April 20, clear day.
"Woof, woof, woof…"
The sun gradually became hotter, and the cicadas in the trees began to chirp endlessly. Although the weather was not yet at its hottest, walking in the sun made one sweaty.
On the ancient vine of the stone mountain, the huge dragonfly had stopped to rest under the huge leaves of the ancient vines. Only in the morning and evening would it catch all kinds of big insects to eat.
Yesterday, the Vine Tribe had hunted two big prey and obtained enough meat to eat for several days. Therefore, in such hot weather, they could stay in the tribe to rest and not go out to hunt.
It was rare for the five of them to have some free time to do something they liked.
Jiang Xuan planned to make another stone knife. He was following the stream upstream to find suitable stone materials when he found South Star sitting on a stone by the stream, busy with something.
"South Star, what are you doing here?" Jiang Xuan asked curiously.
South Star looked up and raised the thing in his hand to show Jiang Xuan. "Chief, I want to make a bone whistle."
Bone Whistle?
Jiang Xuan walked over and found that South Star was holding a hollow bird's leg bone in his left hand and a sharp stone in his right hand. There was a small hole at one end of the leg bone.
Jiang Xuan knew that primitive bone whistles were usually made from hollow birds' leg bones. Some had single holes, some had double holes, and some had three holes. The more holes there were, the more pitches they could produce.
"How many holes do you want to drill?" Jiang Xuan asked.
"Three holes. I think that's what the people in the tribe did. They could make deer cries with their bone whistles."
Making the sound of a deer cry with a bone whistle was the ultimate skill of the Deer Tribe. They could use a simple bone whistle to produce the sound of a deer to perfection. They could even attract a real deer.
"Keep drilling. When you're done, blow on it for me."
"Sure thing."
South Star continued to drill. Although the bird's leg bone was hollow, it was relatively hard. It was not easy to drill a suitable hole through it. It required a lot of time and patience.
Jiang Xuan continued to follow the stream to find suitable stone materials. The closer he got to the stone mountain, the more stones there were in the stream, making it easier to find suitable stone materials.
Jiang Xuan searched for a long time and finally found a stone material suitable for making stone knives in the stream. This stone material was very hard, and the edges were very sharp after it was broken. However, it was also relatively brittle. Therefore, it was only suitable for making short stone knives.
To make a stone knife that was hard and sturdy enough, one had to find a gem-level stone. Gem-level stones were relatively rare.
Therefore, a good stone knife was very rare and was often regarded as a treasure by the tribe.
"Ding ding ding…"
Jiang Xuan used another stone to follow the patterns of the stone and hit the stone material that he wanted to make the stone knife with. After doing this kind of work many times, he was already familiar with it.
As he continued to knock, the stone cracked along the texture and turned into several stone pieces of different sizes.
Jiang Xuan chose the most suitable piece and carefully continued to knock it into the shape of a knife. This process required him to be very careful. If he was not careful, the knife might break.
Fortunately, Jiang Xuan's hand was very steady and his luck was good. He successfully shaped the stone into a 20-centimeter-long knife.
Then he found a stone by the stream and carefully sharpened the knife to a more suitable shape.
After everything was done, a few hours had passed. Jiang Xuan brought the knife and went back the way he came. After he returned, he used a beast horn to add a handle to the knife and sharpened its blade.
This was a job that required a lot of patience. Every tool of the tribesmen took a lot of time to make. People without patience could not make good tools.
When Jiang Xuan was halfway home, he realized that South Star was still there. He leaned over and saw that South Star's bone whistle had been basically completed.
"Look, chief, my bone whistle is done!"
South Star happily held the bone whistle for Jiang Xuan to see, like a child showing off a new toy, with a bright smile on his face.
This bone whistle was made from the middle leg bone of the big bird. It was about fifteen centimeters long. There was a round hole on the left and right sides, and a hole in the middle.
Jiang Xuan watched for a while and found it rather interesting. "Blow the whistle for me."
"Good!"
South Star picked up the bone whistle with both hands. He placed his mouth on the middle hole and blew into it. His two index fingers pressed against the other two holes. As his index fingers pressed down and let go, a primitive bone whistle sounded.
Although it could only produce a few simple pitches, the sound was very long and penetrating. It sounded like a deer or a bird. It was difficult to forget.
Of course, South Star was still not very proficient at blowing the whistle. He still needed a lot of practice to attract the deer with it.
Jiang Xuan had an encouraging smile on his face as he said, "South Star, you're good. Sooner or later, you'll be like the Deer Tribe's hunting team. You can attract the deer with your whistle!"
Jiang Xuan's encouragement boosted South Star's confidence. He held the bone whistle and said confidently, "Chief, I will definitely do it!"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "I believe you!"
"Yes!"
South Star nodded heavily and followed Jiang Xuan to the bamboo house.
Before he knew it, it was afternoon.
Although they did not need to go out to hunt, as the weather gradually became hot and plants grew rapidly, more and more wild beasts came to steal the crops near the farmland. It was simply impossible to catch them all.
In order to prevent the crops from being eaten up, Jiang Xuan and the others had to set up a large number of traps near the farmland every afternoon. In the morning, they would often find a lot of trapped prey.
In the evening, after Jiang Xuan, Chi Shao, and the others set up a large number of traps, he looked at the incomplete crops at the edge of the farmland and said helplessly, "The good food is almost becoming bait for hunting."
Chi Shao said, "I think this is not bad. We can add a lot of food to the tribe every day."
Jiang Xuan thought about it and realized that it made sense. In any case, the purpose of planting crops was to increase the amount of food. Now that the crops were not mature yet, it was considered a success to bring so much meat to the tribe.
Moreover, most of the crops they planted now were tubers or roots. Even if the parts of the crops above the ground level were eaten, these crops would still grow. It was just that the yield would be lower.
After figuring this out, Jiang Xuan felt much better. When he looked at the paths that were trodden by wild beasts, his gaze became much gentler.
In any case, the wasteland had just been opened up. In a year or two, the yield of crops would not be high. The wild beasts could come if they wanted to. When the wasteland was cultivated into mature land, the wild beasts nearby should have been eaten by the Vine Tribe.
"Let's go back."
After setting up the last trap, Jiang Xuan led everyone back to the bamboo house happily. He was estimating how many prey these traps would catch tomorrow.
The sun was slowly setting.
The afterglow of the setting sun formed a fiery cloud that painted half the sky red. The ancient stone mountain vine was enveloped in an orange-red glow. Even the giant dragonfly on the ancient vine looked more mysterious.
Smoke rose from the chimneys in the bamboo houses. The vagabonds who had worked hard all day had also returned home. The sun set in the west and the moon rose in the east. All kinds of birds, beasts, and insects in the forest gradually became active…