Chapter 97 – That turtle
Translated by Sunyancai
“So, what are you…”
The Shaman looked at Shao Xuan, a little speechless, for he did not know what was the right thing to say in this situation. He had not received any living things for many years.
“It’s a present for your honor!”
Shao Xuan placed the turtle on the ground at the corner. On second thought, he decided to place it with its back on the ground. So, every time when it tried to turn over, the Shaman would just have to spin it back with a finger.
“I’m dropping it off here, and by the way, when should I come learn herbalism from you?” asked Shao Xuan.
The Shaman looked back as his eyes were fixed on the upturned turtle earlier. He thought about it and said, “You should come to the mountaintop in ten days.” He had a lot things on his plate recently, for some matters needed to be processed, and he had to draw many pictures on the animal skin roll. But he would be less busy after ten days.
“Alright, then I’ll come in ten days.” Seeing that the Shaman had a lot of blank animal skin rolls on the table, Shao Xuan knew that the Shaman had a lot of things to take care of. He said no more and excused himself after a decent salute. As for the turtle… it won’t be able to harm anyone since someone was guarding at the Shaman’s place.
When Shao Xuan had left, the Shaman silently stared at the turtle on the ground which had just turned itself over.
The turtle with murderous look was no longer behaving like a savage animal as it was in Shao Xuan’s cabin. Now, it opened its eagle-hooked mouth a little, staring at the Shaman with no other move.
The Shaman kept staring at the turtle for some time, and then called the guard to come inside, to take the turtle to another place.
Old Ke was waiting for Shao Xuan, when Shao Xuan came home that day. Old Ke seemed quite nervous. People in the tribe all valued the Shaman’s attitude a lot, so Old Ke wanted to know whether the Shaman was satisfied when he received such a unique present from Shao Xuan.
“How are things going? Did the Shaman like it?” Before Shao Xuan could enter the door, Old Ke asked hastily. The blue veins on his hand became more obvious than before because he was clutching his cane pretty hard out of nervousness. The cane was about to break…
Shao Xuan recalled the Shaman’s facial expression and then answered, “I think he is satisfied. He asked me to go to him in ten days.”
Old Ke was finally relieved hearing Shao Xuan’s words. Since the Shaman asked Shao Xuan to go to the mountaintop, it meant that he had no dissatisfaction towards Shao Xuan.
In fact, Shao Xuan felt that Old Ke’s concerns were not that necessary. Over time, he got to know the Shaman’s personality deeper than before. Although they did not have many long conversations, Shao Xuan could feel that the Shaman was not someone with an ancient mind, who knew nothing about change and progress. Also, he would not alter his attitude towards people based on the presents they sent him.
“Since you still have ten days, you should learn a thing or two about the herbs from the warriors in the other hunting team, before you go to the mountaintop. The Shaman will be delighted if you learned something in advance.” Old Ke had planned to go and visit some of his old pals in the hunting team who knew a thing or two about herbs. However, the pals he knew were all in the other hunting team right now, and they had been out for days. By the time, they come back, Shao Xuan would already be at the mountaintop.
Normally speaking, the animals and ferocious beasts in the forests had a wave-shaped activeness. When the two moons were full moons and overlapped another, it would reach the highest peak. However after that, there would be less and less animals that were active in the forest. By the end of the year, some animals hid in some places, preparing to hibernate. So, to make sure that they had enough food to survive the winter, the hunting team would go hunting for a longer time when it got near the end of the year.
Because of that, the other hunting team might not be able to come back even after twenty days. When Shao Xuan goes to the mountaintop, he would have to wait for another three or four days for them to come back. If something unpredictable happened on the road, it might take them longer.
“Then, I can’t help you in herbalism.” Old Ke had already forgotten most of the things he knew about herbs. He worried that if he taught Shao Xuan the wrong thing, Shao Xuan would be humiliated in front of the Shaman. It was the Shaman that he was going to face!
However, Shao Xuan had no such nervousness or anxiety as Old Ke, and he behaved just like normal. He did stone crafting, and trained Caesar and Chacha as usual in the training ground. Also, he kept learning and practicing the skills of setting traps.
During the season, many trees on the hills around the training ground had fruits on the branches, and many people would go and collect them. Many fruits had a short maturation period. One day before, it was only a peanut-sized green fruit, and the second day, it would grow into an apple-sized colorful fruit. If you did not pick it, it would rot the next day.
