RPS – Chapter 29 Straw Sandals

After Li and Li Feng finished cleaning up, they quickly went to open the door. The fence gate had a small wooden stake nailed to the wall by Li Feng for privacy. The wooden stake was carved according to the design of a nail, but it was much larger than the nail, and it was tied to the fence gate with a leather rope. All they had to do was hang the rope on the wooden stake when going to bed. This was the simplest form of a wooden lock in primitive society.

This time, Li Feng got lucky, and fortunately, he had locked the door. Otherwise, Mo would have barged in with the baby. If they had seen that scene, Li Feng would definitely have been too embarrassed to face anyone.

Li Feng threw the dirty animal skin into the corner, planning to have Li clean it tomorrow. He quickly opened the door, and the baby was crying, pitifully gasping for air.

Li, with a dark face, watched Li Feng take the baby from Mo’s arms, giving Mo a glare. This guy really couldn’t handle things. He couldn’t even take care of the baby properly, causing him to stop halfway. Now, the little brother was still slightly arched, his body softened by the shock from Mo’s loud shout.

Mo was still confused, wondering why Li was so angry. He had no idea that he had ruined their plans. Looking at the baby who was still sobbing in Li Feng’s arms, Mo quickly reached out to touch the baby’s little hand to comfort him. “Li Feng Uncle, can we stay here tonight? The baby keeps crying in that room.”

Li Feng had made Mo call him “Li Feng Uncle” by force. The kid liked to call people by their names directly, which wasn’t a good habit. Children should be polite and taught proper manners from a young age.

“You’re already staying here. Who told you to go to another room?” Li Feng had already guessed it was Li’s doing and shot him a fierce look.

However, he didn’t realize that the look he just gave, after a brief moment of embarrassment, had turned into a flirtatious glance, full of spring-like allure, making Li want to throw him back onto the bed right away.

“Yo, what are you two doing, not sleeping at this hour?” A groggy Nuo leaned against his door, yawning as he asked. He intentionally swept an ambiguous look over Li Feng’s neck.

Even Li Feng, no matter how slow he was, knew something was wrong. Just now, Li seemed to have been nibbling on his neck like it was a duck neck. He couldn’t see it, but he could guess it must have left marks. He shot a glare at Nuo, then at Li, and quickly pulled Mo into the room, closing the door behind them and locking it. “Tonight, you sleep in another room.”

It was obvious he was talking to Li. Nuo chuckled as he watched Li sulk and walk towards the room where Mo had just slept. It wasn’t that the fence gate couldn’t be opened, but since Li Feng had said so, if Li didn’t listen, he would be even more distant next time.

The next day, Li Feng got up and cooked breakfast. After they ate, Li and the others went back to pick corn bean pods, while Li Feng stayed home to handle the household chores.

Li Feng told Mo to take the baby, while he went to the riverbank to wash the animal skins. The dirty animal skins from last night still had to be washed today. It was really frustrating. He wanted to throw them away, but he couldn’t bear to do it. After all, the animal skin was valuable, especially since winter was coming soon.

Li Feng took all the animal skins prepared for winter out to sun them, sterilizing them in the sunlight, while the dirty ones were taken to the river to wash. When Li Feng arrived at the river, many women and elderly people were already washing. He found an empty spot and placed the animal skins to one side, preparing to wash them.

Sitting next to him was Mi, who smiled at Li Feng with an ambiguous look. The people around also looked at him with suggestive smiles. “Feng, did you two do it last night?”

Mi smiled slyly, eyeing Li Feng’s neck.

Li Feng’s face immediately turned red. The women in this primitive society were really bold—how could they ask such a thing? “What? Why are you suddenly asking me that?”

“Huh, didn’t you say last night that you wouldn’t do it?” One of the women reminded him, pointing to the numerous kiss marks on his neck. “Did Li get a little too intense last night? Didn’t manage to fight back, huh?”

Li Feng was instantly embarrassed. Was that what he meant yesterday? Wasn’t it because they were laughing at him because they liked him? He felt a wave of frustration and confusion—this wasn’t what he meant at all! But with all the kiss marks on him, who would believe that he just meant they weren’t making corn pancakes?

Resigned, Li Feng gritted his teeth and managed to force a smile. “I was on top last night,” he said, then lowered his head to wash the animal skins, gritting his teeth in annoyance.

Although he really wanted to turn around and go home, he couldn’t. If he left now, they’d be even more convinced of their assumptions. So, he had to endure. “Li, this is all your fault,” he silently muttered, “Let’s see how I deal with you when I get back. Hmph, tonight we’ll make corn pancakes, but you won’t have any!”

As Li worked on the corn in the field, he suddenly shivered. The weather was still hot, so why did he suddenly feel a bit cold?

Li Feng grabbed a handful of sand from the riverbed and scrubbed it against the animal skins. There was no soap or anything, so sand was the best option for cleaning them. But what he was really thinking about wasn’t the cleaning method. As his hands worked on the skins, he could only think of Li’s name. How infuriating!

