Chapter 227: Chang Er should die
The cold moonlight sprinkled down, making the tree branches, stripped of their leaves, appear even colder in the moonlit night.
In a row of houses, the orange firelight was blocked by the animal hide covering the windows, casting a reddish glow on the hide but not letting any light through.
Occasionally, vague figures were reflected on the hide, indicating someone was moving inside the room.
Although the dense fur blocked the firelight, it couldn't muffle the sounds. Laughter and chatter occasionally drifted out from the row of connected houses, adding a touch of liveliness and warmth to the peaceful yet cold night.
On top of the low wall, three people were on guard duty. Wrapped in thick fur, wearing gloves and hats, they paced within a small area, occasionally stomping their feet to ward off the cold.
In the courtyard, two people and a dog squatted side by side in the moonlight, their breath visible in the cold air as they looked up at the sparkling starry sky together.
If these two people were excluded, it would be a real-life version of "Dogs Looking at the Stars."
Wrapped in thick fur, these two people appeared like fluffy balls as they squatted there. One was Shi Tou, who harbored dreams of flying and was preparing to achieve his dreams through unconventional means. The other was Han Cheng, who, after today's failed attempt at firing charcoal, was feeling stimulated and wanted some quiet time.
After gazing for a while, Shi Tou lowered his head and withdrew his hands from the warm gloves. He picked up a piece of tile that had been polished and was more suitable for writing, carefully moved the clay tablet, which was standing vertically, flat in front of him, then leaned over and began to sketch on it using the tile, illuminated by the moonlight.
It was a gradually rounding circle, similar to the half-moon hanging in the sky.
In front of this circle were five rows of circles of different shapes.
At the tenth position in front of this circle was an "x," not just one, but three in a row. This was the solution that Shi Tou obtained after failing to see the moon for three consecutive days and not knowing how to record it when he came to ask the Divine Child.
Shi Tou was a "questioning" youth, with even more questions than the "questioning" elder, Shaman. He would often ask the Divine Child about things he didn't understand.
When it came to writing and recording things, Shi Tou had once asked the Divine Child why they wrote from left to right horizontally instead of vertically from top to bottom or from right to left.
Of course, Han Cheng wouldn't tell Shi Tou that it was a habit he had developed since childhood, nor would he say anything like "writing vertically nods frequently while reading, indicating agreement with the words of the sages; writing horizontally shakes the head frequently while reading, indicating disrespect for the sages."
Han Cheng's solution was simple: he asked Shi Tou to write two versions of "The Tadpole Looks for Its Mother" on the clay tablet, one horizontally and one vertically, and then try to read them.
After reading both versions a few times, which were inevitably influenced by Han Cheng, Shi Tou felt more comfortable reading from left to right horizontally and stopped asking this question.
Han Cheng looked at the precious clay tablet in Shi Tou's hands, which already had more than forty irregular circles sketched on it.
He nodded slightly. After a while longer of sketching, he could start guiding Shi Tou to summarize the patterns.
Once the moon's waxing and waning pattern was summarized, a lunar calendar could be preliminarily established.
With the general framework in place, terms like "big month," "small month," and "leap month" could gradually be added, and adjustments could be made according to actual circumstances.
With him as the time traveler and Shi Tou as the next shaman, whom he had brought into the field of "astronomy," they could always come up with a calendar system that was more suitable for their place.
Shi Tou meticulously depicted the imperfect circle, carefully comparing it to the bright moon in the sky and making some adjustments before finally stopping his movements.
He carefully stored the tile-turned "pen" in the side pocket of his makeshift clothes, then carefully stood the clay tablet upright before continuing to gaze up at the moon that made all the stars in the sky pale in comparison.
"Divine Child, are there trees on the moon? Do tribes also live there?" Shi Tou finally voiced the thoughts in his mind after gazing for a while.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om
This was what he had discovered about the moon during this period and the beautiful yearning it had sparked within him.
