Chapter 51 - 18: One Night on the Island (Part 3)
The moisture in the riverside woodland was extremely heavy, and coupled with the disruptive wind through the forest, the difficulty of making a fire suddenly increased. Even with the most advanced fire-starting tool of this era, Chen Zhou still experienced the taste of failure.
He couldn’t remember how many times the flame had extinguished. As the airflow from his mouth flowed out, the faint firelight finally did not die in its infancy and grew tenaciously.
The rain-drenched twigs were scorched by the flames, emitting thick, grey-black smoke, with warmth spreading out.
Seeing the fire stabilize, Chen Zhou filled the fire with thick branches picked up from the forest while walking towards the shelter.
The firelight illuminated the supply box inside the shelter. He squinted to identify the markings on the box and hauled out a wooden box engraved with the initials G5, from which he took out a large iron pot.
After mentally preparing to spend the night on the island, Chen Zhou had deliberately brought along two pieces of bread and this iron pot.
After setting up the fire and fetching half a pot of river water, Chen Zhou made a simple wooden rack to hang the iron pot over and began to boil water.
Compared to the surrounding darkness, the firelight was far too bright and dazzling, making it impossible to see far, only able to smell the smoke of burning wet wood and listen to sounds deep in the woods.
Lai Fu, lying by the riverside, was annoyed by the croaking frogs and barked angrily a couple of times.
Initially, the loud barks could intimidate the brazen frogs, but after several times, these noisy creatures became indifferent, and even if Lai Fu stood up and barked with all his might, they pretended not to hear.
The croaking, instead of diminishing, grew even louder, as if mocking Lai Fu’s inability to do anything to them.
Woof!
Lai Fu, infuriated and humiliated, jumped into the water with a splash, baring his teeth to look for the frogs.
However, these clever little things were prepared and dived into the waterplants at the riverbed, disappearing without a trace.
Repeating this several times, Lai Fu was nearly driven to madness, squatting by the riverside, howling like a wolf.
But the tune lacked any of a wolf’s boldness, sounding more like a tearful child wailing.
From afar, Chen Zhou watched Lai Fu’s battle of wits with the frogs. In the blink of an eye, the water had already boiled.
Taking white bread from his pocket, he called out to Lai Fu: "Come back, it’s time to eat."
Woo~
Reluctantly, Lai Fu moved slowly to the fire, bringing his big head close to Chen Zhou and licked his face.
Perhaps from biting at non-existent frogs in the river earlier, Lai Fu’s tongue was both cold and fishy, leaving Chen Zhou pulling a face of distaste.
"You fool!
Look at the mess you’ve made yourself, you don’t look anything like a little dog!"
Feigning reprimand, Chen Zhou saw Lai Fu keeping a low profile, glancing around guiltily, as if admiring the scenery in a pitiful way, his heart softened somewhat.
"Alright, I’ll spare some time to help you teach them a lesson one day, we’ll catch dozens and make baked frogs for you."
Saying so, Chen Zhou rubbed Lai Fu’s head and broke a piece of white bread to hand over.
Wagging his tail, Lai Fu shook his head and leaned on his master’s shoulder, gently gripping the bread with his mouth, ignoring Chen Zhou’s attempts to push him away, moving closer, as if apologizing for making his master angry.
The night remained silent, the glow of the flames gently fading. After eating, Chen Zhou curled up and fell asleep by the fire pit.
Lai Fu lay beside him, squinting as if dozing, ears twitching to the odd noises of the forest. Occasionally, showing a fierce look, standing up to patrol, warning off any daring wild beasts.
The rustling insect calls gradually overpowered the frog croaks.
The mountains lay bathed in the moon’s clear brilliance, the sea shimmered.
In the vast sky, only a few wisps of scattered clouds remained, like solitary geese separated from the flock, floating dream-like away.