Seeing that Li Ling had returned to normal, Wang Lun laughed and picked her up, saying, "Hmph, next time you get injured, don't hide it from me." Li Ling cried out in embarrassment and anger, "Put me down!" Wang Lun, still holding Li Ling, slapped her on the bottom and said, "Stop shouting, we'll be inside soon." Li Ling immediately fell silent.
Liu Ruoling, watching the two from behind, said, "Sister, did you see that? Brother Wang Lun actually spanked Sister Li Ling's bottom." Liu Ruoxi cursed under her breath and said, "What are you looking at? Children aren't allowed to look." Liu Ruoling said, "Sister, we're twins, the same age." Liu Ruoxi turned to look at her and said, "Hurry up and put on your basket, let's go back inside." After saying that, Liu Ruoxi quickly walked into the house. Liu Ruoling muttered something behind her before putting on her basket and following behind.
Wang Lun placed Li Ling on the kang (a heated brick bed), then went to find a ceramic pot, filled it with water, and placed it on the fire pit, preparing to heat the water so he could give Li Ling a hot compress.
After Wang Lun left, Liu Ruoling and Liu Ruoxi approached, and Li Ling also sat up. Liu Ruoxi said, "Sister Li Ling, you shouldn't jump off the wall anymore, it's too dangerous." Li Ling laughed and said, "I definitely won't dare again, but the moment I jump is really thrilling." Liu Ruoling nodded in agreement. Liu Ruoxi said, "Yes, it's thrilling, but I sprained my ankle." Upon hearing this, Li Ling was speechless. Liu Ruoling was fine, so why did she have to get hurt?
Just as the three were chatting, Wang Lun returned carrying a pottery jar. He placed the jar on the hearth, and seeing that the three were engrossed in their conversation, he didn't disturb them but went to tidy up the things in his basket.
Wang Lun carried the basket to the eaves, then picked out the wild vegetables, followed by the wild fruits. Seeing Wang Lun leave with the basket, Li Ling paused her conversation and asked Liu Ruoxi and the other woman to help tidy up. Liu Ruoxi and the other woman readily agreed; after all, chatting was always possible, but tidying up the harvest wasn't something that happened every day.
With the combined efforts of Wang Lun and the other two, they quickly selected all the wild vegetables and fruits. Liu Ruoling and Liu Ruoxi even washed the wild vegetables and fruits clean, ready for them to eat.
While the two women were washing the wild vegetables and fruits, Wang Lun gathered the remaining acorns into a basket. Luckily, the basket that had previously held the fish was now available; otherwise, Wang Lun wouldn't have known where to put it.
After Liu Ruoling returned from washing the wild vegetables, she saw the acorns. Although she had noticed the acorns while sorting the vegetables and fruits, Wang Lun hadn't told her what they were for. He said he'd tell her after they were finished, but now they were finally done.
Liu Ruoling put down the basket of wild vegetables and immediately ran over, asking, "Brother Wang Lun, what are these acorns for?" Wang Lun looked at Liu Ruoling and smiled, saying, "We'll grind them into acorn flour later, and then we can eat them like flour." Liu Ruoling asked in surprise, "You can eat this?" Wang Lun nodded.
Upon hearing that it was edible, Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi became interested. After all, it was a starchy food, which was rare on a deserted island.
Seeing that the three were interested, Wang Lun said, "In the past, when food was scarce, people ground acorns into acorn flour. It tasted similar to wheat flour, but acorn flour is not wheat flour after all. It has a bitter taste and isn't very tasty." Liu Ruoling said, "As long as it's edible, why care if it's bitter?" Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi also nodded. As long as it's edible, bitterness is still a flavor, and it's better than having no taste at all.
Seeing the three of them like this, Wang Lun shook his head and continued processing the acorns, picking out the bad ones.
Liu Ruoling continued, "Brother Wang Lun, how much acorn flour can we grind from these acorns?" Wang Lun looked at the acorns that filled the bottom of the basket and said, "Probably enough for one meal." Hearing this, the three of them were even more shocked. They knew that this was only a small amount of acorns, yet it was enough for four people to have one meal.
Seeing the shocked expressions on the three people's faces, Wang Lun said, "The acorn yield is still acceptable, but it really doesn't taste very good." Li Ling laughed and said, "As long as it's edible, it's fine. Can it really taste worse than boiled wild vegetables?" Wang Lun thought for a moment, and figured it was probably about the same, but he had never tried it either, so he didn't say anything more. The three people thought that Wang Lun had tacitly agreed, and some of them became somewhat wary of the taste of acorn flour.
Liu Ruoxi said, "It's okay, we have salt and Sichuan peppercorns now, it shouldn't taste too bad." Li Ling and Liu Ruoling agreed, but still turned to look at Wang Lun. Wang Lun hadn't thought of adding salt and Sichuan peppercorns either, so he figured adding them would make it taste much better, and nodded.
The three of them nodded and immediately cheered, but then they thought that this was all they had, not enough for several meals. Liu Ruoxi then asked, "Brother Wang Lun, did you find any other acorns outside?" Wang Lun nodded and put down what he was doing.
He looked up at the three women and said, "I was planning to tell you later, but since you asked, I'll tell you anyway. I found an acorn grove today; I estimate we can collect enough for two or three days, enough to last us through the winter." The three women became even more excited upon hearing about the large quantity of acorns.
But Wang Lun quickly dampened their spirits, saying, "First of all, these acorns won't be easy to get back; it will take a lot of effort." Li Ling and the other two said they weren't afraid. As long as they had something to eat, what did it matter if they were a little tired?
Wang Lun shook his head and continued, "Processing acorns is quite troublesome. You need to peel off the shells and then grind them into powder. You all know how difficult it is to peel acorn shells, right?" Although the three of them had never peeled acorn shells before, they still thought it would be useful to peel acorn shells when they had nothing else to do. Most importantly, it would yield a lot of acorn flour.
Wang Lun continued, "We only have four baskets. Where are we going to put all those acorns?" Hearing Wang Lun's question, all three were stunned. Indeed, these were the only containers in the camp. The baskets were frequently used and couldn't be used to store acorns. The other baskets were already filled with other things, and they couldn't be freed up for the time being.
Finally, Liu Ruoxi, ever the clever one, said, "Brother Wang Lun, I remember we still have a few bamboo stalks. If we hollow out the bamboo joints, we can use them to store these acorns. We can even grind them into acorn flour and put it in the bamboo." Wang Lun thought about it and agreed it was feasible. So he said, "Good idea, let's consider it that way for now. But we still need to make a few baskets and crates to have some on hand." The three women all nodded.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com