The next morning, Li Yuanxi left the cave and first went to check her air-dried meat. Finding no signs of animal disturbance, she felt relieved.
She fetched a bucket of cold boiled water and quickly washed her hands and face. After washing up, she felt much more awake.
Turning back to look at the mountain forest, she saw a rare thin layer of mist. A slight chill made Li Yuanxi realize the temperature had indeed dropped.
Wei Shu had walked all day yesterday and then gone for a run in the evening. Now, her legs were so sore they didn’t feel like her own. Fortunately, Li Yuanxi had massaged and stretched them by the campfire last night, or they would be even more painful today.
When Wei Shu woke up, she lay in bed for a while before slowly sitting up, enduring the soreness in her thighs. “Sss!!!” A large, clearly defined hand landed on Wei Shu’s leg and squeezed hard. Wei Shu gasped and glared at Li Yuanxi.
“That hurts! What are you doing?!” Wei Shu looked at Li Yuanxi with teary eyes, pushing her hand away.
Li Yuanxi withdrew her hand and blinked innocently. “I was just checking if the massage from last night was effective.”
“Do you think I believe that?” Wei Shu rolled her eyes and swatted away the hand that was reaching for her again. Li Yuanxi grinned ingratiatingly, moving closer to Wei Shu, even kneeling to help her put on her shoes.
Wei Shu squinted, giving a sidelong glance at the smiling, fawning Li Yuanxi. Her mind raced, wondering what mischief Li Yuanxi had gotten into this morning, but she asked calmly, “You… is there something you want?”
“Nothing at all~” Li Yuanxi’s drawn-out tone sounded incredibly cheerful. She could smell her own pheromones—a faint, clean agarwood scent that felt spiritually refreshing.
She hadn’t realized her pheromones smelled this good. Unlike before, when they were filled with aggression and desire, now they were calm, only wanting to be close to Shu Shu.
This was the second time Li Yuanxi’s pheromone gland had released pheromones while she was conscious and aware. It also meant the knot in her heart was slowly dissolving.
In the morning, Li Yuanxi boiled two wild goose eggs and paired them with sliced dried deer meat. They ate their simple breakfast dry.
Li Yuanxi was already thinking that when she had more time, she would definitely make cassava flour from the cassava, so they could have more variety in their main food.
“I’m going to the beach to make salt. I won’t be home for lunch. Do you want to come?” Li Yuanxi picked up her large backpack basket, which contained the tools she needed.
Wei Shu thought for a moment and nodded. She turned to look at the burning fire. “If we’re both gone all day… the fire?”
Li Yuanxi looked back. She would be at the beach almost all day, watching the salt boil. Shu Shu’s legs were sore; it wouldn’t be good for her to walk back and forth.
In the end, Li Yuanxi came up with a good idea. She put the still-glowing charcoal into an eight-treasure porridge can, covered it with twigs so it would burn slowly, and then pour it out at the beach.
The fire in the cave could just be left to burn out. It didn’t matter if it went out. They would bring a torch home at night.
Li Yuanxi carried Wei Shu on her back along the path. Wei Shu held a pathfinder stick, from which hung the eight-treasure porridge can containing the precious fire starter.
“It was a bit cold when I got up this morning. If it rains again, the island’s winter might be coming.” Li Yuanxi looked at the lingering mist in the woods. Their food supply was barely enough for winter.
After a dozen minutes, they emerged from the forest. Li Yuanxi set Wei Shu down under a coconut tree. “Sit here for a while. I’m going to check the sand I watered with seawater yesterday.”
Wei Shu nodded and watched as Li Yuanxi went to inspect the area she had enclosed. Yesterday, Li Yuanxi had deliberately kept a patch of sand wet with seawater to maintain a high salt concentration.
She was now repeating the same process, but this time she needed more salt and more time. She dug up the repeatedly soaked sand and put it in her basket.
She dumped the sand from the basket into the salt pond. After two trips, the pond was half full of sand. She picked up a bucket and went to fetch seawater, stirring the sand and mud in the pond repeatedly.
After mixing the high-salinity seawater with the sand to create a saturated saltwater solution, Li Yuanxi placed the filter back on the coconut tree and used a bucket to ladle the high-salinity sand mixture into the filter.
The next step was to wait and filter. The earthen stove she had built was still usable. Li Yuanxi poured the hot coals from the can onto a pile of dry grass. With a gentle blow, the fire ignited.
