From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 105 New Members

The rainy season arrives earlier than the rules summarized by Robinson in the book.

Starting from August 8, the rainfall frequency increased.

After the platform at the entrance was soaked, it never dried again.

According to his plan, Chen Zhou stayed in the cave and basically did not go out unless necessary.

Life as a "caveman" was not as boring as he had imagined.

In fact, after leaving outdoor work, he could spare time to observe the animals at home, which was even more fun.

After all, there is no lack of beauty in life, only a lack of eyes to discover beauty.

……

Grape became pregnant around June 6th, and by around August 20th, her pregnancy belly was already very obvious, and her movements were not as agile as before the pregnancy.

It became increasingly lazy, went out hunting less and less frequently, and often lay on its side beside the kitchen stove, squinting its eyes to rest.

At times like this, Xiao Huihui, the unreliable husband, is totally unreliable. Not only can he help Tizi hunt and bring food to it, he can't even provide the most basic companionship.

When the critical moment comes, it is Chen Zhou, the "real father", who has to prepare rabbit meatballs for Ti Zi, help it build a cat bed, and cover the bed with rabbit skins.

It may be due to the lack of security in the early stage of delivery. The bigger the belly is, the clingier Grape becomes, and symptoms similar to "separation anxiety" occur.

Chen Zhou goes out to check on the mother goat, add salt to the goat, or go to the sun room or the mountain stream to take care of the plants. When he leaves the cave for a long time, Grape always meows anxiously.

You know, Grape is a very quiet cat. Even when he was strangled by the rabbit snare and his wound was disinfected, he hardly made a sound.

Sometimes, it would even follow Chen Zhou and run outside into the drizzle.

However, Chen Zhou didn't dare let Tizi follow him back the same way, so he always picked up Tizi and sent it back to the cave.

In addition to separation anxiety, during this period, Tizi has become more and more fond of crawling into bed.

It never went to the bed before.

Every night after dinner, when Chen Zhou went to bed, Tizi would always follow him to bed, and then use her soft meowing to urge him to lift the quilt and let it in.

The dark, warm and soft environment can give Tizi a lot of sense of security. Tizi feels at ease resting with Chen Zhou, a huge, friendly and good hunting "big cat".

But after putting grapes in the quilt, Chen Zhou no longer slept so well.

He sleeps very soundly and it is difficult to wake him up without great noise or strong physical contact.

Therefore, he was very worried that he would press down on Grape or kick Grape's stomach when turning over in sleep, causing her to have a miscarriage or premature birth.

Chen Zhou really wanted Ti Zi to sleep in the wooden box he had prepared.

The wooden box was made entirely of wooden boards cut by the space-time cutting machine. The surface was simply polished and had no wood splinters. A hole was left on the side of the box that was just big enough for the grapes to go in and out.

A layer of dry straw was laid at the bottom of the box, and on top of the straw were several whole tanned rabbit skins.

Worried that the rabbit fur was too rough, Chen Zhou spread a small piece of seal skin on top of the rabbit skin, making this "delivery room" warm and comfortable enough.

But Tizi didn't buy it at all. Even if Chen Zhou moved the wooden box to the bedside, it wouldn't stay in the box.

But Xiao Huihui is really shameless. He always sneaks into the box when Chen Zhou is not paying attention.

Fortunately, after being with Tizi, it often goes out and exercises, and its weight has dropped. Otherwise, it would be stuck at the entrance of the box and unable to move.

……

In addition to grapes, the pregnant female mouse's belly was also noticeably getting bigger.

Chen Zhou was not sure how long it took for mice to become pregnant and give birth, but based on his observations and judgment, he could infer that the six "pregnant women with big bellies" gave birth to their baby mice only a few days later than Grape.

This is to prevent the male rat from causing unnecessary trouble during the female rat's pregnancy, and also to prepare a residence for future "poison testers".

Chen Zhou forcibly cleared out a space in the storage room and built an "apartment building" for the unborn mice.

……

Taking care of grapes distracted Chen Zhou too much of his energy, and the various trivial matters like "daily tasks" seriously reduced his work efficiency.

However, Chen Zhou was not anxious about this.

On the contrary, he is full of anticipation for the new life that will appear in his family.

When drying the white clay boards, he found that the dried clay boards seemed to be able to be used as a special kind of canvas.

Therefore, during the days he stayed at home, he baked many clean and flat white clay boards for painting, which temporarily solved the problem of lack of drawing paper.

In the past, the main subjects of Chen Zhou's paintings were mostly landscapes, architecture, or some still life sketches.

This time he changed his usual painting content and began to carefully sketch the appearance of his family members and the animals on the island.

