Before going to sleep, Jiang Xi thought a lot about the future. Since they were going to settle down in this cave, they should make some decent furniture.

She even thought about how they would live if the rainy season really came. She even thought about planting some wild vegetables and raising some wild ducks in the valley, so that they would officially enter the "agricultural and pastoral era".

Once a seed of hope is planted in one's heart, one will always be thinking about doing something for it. The more she thought about it, the more excited she became, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, until the moon was high in the sky, and she finally managed to close her eyes for a while.

Jiang Xi was not a heavy sleeper, and she woke up just as dawn was breaking the next morning.

Once awake, she couldn't fall back asleep. The cave was dimly lit, so she groped her way up, trying to be as still as possible so as not to wake Yan Zheng beside her. But as soon as she sat up halfway, Yan Zheng woke up.

Yan Zheng, still half-asleep and seemingly not yet fully conscious, squinted at her.

Jiang Xi said apologetically, "Did I wake you up? I'll go wash up first, you can sleep a little longer." As she spoke, she prepared to get up.

As soon as she sat up, a long arm pulled her over. Jiang Xi fell down due to inertia, and Yan Zheng pulled her into his arms, turning to hug her and saying indistinctly, "Don't move, sleep a little longer."

Jiang Xi thought he must be exhausted these past two days. Her disturbing his sleep was indeed annoying. Anyway, she had gotten used to his occasional physical contact. Through her observation over the past few days, she knew that although he sometimes had a bad temper, he wouldn't really hurt her.

Jiang Xi stopped struggling and comforted herself to rest a little longer. Unexpectedly, nestled in his arms, she also fell into a deep sleep.

When Jiang Xi woke up again, she was awakened by the sunlight.

After the rain, the sun was high in the sky, and the bright sunlight shone through the cracks in the cave onto the banana leaf bed. Jiang Xi was so blinded by the glare that she couldn't open her eyes.

There was no one around anymore, and the sound of wood splitting could be heard from outside the cave.

She thought to herself that she had slept for a really long time. After tidying her hair and clothes, she went out of the cave, but did not see Yan Zheng.

Following the sound, I found him chopping down trees on a hillside not far from the river. The sound of wood splitting was coming from there. Then I remembered that I had mentioned making wooden doors yesterday. I didn't expect that he had already started working on it today.

The river in front of the cave had returned to normal, with a steady flow and clear water. She stepped on the stones in the river and slowly crossed the river to walk up the hillside.

Yan Zheng saw her arrive and put down his axe: "You're awake. There's breakfast left for you in the pot."

Jiang Xi still felt kind towards him for waking him up in the morning and then sleeping in for so long, not wanting to take advantage of him: "Let me help you out first?"

"No need, go eat first, and then come back to collect the vines."

Jiang Xi nodded after listening, but was stopped by Yan Zheng when she turned to go back.

"Look what this is?"

He pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a string bean, or a large flat bean. What did Jiang Xi think of in an instant?

She picked it up and looked at it, then tentatively asked, "Soap pods?"

He then asked, "Is it on a tree?"

Yan Zheng nodded: "I found it when I was cutting down the tree. You can see it about 30 or 40 meters to your right. If you want to use it, go pick it yourself."

Jiang Xi couldn't hide her excitement and ran over quickly. It really was a soapberry tree; the top wasn't visible from below, but it was indeed a very large tree.

The bark is rough and dark gray, and the trunk is covered with sharp soapberry thorns. The crown is about seven or eight meters wide, covered with patches of green soapberry pods.

The history of humans using soap pods to wash their hair and clothes dates back to the Qin and Han dynasties.

Fresh soap pods are not very effective. They must be picked first, then dried, and the outer shells smashed with stones. They should then be soaked in boiling water for two hours before being rubbed and used.

Jiang Xi picked up some dried soap pods under the tree, put them in front of her, and carried them back in her sweater.

