From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 68 Revealing the Answer
It was raining on the morning of March 3, and Chen Zhou squatted in the house and sewed a leather raincoat for several hours.

After working with his head down for a long period of time, his neck became a little stiff, and he even felt that the tendons in his left arm were shorter. Frequent curling and stretching of his palms made him feel that his entire left arm became extremely uncomfortable.

I gave myself a massage with a hot towel, rubbed some wine on my arms to relax my muscles, and took a nap at noon.

When he woke up in the afternoon, Chen Zhou's arms had relaxed a lot, but the muscles in his neck were still tense and even massage was of no use.

I figured that my symptoms could only be alleviated by rest, so I twisted my neck left and right and rubbed my shoulders to temporarily relieve the tense muscles.

Chen Zhou put on a wide-brimmed hat, the upper half of a leather raincoat, put a box of salt in his arms, carried a wooden barrel and a short-handled axe, and left the cave.

The little chinchilla had eaten up all its fresh grass and had been chewing on hay in recent days. Chen Zhou saw that it was eating reluctantly and the small feces it excreted were becoming drier and drier, so he wanted to cut some fresh grass for it and check if the salt left in the cave had been eaten up by the mother goat and her calf, and then give them some more salt.

After mowing the grass and applying salt, if it was not dark yet and it had not rained, he would go to the upper reaches of the river, find a shallow area, dig out some river sand, and see if he could use it directly with cement.

If there are no trivial matters to distract you during this period and you work hard, it will take no more than four days to build four concrete load-bearing columns.

It takes more than twenty days for the cement to completely dry and solidify.

After all, it is the rainy season on the island, and the cement pillars are located inside a cave where there is no sunlight. If water is sprayed every 24 hours, the cement that normally takes about ten days to fully hydrate will take at least twice as long to hydrate here.

With this calculation, he only has about ten days to prepare the sand. He must lower the priority of other tasks and deal with the sand excavation first.

Fortunately, the total height of the four load-bearing columns plus the foundation is only 4.5 meters, so the amount of river sand needed is not much. As long as the quality of the river sand is up to standard, even if you use a shoulder pole and a wooden bucket to carry the sand, you can collect enough in two days.

……

On the hillside, the dog was still in front and the people were behind.

Chen Zhou walked slowly, carrying the wooden barrel, throwing up the short-handled axe and catching it as he walked, as if he was practicing acrobatics. He caught a glimpse of Lai Fu running wildly in front of him out of the corner of his eye.

The grass was bright green after the rain, and the water droplets that had not yet rolled down bent the tips of the leaves, like gorgeous emerald beads.

The hair on Laifu's legs was wet by the accumulated water on the grass and turned dark brown.

It accelerated and stopped suddenly, ran in a straight line and turned flexibly, rolled on the slope, got covered in mud and water, and continued running.

On the ground covered with sparse weeds, you can see a row of plum blossom marks left by Lai Fu.

The low bushes on the mountain were covered with dog hair that had been scraped off by the branches.

When Lai Fu runs down the ridge and you can no longer see it, there is no need to call it loudly, just whistle, and it will come running back, come to your side, and wag its tail enthusiastically close to your thigh.

Whenever this happened, Chen Zhou would push Lai Fu's big dog head away - it was covered in mud and water, and you couldn't see its original color at all. If it was rubbed, it would have to be washed again.

If it were in modern society, if a pet dog was made into a mud monkey like this, the owner would be so angry that his blood pressure would soar at the thought of giving it a bath, cleaning it, and re-trimming its hair.

But on the isolated island, Chen Zhou didn't care about these things. He just liked to see Lai Fu being free.

The joy it displays when running freely will make anyone who sees it feel happy in their heart. That is the purest and unrestrained happiness.

……

After more than 160 days of daily companionship, Lai Fu, the "foreign dog", is no longer unfamiliar with the Chinese language.

Many times, Chen Zhou doesn't even need to speak, it knows what to do.

Chen Zhou felt that Lai Fu's talent in observing people's words and expressions was better than that of a living person like him.

