Chapter 208 - 93: June
The taste of the roasted frog was almost identical to the one he tried in his childhood. The familiar flavor warmed Chen Zhou's heart and filled his stomach.
Used to eating seal and sheep meat, the sudden change in flavor made it even more tender and delicious to him.
...
With the two-day holiday over, the tasks listed on the schedule pressed down one by one, waiting to be completed.
The rice was quickly dried, and carefully weighing the amount, Chen Zhou selected the plumpest grains and the heaviest ears to use as seeds for the next season. The less appealing ones were husked and pounded to serve as food.
Since landing on the island, he hadn't had rice for more than half a year.
Living on gruel daily, occasional dumplings or noodle soup couldn't quench Chen Zhou's longing for rice.
Having sorted out the rice grains suitable for seeds, he sprouted them in advance using socks and glass jars, then set about making an earthen huller.
After testing the prototype, the earthen huller's theory and practical function were verified. Chen Zhou had no doubts about the process, so the progress was swift.
From May 22 to 26, most parts of the large earthen huller were completed, even the white clay grindstone encased in a wooden shell was dried, ready to be tested with the unhulled rice.
The 26th was the sixteenth mysterious reward delivery day, as usual, Chen Zhou spent another day organizing the wood and stone wall on the beach while collecting his reward.
This reward happened to be quite useful—a large mountaineering backpack.
This backpack differed from those cheap tourist goods, its materials and design truly considered the user's needs. It wasn't perfect, but it was close.
The backpack was made primarily of special nylon material, resistant to wear and tear, somewhat breathable, and lightweight.
The carrying section used a three-dimensional cut belt and breathable back panel design.
There were many loops for connections on the backpack, allowing the user to adjust the load freely. The top cover and shoulder straps were coated with a waterproof material to prevent items inside from getting wet in the rain.
On this backpack, which looked like a large gray bag, there were buckles for tools, a special port for inserting water cups, pockets for action cameras and electronic devices...
Of course, these weren't enough to make Chen Zhou feel it was highly useful. What truly surprised him was the bundle of climbing rope that came with the backpack.
It was a coil of polyester non-elastic climbing rope, measuring approximately 45 meters in length and about 9.5 millimeters in diameter, quite substantial.
Though the climbing rope wasn't as thick as the ship's rigging, its tensile strength and wear resistance far surpassed hemp ropes.
Not only could Chen Zhou use it for climbing, but it could also easily handle back-and-forth lifting of heavy loads if installed on a pulley. Though it would be a waste to cut it into small sections for tying rafts or securing a wooden house structure.
After handling household matters, Chen Zhou planned to visit the River Valley Plain again, where the mountaineering backpack would prove useful.
Compared to the leather bags he sewed himself, the 21st-century professional mountaineering backpack was unmatched in every aspect.
With more professional equipment, he could take more luggage, more food, more tools, travel farther, and even set off directly from the River Valley Plain to the Fruit Tree Valley to collect fruits and plants, enriching the variety of food near the kiln cave.
When he shouldered the backpack, Chen Zhou shamelessly thought—
"If the next reward is a portable tent, I could take the bag and tent all over the island."
Though this island might not be as large as a county in his hometown, for one person, it was vast enough.
Robinson lived on the island for nearly 29 years and still couldn't completely explore the resources and species on the island.
This challenging task was something Chen Zhou still wanted to accomplish.
Of course, ideals are ideals, and reality is reality.
Food was running out, the shelter wasn't finished, and many supplies waited to be transported, with lots of work at home. Even if the next reward is a tent, he would have to wait years to "tour around the island."
On the 26th, aside from claiming the mountaineering backpack and organizing planks and stone bricks, Chen Zhou checked the salt drying pool.
The seawater initially introduced into the evaporation pool had mostly evaporated, and once transferred to the crystallization pool, it had formed a layer of white salt grains on the cement surface.
These salt grains were thin but covered a large area. After scraping them off with a dagger, he packed them into a wooden box.
That night, when cooking porridge, Chen Zhou tried some of the new salt to taste its flavor.
It turned out that the ancient method of salt drying was quite reliable.
After being diluted by water, the flavor of the meat porridge was almost indistinguishable from the salt he took from the ship, without fundamentally affecting the eating experience.
...
On May 30, the earthen huller was completed, and Chen Zhou simply processed some of the grains kept as food.
On the same day, he started researching the structure of a water mill and found a narrow, rapid stream by the Rock River. He cleared the weeds there and transported some planks and stone bricks, preparing to build a workshop there.
Life during this period was somewhat mundane, with no setbacks or accidents.
The goat couple wasn't saddened by the mysterious disappearance of the kid, and the little mouse accepted the rabbit meat sausage.
The crops grew smoothly, but they required frequent watering, as the island was in the dry season.
Fetching water daily was slightly troublesome. Chen Zhou considered building an irrigation channel or digging a well to provide a convenient water source for the fields and living needs.
However, building an irrigation channel or well was a major project requiring enough tools, tasks that couldn't be completed in a short time, and could only be noted in a notebook, waiting to be addressed after all pending tasks were finished.
In the small wooden house, the plants received Chen Zhou's attentive care—the grapes and tobacco grew well, while the mountain celery showed symptoms of acclimatization failure and were all wiped out.
There was another regretful matter for Chen Zhou—
The plant that looked very much like a chili turned out to be chili, but the fruits it bore were unlike modern chili, being very small, with a strong bitter taste, not suitable for use as chili or seasoning.
His dream of chili fried with meat was shattered.
Fortunately, the mountain celery truly had the flavor of celery, so if cultivation succeeded, the lamb and celery dumpling plan could be salvaged.
The sugarcanes planted beside the stream had also all survived, though they were a bit withered.
Once they grew strong, Chen Zhou planned to slowly expand the sugarcane field beside the stream, preparing for sugar production.
Aloe, with its stronger adaptability, had already begun to propagate normally, with no need to worry about its growth status.
...
The long-term hunting and killing of wild rabbits had proven effective. At least on the edges of the field and forest, sightings of wild rabbits had become rare.
In the storage room, batches of processed rabbit furs were neatly stacked together.
With spare time, Chen Zhou attempted to make gloves with these rabbit furs—
Frequently chopping wood and doing carpentry, his hands had developed a layer of calluses, which couldn't fully protect his palms during work, as scratches and cuts were common.
In his view, gloves were an important item urgently needed but not available in storage.
However, Chen Zhou was rather clumsy with needlework.
Sewing large garments like leather coats or items with low technical content like leather bags was doable, but making gloves, which were structurally complex and small, was beyond his abilities.
After wasting quite a bit of thread and several pieces of rabbit fur, he only managed to sew three pairs of loose-fitting gloves, resembling winter motorcycle gloves used for wind and cold protection in the north.
While the gloves provided warmth with immobile fingers—a function least needed on a subtropical island—they became a hindrance once fingers needed to move for work, greatly affecting the grip on tools. After trying them a few times, Chen Zhou ultimately gave up on the rabbit fur gloves.