With the end of the last hunting trip, the temperature gradually dropped.
Shao Xuan dragged his last prey of the year down from the top of the mountain.
The weather was getting colder. Winter would come in about thirty days. They put some food in the tribe's ice cave, and brought the rest down the mountain.
The other hunting team was ready to go out, so they had to hurry up. When they came back, winter would officially come.
Old Ke met his friends on the mountain, and Caesar stayed there to carry him down the mountain. As for Chacha, Shao Xuan saw it flying in the sky when he returned to the tribe. After the Sword Cleansing Ceremony, it was nowhere to be seen.
As soon as Shao Xuan entered the house, he saw an eagle lying on the stone table. The eagle's head was hanging on the edge of the table, motionless. Shao Xuan was so scared that he thought the eagle's head was broken. Fortunately, the eagle quickly turned over and jumped down from the stone table. When it flapped its wings, several wooden chairs around it were knocked over.
Even after growing up, Chacha still retained his childhood habits. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would lie on the stone table and throw everything on the table to the ground. Shao Xuan whipped him several times, but he still didn't change.
Looking at the eagle squeezing over, Shao Xuan cut a piece of meat and threw it over, "Go out and eat!"
Even though the house had been expanded, it could not bear the eagle flapping its wings in the house.
After Chacha left with the meat in its mouth, Shao Xuan planned to process the meat and marinate it. He looked at the stone jar in the kitchen and found it was full.
The kitchen was a room specially set aside by Shao Xuan. There was a simple stone stove in it, which was more convenient than a stone pot.
Shao Xuan remembered there was an empty stone jar in the corner, so he walked over to take a look. There was an old stone vat, which was brought here by Old Ke. It was quite old, and the mouth of the vat was cracked. It could not hold much water, so it was put here temporarily to store something else.
There was a wooden lid on top of the stone vat. It had not been touched for some time, so it was covered with a layer of dust.
Shao Xuan opened the wooden lid and looked inside. He saw a creature the size of a washbasin sitting quietly inside. There were many jagged thorns on its back. The water in the stone tank only slightly covered its back.
Seeing it, Shao Xuan remembered.
This turtle was caught in the fish fence during the high tide of the two moons. Shao Xuan asked Lang Ga to keep it for him to stew. Later, when Lang Ga brought it over, Shao Xuan directly threw it into the stone vat in Old Ke's house. Later on, due to hunting, building a house, moving, and a series of other things, it was put aside. Shao Xuan had almost forgotten about it, and Old Ke had not eaten it either. It had been put aside until now.
It was already the end of the year. Almost half a year had passed, but it had not starved to death!
Probably because it was starving, it did not have much energy. Shao Xuan poked it twice with a wooden stick, but it only moved a little.
Should I stew it today? Shao Xuan thought.
Just as he was thinking about whether to stew it today or a few days later, Old Ke came back with Caesar.
Seeing Old Ke come in, Shao Xuan asked, "Do you think we should eat it today or a few days later?"
"Oh? It's still here! "Old Ke said in surprise.
When Lang Ga sent the turtle over, he did not say that Shao Xuan wanted to kill it and eat it. In addition, Caesar and Chacha were in front of him, so Old Ke thought that Shao Xuan wanted to keep it for fun. After all, he already had two, so it would not be strange to have one more.
Therefore, after Old Ke put it in the stone vat, he only added some water to it from time to time, and threw some meat scraps into it when he was free. He thought that Shao Xuan would care about it, but he didn't know that Shao Xuan had already forgotten about it. Later, after the house was expanded and moved over, Old Ke asked about the turtle again. Only then did he know that Shao Xuan had no intention of keeping it. He only kept it as food, so he did not continue to feed it. There was a difference in treatment between food and pets.
In the past, Old Ke thought that pets were just spare food. Later, after spending a long time with Caesar and Chacha, he developed some feelings for them. Every day, Caesar would carry him everywhere, so naturally, he did not want to let Caesar starve. However, food was different. In the minds of the tribesmen, since it was food, why should they waste food to feed it?
