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Chapter 6 Death and the Stars

Low-end ingredients often don't need to be cooked, just cooked.

Roasted bamboo rats, roasted hares, roasted birds, grilled fish, grilled winter bamboo shoots... everything can be roasted.Grandma tore off two hind legs of the rabbit and distributed them to Zhang Tian and Xiao as a reward for their performance today.

Zhang Tian was about to faint from hunger, and after a few mouthfuls, he devoured everything. As for the taste, in this age of relying on raw meat to drink blood to replenish salt, what kind of taste do you want? Protein and fat are enough.

But there is one thing to say, the tiger tongue is very precise in controlling the heat. This rabbit leg is roasted tender but not raw, cooked but not old, just right, and you can know it is a master chef when you eat it.

Zhang Tian got another piece of fish, half a bird and half a winter bamboo shoot. The fish meat was a bit old, obviously because he didn't grill fish often. Hutong tasted it himself, and he was not very satisfied, so he silently summed up his experience and lessons.

"belch……"

After a long-lost meal, there are still some winter bamboo shoots and plant roots left, and I will save my stomach for tomorrow morning.

Rat skins, rabbit skins and even bird skins are completely peeled off by tiger claws. Animal skins are more precious resources than stone tools and bone tools, especially in the cold winter.The deerskin dress on Zhang Tian is mainly made of deerskin, and then made of mouse skin, rabbit skin and other leftover materials.

In addition to sewing clothes, hides can also be used to make bags.

The water bags in the tribe are all made of animal skins, mostly taken from animals such as otters and beavers. They are suitable in size, and the fur is waterproof. Cut the throat and clean out the internal organs, meat and bones, and the remaining skin bags It is a natural water bag, the head is usually not cut off, and it is connected to the body by the skin of the nape of the neck, acting as the cover of the water bag.

Every time Zhang Tian glimpsed the row of animal head bags leaning against the base of the cave wall, Zhang Tian felt terrified.

After sitting in the cave for a long time, the smoke caused headaches. The short lifespan of these primitive people is also one of the reasons for inhaling too much carbon monoxide produced by incomplete combustion.

He went outside the cave to take a few breaths of fresh air, and looked up at the sky by the way—the routine is necessary, and the sudden refusal to do what he used to do every day today would be suspicious.

The distant mountains shrouded in the night are like ink, and the starlight outlines the winding outlines. The cold mountains are silent, and even the insects are silent. Zhang Tian wanted to express his feelings about how beautiful the moonlight is, but the words turned into: " So fucking boring!"

The day after leaving the web, think about it.

"sky!"

Xiao Xiao asked Zhang Tianfa for help off the court.

After eating and drinking enough, the men asked about fishing and wanted to join in, but they didn't know how to make a fishing rod, so Xiao naturally didn't know what to ask.

In fact, there is nothing difficult, it's just that the bamboo branches are cut off, and then put on a rope. If the fishing rod is brought back, Zhang Tian doesn't even need to explain.

The grinding of fishhooks requires a bit of skill and more patience, especially the barbs. If there is no file, it may take several days to grind.

When everyone learned how to make it, they were all amazed that a single piece of bamboo could catch fish continuously. If they had known this, why would they hunt? There are a lot of bamboos in this mountain, and everyone has one, so they all become fishing masters!

Grandma asked, "God, how do you know this?"

These words woke everyone up, yes, how does a child who has not yet grown hair know something that even grandma doesn’t know?
Doubtful eyes focused on Zhang Tian.

Zhang Tian has been waiting for his mother to ask this question, and his answer will determine the future of the tribe, whether to stay in this cave and wait for death, or to risk everyone's life to fight for death.

He thought about it quietly, looked up at the kind elder across the bonfire, and said seriously: "Grandma, before answering this question, can you tell the story about the stars again?"

"Okay, then tonight I will tell you the story of the stars again."

Grandma recalled the past, and her tone became distant.

"A long, long time ago, when I was young and just learned to speak. There is a saying that I have to say to you every day—"

"I know!" Bai Qiang, who also just learned to speak, said, "Be sure to come back before dark."

Grandma smiled, nodded and said: "Yes, you must come back before dark, only the cave is safe. But I didn't understand at that time. One night, I ran out of the cave chasing a firefly. cave, and ran into the forest.”

Except for Bai and a few other children, everyone else has heard this story, but no matter how many times they hear it, every time it is told here, everyone's hearts are agitated, and Bai hides in his mother's arms anxiously. Hold on to Mommy's fingers.

"I chased and chased, and finally caught the firefly, but I also lost my way home. It was very dark and cold in the forest. I was very scared, so I sat on the ground and cried loudly. The firefly came from my fingers. It flew away between the cracks, but two dark green lights lit up in front of me."

"It's the eyes of a wolf!"

Everyone held their breath together, Bai was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he hugged his mother's leg, but she soon lost her fear and said loudly: "Grandma is still alive now, she must be fine at that time!"

"Yeah, I'm all right, because my mother saved me. She beat the wolf away for me. But she was hurt too, and it got worse every day, and she got weaker every day."

"The day she left, I kept holding her and crying, begging her not to die, she smiled and touched my head, told me that she would not die, she would become a star in the sky, and would always look at me in the sky , guard me."

Everyone empathized fiercely, with tears in their eyes, no one jumped out of the cracks in the rocks, the relationship between mother and child in this era is so close, it is really a piece of flesh falling from the body, it is another self.

The women were especially engrossed. Some of them were already mothers, and some were about to become mothers. They were all sad and moved.

"Look at—"

Grandma raised her hand and pointed to the sky outside the cave.

"The star closest to the moon is my mother. Everyone who leaves us will become a star. All the stars in the sky were changed by our ancestors. As long as we look up, we can see them."

Everyone looked up at the sky, at the stars twinkling in the sky that seemed to be blinking at them, feeling restless for a long time.

Grandma's mother was probably the first person in the world to associate death with the stars. Perhaps it was out of love and reluctance for her daughter that she broadened the boundaries of her imagination at the last moment of her life, blurting out Such romantic and touching words.

"My story is over. God, it's time to tell yours."

Grandma brought the topic back on track, and everyone's attention returned to Zhang Tian.

Zhang Tian brewed his emotions for a while, and then shared the story he just made up in a sad tone:

"I didn't meet my mother, she became a star the day I was born."

"So I often look up at the sky. I know she has been watching me and guarding me. I also want to see her more and be with her."

"Just yesterday, I heard a soft voice and I thought, it must be my mum. She taught me how to make rods and hooks and said that you can fish this way."

"She also said that we should pray more to the sky, our ancestors will guide us, the sky will guide us."

(End of this chapter)