On the tree, Curtis abruptly opened his transparent retinas, curled the two remaining snakeskin items of clothing to his side using his tail, and hid them under his abdomen.
While they were gathering the beastmen, Bai Qingqing sat on the grass and pondered.
A gust of cool breeze swept up her mildly wavy long hair, veiling her fair and palm-sized face on-and-off. It was a tranquil and wonderful scene.
Winston, who had already hung the solidified starch noodles on the clean tree branches, turned his head towards her. He fell into a daze from looking at her.
“What’s on your mind?”
A large and wide palm landed on the top of her head, and the warmth spread downwards, making Bai Qingqing involuntarily rub against it. She raised her head and said to Winston, “There’s another method that I know of, but I feel less sure about it. I wonder if I should get you to give it a shot.”
“Just tell me. Males have plenty of strength and aren’t afraid of hard work. An additional method means an additional ray of hope,” Winston said in his powerful voice.
Under his encouraging gaze, Bai Qingqing finally made up her mind. “Alright. Promise me that you won’t blame me if it doesn’t work.”
Of course, he wasn’t going to blame her even if it failed. Bai Qingqing merely said that to calm herself down. After all, she felt too unsure about the chances of success of evaporating seawater to make salt. God knows what it would turn out to be like, and how many days under the sun it would take.
Winston smiled. “Okay, I promise.”
“There’s another method—that is, to evaporate seawater in the sun to make salt. This method will allow us to make plenty of salt at one go.”
She plucked a blade of slightly tougher grass off the ground and drew a square. “First, you need to dig a large pit, then fill it with seawater. You can just do it near the beach, but it has to be somewhere that won’t be submerged underwater when the high tide comes. After filling it with seawater, just wait for it to evaporate under the sun.”
“Just like that?” Winston asked as he contemplated the suggestion.
Bai Qingqing’s delicate brows creased. “There’s got to be wind, else it won’t work. If the salt doesn’t crystallize, sprinkle some salt powder into it. The formation of salt crystals requires condensation and…”
Thankfully, she had pretty good grades back in school and recalled quite a fair bit. Bai Qingqing racked her brains for whatever knowledge was still in her head and told Winston everything she remembered, regardless of how big or trivial the information was.
Winston listened in silence and took note of everything she said.
“Your Majesty, these are the fifty strongest males in our village. In the past, they were the ones who went out to exchange for the salt. Now that our village isn’t under the threat of the scorpion tribe, I called them all back.”
The tribal head said as he led a group of strong and bulky tigers.
Winston was about to nod when Bai Qingqing tugged at his skirt. “There are too many. At the very most, just half of them will do. In fact, I think twenty is sufficient.”
Having heard Bai Qingqing’s two proposals, Winston also felt that there wasn’t a need for so much manpower. Hence, he said, “Pick the twenty strongest amongst them.”
“Yes!” The tribal head answered with vigor. This was a sacred mission, and even at the age of over fifty, he found it hard to suppress his excitement.
Next, Winston said, “I’ll set off after I finish handling the chores at home.”
The tribal head and all the tiger beastmen were stunned to hear this.
As was Bai Qingqing.
“This is not the time to be concerned with making food. Hurry up and go.” Bai Qingqing was unsure whether to laugh or to cry. “It’s not like the stone fruits will rot if you leave them be for a while.”
The tribal head also said, “Just leave such chores to us, so you can handle the important matters with a peace of mind.”
“Just leave it to us. Your Majesty, just instruct us on what to do.”
The tiger beastmen voiced their agreements unanimously.
Just then, Parker, who just came back with a basin of washed stone fruits, squeezed through the crowd rudely. “What are all of you doing at my home? If you’re done discussing, hurry up and leave.”
Winston stared at the stone fruits laid all over the ground reluctantly, before finally taking one last gaze at Bai Qingqing. It was as though he was trying to engrave her in the depths of his heart.