For breakfast, Yan Zheng cooked a mushroom and wild vegetable soup, and also added two poached eggs to it.

Jiang Xi rarely picks at her food. Since coming to this world, her appetite has been steadily increasing due to the increased amount of exercise. Last night, they only ate some fruit, and they were already starving. However, there seemed to be too much soup. She was in a hurry to cook soapberry in the pot, and adhering to the principle that food is precious, she reluctantly ate the vegetables and eggs, and threw away the remaining soup.

It seems we need to make some water containers as soon as possible, otherwise life will be very troublesome.

After the meal, she washed the pot clean and boiled another pot of water. She chose a stone slab and found a relatively smooth stone, placed the dried soap pods on it, and crushed them little by little with the stone. After the water boiled, she put the soap pods in to soak.

After everything was taken care of, she picked up the dagger and went up the hillside.

Yan Zheng planned to make two wooden doors to block the front and back exits of the cave. The method of making them was the same as before: first, collect enough wood about the thickness of a calf, and then use vines to connect and tie the wood together.

Collecting wood and vines was no easy task. Yan Zheng was sweating profusely under the scorching sun, so hot that he took off his jacket and carried wood shirtless. Jiang Xi was already used to this.

She focused all her attention on the vines and it really paid off. While cutting the vines, she observed them carefully and discovered that the reason the vines were so resilient was entirely due to the wood core and the fiber layer on the outside of the wood core.

Once you peel back the outer skin of the vine, you can see that the wood core is wrapped in a layer of fiber, which is very tough and very soft.

The wood core has a tension similar to that of a rubber band, with the fibers tightly attached to it. This means that even if the outer skin of the vine is damaged by rubbing, the fibers and the wood core remain very strong and flexible.

Jiang Xi suddenly tore off the fibers from the vine. When she crushed them with her hands, she could feel a slightly sticky, glue-like texture on the fibers, which reminded her of the process of making linen.

Six thousand years ago, humans had already invented the use of hemp to make clothing, but the process of making clothes from hemp was very complicated.

She once had the privilege of participating in the restoration of a Qin Dynasty hemp fabric artifact. Starting with the hemp fibers, the harvested hemp fibers had to undergo a series of processes, including repeated sun exposure and repeated rinsing with clean water, to degumme them.

Finally, the hemp fibers are spun out and woven into fabric using a spinning wheel. Although there are no spinning wheels to make clothes now, being able to make hemp thread or rope is still a considerable gain for them.

Tools are the cornerstone of human civilization's progress.

As Jiang Xi thought about it, she immediately started working. She first collected enough vines, some of which were used to make wooden doors, and the rest she sat on the ground peeling off the outer layer of the vines and extracting the hemp fibers inside.

She was always meticulous in her work, and with her mind completely focused on the vines, she only responded after Yan Zheng called her three times at noon. Jiang Xi looked up and saw that it was already midday, the hottest time of the day.

Clutching the torn vine fibers, she followed Yan Zheng back to the cave.

It was too hot, and no one had much of an appetite. There was still soapy water in the pot that Jiang Xi was going to use to wash her hair. The sun was shining brightly, so she told Yan Zheng and went to the valley behind the mountain.

I tested the water temperature with my hand; the water was cool.

The temperature was unusually hot today, with the sun scorching the earth. Jiang Xi was sweating profusely, and the coolness relieved the heat all over her body.

After taking off his clothes and removing the banana leaves from his legs, he squatted in the river to wash them.

The soapberry water had produced a rich lather after being rubbed, and when poured onto her head, it had a natural medicinal fragrance. Finally, she used the soapberry water to scrub her entire body. This was the most comfortable bath she had taken since arriving here, and all her discomfort seemed to have been washed away.

After taking a bath, she also washed her dirty clothes with soapy water. With no clothes to wear, she took out the banana leaves she had prepared in advance, wrapped herself up from the shoulders, and went back to the cave.