Wei Shu rested her chin on her hands, her eyes fixed only on the person kneeling on the sand, lighting the fire. Li Yuanxi took out their most precious item, the black iron pot, filled it with water, and added a few washed lemon leaves. When the water boiled, two cups of green tea were ready.
The moment Wei Shu stood up, her expression changed. Her legs were too sore. She stiffly and slowly sat down beside Li Yuanxi. “I’ll watch the fire here. You go ahead and work.”
Li Yuanxi turned and saw her frowning in pain. She had walked all day yesterday and then sprinted like it was a hundred-meter dash last night. She tentatively asked Wei Shu, “Do you want me to massage you again?”
Wei Shu’s expression immediately turned serious, and she waved her hand. She had already experienced Li Yuanxi’s past pain; she didn’t need to repeat it.
When she had helped Li Yuanxi loosen her muscles before, Li Yuanxi’s screams often made her brain go numb, leaving only the echo of Li Yuanxi’s voice.
“No need, I’ll be fine after a couple of days of rest. Go ahead and work. The brine should be filtered soon.” Wei Shu grabbed Li Yuanxi’s fingers that were resting on her legs. The hot fingertips were still stained with black charcoal ash.
Wei Shu raised her hand and wiped them clean for her. Li Yuanxi enjoyed the beautiful attendant’s service thoroughly before saying casually, “I’m going to dig more sand later, so they’ll get dirty again anyway.”
Wei Shu’s beautiful eyes rolled as she gave her a look. It was a pity Li Yuanxi had a mouth that could talk. She patted her pants and sat on a log, looking out at the sea.
Li Yuanxi sniffed her fingers. Even if there was no smell, she imagined a sweet scent, feeling sweet herself, as if fully recharged and full of energy.
Today, the sea breeze was particularly gentle, not like before when it would blow harshly in your face. As the sun rose higher in the sky, the temperature also rose.
After completing the final step and collecting a small bottle of white sea salt, Li Yuanxi placed it by Wei Shu’s hand for safekeeping. Before making the next batch of brine, she wanted to check the area where the noise had come from last night to see what animal had caused it.
“Take your knife and a stick. Be careful.” Wei Shu instructed Li Yuanxi to stay safe. “Okay, I’ll come back later to have tea with you.” Li Yuanxi kissed Wei Shu on the cheek. Wei Shu blushed but didn’t refuse.
Humming a cheerful tune, Li Yuanxi walked into the mountain forest. She followed the path towards the source of the previous night’s noise, tapping her pathfinder stick on the ground.
She pushed aside the wild grass with her stick and saw tracks on the ground. A few strands of gray deer fur were stuck to a tree, along with evidence of deer nibbling on leaves.
Following the tracks, the deer didn’t seem to leave this area but had turned back and gone up the mountain.
After checking the surrounding area and finding no other traces, Li Yuanxi thought for a moment and went back home. Seeing her three neat rows of meat intact, she felt relieved.
She pinched the air-dried wild goose meat. It was already a bit hard, with a rich, savory aroma. As long as it didn’t rain, she would let it dry longer to extend its shelf life.
The oil dripping from the goose meat had left dark, solidified grease on the ground. Li Yuanxi collected this oil. It couldn’t be used for cooking, but it could serve as tinder for making torches.
With the addition of fat, the torches lit much faster. Whenever she had a spare moment, she would make a few torches and store them in the cave for immediate use.
Wei Shu filtered the high-concentration brine again to remove sediment and poured it into the iron pot to boil. The half-jar of salt she had made earlier was already a decent white color.
Thinking she was already back, Li Yuanxi used a wooden stick to roughly measure the length and height needed for the bathroom she planned to build. She didn’t intend to make it too big, just enough for two people to turn around inside.
Li Yuanxi sketched on the wood with a charcoal pen. The round iron piece she used as an axe was getting shinier with use. With each chop, a notch appeared in the wood.
She cut down eight logs and chose a spot just to the lower left of the cave entrance, near two trees that were spaced just right, so she wouldn’t need to build a new frame.
Li Yuanxi trimmed the small branches off the trees, leaving a pile of cut twigs and leaves on the ground. She walked to the area where they bathed and placed a log over two meters long between the two tree trunks.
She wrapped the vines around the tree trunk several times to secure the log completely. Then, she began to build the “roof beams,” placing four logs at a downward angle.
The log she had tied to the tree trunks became the most stable ridge beam. With the vertical beams done, next were the horizontal beams to support the “shingles” woven from palm leaves.