At this moment, no worries were clouding his mind, no flashy distractions, and no heavy academic burdens to strain his eyes, so he could see the shadows on the bright moon more clearly.
As someone from the future, Han Cheng knew that there was nothing on the moon except desolation, but when he saw Shi Tou's eyes filled with longing and anticipation, he resisted the urge to shatter this cold reality.
Sometimes, a beautiful and well-intentioned lie was more needed than a discouraging reality.
Han Cheng's solution was simple: he asked Shi Tou to write two versions of "The Tadpole Looks for Its Mother" on the clay tablet, one horizontally and one vertically, and then try to read them.
After reading both versions a few times, which were inevitably influenced by Han Cheng, Shi Tou felt more comfortable reading from left to right horizontally and stopped asking this question.
Han Cheng looked at the precious clay tablet in Shi Tou's hands, which already had more than forty irregular circles sketched on it.
He nodded slightly. After a while longer of sketching, he could start guiding Shi Tou to summarize the patterns.
Once the moon's waxing and waning pattern was summarized, a lunar calendar could be preliminarily established.
With the general framework in place, terms like "big month," "small month," and "leap month" could gradually be added, and adjustments could be made according to actual circumstances.
With him as the time traveler and Shi Tou as the next shaman, whom he had brought into the field of "astronomy," they could always come up with a calendar system that was more suitable for their place.
Shi Tou meticulously depicted the imperfect circle, carefully comparing it to the bright moon in the sky and making some adjustments before finally stopping his movements.
He carefully stored the tile-turned "pen" in the side pocket of his makeshift clothes, then carefully stood the clay tablet upright before continuing to gaze up at the moon that made all the stars in the sky pale in comparison.
"Divine Child, are there trees on the moon? Do tribes also live there?" Shi Tou finally voiced the thoughts in his mind after gazing for a while.
This was what he had discovered about the moon during this period and the beautiful yearning it had sparked within him.
At this moment, no worries were clouding his mind, no flashy distractions, and no heavy academic burdens to strain his eyes, so he could see the shadows on the bright moon more clearly.
As someone from the future, Han Cheng knew that there was nothing on the moon except desolation, but when he saw Shi Tou's eyes filled with longing and anticipation, he resisted the urge to shatter this cold reality.
Sometimes, a beautiful and well-intentioned lie was more needed than a discouraging reality.
Han Cheng nodded.
With anticipation and anxiety in his heart, Shi Tou looked at Han Cheng, and his face suddenly lit up with a smile.
However, his smile quickly froze because Han Cheng shook his head again after nodding.
Seeing Shi Tou's bewilderment and disappointment, Han Cheng smiled and said, "There are trees up there, and people too, but no tribes."
The rigid smile returned to Shi Tou's face.
He looked at Han Cheng with hope-filled eyes, hoping the Divine Child would explain a little more.
Han Cheng pointed to the bright moon and said, "See, there's a big cassia tree up there, and under the cassia tree, there's a rabbit making medicine."
Shi Tou listened, his eyes widening. He carefully looked at the bright moon, and after hearing Han Cheng's words, he seemed to see a big tree and a rabbit moving on top.
He didn't understand what Han Cheng meant by "making medicine," so he automatically interpreted it as some activity.
But as he continued to look, another question arose: Why was there a rabbit up there? What was it doing "making medicine"?
Looking up at the moon, Shi Tou began to ask Han Cheng with extreme anticipation, his body trembling slightly, unsure if it was from excitement or cold.
Han Cheng secretly apologized to Hou Yi and Chang'e, knowing he was about to make them suffer like Vega.
Then he thought momentarily and decided to tell Shi Tou the primitive version of Chang'e flying to the moon and Hou Yi shooting the sun.
Seeing Shi Tou staring at him dumbfounded, unable to say a word, Han Cheng's gloomy mood from his consecutive failed attempts at charcoal burning improved significantly.
"Chang'e should die!" A voice of anger suddenly came from nearby, making Han Cheng jump in shock.
