Chapter 18

The person who came to take charge of the teaching was naturally not an old fool who only knew how to count from one to ten. Especially this old hunter, even if he didn't know much else, he was definitely proficient in counting, which was essential knowledge for hunting. The competition between hunting teams also often involved the use of numbers.

Knowing that the children in the cave could mostly count up to thirty, the old hunter felt both surprised and pleased. He loved teaching, but in the mountains, the children there didn't need his guidance at all.

Rarely so enthusiastic, the old hunter taught with great dedication today.

The children in the cave, eager to learn more numbers, became quiet, no longer clamoring for a change of teacher. The little ones all perked up their ears to listen. Shaoxuan mainly focused on the tribal script, while the children learned more numbers. The most bored one in the cave was probably Caesar, who was curled up on a grass mat, sleeping.

When the old hunter left, he was still not fully satisfied and somewhat reluctant. In previous winters, he would only come two or three times, but now he was enjoying teaching so much that even if he wanted to come more often, he couldn't come down the mountain every day. After some thought, the old hunter left behind a larger piece of animal skin, not the one he initially brought, but one that recorded more numbers and words. He asked Shaoxuan to keep it, and anyone who wanted to see it could go to Shaoxuan.

The ventilation holes in the cave were already blocked with reeds, so no light came in. After winter set in, the cave was the same whether it was day or night, and it was impossible to keep a fire burning all day. The cave had a stock of firewood, which warriors had brought over a few days ago, but it wasn't enough to sustain a constant fire.

Shaoxuan thought that if the cave could be brighter, everything would be more convenient.

Caesar was gnawing on a raw fish next to Shaoxuan; it didn't like cooked food.

The fine fish teeth left after eating fish were not suitable for making other tools, as they were too small. They also couldn't go out hunting, so hunting tools were not needed. Shaoxuan made a few brushes and used them to brush Caesar's fur and comb his own hair.

The tribe had combs, but the children in the cave had little interest in combing their hair; appearance issues were far less important than food issues. Both men and women in the tribe had long or short hair, and those who didn't like long hair would cut it short with a knife. However, no one in the cave cut the children's hair, so they all had messy hair.

The slightly larger fish teeth were fought over by the children to make necklaces.

Using the horns or teeth of prey to make decorations was a way for the tribe to show off their hunting skills. Some warriors would give such decorations to the girls they loved to win their favor, and women would also compete, comparing who had the higher-grade necklaces and whose feathers were from more ferocious birds. The more powerful the prey, the more admired the wearer would be by the tribe.

The children naturally competed as well. The necklaces worn by the children near the foot of the mountain were mostly made from the horns, teeth, or bones of prey hunted by their elders. Many of the children in the cave had lost their parents and had no one to give them such decorations, so they were always envious of the other children in the tribe who wore them. This was one of the reasons why they often got into fights with other children in the tribe.

But now, they could make necklaces from the teeth of prey they caught themselves. How could they not be happy? Now, they had necklaces too, and they were no worse than those worn by other children! This was one of the reasons why the children liked fish so much.

Shaoxuan didn't compete with them for the fish teeth, giving the larger ones suitable for necklaces to the other children. When Stutter visited his sister, he brought a fish tooth, which was larger than the ones he had.

It wasn't easy for any of them.

While Shaoxuan was thinking about how to improve the conditions in the cave, the children in the cave were not so troubled. Apart from sleeping, they only gathered around the fire to exchange counting experiences when they ate. Moer practiced with his knife every day. He had already mastered counting and knew more words than the other children in the cave. Every day, when the fire was lit, he would practice in a corner, throwing a stone into the air and slashing at it with his knife, as there were no night swallows for him to practice with.

After eating, the children in the cave all went to sleep. The wood in the fire was almost burned out, so Shaoxuan added another piece. When the end of the wood caught fire, he took a burning piece and walked deeper into the cave.

When he explored the deeper part of the cave, he found a stone room filled with miscellaneous items. The room was quite messy, and the stone pot the children used was found by Shaoxuan there. Apart from the stone pot, he didn't examine the other items in detail. Today, with nothing to do, he took a torch to see if he could find anything useful.

Although the ventilation holes where they slept were blocked, there were still small cracks and openings deeper in the cave, and he could feel a cold breeze as he walked deeper. Fortunately, the wind wasn't strong, and the flame only flickered a bit, not going out.

Shaoxuan wrapped himself in his animal skin coat and continued walking, with Caesar following closely. There were many stone rooms deeper in the cave, arranged in a tree-like pattern. The room with the miscellaneous items was the second-to-last one on the right, and it was quite large.

The ventilation holes in the stone room were all blocked, and Shaoxuan examined the items with his torch. Some items had been used before but were later abandoned by the children, who waited for the tribe to provide food. These tools and items had all gathered dust.

