Chapter 42 - 15: Shipbuilding_3
"So, what should I name this guy?"
Glancing at the big dog sleeping soundly on the carpet, Chen Zhou thought of a couple of traditional dog names.
"Wang Cai?
Or Lai Fu?"
He analyzed carefully.
"Hey, in my current situation, Wang Cai is useless.
Survival is the most important, complete the challenge, and wealth will naturally come.
Might as well call him Lai Fu, bring more luck, bless my shipbuilding goes smoothly, landing on the island goes smoothly, challenge goes smoothly..."
"Hmm...
This name is great all around, just a bit rustic.
But rustic is rustic, it’s a foreign dog who doesn’t understand Chinese, might even think it’s classy."
Pinning all his hopes on Lai Fu, Chen Zhou drifted off to sleep while thinking about it.
Probably because he forgot to observe the tides last night, today he kept mentally reminding himself not to forget to measure the tides, developing an obsession.
In a dream, Chen Zhou saw the tide surge, terrifying waves connecting the sky and earth, just like in the movie 2012, crushing through, flipping over the stranded ships, submerging the island.
Even in the dream, the scene was exceptionally real, Chen Zhou struggled in the water, the hammock swaying left and right.
Just as he was about to suffocate in the water, he suddenly woke up, feeling a chill down his spine, heart pounding, as if he really experienced life and death.
Shaking his head, he threw those awful images out of his mind.
Sleeping in the first mate’s fur bed, coincidentally there was no wind and rain tonight, feeling hot and restless all over.
Chen Zhou’s throat was dry as smoke, but instead of drinking water, he ran to the window first, only letting his mind settle after seeing the calm sea surface and the starry sky.
Downing a cup of cool boiled water to quench his thirst, remembering the unfinished work, Chen Zhou forced himself awake and grabbed a wooden stick.
As fate would have it, the tide had just reached its peak, Chen Zhou compared the marks carved before sleep and found the waterline was half a meter higher than at dusk.
He carefully recorded the data on paper, saving it for tomorrow’s chart drawing.
Lighting an oil lamp, Chen Zhou went to the kitchen to soak his feet.
The wound on his heel had just scabbed over, and the hot water made it fall off, causing him to grimace in pain.
But since his feet were half washed, the lost scab couldn’t regrow, Chen Zhou could only endure the pain and finish washing his feet, then hobbled back to his room to undress and sleep.
The latter half of the night was rainless and dreamless.
Waking up in the morning, Chen Zhou felt the usual soreness in his back, and due to excessive sawing, his arms were somewhat swollen.
Accustomed to feeling uncomfortable everywhere, after breakfast, Chen Zhou drew up a chart, untied the rope from the ship’s railing, observed the water marks, recorded the data, and began the new day’s work.
The task for October 3rd was to use tools to craft four frameworks into neat mortise and tenon components.
In the plans left by the forum experts, every part of the mortise and tenon had a specific name.
For example, the part inserted into the mortise was called the tenon tongue, and the rest was called the tenon shoulder.
The connecting part of the tenon and mortise were called the tenon head and mortise eye, these terms were vividly descriptive, remembered clearly by Chen Zhou.
In today’s work, he was to chisel a full row of square mortise eyes on the front and rear frames.
These mortise eyes were for inserting planks, which formed the top "deck" of the raft.
Each mortise eye needed to be as uniform in size as possible, and arranged in a straight line.
Chen Zhou was basically at a beginner level in woodworking, even though he was using European tools that didn’t demand high skill, he still lacked confidence.
Worried about making mistakes leading to unqualified mortise eyes, he chiseled very slowly.
In addition, he kept an ink bottle nearby, replenishing new lines with every piece of wood chiseled to ensure he didn’t chisel crookedly.
But he soon realized, using ink so lavishly, the few bottles on the ship wouldn’t support the raft construction and would soon run out.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Chen Zhou found a better alternative—the leftover charcoal beneath the kitchen stove.
Although charcoal sticks stained his hands and drew thick lines, they were plentiful, and if too thick, he could shave them thin with a knife, effectively solving the ink shortage problem.
Little by little chiseling the wood, as one mortise eye after another was successfully cut out, Chen Zhou’s proficiency gradually improved, and his handling of the tools became increasingly skilled.
When working seriously and focused, time always flew by.
At noon, after a quick meal, he played with Lai Fu on the deck to relax a bit, then returned to the repetitive and tedious chiseling.