RPS – Chapter 58 Reed Mats

A well-fed baby is much easier to please. Though he wasn’t eating or drinking anymore, his hands were still busy—clutching tightly onto Li Feng’s hair without letting go. If Li Feng had a chest, the baby would probably be grabbing that instead. Maybe it made him feel more secure. After all, he preferred falling asleep in his father’s arms rather than lying alone on a cold bed without his father’s warmth and scent. That had to be a frightening feeling. Li Feng had always believed this. So, whenever the baby wanted to sleep, Li Feng would personally hold and soothe him until he nodded off. Otherwise, he’d be consumed with guilt, feeling like the baby was being neglected. Because of this, every time the baby made the slightest noise, Li Feng would immediately drop whatever he was doing and rush to hold him. To him, nothing was more important than his child.

At this moment, Li Feng was gently coaxing the baby to sleep. Once the baby was asleep, he could clean himself up and get some rest. Tomorrow was packed with tasks: he had to weave shoes and check on the reeds. If the reeds were ready, he’d need to start weaving mats. His schedule was packed, and even then, he wasn’t sure it would be enough. So, he had to conserve his energy now; otherwise, he wouldn’t have the strength for everything tomorrow.

Little Bun had clearly eaten and drunk his fill, and with Li Feng’s gentle lullabies, he quickly drifted off. Li Feng carefully laid him on the bed and pried open his tiny fingers—his hair was still tightly clutched in the baby’s fist. Every movement was slow, light, and gentle. Waking a sleeping baby by accident was a nightmare; it would be a real struggle to get him back to sleep.

Li Feng looked down at the mess between his legs and quickly adjusted the animal skins before stepping outside to wash up. There was no bathhouse or hot water here. He had thought about it when building the house, but these were just mud rooms. Building a bathroom would have made things damp and hard to clean, so he scrapped the idea. His backup plan for winter was to place a large wooden tub—if they could even make one—in the kitchen. If not, he’d settle for a ceramic basin. At least they could wipe themselves down, even if they couldn’t sit and soak. Everything here was so primitive that even a wooden tub was a luxury they couldn’t afford. Still, the kitchen was spacious, and they could heat water and bathe there in the warmth. That would save them the trouble of sacrificing another room just for bathing.

But for now, there was no other option but to use cold water. Thankfully, it wasn’t freshly drawn; it had been brought in during the day, so it wasn’t icy. At least it was tolerable for Li Feng. An autumn cold-water bath wasn’t exactly pleasant, but he didn’t have a choice—he had to clean up. Boiling water was too troublesome. Ah, if only they had a kettle! But they had nothing. It really was a place where if you needed something, it just didn’t exist.

Li, of course, wanted to follow Li Feng out again. But this time, Li Feng didn’t let him get close. No way—he couldn’t allow that again. Sleep was the priority now. Li understood there was no chance of continuing things tonight. He obediently washed up and sneakily tried to take advantage by offering to scrub Li Feng’s back.

The night passed peacefully. The baby didn’t wake up crying, and Li Feng and the others finally got a good night’s sleep.

As soon as dawn broke, Li Feng was up and busy, rushing around non-stop. First breakfast, then retrieving the soaking reeds. After that, more washing and prep work—there was never a break.

The reeds were hauled back by Li Feng and Ruo, covered in mud from head to toe. But they weren’t in bad shape. None of them were rotten or brittle. After cleaning up, they started boiling water. Even though the reeds had been soaked, they still needed to be softened with hot water so they could be woven into the desired shapes.

Ruo had assumed that the priority now would be making shoes. But Li Feng seemed far more interested in weaving mats—something Ruo didn’t see the point of. Still, he didn’t know that Li Feng had his reasons for the urgency.

These mats weren’t just for lying on or hanging on the walls. The most important function was weatherproofing. Placed on the roof and sealed with mud and sand, they would help block wind and rain in the winter. They could also be used in animal shelters and the kitchen. Shoes were important, sure—but so was the house. Although their home hadn’t leaked during previous rains, Li Feng was still worried. The roof was made of crude thatch, built with no real technique. How could he sleep peacefully with that? Winter snow and rain were inevitable, and waiting until then to make mats would be too late. Plus, winter’s cold would make the reeds brittle and prone to breaking during weaving.

