Chapter 352 - 152: Offering Loyalty (2)
As for the beetles that love gnawing on crops, the nearly extinct wild rabbits and mice near the fields, and the obnoxious birds, they were depicted on the clay boards like wanted criminals.
To help the natives accurately understand the process of plants from seed to maturity, Chen Zhou racked his brains. With his limited botanical knowledge, he drew the entire transformation from seeds rooting and sprouting, growing robustly, flowering and bearing fruit, to finally wilting and dying.
After sketching the final stroke and taking a sip of water, Chen Zhou felt immensely exhausted.
He originally wanted to push through and illustrate content such as composting, fertilizing, watering, and pruning tree species like apricot and orange trees as well.
But his usual paintings were for relaxation, drawing whatever he felt inspired to create, producing works rich in beauty and artistry.
This rigorous task of creating "educational materials" that needed precise expression was too mentally exhausting, and by midnight, he couldn't persevere any longer.
"Enough, you can't get fat with one bite, there's plenty of time in the future, let's just stop here for now!"
Rubbing his aching eyes, he blew out the oil lamp by the desk, and Chen Zhou headed into the depths of the bedroom.
...
Early on December 20th, after washing up, Chen Zhou made breakfast. After delivering two steaming bowls of meat porridge to the two natives, he immediately prepared to start his new job of "teaching and educating."
However, before taking out the painstakingly crafted "Guideline for Farming," he first needed to teach the two natives how to live better.
For instance, the basic issues of boiling water to drink, cooking rice, washing and storing utensils after meals for future use, and how to use utensils properly — drinking porridge with a spoon, picking up food with chopsticks.
He certainly didn't want to be their nanny and chef, cooking for them every meal; that wouldn't be what you'd call a hands-off approach.
...
When the two natives awkwardly held the spoon, and carefully ate the entire bowl of meat porridge while it was still steaming, Chen Zhou didn't make them clean up right away. He first led them to attend to personal physiological needs.
Afterward, he brought them, having cleaned themselves, into the courtyard of the cave house, and gave each of them a small wooden bucket and a pole.
He demonstrated how to carry the bucket with the pole. Seeing that the native youths learned well, Chen Zhou led the way, guiding the two little fellows to the mountain stream.
After filling the two buckets with water, he once again lifted the pole on his shoulders and, leading by example, carried the water back to the front of the wooden house.
Not long after eating, the two natives, carrying the pole along the mountain path, began to sweat a bit and felt thirsty. Returning to the wooden house, they immediately wanted to drink the cold water.
Chen Zhou promptly stopped them and handed each one a fire striker.
Since acquiring a lighter, he rarely used the fire striker for convenience.
The cave house always kept a fire stored; normally, lighting the stove just required placing a dry branch in it.
Long unused to the fire striker, when starting a fire outdoors sudden felt somewhat rusty. After gathering tinder and picking dry branches, he finally managed to light a fire in front of the natives.
Embarrassed by his awkward performance, Chen Zhou's sun-tanned face flushed rare redness.
But without comparison there is no harm done; the native youths didn't know Chen Zhou used to light a fire with a striker within minutes.
They only knew that the tribal fire had to be continuously maintained; if it went out, it took at least half an hour or more to light a new fire.
Plus, the lighting process was far from as easy as Chen Zhou's; often the fire starter would become drenched in sweat.
What seemed outdated to Chen Zhou, the fire striker was already a rare divine artifact to the two natives.
Hence, seeing the flame grow, their eyes lit up. Looking at the fire strikers in their hands, they felt eager to give it a try.
...
During the demonstration, Chen Zhou felt great psychological pressure, fearing he might not light the fire.
Fortunately, the dry island helped ease the process, so even outdoors, it went quite smoothly.
The bonfire burned brightly after adding a few more branches. Chen Zhou then signaled the two natives to light the fire themselves using the fire striker techniques they had just learned.
...
Although they grew up in primitive tribes, the intelligence of the two youths was no less than modern people.
According to their age, if they were living in modern times, they should be in the ninth grade or high school, the peak period for memory and learning abilities.
Dorru's memory was a bit stronger than Ah Tun's. Having watched Chen Zhou's entire fire-starting process, he immediately picked up the tinder, dug a small windproof hole on the ground, squatted down and started striking sparks with the fire striker onto the tinder in the hole.
However, no matter how good his memory, lacking understanding and experience in using the fire striker, his early attempts inevitably failed.
But that's where having a teacher helps. Having used the fire striker for nearly a year, even though Chen Zhou hadn't used it lately, the skills and techniques were deeply ingrained in his mind.
Seeing their incorrect techniques, he promptly corrected them and demonstrated from various angles to teach them the correct use of the fire striker and shared details on the fastest way to start a fire.
Imitating molds with gourds, the not-so-inept natives quickly grasped the essentials.
After about ten minutes, ground-flat Ah Tun overtook and started the first fire ahead of Dorru.
"Woo~"
Watching the flame rise from his hands, Ah Tun gently blew on the burning tinder and, seeing the flame spread and grow, immediately lifted his smoke-blackened face, cheering with excitement.
Before long, the nearby Dorru also managed to light a fire. Holding the fire strikers presented by Chen Zhou, they habitually lay flat on the ground, attempting to express their gratitude for the "gift of the gods" in this way.
This time, Chen Zhou did not accept their ritual as before and answered them with a word they had recently understood.
"No!"
Chen Zhou sternly refused, then pulled the two off the ground.
With a stern expression and a serious tone, he clearly expressed his stance on this ritual.
As the two natives felt terrified at the deity's refusal, Chen Zhou grabbed Dorru's body and repositioned him —
Kneeling on one knee, head down, right fist clenched pressing onto left chest over the heart.
"Like this, right!"
Chen Zhou spoke, pressing his broad hand on Dorru's head, trying to sound gentle and affirmative.
...
Once the native youths overcame their fear of his rejection and understood the meaning of the new posture, emulating it, Chen Zhou felt quite gratified.
Patting each native on the head, along with verbal encouragement, he also took out some pre-prepared chocolate from his pocket and broke it into pieces, giving each a piece.
"Now this feels more agreeable."
Saying something unintelligible to the natives, after adding a log to the fires they started, Chen Zhou walked towards the cave house.
Having taught fire-starting, next, he would show them how to boil water, wash faces, brush teeth, do laundry, and instill the concept of drinking hot water and eating cooked food.