Last time, Wu Jing and his companion hunted an antelope on the grassland, but most of the antelopes they saw were in herds. So this time, they decided to go into the woods to look for prey. Even if they didn't find any, they believed they would get something else and wouldn't return empty-handed.

The two entered the woods, with Wu Jing leading the way with a knife and Zhang Shengnan following behind with a bow. They remained mostly silent, completely focused on searching for prey.

The hunt continued until around four or five in the afternoon before the two returned to camp. Of course, they hadn't eaten lunch, just some wild fruit to fill their stomachs before continuing their hunt. Surprisingly, the haul was quite good; they gathered some mushrooms and foraged for wild vegetables, each filling about half a basket. They also shot a pheasant, snatched three rabbits, and killed two snakes. Notably, they encountered a deer, but it escaped before they could even shoot an arrow. Nevertheless, the haul was more than enough. Wu Jing also gathered some firewood near the camp and brought it back with her.

Upon returning to camp, the two men put the two surviving rabbits back into their burrow to keep them alive. Without resting, they continued carrying wild vegetables and game, taking their earthenware pots to the stream to process the prey. It took them nearly an hour to return to camp. As soon as they got back, they immediately set up the pots and started cooking. Since they had caught some game, they ate stewed snake meat with wild vegetables. As for the pheasant and rabbit, they planned to smoke and dry them to preserve them for a longer time. For now, they would eat the two snakes—one today, one tomorrow—just right.

Wang Lun and Li Ling went to lift the crossbeam early in the morning. Although the tree had been sitting for a few days and had dried out a bit, it was still very heavy. The two of them did their best every time. Of course, if Wang Lun could lift it by himself, he wouldn't have asked Li Ling to do it. It was very tiring.

After returning the first time, Li Ling was so exhausted she almost couldn't sit up. Thankfully, Wang Lun told her that this was the heaviest main beam; the others were thinner and lighter. Only then did he take Li Ling to continue carrying the crossbeams. However, each time they returned, Li Ling couldn't help but want to punch Wang Lun. They were thinner and lighter, but still very heavy. Nevertheless, Li Ling persevered until the very last time. As soon as she put down the crossbeam, Li Ling collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to move. Wang Lun came up from behind, helped Li Ling up, and supported her back to the camp. He had her sit against the wall, and then went to the shelter to fetch water for her. The two of them then sat resting by the entrance.

After more than ten minutes, Wang Lun said, "What do you want to eat for lunch? I'll cook for you." Li Ling waved her hand and said, "I don't want to eat anything, I just want to sit here." Wang Lun thought for a moment, cut a piece of mutton, took out the mountain rat meat from before, and also took some mushrooms and seafood. He soaked the mushrooms and seafood in warm water, then found some thin branches and peeled off the outer bark. He cut the mutton into small pieces, skewered them with branches, then cut the mountain rat meat into small pieces, and prepared the soaked mushrooms and seafood. Next, he went to fetch water and put it on the campfire. Once the water boiled, he added the seafood and mountain rat meat. During this time, he placed the mutton skewers on the campfire to grill, turning them as he grilled. Soon, the seafood and mountain rat meat in the pot were fragrant, and Wang Lun added the sliced ​​mushrooms to the pot. After cooking for a few more minutes, it would be ready. At the same time, the grilled mutton skewers were also ready.

Wang Lun first gave Li Ling some lamb skewers, then made her a bowl of soup, and then made himself some soup. The two began to eat. Although Li Ling had said she wouldn't eat, she had done so much work that morning and was quite exhausted; the aroma made her hungry. So she started eating heartily. Seeing Li Ling eat, Wang Lun felt relieved and continued eating as well.

The two finished eating quickly, and Wang Lun told Li Ling to go back to the shelter to rest and take a nap. Then Wang Lun went to clean up the dishes.

After Wang Lun finished tidying up, he found that Li Ling had already returned to the shelter to rest. Wang Lun didn't go in, but sat outside to rest for ten or twenty minutes before getting up to continue working on the walls of the mud house.

Li Ling slept until after three or four in the afternoon before waking up. After waking up, Li Ling walked out of the shelter and turned around to see Wang Lun still building a wall at the mud house. Li Ling quickly went to the pool to wash her face to wake herself up and then went over to help.

Working together, they finished quickly. They reached the basic height before sunset. Wang Lun then had Li Ling use a forked tree branch to support the beam from below, while Wang Lun climbed up the wall and moved the beam little by little to the right position.

Wang Lun spent almost half an hour working on this one beam, and Li Ling even wanted to go up and help, but Wang Lun dismissed her by saying he needed her help from below. In fact, both of them knew that Li Ling hadn't recovered yet, so going up would be basically useless; it was better for her to stay below and support the beam with a fork.

Since the wall was only completed in the afternoon, Wang Lun used two forked sticks to support the crossbeam to prevent it from sinking further. He also piled mud around the crossbeam to reinforce it and prevent it from wobbling later. After finishing all this, it was already dark. Wang Lun went to the pool to wash himself clean, and when he returned to the shelter, he only needed to wait for dinner.

Li Ling cooked dinner that evening. Since Wang Lun was finishing up some work, Li Ling had nothing else to do, so she went back to cook. After dinner, the two twisted rope for a while before getting ready for bed. They were simply too exhausted; they hadn't had a break from morning till night. Wang Lun fell asleep quickly as soon as he lay down on the bed, and his snoring began.

Inside the treehouse, the Liu sisters, Ruoxi and Liu Ruoling, finished their dinner. Liu Ruoling placed the pot on the porch outside the treehouse, intending to wash it the next day. Liu Ruoxi didn't say anything; after all, Liu Ruoling had been busy all day, gathering firewood after finishing her chores and not returning until noon. After lunch, she gathered the remaining firewood, filling the snack shelter completely, and piled two bundles of firewood under the treehouse. This amount of firewood would last the two of them a long time.

After resting for a while, Liu Ruoling went hunting alone on the hillside again, hoping to catch a rabbit. Rabbit meat was tastier than bird meat, even though it had many bones; at least there was more meat, whereas birds were mostly bones. So Liu Ruoling wanted to hunt some game to nourish Liu Ruoxi. After wandering around for a while, she only managed to shoot three birds and dig up some wild vegetables. Before it got dark, Liu Ruoxi prepared the game. She returned and cooked a pot of wild vegetable stew with bird meat—basically, anything edible. After eating, the two prepared to sleep. There was nothing they could do; it was all dark around them, except for the firelight inside their treehouse, which provided some light.