Chapter Bonanza (4/5)

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Lin Qiu watched as Lang Mo and Lang Xi returned, looking like a complete mess. He was cradling the fast-asleep Lang Xue in one arm, while his other hand rested on her stomach.

Lang Mo: “Lang Guo, is there any more?”

Lang Guo crouched by the stream, washing the clay cooking pot with a look of disgust. “I’ve licked the pot clean.”

“Awoo! Wuu!” Lang Mo knelt down, threw himself face-first onto the ground, and let out a mournful howl.

“Awoo!” The wolf-beastman fishing by the river tilted his head back and howled in response.

Lin Qiu: “……”

The cub in his arms let out a soft snort and burrowed its head under his arm. Lin Qiu quickly covered the cub’s forehead with his hand to shield its ears, and only then did it settle back into a peaceful sleep.

By the stream, Lang Guo grabbed a clump of mud and hurled it straight at Lang Mo’s forehead.

With a slap, the two wolves dodged, and the mud splattered on the ground. Lin Qiu got caught in the crossfire, his legs covered in mud.

Lang Guo looked fierce, so the beastman shrank his neck, afraid to provoke him further.

That evening, the beastmen returned with their hunt.

The cubs were sent back to the cave early. Lin Qiu sat by the fire, took a slab of stone, and used a charred stick to draw a cross-section of a pit kiln on it.

Given the current conditions, building a pit kiln that follows the contours of the mountain and is dug directly into the ground would yield a high success rate for pottery firing and would be relatively easy to operate.

Lang Mo and Lang Xi sat to the side, their eyes glazed over. Lang Shi lay on the ground, snoring so loudly it shook the earth.

Lin Qiu sighed.

He’s not cut out for studying.

Turning his head, he met the gaze of Lang Yan, who had just returned. Lin Qiu poked the few beastmen beside him with the stick.

“Time to go arrange the meat.”

“Meat!” The three wolf-beastmen perked up. Still half-asleep, they scrambled to their feet and ran toward the game.

They ran all crooked, like they were eating rice, full of enthusiasm.

Lang Yan came over.

Lin Qiu sat there, a stick in one hand, his chin resting on his palm, lazily watching the approaching black wolf beastman.

So handsome.

Broad shoulders, narrow waist, thick eyebrows, deep-set eyes—his gaze was full of aggression, utterly wild.

He never knew how to appreciate him before.

Lang Yan: “Running into trouble?”

His brow was knotted tight.

Lin Qiu tapped the slate with his stick, listlessly. “I’m planning to make a clay cooking pot, but Mo and the others are too slow—they just don’t get it.”

Lang Yan took the slate, tapped it a few times, then nodded.

“I’ll explain it to them.”

“You know how?”

“Yeah.” Lang Yan wasn’t surprised that Lin Qiu knew how to fire pottery; in fact, he’d studied it before. Firing pottery simply involved shaping clay and then hardening it through heat.

He’d tried it on his own—he could form the pieces, but they’d crack.

There was a technique to it, one that the Qiu Shan Clan kept hidden, so naturally, they wouldn’t let other clans’ beastmen know.

But Qiu wasn’t one to joke around; since he said he could do it, Lang Yan naturally believed him.

Lin Qiu: “So you’re giving your permission too?” 

Lang Yan gazed into the sub-beastman’s clear eyes.

Then he tilted his long, delicate neck back, looking almost playful.

Lang Yan: “If it’s a straightforward matter, of course I’ll allow it. I’ll tell Lang Shi that if you need the beastmen’s help, just call on them.”

“Alright.” Lin Qiu nodded.

Lang Yan glanced at the stone slab again, committing it to memory.

“Let’s head over to the bonfire. It’ll be lively.” 

Lin Qiu watched from afar and shook his head. “I’m still more used to things the way they are.”

“Alright.”

Although Lang Yan hoped he would blend in, he didn’t force the issue.

The next morning, after spending the morning studying with the priest, Lin Qiu went to help the beastmen feed yams to the horned beasts. In the afternoon, he began gathering the beastmen to dig a cave.

Lang Yan approved the chosen location, so they began work right away.

High mountains blocked the wind there, preventing it from blowing toward Wolf Mountain.

As soon as Lin Qiu mentioned digging a cave and needing beastmen, Lang Shi immediately assigned him the entire guard squad led by Lang Mo.

