Starting from Robinson Crusoe-Chapter 83 - 30: Shelter (Part 2)

There are so many rooms and facilities to be constructed.

If possible, Chen Zhou wants to dig a second floor on top of the first layer of rooms.

If he can successfully fire bricks, he plans to expand the outer edge of the cave to build a corridor for wind and rain protection.

Imagining is always easy.

When it comes to reality, turning into pickaxe by pickaxe digging, shoveling dirt one spade at a time, the goal seems so distant and unattainable.

On November 5, the tunnel digging project formally commenced.

After entering the dry season, the island's weather no longer varied unpredictably like before.

The blazing sun hangs in the sky all day long, the grass on the sunny slope visibly wilts, and even the trees in the forest appear less vigorous.

Luckily, the Shelter was located in a shady spot, making the work here less taxing.

For the convenience of work, Chen Zhou moved completely into the cave to reside.

To do this, he specifically made time to move his bed, nightstand, some gunpowder, lead bullets, Thrusting Sword crossbow, and other weapons and living items into the cave.

The excavation process went smoothly overall.

The durability of the pickaxe heads embedded with iron tools and wooden shovels far exceeded his expectations, combined with crowbars to loosen boulders and wooden buckets to transport sand, Chen Zhou was able to excavate over two cubic meters of soil each day.

However, things are unpredictable; when unlucky, he would dig up large boulders that were a lot of effort to maneuver and pry, often delaying work for two or three hours.

For the convenience of building load-bearing columns, the outermost sand and stones were not retained by Chen Zhou but were directly dug away, recessed inward, and later on, he would build stone walls and install windows and doors.

Between November 5 and November 10, all medium-sized flat stone pieces excavated were selected and set aside in a pile to be used later for wall building.

On November 11, after finishing his morning's work, Chen Zhou packed up his tools, returned to the cave covered in dust to drink water, and took the opportunity to check on the mother goat and her kid tethered on the mid-slope grassland.

After nearly two weeks, these wild mountain goats no longer showed the same vigilance as when they were first caught.

The mother goat adapted to his milking technique, learned to comfortably enjoy the petting, and sometimes even acted coy like a dog, licking Chen Zhou's hand and nudging his thigh with her neck to signal him to scratch her.

The little kid no longer protested against the milking; although it wasn't as friendly as the mother goat, it no longer deliberately avoided his hand when caught.

This might be because Chen Zhou drank goat milk every day, resulting in him having the mother's scent.

Since the mother goat was tied on the hillside and couldn't descend the mountain to drink on its own, Chen Zhou had to carry two buckets of water up the mountain every other day, one for himself to drink and the other for the goat.

The carrying pole used to haul water was made by Chen Zhou himself. Although not as efficient as a bamboo pole, with time he became more adept, making the climb with water much easier.

Besides water, Chen Zhou had to feed the mother goat some salt periodically.

In his hometown, goat farmers usually bought round millstone-like salt stones for the goats to lick and ingest. Since he had no salt stones, he could only use edible salt as a substitute.

The amount of edible salt brought from the ship was abundant enough to last a year and a half without much concern.

However, keeping in mind potential shortages, Chen Zhou also considered the issue of salt production.

Being adjacent to the sea, there's no way they could run out of salt.

He knew two simple, primitive methods of salt production.

One is directly scooping seawater to boil; once the water evaporates, the remaining crystals are salt.

This method has low output, consumes a lot of firewood, and results in poor quality, suitable only for urgent salt needs.

The other method is drying.

Digging trenches on a coastal beach to lead in seawater, let it evaporate initially, then scoop out the remainder into crystallization pools, continue drying, and eventually, the saturated salt solution will precipitate crude salt through further evaporation.

This method yields higher quality salt, but takes a long time and requires a lot of preliminary work.

Right now, Chen Zhou is overwhelmed with countless tasks.

These include building the Shelter, digging toilets to compost, reclaiming land, capturing a male goat, constructing a greenhouse, a raisin drying house, and moving camp supplies up the mountain, among other things.

He wishes he could split himself into ten parts, even though he knows how to make salt, he has no time to do it and can only quietly list it on his schedule to complete one by one. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Speaking of schedules, there's another notable thing.

