At dusk, the rain gradually faded, but it continued to clear down overnight until the early hours of the morning. Tu Zhen went to the forest to catch a pheasant, plucked it, disemboweled, washed and peeled it, and roasted it for Zhou Ji. Zhou Ji devoured his stomach, dug a pit and buried his bones and brains as usual, and continued his previous work.

He cut a bunch of tree poles, and inserted them in a circle along the earthen house, and broke many flexible branches at intervals, like weaving mats, bending back and forth, layer upon layer of high barriers, and although the wind leaked, the light, and the rain, at last it had the appearance of a wall. Tu Zhen watched it with great interest, Zhou Ji's every move gave her a great surprise, she didn't feel bored at all, and even put her daily practice on the back burner for the time being.

Zhou Ji spent several days of work to weave the four walls, and dug out a large pile of mud on the side of the mountain stream, added water and evenly, smeared a lump on the tree wall, wiped a thick layer, dried in the sun, and sheltered from the wind and rain.

During the days of labor, the two reached a tacit understanding, Tu Zhen hunted some prey in the morning and evening, cooked it and left it for him to satisfy his hunger, and in addition, he only watched quietly not far away, watching his every move. Zhou Ji never took the initiative to approach her, some eat, just a full meal, if there is no food, just hungry, just bury his head in his own business, rubbing ropes, weaving baskets, weaving mats, all is nothing more than branches and bark, his hands are busy, methodical, and silent.

On this day, the weather was very good, he found the dry and whitish grass stalks from the mountains and forests, tore them up and put them under the wood chips, sat down with his legs, first scraped back and forth with a sharpened hardwood pole, and then rubbed quickly with his palms, and from time to time lowered his head to carefully blow a few breaths, and pounded for most of the hour, tired and his back hurt, and his body lay on the ground crookedly, and his ten fingers trembled like a sheep's madness.

Tu Zhen can see that this is drilling wood to make fire.

Making fire is a technical job, Zhou Ji drilled and rested, spent most of the day, thought he had mastered the trick, and rubbed his palms so red and swollen, but there was no fire. He pondered for a while, got up and made a drill bow out of the bark of a branch, pressed the wooden pole and pulled it back and forth, and after a while, the wood chips drilled a scorched black hole, and wisps of white smoke rose up, and when they blew gently, small flames appeared from the grass stems, which appeared and disappeared from time to time. He hurriedly piled up the branches, puffed out his cheeks and blew hard, and with great effort, finally lit a bonfire.

With fire, everything is easy to do.

Zhou Ji was full of interest, carried the basket and searched around, unconsciously turned over a hill, and found a termite nest on the sunny slope, which was more than one person high, and looked like a hill from afar. He smashed down the soil of the ant's nest with stones, and was not greedy enough, and filled a basket full of them, and carried them on his back with great difficulty, and staggered back, and walked more and more slowly, and the black rumbling went down the wrong road again, and went around in a circle, and it was midnight when he returned to the earthen house.

He drank a few sips of water, collapsed like a dead pig in the earthen hut, and fell into a deep sleep.

Tu Zhen was puzzled, what did he want to do after spending so much effort to be brought back by a basket of clods?

This hike was tiring, Zhou Ji slept until three poles in the sun before getting up, ate something to fill his stomach, his body was sore, and he couldn't exert his strength. He sat on the side of the mountain stream for a while, found a slightly flat stone, smashed the soil of the ant's nest, picked up the stone, poured water on it, mixed it well, kneaded and hammered it, and formed a piece of clay with moderate hardness and softness. He first pressed a round cake as the base, then rolled out a long strip of clay, circled around the bottom of the circle, and wiped it with his hands from time to time to make a crude clay pot, which was full of finger marks and fingerprints.

Zhou Ji put the clay pot on three stones, built a circle of wet mud around it, like an open furnace, dug a few holes at the bottom, dotted the branches and stuffed them, endured the smoke and fire, added hard wood from time to time, and waited for the clay pot to be hot and hot, and burned for most of the day. During the period, he had nothing to do, while taking care of the fire, he made a few fish baskets with palm leaf stems, and after the fire was removed, he put the fish baskets in the turbulent place of the mountain stream to wait for the rabbits, shook his shoulders and beat his waist, and returned to the earthen house to rest.

After a night, the clay pot was cold, scrubbed in the mountain stream, and after careful inspection, it did not leak. A few palm-sized fish were caught in the basket, the scales were scraped off, the gills were removed, and they were thrown into a clay pot, sprinkled with a handful of lotus seeds, and a pot of hot fish soup was cooked. The aroma came to his nose, Zhou Ji breathed a long sigh of relief, a smile appeared on his round face, he beckoned to Tu Zhen, pointed to the fish soup and said, "Taste?"

Tu Zhen squatted beside him, stretched out his hand and retracted it, as if he was a little distressed. Zhou Ji smiled, took the clay pot off the fire, handed it to her, Tu Zhen took the hot clay pot, blew the hot air, and drank a few sips on the edge of the pot.

Zhou Ji asked, "How is it?"

Tu Zhen hesitated for a moment and said, "It's hot." ”

Zhou Ji took the clay pot from her hand, tasted it, and said regretfully: "It would be nice if there was salt, and it would be better to add some pepper." ”

The two of them were close at hand, and Tu Zhen looked at him with a gray face, his robe was dirty, and he exuded a rancid smell, and he didn't feel a little sad. She tilted her head to look at him for a long time, and said softly, "Why do you live so hard? Why don't you use magic powers? Why don't you concentrate on cultivation?"

Zhou Ji said lightly: "This is so smooth." ”

Tu Zhen was speechless, she didn't know what to say, not that she couldn't, but she didn't want to, let the weak water be three thousand, I only took one scoop to drink, this scoop is to drink water, eat, sleep, cut trees, build houses, rub ropes, weave baskets, weave mats, make fire, make pottery, cook soup, is everything she has seen these days.

"As for cultivation, does this kind of thing need to be done deliberately? Eating is cultivation, sleeping is cultivation, working is cultivation, and all the time, not cultivating. ”

"The master asked me to follow you, why...... You don't even look at me?"

Zhou Ji laughed and said leisurely: "If I met you in my previous life, I wouldn't even let you taste this can of fish soup." ”

"Why?"

"Look at you, look at me again...... Because of the fear of losing, he refuses to approach. ”

Tu Zhen blinked in confusion, as if he understood something, but also seemed to understand nothing.

"Thank you for taking care of me, and in the future, let me take care of myself. I have long been accustomed to living alone, even if I leave the city and go to the barren mountains and wilderness, with empty hands and nothing, I can live peacefully and enjoy myself. ”

Zhou Ji paused, brought the clay pot to his mouth, drank most of it, scooped up the small fish and ate it, smiled at Tu Zhen, with surimi embedded between his teeth, and his eyes narrowed into a slit. For the first time, Tu Zhen saw him smile so brightly, so relieved.

Tu Zhen stood up, stepped back step by step, left Zhou Ji in place, watched him wash the clay pot, and began to make clay again, humming a little song in his mouth, vague and indistinct. She felt a little lost.

An inexplicable throbbing sounded in his heart, Tu Zhen was stunned, and almost at the same time, Zhou Ji stopped his hands and looked up at the other side of the mountains and forests, his gaze crossed thousands of mountains and rivers, and cast himself to the distant other side. At this moment, they both felt that Wei Qiqi had left the Bilian Small Realm, left the Unsullied Cave, left Huangting Mountain, and embarked on another unknown journey.

He may be back tomorrow, maybe never.