Not to mention, the mats had plenty of other uses. They could be used for drying items in the sun, or turned into grain baskets by weaving them long and narrow, then winding them into spirals. Layer after layer would form a hollow space perfect for storing harvested grains.

Li Feng also planned to take advantage of the good weather and harvest as many reeds as possible to weave extra mats. He could even use them to decorate their house, as ceiling panels or wall coverings. Right now, their home was just a dull, dusty yellow. Over time, the mud would start shedding fine dust, and if someone accidentally brushed against the walls, they’d be covered in dirt. Decorating the house wouldn’t just make it look better—it would make it cleaner, too.

Now that Li Feng had a clear goal, he was busier than ever every day. As for making shoes, he had pretty much handed that over to Nuo. If Nuo had any questions, he could just ask. Besides, Li Feng had taught him before, and in any case, this was Li Feng’s first time doing it too, so he wasn’t necessarily better at it than Nuo. Their skills were about the same now, so letting Nuo handle it didn’t worry him at all.

As for Li Feng himself, he was busy preparing to weave mats. The people in the tribe had already come to learn how to make shoes. A few representatives had been chosen and taught so they could pass the knowledge on to others. This avoided having too many people come all at once or a constant stream of visitors asking for help. Li Feng was truly overwhelmed—he wished there were forty-eight hours in a day. Even the baby had been handed off to Mo to look after, and Li Feng only held or soothed the child when he had a spare moment. Of course, those moments weren’t few—whenever the baby was awake, it was mostly Li Feng who looked after him. After all, if Mo held the baby for too long, the little one would get fussy. So Li Feng had to juggle work while also making time to hold the baby.

When it came to weaving reed mats, there were many techniques and methods. Li Feng only knew a few basic ones. The most difficult part was actually the early stages of preparation. Of course, the weaving itself wasn’t easy either, but compared to the prep work, it was somewhat simpler.

Once the reeds were brought home, they had to be thoroughly cleaned. Then came the next step: splitting them into thin strips. The reeds were naturally slender, and a stalk as thick as a pinky finger could be split into four or five strips—if one had the skill. The key was that the strips had to be similar in size and thickness so that the finished mat wouldn’t end up uneven or have curling edges.

Due to a lack of proper tools, Li Feng had to find suitable alternatives. The best tool he could find for splitting reeds was a river clam shell, preferably a large one. Splitting reeds was both a skill and a labor-intensive task. It wasn’t easy to split all the reeds in the yard, especially since reeds, like bamboo, had joints. You had to be very careful not to snap the strips midway, or they’d be unusable for weaving a large mat. Ideally, the reed should be split all the way in one motion. If you paused, the crack would widen and make the strip more likely to break.

At first, Li Feng struggled and wasted quite a few reeds. It took a while for him to get the hang of it. He was also very cautious while working. The reeds were sharp and could easily cut the hand or prick with fine splinters. Unlike machine-cut strips, these were rough, and the clam shells weren’t exactly sharp blades or professional tools like reed splitters or pullers. But there was no choice—clam shells were all he had.

There was no way Li Feng could finish splitting the two massive bundles of reeds by himself in one day. He wasn’t a professional and didn’t have endless strength. So, he roped in Nuo, who was sitting nearby working on shoes and occasionally watching Li Feng with interest. Nuo was a bit stronger than him, so Li Feng decided to make use of that—better than wasting strength on someone who didn’t need to exert themselves.

Though Nuo usually acted playful like a child, he was actually quite clever. He picked up whatever Li Feng taught him quickly and was good with his hands. After practicing on just a few reeds, Nuo managed to split them quite well—his strips were even better in size than Li Feng’s.

“How about that? Not bad, huh?” Nuo said proudly, looking at the evenly cut strips next to him.

