Chapter 19

Chapter 19

~End of chapter 18

Looking out through the gap in the curtain, Mu Qing saw that the chief was patting Li Mang on the shoulder with force. Li Mang’s expression looked very respectful.

The chief motioned for Li Mang to leave. Li Mang turned around and walked away. Mu Qing felt that, before leaving, he seemed to have taken a glance in her direction.

Mu Qing cursed him in her heart. Seeing that the chief was about to come in, she hurriedly moved and retreated, but her feet got hooked by the pile of ropes on the ground and she fell to the ground.

Mu Qing suddenly had an idea.

Chapter 19

(6.4)

She didn’t know whether her idea would work or not. But she had no other way, she could not afford to reflect on it any longer. No matter what, it was better to try than to be forced, down on that greasy animal skin.

When the chief came in, he was startled for an instant.

Mu Qing was sitting on the ground by the torch, she had a rope winding around her hands and there was a smile on her face.

In ancient times, when there was no writing, they used knotted rope to record events. Chinese, Peruvian and Indians all had this practice. Even in modern times, some ethnic groups without writing still used knotted rope to spread information.

Mu Qing did not believe that this group of indigenous people had their own writing, even though it was now the 21st century. She betted that they would be interested in knots, not to mention that rope was probably a very important product for their livelihood.

In the past, her company arranged for the guides to take a field training course to visit a respected teacher, who was specialized in teaching tent knots and also taught some other, more common, sailor’s knots. It was said that there were more than a hundred kinds of sailor knots, all with a specific name. There were also many other very complex knots that no one even knew the names of. She couldn’t learn so many of them, she had just learned a few common knots. But by the looks of it, it was enough.

She first tied a bowline knot, and then a slip knot, then a dingxiang knot, a clove hitch knot, and then a moshui knot in the end.

(TL’s note : I know nothing about knots and wasn’t able to find the equivalent of all of them in English, so for some I just kept the pinyin)

As expected, the chief’s attention was once captured, he came closer to watch her tie the knots and then loosen them. Mu Qing patiently taught him.

After teaching him more than a dozen times, the chief finally started to get the gist of it. He squatted in front of the pillar and seriously, repeatedly, knotted the rope.

Just now, Mu Qing had deliberately led him to stand with his back to the animal skin door curtain.

He was very focused on tying knots, a few slurred sounds from time to time came from his throat, his mind was completely absorbed by the knotted rope.

Originally, Mu Qing had intended to take advantage of him being off-guard to hit him with a wooden stick on the back of his head and then escape. But now, she had changed her mind.

Translator : Laura

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