After finishing her meal and cleaning up, Jiang Xi was covered in sweat. She couldn't stand being so sweaty and wanted to wash herself in the river.

However, as a highly educated young woman in the 21st century, she finds it difficult to accept taking a public shower in front of a man, even if it is her ex.

She was still angry about what happened that morning, and hesitantly said to Yan Zheng, "I'm going to take a shower, you should leave."

Yan Zheng spoke softly, "If I really wanted to do something, do you think you could still be telling me all this unscathed?"

Jiang Xi thought to herself, "You've done quite a lot too," but still said irritably, "With all these injuries, you shouldn't be so desperate as to eat anything."

Yan Zheng didn't even glance at her, leaving behind the words, "I'm not picky about food," before turning and walking away.

As they approached the riverbank, Jiang Xi was still uneasy. She suddenly turned around and shouted at Yan Zheng, "Don't peek!"

Yan Zheng was carrying a piece of dead wood toward the cave entrance when he heard her voice, but he didn't reply. He just waved his hand, signaling her to hurry up.

The river flowed under the midday sun. The water shimmered with golden light, like a bright ribbon winding along the shallows.

Jiang Xi chose a good spot to stand by the river. Most importantly, there were many stones there, which could block half of her view when she squatted down.

As she held onto the rocks to prepare to go into the water, she was scalded. The temperature was probably around 36 or 37 degrees Celsius. The rocks were so hot from the scorching sun that they burned her fingertips slightly.

This gave her a lot of inspiration. She had always seen news reports that hot things could be used to fry eggs, and hot stones could be used to fry eggs. Could they also be used to dry clothes?

Jiang Xi took off all her clothes and washed them in the river. She wrung them out and laid them flat on the hot stones. The wet clothes sizzled as soon as they were placed on the stones, and the water evaporated instantly. White steam began to rise from the clothes.

She couldn't help but marvel once again at the wonder of nature, who had just been agonizing over what to wear after her shower.

Although the afternoon temperature was high, the river water was still slightly cool, probably because it flowed from the mountains and forests. Jiang Xi shivered as soon as her legs touched the water. Fortunately, the sun was blazing, so she comforted herself by thinking of it as a way to cool off.

After washing, I touched the clothes on the rock. The undershirt and thermal underwear were dry, even slightly warm to the touch. The underwear, however, was too slow to dry due to the fabric.

She put on her top first, but then struggled with the pants. She'd been wearing thermal underwear everywhere for the past two days, and her legs were covered in heat rash.

Jiang Xi used a dagger to cut off another pair of relatively clean woolen pants from the thigh down, and wore them as shorts. She carefully kept the cut-off pant legs for future use.

There were many thorns and mosquitoes here, so Jiang Xi couldn't run barefoot. She tied banana leaves to her legs with vines.

When I was little, every time I went out to play, I would come back covered in mosquito bites, and my grandma would crush banana leaves and apply them to my body.

These leaves not only provide protection, but their cool, refreshing feel when applied to the legs can also relieve itching.

When she finished packing and returned to the cave, she found a lot of dead wood piled up at the entrance, and Yan Zheng was still chopping wood not far away.

The temperature was still very high. He took off his shirt and went shirtless, sweating profusely, his wheat-colored back glowing with a honey-like sheen.

Seeing her legs bound with banana leaves, he didn't say anything, but simply told her to go and gather some vines to make a door.

The two worked together, one chopping wood and the other gathering vines. It wasn't until the sun was setting in the afternoon that the wooden door began to take shape.

Yan Zheng arranged all the wood in a row and added a few crossbeams, then tied them together with vines, creating a simple yet sturdy fence gate. Because of the large amount of wood used, it was quite heavy and looked very solid.

The door was made slightly larger than the opening, so he went to the riverbank and brought back two large stones to block the two sides of the door, which was just enough to secure it.

Meanwhile, before it got dark, Jiang Xi collected all the scrap wood that Yan Zheng didn't need and used it to boil saltwort wood water.

Following Yan Zheng's instructions, Jiang Xi first boiled a pot of warm water, then put the sumac fruit spikes in to soak and rub for a while, removing the surface exudate before taking them out and discarding them.

The water from rubbing and washing the sumac has a natural salty taste, but it contains many impurities and looks very cloudy.

Jiang Xi removed the inner bag from her backpack, cleaned it, and then used the acrylic inner bag as a filter to remove the impurities from the pot.

She stayed by the fire from dawn till dusk, only taking the pot off the stove when crystals began to form. After it cooled, brown crystals would settle in the pot, which could then be collected and used as a seasoning to increase salt content.

As it was getting dark, Jiang Xi went to collect hay near the shallows. She had slept on the ground the night before and woke up this morning with a sore back. She was determined to make a mattress today, even if it was just made of hay.

Yan Zheng spent the whole afternoon working on the wooden door. He seemed very anxious to finish it before dark.

They didn't go fishing that night, so dinner was simple. Jiang Xi first boiled a few wild duck eggs. There were still some wild mushrooms and shepherd's purse left in the cave from yesterday. Jiang Xi sliced ​​them and added some salt to boil them.

After Yan Zheng finished installing the wooden door, he picked some figs, and the two of them made dinner with wild mushroom soup and wild eggs.

After dinner, it was completely dark, and Yan Zheng continued boiling salt.

Jiang Xi then piled the hay under the banana leaves where the two of them slept.

"We'll sleep in the same bed tonight."

Jiang Xi turned to look at him incredulously, thinking he was deliberately telling her about what happened that afternoon.

Jiang Xi sneered, "It seems you're really desperate."

Yan Zheng ignored the sarcasm in her words: "Just do as I say, and you'll suffer less if you're obedient."

Jiang Xi couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Knowing that going against him wouldn't bring her any benefit, she said nothing more, dismantled her own bed, and pieced together the hay and Yan Zheng's leaf bed to make a large bed.

Jiang Xi waited until the moonlight was very bright before all the sumac was boiled. She then cleaned the inner bag of her backpack and used it to store the salt.

Before going to sleep, Yan Zheng extinguished the fire, propped the wooden door shut with a stone, placed the axe and sword beside the bed, and then lay down on the outside of the bed.

Jiang Xi felt a little nervous, probably because of what he had said earlier, which made her heart pound. She covered herself up tightly with her clothes and tried to face the stone wall.

She was thinking about whether she should respond if he made any moves, and she was even thinking about what reason she would use to persuade him to let go of his resentment and be kinder to her. As she was thinking, she fell asleep without realizing it.

When Jiang Xi woke up in the morning, Yan Zheng had just woken up as well. His expression was calm, and he casually rested his hand on his sleepy eyes. In the next instant, his body suddenly stiffened, he pressed Jiang Xi down and stood up abruptly. He rushed to the door and stood by the door, looking out through the fence.