There were dye and sumac sap in the beast park. After all, the beast park belonged to the royal family. The things they used were much better than the commoners.
The box had a total of six sides. The bottom side was completely flat. The other five boards were facing upwards. Wood shavings were sprinkled on them. After pressing them down a few times, the wood shavings were swept away. This way, the holes in the box were basically filled with wood shavings.
Then, a black and blue dye made from an unknown fruit was mixed with the sumac sap. After that, the few boards turned dark blue.
After finishing, Ren Baqian put the boards aside. He looked at the sky and estimated that it was almost time to eat. He went to the kitchen to eat.
There was a big courtyard outside the kitchen. At this moment, there were more than ten tables.
This was the time when the entire beast park was the most crowded.
Regardless of gender, everyone was gathered here.
There were even naked children wrestling there. The adults were happily watching from a distance and didn't care.
Ren Baqian saw a six or seven year old child being thrown to the ground with a piece of skin on his knee. He didn't care at all. He stood up and started screaming. Each of them bared their fangs and brandished their claws like a crab.
Children who grew up in such an environment were used to it.
"Caretaker Ren, sit here." Someone stood up and shouted. Ren Baqian looked and saw Tie Dao.
Although he had stayed in the beast park for some time, he didn't have many opportunities to eat with the others. Including today, it was only the second time. Usually, he was busy with something or was in the palace. He would only go to the kitchen when it was dark.
Ren Baqian sat with Tie Dao and the others. He and his ten subordinates formed a table.
When the dishes were served, he took a look. There was roasted lamb leg, roasted lamb ribs, boiled beef, a pot of wild vegetable soup, and a plate of stir-fried eggs with vegetables.
When the dishes were served, everyone ignored Ren Baqian. In the blink of an eye, the plate of stir-fried eggs with vegetables was gone. Each of them had a bowl of wild vegetable soup and were eating the lamb ribs.
Ren Baqian blinked his eyes and was speechless. All he saw was a bunch of dirty hands sweeping past, and then there was nothing left.
In Dayao, meat was cheap and vegetables were expensive. Almost every meal was meat. Two dishes of vegetables were gone in the blink of an eye.
Furthermore, this group of people didn't have the habit of using chopsticks. Chopsticks came from Great Xia. Usually, only rich people and officials would use them.
Ren Baqian slurped the wild vegetable soup, nibbled on a piece of lamb chop, and ate some of the dry rations here.
This type of dry food was a type of coarse grain. It was coarse, a little harsh on the throat, and a little sour.
However, none of them despised it. There were also refined rice and noodles, but only the rich could afford them. It was already good enough that the people in the beast park could eat this. It was said that the people in the mountain stockade ate meat for every meal, and their supplementary food consisted of berries and wild vegetables.
On Earth, eating meat was considered good food, but here, it was the most basic diet.
If you were to trade a catty of wild vegetables for a few catties of meat, there would be plenty of people willing to trade with you.
Fortunately, Dayao still had another product, which was tea leaves. There were many wild tea trees on the mountain. As a result, the people of Dayao didn't have to fight over a brick of tea like the people of the grassland.
After finishing his meal, he returned to Tong Jia's place. Seeing that the dye on the wood was almost dry, he placed the panel upside down on the ground and used a hammer to knock on the back twice. When he picked it up again, most of the chips had fallen off, revealing holes in the wood.
Ren Baqian was delighted when he saw the first wooden plank. Although it hadn't met his requirements, the first step had already met his expectations.
Following which, he did the same for the other planks and placed them together. Ren Baqian was stunned.
The dark blue plank was filled with light-colored stars. The two Milky Way and the nebula were embellished on it. It really looked like the starry sky he saw last night.
Subconsciously, he looked up at the sky. At this moment, the sky had just turned dark, and there were only a few stars. They were sparse and looked like pockmarks scattered on the sky. It was far from the magnificent sight he saw last night.
