Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 156 - 67: Fur Raincoat (Part 2)

The "suo yi" is the ancient people's raincoat.

Its appearance is simple and effective, can prevent rain and doesn't hinder work, exactly meeting his needs.

Born in the 21st century, Chen Zhou only ever saw raincoats made of plastic or rubber materials from a young age.

Fortunately, modern film technology is advanced. From the wandering heroes in movies, he learned about the "suo yi" shape and general structure.

The upper part of the "suo yi" has a structure similar to a cape that can wrap around the neck. It can completely block raindrops on the shoulders and create a slope for the rain to flow down.

The lower part of the "suo yi" is similar to a short skirt, bulky and thick, shaped like a barrel wider at the bottom than the top. With a good partner like a straw hat, dealing with light wind and rain is not an issue.

According to traditional craftsmanship, "suo yi" should be made from palm tree bark.

Chen Zhou couldn't find a palm tree, nor knew how to make a "suo yi" with palm tree bark, so he planned to use a special material to make his own unique "suo yi"—seal skin.

As animals that stay in water all year round, seal skin's waterproof performance goes without saying, plus the fur is soft, thick, and has a thermal effect, completely able to replace palm tree bark.

The large seal skin is not quite regular in shape. Since catching a cold, Chen Zhou has been using it as a blanket. Now's the perfect chance to trim the edges of the seal skin.

Cut off the seal's damaged head and limbs, leaving only a rectangular body part fur, laying it on the bed it looks much more pleasing.

As for the cut-off parts, the portions unable to be made into complete leather are cut into small leather strips to use as rope; the parts that can be made into leather are kept with the little seal skin to make "leather suo yi".

He lit one more lamp, didn't dare eat first, afraid of overeating and feeling sleepy, delaying work.

He took down the small pieces of seal skin that had been idle for a long time from the drying rack.

Putting hemp rope, seal leather strips, needle and thread, and the large seal skin cut into small pieces beside him, Chen Zhou chose a piece of suitably sized fur, wrapped it around his neck.

Pincering the outer edge contour of the collar with his finger, he turned the seal skin inside out, using a long wooden stick to prop up burning charcoal, burned two small black dots inside the seal skin for marking.

Then he pondered the size of the "suo yi", selected several more pieces of fur, stacked them with the seal skin for the collar, adjusted to cape shape, took scissors to cut off excess parts, and began sewing.

Chen Zhou was not skilled at needlework, to ensure the leather "suo yi" was sturdy enough, he kept the stitches very dense, sewing three stitches within one centimeter, sewing extremely slowly.

Bending his head under the glow of the oil lamp, fiddling with the needle and thread, sewing the "suo yi".

The flame flickered, illuminating many strands from the needle and thread.

Chen Zhou's eyes became increasingly sore and blurry, he ended up with double vision and absent-mindedly pricked several little holes in his fingers.

Working until late at night, his mind gradually turned into mush, couldn't even sew a straight line anymore.

Putting down the needle and thread, picking up the upper part of the leather "suo yi", he felt its weight, Chen Zhou tried wearing this half-completed item around his neck.

A bit too big, ought to fit just right with a coat on.

Realizing he hadn't let those two seals' contributions down.

Rubbing his swollen eyes, he finally couldn't hold up. Hastily ate two bowls of gruel, returned to the bedroom, and fell asleep.

...

March 6, a rare sunny day in the morning, Chen Zhou got up late.

When he crawled out of bed, he noticed his upper eyelid seemed swollen, pressing his eyes could only open a slit.

Putting on clothes, he hurriedly went to the mirror, peeled his eyelids to take a closer look, Chen Zhou found his eyes full of bloodshot, the corners were red, it must be caused by excessive eye use leading to eye strain.

Back in the busiest time of senior high school studies, staying up late to review and do papers often made his eyes appear this way.

After entering college, Chen Zhou never worked late nights like this anymore.

Carefully pulling his eye corners, feeling this time's eye strain was fairly severe, Chen Zhou self-mockingly said to himself.

"Alas, needlework sure is harmful to health, should've known to work in the daytime."

...

Luckily, having frequently faced similar problems in school, Chen Zhou had long accumulated enough coping experience.

He went to the kitchen, boiled a pot of hot water, then wet a cloth, applied it to his eyes for a warm compress.

After finishing the warm compress, he then did a set of eye exercises, massaging the Jingming point, scraping around his eye sockets, the swollen eyes got greatly alleviated.

Having his late breakfast, he placed the semi-finished leather "suo yi" separately on the food shelf. Picking materials needed for making the lower half of the "suo yi", he cut them into shape, arranged them according to the "suo yi" lower half design, leaving them for sewing.

Simply organizing the subsequent "suo yi" work, Chen Zhou took Lai Fu out of the cave, headed to the camp to reinforce the tent.

...

Ever since moving from the camp to live up the mountain, the tent in the camp had been in a semi-abandoned state.

The bedside cabinet, bed, decorative paintings, and clothes box inside the tent had long been moved to the mountain. Whenever going downhill to maintain the shed and check supplies, Chen Zhou didn't pay much attention to the tent's damage.

This time, upon removing the canvas on top of the tent, Chen Zhou found the wooden beams supporting the tent were already waterlogged and beginning to rot.

Especially the heaviest part piled with tree branches, the wooden beam even bent downwards, exposing the internally soaked brown wood fibers.

The problem was severe to this extent, just replacing the canvas certainly wouldn't work.

The entire tent top must be dismantled and rebuilt.