Chapter 53

Lu Yuanzheng went to a meeting, and Xu Wen had nothing to do so he started to set up the tent.

While she was shopping on land, she was thinking about how she could have a thatched house to live in, so she bought curtains, bed sheets, and a few feet of cloth. She was thinking about getting a sofa cover or a tea table cover if she had a sofa or a tea table, and if she didn't have a tea table but only a square table, she would get a square tablecloth.

I didn't expect that I would have to live in a tent and not have any cloth to use.

Just now, the clerk and the orderly brought over two more camp beds and put them together in a corner of the tent.

As soon as the small conference table was moved away, the tent, which had become much more spacious, suddenly became half empty again.

Xu Wen thought that Lu Yuanzheng had to work here from time to time, and sometimes it was inconvenient for her, so she hung a curtain in front of the bed to simply separate the bedroom and the living room/study room.

He also placed all the things the family bought from the land in a simple cabinet.

Xu Wen was busy while thinking, when the big guy came to complain just now, he said that there was a lack of fresh water resources on the island.

This is indeed a big problem.

Xu Wen knew that the most common method of seawater desalination is distillation.

That is, heat the seawater to boiling, separate the water and salt into water vapor and condense to obtain fresh water. This can solve the drinking water problem temporarily but cannot solve the irrigation problem.

She knew how to distill in the laboratory, but she really didn't know how to distill in this situation.

"Magic mirror, magic mirror." Xu Wen summoned the stepmother system, "What are the methods of desalinating seawater?"

"I'm sorry, this is not within the scope of a stepmother's duties!"

Xu Wen rolled his eyes and asked a different question: "Mirror, mirror, kid, what are the methods of desalinating seawater?"

"There are many methods for desalination of seawater at present, the most commonly used types are freezing, reverse osmosis, and distillation."

"Refrigeration is about trying to freeze seawater, and when the seawater freezes, the salt and water can be separated."

"Reverse osmosis is also called superfiltration, which is a method of filtering with a semi-permeable membrane to separate the salt and leave only the water."

"The distillation method is divided into the solar method..."

Xu Wen took a pen and paper and wrote down all the methods carefully. He bit the pen and compared them one by one to see which one was the most suitable.

This was what Lu Yuanzheng saw when he came back with the map.

Xu Wen sat in front of his desk, writing and drawing on paper by the light of a kerosene lamp. The desk was already full of papers, and there were discarded paper balls on the floor.

Lu Yuanzheng walked up to it and saw that the paper was filled with words, numbers, English, and various messy symbols.

"What is this doing?"

Xu Wen was concentrating on arithmetic when Lu Yuanzheng suddenly spoke, which frightened her.

She looked up and saw that it was Lu Yuanzheng. She stroked her chest and complained in a cute voice, "Are you born in the year of the cat? You were so quiet when you walked that I was scared to death."

Lu Yuanzheng: "..."

He had obviously caused the noise; she was just concentrating too much on the calculations.

But he was not stupid enough to confront Xu Wen, so he honestly admitted his mistake: "I'll be more careful next time."

Xu Wen didn't really blame him. He pointed to the paper on the table and said, "I want to solve the fresh water problem."

Lu Yuanzheng's eyes lit up: "Do you have a solution?"

The issue of fresh water is also one of the topics of their meeting tonight. Although the mainland delivers supplies every few days, including fresh water, the amount of water delivered is limited after all, and can only maintain normal life. If a storm occurs and the boat cannot come, the family will have to endure thirst.

By the end of the meeting, there were only two reliable plans: one was to arrange for people to search the island to see if they could find other freshwater rivers or lakes that were drinkable; the other was to send people to send toxic water samples to mainland so that experts could see if they could detoxify it.

Someone at the meeting also suggested digging a groundwater well, but I'm afraid that what we'll get is seawater.

If the fresh water problem is not solved, let alone farming, even survival will become a problem, as Zhao Gang said.

"There are ways, but we are missing a lot of materials. It's easy to solve the daily water needs of people like us, but it's a bit troublesome to achieve the purpose of irrigation. There are a lot of things missing."

"Do you just need materials or do you need people to help? It's not practical to ask people to come here. If you just need materials, please make a list for me and I'll apply for them later. I'll have the transport ship deliver them next time."

"Really? I just need the materials, no one else is needed. I may need your help from other officers and soldiers."

