Liu Ruoling saw the two of them, grabbed her banana leaf hat (used for sun protection), and waved it around, calling out as she did so. Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi, seeing Liu Ruoling's antics, couldn't help but chuckle and waved back to acknowledge her. They then quickened their pace, placed the firewood against the windbreak, and headed towards the beach. Seeing this, Wang Lun also rowed his raft closer to the sand.
As they drew closer, Liu Ruoling could no longer contain herself and began talking loudly with Liu Ruoxi and the other woman. Even after Wang Lun stopped the raft, the three of them continued talking enthusiastically, and Wang Lun couldn't get a word in edgewise.
After talking for a while, Liu Ruoling felt thirsty, so she picked up a bamboo tube and started drinking water. After finishing, she was about to start again when Wang Lun immediately stopped her, saying, "Throw the empty bamboo tubes over. Let's go and unload the banana tree bark first, and then we'll talk again when we get back." Liu Ruoling, still somewhat reluctant to stop, threw two empty bamboo tubes over, which landed on the beach.
Wang Lun said to Liu Ruoxi, "You guys go back first, we'll go remove the bark and come back." Liu Ruoxi said, "Okay, then we'll wait for you to come back for dinner." Wang Lun replied, "Okay." Then he continued to pole the raft towards the stream.
Li Ling and her companion watched them leave, then picked up the bamboo tube. Li Ling went into the sea to retrieve the fish basket from before, checking if they had caught any fish. If they had, they could eat fresh seafood for lunch instead of the hard, dried fish.
I was lucky; out of the four fish baskets, there were two sea fish. They weren't very big, but something is better than nothing.
Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi cleaned the fish on the beach, then threw the fish entrails into the fishing trap, put some entrails into the fish basket, and put the fish basket back into the sea before returning to the camp.
Back at camp, Liu Ruoxi and Li Ling each went about their own business. Liu Ruoxi cooked, while Li Ling repaired the campsite, with Liu Ruoxi helping out occasionally. Of course, they went to the stream together to fetch water. Although the stream wasn't far, it was still somewhat dangerous for one person to go alone.
On the other side, as soon as Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling entered the stream, they immediately called for help. Only by working together could they manage to move the raft upstream. Otherwise, the raft would either drift back to the sea, or Wang Lun would have to exert a great deal of effort to keep the raft moving forward with great difficulty.
They finally arrived at their destination, and the two brought the raft ashore and secured it. Wang Lun cleared a large flat area by the roadside, and then, together with Liu Ruoling, removed the bark from the raft. Each person took a bundle, and they quickly removed all the bark from the raft.
The two were exhausted, but they didn't want to rest. They simply drank a few sips of water and continued on their way. Going downstream was much easier now, and Wang Lun could maneuver the raft by himself. But the two seemed eager to get home, so Liu Ruoling helped. The raft, like a galloping horse, sped along the stream towards the sea.
Before long, the estuary became clearly visible. After passing the estuary and paddling for a while, they reached the beach closest to the campsite. The two stopped at the shore, pulled one end of the raft onto the beach, and then, feeling relieved, carried the remaining empty bamboo tube and headed towards the seaside campsite.
At this moment, Li Ling and her companion were frying fish on a stone slab, while the fish soup in the pot next to them had already been cooked. The three empty bamboo tubes from before were now filled with cooled boiled water.
As Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling walked past the windbreak, Wang Lun laughed and said, "See? I told you there would be good food." Liu Ruoling said, "I smelled it too, what's so great about it?" After saying that, she sat down angrily on a rock by the campfire.
Seeing this, Li Ling asked, "What's wrong? Are you still angry?" Wang Lun then explained.
It turned out that shortly after getting off the raft, Wang Lun smelled the aroma of grilled fish. He told Liu Ruoling, but she didn't believe him. How could she smell it from so far away, against the wind? Wang Lun said, "Just because you can't doesn't mean I can't." This made Liu Ruoling a little angry. As they got closer, Liu Ruoling also smelled the aroma of grilled fish, which led to the scene described earlier.
Liu Ruoxi and Li Ling couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. Neither said anything, knowing that Liu Ruoling was just pretending to be angry. Besides, it wasn't appropriate to suggest that Wang Lun coax Liu Ruoling, since he wasn't wrong. So the two focused on frying the fish. Wang Lun didn't say much either, simply sitting quietly, waiting for dinner to be served.
After a long and tiring morning, Wang Lun was starving. He was exhausted and hungry. Of course, the other three were also exhausted and hungry; after all, they had been working non-stop all morning, and no one could resist getting tired.
Soon, four pieces of fried fish were ready. Liu Ruoxi took out bamboo bowls and chopsticks and distributed them to Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling. Li Ling divided the two larger pieces of fried fish into their bowls, and the two smaller pieces were also given to Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi. Actually, there wasn't much difference in size; it was just a matter of eating a bite or two more. Wang Lun noticed, but didn't say anything. After all, he had worked hard all morning, and it was perfectly reasonable for him to eat the larger piece, especially since the difference wasn't that significant.
The four quickly finished lunch, and Wang Lun continued to take Liu Ruoling to the beach to transport banana tree peels by raft. Li Ling and Liu Ruoxi, on the other hand, first washed the pots and pans, then put two nets into the sea to make a fishing trap. When a fish passed by, it would run into the net and get stuck, which meant it had been caught.
After setting up their fishing net traps, the two continued searching for firewood in the woods, even cutting down small branches to use as fuel. Having plenty of firewood now would allow them to focus on making salt later. They could also make dried fish with the salt; the sun was still strong enough to dry the fish. Later, in late autumn or even winter, when they had plenty of prey and couldn't eat it all in a short time, they could use salt to preserve their food.
All four of them are thinking about the future. The more they do now, the less hardship they will suffer later. Similarly, the more they prepare, the greater their chance of survival.
Wang Lun and Liu Ruoling drifted along the shore on a raft, taking turns to rest and conserve their energy so they could carry all the bark to the stream and complete their goal for the day.
Although Li Ling and her companion went into the woods to find firewood, they didn't actually venture too deep. They only went in about ten meters before stopping. There were plenty of dry branches and leaves there, and if necessary, they could cut some branches to burn. After all, they were just using it to boil water and make salt, so any kind of firewood would do. Moreover, they had a fire source, food, and goats to look after in the camp, so they couldn't go too far.
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