Seeing that Liu Ruoxi had made up her mind, Wang Lun and the other two emptied the fish from the fishing net together. They then asked Liu Ruoling to fetch a basket and a military knife for Liu Ruoxi. After Liu Ruoling brought the basket and knife, the three of them tidied up the fishing net and waited for Liu Ruoling to return so they could go out to sea again and let Li Ling and the other person try casting the net.
The three bid farewell to Liu Ruoxi, boarded the raft, and continued paddling out to sea. After they left, Liu Ruoxi began processing the fish caught in the net. Inedible entrails were thrown into the fishing trap as bait, while edible parts were set aside. She then simply washed away the blood with seawater and put the fish in her basket. Once finished, she carried them back and hung them on the windbreak wall to dry somewhat before storing them away.
On the raft, Wang Lun and his two companions arrived at the spot where they had previously fished. It was roughly the same spot; there were no landmarks at sea, so they had to rely on estimation. They stopped the raft and began instructing the two women on how to cast their nets. However, the vine-woven nets were incredibly heavy, becoming even heavier after getting wet. Li Ling and Liu Ruoling tried many times but couldn't cast the nets properly; each time, they only spread out slightly, never completely.
Seeing that they had tried several times without success, Wang Lun stopped them. Li Ling and the other woman were somewhat frustrated, since only Wang Lun knew how to use the throwing net, which made them feel like there was nothing they could do.
Wang Lun ignored them, thinking it would all be fine in a while. He took the net and cast it out. On the first try, the fish spread out successfully. A few minutes later, the three of them pulled in the net together. This time, the catch was much less than before, less than half. But Wang Lun knew this was the real situation. Last time it was purely luck; it was probably their first time fishing, and the luck of a novice had an edge.
After casting several more nets until his basket was full, Wang Lun finally stopped. He packed up the nets and prepared to return to port, but Li Ling stopped him, saying, "We still have the barrier net; should we leave it in?" Wang Lun slapped his forehead, saying, "Oh, I forgot! Let's leave it in and bring it in tomorrow morning; we'll see how much we can catch." Li Ling and Liu Ruoling both nodded, and the three of them placed the barrier net, with its buoys attached, on the sea. Three buoys marked the location of the net, and the buoys and the stones tied below kept the net upright in the sea. Fish passing by would be caught in the net. They could harvest it the next day.
After lowering the net, Wang Lun and the other two returned. However, Wang Lun first rowed the raft to the shore, unloaded the fish and Li Ling, and then poled towards the mouth of the stream. He planned to place the raft in the stream and tie it to a nearby tree with straw rope, hoping it wouldn't drift away. But Wang Lun actually preferred to lift it up and place it on the nearby sand. After thinking about it, he decided not to do so, as lifting the raft was always tiring for all four of them. However, when Wang Lun and the others returned to camp, they would definitely find a place to hide the raft, and even remove the straw rope.
After more than ten minutes, Wang Lun finally managed to paddle the raft into the estuary and into the stream. He paddled a little further, found a shallower spot, and brought the raft to the shore. Then, with a burst of strength, he dragged the raft a bit, allowing the front of it to rest on the bank. He secured the raft with straw rope, tying the other end to a large tree. Only then did Wang Lun feel relatively safe.
If it were only secured by a single straw rope, Wang Lun feared that the rope would break in no time, and the raft would drift away into the sea. Wang Lun would be truly speechless, as this would mean rebuilding the raft, which would take considerable time. Although it would take a lot of time, it would be exhausting and would consume a lot of food.
Only with part of the raft on the shore, secured by straw ropes, did Wang Lun feel more at ease. Actually, Wang Lun preferred to leave it directly on the shore, but the raft was too heavy, and it would be too much trouble to lift it up and down every time it was used. So, he was willing to take some risks as they were.
Wang Lun moored the raft and went to the beach to find Li Ling and the others. When he arrived, he saw them carrying baskets on their backs as they walked back to the shelter. Instead of helping them, Wang Lun returned to the campfire and waited for them.
A few minutes later, the three women returned carrying two baskets on their backs. Wang Lun helped them put down the baskets, and then the four of them hung the fish on the windbreak wall before they began to rest.
After resting for more than ten minutes, Wang Lun woke up Li Ling and Liu Ruoling, asking them to go with him into the woods to gather some firewood. As for Liu Ruoxi, she was to stay at the campsite and watch over the fish to prevent seabirds and small animals from eating them. Liu Ruoxi could only accept this arrangement; after all, this was what she usually did.
The three of them carried back six bundles of firewood in less than an hour, enough to burn for a while. The rest of the time was for rest. Once the weather was warm enough, they would go beachcombing, and then that would be the end of the day.
During the rest period, Wang Lun carefully counted the fish; there were now 230 fish on the windbreak wall. At 12 fish per day, and one fish per person per meal, 230 fish would be enough for the four of them for 19 days. That means if their fishing trips at sea yielded similar results, and the round trip took three days, each trip would be enough to feed them for about a month. By that calculation, fishing at sea was much more cost-effective. After all, hunting depended heavily on luck and skill. Wang Lun and his companions might have some luck, but as for skill, well, only Liu Ruoling was good at archery; the others were completely unskilled. As for Wang Lun's skills, they were all learned from books; he had very little experience.
Actually, Wang Lun and Li Ling's survival until now is mainly due to luck. If it weren't for that school of fish they encountered when they first arrived on the island, their lives would certainly not be as good as they are now. Of course, they also have some advantages, for example, for example…
Well, there aren't many advantages. Even the fact that Wang Lun is willing to do certain things is only because Li Ling and he himself are afraid of dying; otherwise, he would be quite content to live off a shelter.
Wang Lun and Li Ling were lucky to have met each other. After all, they each had a significant influence on the other. Wang Lun was worried about Li Ling's safety, so he devised various methods to increase protection before setting out. Li Ling, seeing Wang Lun working so diligently and feeling bad about just watching, joined in, ending up exhausted every day. Just when they finally finished building the camp, Liu Ruoling and the others arrived after only a few days. They were undeniably lucky.
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