While ordinary squads went out hunting and gathering, the guard squad led by Lang Shi remained behind to protect the settlement.

Due to a lack of prey, the territories of each Wolf Clan settlement are now extremely vast, and the Wolf Clan settlement is no exception.

The Wolf Mountain settlement is located at the center of the territory; no beastmen can easily find or approach it, so staying at Wolf Mountain is considered safe.

The guards are all middle-aged male wolf beastmen, totaling sixteen. They are divided into two squads: the first led by Lang Mo and the second led by Lang Mu.

With eight beastmen to help him, Lin Qiu felt a sense of relief.

Last night, Lang Yan had already explained to them how to dig a cave. Once Lin Qiu led them to the site and marked out the area, the beastmen lowered their heads and began… digging in the wrong spot.

Lin Qiu: “Not over there.”

The wolf looked up and spat out the dirt that Lang Mo had dug into his mouth.

“Let’s try it out first, just in case we damage it.”

Lin Qiu: “Alright.”

Quite thorough.

The wolf-beastmen had all transformed into their wolf forms; thick, long fur covered their slender bodies, yet they still looked imposing. Ignoring the fact that they had to take turns lying down after digging for a while, their efficiency was still decent.

Lin Qiu stood nearby, offering guidance every now and then.

Lang Mo had already dug deep into the cave. Hearing Lin Qiu speak, he poked his head out. “It’s just digging a hole—we’re good at that.”

Lin Qiu: “Mm.”

Who knows who was the one staring blankly yesterday.

But judging by the final result, Lang Yan’s explanation was quite effective.

The beastmen dug a vertical pit kiln, with a fire chamber at the bottom. The heat rose directly through a flue following the slope of the mountain, converging in the upper half of the kiln chamber.

The chamber was spacious, with a wide base and a small vent, designed to retain as much heat as possible.

The wolf beastmen could barely squeeze through the top, but once inside the chamber, they could move about freely. Lin Qiu crouched at the top of the slope, watching, and thought it actually looked pretty good.

But before he could finish, the beastmen had already moved to a new spot and started the second round of digging.

Having learned from their earlier experience of accidentally causing a collapse, their second attempt was both swift and efficient. The eight beastmen split into two groups: one dug down from above, while the other dug up from below.

With two beastmen working in each shift, they quickly broke through and smoothed out the interior of the chamber.

It was truly a racial talent.

Even the wolves of his previous world need to dig burrows to live in.

After a day’s work, the eight beastmen emerged from the cave covered in mud. They shook themselves slightly; their fur looked reasonably clean on the surface, but as soon as they touched water, muddy water began to drip down.

The beastmen went to wash up. Lin Qiu saw that both kilns were ready for use and decided to test them all once the clay forms were made.

Then, in addition to clay cooking pots, they could fire clay jars, bowls, basins, and even vats.

When the hunting and gathering teams returned and heard that the Lang Mo group had spent the whole day digging, they all rushed over to watch.

Lin Qiu saw that Lang Yan had gone as well, so he lagged behind.

Since it was a project using the tribe’s labor, he needed to explain things to the beastmen.

But before he could reach them, he heard the beastmen asking questions all at once, and Lang Yan was already explaining it to them.

Lin Qiu decisively turned and walked away.

By the time the beastmen returned, everyone knew he was going to fire pottery. Without a word, they lay on the ground, surrounding him.

Lin Qiu and his small fire were at the center of the circle. He stood stiffly, seemingly focused on stoking the fire in the hearth.

After stoking it for a while, Lang Mo, the wolf closest to him, asked, “Qiu, did you roast any meat?”

Lin Qiu’s face remained expressionless. “No.”

“Then why are you stoking the fire?”

“Why are you all guarding me?” Lin Qiu turned his head. In the shadows beyond the fire’s reach, pairs of bright green wolf eyes glowed, one by one like lamps.

It was enough to scare the faint of heart into fainting.

“Oh, I’m waiting to roast meat with you.” Lang Mo sat up. “I just told them to lie down and follow along.”

Lin Qiu stood up, trying to make his way past the wolf pack to get out.

But the moment he moved, the beastmen crawled to their feet as well.

Seeing that Lang Yan and the priest had taken the meat down the mountain, Lin Qiu immediately veered away from the wolf pack, walking faster and faster until he broke into a run, then hid behind Lang Yan.