"Nothing we can do is a big deal."

Xu Wen nodded and saw the map he placed on the corner of the table. "What is this?"

"A map of the island. They had been here a few days earlier and were already familiar with the terrain, so I took the map and studied it."

"Can I see it?"

“Of course.” Lu Yuanzheng untied the string on the map scroll and spread the map on the desk.

"Didn't you say you've fought here before? How could you not be familiar with the terrain?"

"It's different. Before, we studied warfare, but now we study survival. At that time, we only needed to consider where there would be ambushes and where it would be easy to attack. Now, we need to see how many hills, basins, and plains there are, what types of soil there are, and what crops are suitable for growing. Which place on the island is the most suitable for living."

Lu Yuanzheng sighed and said, "I'm just a rough guy who fought in the war. I can do some hard work, but dealing with these things is scary for Zhao Gang and his men, and even for me. Zhao Gang is just a big guy who just got here."

Xu Wen didn't say anything, but was busy studying the island map carefully.

The island is indeed isolated, and is a few kilometers away from the nearest island. Its overall shape is like a pear, so it is no wonder it is called Pear Island.

Xu Wen pointed at the question mark behind the crossed-out Pear Island and asked Lu Yuanzheng: "What does this mean?"

"Everyone thinks that Lidao doesn't sound good, and they want to change the name. But they haven't decided on a name yet. Do you have the knowledge to give it a name?"

Xu Wen glanced at Lu Yuanzheng and said, "Lu Ying, I heard that you also attended military school. Did you buy your diploma?"

"We don't teach this in military academy. We teach combat command."

"We don't teach this in university. We teach foreign languages."

“You didn’t go.”

"The majors I studied in my life are not available here. I have a double degree in finance and artificial intelligence, neither of which is useful now."

Lu Yuanzheng: "..."

He looked at Xu Wen with sympathy.

Poor girl! She lived for fourteen years and studied for eleven years, but one day she was reborn with all the things she had learned in the past eleven years, and it was of no use!

Xu asked: "..."

I retorted unconvincedly: "It's not as bad as you think. At least I've been admitted to university now, right?"

"You also said that the exam questions nowadays are not as difficult as when you were in junior high school."

"Lu Yuanzheng! Do you know what happens to a man who wins an argument with his wife?" Xu Wen smiled coldly, "How about you try sleeping on the floor and kneeling on the washboard?"

Lu Yuanzheng stood at attention and admitted his mistake: "I was wrong!"

After all the noise, Xu Wenzai carefully studied the map and gave a suggestion: "What do you think of naming it after your camp or Peach Blossom Island?"

"Our camp is a camp, it can't be called an island. As for Peach Blossom Island... do you miss home?" He remembered that Xu Wen's home was called Taoyuan Production Brigade.

Xu asked: "..."

"We arrived in Haicheng yesterday and I called home and sent a letter. I don't miss home."

However, it is indeed a bit inappropriate to call an island where a group of rough guys live Peach Blossom Island.

"Island of Peace? Island of Hope?"

Lu Yuanzheng snapped his fingers and said, "I also think Heping Island is good. Let's discuss it at the meeting tomorrow."

"Where is Dongsheng?" Xu Wen then remembered that his son did not come back with him.

"I went on an adventure with other friends. Don't worry if someone follows them and they can't get lost." Lu Yuanzheng slapped his forehead, "I almost forgot the main thing when I talked about it. I came back to ask you to have dinner. Today, everyone said they would welcome us and clean up the mess. They are all waiting outside!"

"Ah! Why didn't you tell me earlier? I'll change my clothes."

"Don't change! You are already the most beautiful woman on the island!"

"Is it because I'm the only woman on the island?"

"How can that be possible? Several of my sisters-in-law came to the island with me."

Xu asked and found out that it was indeed a few sisters-in-law. Plus she was just a slap.

There is an open space in the middle of the tents. Now everyone sits in a circle, a bit like on New Year's Eve.

It's called a welcoming party, but the conditions are set and we still have to eat a big pot of rice.

There were just a few fish roasting on the fire nearby as a side dish.

What surprised Xu Wen was that he actually saw Mrs. Li.

Seeing Xu Wen, Sister Li was also very happy. She came over to greet Xu Wen and said, "Sister-in-law, why did you come back with me? Didn't you say you were going to college? Why did you come back with me and suffer like this?"