Lai Fu ran all the way to the cave and stopped at the entrance without his master giving any orders. He looked back at where Chen Zhou was, waiting for him to appear in his sight.

After a while, Chen Zhou appeared from a distance carrying a wooden barrel. He blew a whistle, called Lai Fu over, then rubbed the dog's head vigorously and praised him non-stop.

"Good dog~Good dog~"

Lai Fu's beautiful tail was shaking like an electric fan. He jumped and danced happily in the place and was about to jump into his owner's arms.

The newly sewn seal skin raincoat has not yet experienced the baptism of wind and rain, so Lai Fu cannot let it get dirty.

Chen Zhou quietly dodged past, trotted into the cave, and pretended to concentrate on checking the salt in the cave.

When Lai Fu saw his master in this attitude, he behaved himself and didn't disturb him. He squatted quietly at the entrance of the cave and stood guard.

The mother and baby goats consume salt very slowly. Chen Zhou estimated that they sometimes take in some salt outside.

After all, the female goats are no longer tied up. Although they are hobbled, their movements are not restricted too much and they can go far away to eat salt.

Moreover, Chen Zhou would be happy if they replenished their own salt, as that way he could save a lot of salt.

Even if we dig a salt pond in the rainy season, we cannot dry the salt, so we can only scoop seawater home to boil salt.

Salt boiling is inefficient, of poor quality, and consumes a lot of firewood.

Unless the salt is about to run out, Chen Zhou will never waste time and materials to cook salt.

The last time he added salt to the mother and calf goats was two days ago. Generally speaking, a bowl of salt is enough for them to eat for three to five days. Chen Zhou brought a small box of salt today just to fill the salt bowl so that he wouldn't have to come back again in two days.

He took out the small wooden box from his arms and was about to pour salt into the bowl, but he was surprised to find that the entire bowl of salt was empty.

"This shouldn't be the case. They've been eating so much these past few days. Even if the salt is free, they can't eat it like this!"

Picking up the salt bowl, Chen Zhou frowned.

If the goat and its kid continue to consume at this rate, the remaining salt will not be enough to last for three months.

Although he was still doubtful, he still poured the salt from the wooden box into the bowl.

Putting the bowl back to its place, Chen Zhou felt something was not right the more he thought about it.

After leaving the cave and walking eastward along the mountainside, he lowered his head to identify hoof prints in the mud.

After being separated from the main herd for a long time, the mother and her calf have become accustomed to staying in the pasture where they are tied. After going to the cave to lick the salt, they will go straight back to the pasture.

If it rains, they will go further and come to the woods under the grass to take shelter from the rain, and nibble on the tender leaves and branches of some trees.

When he first released the mother and baby goats, he was worried that they would run away, so Chen Zhou observed them for several days and became very familiar with their movements.

After finding the blurred hoof prints hit by rain, Chen Zhou walked to the grass on the hillside and discovered that there was a row of unfamiliar hoof prints next to the hoof prints of the mother and baby goats.

This hoof print extended from the platform alone. It was thicker than the hoof print of a female goat and was deeply imprinted in the soil. It was probably from a young and strong male goat.

After the three hoof prints merged, they walked together towards the woods at the foot of the slope and gradually became lighter on the grass slope.

"Ok?"

The moment Chen Zhou saw the new hoof prints, he had a guess in his mind - the female goat he raised was being targeted by the ram.

He reminded Lai Fu to hide, crouch down, and follow the clues. Soon, he found a mother goat and her baby goat and a strong male goat at the edge of the woods.

These three sheep are of different sizes and are scattered on the grass. If someone doesn’t look closely, they might mistake them for a family of three.

"Okay, you are not here to break up this family, but to join it, right?

Not only did you steal the female goat that I raised with great effort, but you also secretly ate my salt. You are so brave.

In this case, I have no choice but to take you down. I just happen to be in need of a breeding sheep, and seeing that you are strong and healthy, it is not unfair for you to take this job. After all, you asked for it. "

After figuring everything out, the truth came to light.

The reason why the salt in the cave was used up in two days was that the female goat he raised had her elbows bent outward. Not only did she flirt with the foreign male goat, she also took it to eat salt.

