Chapter 18
Chapter 18 – Thumbs up
Translated by Sunyancai
Outside the cave, it was still snowing heavily. A thick layer of ice covered the riverside, and now few people from the tribe would go outside. One could only see a boundless piece of white if he looked afar in the distance.
Inside the cave, there was a bonfire burning, and the atmosphere unlike old times, heated up.
After they installed the ice blocks on those vents (to prevent wind from entering the cave through the holes), the cave was much brighter than before, and they did not have to suffer from the cold wind as well. Those feelings were new to all the kids, so two days in a row, they were in a mood of extreme excitement. All of them sat around the fire and discussed about the letters and numbers written on the stonewall.
Yes, Shao Xuan had copied all the words and numbers in the animal skin roll that were left behind by the old hunter in charge of teaching, and wrote them on the stonewall. With the light in the day, they would see those words and numbers clearly without any fire. If they could memorize and master all that was written on the wall, the old hunter would not have to start from the very beginning the next time he comes.
Unlike the others, Shao Xuan had been staying at that stone room and carefully wiping out those stone powders all day long, except when it was time for eating.
Shao Xuan had moved all sundries in that stone room to other places, for the fresco on the wall was pretty large in size.
At the end of the fresco on the right part of the stonewall in that room, under those various pictures, there was a sentence. However, Shao Xuan could not connect them to a whole sentence because he did not know a few words in it.
Even though Shao Xuan could speak the language fluently, he was not familiar with many words and letters. He planned to ask for the help of that old hunter, the next time when the old hunter came. Shao Xuan will ask him about the meaning of those words, and learn them all when he had the opportunity.
About ten days later, that old hunter finally came down the mountain again and showed up his face in the cave again.
Seeing that there were so many changes in the cave, he was shocked and surprised to know that these kids in the cave had made much progress. He was quite pleased, so he took out another animal skin roll, ready to teach something new.
In the spare time of teaching, Shao Xuan consulted a few words from him, not all the words he asked were from the stonewall. He mixed some other words in, because Shao Xuan did not want to raise the old hunter’s suspicion.
However, it turned out that Shao Xuan had thought too much. The old hunter had high interest in teaching, and nothing else. He merely assumed that Shao Xuan had seen those words from somewhere, and then he taught him one by one, quite patiently and eager.
After that, the old hunter even praised Shao Xuan, “Those words are written down well, with a certain momentum! You will turn out to be a brave warrior!”
Shao Xuan smiled about it and did not reply. The words that were praised were from the stone wall. He copied them, so even though they were not exactly the same with the original ones, they carried some of the original charm and style, because they were copied.
Judging from that, the one who left those pictures and words on the stonewall in that room should probably be a warrior, a tough and strong one.
After the old hunter had left, Shao Xuan copied all the things in the old hunter’s newly left animal skin roll, so that the kids might review from time to time. Then he went to the stone room again.
After mastering those words, Shao Xuan finally understood the meaning of that sentence.
“One day, we shall return to our previous land. Glory is still in the fire, and the fire of scorching horn will never be put out.”
After that sentence, there was a big word – “Zan”. Perhaps that’s the name of the master of that stone room, and the one who carved all those pictures and the sentence.
The final sentence was deeply carved into the wall, much deeper than any other picture, especially the last few words. From that, one could easily see the intense emotion of the person when he left the sentence on the ground.
Even though Shao Xuan still did not know why it was painted by stone powder, he felt appreciative to get the opportunity to see them. In addition, he admired the one who left those words for him to see.
From that sentence, it was easily implied that his situation or the whole tribe’s situation was not good, or even depressing. But they did not give up.
Even if the situation was in despair, it meant that hope was still there as long as one was still alive, as long as the tribe was still there.
Shao Xuan held the carbonated branch, and drew a simple image of “thumbs up” behind the word “Zan”.
He just gave him a thumbs up.