Not long after the sun rose, Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling had already arrived at the stream.
In the early morning, when there was just a glimmer of light outside, Liu Ruoxi and Li Ling began cooking breakfast. One cooked while the other packed their belongings for their upcoming journey: a knife, a spear, a basket, a day's worth of food, dried meat to replenish their energy, and two bamboo tubes of fresh water. If it weren't for the fact that it was still quite dark outside, they would have liked to cut some grass to feed the goats, so they could leave directly and return earlier in the afternoon.
When breakfast was almost ready, Li Ling came into the room and woke Wang Lun and his companion. Still groggy, they got up to wash and wash, and the cold water jolted them fully awake. At this time, it was still quite dark, not yet time to go out, but enough time to eat breakfast.
Liu Ruoling initially wanted to complain, but considering that Li Ling and the other person had arrived much earlier last night, she replaced Wang Lun and the other person to give them more rest. And now they were already making breakfast so early, and today was a busy day with many things to do, so it was better to leave early and perhaps return sooner.
The four of them quickly ate breakfast together. Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling then led the goats back to camp under the rising sun. Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi, on the other hand, continued to handle matters at the camp.
Now that it was broad daylight, the two of them first went to harvest the fish baskets and traps. Then one of them processed the catch while the other returned to the camp to take the fishing nets to the shore and set them up.
After taking care of these matters, the two went into the woods to cut two baskets of grass, which they would use to feed the goats when Wang Lun and his companion returned in the afternoon. They also gathered some firewood, since it would be a waste of their trip if they didn't bring enough.
By the time they finished, it was almost noon. But the two didn't stop; instead, they returned to the beach to check the fish baskets and the fishing nets.
Before they knew it, it was noon, the sun was high in the sky. They returned to camp and began preparing lunch for themselves.
Wang Lun and his companion, leading the goats, walked to the stream where banana bark was piled up. Their trousers were damp; they had left so early that the dew hadn't evaporated yet. But they didn't care. Instead, they immediately set up their baskets. They stuck two thin sticks in the front and back of each basket, then placed banana bark between the sticks. Liu Ruoling's basket had three bundles, and Wang Lun's had five.
Next came the goat. Wang Lun secured the goat, and Liu Ruoling placed two bundles of banana bark on either side of the goat, securing the bark with vines. Of course, to prevent the vines from chafing the goat's skin, Liu Ruoling and Wang Lun thoughtfully laid several layers of banana bark on the goat's back.
After doing this, Wang Lun first carried the basket on his back, and then helped Liu Ruoling carry it as well. Only then did they begin to walk towards the camp. Wang Lun led the way, Liu Ruoling followed behind, and the goats brought up the rear. The goats following behind Liu Ruoling effectively prevented attacks from predators.
And so, the two of them and the sheep walked for two or three hours. Finally, they arrived at the camp when the sun was high in the sky.
They hadn't been back to the camp for several days. Although the camp remained the same, there were more fallen leaves in the yard, which gave the two of them a greater sense of belonging.
Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling placed the banana bark by the stream. Liu Ruoling then went back to tidy up the campsite and cook lunch. Wang Lun, on the other hand, found a suitable spot and dug a large pit to pile up the banana bark.
The people around the stream were all familiar with it, and Wang Lun quickly found a suitable spot. The terrain was relatively low-lying, and there was a natural depression. The only drawback was that it was quite far from a water source. But this was easily solved; the pit didn't need much water, so digging a shallow ditch would suffice.
It took Wang Lun more than half an hour to finally plug the pit and dig the ditch. Water was now flowing into the pit. Wang Lun didn't stop, but instead peeled off the bark and threw it into the pit one by one.
Meanwhile, Liu Ruoling didn't stop either. Back at the camp, she put the goats back in their pen, grabbed some hay from the rabbit pen and threw it to the goats, and also poured them some water.
Then Liu Ruoling gathered some firewood, lit a fire, and boiled some water. While the water was boiling, Liu Ruoling checked on the rabbits and pheasants. The rabbits and pheasants were perfectly fine; apart from a lot of droppings in their pens, they didn't seem to have any major problems. Liu Ruoling even found three eggs in the pheasant coop. She wasn't sure if the pheasants had been doing well lately and were more eager to lay eggs, or if there was some other reason. But Liu Ruoling was still very happy, after all, there were eggs again.
Liu Ruoling put the eggs back into the earthen house, then took the already boiling water to the hearth and left it to cool before putting it into bamboo tubes. Meanwhile, Liu Ruoling checked all the places where food was stored; fortunately, the food hadn't spoiled and showed no signs of being touched.
Next, Liu Ruoling went to deal with the pheasant droppings in the chicken coop over the past few days. Although Liu Ruoling was already very tired, she thought that if she could do more, she could return to the seaside camp earlier in the afternoon, and Wang Lun could do less.
While Liu Ruoling was cleaning up the chicken coop, Wang Lun returned to the camp. After greeting Liu Ruoling, and seeing that she was almost done, Wang Lun went to clean up the rabbit pen. Since there were more rabbits, they produced even more droppings.
After Liu Ruoling finished cleaning up, she placed the pheasant droppings next to the vegetable garden outside the camp to make compost, which would help the wild vegetables grow better. Afterward, Liu Ruoling went to the bathroom to shower and wash her underwear. It hadn't been washed for many days and smelled terrible.
Although Wang Lun was working right next to her, Liu Ruoling still went to the bathroom to take a shower. She believed Wang Lun wouldn't do anything outrageous, and even if he did, she would be willing to accept it. But unfortunately, Wang Lun didn't.
After showering, Liu Ruoling told Wang Lun before returning inside to dry her underwear. She poured the cooled hot water into a bamboo tube before starting to cook lunch. Lunch was simple: wild vegetables stewed with fish, the standard meal. Back at the beach, when they ran out of wild vegetables, they could only eat stewed fish. Now back at camp, there were still some dried wild vegetables left, which she soaked and used to stew the fish. She hadn't had it in a while and was missing it.
A short while later, Wang Lun returned to the house, soaking wet. He sat by the fire pit, holding up his t-shirt to dry it, before going out again. Liu Ruoling asked him what was wrong, and Wang Lun said he was going to pull weeds from the vegetable patch, water it, and call him when the food was ready. Liu Ruoling was about to call Wang Lun back to rest for a while, but then her eyes fell on the underwear beside her, and she immediately understood.
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