"I took a leave of absence from school and wanted to live on the island for a while. Why are you here too?"

"I was originally planning to go home with my husband, but the camp asked me if I was willing to come to the island to help. I thought that since I don't visit my parents' home and I've never been to my husband's home, I would be lost if I went back, so I might as well come here. I know everyone here, I get paid for my work, and most importantly, I feel at ease."

“It’s just a little bit bitter here.”

"If it's not hard, why would you ask me to help? But it is indeed very hard. Originally, not many sisters-in-law decided to come to the island, but after arriving, I found that most of them have returned." Sister Li looked at Xu Wen and suggested, "I think you should go back to school! It's really not fun here."

Xu Wen knew that Mrs. Li was kind-hearted and had her best interests at heart, so she did not refuse outright. She just said, "I'll stay for a few days and see how it goes."

"Sister-in-law, what is college like?" Another sister-in-law leaned forward and asked Xu Wen through Sister-in-law Li, curiosity in her eyes.

Sister Li introduced Xu Wen: "This sister-in-law is Wang Ying. You may not know her husband, his name is Zhao Gang."

Xu Wen raised his eyebrows in surprise when he heard this.

Wang Ying was small and thin, with delicate features and quiet appearance, like a city girl. Zhao Gang was big and strong.

When the two of them stand together, it's not like a beauty and a beast, but the contrast is still quite big.

Wang Ying didn't seem to want to mention Zhao Gang, and asked Xu: "Sister-in-law, you can just call me Yingzi. Sister-in-law, is it difficult to get into college?"

"I heard that this year only 170,000 people were admitted out of 5 million applicants."

"It's so difficult!" Wang Ying said with envy: "Sister-in-law, you are amazing! I wish I could get into university too."

"If you want to apply to university, I still have some review materials. I'll find them for you later."

"Really? Thank you, sister-in-law."

"No problem, you're welcome." Xu Wen looked at Mrs. Li in confusion. After she finished talking about borrowing information, Mrs. Li quietly pulled her.

Mrs. Li shook her head: "It's okay, I just bumped into you accidentally."

Xu asked: "..."

She didn't think it was careless.

Before he could ask any further questions, Lu Yuanzheng beside him suddenly stood up.

"From today on, this island under our feet is our territory to be protected! In the future, our mission is not only to take care of this land, but also to open up wasteland and cultivate crops here. Let's work together to turn this into a treasure island that can be lived in!" He raised the enamel pot, "I will toast you all with water instead of wine."

Someone in the crowd started to make a noise: "Lu Ying, this is not right! You got married quietly and you haven't invited us to the wedding banquet yet. You brought your sister-in-law here and used water instead of wine. This is too much!"

Lu Yuanzheng glanced at the man who was speaking, "Don't you know that water is more expensive than wine now? We have to take turns to work tonight and we can't drink. Otherwise, if we get drunk, we will be dragged into the sea without knowing it. Don't worry, I will make up for the wedding wine later! Let's talk about business now, don't make a fuss!"

"What business are you talking about? This dinner was supposed to be for you and your sister-in-law to welcome you back!" Shi Lei also followed suit, "You and your sister-in-law are the main business of this dinner!"

"The instructor is right! Besides, even if it's water instead of wine, you can't just drink it by yourself. You have to call your sister-in-law over to join you, at least have a drink together?"

“…”

You and I started to argue with each other, and the journey was long and long.

Some people even used the words of the song to make fun of him: "Just drink when I tell you to. It's not nice to be so shy! What's wrong with you?"

Everyone answered in unison: "Big girl!"

Lu Yuanzheng looked at Xu Wen.

Xu Wen's face turned red with shame. Seeing Lu Yuanzheng looking at him, he gritted his teeth, stood up from the ground, walked to Lu Yuanzheng with his enamel pot in his hand, and took the initiative to reach out through his arm to put the enamel pot to his mouth.

Seeing this, Lu Yuanzheng also brought the enamel pot to his mouth.

Suddenly, everyone applauded and cheered.

After Lu Yuanzheng finished drinking, he raised his hand and pointed his index finger in a circle: "You guys just wait!"

"Lu Ying, if you say so, we think that drinking the wedding wine is not enough. How about another kiss?"

"Give me a kiss! Give me a kiss!"