Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 121 - 46: Rain at Dawn

A new member has moved into the cave dwelling.

Hearing the meow from the new kitten, Xiao Huihui, who was still snoring in bed, slowly opened his eyes and leisurely got up, stretching lazily before cautiously jumping down from the bed.

With a dull "thud", a little bit of dust rose from the ground.

Xiao Huihui's plump belly wobbled as he squeezed out an indistinct "meow", then laboriously trotted to the wooden box containing the kitten.

Chen Zhou went to get some fish snacks for the kitten, leaving only Lai Fu there.

Xiao Huihui sniffed, catching a scent of the opposite sex, his eyes lit up, and he stood up, clinging to the edge of the box, and peeked inside.

Lai Fu had already placed the rabbit from his mouth onto the ground, sitting dutifully beside it, loyally guarding the prey his owner had caught.

Seeing Xiao Huihui approaching the box and acting a bit presumptuously, Lai Fu quickly reached out with a paw to push him away, and simultaneously whimpered coquettishly, as if notifying Chen Zhou to "come and manage him!".

Meow~

Xiao Huihui was pushed back repeatedly by Lai Fu's big paw, meowing in discontent.

When Chen Zhou returned to the bedroom, carrying a whole string of fish snacks, he found Xiao Huihui with messy fur and a sullen face, sitting on the ground, ears flat, sulking.

His large body was piled up like a triangular rice ball, his thick tail swaying back and forth in irritation, his expression one of defiance mixed with a little cowardice.

As if saying to Lai Fu, "If I could beat you, I'd definitely teach you a lesson."

Conflict between the cat and the dog was already a staple in the home, something Chen Zhou was used to seeing.

Casually he pressed down on Xiao Huihui's soft belly, giving it a rub. He then pulled the small fish snacks one by one from the stick and placed them into the wooden box. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The fishy smell awakened the lightly dozing kitten, who cautiously examined the strange food beside her and glanced at Chen Zhou peering down at her from the box's edge, without reacting.

Out of survival instinct, wild cats don't easily consume unfamiliar food.

Wounded and captured, with body pain and mental stress, the kitten was even more aloof than usual and didn't eat even if hungry.

Chen Zhou knew he had to give it time to adapt, so he closed the box lid without forcing the kitten to eat the fish snacks immediately.

When hungry, it would naturally try this new food.

As the saying goes, no cat would refuse fish; Chen Zhou believed that once the kitten recovered, it would soon be conquered by the fish snacks and become a formidable mouse catcher in the home.

Before even interacting face-to-face with the opposite sex, Xiao Huihui was mercilessly separated.

Outside the box, he meowed twice, looking somewhat dejected, and walked towards the cave entrance with his chubby body, step by step.

Intended to head outdoors for a walk, controlled by muscle memory, halfway, he unhesitatingly turned towards the kitchen, picking a few fallen small fish to eat under the fish drying rack.

After filling his belly, Xiao Huihui's mood significantly improved, forgetting about the kitten, he cheerfully went to the lowest level of the grain rack to sleep.

"Sigh, such a heartless creature, can't even woo the girl I brought to the bed..."

Watching the solid gray lump on the grain rack, Chen Zhou shook his head, feeling that Xiao Huihui was completely a lost cause.

...

On January 25th and 26th, Chen Zhou continued to transport stones while also venturing into the forest to gather some tough and sturdy vines.

To reduce the wear on the wooden barrels, after dinner, using the time before sleeping, he lit an oil lamp to study how to weave baskets.

The first problem he encountered was the vine sap, which was too abundant; the outer skin was tender, easily breaking with a rub, and not sturdy enough.

He estimated that drying the vines could solve the problem, so Chen Zhou hung up some vines to dry.

Upon drying the finer vines, he tried again but encountered another problem.

Once the juice beneath the vines' outer skin diminished, the fibers gradually dried out. Although the skin became more robust and resistant than when fresh, the toughness decreased. Any larger bending angle caused them to break, which was unacceptable.

After much pondering, Chen Zhou reckoned it was most likely an issue with the type of vine chosen, or perhaps the method wasn't correct.

For processing natural materials, traditional techniques often include soaking, boiling, drying, fire roasting, burning, stretching, pressing, etc.

His vines had only undergone simple drying, making them not much different from the dead vines easily found in the forest. To produce suitable weaving materials, he first needed to resolve the craftsmanship issue.

The materials issue was comparatively easier to address.

Chen Zhou planned to gather several types of vines from the forest for comparative trials.

Then he would chop some river willows from the riverbank to understand their properties.

As for the technique, he could only soak them in a large tub for a while, as boiling would consume a significant amount of fuel, and he didn't have enough time or resources for that.

In any case, it would be impossible to dry the vines and willow branches in just a day or two, so this would have to proceed slowly and patiently.

...

As a cat that grew up in the wild, the kitten's vitality far surpassed that of Xiao Huihui and its deceased companions.

It endured the wound cleaning and disinfection twice daily, gradually adapting to being confined in the wooden box, eating and defecating in this small space.

The stone wall was still not fully constructed, the entire cave dwelling was still open, allowing animals to freely come and go.

Chen Zhou planned to release the kitten once its injuries improved and tether it in the kitchen as an initial deterrent for passing mice.

Once the kitten developed a sense of belonging to the cave dwelling or when the stone wall was completed, it would regain its freedom.

...

As February was approaching, the air on the island seemed to grow more humid.

On the evening of the 26th, the sky was densely covered with dark clouds, obscuring the stars and moon. Chen Zhou reckoned it would rain at night and pulled a tarp over the white clay pile in advance.

If it got soaked by rain, it would take a long time to dry after clumping.

He also moved the firewood and vines from the platform indoors to prevent them from getting wet.

The spacious cave dwelling granted Chen Zhou substantial storage space, and the supplies he had moved up the mountain only occupied a tiny fraction.

Lai Fu, who should have been on night duty in the field, was also brought back to the cave by Chen Zhou.

Without a kennel outside to shield from wind and rain, if it really rained overnight and Lai Fu was tied outside, it would suffer.

Lai Fu was the only empathetic, obedient, and understanding companion on the entire island, an indispensable mental comfort in Chen Zhou's life.

He'd rather lose a few rice seedlings than risk Lai Fu catching a cold while on guard duty outside.

The first half of the night, the overcast clouds gathered strength until the early morning of the 27th.

A sudden torrential downpour hit the island.

Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, occasionally illuminating the cave dwelling.

Cold wind blew straight into the cave, making a howling sound in the vastness.

Chen Zhou curled up in the covers, his head facing inside the cave, feet towards the outside, feeling the cold wind creeping through the gaps beneath the blanket, causing goosebumps to rise all over him.

"Hiss~"

Sucking in a breath of cold air, he used a foot to hold down the blanket, then grabbed the sleeping Xiao Huihui beside the pillow, pulling it into his arms.

"Isn't this the dry season? Why is it suddenly raining so heavily?

If I had known, I would have built the bedroom walls; how am I supposed to sleep like this?"

After struggling in the bed for about ten more minutes, Xiao Huihui, rubbed by Chen Zhou, wriggled out of his arms and jumped off the bed.

Hearing the pattering rain outside, worried that the crops in the field hadn't rooted firmly and might get damaged by the sudden rain, Chen Zhou got up after all.

On this rainy night, the outside was pitch black, wind was blowing inside the cave, lacking any subtropical heat, chilling to the bone.

Taking advantage of not being wet yet, Chen Zhou first lit a bonfire, warming up the food to have it ready for a warm meal upon return and drying his clothes.

Then he dressed warmly, put on a wide-brimmed hat, ready to check outside.