From Robinson Crusoe

Chen Zhou taught the special word "festival" to the indigenous people through practical actions.

For the first time in their lives, they enjoyed a feast without oppression and without leaders abusing ordinary members.

For the first time in their lives, they experienced a sacrifice that did not involve cannibalism or even murder, but the sense of oppression was much stronger than that caused by cannibalism and murder.

They received their first "gift" in their lives, including sparkling beads, a strange little pot that could be carried on the body to boil water, and a hard and round doll...

They received the promise from the gods.

There will be more festivals like this in the future, and next time they will receive different gifts.

So they began to look forward to the future, and for the first time, hope and more light appeared in their previously closed hearts.

……

After the wonderful New Year's Day, Chen Zhou began to prepare to build a charcoal kiln according to the plan.

But before that, he did one important thing - naming the natives.

The two natives have been on the island for more than half a month. They have learned a lot of different words and can now roughly understand a lot of what he says. For some words they don't understand, they can also connect the context and make vague guesses based on Chen Zhou's tone, expression, and body language.

Now the two of them have learned to divide the work among themselves during the day, one takes care of the farmland while the other herds the sheep.

In the afternoon, when the two of them are free, one of them will clean up while the other studies.

It made Chen Zhou feel ashamed to say this. Even though the two natives had only been there for a few days, since they learned how to wash clothes, they washed clothes much more diligently than he did. Even though he did not allow the use of large amounts of detergent, the two would rather wash clothes by hand with clean water than let stains appear on their clothes.

When the two separated, it was relatively easy for Chen Zhou to call one of them. He usually just shouted "Hey", and the natives who heard the voice would come running over.

If the two were together, it would be difficult for Chen Zhou to control either of them.

He had to point out one person alone, or walk up to that person, to get him to do something alone - although the opportunities to instruct the natives to do things alone were rare, it was still troublesome.

Thinking that the cats and dogs at home all have names, there is no reason not to name the two hard-working natives, so Chen Zhou referred to the original work and named them "Saturday" and "Sunday" respectively.

The first native to be rescued was a cheerful and outgoing one named "Sunday".

The skinny native who "came back from the dead" was named "Saturday".

The names of the two not only correspond to Friday in Robinson Crusoe, but also express Chen Zhou's good wishes:

Saturday and Sunday represent holidays. He hopes that these two natives can become his holidays in the future, allowing him to completely become a hands-off boss and devote his energy to his hobbies instead of heavy and boring work.

……

Names have extremely important meanings in traditional Chinese culture.

It often symbolizes the expectations of elders for younger generations, and from a metaphysical perspective, it can also predict a person's good or bad fortune.

Chen Zhou originally wanted the two natives to have the same surname as him, Chen, and then give them common names of ancient servants and warriors, such as Chen Long and Chen Hu, Chen Chao and Chen Han, or Chen Da and Chen Er.

Later, he considered that the two natives should already have names in the tribe, so he gave them names himself, which basically served as nicknames.

Moreover, they had only been together for more than half a month, and he didn't want to give his surname to the natives too early. He didn't think that the relationship between them was close enough to be like a family.

So far, the two natives didn't even know his name.

In fact, even though the natives behaved very honestly during this period and never tried to escape or attack him, he still did not let his guard down.

Especially at night, in order to ensure his own safety, he would put the loaded flintlock rifle beside the bed, put the revolver under the pillow, and put the rifle in the yard.

In this way, as long as the natives had any ill intentions, he could immediately draw his gun and fight back after Lai Fu gave a warning.

As long as the two little natives did not know how to use guns, there was no way they could endanger his life, and the outer wall of the courtyard could give him enough time to react.

But until now, his preparations had been of no use.

After finishing their work every day, the two natives had already used up most of their energy. After returning to the cabin, they had to concentrate on reviewing what they had learned, and it didn't take long before they fell asleep.

Moreover, according to Chen Zhou's observation, they had no intention of escaping, let alone any bad intentions.

If nothing else, the chocolate and spiced delicacies alone were enough to keep them happy, not to mention the lighter work and full meals every day.

……

In any case, the two hasty names of Saturday and Sunday have been given to the indigenous people by Chen Zhou.

They had not yet learned these two words in Chinese and did not know what these two similar-sounding names meant, but this did not affect their joy after getting the new names.

The two natives learned their names much faster than usual and called out to their companions, beaming with smiles when they received the answers.

After becoming fully familiar with the pronunciation, they even begged Chen Zhou to teach them how to write their own names.

