Her brother was now obsessed with researching various types of wood, so she didn’t disturb him. Besides constructing the stone steps, she also needed to make handrails, tasks she left to Xiao Ze to busily take on. She herself secretly bought thermal clothes from the Space Mall, stuck on warm baby stickers, and headed to the seashore to forage.
Because around those reefs surrounding the island, the resources were so abundant that you couldn’t possibly collect them all.
After the weather turned cold, she discovered an oyster area where the reefs, large and small, were all covered with dark green oysters. The sight made her scalp tingle, but she was also excited. So, she put on leather pants, donned gloves, grabbed the specialized oyster shucking tools, carried a plastic bucket, and squatted on the rocks, selectively prying open the larger oysters.
Every time she went foraging by the sea, she felt an irresistible urge to take home every good thing she saw and touched. With so many wild oysters lying around uneaten, it would be a pity not to turn them all into delicious food since she and her brother were so lucky to have come to this island.
Though prying them out was strenuous, and squatting made her feet numb, Xiao Yu was enthusiastic and spent two to three hours harvesting at least fifty jin of oysters.
Considering she needed to shuck them once home, she simply squatted on the beach, cracked them open, and extracted the milky white oyster meat inside. She was short on seasonings, and today she could use this oyster meat to cook up some oyster sauce, and the rest could be grilled on charcoal fire with some minced garlic, which would definitely be incredibly tasty.
With that thought, she found a sheltered spot from the wind, where she continued prying out oyster meat while contemplating the large oyster area in front of her. No matter how cold it got, she resolved to come here at least once in the future. If she couldn’t finish them all, drying them was also an option. After all, oysters were seasonal, with their harvest season arriving every lunar November. After this period, there might still be oysters, but certainly not as many as now. For example, during summer, what attached to these rocks were green mussels or various kinds of snails.
She scraped for two hours in the cold wind, her legs numb from the chill, and finally managed to pry open two-thirds of the oysters. She was able to carry the remaining amount home.
The home, under the care of the siblings, was progressively taking on more of a "home" look. Below the cave were a chicken coop and a wheat field. Previously, to enter the cave, one had to climb. Later, they laid out pottery steps that had been fired, and after raising the base, they carved out ascending steps toward the rock wall.
The original cave had been sealed by them, leaving spaces for windows and doors. Although it was still quite dark during the day, it was warmer now, and other concerns were overlooked where possible. Thɪs chapter is updated by noᴠelfire.net
She hung wind chimes made of various seashells on the door, which tinkled pleasantly.
They had specially built a temporary kitchen outside the cave with wood, to avoid the summer heat and winter winds and rain, as cooking inside the cave was smoky and stuffy since it was sealed and poorly ventilated. Hence, now they could only cook outside.
In the kitchen, aside from pots and pans, there was nothing else. She had also collected many large scallop shells to use as scoops and plates, which looked particularly nice when arranged.
The food they brought with them was long gone, and what they were eating now was basically all bought from the Space Mall. The grains were stored in various pottery jars they had made, neatly placed to the left of the entrance.
She and Xiao Ze’s rooms were also separated. Xiao Ze slept outside while she slept inside. Between them was a divide made of wooden segments bound with vines and covered with unused clothes. In any case, for over a month, that’s how they had lived—it was bearable except for the inconvenience of showering and maintaining personal hygiene.