Chapter 149: Excessive joy leads to sorrow

Chapter 149: Excessive joy leads to sorrowHan Cheng is now like an old lady in later generations who lives by guarding chicken butts, running to the chicken coop whenever he has nothing to do.

But there are also some differences. Those old ladies guarding chicken butts are hoping to exchange eggs for some needles, threads, matches, salt, and other things to supplement their household expenses. In contrast, Han Cheng is purely doing it for eating.

By now, Han Cheng thoroughly understands the feelings of the shaman who often runs to the rabbit traps.

Perhaps in recent days, it's the laying period of this mother hen, or maybe all the eggs it laid were taken away by the ferocious little monkey. It keeps laying more eggs for incubation these days, and the eggs haven't stopped.

This makes Han Cheng extremely happy.

After recovering from the initial shock, the bald-tailed rooster has also achieved some success with this mother hen who exposed half of her buttocks.

Of course, this also has much to do with no other small hens in the chicken coop. Otherwise, why would this guy close his eyes?

As the saying goes, extreme joy begets sorrow, and when everything in the Green Sparrow Tribe is immersed in the joy of easily obtaining prey, trouble quietly arrives.

It's not another tribe attacking; it's the first house about to be completed.

From excavating the foundation to putting on the tiles, everything has been smooth so far. Just as the tiles on the roof are about to be completely laid, a mistake occurs. A detail that Han Cheng had never considered before becomes a stumbling block.

After the efforts of the Eldest Senior Brother and others, the tiles on the house have been laid, and a row of tiles has been placed on the roof ridge. The whole house is completed now, with only some minor details left.

The problem arises at this moment, precisely on the roof of the walls on the east and west sides.

According to the practice in later generations, two or three layers of tiles should be reversed, and lime or cement should be used for seam sealing.

What Han Cheng did not consider is this part.

In other places, mud can be used as a substitute, acting as a binder. However, this cannot be done here because the roof is exposed to wind and rain. Using mud as a substitute would be irresponsible for the house.

After several rains, the mud used for seams would be washed away by rainwater, seeping through these gaps during this process. The house would experience leaks.

Most importantly, leaks occur on the east and west sides, and the walls are made of mud, not reinforced with steel bars to support the roof.

So, when all these details are calculated, the minor issue becomes a major problem affecting the entire structure.

Han Cheng scratches his head, wondering how such a troublesome matter suddenly arises.

He hasn't even thought about burning cement or lime.

After pondering without a good solution for a while, Han Cheng had to ask the Eldest Senior Brother and the others to stop and not seal the edges for now. Instead, according to his teaching method, they started to build a heatable brick bed in the east room.

The heatable brick bed, a tool for surviving the winter, is certainly something Han Cheng wants to create.

Then, he, along with some people centered around the tribe, went to look for traces of limestone. Han Cheng hasn't mentioned lime, cement, and other things before because the tribe's productivity is limited at the moment. The main issue is that burning these things requires very high temperatures, and ordinary firewood is probably not up to the task. Charcoal needs to be made first and then used to burn lime.

If possible, a bellows needs to be manufactured.

For the current Green Sparrow Tribe, making a bellows is indeed difficult.

Moreover, Han Cheng is only half-knowledgeable about making charcoal; he only knows that burning wood puts out the fire, which somehow turns into charcoal.

Han Cheng deeply regrets spending most of his free time on mature content from the island nation in his previous life without dedicating more time to watching primitive survival videos and acquiring knowledge. Otherwise, he could have had a more comfortable life now without being troubled by things like charcoal, lime, and bellows.

Han Cheng's concerns about charcoal, bellows, and similar things have become unnecessary.

Whether it's due to the heavens no longer favoring Han Cheng or other reasons, he, accompanied by the adults in the tribe, spent ten days searching within a radius of nearly ten miles around the tribe but found no traces of limestone.

Looking at the almost completed roof, Han Cheng feels frustrated. For someone like him without obsessive-compulsive disorder, it's already uncomfortable to look at. If someone with OCD were here, they might even collapse.

The heatable brick bed in the room has been built. It is one meter eight long and one meter five wide. Compared to the narrow bed made of hay that Han Cheng slept on in the inner cave, which was less than one meter wide, this heatable brick bed is much larger.

Han Cheng can now roll and somersault on it comfortably.

The heatable brick bed is against the easternmost wall. When building the house, Han Cheng had someone leave a hole about fifteen centimeters in diameter.

The hole is about one meter two above the ground.

This is a reserved smoke vent.

After the heatable brick bed is built, use adobe and mud to create a hollow passage along the hole left behind, sticking to the wall. This way, the smoke can be vented to the outside from the hole.

In this way, there won't be any smoke in the room when burning the bed.

In the west room, there is another heatable brick bed of the same specifications. That's where Han Cheng sleeps, and the east room is for the shaman.

The reason for arranging it this way is because in later generations, when living in the same house with elders, the eastern room, where the elders reside, is the most respected, and the western room is for the younger generation.

The northern room is the most respected if the house faces west to east.

The shaman is a person Han Cheng respects and is also older. Therefore, Han Cheng wants him to stay in the eastern room. This is a way for Han Cheng to show his respect to the shaman and cherish the memories of the future that he can never return to.

After searching for two more days without finding any traces of limestone, and with rain starting to fall, seeing the large area on the west wall getting wet, Han Cheng has to bow to reality and temporarily give up on limestone.

He decides to use mud to seal this area and fill the gaps. Repairing it in the future should be enough.

Thinking like this, although he feels a bit unwilling, he feels more relieved.

There seems to be nothing difficult in the world as long as one is willing to let go.

"Thud, thud, thud."

The Eldest Senior Brother and others are using tools to tamp the newly repaired ground in the room.

The soil inside the room needs to be tamped so it doesn't easily rise, and it's less likely for grass to grow awkwardly from the floor. Since it's raining outside and there's nothing to be done, it's a good time to tamp the ground in the room.

After the ground is tamped, Han Cheng has people bring a large amount of dry firewood. Both beds are ignited, and a fire is lit in the middle room. This can help expedite the removal of dampness from the room.