Chapter 320 - 139: Preparations (Part 3)
Having set the trap, Chen Zhou began to build a small wooden hut for the indigenous captives.
He felt his meticulous preparations might allow him to rescue more than one captive at a time, so he put in extra effort to build two huts on either side of the fields.
The vast tract of land between the huts would keep the indigenous captives far apart, hoping to prevent them from concocting any escape plans through conversation.
While building the huts, Chen Zhou conveniently crafted an exquisite doghouse for Lai Fu, placing it in the courtyard.
Often roaming outside, Tiger Head, Ti Zi, and Kuang Dang were also assigned their own homes, with their cat shelters linked with planks, positioned high up to facilitate their climbing and playing.
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Finishing this task, Chen Zhou then became engaged in firing white clay slabs and carving Pinyin.
He didn’t expect that physical tasks, which would typically exhaust him, were manageable, yet the seemingly simple task of carving Pinyin was proving challenging.
His contact with Pinyin lessened after elementary school, where he had learned enough characters for everyday use.
As he reviewed all the initials, finals, along with integral reading syllables and some unique finals, Chen Zhou often doubted whether he had neglected certain syllables or finals.
By referencing the English alphabet and attempting to sound out some obscure characters himself, he spent an entire day achieving a flawless completion of the Pinyin chart.
To facilitate the indigenous people’s learning of Chinese, Chen Zhou mass-produced several Pinyin charts, planning to hang them in the captives’ quarters so they could review them during leisure.
He subsequently crafted a few Grade One-level Chinese character boards listing common characters like mountain, river, person, day, along with numbers and names of common island animals.
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The Wang Lingguan Temple was the last to be constructed.
Chen Zhou believed the temple’s design could determine whether the indigenous people quickly developed reverence for the unfamiliar god.
If possible, he wished he could construct grand buildings like the Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, or Potala Palace, Great Golden Pagoda.
Their magnitude and majesty would compel the indigenous people to kneel in admiration even at the briefest glance.
However, he lacked the capacity to build wonders and could only rely on his prowess in design and aesthetics, extensively utilizing mortise and tenon structures, blending his insights with subtle carvings.
By incorporating what he understood as "ancient architectural style," he built a temple that modern scholars might harshly label as "incongruous" or a "figment of imagination."
To enhance the temple’s appeal without colored paints, Chen Zhou used various woods.
Leveraging their natural colors and textures, he added more details to the mortise and tenon structure, rendering the Wang Lingguan Temple more dignified and sacred.
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Ultimately, as September was nearing its end, Chen Zhou accomplished multiple projects.
Coinciding with the end of September, the final mysterious reward before the two-year anniversary was anticipated.
Having not been tormented by decryption projects for ages, the mysterious reward seemed mundane, lacking the element of surprise.
Confronting this reward, Chen Zhou was hopeful, wondering if there would be a new "anniversary grand package."
If there were indeed a two-year anniversary package, the most thrilling aspect for him would be the prizes inside—Space-Time Administration Bureau had never been stingy with anniversary packages.
Of course, this was partly because he had only received one anniversary package.