The next morning, Wang Lun got up and opened the door to find it was still raining outside. Looking back, he saw Li Ling was still asleep, so he decided to postpone cooking. He put on his straw hat and walked around the campsite. He found that the wind from the previous night hadn't had much of an impact, but after checking the shelter, he noticed the straw wasn't properly packed. So he added some branches to weigh it down. After that, he checked the waterway. From the campsite to the source, everything was mostly in order, just a little warped. Wang Lun lifted the waterway from the source and placed it on the bank, worried that if the rain got too heavy and the stream rose, it might wash the waterway away, which would be a huge loss. As for water usage in the next few days, there was water in the pool, and rainwater could also be used. So, water supply wasn't a concern for the time being.
Back at camp, they went inside and saw that Li Ling was already awake but still lying in bed. Wang Lun didn't wake her; it was raining anyway, so sleeping a little longer wouldn't hurt. He took the pot to the fire pit to heat up the flatbread and cook half a pot of wild vegetables and fish stew—enough for the two of them. Soon, the flatbread was heated, and Wang Lun cut it in half with a knife. One half for breakfast, the other for lunch—perfect.
I put away half of the lunch pancakes, then added half a pot of water to the pot and placed it on the fire pit. I took a small fish from the shelf on the roof, cut it into pieces, grabbed a handful of dried wild vegetables from the basket, washed them in the pond outside, and soaked them in a large bowl. Once the water boiled, I put the fish and vegetables in, then called Li Ling to get up and eat. I cooked it for a few more minutes, estimating it would be almost done.
Cut the flatbread in half again, giving each person a quarter, and add half a pot of fish soup—that's breakfast for two. It's quite a feast, considering some contestants on the island don't eat breakfast these days.
After the meal, Wang Lun dismantled the old tabletop and planned to make a low table. Li Ling originally intended to continue weaving straw sandals, but Wang Lun thought that since they couldn't go out in the rain, they should wash the sandals. They could wear straw sandals indoors and change into a different pair when they went out. Although they only had three pairs of straw sandals, it was enough, since Li Ling rarely went out. She could just wear Wang Lun's sandals for now, since they were all kept by the door. Li Ling agreed, so she boiled half a pot of water and sat by the door to wash two pairs of shoes and socks.
Wang Lun continued working on the low table, splitting the wooden sticks used for the tabletop and polishing them to make the cut surfaces smoother. Splitting and polishing twenty sticks took him nearly two hours. After finishing, Wang Lun took a sip of water, then went to the shed to retrieve two long sticks to make the sides of the table and secure the tabletop, and four short sticks for the legs. Back inside, Wang Lun placed the long sticks on the ground, using his military knife as wedges and hammering them with a stone, then slowly splitting the two sticks and polishing them smooth. Next came the assembly: he placed the two long sticks in half on the ground, then laid the short sticks on top, cut side up, and placed them one by one, ensuring they were firmly packed. He then covered them with the other half of the long stick, tying both ends together, then flipped it over and tied the four legs in place. And so the low table was completed. It is about 1.5 meters long, 50 centimeters wide, and 40 centimeters high. It is made entirely of wood and handcrafted.
Wang Lun placed the low table on the kang (a heated brick bed) and tested it. It was level and didn't wobble; the tabletop was also flat. So he put the low table on the kang, and from then on, they could eat on the kang.
It was almost noon by then. Wang Lun asked Li Ling if she was hungry, but she said she wasn't, so there was no rush to cook lunch. With the low table now available, Li Ling started weaving straw sandals on the kang (heated brick bed). Before, she would sit by the fire pit, and Wang Lun didn't mind. Wang Lun then went to the shed and brought back some wooden sticks, intending to make a shelf for storing things, as well as two stools.
Wang Lun had made the shelf before, so he was quite familiar with it, but it still took him more than an hour to finish. He placed the shelf next to another shelf, tidied up the things on it, and then started preparing to cook lunch.
For lunch, Wang Lun planned to cut some mutton, make a mutton soup, and add the half-eaten flatbread to make a desert island version of mutton stew. He gave the half-eaten flatbread to Li Ling, along with a bowl, and asked her to break the flatbread into small pieces, about the size of a little finger. Wang Lun lit the stove; there was still some water in the earthenware pot, enough for now. After the water boiled, he added some dried seafood, and after simmering for a while, he added dried wild vegetables and slices of mutton, continuing to cook. Once everything was almost done, he poured the flatbread Li Ling had cut into the pot, stirred it a few times, and let it fully absorb the broth.
They then took the earthenware pot down, placed a large handful of dry grass on it, and put it on the kang (a heated brick bed). A low table was brought out, and each of them sat cross-legged on one side. Two bowls of this "desert island version" of mutton stew were prepared, and the two began to eat. And to be honest, it tasted really good. Although neither of them had ever eaten authentic mutton stew before, they found this version quite delicious. They ate bowl after bowl until the pot was completely empty, and even then, they were still hungry. There was no way around it; Wang Lun had cooked relatively little, which made them want to eat more. But they decided against it, as they had already eaten enough, and it would be a huge waste if they ate too much and got stuffed.
After they finished eating, they both leaned against the wall to rest for a while before continuing. They could clean up the dishes later.
After chatting for a while, Wang Lun got off the kang (a heated brick bed) to wash the pots and pans. Li Ling also cleaned up the low table, put it inside the kang against the wall, and then continued weaving straw sandals.
After setting out the pots and pans, Wang Lun continued making the stools. The method was similar to the low table, except the low table was longer, while the stools didn't need to be as long or split in the middle. This saved a lot of time. It took him about two hours to finish the two stools. Wang Lun used them for now, and also tested their sturdiness.
There were still some sticks left, so Wang Lun planned to make a small table for use on the ground. The small table would be used on the ground, and the low table would be used on the kang (a heated brick bed). They couldn't mix them up, lest they dirty the kang.
The method for making this small table is similar to that of the low table, but the legs are longer and the middle needs to be reinforced. The rest of the process is roughly the same. Because the tabletop is smaller than the low table, the small table was made faster, taking just over an hour to complete. After finishing these, Wang Lun basically had nothing else to do, so he joined Li Ling in making straw sandals. After all, straw sandals would be used a lot later, and the wear and tear would be quite high, so making more in advance was definitely a good idea.
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