The small bowl of salt was the amount calculated by Chen Zhou, which was just enough for the mother and baby goats to eat. But an adult male goat suddenly appeared out of nowhere. How could they eat it all? It was already an extraordinary performance that they could last for more than two days.

……

Without alerting the enemy, Chen Zhou quietly left the top of the hillside. According to the original plan, he went to the gravel slope and cut half a bucket of fresh grass for the chinchilla. Just as he was about to return to the cave, he suddenly patted his head, feeling sad for his stupidity.

Since the little chinchilla only likes to eat this kind of grass, and this grass is not some pampered rare variety and can be kept alive by just digging it out with the roots and putting it somewhere else, then why doesn't he dig more grass earlier and transplant it around the field, so that he can avoid a lot of detours.

“Forget it, just consider those walks I took earlier as exercise.

And if I hadn’t come to Yangpo so often, I wouldn’t have noticed the herd of wild goats coming back, let alone this male goat that came to me on its own. This can be considered a blessing and a curse.”

To comfort myself, I picked up a sharp triangular stone from the rubble to use as a shovel.

Chen Zhou poured out the fresh grass in the wooden barrel, dug up some soil with grass roots, filled it into the bottom of the barrel, and then stuffed the fresh grass that had spilled on the ground back into the barrel before leaving the gravel slope.

After returning to the cave, they first buried the soil at the edge of the field, and then put the cut fresh grass into the kitchen.

Chen Zhou did not stop and went to the storage room to find a few sets of pre-made sets. He put the digging of river sand on hold for the time being and headed directly to the grassy area on the hillside.

Lai Fu followed his owner around and was busy all afternoon. Although they did not play together, he wagged his tail happily, drank a few sips of water in a hurry, and then went to the grass together.

Following the hoof prints left by the billy goat as it came from the platform, Chen Zhou walked all the way to the sunny slope. He selected several narrow paths next to rocks or in the bushes and put on several hoof traps.

These strong male goats are very strong. If they are put in a noose, they will struggle violently and then be strangled to death.

The chance of a hoof trap hitting the target is low, but the damage to the sheep is relatively small. At most, it will cause amputation, which does not endanger life or delay the continuation of the family line.

Chen Zhou wanted a stud ram, not a dead ram.

The old sheep was killed before because it really could not produce any value, and it might even have lost its ability.

If it had shown itself to be a little more robust and had a stronger desire to survive, Chen Zhou would not have stabbed it to death.

But I have to say, after getting used to eating seal meat, it still tastes pretty good to eat mutton occasionally.

……

After setting up hundreds of rabbit traps, Chen Zhou has accumulated some experience.

The places where he set the traps were all terrains that were more comfortable for the goats to land on or places that were difficult to avoid, and he also smeared a layer of mud on the hemp rope to reduce the smell and increase concealment.

Sheep are animals with a wide left and right field of vision and are relatively sensitive to threats above their heads, but they are slow to react to abnormalities beneath their feet.

By mastering this "hormone-filled" path, Chen Zhou was 90% sure he could capture the ram alive.

He estimated that if everything went well, the female goat would be able to give birth to another litter of lambs by August this year.

By then he can also benefit from it and drink goat's milk for a few more months.

It has been a while since he last had milk tea, and he really missed its slightly muttony, mellow and rich taste.

……

After setting a trap for the goat, I returned to the cave. It was already dark.

The road conditions in the forest were unclear at night, and there were snakes and insects everywhere. It was impossible for Chen Zhou to carry a lamp to dig sand. After dinner, he went to bed early and did not work all night to sew the raincoat - tomorrow would be the 11th mysterious reward.

He wasn't curious about what the reward was.

Because this time the reward content is not as easy to guess as last time, and it is unlikely to be a good thing.

The last time the reward came, he had a cold and was weak. Giving him something that was difficult to carry was both a test and a show effect.

Of course, because he predicted the content of the reward in advance and came up with a response plan, the program team, which had always been successful, suffered a setback, causing the last reward to end in an extremely dull way and fail to be effective.

