As his relationship with Phantom grew closer, Lin Feng did not forget to continue improving his quality of life.
In addition to his daily hunting, gathering, and tool repair, he turned his attention to a new field—brewing.
He had previously tried simple fermentation with Golden Fox Rice and Frost Fruit, and although he obtained some liquid with an alcoholic taste, the taste and quality were unsatisfactory.
Now, his pottery-making skills have become increasingly sophisticated, enabling him to fire larger and more airtight pottery jars.
Moreover, he gained a deeper understanding of the surrounding plant resources.
He decided to seriously brew a batch of his own fine wine.
The first step in brewing is finding suitable sugar sources and yeast.
Golden Fox Rice remains his preferred source of sugar.
This unique type of rice not only provides a feeling of fullness but also contains high levels of sugar, making it ideal for fermentation.
He also discovered a wild, grape-like berry with a sweet and sour taste and abundant juice, which he named "Amethyst Fruit" and planned to use to make fruit wine.
The source of the yeast took him some thought.
He knew that many fruits in nature have wild yeast attached to their skin.
He collected a large number of amethyst fruits, as well as some other ripe wild fruits, and gently crushed them without washing them, hoping to use the yeast on their skins to ferment them naturally.
He steamed the prepared golden fox rice, let it cool, and then mixed it with crushed amethyst fruit and other wild fruits, as well as some plant pollen that he thought might contain yeast, and put it into a newly fired large earthenware jar.
He carefully coated the inside of the earthenware jar with beeswax (which he found in an abandoned beehive) to enhance its seal.
He didn't add water, hoping to obtain a higher concentration of puree through the saccharification of the fruit's own moisture and the starch in the Golden Fox Rice.
After sealing the jar, Lin Feng placed it in a relatively constant, dark place in the corner of the wooden house and began the long wait.
He knew that brewing wine was a process that couldn't be rushed; it required time and patience to mature.
While waiting for the wine to ferment, Lin Feng began to think about another thing—lamp oil.
Although the cabin has a fireplace, providing enough light and warmth at night, he also has a cell phone, which he occasionally uses for lighting or entertainment.
However, the light from the fireplace is unstable, and the flickering flames can be dazzling if you look at them for too long.
He didn't want to waste too much of his phone's battery on basic needs like lighting.
If he could have a stable and long-lasting supply of lamp oil and make better oil lamps, it would undoubtedly greatly improve the quality of his nighttime life.
His first thought was animal fat.
He had refined some before, but the yield was low, and it produced a lot of smoke and had an unpleasant smell when burned. He needed to find a better source of lamp oil.
He began to search carefully in the mountains and forests. He remembered that in his previous life, some plants had seeds rich in oil that could be pressed for oil.
For example, rapeseed, peanuts, and soybeans. Although this world doesn't have those familiar crops, similar plants do exist.
He set his sights on plants with hard fruit and plump kernels.
After several days of searching and trying, he finally found a plant that looked very promising.
It was a tall tree that bore a hard fruit the size of a fist, with a dark brown, very rough shell.
He painstakingly cracked open the shell with a stone axe, revealing three to four milky-white kernels the size of pigeon eggs.
He tasted it; the kernels were somewhat astringent, but after chewing, he could feel a distinct oily sensation.
"There's hope!" Lin Feng was overjoyed. He named the fruit "Oil Fruit" and began collecting it in large quantities.
Harvesting petroleum fruits is not easy. The trees are tall, the fruits are hard, and the yield is not particularly high.
It took him several days to collect enough for preliminary experiments.
Next comes the oil extraction.
Lacking professional oil-pressing tools, he could only use the most primitive method. He first removed the kernels from the oilseeds and then crushed them into a paste using a stone pestle and mortar.
Then he wrapped the paste in fine animal hide, sandwiched it between two flat stone slabs, and weighed it down with heavy stones, trying to squeeze out the oil through pressure.
This process is extremely inefficient and very physically demanding.
He spent most of the day working, but all he got was a small bowl of murky, light yellow oil with impurities.
"This won't work; it's too inefficient." Lin Feng frowned. He knew he had to improve the method.
He thought of heating it. When heated, the oil becomes more fluid and easier to separate from the raw materials.
So he put the crushed petroleum jelly kernel paste into a ceramic pot, added a small amount of water, and then slowly heated and stir-fried it over a low flame.
As the temperature rose, a strange, caramelized aroma, similar to that of nuts, filled the air.
As the moisture in the kernel gradually evaporates, the oil begins to seep out.
When the kernel paste was fried to a deep yellow color and emitted a rich oily aroma, he removed the earthenware pot from the fire and poured the fried kernel paste into a previously prepared animal skin bag while it was still hot. Then he pressed it again with a stone slab and a heavy stone.
This time, the effect was significantly better. Golden, relatively clear oil slowly seeped from the animal skin bag and dripped into the ceramic bowl below.
Although the output is still not very high, it is a qualitative leap compared to the previous cold-pressing method.
Lin Feng was overjoyed. He carefully stored the collected "fruit oil" in preparation for making new oil lamps.
Besides brewing wine and searching for lamp oil, Lin Feng also did not forget his other important goal—to make more comfortable clothing from the fibers of the "Resilient Vine".
He had previously successfully twisted "tough vine" ropes, proving the strength of this fiber.
Now, he is about to take on an even more challenging task—spinning thread and weaving cloth.
He collected a large number of mature pods of the "Resilient Vine" and carefully removed and dried the white fibers inside.
Then, he began to try spinning thread. He didn't have a spindle, so he could only use the most primitive method: slowly twisting and stretching a small tuft of fibers with his fingers, then adding new fibers to connect them into a continuous fine thread.
This is an extremely tedious and visually demanding process. The thread he twists is uneven in thickness and breaks easily.
But he did not get discouraged. He tried again and again, exploring the right amount of force and technique.
He discovered that soaking the fibers in wood ash water before twisting, followed by beating and combing, could remove some impurities, making the fibers softer and easier to spin into uniform fine threads.
After countless failures and attempts, he finally spun some barely usable "tough vine" thread. Although these threads were not as smooth and delicate as modern cotton thread, they were extremely tough and had a natural light beige sheen.
With the thread in hand, the next step was weaving. This was even more difficult.
He didn't have a loom, not even the most rudimentary waist loom. He could only try the most primitive method—frame weaving.
He used several straight bamboo poles to build a simple rectangular frame, and then used thin threads of "tough vine" as warp threads, taut and securing them one by one on the frame. The weft threads were threaded through the warp threads using a sharpened animal bone or a thin wooden stick, weaving back and forth.
This is a weaving method that is extremely inefficient and labor-intensive.
He can only weave a piece of "cloth" the size of his palm each day.
The fabric is also quite rough, with large gaps between the warp and weft threads, making it look more like a fine net.
But Lin Feng did not give up.
What he is making now is just a rough piece of "cloth," but it represents a possibility—a possibility of getting rid of animal skins and wearing more comfortable clothes.
In his busy and fulfilling days, Lin Feng's quality of life is steadily improving.
He had the loyal Wangcai, the gentle Meiying, the fine wine to look forward to, the lamp oil for illumination, and the "Resilient Vine" fabric that was slowly taking shape.
His wooden house is increasingly resembling a real "home".
Pottery, glassware, various tools, stored food and materials filled the wooden house to the brim.
The fireplace flames, the oil lamp's glow, and the occasional music or game sounds from a cell phone all added a touch of civilization and a warm atmosphere to this primitive little house.
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