Chapter 50: Making Clothes

  At dinner, Mo Yier drank two large bowls of hot meat soup, which warmed her body a lot. In order to help Mo Yier make clothes, Sang Zhen specially assigned the task of washing chopsticks to Si Fen Ni. Now, Si Fen Ni always carries a small black (dog) on her back wrapped in a woolen blanket and fixes it with a tree branch. She does whatever she wants! Even if the little black dog cries loudly, she just ignores it and continues doing her own thing. Mo Yier has said many things, but primitive humans are not very particular about some things, and it's hard for them to change overnight. So, Sang Zhen just lets her be, maybe this way of raising children will make them more robust (physically strong and less prone to illness).

  "Mo Yu'er, what do you plan to do?" Sang Zhen asked, looking at the large pile of animal hides and silkworm cocoons. If she was making a fur skirt, these hides were too many. Moreover, Mo Yu'er seemed to be afraid of the cold, and when winter arrived, she would wrap herself in thick animal hides all day long. When going out, she would tie them around her body with grass ropes, and even then, her arms would still be exposed during activities.

  "This is what I'm telling you, can you help me sew these animal hides together?" Mo Yier had already cut the animal hide into several pieces with her stone knife. Two large pieces were for the front and back of the garment, which needed to be sewn at the shoulder and sides, leaving space for the sleeves. Then, two cylindrical sleeves would be attached, completing a simple but functional garment that was much better than simply wrapping the hides around her body.

  Sang Zhen picked up the bone needle and began to sew clothes diligently, even if it was very late, she didn't have a single complaint. Mo Yier looked at the sleeping tribespeople and said to her: "Sang Zhen, go to sleep first, it's too late."

  Sang Zhen turned her head to smile at Mo Yier, her black eyes shining brightly without a hint of fatigue: "It's okay, you're very afraid of the cold, I want you to put on the fur coat as soon as possible."

  "San Zhen, you're so good!" Mo Yier's heart flowed with warmth, and even though the cool night wind blew into the cave, she didn't feel that cold anymore.

  Sang Zhen continued to be busy, her fingers were extremely nimble. Silfeni, who had woken up from a nap, walked over this way, Xiao Hei was placed beside Zhang Peng last night and fell asleep, everyone said that Xiao Hei looked very much like Zhang Peng, should be his child. However, Silfeni's other men were also very good to Xiao Hei, as long as they came back from hunting, they would all hug him and kiss him! "Why are you still not sleeping? Are you sewing animal skin skirts? So big!"

  "It's Mo Yu'er's animal skin garment, it's almost done." Sang Zhen didn't even lift her head, and the movements of her hands became faster.

  "I'll help out too!" Silphrena said, seeming quite interested in making animal hide clothing.

  "Aren't you tired?" Mo Yi'er looked at the two people apologetically, both of whom had been tormented by her and couldn't sleep in the middle of the night.

  "I'm not tired, I'll do it, after I finish yours, I'll make one for myself later." Silfeny said with a smile, she was younger than Sangzhen and was lively and bold, not bound by trivial matters. The other women in the tribe would also be more considerate of her.

  "Alright, when the time comes, everyone will do one thing, it should be very warm." Mo Yi'er didn't waste any more words and told Silfeni what to do. With an extra person helping, the rough animal skin clothes were sewn up by a little past 1 am. Mo Yi'er's cartoon watch was still working, but who knows how long the battery would last? When it stops working, Mo Yi'er will completely lose all sense of time.

  "I'll try it on!" Mo Yuer was delighted to touch her white fox fur coat, and she was very happy in her heart. The clothes were slightly larger, with a hood, and after putting them on, they were really warm, worthy of being genuine fox fur.

  "Wow, this way nothing will show under the sleeves anymore, what a great beast skin coat." Silfaeni exclaimed with excitement. Every cold day the people of the tribe suffered greatly, but with such clothing, it would be much better!

  "Yes, we can spare some time to make something for the men so they won't be cold when they go hunting. I believe this winter we won't have to starve or freeze again!" Xiang Zhen said thoughtfully, remembering that her best playmate in childhood had frozen to death in the winter.

  "Alright, let's go to sleep first! There's still work to be done tomorrow! When I have time, I'll cut out the animal hide and you and Silfanie can come back to sew it!" Mo Yier yawned, and the three women who had been up all night went back to bed.

  The next morning, Mo Yier was awakened by a small ball of fluff licking her. The cave was already empty, with no one in sight. Mo Yier stretched and put on the fox fur clothes that Sang Zhen and Xi Fen Ni had made for her. She happily left the cave, but she wasn't wearing any pants, just a sleeping robe, revealing half of her body, which looked quite strange.

  "Mo Ye, are you awake? I left some meat soup for you in the ceramic pot, eat it quickly!" Ka Sa said while stirring the wooden pulp in the stone pot. The last time they cut down three hollow trees and made crystal sugar out of them, the tribe members went to the water pool again to find a few more hollow trees and extract the wooden pulp. This time, they didn't bring back the whole tree, but instead, they sawed open a hole on the trunk and used a wooden bucket to bring back the pulp to make sugar. Mo Ye already thought that the amount of sugar they made was enough for the tribe to eat for a while, but Ka Sa said they could make more to exchange with other tribes, so Mo Ye didn't stop her.

  "Okay, I'll go eat breakfast now." Mo Yi'er smiled and replied, walking to the side of the clay pot on the warm fire, starting to eat her breakfast. The little ball of fluff followed again, thinking it was by her feet, the small creature's body emitting a warm body temperature, Mo Yi'er loved holding it at night when she slept now.

  "Mo Yu'er, don't forget to cut out the animal hide in a bit." Silfeny shouted loudly, with Xiao Hei on her back, his nose red from the cold. After this period of time, Xiao Hei had gotten used to being carried by Silfeny, but the weather was too cold and dry, and the little guy wasn't very comfortable, his mouth scrunched up as if he were about to cry.

  "Alright, I know. But first, let's make a set of clothes for Xiao Hei, look at him shivering." Mo Yier walked over and pinched Xiao Hei's red nose, the chill was really heart-wrenching. "I'll be cutting animal hides in the cave today, have Xiao Hei help me carry them!"

  "Okay!" Silfeni happily responded and directly took Xiao Hei from her back and put it in Mo Yi'er's arms.

  Xiao Hei was delighted, Mo Yi'er's arms were much more comfortable than his mother's hard back. The little guy was very well-behaved, when Mo Yi'er ate, he would gnaw on his own fingers, making Mo Yi'er laugh out loud and feed him two mouthfuls of meat soup without any food. Because there was salt in it, afterwards Mo Yi'er fed him a few more mouthfuls of clear water, Xiao Hei eating with relish, even more satisfied than drinking Silfen's milk. "Haha, little black, you're so well-behaved, sister will make clothes for you!"