After receiving the white clay board with "Saturday" and "Sunday" written by Chen Zhou himself, the two people who had no paper finished their work, squatted on the ground, picked up wooden sticks and practiced their names crookedly.

Seeing this scene, Chen Zhou just smiled lightly on the surface, but he felt a warm feeling in his heart.

He could feel that the two native boys treated him like a father, or someone they respected and trusted more.

It was just that their identity as cannibalistic natives made him dare not fully trust them, just like Robinson in the book did not dare to trust Friday for a long time.

In order to demonstrate one's loyalty, in addition to respect and obedience in peacetime, one also needs to prove one's bravery and willingness to go through fire and water for the Lord through bloodshed and sacrifice in times of war.

……

After entering the new year, Chen Zhou led the natives to the beach only twice, on January 1 and January 3, to collect his fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth mysterious rewards.

The appearance of these two rewards was far less shocking than the last time the Iron Pagoda was presented. They were both small paper boxes.

The paper box containing the 55th reward contained a pair of exquisite outdoor gloves, which were windproof and warm.

It was extremely hot on the island, and Chen Zhou had no use for the gloves, so he put them in a wooden box for safekeeping.

The paper box for the fifty-sixth reward was slightly larger, and inside was a pair of sneakers, which were just the right pair of shoes for summer.

But what annoyed Chen Zhou was that the size of the shoes was three or four sizes smaller than his feet. Even if he tried his best, he couldn't wear the shoes.

However, the feet of the two natives seemed to be born for these shoes. One can tell at a glance that the shoes fit their feet perfectly.

However, since he had just given the gift on New Year's Day, Chen Zhou would not give away this pair of precious shoes easily even if it fit the size of the natives' feet.

Besides, there is only one pair of shoes, but there are two natives. It is impossible for one to wear the left foot and the other to wear the right foot!
He could only keep the shoes silently and secretly observe the performance of the two natives. When one of them made meritorious service or performed extremely well, he would package the shoes as a gift from God and give them to them.

……

For the rest of the month, he confidently left the crops and sheep to Saturdays and Sundays. Apart from compiling teaching materials at night and occasionally teaching two natives to write, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the construction of the charcoal kiln.

He spent two days selecting the location of the charcoal kiln. At first, he wanted to build the charcoal kiln closer to the cave dwelling.

Later he thought that the smoke produced when working in a charcoal kiln was too heavy, which was harmful to the body.

Secondly, the rising smoke acts as an indicator light, which can easily expose the location of the cave.

He originally chose to build the cave in this shady place in order to find a place hidden enough to avoid attacks from potential enemies. Now building such a "beacon tower" is a contradiction in terms.

In addition to pollution and smoke, there is another disadvantage of shade - poor ventilation and lack of dryness.

Strong winds usually blow on sunny slopes, and poor ventilation is not conducive to combustion in the kiln, while more moist and water-absorbent soil will also affect the quality of charcoal.

After searching everywhere, Chen Zhou finally arranged the construction site of the charcoal kiln on the hillside below the sunny slope not far from the rubble pile.

The land there is dry and very close to the white soil, which saves a lot of effort in transporting building materials. At the same time, the gravel pile is close to the forest, so after felling the wood, it can be transported directly to the kiln and stacked, which is conducive to production.

As for the requirement of ventilation, the gravel pile meets the requirement perfectly.

……

Before officially starting construction, Chen Zhou built several small charcoal kilns not far from the selected site based on his experience in making earthen rice husks and water-penetrating mills. He used experiments to understand how to build a qualified charcoal kiln.

The process of building a charcoal kiln is actually not complicated.

The first step is to dig a hole deep enough to hold the wood.

The second step is to build the kiln wall with bricks or rammed earth. The kiln wall must be thick enough to withstand burning and not easily damaged by wind and rain.

After the kiln walls are built, it is time to build a chimney on the back wall of the kiln, extending from the deep pit to the ground.

One of the most critical structures is the fire pit used for ignition.

It is located at the front of the kiln, lower than the bottom of the kiln. Ignition here can directly ignite the wood above.

Another key structure is the ventilation hole reserved on the kiln roof, which is used to observe the fire and understand the situation inside the kiln.

Without this vent, people would be blind when burning charcoal and could only judge the state of the wood in the kiln based on experience, which would greatly reduce the success rate.

Another key structure is the kiln door.