After discovering the pineapple tree, Chen Zhou always wanted to use the purplish-red liquid secreted from its trunk as ink, but he was worried that the liquid might be toxic and that prolonged exposure could cause discomfort.

A few days ago, while fetching water from the river, he caught some fish and frogs and tested the liquid's toxicity on them.

The results showed that the pineapple tree liquid seemed non-toxic or had weak toxicity that didn't even affect the fish and frogs, which greatly relieved him.

However, fish and amphibians are different from mammals; just because they weren't poisoned doesn't mean it's harmless to humans.

To be cautious, Chen Zhou still tried not to directly touch the purple tree liquid and ensured there were no wounds on his hands when writing.

The potential harm from penetrating the skin and directly entering the bloodstream is different, and he's unwilling to take that risk.

Having tested the purple tree liquid's toxicity, the ink issue was temporarily resolved.

Although the purple ink traces always seem somewhat flamboyant, if given a choice, Chen Zhou would still prefer black.

After confirming that the mother goat and kid were not lacking water, Chen Zhou headed back to the cave.

A few days ago, finding it bothersome to go down the mountain to feed the cat, he brought the little gray cat up the mountain too.

As he approached the cave entrance, he saw the little gray cat squinting its eyes, lazily rolling around on the ground at the entrance.

Using the "stone-throwing bird-catching method," Chen Zhou caught a whole half-bucket of small fish, gutted them, strung them together with string, and hung them beside the cave to dry, feeding the little gray cat a few each day.

Thanks to the abundant meat, the little guy quickly regained the nutrients missing during its growth, inflating like a balloon, growing faster, and consuming more.

Having benefited from someone else's efforts, it became more affectionate and attached.

Each night, it couldn't sleep without cuddling up to Chen Zhou; even if it didn't burrow into the blanket, it needed to stay close to the pillow, surrounded by the air exhaled by Chen Zhou, seemingly finding safety only like this.

This schedule obviously isn't in line with the nocturnal nature of felines, making Chen Zhou think that he's raised the little gray cat into a pet.

As it grew bigger, its fur became bright and glossy, its face rounder, and its appearance increasingly endearing.

Recently, for some unknown reason, it also secretly got along well with Lai Fu, and sometimes when Chen Zhou returned home late from work, he would even see Lai Fu hugging the little gray cat to sleep, creating a particularly warm scene.

Every official family member needs a name.

Feeling that the little gray cat had secured a spot in their small family, refusing to call it "little gray cat" every day, Chen Zhou named the chubby active creature—Xiao Huihui.

"Once it grows up, I'll drop the 'Xiao' and call it Hui Hui," he thought.

After being named, it took several days to adapt; sometimes it still didn't respond when Chen Zhou called its name.

"Itchy again?"

Squatting beside Xiao Huihui, lifting it by the scruff, looking into its golden eyes, Chen Zhou laughed.

Meow~

The little one showed no fear, meowed, wiggled out of Chen Zhou's hand, jumped onto his knee, directly sprawled out, and purred contentedly.

Feeling helpless towards such overly affectionate behavior, Chen Zhou straightened up to provide more space on his lap and then checked Xiao Huihui's ears and eyelids.

Playing often in the grass, it's highly likely infested with ticks.

These pesky parasites have small heads and plump bodies, burrowing into the skin of warm-blooded animals, sucking blood, and once sated, dropping off to lay eggs and reproduce.

Ticks can transmit viruses and bacteria, causing swelling, water accumulation, or infection at bite sites, presenting significant risks to livestock and humans.

With Lai Fu's height and speed, it's hard for ticks to cling onto it.

However, Xiao Huihui's age and size make it an ideal target for ticks; a few days ago, Chen Zhou found two small ticks on the inner side of its ear.

With some countryside cat-rearing experience, to avoid tick heads causing infection by staying lodged in the skin, he didn't pull them out aggressively but used a heated small twig to burn the tick's rear.

Feeling the burn, the creature would naturally retract its head and leave the hair, allowing them to be completely eradicated.

After a careful check, finding no new "vampires," Chen Zhou put down the not-yet-satisfied Xiao Huihui and returned to the cave.

Living in an unsanitary environment always has its drawbacks.

While excavating, he suddenly had an idea for disinfection. Returning to the cave, besides drinking water, was also to verify the feasibility of this idea.