He lowered his head and continued to look at the plank. The only problem was that the dye on the plank wasn't evenly applied. However, this was a small problem, and it would be fine after two more brushes. Thinking of this, Ren Baqian picked up the seasoning beside him and brushed another layer on the plank. This time, he didn't have to worry about the seasoning getting into the holes. He just needed to take a look and make sure that there was no problem.
"Caretaker Ren, is this okay?" Tong Jia came to Ren Baqian's side and asked.
Ren Baqian searched his chest pocket. He originally wanted to find a piece of silver as this craftsmanship deserved a reward. He couldn't just let the horse work and not feed it.
However, he didn't have anything on him. Usually, when he didn't go out, he was too lazy to carry silver in his chest pocket.
"Beautifully done." Ren Baqian gave a thumbs up.
"Leave it here first, I will come back tomorrow." Ren Baqian patted Tong Jia's shoulder, which was half a head taller and half a head thicker than him.
"Alright! Do I need to put it on? "
"No need, this will do. Wait for the color to dry and put it in the house. Take it out tomorrow morning and brush it again. "After Ren Baqian finished speaking, he strolled back with his hands behind his back.
Tiantian was sprawled out and sleeping outside the door. Gungun's butt was on the stone slab that was more than ten centimeters high. Its head was on the ground, and it was lying upside down.
Ren Baqian walked closer and could even hear light snoring sounds. The two little guys' bellies rose and fell, so he touched them. The two little guys grunted in dissatisfaction and turned over to continue sleeping.
The next morning, he put a few ingots of silver into his chest pocket and pulled Tie Dao and Teng Hulu out with a few planks.
He was going to melt the silver and drip it into the holes on the planks that were arranged according to the position of the starry sky.
The dark blue background was dotted with silver stars. It must be extremely beautiful.
When they reached Tong Jia, Ren Baqian took out a piece of silver that was worth about one tael and handed it to him.
"Take it, this is for you."
"How can I ask for money to work for Caretaker Ren? I have a monthly salary. "Tong Jia waved his hands.
"This is for you, don't talk nonsense." Ren Baqian immediately threw the piece of silver to him in a parabola. Tong Jia hurriedly caught it.
"Thank you, Caretaker Ren." Tong Jia held the silver and smiled. This piece of silver was equivalent to his monthly salary for more than half a month.
"Okay!" Ren Baqian nodded his head and looked at the planks carefully. The dye on them had just dried and after three rounds of coloring, they looked much more beautiful. Although some parts were deep and some were shallow due to the different grain of the wood, it already looked rather beautiful.
He shouted for Tie Dao and Teng Hulu, who were behind him, to carry two or three planks each and follow behind him.
Halfway through, Ren Baqian took out the few pieces of silver from his chest pocket and stuffed them into his waist pocket. Silver was really heavy when one carried too much of it. It was really uncomfortable to keep it in one's chest pocket.
When they arrived at Baishi District, it was still the blacksmith shop from before.
"Shopkeeper, melt this piece of silver and pour it into the holes on the planks. You must make it flat," Ren Baqian shouted as he took out a piece of silver and tossed it in his hand.
The shopkeeper came over and looked at it carefully. Then, he looked at the piece of silver in Ren Baqian's hand and said concisely, "It's not enough, you need another piece."
Ren Baqian threw another piece over and the shopkeeper nodded his head, "Alright, come back in four hours to collect it."
…
Ren Baqian led the two of them to Jingyang Road to check on the shop. In the end, not long after they turned into Jingyang Road, they heard the angry voice of a woman coming from a shop by the roadside.
"We spent a lot of effort to make this piece of skin. This is the white skin of a sharp-toothed tiger, and there are no scars at all. Yet, it can only be exchanged for half a bucket of salt?"
When Ren Baqian heard this voice, he immediately turned around and saw two familiar figures in the shop. One of them was the woman named Na Gu and the other should be her brother.
He did not expect to see the two of them again after only a few days.
They were holding a roll of skin in their hands. Among the rolls of skin, one of the white skin was opened and displayed by the two of them.
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