Chen Qi stood up and went to the side to take out two pieces of cowhide that had been prepared in advance. These were from the leather clothes that Aze used to wear. Since switching to cloth clothes, they had been put aside, and there was no intact unused cowhide stored anywhere. With no other options, Chen Qi could only take out these two pieces of leather clothes to make do.

Taking advantage of everyone being present, Chen Qi decided to demonstrate how to make a drum. He found a wooden barrel filled with water and soaked the cowhide in it. Then, he led the people inside the house outside to the courtyard. The onlookers willingly cleared a path for them.

In the courtyard, there was a piece of wood that Chen Qi had prepared long ago. The wood was about half a meter wide and had been cut by Aze in the forest to be used as firewood, but it hadn’t been split yet.

The piece of wood was somewhat like poplar; its bark peeled off easily. Chen Qi had already prepared it beforehand. Now, he took out a small piece of charcoal and drew a circle along the inside of the wood. Then he beckoned to Aze, signaling him to carefully hollow out the wood along the line.

It was a meticulous and time-consuming task. The others were already busy building the dormitories, so they naturally couldn’t stand around watching all the time. Seeing that nothing urgent was happening, Azhang told Axu to lead the others back to work first, while he and Aze stayed behind.

The drum body, of course, couldn’t be made as a simple straight cylinder; it had a curved shape, almost like a half-circle. Even though the females had no trouble splitting the wooden board, the entire process—including shaping it and roughly sanding the inside and outside smooth—still took nearly the whole night to complete.

Ajing and the little wolf cub had watched until late into the night and were utterly exhausted, so Chen Qi sent them back to wash up and get some sleep.

Once the drum body was nearly finished, Chen Qi applied a simple layer of glue made from fruit resin. After it dried, he took the softened cowhide and stretched it tightly over the two drum openings, asking Aze and Azhang to help tighten it.

Chen Qi had already punched holes in the cowhide earlier. Now, he used a sturdy rope to tightly tie the two pieces of cowhide together, then secured the rope firmly around the drum openings. Since there were no suitable nails available, this was the best temporary solution. After finishing this, he placed the drum on a wooden frame that had been prepared in advance to let it dry.

Azhang knew there was no rush, so after helping with the drum, he went back to rest.

The next day was a hunting day. Thanks to the fishing nets, having just five or six people was enough to hunt enough food to feed the entire tribe for two days. Usually, there would even be some leftovers that they would cure and dry into salted fish. Although the smell wasn’t very pleasant, the advantage was that these could be stored all the way through winter. Because of this, the hunters always made sure to catch a little extra each time.

The cowhide had dried almost completely after being left out for a day. While having dinner, Chen Qi took the opportunity to move it directly to the school playground. As the sun was about to set, the temperature began to drop. Even though the roof was covered with wild grass and sprinkled with water to cool it down, the heat inside the building remained oppressive. Therefore, dinner was usually eaten outdoors.