The beastmen followed in a rush, their footsteps dense and chaotic. Unable to stop in time before Lang Yan, they collided with one another, piling up in a heap right in front of him.

Hiding in the shadow of Lang Yan, Lin Qiu quietly let out a sigh of relief.

Lang Yan’s ears twitched slightly, his gaze stern as he swept over the group of wolf-beastmen before him.

“What are you doing?”

Lang Mo, pinned at the very bottom, struggled to poke out a paw and his head. His scalp was being pulled painfully, and he bared his teeth. “We were waiting for Lang Qiu to grill meat. How were we supposed to know what they were doing?”

“King! Lang Qiu knows how to make pottery. We’re guarding him.” From the pile of beastmen, Wolf Bei crawled out and briskly brushed the dust off his animal hide.

Lin Qiu murmured, “I don’t need anyone guarding me.”

Lang Yan said, “Just do what you need to do. Don’t scare Qiu.”

“I won’t. How could I scare him?”

Lang Yan tilted his head, gesturing toward the area behind them.

He’s already hiding—if that isn’t being scared, what is?

The beastmen chuckled. “King, no need to keep an eye on him.” With a flick of their tails, they ran over to the campfire to roast meat.

Lang Yan said, “They know you can fire a clay cooking pot—they’re excited.”

Lin Qiu’s voice was tense. “I understand.”

A hint of a smile flashed across Lang Yan’s eyes as he explained, “Clay cooking pots are precious. Food is scarce right now. The few markets that used to exist have long since closed. Even if we wanted to trade for one, we wouldn’t know where to get one.”

Lin Qiu: “Then… why not make a few more?”

Lang Yan: “No need.”

After shooing the beastmen away, Lin Qiu followed Lang Yan back to his own small campfire. Lang Mo had already brought over Lin Qiu’s share of food—a piece of meat and a fish.

Lang Mo, Lang, and Lang Guo were all there, and tonight there was an extra guest: Lang Shi.

They were all planning to piggyback on his skills.

Lang Yan glanced over; it looked a bit better than the usual sight of Lin Qiu sitting all alone by the fire.

He left and went over to the bonfire.

The next day, it was the same routine: studying in the morning and working in the afternoon.

The pottery kiln had already been dug out; next came sifting the clay and shaping the clay bodies.

The weather was getting hotter, so the clay bodies couldn’t be left out to dry.

The cave where Lin Qiu had previously been confined was reopened and cleaned out; even the grass nest and all its contents were thrown out, and the space was used to air-dry the clay slabs.

Lin Qiu first had the beastmen build two square pools by the river, each a few square meters in size.

The sides and bottom of the pools were repeatedly tamped flat and lined with a layer of stone slabs, after which they began transporting the clay into them.

Clay used for pottery must be purified of impurities—including sand, stones, and grass roots—through repeated sifting. Given the rudimentary conditions and the large volume of clay, manual sifting was too laborious, so they turned to water.

After the clay was placed in the pits, water was added, and the beastmen repeatedly trampled it to turn it into a muddy slurry. This slurry was then transferred to another pit; after settling, the sediment was scooped out, yielding a finer clay.

After repeated pounding to increase its viscosity, the mixture is ready to be shaped into clay forms.

This single step alone takes several days.

Almost every beastman left behind at Wolf Mountain had to take a turn at the trough to stomp the clay. When Lin Qiu wasn’t working in the morning, Lang An would supervise the task.

After a few days, once a batch of clay had been accumulated, they began making clay forms.

Mixing the clay with additives such as wood ash, quartz, or ground pottery shards improves the clay’s moldability, reduces cracking during firing, and increases the yield of finished products.

They used the coil-building method: kneading the clay into long strips, coiling them layer by layer, and pressing the seams firmly with their hands to smooth them out.

Lin Qiu tried making a small one first. The beastmen squatted nearby, and as soon as he finished, they started playing with the clay.

Lin Qiu: “Just get your hands used to it. If it doesn’t work the first time, try a few more times.”

Lang Mo instinctively bit his tongue, his face tense as he devoutly wound the rolled clay strips onto the polished stone slab.

Looking at the other beastmen, they all wore solemn expressions, ready for action.

Lin Qiu: That works.