Chapter 284 Star's Holographic Deserted Island Life 29
On the way back, she was digging for spices and Chinese medicine along the way. She brought a herbal bag with her, so mosquitoes didn't bite her, but Xia Yu was in trouble. Her exposed skin was covered with bites.
After seeing this, Zhang Xiaojia smiled and said, "I'll make you a medicine pack when I get home, and mosquitoes won't bite you anymore."
Xia Yu immediately thanked her, "Thank you, sister-in-law."
Zhang Xiaojia was thinking about surviving in the wilderness. Survival was not a difficult thing. What she wanted was to live well, live exquisitely, and live comfortably on a deserted island.
After walking for a while, they saw a ginkgo tree covered with ginkgo nuts. Xia Yu said happily, "Sister-in-law, ginkgo nuts, let's go pick some!"
Zhang Xiaojia said, "Go ahead and pick them! Don't pick too many. Ginkgo nuts are poisonous and cannot be eaten raw or in large quantities. Otherwise, it may cause poisoning. Symptoms include abdominal distension, diarrhea, dizziness, vomiting, etc. Adults can only eat once a day, and can eat 10 to 20 at a time."
After hearing this, Xia Yu picked some and came down.
Xia Yu pointed at the dark purple fruit and asked, "Sister-in-law, can I eat this?"
Zhang Xiaojia took one look at the miniature grape-shaped fruit and said calmly, "This is a commercial product. Eating it directly is poisonous and can cause fainting, diarrhea, and in severe cases, convulsions or death. However, it is also a traditional Chinese medicine that requires a unique preparation before use. It can treat edema, fight cancer, and can also be used as a painkiller."
Zhang Xiaojia picked some and put them in the basket around his waist.
Zhang Xiaojia's reader rang with a buzz: "What's edible is food. The sago palm tree, which looks very much like a coconut tree, is 12 meters tall and will bloom in a month. Before the sago palm blooms, the starch accumulation in the trunk reaches its peak. It needs to be cut down; after it blooms, it's inedible."
It’s similar to making sweet potato starch.
After the scraped starch is soaked and precipitated, kneaded with water to filter out wood fiber, and washed and precipitated, you can get white sago flour!
Then add water to the sago flour to make it into a paste, grind it through a sieve to make granules, and it becomes the sago we usually eat!
Zhang Xiaojia thought about it for a moment, and to avoid any more trouble, he simply picked up a stone axe and chopped down the tree.
Xia Yu saw Zhang Xiaojia chopping trees and said, "Sister-in-law, I'll go call my brother and the others to move the trees."
Zhang Xiaojia stopped him and said, "No, I can carry it back."
Xia Yu saw Zhang Xiaojia carrying a tree with a trunk diameter of about 30 centimeters and a height of at least 10 meters back to the shelter.
She was really stunned on the way back, with only one thought in her mind: big brother must not let Zhang Xiaojia down, otherwise he would be beaten to death and they would not be able to save him.
When they arrived at the shelter, Zhang Xiaojia cut the sago palm tree into sections.
"Xia Yu, just help Xiao Bai. I'll go to the creek." Zhang Xiaojia looked at the trees on the road and walked to the creek.
No, the stream here is lower than their shelter, and the water can't flow through. Then they ran to the small waterfall, which is higher, and they can cleverly use bamboo to make water pipes, saying that they can successfully divert the water over.
Zhang Xiaojia calculated the distance and found that the shelter was at least one kilometer away, but water had to be diverted there to wash the sago.
On the way back, Zhang Xiaojia's eyes were suddenly drawn to the scene ahead. He saw more than a dozen plump rabbits in the grass not far away! Surprised, he quickly stopped, bent down, picked up a handful of stones, and threw them at them.
Zhang Xiaojia gripped the stone tightly in his hand and threw it at the rabbits. The moment the stone flew out of his hand and flew forward, he picked up the shovel beside him without hesitation and rushed forward like an arrow.
Fortunately, the stone hit both rabbits accurately.
The frightened rabbits scattered in all directions. Three of them seemed to have identified Zhang Xiaojia's direction and pounced directly at her.
