From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 56 Entering the Rainy Season
Chen Zhou slept comfortably on the night of February 2.

Since he started the challenge, he hasn't slept so securely for a long time.

When I slept in a hammock on the boat, I was always worried about storms and tides. At that time, I was not yet accustomed to heavy work and I dreamed of sawing wood.

When the hammock swayed, he sometimes felt like he had fallen into the sea, and the sound of mice gnawing on the wooden boards often woke him up.

After arriving on land, although they no longer had to worry about storms and raging waves, they lived in a house without outer walls.

You can see outside the cave at a glance before going to bed at night.

Wind, rain, sunlight, insects, snakes, rats, everything in nature can move freely inside and outside.

For Chen Zhou, who was used to resting in a closed space, this also made him uncomfortable.

However, this discomfort was bearable and was far less than the psychological pressure the storm brought him when he was resting on the boat.

Otherwise, he would have put aside other work and devoted all his energy to building the wall.

……

I got up early in the morning and rubbed my eyes.

Looking at the dim room, Chen Zhou, who was used to living with "open walls", felt a little unfamiliar with this semi-enclosed space.

He got dressed and smelled the bedding, thinking about doing a thorough cleaning when he was free at home during the rainy season, so he opened the door and went outside.

The sky on February 2 was covered with dark clouds and the sky was gray, giving people a feeling that it was going to rain.

Thinking that he needed a haircut today, Chen Zhou went to the camp to move the mirror as soon as he had breakfast.

Soon, he came to the camp and found two brass-framed mirrors more than 70 centimeters high from the shack and leaned them against the side of the shack.

When Chen Zhou went outside to get the mirror, he thought about the frequent rainfall in the next two months, and the test the shack would face would be more severe than the entire dry season that had just passed.

In order to avoid damage to the materials that have not been moved away, he has to check the shack in advance to see if there are any leaks or structural damage.

These small shelters were originally used as temporary storage buildings for supplies. They have been in operation for more than a hundred days since they were built, and the structure, which is not very strong and tight, is bound to have various minor problems.

Moreover, the wooden frame supporting the shack had not been treated with water-proofing or anti-insect measures, and was placed directly in the woods, inevitably subject to blisters, insect damage, and rat gnaws.

Chen Zhou estimated that even if the shack was maintained and reinforced more carefully this time, it would be difficult for it to survive the entire rainy season.

Before it rains, he has to move all the water-sensitive supplies to the mountain as soon as possible.

"It would be better if the rainy season came two months later."

Chen Zhou thought as he covered the shack with branches.

In two months more he would have had all his clothing, cloth, bedding, ironware, furniture, and barrels of rum moved up the mountain.

"Unfortunately, time waits for no one!"

After maintaining the most important shacks, he tied the two mirrors together, carried them on his back, and returned to the cave.

……

Mirrors can not only correct your makeup, but as a decoration, they also have a function that other decorations do not have - brightening the eyes.

In the past, adobe houses had small windows, dirty glass and poor light transmittance.

In winter, if you cover the windows with a layer of wind, the light inside the room will often be dim, with the morning feeling like afternoon and the afternoon feeling like dusk.

The old man would hang the mirror on the side or opposite the window. The sunlight coming into the room through the window would be reflected like a headlight, making the whole room much brighter.

The two windows on the bedroom wall are smaller than those of the adobe house, and the light that enters the room is limited, not even reaching the innermost part of the bedroom.

Chen Zhou originally wanted to place the mirror on the side of the room to reflect the sunlight.

But the mirror had no frame, so it couldn't stand up. There was no wall on the side of the room, so there was nowhere to hang it, only six load-bearing pillars.

Helplessly, he could only lean the mirror against the load-bearing column and arrange the furnishings after the interior walls were built.

……

Not in a hurry to get a haircut, Chen Zhou began to move clothes and bedding up the mountain in the afternoon of the 17th.

These costumes were originally packed in wooden boxes, which were not convenient to carry.

But after Chen Zhou unpacked the edible soil, he found many more nylon bags, which were perfect for packing clothes.

……

I worked until the evening and built the wall for a while - the foundation there had not been filled in yet.

If there is a sudden heavy rain, the foundation will become a water reservoir.

He frequently went in and out of the ditch, mixing with mud and moving stones, and got covered in dirt.

When he finished his work, Chen Zhou observed the sky.

The moon was covered by dark clouds and the stars could not be seen, but the air did not feel stuffy or damp, so I guess it would not rain tonight.

A fire was lit to boil water, and the large iron kettle was occupied.

Fortunately, Chen Zhou still had a new stove and copper pot.

With two more spoonfuls of seal oil, he cut the hard dough into thick slices, fried them in hot oil until golden brown, then sprinkled them with salt and served.

The fried pancake slices are somewhat similar to toasted steamed bread slices. The outer layer is soaked in oil and tastes crispy and fragrant. The inside is heated to just the right temperature, slightly soft, and you can taste the aroma of wheat.

Serve with fried seal meat and hand-squeezed wild lemon juice.

There are both meat and vegetarian dishes, cold and hot dishes, sweet and salty dishes.

Vitamins, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, everything you need is included. On an isolated island, this kind of food is considered rich.

After dinner, he poured out half a pot of hot water for washing his hair and shaving his hair, and used the remaining water in the iron kettle to cook a few pieces of meat for Lai Fu and the two cats.

Xiao Huihui used to always like to get close to Tizi, but after Tizi No. 10 was released, he suddenly seemed to have changed his temperament. He became timid when he saw Tizi and no longer dared to approach him.

Chen Zhou has been very busy recently. Seeing that Xiao Huihui was moving freely and still had a round body, he didn't know that the dog had been scratched by Grape. He thought that Xiao Huihui had some social anxiety, so he left it alone.

As for Grape, since being tied up in the kitchen, he has adapted well to the environment and his personality has become more cheerful.

Although it is a wild cat, it knows how to keep its resting area clean. When defecating, it has to pull the rope straight and then dig a hole in the sand to make a temporary toilet for itself, and then bury the feces after defecation.

However, the buried cat feces and urine also have a strong odor. Every morning Chen Zhou cleans out the feces in the kitchen, including the chinchilla's feces.

Xiao Huihui is a free-spirited creature and never excretes in the cave, so there is basically no need to worry about its hygiene. You just need to pay more attention to whether there are any ticks on its body.

After feeding the cats and dogs, Chen Zhou untied the leash and took Tizi for a walk for a while.

The wound caused by the rope on Grapes is already scabbing off and will probably heal in a day or two.

But the hair won't grow back in a short time, and it will be a long recovery process.

During the walk, Tizi would carefully sniff every corner of the room, including the area for drying fish, the area for air-drying meat, as well as Chen Zhou's bed, dining table and other furniture, as if remembering the smell of his new home.

It is active by nature. After walking around two or three times indoors, it will meow and ask Chen Zhou to take it outside.

Chen Zhou usually only takes it to the platform at the door and walks it back and forth twice, and never walks it to the farmland down the slope or to the edge of the woods farther away.

After all, Tizi is not a house cat. Chen Zhou is afraid that Tizi will be reminded of his past free life in the wild after arriving in the forest, so he secretly escapes from prison.

(End of this chapter)