He put it aside until now.
"Yes, this was caught when the river rose after the full moon. I asked Lang Ga to cook it for me, but I forgot about it when I got busy." Shao Xuan said.
"I haven't fed it for a long time, but it's still alive!" Old Ke sighed. After all, they did not lack food. They did not even finish the food in the previous stone vats, so they did not pay attention to the stone vat in the corner.
"This kind of creature can withstand hunger, has a long life, and does not die easily." Shao Xuan said as he threw a piece of freshly cut meat into the vat.
The originally listless turtle immediately bit the meat. When it bit the meat with its eagle beak, because it used too much force, it pecked the wall of the stone vat, making a 'dong' sound.
Shao Xuan looked at the inner wall of the stone vat and found that there were all kinds of scratches and bite marks. If it was not for the thickness of the stone vat, it would have been pecked through. Perhaps, most of the cracks on the stone vat were due to the turtle.
"Why don't we eat it today?" Shao Xuan turned to ask Old Ke, but found that Old Ke was staring at the turtle in the stone vat, thinking about something.
"Xuan." Old Ke stared at the turtle and said.
"What?"
"Didn't you say that you wanted to go to the mountain to learn from the shaman in winter?" Old Ke asked.
"That's my plan, and the shaman agreed." Shao Xuan said.
"You can offer it to the shaman." Old Ke raised his finger and pointed at the turtle in the stone vat that was active again after eating the meat.
"Offer it to the shaman?"
The shaman did not lack food, so why would he care about this?
But soon, Shao Xuan also reacted. Old Ke thought that the turtle had a good meaning. Just like what Shao Xuan said, "longevity" and "immortality."
Shao Xuan did not know what the turtle meant here, but in his previous life, many people did regard the turtle as a symbol of longevity and immortality. Moreover, this turtle really had a strong vitality. After leaving it here for so long, it was so hungry that it did not even have the strength to peck at the vat. Otherwise, such a stone vat would not be able to trap it.
Thinking about it, when he caught it, the Lang Ga tortured the prey trapped in the fish fence for a while. Later, when he brought it here, he starved it for a long time. For nearly half a year, it did not eat much, but it still stubbornly survived. This made Old Ke believe in the meaning of "longevity and immortality" that Shao Xuan said.
People in the tribe always thought that things with good meanings should be offered to people they respected. Old Ke was one of them. In addition, Shao Xuan wanted to learn from the shaman, which was a kind of honor in his eyes. It was natural to offer this turtle that symbolized longevity and immortality to the shaman.
Seeing that Old Ke was so insistent, Shao Xuan did not force him to eat it. After all, he was not short of food.
"Okay, next time I go up the mountain to find the shaman, I will bring it with me." Shao Xuan answered.
Hearing this, Old Ke smiled, "Before that, you have to take good care of it."
Old Ke thought that the things offered to the shaman must be in the best condition, or they would not be able to show their sincerity.
So, after ten days of good food and drinks, Shao Xuan held the turtle's back with both hands, and lifted it up the mountain with its belly facing out.
On the mountain.
The shaman was sitting in the stone house, writing something on a roll of animal skin with a brush made from animal hair. When he heard that Shao Xuan came to offer food, he was curious. After all, Shao Xuan's hunting team had returned to the tribe for so many days. What could they offer now?
Putting down the brush, the shaman raised his head and was about to say something, when he saw the turtle in Shao Xuan's hand.
The shaman's old face twitched, and he swallowed back the words he was about to say.
In the past, when other people in the tribe came to offer food, they would cut the meat and clean it up. However, when it came to Shao Xuan, he directly brought a turtle over. It was still alive. This turtle had a hooked beak, and there were bits of wood around its mouth.
Obviously, this turtle was very destructive. When it was brought in by Shao Xuan, it had a murderous look on its face, as if it wanted to bite everything it saw.
+++++
= = =
Sorry, this is the last chapter for tonight. I will update earlier tomorrow, and will continue to update on the weekend.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