Li Feng glanced at them and had to admit that Nuo, despite being a bit childish, was quite talented. It wasn’t easy to make strips of uniform size from reeds that varied so much in thickness—it normally took lots of practice. “Mm, not bad. Keep it up!” he replied in a deliberately calm tone, trying not to let Nuo get too proud, even though he genuinely wanted to praise him.

Nuo looked at him with mild dissatisfaction. He was now doing the hard labor of splitting reeds while Li Feng sat and worked on shoes. Yet all he got was a simple “not bad”? He was really proud of his work—some of his strips were better than Li Feng’s! And Li Feng had even explained to him how hard this task was! But Li Feng didn’t respond to Nuo’s grumbling. Nuo had no choice but to continue working while muttering under his breath.

Li Feng chuckled to himself. Nuo really was like a kid—maybe even less mature than Mo. He always seemed to be fighting with Mo over food.

By the end of the day, the two of them had managed to finish splitting all the reeds. But they were exhausted—arms so sore they could barely lift them. Li Feng soaked the finished strips in water to soften them further, ready for the next step: pressing them flat with a roller. Since the reeds had already been soaked once, they were pretty pliable and wouldn’t snap under pressure.

Once pressed, the reed strips would become flat and flexible—perfect for weaving smooth, even mats. Of course, there wasn’t an actual roller available here, but there were plenty of rocks. Since they lived near a mountain, it wasn’t hard to find a large, slightly oval-shaped rock that could roll.

Li Feng had already brought one home in preparation. Though not ideal, it would do the job. After all, such rollers were among the most basic tools used in primitive farming.

The next day, Li Feng and Nuo struggled for quite a while to get the large stone rolling. It wasn’t easy—they had to push, pull it with vines, and fumble around a lot before it finally became usable.

With the reed strips now pressed and ready, the final step was the actual weaving. There were many weaving techniques. Some skilled artisans could even create diamond-shaped patterns. Li Feng didn’t know any of those. He’d be happy just to successfully weave a mat. As for fancy patterns—maybe he could try those when he had more time.

Li Feng felt a little nervous about this final step. If they failed now, it would waste all the hard work they had put in over the past few days.

The three most important steps in weaving a reed mat were the starting corner, the center, and the finishing edge. The “starting corner” was especially critical—it was said that “well begun is half done.” This first step determined whether the mat would have a solid, stable foundation.

Most of Li Feng’s childhood memories were hazy now. He could only piece them together bit by bit and slowly experiment to recall them. But at least he finally managed to get the start done. It was essentially like weaving a square fan out of popsicle sticks when he was a kid — the same central shape. Around the edges were protruding stalks, which would be used later to lock the borders, just like finishing the edges of a knitted sweater.

Li Feng had finished weaving the corners. Next came the “seat heart” — essentially the body of the mat, which had to be woven in a tight and orderly way. A crucial tool for this was the seat-prying knife, which helped compress the reeds tightly together when manual force wasn’t enough. That way, no gaps would form in the mat.

He was currently working on a plain mat with no patterns, which made things simpler — no need to think about designs or alternate weaving techniques. The method he used was the basic “lift-one-press-one” weave: lift one reed and press another on top, repeating the process. It was the simplest and safest method, unlike more complicated ones like “lift-two-press-two,” “skip-two-lift-one-press-one,” or “lift-two-press-three-raise-four.” With those, he’d probably forget the pattern halfway through.

At the moment, Li Feng was kneeling on the small portion of mat he had already woven, moving forward bit by bit, either on his knees or by plopping down and scooting along. The reeds were placed at his side for easy access. After weaving a section, he would sprinkle hot water to soften it, including the unused reeds — since in this warm weather, they dried quickly in the courtyard and could easily break.

He spent nearly the whole day weaving a single mat. It wasn’t until late afternoon, when the sun began to set, that he finally finished the core. After all, for every row he wove, he had to use a clam-shell knife to press it tightly, and since he was still unfamiliar and experimenting, this was as much as he could get done in a day.

For the final border lock, Li Feng used the leftover reeds that he had left sticking out from earlier. Locking the border required great care — the edges had to be smooth and tightly secured, with no frayed ends. Otherwise, the entire mat could unravel due to this one weak point.