After the program team missed the opportunity, Chen Zhou has recovered his health and it is impossible to create a similar situation again.

According to his thinking, the mysterious rewards should have been exhausted. At most, they would give out a few pieces of Bingxixi industrial waste or embarrassing sex toys, but it was impossible to come up with anything new.

After experiencing more than a dozen strange and bizarre rewards, Chen Zhou is now completely immune to some common tricks.

Even when faced with some strange objects that make people feel uncomfortable, he can remain calm.

The reason why he rested early was not to get up early to get the bonus content.

Instead, I want to know whether the idea of the "cutting machine" is feasible and whether it can succeed.

If this award really confirms his bold idea, the next 28 years will be much easier.

Even in modern times, there is no such huge and indestructible cutting machine.

……

On March 3, just after dawn, Chen Zhou got out of bed.

I put on my clothes and walked to the door to take a look.

The weather was not good. It was drizzling outside and the ground was soaked.

Judging from the increasingly thick clouds in the sky, the rain might get heavier.

I lit a fire to boil water, sat on a low stool, looked out at the beach, and from time to time stretched my hands to the small flames, rubbed them together after warming them.

Chen Zhou's legs were shaking uncontrollably, and two thoughts were fighting fiercely in his heart.

His rational mind reminded him that in order to avoid catching a cold, he should wait until the rain stopped before going to the beach.

Whether the cut is successful or not, the result on the beach will not change.

As for the mysterious reward, it has been raining for so long anyway, and the awning has not been repaired since the last time the cement was moved.

If the reward is afraid of water and has been exposed to rain, it is probably damaged. It makes no difference whether you go earlier or later.

If the reward is not afraid of water, then it doesn’t matter even if you go ten days later.

Chen Zhou's curiosity is equally powerful as his rational thoughts.

After fifteen days of waiting, he was looking forward to the day when the answer would be revealed. In just a few minutes, his curiosity came up with all kinds of reasons to try to overwhelm his reason.

For example, if it is not raining heavily outside right now, it is a good time to try out the leather raincoat.

For example, the mysterious reward has a thick outer packaging, so maybe it hasn’t been completely soaked by the rain yet.

But we can't delay any longer. The rain in the rainy season is endless and no one knows when it will stop. What if it rains for a day and a night? By the time we go tomorrow, the daylilies will be cold.

Or maybe now that the rain is light, it's a good time to set off.

Soon the cumulonimbus clouds will become thicker and heavier, and heavy rain will fall, making it impossible to go out.

If we set off now and take the reward, we can hide in the tent in the camp even if it really rains heavily.

The tents in the camp were reinforced a few days ago, with plastic sheets to block rain, so they no longer leak. As long as you bring some food and a flint, it won't be a problem to live in the tent for a day or two...

Faced with the answer he had been waiting for day and night, Chen Zhou was torn between an inner struggle and a desire to find the answer.

In the end, rational thinking was inferior and could not overcome strong curiosity.

Pick off two strings of dried meat, take out five bread cakes, and wrap them with a plastic raincoat.

He wore a wide-brimmed hat, a straw raincoat, a flint, and a dagger and a long-handled axe for self-defense and chopping firewood.

After tying Lai Fu at home, Chen Zhou went down the mountain alone and headed straight for the beach.

　I have recently acquired several hellhounds, which need to be trained urgently. I will update only once for now. There are still 5 days left for a double update, which I will make up within this month.

　　Thanks to: Starry Sword Shadow, Central Huaye, Book Friend Last Number 3792, Anajec, Singing Drunk, Tangyuan and Baozi, Yueran Electronics, Unforgettable but Harder to Turn Back, Ming Dynasty, Mo Xiyan, Hey Big Brother, Book Friend Last Number 2511, Book Friend Last Number 2220, Book Friend Last Number 3089, Only Love, Xia Lian, The Broken Voice in the Dream, Taixu Wuliang Supreme Mysterious Supreme God, CATLZMY, When Love Stops, Bold_Little Brother, and the Monthly Tickets of Light and Netherworld. Thank you all for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)