After nearly two hours of trekking, the two finally returned to the camp. They put down their things, rested for a while, and then went into the woods to gather firewood. Since they needed a lot of firewood to boil salt, the two sisters went together to gather as much as possible, especially since the sun was already setting and it would be dark soon.
On the other side, Wu Jing and Zhang Shengnan's work on building the wall was rather slow. This was partly because they were digging from flat ground, where the soil was quite firm and difficult to work with. Another reason was the insufficient water supply. They had to fetch water every now and then, as all the jars and containers in the camp amounted to only two jars, three bowls, and two wooden kettles. Only the two jars and two kettles were barely usable, and even then, they couldn't hold enough water to even wet the soil. Therefore, one person had to fetch water while the other dug. However, they had just driven the hyenas away that morning; could they really let Zhang Shengnan, a girl, fetch water alone? Only Wu Jing went, but Zhang Shengnan's digging speed couldn't keep up with Wu Jing's water-fetching speed. Zhang Shengnan was digging with an entrenching tool, one shovelful at a time, while Wu Jing ran all the way to fetch water without stopping. There was no other way but for Wu Jing to fetch water several times, pour it into a pit, and then dig up some soil. Zhang Shengnan would then wet the soil and stick it to the fence. Since they started late and the process was quite tedious, after half a day, aside from digging two pits outside the camp, they had made virtually no progress.
On the other hand, Wang Lun and his team finished the last bit of work as the sun began to set. With that, the construction of the camp's perimeter wall was complete, and the construction of the earthen houses and the second phase of the perimeter wall could begin the next day. The earthen house construction had already been discussed. The second phase of the perimeter wall construction involved building a 30-centimeter-thick, 2-meter-high wall on the earthen platform where the camp was located, near the earthen cliff in front. This would serve two purposes: blocking the wind from the front and preventing animals from climbing up the cliff below. Originally, they planned to build it a little over a meter high, but Wang Lun suddenly remembered that the camp didn't have a toilet yet. After some consideration, he decided to build it on the earthen platform below, near the waterway. After calculating the location, water would flow directly through the toilet, then into a dug cesspool. After sedimentation, it would flow into another pool, undergo sedimentation again, and then be discharged directly into the stream, downstream, of course. These drainage channels and pools were intended to be sealed. With Li Ling's additions and Wang Lun's improvements, the bathroom was enlarged, and a pool was added above it using a wall to store water. An outlet was added to the bottom of the pool, connected to a section of bamboo tube with holes drilled in the bamboo joints to serve as a showerhead. Once completed, bathing would be possible without the cage. A set of steps was added next to the shower for easier access, and these steps were also enclosed by the wall. Because the bathroom work was extensive, the second phase of the wall construction was expected to take about five days to complete: two days for the wall, two days for the bathroom, and one day for laying stones and digging the pool. Of course, this was the initial estimate, and the actual implementation might be delayed. Therefore, Wang Lun planned to focus on completing the earthen house first, while Li Ling would handle the second phase of the wall construction, starting before Wang Lun finished digging the site for the earthen house.
After finishing the fence ahead of schedule, the two decided not to work any further, treating it as an early day's rest. However, Wang Lun realized he wouldn't be able to rest. He had just sat down when he noticed the firewood the two had gathered lying on the ground, which he felt was inappropriate. So he collected it and leaned it against the fence. While the fence was still damp, he added several poles diagonally across the top to create a makeshift shelter. This shelter was rather large, so Wang Lun built it along the length of the fence, securing it with damp soil. Li Ling, of course, did the work below and handed it to Wang Lun. Once the basic framework was complete, Wang Lun went down and made four pillars to support the front of the shelter. He then tied thin branches horizontally and vertically together and attached them to the shelter, before spreading the remaining dry grass on top. Even after using all the grass, the shelter wasn't finished. But by then it was getting dark, so Wang Lun decided to do it the next day. He would cut some small branches with leaves the next morning and have Li Ling lay them on top, while he continued digging the earthen house. The part that had been built was enough to hold the firewood, so there was no rush for the rest; they could take their time.
The two washed their hands and faces together at the pool before heading back to cook dinner. Dinner was, of course, fish again—there was no other option. If there had been other food, they would have prepared a variety of dishes, but since there wasn't, this was their only choice. Fortunately, neither of them were picky eaters, and both were quite rational, knowing what to do first and what to do later.
After dinner, the two realized they'd finished eating around the same time as usual. They'd said they'd have an early shift and rest a bit, but it turned out they weren't eating until this late again. After cleaning up the dishes, Li Ling washed them, and Wang Lun cleaned up the leftovers. After a while of busy work, they washed up at the sink and then returned to the shelter to sleep. Of course, the bed hadn't been enlarged.
Meanwhile, the two Liu sisters hadn't eaten yet and were waiting for the brine in the pot to boil dry. It turned out that the salt ore they had collected that afternoon had been crushed by Liu Ruoling into powder, poured into a pot full of water, and after it had fully dissolved in the water, she simply filtered out the undissolved residue. Then she put it on the fire to let the water in the brine evaporate, leaving only the salt.
Another half hour passed, and finally, most of the water in the pot had evaporated, revealing clearly visible granular salt at the bottom. Liu Ruoxi quickly removed the pot from the heat, allowing the residual heat to evaporate the last bit of moisture. She then gathered the salt together and poured it into a small bamboo tube she had prepared beforehand. However, the bamboo tube seemed to be too large; it only filled about halfway with the salt, likely because it was quite thin. Nevertheless, the two sisters were very happy, as they now had salt, unlike before when it was just clear water.
After Liu Ruoling saw Liu Ruoxi fill the bamboo tube with the remaining salt, she said, "Sister, hurry up and cook the rice. We can finally have something salty today!" She then quickly brought over the wild vegetables and water she had prepared beforehand. Liu Ruoxi took the water, poured some into the pot, and said, "There's still some salt in this pot that I didn't fill properly. We won't add any salt today. We'll taste it after the water boils." Liu Ruoling didn't object to this; after all, there was only a small amount of salt, and it needed to be used sparingly.
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