But Zhang Xiaojia reacted quickly. He raised his shovel and shoveled it down. Each time he shoveled it down, he hit the rabbits accurately. In the blink of an eye, all three rabbits were killed.
Looking at the five rabbit carcasses lying on the ground, Zhang Xiaojia smiled with satisfaction. She began to search for nearby vines to tie up the rabbits. She found some tough vines and skillfully tied up the rabbits one by one.
After tying it around my waist and looking at the dozen or so rabbit holes around, I guess this is the habitat of hares. According to the reproduction rate of hares, there must be quite a few hares here.
Zhang Xiaojia simply set up several traps here.
Zhang Xiaojia did not randomly block the cave entrances and set traps. She observed carefully and deliberately selected several cave entrances with the most footprints to set traps.
After doing all this, she was already exhausted and sweating. She took out the fresh water from the plastic bottle and started to pour the water into her mouth.
Come and have a look tomorrow. It would be best if we could catch them alive, or even better if we could just let one male and one female reproduce on their own.
Zhang Xiaojia carried the rabbit to the stream again. She squatted down, peeled off the rabbit's fur with swift movements, and carefully took out the internal organs. After roughly rinsing the internal organs, she had to ask Bai Hao to clean them carefully again when she got back.
Afterwards, Zhang Xiaojia found some large palm leaves and carefully wrapped the rabbit and the peeled rabbit skin separately.
When everything was ready, she hurried back with brisk steps. This was a new road, a meadow. After crossing the meadow, there was a bush of varying heights. Zhang Xiaojia took a look and turned around. She did not go into the bushes, but went back along the same route.
The bushes were too dense and there must be some wild animals in them. She didn't want to explore today. She was so hungry that she wanted to go home and have dinner.
Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if a lion appeared on this island.
Zhang Xiaojia returned to the camp and saw Xiaobai cooking outside. She called out, "Xiaobai, is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."
Xiaobai took out a grilled fish and handed it to her, and she handed the rabbit to him.
Jian Bai opened it and was dumbfounded. Is this a rabbit?
"Boss, you killed so many rabbits? Are you going to eat them all today?"
Zhang Xiaojia chuckled twice. "It's hard to make ends meet. Let's eat two and smoke the rest of the rabbit. Why did you come out to cook?"
Jian Bai said, "Your husband said he wanted to rebuild the interior. He's already removed all the flooring you laid out and is going to make a kotatsu (kotatsu) and benches. He's also completely rebuilt the fireplace. I guess we'll all be eating out for the time being."
Jian Bai continued to report, "Lin Lin and Liu Xinwei picked up six baskets of fish at the beach, but they can't do that. They have to go back and forth to get them. Boss, you need to get them some insect repellent packs. It's so painful to see them being bitten by mosquitoes."
Zhang Xiaojia: "I just happened to find a lot of herbs today, so I'll make them for them tonight."
Zhang Xiaojia looked up at the sky. It was only three o'clock in the afternoon. The food reserves were not very sufficient, but they could not just eat something to replenish their food. Everyone had to do heavy work.
Zhang Xiaojia said, "Xiaobai, you can't go to the creek alone in the future. The novice protection period is over. Today I saw wild boars and bears by the creek. The smell of blood can easily attract wild animals, especially bears."
Bears are considered to have the most sensitive sense of smell of all animals on Earth. Their sense of smell is 2,100 times that of humans and can detect animal carcasses about 30 kilometers away.
So they had to build the wall as quickly as possible, dig traps inside and outside, and build fences.
Their stone houses can withstand wild beasts, but the doors cannot. A bear's palm will break the door, and they will find themselves sleeping soundly in the middle of the night, but when they turn over, they will face the blind bear eye to eye.
When Zhang Xiaojia walked in, he saw that they had already set up the kang, but the kang surface was not set up.
He Fei built another hot table, but it didn't have a panel. He said that the panel they made would explode and it wouldn't work.
