Chapter 286 - 127: Dairy Products
Worried about the rain, Chen Zhou first moved the "big fishing gift pack" down to the campsite before continuing to organize and transport the wood and stone walls.
After finishing these tasks, it was already four or five o'clock in the afternoon.
The rain never came, and only a few streaks of gray clouds remained in the sky, shredded by the wind, above which was a dark blue dome.
The sun was descending from the mountain tip, spreading its final rays across the world, lighting up the layers of surging waves.
Adjusting the last stone brick, Chen Zhou suddenly discovered that the building materials he had accumulated on the shore had unconsciously formed a small mountain.
These materials were enough for him to build a wooden and stone mixed-structure house alone; if used in the construction of the platform wall outside the cave, it would meet more than half of the material needs.
Since discovering this "BUG," he had used space-time splitting to cut more than twenty batches of wood and stone, each time producing a sizable amount of building materials.
The consumption speed afterward couldn't keep up with the production speed, causing the accumulation of planks and stone bricks to grow.
As of today, the building materials piled in batches at the edge of the coastal woods looked like a small building material factory.
Initially planning to start a new project to consume some materials, Chen Zhou reconsidered the many things piling up in his notebook and decided against finding himself new work, returning home obediently.
...
After spending a year on the island, following Chen Zhou across the forest, slopes, and Rock Beach downhill, Lai Fu became increasingly bold.
On unoccupied days, it would often act alone outside, sometimes disappearing for an entire day.
Strangely enough, whenever Chen Zhou felt worried or angry about Lai Fu's behavior, even considering capturing it and tying it at home, this fellow would settle down for a few days, seeming as if it could read human minds.
February 7th was the same; after a day's work and not seeing Lai Fu come to the beach to find him, Chen Zhou silently accumulated some anger within.
He was planning to catch Lai Fu and give it a good reprimand.
However, before this anger was fully brewing, while walking alone on the mountain road toward home, Lai Fu suddenly emerged from some unknown corner, wagging its tail close by, feigning closeness as if not seen for years, pouncing hard on Chen Zhou.
True to the saying "don't hit someone who is smiling," Chen Zhou grabbed Lai Fu by the nape, ready to scold it, but upon seeing its demeanor, the words he prepared for a long time couldn't be spoken.
Helplessly, Chen Zhou could only pat Lai Fu's head, telling it to follow him home and not run around anymore.
...
Starting February 8th, rain on the island became increasingly frequent.
Every morning there would be a drizzle, a brief calm at noon, followed by thunder and lightning in the afternoon, occasionally leading to heavy showers.
The platform at the cave entrance was full of sand; originally repaired to be fairly smooth, but after a downpour, the floating soil washed away, leaving behind pits and holes, like the surface of the moon.
While cooking in the kitchen, it was inevitable to glance out the window and see those dim, muddied water pits, prompting Chen Zhou to decide silently that after the rainy season, he would transport the stone bricks up and pave the yard with them.
This wasn't just for aesthetics but also for ease of walking.
He also had thoughts on how to use the wooden planks and stone bricks accumulated on the beach.
That was to build a spacious, neat, and attractive toilet.
The current toilet used was dug out when first moving into the cave, though there was a simple rain shelter blocking water from the sky, it couldn't stop the "streams" gathering on the ground.
Midway through the rainy season, the toilet pit fills with water, splashing when using it.
If splashing sewage wasn't disgusting enough, sometimes there were live maggots mixed in the splashed matter, even if they didn't land on people, having them near one's feet was nauseating.
It could be said the toilet was utterly unusable during the rainy season, making Chen Zhou rather resolve physiological needs in the forest under the rain than enter that toilet.
To improve his quality of life, Chen Zhou felt it essential to put "a better toilet" on the agenda.
Of course, that would have to be implemented after the rainy season ended.
...
In February, due to the rain, Chen Zhou's work area shifted indoors.
After building and putting the container fridge into use, he finally managed to enjoy a chilled glass of rum or sugarcane juice during hot days.
Due to the cane field's insufficient scale, he temporarily couldn't make his own sugar, resulting in very little sugar being added to homemade cold drinks.
Thus, originally sweet crops like cane and oranges fared better, while the flavor of lemons and grapes was hard to bear.
Especially lemons, drinking them was like consuming pure sour water; even adding more water made one's teeth ache.
But daily drinking interfered with work, and consuming too much cane juice and orange juice became cloying.
Having time, Chen Zhou began studying dairy products, trying to concoct iced milk tea to satisfy cravings.
...
Mentioning this requires discussing his taming of wild goats.
The newly captured young goats were slightly more docile than the mother goat, Chen Zhou often brought them water and salt, occasionally feeding them barley grains.
With the corruption of sweet-talk tactics, he quickly blended in with those creatures, able to approach any goat as though he was part of the herd.
The initially well-behaved mother goat was the first to gain freedom, having the rope around its neck removed, replaced by a hobble restricting its running speed.
The other goats soon submitted to both stick and sweet date, steadily grazing on the hillside, nurturing kids, enjoying peaceful lives, leaving behind the large herd of goats on the platform.