are in the tribe. They are treated much better than boys. Therefore, even if they are orphans, some families are willing to take in girls. That is why there is no girl living in this hole, all of them have children.
Stutter wanted to visit his younger sister before winter came, give him a fish, and deduct it from his own share. He came here to ask Shao Xuan's opinion. Since Shao Xuan took the children in the cave to fish, his position was indestructible. As long as Shao Xuan agreed, the two eldest children would not refute even if they didn't want to. Now, Shao Xuan will be asked for his opinion when there is something.
After stuttering and saying what he meant, he stood there and rubbed his fingers uneasily. He was worried that Shao Xuan would refuse, and looked at Shao Xuan cautiously.
"Of course you can, just come back before dark." Shao Xuan said.
"Thank you, Xuan!" Stuttering excitedly ran back and dragged a fish out of the hole.
Seeing stuttering happily dragging a fish away, Shao Xuan smiled: "He didn't stutter when he was thanking him, it seems that he still got agitated, maybe once he got excited, the stuttering problem would be corrected. "
Not long after stuttering away, Mole's mother came again. Lai Yin is still the same as before, he wants to take Mo Er up the mountain, but it is a pity that Mo Er is not willing, even if his mother is soft and hard, he will not let go.
In the end, Moore's mother left behind a thick fur sweater and some jerky and left with tears in her eyes.
In the afternoon, he brought food and brought Shao Xuan some jerky, as well as an animal skin blanket and a piece of clothing.
"This is from Mai, and the clothes are from Lang Ga." Ge said, "They are busy today, and the witch will enter the winter tomorrow. Everyone is checking the house and preparing other matters, so they asked me to help deliver things. "
Mai's hunting team came back yesterday, and completed their last hunting trip this year before winter came. The harvest was very rich. Yesterday, Shao Xuan saw the prey they were carrying or pulling, which was enough to survive this winter, not to mention the hunting team. Many people still have food at home, so they won't be hungry in winter. The hunting party fighters who returned yesterday were all smiling with ease.
Shao Xuan took it over and took a look. The jerky was fresher and the meat was of good quality. The blankets and clothes were better than the fur he had bought in the past few days.
It is impossible to say not to be moved.
"Thank you Uncle Ge, and by the way, thank Uncle Mai and Lang Ga for helping me. Oh, that's right."
Shao Xuan dragged two fish over and asked Ge to help bring them to Mai and Lang Ga. Although he knew that Mai and the others had harvested enough prey to survive the winter, Shao Xuan still wanted to express his gratitude. These two fish belonged to Shao Xuan's own share, so naturally other people in the same group would have no opinion.
"Hey, you are not afraid that I will cut off the fish." Grid threw the fish into the empty stone tank, lifted the stone tank with one arm and left.
Since Wu said that it might be winter tomorrow, Shao Xuan told the other people in the cave that the fur had already been divided, and he didn't need to say more about what to do. These children still knew how to protect themselves.
That night, the sky was dark, and a little crescent crescent could be seen two days ago, but it is completely invisible today.
Depressed black.
Shao Xuan woke up in the middle of the night, feeling like he was lying in ice and snow, shivering from the cold. But the strange thing is that after waking up, it is not so cold again.
Sitting up, Shao Xuan pulled the thatch that was blocking the vent a little bit, and was instantly chilled by the biting cold wind that penetrated.
Winter is officially here.
With the arrival of winter, the life of the children in the cave has become the same again, except for eating and sleeping. The temperature outside the cave is very low, and they can't do anything when they wake up. They can only sleep, looking forward to leaving in winter when they wake up next time.
With food and thicker blankets, they can sleep quite comfortably this winter, at least more comfortable than the winter in the impression, and they need to sleep peacefully.
In winter, Ge still comes over as usual every day, delivering food in the face of cold storms and snow. Shao Xuan felt that there was no need to suffer so much. After discussing with Ge, Ge brought three days' worth of money at a time, and then every three days. Now the cave is not as chaotic as it used to be. Ge knew that Shao Xuan could control the cave well, and he did not object. He also left Shao Xuan with an igniter so that Shao Xuan could set it on fire.
In fact, winter is not without other things, such as people sent by tribes to teach literacy and counting. As always, every 20 or 30 days, someone will come here, and it will be normal in winter.
On this day, it was the day when the person who taught him came over. The day before, Ge gave Shao Xuan a message and asked Shao Xuan to prepare. Save time, the children in the cave slept soundly one by one and missed this rare learning opportunity.
So, when the old hunter who was in charge of teaching, wrapped in animal skins and shivered, lifted the curtain and entered the hole, before feeling the warmth brought by the fire in the hole, he saw the man who was supposed to be sleeping on the ground. The boy, all sat there full of energy, his eyes were shining, and he was trembling with all his might.
Because he lived on the mountain, there were other delays in the previous section. After careful calculation, he had not come over for nearly 40 days, and he didn't know much about what happened in the mountain area. Yesterday he went to Grid first and asked about the situation in the cave during this time. Originally it was just a routine question, but I didn't expect that in just 20 days, a huge change had taken place in the cave.
When I heard that Shao Xuan, who was less than ten years old, was in charge of the cave yesterday, the old hunter was still very dissatisfied. Isn't this bullying? Are the kids in the cave easy to get along with? In the past, when he went to teach in the cave, only the child of Shao Xuan would study seriously. The old hunter had a good impression of Shao Xuan.
He didn't believe it when Greg explained it, but now seeing the situation inside the cave with his own eyes, it seems to be different...
With more than 20 pairs of rather abnormal eager eyes, the old hunter walked in stiffly, sat on the stone bench he used to sit on, took out an animal skin with numbers written on it from his arms, and faced the fire. Dui Guang looked at it, he was right, he was sure it was this animal skin scroll, and he cleared his throat.
"Cough, this, today, I will teach you how to count from one to ten. Listen, I will read it first, ahem, one, two, three..."
After reading it again, the old hunter felt that the surrounding atmosphere was a bit wrong. He looked away from the animal skin roll, looked up, and saw that the eager gazes around him had become impatient, and some were obviously contemptuous. .
what? Is this just beginning to get impatient? The old hunter was also not happy. He used to be like this when he came to teach. After reading two numbers, this group of people yawned and went to sleep. His anger made his brain hurt.
Just as he was about to be reprimanded, the old hunter heard a child complaining, "Let me listen to this if you insist on not sleeping in the winter?"
"Only one to ten? This old man can't do it."
"that is!"
"Hey, old man, can you do it? Can you only get one to ten?"
"A Xuan, if you can't do it, let this old man go and replace him."
"that is!"
"Substitution!"
"Substitution!"
"Let him go!"
Shao Xuan looked at the old man holding the animal skin roll, and found that the blue veins on the old man's forehead were jumping suddenly.
How rare, the old hunter would never have thought that these little cubs would love to learn.