Chapter 231 - 104: Garlic! (Part 2)
Especially in the north, eating a clove of garlic with a bowl of steaming hot noodles, sweating profusely, it has its own unique flavor.
...
The surprise on the 11th gave Chen Zhou tremendous encouragement and motivation.
On that day, he was particularly meticulous in constructing the wood and stone wall, making it perfectly aligned, even the millstone and the metal plate of the safe, which were built together with the wooden boards and stones, were almost seamlessly integrated.
Returning home in the evening, he found several of his "finest small pottery pots," filled them with soil, and placed garlic cloves inside, hoping for the day they would sprout.
...
In the following days, clouds appeared in the sky more frequently.
But it was mostly dry thunder without rain, and a few times when it did rain, the clouds quickly dispersed by the wind, leaving only the clear blue sky and rainbows arching over the sea.
Feeling the atmosphere of the approaching rainy season, Chen Zhou began to prepare for the third rainy season since landing on the island.
During the last rainy season, he often had to venture out in the rain out of necessity.
This rainy season, to reduce the chances of illness and for his health, he planned to stay in the grotto, avoiding going outside unless necessary.
This rainy season would last from mid-August to mid-October, a full two months.
Chen Zhou didn't want to force himself to sleep at home for two months; that kind of life was too boring, not much better than maintaining machines at the cement factory.
Moreover, the food reserves at home weren't sufficient to last for two months; he couldn't be lazy when it was time to hunt.
He needed to stroll more on the platform, beach forests, and seaside; catching a wild goat would be ideal. If he happened to have good luck and encountered two seals, he'd strike it rich again.
The two big ones he killed last time provided fur, fat, and fresh meat to Chen Zhou, which were still useful, and he dreamed of killing a few more seals.
Besides seals, Chen Zhou hadn't seen the giant turtles often mentioned in Robinson Crusoe.
Were those giant turtles actually hawksbill?
And were the praised turtle eggs by Robinson really that delicious?
He had long wanted answers to these questions, but unfortunately, the turtles never gave him the chance.
...
To pass the long two months, Chen Zhou prepared a large amount of stone and white clay.
He also moved more than half of the cut wooden boards and stone bricks from the mountain down below.
During the rainy season, he planned to complete the indoor partition walls, install indoor doors and ceilings, lay flooring for the kitchen and storage room, and build the fire wall.
If he had time, he also wanted to construct a fireplace on the outer wall of the bedroom, to keep a long-burning fire for cooking and boiling water.
Simultaneously, he planned to stay indoors during the rainy season to continue expanding the grotto.
As more supplies were moved into the grotto from the mountain below, the once spacious and open storage space was becoming cramped, even after keeping the large furniture and cargo from the ship in the shelter below.
If he moved all the supplies from below, including Wang Lingguan's statue, up to the grotto, the storage room, bedroom, and kitchen combined wouldn't be enough.
Additionally, Chen Zhou realized he needed to open a separate workshop to store tools like the paddy hullers, foot pedal pounders, and stone mills, making them convenient for centralized use.
He couldn't leave these bulky processing devices on the outdoor platform.
Exposed to wind, sun, and rain, their lifespan would be halved at the very least.
Not to mention, more processing machines would need to be made in the future, like sugarcane juicers, blacksmithing areas, carving zones, pottery machines, and various molds.
This wasn't modern times, where one could search online and buy whatever they wanted.
On this isolated island, self-sufficiency was required, and every ordinary item necessitated tremendous effort.
Besides construction work and expanding the grotto, Chen Zhou also planned painting and pottery tasks.
However, the pottery tasks were likely not easy to complete.
Due to the rainy season, the large pottery kiln could only fire pottery during light rain or overcast weather without rain.
Having been through a rainy season, Chen Zhou was acutely aware of how rare such weather was.
Therefore, alongside the pottery task, he also prepared the "Modified Flintlock Gun" work.
...
The diverse range of tasks always stretched him thin. While moving stones from the Broken Cliff up the mountain, Chen Zhou often pondered—
Was his world-changing brain, filled with advanced knowledge, to be wasted on stone-moving?
He thought about this countless times until it solidified his determination to tame the Cannibal Tribes.
Original accounts revealed that these Cannibal Tribes were ignorant and superstitious, yet not entirely fearless of death—being eaten alive by kin would certainly terrify anyone.
Emulating Robinson's experience of taming Friday, Chen Zhou planned to use similar methods to drive away the feasting Cannibal Tribes and rescue a native to help him work.
During the process of taming this native, he could learn about the cultural and spiritual aspects of these Cannibal Tribes, deciding whether the next rescue should be aggressive or conservative.
If most natives were like Friday, inherently simple, loyal, grateful, and hard-working, he would save more natives.
But if "Fridays," born good servants, were few, and most natives were stubborn and malicious, he would set aside pity for his kind and resort to killing.