At long last, just before nightfall, the mat was completed — but Li and the others had already returned home, and dinner wasn’t even started! But Li Feng was too excited. He was filled with pride at the mat he had painstakingly woven. He had made it to fit their bed exactly — they could try it out tonight!

But he forgot — the mat hadn’t been washed or aired yet. Spreading it directly might be too dirty, right? Besides, the more pressing matter now wasn’t dancing on top of the mat — it was cooking dinner.

For the past few days, Li Feng hadn’t made a proper meal, focused as he was on weaving. Every meal had been quick and simple. The others, used to his variety and creativity in the kitchen, were getting tired of eating the same thing. And now that the mat was finally done, it was time to whip up something delicious to celebrate.

Nuo, seeing the overly excited Li Feng looking ready to break into dance, snapped him back to reality. “Hurry and cook,” he said. “We’ll take a look at the mat. This thing really is interesting — it feels cool and smooth underfoot, quite comfortable.”

Li didn’t know, but Nuo certainly did. Back when they first started weaving mats, they had worked hard to smooth them out so there wouldn’t be any splinters to poke them. They used clam shells to scrape the surface until the outer skin was removed, leaving just the waterproof inner membrane.

Li Feng was in a great mood. Even being pushed into cooking didn’t dampen his spirits. He could make a feast to celebrate — this was a major accomplishment. Unlike the other simpler things they had crafted before, this mat was complex. And yet, he had pulled it off.

Even though he hadn’t intentionally designed a pattern, the natural color variation of the reeds had created an irregular but visually pleasing look. Nature’s own color palette — it turned out quite beautiful!

Li and the others picked up the mat and examined it from all angles, then placed it on the ground and began stomping all over it. Some even lay down and rolled around a couple of times. It really was comfortable. It would probably be even better to sleep on in summer. Back when it wasn’t finished yet, Li Feng had already told them all about the benefits of mats like this. Now that they saw the finished product, they got excited thinking about decorating their whole room with them. But this one was theirs — Li rolled it up and put it directly into their room.

Looking at the little bun still sleeping on the bed, Li leaned down to kiss the soft little cheek — but he didn’t expect his stubbly chin to poke the baby awake. And it wasn’t just a gentle poke either — the little bun’s face turned red from the bristles. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw his bearded dad still looming above, continuing to scratch him with his whiskers. He immediately burst into tears, crying for Li Feng to come save him.

The wailing startled Li. He quickly picked the baby up, worried it had pooped or peed — he didn’t know how to deal with that. He rushed to find Li Feng, not realizing at all that it was his beard that had caused the whole thing.

Actually, Li’s beard didn’t grow fast — maybe due to past malnutrition. They shaved it only once in a while, and without proper tools, they could only use stone flakes to scrape it off. Often, they’d end up cutting their faces, but still, they did it. Beards got in the way while eating, felt uncomfortable to the touch, and easily got dirty or smelly, especially since they didn’t wash often.

Just like they used fire to trim their hair — not open flames, but heated stone strips or wooden sticks. But since beards were short, it was easy to burn themselves, so they opted to scrape instead. Once they had clam knives, things improved — much sharper than the old stone flakes. Whenever Li’s beard grew a bit, he would shave, and even if he didn’t want to, Li Feng would make him. It just looked unclean and untidy otherwise. Ever since Li Feng transmigrated here, he had placed great importance on personal hygiene. He made sure they brushed their teeth and washed their faces every day.

Now that they had salt, they could use willow bark dipped in salt as a toothbrush, or rinse with salt water, or even chew certain plants like willow bark. Still, Li Feng preferred using bark with salt to brush — it just felt cleaner. He clearly remembered once watching the Discovery Channel, where they said many primitive people died from dental issues — that was terrifying. And if Li didn’t brush, Li Feng absolutely wouldn’t let him get close. After all, the smell couldn’t be pleasant.

Whatever the reason was, Li now brushed his teeth every day. Maybe it was because that clean, fresh feeling in his mouth made kissing feel even better afterward?