Chapter 13: Primitive Methods to Reduce Fever
“We also have stone basins with lids and small stone basins. If you want them, you can exchange boys for them.” After the water jar transaction, the Elder had Stones take out the pottery pot he was carrying on his back, along with the remaining two pottery bowls.
Bald Chief was stunned by this. How did they have so many beautiful stone basins? This one even had two handles and a stone lid. What could it possibly be used for?
After being instructed by Luo Chong, the Elder informed them that this could be used to boil water and cook meat. He had Bald Chief’s people prepare a jar of water and some dried meat, then set up firewood. One-Ear personally taught them how to cook the meat.
The dried meat was cut into small pieces, mixed with clear water, and added with two salt stones. Within twenty minutes of being placed over the fire, a strong aroma of meat soup wafted out of the pot, making everyone around it salivate.
This method was something Luo Chong had just taught in the morning, and not even One-Ear had tasted it yet. Now it was evident how capable the Chief was—meat could be eaten this way.
One-Ear lifted the pot lid, first ladling half a bowl of meat soup into a pottery bowl, then using a branch to fish out several pieces of stewed meat and placing them in the pottery bowl. He handed the meat soup to Bald Chief, telling him to drink slowly.
Bald Chief hesitated before taking a small sip, squinting his eyes as he sucked his teeth. Hmm, it smelled delicious.
The salty meat soup floated with a layer of beautiful oil flowers. The tender and juicy stewed meat made one feel comfortable after a single bite, warming the body without the need for animal skins. Delicious! It turned out meat could be eaten this way, and stone basins could be used like this. If there were a bowl of meat soup during heavy snowfall, perhaps no one would freeze to death anymore.
Exchange, must exchange. Aren’t they just a few children? Exchange them. Children cannot hunt; they can only pull grass. Why keep them if all they do is waste food?
After finishing the meat soup, Bald Chief finally became generous, giving away people readily. He also had his younger brother bring out a large package of salt stones, filling Dali’s backpack completely.
According to Luo Chong’s requirements, this time they exchanged two adult women, two almost-adult boys, four young girls, and a large bag of salt (salt stones). This exceeded the task requirements. As a bonus, the other party also gave them a child who was about to die.
The Elder was satisfied, and Bald Chief was satisfied too. However, they both felt that the stone basin with the lid was a bit small. With so many people in the tribe, it wouldn’t be enough.
At this moment, the Elder gave them a pleasant surprise.
“You want more of these stone basins? You can come to our tribe and exchange them with salt stones or people. The price remains unchanged.” After saying this, the Elder and his group left, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to return before nightfall.
When they came, there were seven people in the team. Adding the nine people they bought, they returned as sixteen, which was quite fruitful. This was far better than hunting for a whole day.
The group hurriedly traveled and finally returned to the Han Tribe at dusk.
At the cave entrance were four new water jars, four pots, and a stack of sea bowls that Lame Man had baked today. He was looking at these pottery items with a foolish smile—it was the happiest day of his life.
The women who went fishing also returned. With more people today, they caught a lot of fish. There was also an unusual phenomenon: all the hundreds of fish they caught today were identical, with small scales, round bodies, pointed heads, red bodies, and they swam upstream from the lower part of the river.
Luo Chong preliminarily judged that these should be similar to salmon, sea fish that swim upstream to freshwater every autumn to spawn. The scale of the fish group was large, and the river was full of them. He didn’t know how far the place was from the sea.
Hundreds of fish, each half an arm long, hung together to dry. The scene was quite magnificent. The women were all smiling happily. These were all meat—they could catch meat too.
When the Elder returned with the group, this was the scene they saw. The adults and children who were exchanged back were dumbfounded. There were so many stone basins. They had just traded stone basins for them, but this tribe still had so many. Could these be used to exchange for all the people in their own tribe?
As for those strange meats hanging, without legs and fur, were these edible? It seemed joining this tribe wasn’t bad. Thinking about the delicious pot of meat soup from the morning, though they hadn’t tasted it, they still thought it was the best thing. Didn’t they see Chief Bald Chief’s entranced expression?
The Elder reported the work to Luo Chong with eight naked people plus a naked child. What the hell, why couldn’t they give some animal skin clothes when selling people? How come they all returned naked?
The newcomers were very surprised. The chief of the tribe they were about to join was actually a child, with hair tied on his head. The only difference from others was the bone stuck in his hair.
Luo Chong squinted his eyes, smiled, and walked past them one by one. All of them were skinny and malnourished, clearly inferior goods. But it didn’t matter—he had plenty of meat. He would make them recover within a winter.
Finally, he stopped in front of the woman holding the child, carefully observing. The child was motionless, with a very red face. Luo Chong frowned as he touched the child’s forehead—it was burning hot, definitely a high fever.
Luo Chong quickly called out, tidied up, went home to cook, then pulled the woman into the cave.
He first found a piece of animal skin to wrap the mother and child, letting them sit by the hearth to warm up. Meanwhile, Luo Chong paced anxiously.
Reduce fever, reduce fever, Anilamine, Cefalosporin—none of these were available. Not even alcohol for physical cooling. What to do?
No Western medicine, what about Traditional Chinese Medicine? TCM for reducing fever, right. Cupping therapy can reduce fever. When he was a child in his hometown, he had seen his grandfather and master treat others.
For cupping therapy, you can use jade pendants or bull horn scrapers. Though none of these were available, bone pieces should work fine. Thought and action merged.
First, he boiled a pot of clear stewed fish soup by the hearth, then looked for bones suitable for cupping therapy. No bull horns, but Luo Chong had terror bird bones. That terror bird’s mouth was half a meter long. Wasn’t this perfect for cupping therapy? A natural bone piece. Just break it and take a small piece.
The clan members were busy drying fish, boiling water, and cooking meals. Only Luo Chong was banging away deep inside the cave, smashing bird mouths.
The woman holding the child didn’t know what he was doing, but she knew this young chief was kinder than Bald Chief. He had given her and her child a piece of animal skin and let them sit by the hearth to warm up. But after touching her child, he frowned. Was he going to ask her to throw the child away too? Tears silently flowed down her cheeks as she grieved for her child. She was young, and this was her first child.
Just as she was crying, Luo Chong approached her with a yellow piece of bird mouth fragment.
“Don’t cry, I can help save him. Give me the child,” Luo Chong squatted in front of her and said.
Unfortunately, Luo Chong spoke Mandarin, which she couldn’t understand at all. Her eyes filled with fear as this chief seemed to be asking her to give him the child.
Shit, time is life. They couldn’t just waste it like this. Luo Chong piled up a bunch of grass next to the woman, then took another piece of animal skin and laid it on top. Smiling, he pointed at the child, then patted the bed he had just prepared.
Now the woman understood. She gently placed the child in her arms onto it, then looked at Luo Chong again. She thought the chief had prepared such a luxurious bed for them, surely he wouldn’t throw the child away, and besides, the chief was smiling so beautifully.
