I am a Primitive Man-Chapter 575: Han Cheng who wants to make paper

Children nowadays are living more comfortably.

Not only do they have enough food and warm clothes, but they are also given excellent care. It’s nothing like how it was in their parents' childhood when the adults in the tribe would go out hunting or gather fruits, leaving the children mostly unattended.

What’s more, even those who were a bit more responsible had to help care for the younger children in the tribe... They truly had a much tougher time than the kids nowadays.

Such sentiments are often voiced by anyone who sees the cradle rocking in the nursery.

However, as they express these feelings, everyone wears a smile.

As elders, they are pleased to see their descendants living better lives because of their efforts.

The tribe's merchant caravan, led by Shang and Mao, once again set off. They were heading towards neighboring tribes to continue their primitive bartering trade, bringing back new and interesting items for the tribe.

Han Cheng had wanted to take people to the Flying Snake tribe's copper mountain to search for tin ore, as the chances of finding it there were higher.

But with the newborn baby, his heart was tied.

Since little Pea was less than a month old, Han Cheng hesitated to leave them, especially to go to the Copper Mountain.

It’s strange. He never had many attachments before, but after having a child, it was like something had changed in him.

It’s hard to describe—maybe it’s a sense of responsibility or something else—but it’s like a new connection that makes him more cautious when doing things.

Finding tin or lead ore was a must; without it, the tribe would only have pure copper, which was not very useful.

The refining of pure copper had been progressing steadily, and the tribe already had more than 80 pounds of it.

Once tin or lead ores were found, the tribe soon had a batch of bronze weapons or farming tools.

With these, both productivity and combat strength would greatly improve.

The summer heat was unbearable, and as long as it wasn’t raining, it would remain hot and sticky, causing sweat to pour out of people. Even if someone had just bathed, they’d quickly return to a sticky state, which was very uncomfortable.

If adults felt this way, it was even worse for babies, whose ability to adapt was much weaker.

Han Cheng was holding a small clay bowl and constantly scanning the mud walls of the tribe.

What he was looking for were tiny drops of mud on the walls. These were formed when rainwater hit the walls at an angle, washed the mud, and then the droplets solidified.

These small mud drops were extremely fine, and with a slight squeeze, they turned into powder.

Compared to other sources of fine dust, this mud powder had a cooling effect, making it the best "baby powder" of this era.

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After collecting half a bowl, Han Cheng returned to the room. He used his fingers to pinch the fine powder and gently applied it to Pea's neck, armpits, the crook of his arms, thighs, and underneath his little bottom.

Due to the hot weather and heavy sweating, these areas of Pea's body had become red and irritated.

This discomfort was what caused his fussiness in the last couple of days.

Once the baby powder was gently applied, the little one immediately quieted down.

Han Cheng put the bowl down and lightly waved his finger near Pea’s armpit, making playful "huhhuh" sounds. Within moments, little Pea opened his toothless mouth and smiled. Sometimes he made sounds, but more often, he drooled little sparkling drops of saliva...

It’s good for children to have some dirt on them, as the soil contains many trace elements that the human body needs.

Raising children requires attention, but one should not be overly meticulous, especially regarding hygiene and food.

The so-called ‘excessive care’ or the ‘scientific feeding’ involving things like ‘boiling eight bowls to make half a spoonful, then dividing it into fifteen feedings’ is not scientific.

Children raised in this manner tend to be weak, sickly and have poor immunity, and compared to children raised usually, they are more likely to die young.

Han Cheng had heard about such things in the future.

He heard that a couple, both doctors, had a child and practiced all sorts of ‘careful nurturing.’ The child’s milk was first sterilized, they used distilled water for feeding and constantly disinfected the room.

However, when the child was two or three years old, the child’s grandmother took him out to play, and after a visit to a public restroom, the child died, reportedly due to an infection from something…

This overdoing thing is a case of ‘too much of anything is harmful,’ which applies in many situations.

Knowing these things, Han Cheng certainly would not make such mistakes.

Of course, being in this era, even if he wanted to practice ‘scientific child-rearing,’ the conditions weren’t available...

Han Cheng made a rather bold decision: to start preparing to make paper.

His decision was based on the fact that he had simply had enough of handling things using straw, tree branches, stones, and mud.

Using such materials always felt strange, and even though he had been in the primitive era for several years, he still couldn’t get used to it.

Of course, if it were just for him, maybe he could endure it, but after little Pea was born, Han Cheng couldn’t stand it anymore.

This wasn’t just because every time he wiped Little Pea’s bottom, the baby would cry, but more importantly, even when he used cloth, Little Pea wouldn’t cry anymore but would almost always make a mess with his hands.

This was because cloth didn’t absorb moisture well.

Moreover, cloth was still a rare item in the tribe at that time, and after use, it needed to be washed in the river before it could be reused.

Even though having a child was supposed to be the best way to cure a clean freak, and Han Cheng wasn’t particularly obsessed with cleanliness, he couldn’t stand the constant back-and-forth hassle.

His earliest memory of paper-making was a brief mention of ‘Cai Hou paper’ in history textbooks.

From that, he learned that tree bark, hemp fibers, and old fishing nets, which could be processed to extract fibers, were suitable materials for paper.

There was also an ancient illustration showing craftsmen from ancient times making paper. Han Cheng vaguely remembered one person standing next to a large water tank, stirring something with a stick while another hung long pieces of material to dry.

Later, he came across other references to paper-making, but since he hadn’t paid much attention then, he only glanced at them and moved on. As a result, his knowledge of paper-making was somewhat fuzzy.

That’s why Han Cheng had never attempted it before.

However, now, he couldn’t avoid trying it out.