Apart from a few stone stools and a stand for the stone pot, Shaoxuan wasn't interested in anything else.

After a while, his gaze fell on a round stone plate, flat at the bottom with a rim about an inch high.

For eating? Why use this when they had a stone pot?

He set the stone plate aside and continued searching. After a moment, he paused and looked back at the stone plate. He roughly measured it with his hands, then raised the torch to look at the blocked ventilation holes.

Many of the ventilation holes in the stone cave were quite large, allowing both air and light to pass through.

Shaoxuan looked back and forth between the blocked ventilation holes and the stone plate, then picked up the stone plate and returned to the main area of the cave.

He added more wood to the fire, took some snow from the thick layer at the cave entrance, and placed it in the stone pot. He put the stone plate outside the grass curtain at the cave entrance and poured the melted snow into it. After a while, he checked and found that the water had frozen.

He dragged the stone plate into the cave, heated the edges with fire, and then inverted it, pouring out a round ice block.

A few children who hadn't fallen asleep watched Shaoxuan curiously, but they were too cold to get up, so they just stretched their necks to see. The fire wasn't very bright, so they couldn't see clearly what Shaoxuan was doing.

Using his hands directly was too cold, so Shaoxuan wrapped the ice in animal skin and stepped on a stone, asking Stutter to remove the reeds blocking the ventilation hole.

With nothing blocking it, the cold wind rushed in, making the children in the cave shiver. Standing at the ventilation hole, Shaoxuan felt the cold even more intensely, his face numb. He quickly worked with Stutter to push the ice block into the ventilation hole.

As Shaoxuan had expected, the ice block was almost the same size as the ventilation hole, just a little smaller, which allowed him to push it in.

He now understood why there was a slight indentation in the ventilation hole; it was to hold the ice. There were still some gaps, which he plugged with reeds.

Once the ice block was in place, the cold wind stopped, but light shone into the cave. The winter sun wasn't intense, but there was still some brightness during the day.

While Shaoxuan wasn't entirely satisfied with the light, it was a significant improvement for the children.

They stared at the bright ventilation hole with their mouths open, dumbfounded.

It turned out that winter could be bright too.

Shaoxuan only installed one, and the rest were left for the others to do. Many volunteered this time. Those who were too lazy to get up earlier now wrapped themselves in blankets and came over.

He guided them to make another ice block and install it in a ventilation hole, then let them continue on their own. Each child wanted to try it themselves, so Shaoxuan decided to do it in groups of five. For higher places, they used a human pyramid to reach.

He told them to be careful not to break the ice blocks, as he didn't know how long the stone plates had been stored there, but they hadn't been used in recent years.

Seeing that everything was fine, Shaoxuan took the torch and returned to the stone room with the miscellaneous items. He searched and found four more stone plates, but only one was usable; the other three were broken.

He took the second stone plate out, made an ice block, and installed it in the ventilation hole of the stone room. This time, he could see the room clearly without the torch.

The children were busy making ice blocks, while Shaoxuan continued searching for other useful items.

As he searched, his arm brushed against the stone wall, and he noticed that dust was falling off.

Shaoxuan was puzzled; the stone walls in other parts of the cave didn't have this issue. He leaned down to examine it closely and found that the surface of the stone wall in this room was covered with a layer of something, like a coating of stone powder.

He had seen people in the tribe use a similar method to coat wood to prevent insect damage and decay, but why would such a method be used on the stone walls of a cave? Moreover, it looked like it had been there for a long time.

In the early years, it must have been well-coated, but now, a long time had passed since the tribe lived in the cave, and the layer of powder on the walls had become loose, starting to fall off in some places. He could easily wipe off a lot with his hand.

He took out a stone knife and scraped off more of the powder, then, using the light from the ice block, he saw some patterns carved on the wall where he had cleaned.

A woman was holding a jar with a wide mouth and a pointed bottom, decorated with patterns. Shaoxuan had never seen anyone in the tribe use such a jar; they always prioritized practicality over aesthetics.

Perhaps the people who lived on the mountain had such jars, Shaoxuan thought.

He wiped another area and saw that the wall was carved with images of a dozen warriors holding bows and chasing prey.

Shaoxuan remembered that Langga had told him that few people in the tribe used bows because they lacked the materials to make bows strong enough for the totem warriors. The bows they made were only used for setting traps and driving away prey, not for the totem warriors. But in the carvings on the wall, each warrior held a large bow!

Shaoxuan took his knife to scrape off more of the powder to see what else was hidden, but then he put the knife down and fetched water, using a piece of animal skin to carefully wipe the wall. He thought the carvings on the wall might tell him many interesting things.