When Zhang Xiaojia saw He Fei, she immediately pulled her out and said, "Jiajia, it's too dusty inside, you don't need to come in. It won't rain today, so we can stay in the thatched hut."
Zhang Xiaojia smiled and said, "Brother He, there are bears and wild boars here, less than 15 kilometers from us. You probably need to build a stone wall first, then bring water over, and then build a kang and a stone table."
He Fei heard it and nodded, saying, "I'll make the arrangements tonight. I know what's going on."
When Lin Lin came back, he looked at the two baskets of clean fish.
Jian Bai asked worriedly, "Boss, do we need to pickle these fish too? We don't have enough containers to store them."
Zhang Xiaojia thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the beach, bring some lights, and smoke all these fish. We'll make smoked fish. This way, they can be stored for a long time and taste better."
After explaining something to He Fei, I told them to come to the beach for dinner.
Zhang Xiaojia carried the fish, Jian Bai carried the firewood, Lin Lin also carried the fish, Liu Xinwei took the rabbit and the bowls and chopsticks, and they set off to the beach together.
Liu Xinwei also called Zhang Xiaojia, "Boss, why are you going to the beach?"
Zhang Xiaojia explained, "There are bears and wild boars within 15 kilometers of our shelter! This is no joke. It's too unsafe to smoke fish here. We're still quite a crowd now, and He Fei and I are here, so we can handle it a little. But if He Fei and I happen to be away for something one day, the situation will become very dangerous, and you'll all be in trouble."
Zhang Xiaojia had to speak out what was in her mind. No one knew what was in anyone else's mind, so she had to tell them all the dangers. If they didn't understand, she would express it. As long as they were not stupid or troublesome, they would basically listen to her advice.
When we got to the beach, some were setting up the scaffold, some were looking for firewood, and some were salting the fish. Everyone worked together.
Marinate the fish for 2 hours, overnight is best, but don’t they have the conditions?
The marinated fish is hung on a smoking rack and smoked over a wood fire. During the smoking process, the heat and smoke density must be carefully controlled to ensure the fish fully absorbs the smoky aroma. The smoking time varies depending on the size of the fish and the degree of smoke. Generally, it takes several hours to cook the fish thoroughly and form a thin layer of smoked film on the surface.
Looking at the time, it won’t be ready until nine or ten tonight.
Now we have two pots, one for seafood soup today and the other for stir-fried rabbit meat. Zhang Xiaojia picked up a lot of seasonings along the way today, including onions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers. The staple food is corn.
When He Fei and his companions arrived here, the food in the pot was just cooked. The aroma filled the air, making people salivate.
As soon as Li Yang saw this delicious pot, his eyes lit up immediately and he shouted excitedly: "Meat, meat, meat! I can't believe that I am so eager to eat meat!" His exaggerated expression and tone made it seem as if he had been hungry for a long time.
Bai Hao, standing nearby, nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, we used to eat seafood like every day. At first, it felt fresh and delicious. But after a month of eating seafood, even the occasional seafood feast feels just like that now. What I really miss is the fragrant pork! Just thinking about that juicy, tender pork makes my mouth water."
Zhang Xiaojia, who had been quietly listening to the two's conversation, silently agreed. She, too, was craving pork, and the thought of hunting wild boars in the wild reminded her of their sharp fangs. Those fangs were no joke. If you were careless enough to get close enough to a wild boar and get hit by one, the consequences could be disastrous, potentially life-threatening!
She had no choice but to give up the idea of confronting the wild boar head-on and instead choose to make a trap to catch it. Although this might take more time and effort, it was at least relatively safer.
He Fei solemnly recounted Zhang Xiaojia's encounter with the bear and wild boar, then paused for a moment before continuing, "Tomorrow, we'll have to make some adjustments to our original mission. The first thing we need to address is the crucial issue of diverting water. Only by successfully diverting water can subsequent work proceed smoothly. To achieve this, we need to begin laying pipelines. Therefore, we'll focus all day tomorrow on laying pipelines. The day after tomorrow, we'll begin constructing stone walls and setting various traps to strengthen the camp's defenses and ensure everyone's safety."
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