Then he piled the clay and poured some water into the middle from a bamboo tube. He kept stepping on the clay with his feet. After stepping on it, the clay would be much more malleable and tougher.
After the clay was stepped on evenly, he began to build the kiln.
The process of building the kiln was simple. First, he built a U-shaped mud wall. It was about half a meter tall. Then he mounted dense wooden sticks on the mud wall and sealed the top with clay.
He left a gap at the end of the U-shaped mud wall and built a cylindrical vent. The end of the vent was about twice as high as the main body of the kiln.
The finished kiln had a rectangular shelf that looked roughly like an 'L' shape.
Finally, because the kiln's hearth was relatively long, it was very inconvenient to place the unfired earthenware and take the finished pottery. A semicircular gap had to be cut on the side of the earthen kiln.
This gap would be filled again after unfired earthenware was placed in the kiln. It would be sealed with mud and opened after the pottery was fired.
When the kiln was completed, the sun was almost setting. Jiang Xuan washed his hands and looked at the horizontal kiln he had built. He felt that it was fine and returned to the bamboo house in satisfaction.
Chi Shao, Hook Vine, Stone Loach, and South Star had already returned. They caught more fish and a few bamboo partridges today, and dug up a lot of edible taro, Solomon's seal, and sweet potatoes.
For the next seven days, Jiang Xuan, Chi Shao, and the others went hunting, fishing, and digging for tuber plants every day to store food for the winter.
During this period, they caught some larger prey occasionally. The meat of these prey could be eaten or hung above the fire pit to be smoked. The fur would be peeled off and propped open to dry. It was used to make warm animal skin clothes and animal skin mattresses.
Seven days later, the kiln was almost dry after being exposed to the wind and sun.
Jiang Xuan immediately started to make pottery!
He carried half of the pottery to the side of the kiln. From the side opening, he buckled the pottery upside down and placed them, one by one, into the furnace of the kiln. Then he blocked the gap in the side of the kiln and sealed it with mud.
He found a large number of dried bamboos and firewood and piled them beside the kiln. He took fireseeds from the fire pit in the bamboo house and started to burn them.
"Pi pa pi pa…"
Inside the kiln, the flames quickly ignited. The fire was very strong.
"Huhuhu…"
The fire tail of the cylindrical vent rose and fell as if there was a blower below.
All that remained to do was to wait patiently.
Jiang Xuan stayed here to guard the fire. Chi Shao and the others came over from time to time to take a look curiously.
He guarded it all day till the sky darkened. It was midnight when he stopped firing and went back to sleep.
The temperature inside the kiln was still very high. It would take all night for it to cool down.
That night, Jiang Xuan had a beautiful dream. He dreamed that he had established a large tribe. That large tribe was rich in resources and had a population of more than 100,000 people who lived a happy life…
The next morning, Jiang Xuan couldn't wait to go to the kiln. He touched it. The furnace wall was still warm.
"Let's open the kiln!"
Jiang Xuan rubbed his hands excitedly. Chi Shao and the others ran over and waited for Jiang Xuan to start.
Jiang Xuan used a sharp wooden stick to reopen the gap on the side of the kiln. Pieces of pottery that had been burned red were revealed.
The first thing he took out was a heavy cauldron. It had no cracks, and even the lid was intact. The firing had been successful.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Jiang Xuan knocked on the side of the clay pot with a wooden stick, which produced crisp sounds.
"It fired very well. We can use this cauldron to make soup in the future!"
Jiang Xuan laughed loudly. His greatest goal in making pottery was to make soup. Now he had achieved this goal.
"Let me have a look."
Chi Shao took the clay pot from Jiang Xuan. It was very heavy. Although it was not especially round, it was real pottery!
"Xuan, you're amazing! You did it in one go!"
Chi Shao carefully placed the cauldron on the ground and gave Jiang Xuan her heartfelt praises.
Hook Vine, Stone Loach, and South Star also looked at Jiang Xuan in admiration.
Jiang Xuan took out a basin and five bowls from the furnace.
The basin was also very successful. On the other hand, two of the five pottery bowls were cracked. Only three were intact.
Jiang Xuan handed the three pottery bowls to the three youths and said, "The cauldron is used to cook soup, and the basin is used to store vegetables. Each of you will have one pottery bowl. These three are for you."
"Really?"
"Xuan, you're the best!"
"Great, we have pottery bowls!"
The three youths hugged their bowls excitedly. They were so excited that they couldn't speak. They wished they could kiss Jiang Xuan.
Based on this experience, Jiang Xuan guessed that the heavier the pottery, the easier it would be to make because it would not crack easily.
On the other hand, pottery bowls, which were thinner, cracked easily. Therefore, only three of the five bowls were successfully burned.
The success of the first batch of pottery gave Jiang Xuan a lot of confidence. He took the other half of the pottery from the bamboo house and placed them in the kiln. After sealing it, he lit the fire again.
This time it went more smoothly. A day later, he had another cauldron, a basin, and four bowls. Only one of the pottery bowls was cracked.
Finally, with the pottery, Jiang Xuan did not have to eat barbecued food every day.
He made a pot of fish soup in the new cauldron. When he drank the steaming fish soup, he was almost moved to tears. He felt happy.
He had never thought that a mouthful of hot soup could make one feel happy.
After burning the pottery, Jiang Xuan spent a few more days building two small bamboo sheds. One was built on the left of the bamboo house near the stream for bathing.
The other shed was built a little farther away, on the right side of the bamboo house. He dug a pit inside and set up bamboo rows to make a dry toilet.
Bathing and going to the toilet were all very personal matters. Jiang Xuan's soul from the modern world made him unable to be as unrestrained as Hook Vine and the others.
Chi Shao was the first to take to the bathroom and toilet. She liked the separate spaces.
The three youths did not dislike them either. After interacting with Jiang Xuan for a period of time, they had already developed admiration for him.
As long as it was something built by Jiang Xuan, they instinctively thought that it was good and were willing to try using it.
They even began to slowly accept the chopsticks. This was because they had to use the chopsticks to pick up hot food into their beloved pottery bowl.
Jiang Xuan used his own efforts to constantly improve his life in this world and influence the people around him.
…
Busy days always passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, autumn left and winter descended. Snowflakes floated in the sky.
In the autumn, they caught a lot of prey. Some of the thicker prey's furs were peeled off. After drying them and scraping off the fat, they could be made into animal skin clothes to resist the cold.
At Jiang Xuan's suggestion, they added a large amount of plant ash into water. Then they soaked the dried animal skins for three days and three nights.
When the hides were washed and dried, they were pleasantly surprised to find that hides that had been soaked in plant ash were much softer than all the hide clothes they had worn before.
This discovery made them very happy. They even took the old animal skin clothes they were wearing and soaked them again. If the animal skin clothes were too hard, they would not be wind-resistant and hence, not warm enough.
This winter, they had a house, a fire pit, food, and soft animal skin clothes to wear. They could even drink steaming meat soup.
This was much better than when they were in the Deer Tribe.
As the snow fell harder, the land quickly turned white. Most of the animals hid in their caves and endured until winter passed.
After the snow came, Jiang Xuan and the others spent most of their time in the bamboo house. Because it was so cold outside, they prepared enough food and firewood. There was no need to go out and suffer.