Tie Tou's left hand grabbed the upper part of the thatch, and the stone sickle in his right hand followed suit.
The blade of the stone sickle hooked onto the base of the thatch, and with the force of his right hand, he pulled it back, cutting the thatch with the stone sickle.
The cut thatch didn't scatter on the ground but was held in his left hand.
After cutting these thatches, Tie Tou did not stop; instead, he swung his left hand, holding the thatch, in a small half-circle in front of him. He controlled some of the original thatch with his thumb and forefinger, leaving the other three fingers to grab new thatch, and the stone sickle in his right hand moved accordingly.
This motion repeated until the thatch in his left hand was about to slip away. Only then did Tie Tou stop and place a large bunch of thatch not far from the growing pile.
Underneath the thatch pile, there was a rope woven with grass. When the thatch pile reached a certain quantity, it would be tied up and transported to the tribe.
Compared to other thatches, this pile appeared much neater and tidier, not rough and messy like the others. This was Tie Tou's masterpiece.
After a long recuperation, Ru Hua's stomach had completely recovered. After a check-up by the Divine Child ten days ago, he agreed to let them live together.
The activities carried out by the adults in the tribe at night, humming tunes, often left Tie Tou sleepless for half the night, who had reached adulthood but didn't have a spouse. Now that he had a partner, it was only natural to stride into the realm of adulthood.
Unfortunately, Tie Tou only had a general idea about this matter. Although he was anxious, he couldn't figure out how to approach it.
Fortunately, Ru Hua was experienced. She gently supported him with her hand, then turned around, giving his buttocks a slight push, and the door to a new world opened.
At that moment, Tie Tou, who had never thought about flying, felt like a bird soaring in the sky. All his impatience disappeared, leaving only a wonderful feeling he had never experienced before.
When he returned to his senses from this wonderful feeling, he found Hei Wa, who was resting nearby, smiling at him under the not-so-bright firelight.
It was a strange smile that Tie Tou didn't understand its meaning.
However, his confusion didn't last long. After smiling at him again, Hei Wa patted Zhuang beside him.
The Zhuang stood up, knelt on the ground like Ru Hua, and then Hei Wa wriggled.
After a while, the Zhuang’s deep voice began to hum a rough song.
Looking at Hei Wa, who was wriggling and smiling at him, Tie Tou, who had never thought about such matters, suddenly understood Hei Wa's meaning quickly.
Tie Tou's face suddenly became hot for no apparent reason, and he felt uncomfortable. The one who rescued him from this situation was Hua.
This considerate primitive woman once again led Tie Tou, whose self-esteem was hurt, to explore a new world.
And soon, he started humming a song too.
The song made Tie Tou feel spirited, and he raised his head that had been lowered. Learning from Hei Wa, he vigorously wriggled, turning his head to counter-attack Hei Wa with a smile.
From that night on, every night, the two couples competed like singing a duet, each voice louder than the other, like slaughtering pigs.
Until Han Cheng, unable to bear it any longer, came out of the inner cave, kicked their buttocks, and after two kicks, the primitive competition came to a halt.
When Tie Tou and the others were harvesting thatch on the mountain and transporting it back, the other Senior Disciples did not idle.
They were still working with clay near the deer pen, but this time, instead of pasting clay on the top of the deer pen's fence, they were pasting it underneath the roof onto the woven wooden fence.
This was quite different from pasting on the roof.
Firstly, the clay applied was thicker, at least five centimeters. Secondly, the roof's fence was only pasted on top, while here, both inside and outside, needed to be covered.
The Eldest Senior Brother, who had transformed from an excellent hunter into an excellent mud worker, lifted a lump of well-mixed clay from his leather bag, kneaded it in his hands into a roughly ten-centimeter-long, five-centimeter-wide, and five-centimeter-high clay strip. Then, he forcefully stacked it on the lower mud wall.
He pressed it firmly against the inner wooden wall to make it stick more securely.
Han Cheng watched and reached out to press on the already-hardened clay. After shaking it a few times, he felt satisfied.
First, they wove wooden walls with wooden poles and sticks, then thickly pasted a layer of clay on both sides, completely sealing the wooden walls in mud. This method indeed worked well for making mud walls.
Moreover, because these wooden stakes and bars acted as the skeleton inside, such walls were even sturdier than simple mud walls.
After covering all the wooden walls of the deer pen with clay and placing the last step of laying thatch on the top, a complete house was built.
This way, Deer Lord and his harem could stay inside when the weather was cold and rainy. When the weather cleared, and the temperature rose, they could move to a larger deer pen without a covered roof for ventilation and sunbathing.
After collecting sufficient thatch, under Han Cheng's command and guidance, the Eldest Senior Disciple, Shang, and others began to lay thatch on the clay-covered roof.
The thatch had to be thicker to withstand years of wind and rain better.
Moreover, when laying thatch, they needed to lay it row by row horizontally.
After finishing one row at the bottom, some clay needed to be pressed on the top to fix them in place.
Then, they could lay the next row on top.
The upper row had to cover the part where the lower row was pressed with clay, leaving no trace.
This way, row by row, they covered the topmost layer, and the entire roof became a unified structure.
Han Cheng had a solution to secure the topmost layer of thatch. They used ropes to tie them to the lower fence and placed two wooden bars horizontally on top, pressing stones. This way, there was no need to worry even in strong winds.
The deer pen, which had been under construction since winter, was finally officially completed.