None of the women believed what Li Feng said about being “on top.” If he really was on top, then where did the child come from? Although Li Feng tried to refute their teasing, it completely backfired. Instead, the group of women started making even more jokes at his expense. For example:

“Feng, is Li good in bed?”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Is he big? Is he impressive?”

…And on and on it went.

Li Feng was getting a headache from all the gossip. These women were way too nosy, and not even the slightest bit shy. He was a man, okay? Did they really take him for a woman now? Were these the kinds of private conversations women normally had with each other? Or were women in primitive societies just this bold and uninhibited?

In the end, under the barrage of teasing, Li Feng grabbed the freshly washed animal skins and fled in a hurry. When did women become so scary? They were actually this curious about a man’s bedroom performance and asked such blunt, shameless questions—down to even inquiring about his size! It completely shattered his image of women.

He hung the animal skins out to dry on a hide rope stretched across the courtyard, then sat down and began to tend to his foot. He had run off so fast just now that he hadn’t noticed something had cut him. Hopefully, it wasn’t a shell? The tribe was full of shells now—maybe a child had tossed one on the ground?

Lifting his foot, sure enough, there was a cut, and it was bleeding. In this primitive tribe, there were no shoes. Only when going hunting would the men tie some hide to their feet, but since animal hide wore out easily, most people were reluctant to use it. So in the tribe, everyone—adults, kids, even elders—walked barefoot. Getting pricked or cut was an everyday occurrence. If it wasn’t serious, they’d just rub some dirt on it, and in a couple of days it would scab over. But Li Feng couldn’t stand that—who knew how many bacteria were in that dirt?

He cleaned the wound, but there was nothing to wrap it with. No gauze, no cloth. Animal hide wasn’t breathable and rotted easily. Plus, he still needed to walk on that foot. Leaving it unwrapped wasn’t an option—it would be way too painful.

Ugh, he really wished he had a pair of shoes right now. But how was he supposed to make shoes without needles, thread, or fabric?

Li Feng rolled around on the bed, frustrated, when suddenly he spotted the straw under him—straw sandals?

That’s right! Straw sandals! In ancient times, didn’t poor people make and sell them?

The more he thought about it, the more excited he got. He even forgot about his foot injury and ran outside with a bunch of straw. He needed to find some that was both soft and tough. If only he had rice straw—how perfect would that be? But of course he didn’t. Then again, if there was rice straw, that meant there’d be rice, right? What a dream.

Still, it was fine. Straw sandals didn’t have to be made from rice straw. As long as the grass was soft and sturdy, it would work. Hmm, corn leaves might do too—as long as he pulled out the thick central vein and only used the soft parts on either side. He’d ask Li and the others to pick some when they came back.

For now, he’d try weaving with some dry straw and see how it went. He only knew of straw sandals—he didn’t actually know how to make them. Uh… maybe it was kind of like weaving baskets? Just instead of twigs, he was using leaves?

The first pair he made was totally wonky—lopsided, mismatched, and you couldn’t even tell which was left and which was right. But at least you could kind of tell they were meant to be shoes… sort of. Even if they were loosely constructed, it was a good first try. Li Feng gave himself some encouragement: keep going, the next ones would be better. One day, he’d make pairs good enough for Li and the others to wear on hunts.

He didn’t even realize that the first person he thought of making shoes for wasn’t himself—but Li. He remembered all the scars on Li’s feet. Even with animal hide wrapped around them, they would easily get scraped up again, especially in the mountains.

While the baby was napping, Mo came over and saw Li Feng weaving sandals. When Li Feng explained what he was doing, Mo didn’t believe him at first.

“Straw can be made into shoes? Shoes you wear on your feet, so you don’t have to worry about sharp stuff on the ground?”

Li Feng confirmed with a nod. So Mo sat down beside him and started learning. The kid was sharp—he followed Li Feng’s instructions and examples, and actually managed to weave something pretty decent.

Mo originally wanted to make a pair of tiny shoes for the baby, but Li Feng stopped him. “The baby can’t walk yet, so he doesn’t need shoes for now.”

Li Feng then slipped a pair of straw sandals onto Mo’s feet—the ones Mo had made based on his (Li Feng’s) foot size. Li Feng had asked him to do it, and the little guy actually did. He even thought of the baby first instead of himself—pretty thoughtful. Seemed like Mo really liked the baby.

After putting the sandals on, Mo walked around a bit. They felt light and comfortable—soft, too. Seeing that the shoes were a bit loose, Li Feng twisted up some straw into laces and added them, so they wouldn’t fall off.

Watching Mo happily run around, Li Feng couldn’t help smiling too. This kid rarely smiled like this, so carefree and joyful. Guess kids are kids—getting new shoes always made them happy.

Li Feng set aside the few pairs of sandals he’d managed to make—they were barely passable as real shoes, but it was a start. When Li and the others came back, they could try them on for size. Of course, he’d already slipped his own pair on too.