Just like how a poor man would continue to be excited after becoming rich overnight, the kids in the orphan cave had been in a state of extreme excitement these days.
The result of this excitement was fighting.
Outside of fishing hours, fights happened frequently in the orphan cave.
In the past, they were fighting for food, but now they were fighting for food. Sometimes, they would bring back their trophies. If anyone took the wrong fish, they would beat them without hesitation!
Now, it was no longer a one-on-one fight. After Shao Xuan instilled in them the idea that a small group was another form of a hunting group, these children now gathered in groups of five. Of course, they would fight against each other in groups, which was more intense than before.
Shao Xuan sat next to them and sighed. They deserved it!
After seeing a fight between two groups because of a kid who took the wrong fish, Shao Xuan looked at the mess in the orphan cave. He thought for a while, and then fixed his eyes on a smooth stone wall near the entrance of the cave.
A long time ago, when the people in the tribe lived here, they polished the stone wall and carved words on it. Later, when the kids lived here, they rarely added words on the stone wall. Even if the kids in the orphan cave were bored or had a sudden inspiration to draw, they would only draw on the wall close to the ground. If the wall was higher, there would only be traces left from many years ago.
Different times, different methods and depths of carving were also different. Some were painted with pigments made of plant pigments, while some were carved with stone knives. Many of the traces were blurred and discolored, and the original appearance could not be seen clearly. It would be a waste to just leave it there.
Shao Xuan called the kids who were too excited and energetic, and asked them to pick up stones and start polishing the wall.
There were some bigger stones in the depths of the cave, and they worked together to move them out. To polish the wall, they had to step on these stones, or they would not be tall enough.
Now that they had something to do, these kids became more well-behaved. Besides, it was Shao Xuan's order, so no one objected. Even if they were unwilling, they would still take the stones to polish the wall.
Because the walls had already been polished, he was only rubbing away the surface marks. When he felt that it was almost done, Shao Xuan took the charred tree branch and stepped on the rocks below. He wrote five groups from one to five on the wall. Who was the first group? Who were the five members of the second group? He explained everything clearly to them. To be safe, Shao Xuan even wrote down the names of the members of each group below the numbers of each group.
Every once in a while, the tribe would send people to the cave to teach the kids the most basic things, such as counting, some common words, and so on. Shao Xuan learned the words here, but the kids in the cave were not willing to listen before, so they learned very little. Every time someone came, only Shao Xuan would listen carefully for a while.
The kids in the cave all wore a stone card around their necks, and their names were written on the stone card. Even if they did not know how to write, and could not recognize many words, they could still recognize their own names.
After writing down the names, the groups were divided, and the fish they brought back had to be written down. Shao Xuan only wanted to write down a number to record how many fish each group caught, but the kids were not satisfied. Looking at the fish hanging above the cave, Shao Xuan used a charcoal stick to draw some simple strokes on the cave wall. It was an abstract fish. One stroke was enough for each fish, as long as they could tell it was a fish.
Finally, the kids were satisfied. They even asked the person in their group who was the best at counting to verify whether the number of fish drawn by Shao Xuan on the cave wall was the same as the number of fish they hung on the wall.
Each fish was just a stroke, and there were only dozens of fish here, so it did not take much effort. Anyway, they had nothing to do. Plus, the cave was big enough, and the wall was wide enough, so it was not a problem to draw a thousand fish.
The place where Shao Xuan drew the fish happened to have a high vent on the opposite wall. During the day, Yang Guang's light would shine into the cave wall, so the calligraphy and paintings on the wall could be seen clearly.
Therefore, every day when they were not fishing, the five children would sit together in the cave and weave straw ropes. After a while, they would look up at the wall of the cave and count the fish in their group. Then, they would count the fish hanging on their "territory". Because of this, the kids' counting ability improved rapidly.
In the past, they would rather use a stone stick than count, but now, they could count dozens of times a day without being urged.
"Xuan, is it twelve after ten?"
"It's eleven!"
"Oh … eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen … That's not right, Xuan, why are there only fourteen fish in our group? There are fifteen on the wall! There's one missing! Who stole our fish?!!! " As he spoke, the kid and the other four in his group held wooden sticks and stones, looking at the other kids in the cave with gloomy eyes.
Shao Xuan took a deep breath and pointed at the wall with the branch. "Don't you see that there's a thick stroke on the fish at the front? That means you've already eaten it. You ate it last night! Do you want to spit out the food in your stomach to make sure? I — can — help — you! "
"… Seems like it." The kid tilted his head and thought for a while. Then, he calmed down and threw away the stick. He sat down with the other four and continued to weave straw rope, as if nothing had happened.
"Xuan, I heard from Uncle Ge that tomorrow's weather will be good. Are we still going to the river tomorrow?" A kid asked expectantly.
The other kids also pricked up their ears and stared at Shao Xuan with bright eyes, as if their hearts would be broken if Shao Xuan said "no".
"Yes, as usual tomorrow." Shao Xuan walked out of the cave and looked at the sky.
Now more than twenty kids in the cave were moving together. They were greedy and wished they could fish by the river bank all day long. But they also knew that it was best to move together with others, and they had to do so. The first reason was that they couldn't get stone worms.
Shao Xuan had tried many kinds of worms that could be found in the tribe, but stone worms were the best for catching fish. Shao Xuan wouldn't give any stone worms to those who didn't listen to him.
You don't listen to him and still want stone worms? Fine, you can go and dig them yourself. Without Caesar, you might not be able to get one even if you dug for half a day. Those stone worms moved much faster than earthworms underground. If they couldn't catch them in time, they would have to go back empty-handed. These days, it was Caesar who helped them dig out stone worms.
The second reason why they had to move together was that they couldn't get the small black pieces that could float on the water. To get that, they had to catch a worm that lived in the Black Swamp. Unfortunately, except for Caesar, they couldn't get close to the Black Swamp.
Because of this, Caesar's status in the cave had improved a lot. At least now, the kids didn't look at Caesar as if they were looking at food anymore. Some smart kids even learned to please him. They had seen Caesar gnawing animal bones before, so they gave Caesar fish bones. Unfortunately, Caesar had no interest in fish bones at all.
Anyway, the relationship between these kids and Caesar had improved a lot. Shao Xuan didn't have to worry about when these kids would unite and roast Caesar.
The next day, Shao Xuan was woken up early by these kids. He ran to the gravel field to dig out stone worms. Every time Caesar dug out a worm, Shao Xuan would give one to each team leader.
A stone worm could be used two to three times. After digging it out, the worm would be cut in half. In a few minutes, the two halves would be able to move independently, turning from one worm into two. If given more time, they would be able to grow as long as they were before they were cut.
When everything was ready, Shao Xuan led them to the riverbank again.
The warriors guarding the riverbank had changed, but they soon became familiar with Shao Xuan. For the past two days, they had seen Shao Xuan take the kids from the cave to fish here. Every day, he would give them a fish. So they had a good impression of Shao Xuan. Even the kids from the cave had changed a lot.
Seeing the river, these kids couldn't hold back anymore. They rushed to throw the bait to catch the fish. But Shao Xuan suddenly stopped them.
"Back! Everyone back off! Don't touch the water! Don't throw the bait yet! "Shao Xuan grabbed the kid who was rushing in the front and threw him back. He frowned and looked at the river.
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