So, many people would go to the training ground just to collect the fruits. Most of them were residents from the mountain foot district. After all, they had a relatively short storage of food, so it was always better to have more food prepared before winter comes.
Finally, the day came when Shao Xuan ought to go to the mountaintop. Before he set off, Old Ke urged him again and again to not upset the Shaman, and be careful during the learning process. It was such a great honor to learn from the Shaman, so never to be careless!
Regardless of his true feelings at heart, Shao Xuan nodded seriously, “You just rest assured!”
Old Ke became totally speechless: “…”
He was about to feel relieved, but at that sentence, his heart was in turmoil again. Looking at Shao Xuan’s back as he headed up to the mountaintop, Old Ke was extremely worried.
Shao Xuan did not take Caesar with him, but Chacha followed him all the way to the mountaintop.
When he arrived in front of the door of the stone house that the Shaman used for meeting with other people, Shao Xuan saw the two guards staring at the sky.
Naturally, the two guarding warriors knew that eagle hovering in the sky, after all, it was taken to the Shaman and blessed by him since infancy. No one dared to harm him.
Shao Xuan made a gesture to the sky, and Chacha let out a cry before flying down home.
It was not the two guarding warriors’ first time seeing Shao Xuan do that. But every time they saw it, they would feel sincerely surprised and admire it. They had never thought about keeping a ferocious bird from the forest and making it behave like that. Because of that, they had a much gentler attitude towards Shao Xuan than they had towards most of people living below. They would even smile when they saw Shao Xuan coming.
Aside from the first few times, Shao Xuan now did not have to show his patterned pallet before he could be allowed to enter the house. No one would stop him from going inside now.
The Shaman was still sorting out the animal skin rolls. Shao Xuan glimpsed at them, but he could not recognize them. There seemed to be pictures on them, but the figures were too abstract. They were much simpler than the pictures on the animal skin rolls, and the pictures on the stone wall in the orphan cave. They looked more like symbols. Each one of the pictures only had one or two strokes. However, the Shaman was painting real slow, as if it took him a lot of strength to complete even one stroke.
Shao Xuan did not disturb the Shaman, and he sat beside him upon arriving.
After about five minutes, the Shaman finally dropped the pen and took a long breath. He looked at Shao Xuan with a light smile, “I’ve talked with Gui Ze. You should go to the medicine house directly, and she will inform you what to do next.”
Shao Xuan had no idea who this Gui Ze was, and he assumed that she was one of the Shaman’s apprentices. Under the current situation, the Shaman did not seem to be able to leave the stone house. The picture was only one-third complete, and quitting half way was not a good option. Shao Xuan understood that the Shaman was in the middle of his things.
“Okay, then I’ll go there.” Said Shao Xuan.
The medicine house was the special place to mix the herbs. There were many houses built near the mountaintop, and four of the houses were on the top. They were: The house that the Shaman used for meetings, the house that the Chief used for meetings, the house that served as the general office of the tribal leaders, and the medicine house.
These four stone houses were separated in four directions, and if you connected the opposite stone houses, you would draw a cross.
It was said that the four houses were connected with the fire pit, and they were warm even during winter times. As for how they were connected with the fire pit, it was a secret between the Shaman and the Flame.
Normally, aside from severely sick people and the badly wounded warriors, no one would ever go close to the medicine house. Shao Xuan only knew the exact location of the medicine house, but he had never entered it.
There was someone guarding in front of the medicine house. When Shao Xuan handed him his patterned pallet, the man let him in. Obviously, he was told to do so by the Shaman.
You could smell the scent of medicine from far away, and the smell grew stronger when you approached.
Shao Xuan walked inside as he lifted the animal skin curtain.
There was a square giant stone table in the middle of the house. A young girl was busy sorting different kinds of herbs in front of the table.
The sleeves of that animal skin top that she was wearing were just over her elbows, and the animal skin pants also did not reach her ankles. She was barefoot, walking on the uneven but carefully hardened soil ground, placing different kinds of herbs in the right locations along the stone table.
Behind her, a turtle that Shao Xuan was particularly familiar with was following her steps slowly. When she made a step forward, the turtle would do the exact same thing.
[Let me stop you right there. Take off those pink glasses. There is no romance here.
Also, I said it before, but that turtle is kyuuute!]