Due to the rising tide, she had to leave early, so she rented the boat out from her space again, carrying her green mussels onto the boat and returning to the island with increased horsepower.
Upon arriving home with the green mussels, she immediately opened them to remove the meat, placing it on mats to dry into dried green mussels before sealing them in bags for storage.
There were many long and thick kelps in the sea, but she found their texture to be subpar. So, whenever the opportunity arose, she would scrape the wild small kelp and seaweed off the rocks; these tasted better, didn’t require chopping, and could be used directly in soups for a refreshing taste, and were also easy to preserve when dried.
Living on the island these past two years, she constantly kept an eye on the sea, but unfortunately, in all that time, she hadn’t seen any ships passing by.
Sometimes she even wondered if the outside world had descended into chaos.
No matter how much the small fishing village had burned, it couldn’t be that everyone had perished, right? After all, when the disaster struck, there were still many villagers’ children who were out and about. Even after a village burned and people died, the least that should happen was a proper burial. Yet, many skeletons remained unattended within their own homes, which seemed rather strange.
Unfortunately, there were no other villages around their fishing village; she didn’t even have the chance to explore elsewhere. The town was an hour’s distance, and she couldn’t be bothered to go investigate. Being too lazy to check, she now thought that perhaps she should have visited the town in the first place.
If she had known what was happening outside, she wouldn’t be in the dark now.
"Meh...," Xiao Yu was neatly arranging the green mussels, preparing to lie down and stretch her back when she suddenly heard the sound of a sheep?
She had long known there were sheep on the island, but since she never lacked food, she had never considered catching them. After all, capturing sheep wasn’t easy. If she wanted to eat mutton, she had plenty in her space. Back when her brother was around, they only ever caught pheasants, wild rabbits, and the like, or hunted birds for food. The wild sheep herds that lived on the island were particularly wild and difficult to capture, especially since they preferred to move in groups—which was precisely why she hadn’t bothered with them even after she gained strength.
However, the bleating sounded close. It seemed like two sheep were calling out—could they be near her home?
Out of curiosity, Xiao Yu followed the noise and ended up finding a young goat with its leg stuck in a crevice between rocks. Beside it, a ewe lay prostrate; it was clear to her that the Sheep Mother was worried about the lamb and was here seeking help!
She walked over for a closer look and saw that one leg of the young goat was stuck rather deep; she just wondered how it had been so mischievous to jump into the crevice.
Her presence made the ewe stand up from the ground, watching her warily. Whenever Xiao Yu took a step forward, the ewe would bleat at her non-stop.
"I’m just going to check on your baby’s leg—don’t worry, I won’t hurt you."
Perhaps it was because Xiao Yu looked kind, or maybe the ewe had no choice but to place its trust in a human. Though unfamiliar with her species, they had been living peacefully together for two years. Her reassurance seemed to actually lower the ewe’s guard, and it stepped aside for her.
Saving the lamb wasn’t difficult because she just needed to pull firmly with both hands, and the little goat’s leg came free. However, because it had been stuck for a while, although it was now free, it couldn’t walk properly. So she bent down, picked up the young goat, and brought it to her house, with the mother sheep following closely behind. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novelꞁire.net
After climbing the steps, the ewe followed her up onto the stone platform. She set down the young goat and found a bandage in her space to wrap and secure the leg.
Then she turned to the ewe, "It can’t move and needs to rest here for a few days. If you’re worried, you can stay too."