The meal Xiao Ze had prepared for Xiao Yu still contained medicinal herbs. After consuming the soup medicine, Xiao Yu only then realized it was already dawn. With a hoarse voice, he said to Xiao Yu,
"I’m sorry, sis, for leaving you to do everything alone until now. Have I caught the same strange disease as Brother Dajun, the village chief’s son? Why haven’t I recovered yet? You’re already fine, so why do I still feel so weak and lack strength?"
"We got soaked by the rain that night and subsequently caught a chill. It has nothing to do with Brother Jun’s illness. We haven’t been in contact with his family in those days. Don’t talk nonsense. Alright, you lie down; I’ll go outside and chop more firewood. We need to be prepared in case it rains – on this haunted island surrounded by sea, the rain comes without warning."
Perhaps truly lacking the energy, Xiao Ze didn’t argue and continued to lie down, while Xiao Yu grabbed an axe and a rope to chop firewood. Thɪs chapter is updated by novelꞁire.net
She couldn’t chop the large logs, so she cut the branches that were within her reach. To avoid encountering snakes hidden in the grass, she would use a stick to beat around each area before she entered, fearing that a snake might suddenly leap out and bite her.
Now, she didn’t even know where she was. The island seemed quite large on the surface and even larger as she walked around it. The place where they were staying was halfway up the mountain. Standing at the entrance of the cave, she could still see the coastline, as well as an islet that looked close but was actually not so near when rowing out to it. Here, being surrounded by sea, the desolation was extreme, with no sign of human habitation. Although there were no wild beasts, many birds were present. If only she had a gun, then she could easily shoot birds to eat.
Since her brother hadn’t yet recovered, she wasn’t in a hurry to make bricks, so she kept carrying firewood back home. She dared not pile the firewood at the entrance – should it rain, the firewood would get soaked, leaving them with nothing to start a fire with. Hence, she used the firewood to create a partition in their sleeping area. After all, her brother was a boy, and she was a girl. Shouldn’t a girl have some privacy?
Using the firewood to surround herself had another benefit; it helped to block the wind. The wind that blew in from outside was significantly less harsh with the partition there. Her clothes, which she had brought, were almost all draped over the stacked firewood. As for their sleeping area, they collected a lot of dry grass to lay a thick layer on the ground, with their bedding spread on top, and they would cover themselves with blankets when they slept.
She spent nearly the whole morning chopping firewood, going back and forth four or five times. The firewood she carried back was enough to last them two to three days without any issues.
Looking at the sky, realizing she was hungry again, today being the ninth day of the first lunar month, she judged it should be about noon. With no clocks in ancient times, she could only estimate by observing the sun. So she dropped the axe, grabbed a spear, picked up a bucket, and headed towards the reef along the coastline.
When she got there, the tide had clearly receded a bit, but not enough. So she just sat by the sea and waited, for probably about half an hour, until it receded to a state where people could enter. Then, she ran eagerly towards that spot.
It was only then that she realized she was wearing cloth shoes and trousers, which would be inconvenient if they got wet since they would need washing upon returning home. Although the seaside was very clean, washing clothes was still bothersome. After thinking it over, she entered the "space" and went to the marketplace. She spent US$ 200 to US$ 300 on a set of rubber overalls and boots, the kind specifically for sea foraging, and also bought a pair of long tongs specifically for picking crabs and seafood, as well as leather gloves to prevent bites from these creatures.
In the end, she calculated that she had spent five hundred yuan. The reason for the high cost was that she had bought two long tongs and twenty sets of leather gloves, plus two red plastic buckets, as wooden buckets were too heavy.