Although Liu Ruoxi had stayed in the treehouse all day, only leaving to use the toilet, she had been busy doing chores. First, she sewed the sanitary pad, then she wove a straw mat out of dry grass. She even had Liu Ruoling fetch extra dry grass, as the amount they had used for sleeping might not be enough. After a day of weaving, Liu Ruoxi had woven over a meter of mat, which Liu Ruoling had used as a mat on top of the dry grass. Although it wasn't finished yet, it was usable. At least it was much better than sleeping directly on the dry grass.
After Liu Ruoling went to sleep, Liu Ruoxi continued weaving a straw mat. Still not sleepy, she decided to keep working. Around nine or ten o'clock, Liu Ruoxi finally felt sleepy, so she put down the straw mat she had woven, which was about ten centimeters long, added some more firewood to the campfire, and then went to sleep.
Unbeknownst to them, after they fell asleep, a predator arrived at their campsite in the middle of the night. It circled the fence, found the water Liu Ruoling had carelessly poured out that morning, and dug around in the water for a while until it found no food. The predator then turned its attention to the campsite, took a running start, jumped, and crashed into the fence. It moved to another spot and continued, until it reached an uphill section and used its weight to tilt the fence. This time, the predator entered the campsite, but the two sisters were asleep and unaware of what was happening. The predator circled the campsite, found the crab shells it had eaten earlier, sniffed them, and didn't eat them. It then found the fish bones it had eaten that morning; although most of them were burned, some were still partially burned, which it also sniffed, but again, it didn't eat them. Finally, its gaze fell on the wild vegetables hanging under the treehouse and the two people in the tree. It jumped up, took a bite of the vegetables, and spat it out. It then jumped several more times, its front paws always just short of reaching the bottom of the treehouse. After trying for a while without success, the predator seemed to give up, turning and walking through the gap it had just created, leaving a mark outside the fence before it left. Of course, the two sisters were unaware of this, as they were both asleep and no one would know that a predator had just entered the camp. But it was for the best; at least the defensive loophole had been discovered, better than it remaining undetected.
The next day, the two sisters woke up early, but Liu Ruoling didn't get up. Liu Ruoxi got up to use the restroom and change her sanitary pad. As soon as she went downstairs, Liu Ruoxi sensed something was wrong in the camp, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it until she saw the collapsed fence. She quickly called Liu Ruoling down and grabbed the knife and wooden spear.
A little while later, Liu Ruoling came down and saw Liu Ruoxi standing guard in the treehouse with a wooden spear. She asked, "Sister, what's wrong?" Liu Ruoxi said, "Grab the knife, bow and arrow, and the wooden spear and come with me." Liu Ruoxi watched as Liu Ruoling picked up all the tools before leading her to the collapsed fence.
Upon seeing the collapsed fence, Liu Ruoling was startled and asked, "Sister, what happened?" Liu Ruoxi replied, "How should I know? It's like this right now. It looks like a large animal came last night." Hearing that a large animal had come, Liu Ruoling was immediately alarmed. She gripped her spear tightly and scanned her surroundings, asking, "Where? Where?" Liu Ruoxi sighed, "It's probably run away now. We need to fix the fence first." Liu Ruoling realized what she meant and said, "Yes, we'll fix the fence. Sister, do you think we should reinforce it and make it higher?" Liu Ruoxi thought for a moment and said, "Of course we can, but we probably don't have time for that now." Liu Ruoling said, "We still have plenty of food. That should be enough to reinforce it, right?" Liu Ruoxi said, "I'm on my period, and you'll be on yours in a couple of days. We won't be able to go out then." "Going out might attract predators," Liu Ruoling said. "Then let's not go into the jungle, but go to the stream. That should be fine, right?" Liu Ruoxi thought for a moment and said, "It should be fine, but we should try to go together. We'll stay in the camp in the morning and evening." Liu Ruoling said, "Since that's possible, let's carry back some stones to build a fence; that will be more sturdy." Liu Ruoxi said, "That's possible, but it's too much work. We'll discuss it later. For now, let's go cut down some tree trunks and reinforce the fallen fence." Liu Ruoling said, "Okay, I'll go cut down trees." Liu Ruoxi said, "We'll go together. I'll keep an eye on the surroundings while you cut down the trees, and we'll come back as soon as we're done." Liu Ruoling thought about it and agreed. After all, she was a little scared to go out alone at this time, and of course, Liu Ruoxi wouldn't feel comfortable letting her go out alone either.
The two men spent over an hour cutting down the branches, and then another half hour reinforcing the fallen fence. First, they propped the fence up, then tied several branches horizontally. Next, they added another layer of tree trunks to the front of the fence—these trunks were longer, making this section of the fence higher than the others. They also found several branches at the back for diagonal support. After completing these steps, the fence was finally properly reinforced.
Then Liu Ruoling took the pot down, and Liu Ruoxi changed into a clean sanitary napkin. The two of them went to the stream to wash the pot and the sanitary napkin.
Soon, the two returned. Liu Ruoxi asked Liu Ruoling to cook, while she walked around the fence. Upon returning, Liu Ruoxi asked, "Where did you pour the water I used to wash myself yesterday?" Liu Ruoling replied, "In that patch of grass over there." Liu Ruoxi said, "Go check it out." Liu Ruoling looked puzzled, not knowing what had happened. Then she went outside.
A while later, Liu Ruoling returned with a terrified look on her face and said, "Sister, what kind of animal dug that? It's so scary." Liu Ruoxi said, "Next time, we should pour the water further away and reinforce the fence." After saying that, she pointed out the bitten wild vegetables and fish bones to Liu Ruoling and continued, "We should clean up any leftover bones and wash them if needed. We should also hang the dried wild vegetables higher up." Liu Ruoling said, "Then let's just do it like before, digging for wild vegetables in the morning and preparing materials or building the fence in the afternoon. This is too dangerous." Liu Ruoxi thought for a moment and said, "Okay, but we might have to work harder recently." Liu Ruoling said, "It's okay, we can just do it for a few more days, take it slow." Liu Ruoxi said, "You cook first, I'll think about how to build the fence faster and easier." Hearing Liu Ruoxi's suggestion, Liu Ruoling didn't say anything more and focused on cooking, since she hadn't eaten breakfast and it was almost noon.
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