Chapter 396 - Flat Cauldron
The team did not cover their tracks. Even if they had, it would not be completely covered, so they simply did not make an effort to. Besides, they had hundreds of people carrying their goods so it would take a lot to cover all their tracks.
Along the way, Shao Xuan would set up more traps, while the Taihe tribe would also help with their herbs to make Shao Xuan’s traps more effective. As long as the people behind them continue to follow their footprints, then they’d continue to be “entertained” by these traps.
If you could use these skills against the enemy, why use brute force? The people of the Flaming Horns and Taihe tribe were naturally happy that they didn’t have to waste time and manpower to deal with their pursuers. They just had to guard against those who had set up ambushes along the way, which greatly reduced their stress.
Two days later, the number of ambushes they had encountered had been reduced by a lot. The bigger half of the day, they also did not meet a heist. Du Kang’s heart loosened until his worries finally passed. In the future, they only had to protect the goods from the beasts in the mountains.
Because of the arrangements Shao Xuan made, the people behind them failed to catch up. They’d only occasionally see a group of scavenging birds shrieking and flying over the tops of their heads.
Along the way, they would see Shao Xuan making stone tools, hence, during breaks, some people in the group would come to ask Shao Xuan how to use and make various stone tools. In case they became trapped in the mountains, with no other weapons in their hands, they could use stone tools to save themselves.
They thought that since he had few gold wares, he basically had to use stone tools. It never entered their minds that what they initially thought to be barbaric was useful. But after the events these two days, they realized that the ordinary stone tools could also play a bigger role, not just to be broken to pieces.
After stuffing some linen and silk fabrics to Shao Xuan, Chief Zheng Luo then asked Shao Xuan about his experience trading. Duo Kang just briefly said some, but he still wanted to know more details about it.
When they had finished, the chief looked again at the cauldron that had been brought in.
“Those cloud patterns should be cast by the Xia people,” the chief said.
“Xia people?” Shao Xuan never heard of them from previous discussions.
“Well, it used to be the Xia tribe. The Xia people are good at casting, but later, the tribe scattered. They changed their surname to ‘Gong’ and mostly still cast for a living in different areas. Anba City has a lot of cauldrons made by them. A Xia person’s style was mostly to make a round cauldron with cloud patterns. In recent years, they also made it flatter. Most of the six big cities now mostly cast their cauldrons round, second is square, while flat was the least common, of which more than half casted by a Xia person’s hand. If coupled with the cloud pattern rather than the beast pattern, this cauldron should be casted by the Xia. It’s just that somehow, the casting of this cauldron was unexpectedly a failure.” Chief Zheng Luo looked at the flattened cauldron’s body, feeling puzzled.
Since he did not understand, he wouldn’t waste more thought on it, so the chief just advised Shao Xuan. “This cauldron is yours. You can use it as a furnace for smelting or for cooking soup.”
Shao Xuan carried the cauldron he obtained out there to return to his home. He put it in his own stone-making room, where it was big and spacious enough for the scrap of metal. It was also a convenient place for him to study the decorations on it.
The words on the cauldron were a little obscure with a few ancient writings. If it was other people, they’d probably be able to read it, though not smoothly, but they wouldn’t understand. However, Shao Xuan could still understand some.
The usage of this language on this side had changed for the past thousand years. Some words had even changed in meaning and grammar. However, what Shao Xuan had learned from those people in the desert was, in fact, the original writings here from thousands of years ago, which was closer to the ancient writings on the cauldron.
Shao Xuan would have to write all those words on the cauldron’s body on a piece of cloth, then study it carefully.
However, when Shao Xuan started copying those words, then looked at the cauldron standing crookedly, he felt that the patterns on it were a bit strange. It was like a whirlpool, attracting the attention of the person staring.