The main function of the kiln door is to ensure the sealing of the charcoal kiln. Otherwise, once oxygen flows into the kiln and promotes combustion, the charcoal may turn into ashes.

After handling these key structures, whether good quality charcoal can be burned out when using the charcoal kiln depends on many factors.

For example, when it comes to the choice of wood, in Chen Zhou’s hometown, pine trees are generally used. If there is no pine, other hardwoods can also be used. Generally, the denser the wood, the more resistant the charcoal will be to burning.

Another example is the stacking of wood.

Inside the kiln, the wood is usually placed upright or at an angle, with the large end facing upward, forming an arch around the center.

If divided into areas, high-quality wood should be placed at the back and low-quality wood at the front.

There was once a charcoal kiln site from the Republic of China period in the village where Chen Zhou's grandmother lived. When Chen Zhou was a child, he often played in the kiln with his friends, and also listened to the elders talk about how the charcoal kiln worked.

But many details have sunk into the ocean of his memory.

He only knew that after igniting the wood in the kiln, the key was to control the oxygen in the kiln, ventilate it first to allow the wood to burn fully, and then slowly close the kiln door to reduce the entry of oxygen and allow the wood to enter the oxygen-free carbonization stage.

Finally, the kiln door is completely closed, leaving only the chimney to exhaust smoke. By visually observing the color of the smoke, one can understand the stage of carbonization of the wood.

……

After several experiments with the "small charcoal kiln", Chen Zhou summarized his experience and improved the design, and added some small designs to the charcoal kiln that he had previously overlooked.

For example, laying some gravel at the bottom of the charcoal burning pit to increase ventilation during charcoal burning.

For example, try to lengthen the chimney and let the smoke be discharged into the sky. This will not only allow you to observe the color of the smoke more intuitively, but also reduce pollution.

Another key point is fire prevention. It is necessary to clear away flammable materials near the charcoal kiln, dig a fire prevention ditch, and then build a small house nearby to store some water and sand.

There is a forest not far from the charcoal kiln, and there is wood piled next to it. If a fire occurs, the consequences will be disastrous.

……

Chen Zhou originally wanted to build the charcoal kiln on his own without the help of the indigenous people.

But considering that the rainy season is approaching, if the charcoal kiln cannot be built and put into use as soon as possible to produce enough charcoal, his forging plan will most likely be delayed for a full two months before it can officially begin.

And the charcoal kiln is not the only building that needs to be built on the island.

When the rainy season comes, the rainfall is almost continuous. We can't let the two natives go to the toilet outside in the rain every day. Not only is it unhygienic, but it may also cause illness.

A toilet must be built for the two natives as soon as possible.

It is also troublesome to make a fire and cook outside during the rainy season.

Considering that the two natives were crowded in a small wooden house and there was not enough space indoors for them to cook, Chen Zhou planned to build a separate kitchen for them, or directly build a larger wooden house to give them a new home.

The important things include not only these, but also the consumption of some materials.

For example, the family’s cocoa bean reserves have now run out, so Chen Zhou must go to the Fruit Tree Valley to collect more cocoa beans before the dry season ends.

Even if he didn't eat it himself, he couldn't deduct the prize from the two natives. This was a matter of principle.

……

The work does not decrease when there is someone to share it with; it is always endless if you look for it.

In order to forge qualified metal tools as soon as possible, Chen Zhou forced himself to end his "leisure" state and go to the selected charcoal kiln construction site alone every morning. He was busy carrying building materials, digging deep pits, or building kiln walls.

The two natives were not idle either. After noon, after finishing their work, they went to the "construction site" to help.

They didn't know how to build a wall, but they were able to work as a laborer for Chen Zhou, passing him basins of mud, or moving a few bricks and laying a layer of sand.

In this way, under the leadership of Chen Zhou and the cooperation of the three people, by the beginning of February, not only was the charcoal kiln built, but even the first batch of wood to be put into the kiln had been cut down and piled not far from the charcoal kiln.

……

The work was completed just as the sun was setting.

The huge charcoal kiln, which looks like a tomb mound, is covered with a layer of white mud, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, and has a straight and tall chimney on top, which is spectacular.

Chen Zhou was holding a bottle of Arrack in his hand, his body covered in mud, and he squinted his eyes as he looked at this huge building that he designed and built himself.

The two natives were also covered in dust and sat behind him, looking at the charcoal kiln with confused faces. They were not sure what this huge building, which was more than ten times larger than the tribal leader's house, was used for. (End of this chapter)