At dusk, the rain gradually became lighter, but it continued to rain all night, and it didn't clear up until early morning. .:. Tu Zhen went to the forest to catch a pheasant, plucked the feathers, disemboweled it, washed it, and roasted it for Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji wolfed down the food, dug a hole to bury the bones and brains as usual, and continued his previous work.
He cut a bunch of tree poles and inserted them in a circle around the earthen house, spaced a few feet apart. He also folded many flexible branches, bending them back and forth like weaving mats, building them up one layer at a time, even though the wind and light leaked out. It leaked, and it finally looked like a wall. Tu Zhen watched with great interest. Zhou Ji's every move gave her great surprises. She didn't feel bored at all, and even her daily practice was temporarily forgotten.
Zhou Ji spent several days weaving the four walls, and dug out a large pile of mud beside the mountain stream, mixed it with water, and smeared it on the tree wall, applying a thick layer, under the sun. A mud house that has been dried in the sun and protected from wind and rain has come to an end.
During the working days, the two reached a certain tacit understanding. Tu Zhen hunted some prey morning and night, cooked them and left them for him to satisfy his hunger. Other than that, he just watched quietly not far away, watching his Every move. Zhou Ji never took the initiative to approach her. If he had something to eat, he would be full, and if there was nothing to eat, he would be hungry. He just immersed himself in doing his own thing, twisting ropes, weaving baskets, and weaving mats. Everything was nothing more than branches, bark, and hands. Busy, methodical and silent.
On this day, the weather was fine. He found dry and white grass stems from the forest, tore them up and put them under the wood chips. He spread his legs and sat down. He first scraped them back and forth with a sharpened hardwood pole, and then used Rubbing his palms together quickly, he would lower his head and blow a few careful breaths from time to time. After working on it for more than half an hour, he was so tired that his back ached and he lay crookedly on the ground. His ten fingers were shaking like an epilepsy.
Tu Zhen finally understood that he was drilling wood to make fire.
Making fire is a technical job. Zhou Ji spent most of the day working on it, thinking he had mastered it, but he rubbed it until his palms were red and swollen, but there was no fire. He thought for a while, then got up and made a drill bow with the bark of a tree branch. He pressed the wooden pole and pulled it back and forth. After a while, a charred hole was drilled into the wood piece, and white smoke rose up in wisps. He blew gently, Small flames sprouted from the grass stems, appearing and disappearing. He hurriedly piled up the branches in a staggered manner, puffed out his cheeks and blew hard, and with great effort, he finally lit a bonfire.
With fire, everything is easier.
Zhou Ji was very interested. He picked up the basket and looked around. Unknowingly, he climbed over a hill and found a termite nest on a sunny slope. It was as high as a person and looked like a hill from a distance. He smashed down the ant nest soil with rocks, was greedy, filled a basket full, and carried it on his back with difficulty. He staggered back, walking slower and slower. It was midnight when we returned to the Tsuchiya.
He drank some water, collapsed in the earthen house like a dead pig, and fell into a deep sleep.
Tu Zhen was puzzled. What on earth did he want to do when he spent so much effort and was returned with baskets of clods?
This trip was very tiring. Zhou Ji slept until three o'clock in the morning before getting up. He ate something to fill his stomach. His whole body was sore and he couldn't exert any strength. He sat by the mountain stream for a while, found a slightly flat stone, smashed the ant nest soil, picked up the stone, poured water on it, mixed it evenly, kneaded it and beat it, and kneaded it into a soft and hard piece. Moderate amount of clay. He first pressed a round cake as the base, then rolled out long strips of mud and built them up in circles around the round bottom. He smoothed them evenly with his hands from time to time to make a crude clay pot with fingerprints all over the inside and outside. .
Zhou Ji raised the pot on three stones and built a circle of wet mud around it, like an open stove. He dug a few holes in the bottom and stuffed them with dyed branches. He endured the smoke and fire and added hard firewood from time to time. , and when the clay pot became red and hot, it burned for most of the day. During this period, he had nothing to do. While watching the fire, he wove a few fish baskets out of palm leaf stems. After the fire was removed, he placed the fish baskets in the rapids of the mountain stream and waited. He swung his arms and beat his waist, and returned to the place with one step. Rest in the earthen hut.
After a night, the pottery pot was cold enough. I washed it clean in the mountain stream and inspected it carefully. There was no leakage. I caught a few small palm-long fish in the fish basket, scraped off the fish scales, cleaned the intestines and gills, threw them into a clay pot, sprinkled a handful of lotus seeds, and cooked a pot of hot fish soup. The aroma hit his nostrils, and Zhou Ji let out a long sigh of relief. A smile appeared on his round face. He waved to Tu Zhen, pointed to the fish soup and said, "Try it?"
Tu Zhen squatted beside him, stretched out his hand and then retracted it, seeming a little troubled. Zhou Ji laughed, took the pot off the fire, and handed it to her. Tu Zhen took the hot pot, blew in the hot air, and took a few sips on the edge of the pot. It was bland and had a fishy smell. , it’s really not delicious.
Zhou Ji asked: "How is it?"
Tu Zhen hesitated for a moment and said, "It's very hot."
Zhou Ji took the clay pot from her hand, tasted it, and said regretfully: "It would be better if there was salt, and it would be better if I added some pepper."
The two of them were close at hand, and Tu Zhen felt a little sad when he looked at his shabby face, his dirty robes, and the smell of rancidity. She tilted her head and looked at him for a long time, then said softly: "Why do you have to live so hard? Why don't you use magic powers? Why don't you concentrate on practicing?"
Zhou Ji said calmly: "That's satisfactory."
Tu Zhen was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to say. It wasn't that she couldn't, but she didn't want to. Despite the weak water, I only took one scoop to drink. This scoop was used to drink water, eat, sleep, cut down trees, and build a house. , twisting ropes, weaving baskets, weaving mats, making fire, making pottery, and cooking soup, that's all she saw these days.
"As for cultivation, does this kind of thing need to be done deliberately? Eating is cultivation, sleeping is cultivation, working is cultivation, and you are practicing all the time."
"Master asked me to follow you, why... you didn't even look at me?"
Zhou Ji laughed and said leisurely: "If I met you in the previous life, I wouldn't even ask you to taste this can of fish soup."
"Why?"
"Look at you, then look at me...because I'm afraid of losing, I refuse to get close."
Tu Zhen blinked in confusion, as if he understood something, but also seemed not to understand anything.
"Thank you for taking care of me. From now on, let me take care of myself. I have long been accustomed to living alone. Even if I leave the city and go to the wilderness, with my hands empty and nothing, I can still be calm. Just live and be happy."
Zhou Ji paused, put the pottery pot to his mouth, drank most of it, picked up the small fish and ate it, smiled at Tu Zhen, with surimi embedded in his teeth, and his eyes narrowed into slits. It was the first time that Tu Zhen saw him smiling so brightly and feeling so relieved.
Tu Zhen stood up and stepped back step by step, leaving Zhou Ji where he was, watching him wash the pots and start kneading the clay again, humming a little tune in his mouth, which was vague and could not be heard clearly. She felt a little lost.
An inexplicable throbbing came from the bottom of his heart, and Tu Zhen felt lost. Almost at the same time, Zhou Ji stopped his hands and looked up at the other side of the mountain forest, looking across thousands of mountains and rivers to the distant shore. At this moment, they both felt that Wei Shiqi had left the Bilian small world, left the Wugou'dong', left Huangting Mountain, and embarked on another unknown journey.
He might come back tomorrow, or he might never come back.