Lai Fu standing on a high place overlooking the forest;
In the morning, the goat couple just stepped out of the cave, casting shadows on the slope;

At the edge of the gravel slope woodland, a chinchilla nibbles on the tips of the grass;
Lazily lying at the kitchen door, drying the grapes on her belly;
The little chinchilla holds the tender grass in its front paws and puts it into its mouth bit by bit;

On the platform, Little Gray was stretching lazily, with a sturdy figure...

These paintings, made with charcoal sticks and pink-purple pigment, are placed between the bedroom and the kitchen, where a low wall about half a meter high has just been built.

The hard white clay tablets leaning against the wall look like a row of unique wall tiles.

While painting to relax himself, Chen Zhou also did not forget his work.

From August 8 to August 11, what bothered him most was how to design the improved flintlock rifle.

The designers of modern firearms are all veteran experts who have studied battlefield needs, touched and fired guns, and even experienced actual combat tests. They take into account every component and every detail they outline for the firearms.

From the basic modules such as the barrel, magazine, and bullet ejection port, to loading the gas tube and loading the bullets into the bolt handle.

Then there is the handguard used to stabilize the barrel and prevent burning, as well as the rails and rail slots installed on the handguard.

As well as ergonomic requirements, the space required for five fingers when holding, and the comfort of the grip.

Whether it is firearms materials, metals, wood, or synthetic plastics, there are countless details to explore and countless structures to optimize.

For someone like Chen Zhou, who has only used a matchlock gun and whose knowledge of modern firearms is limited to some publicly available old-fashioned firearms designs, using existing materials to manufacture a qualified semi-automatic firearm is indeed a big challenge.

In order to complete this gun, he thought hard and drew out all the gun drawings he had mastered in his spare time during college.

Of course, since so much time had passed, he could no longer remember the specific shapes of many of the gun components. He could only draw based on vague impressions and optimize them after considering their rationality.

During this process, he often played with the revolver he took out of the safe, and repeatedly looked through the documents in the safe, trying to find ready-made gun design drawings.

But ideals are full and reality is skinny.

Apart from the hieroglyphic Russian and Arabic numerals, nothing could be found in the document.

...I have been busy and busy for a long time, and before I knew it, it is August 8th.

That morning, Chen Zhou stopped building the interior walls, polishing the plastic, and making gun parts, and kept an eye on Tizi's movements.

Since August 8, Tizi has not gone out again.

Chen Zhou prepared an "oversized wooden litter box" for it so that it can solve its excretion problem without leaving the house.

Grape's belly swelled to a certain size that was visibly visible to the naked eye. Its appetite decreased significantly and it even stopped wanting to eat freshly cooked rabbit meat.

On the 19th, in order to prepare a "confinement meal" for Tuzi, Chen Zhou rushed to the forest in the rain, shot a few birds with a slingshot, plucked their feathers, roasted them and fed them to Tuzi.

It can be seen that Tizi is very interested in bird meat, but he really has no appetite. Under Chen Zhou's strong recommendation, he finally only ate a few small bird hearts.

As for the bird meat, it all went to Lai Fu and Xiao Huihui.

Since August 8, Chen Zhou has been stroking Grape's round belly from time to time, carefully feeling how many little lives are there in its belly and whether they are healthy.

On the morning of August 8, when Chen Zhou placed his hand on Tizi's belly, he could already clearly feel the kittens moving very forcefully inside their mother's belly.

Chen Zhou has some experience in raising cats, but cats in rural areas are very independent and usually do not need care from their owners for a period of time before giving birth. They basically find nests and give birth on their own. Only after the kittens open their eyes and are able to move around will the owner take them out.

This was the first time he had experienced taking care of a baby from pregnancy to birth.

In fact, he felt that Grape was about to give birth two days ago.

Because at that time, Tizi's abdomen had already shown signs of sagging, and her nipples were becoming more and more swollen, and if you pinched them with your hands, milk would flow out.

But at that time, Tizi still had a certain degree of athletic ability and desire, and was not particularly resistant to eating. Only after careful observation did Chen Zhou dare to confirm - it was not the right time yet.

I waited anxiously for another two days.

On August 8, Chen Zhou could feel that Tizi really couldn't hold it in any longer.

It didn't eat in the morning and kept circling around the bed, as if it was going to jump onto the bed.

Chen Zhou observed that Tizi was becoming a little anxious, so he put down all the work at hand and concentrated on taking care of it.

In the past, no matter how bad Grape's mood was, I could calm it down by picking it up and placing it on a soft place to comfort it. After a while, I would hear it purring.

But this time, all of Chen Zhou's methods were ineffective.

Tizi's breathing became more and more rapid, and he looked very tired, but he refused to lie down in the bed or the cat's nest.

It kept walking between the bedroom and the kitchen, and would go to the kitchen water bowl and stick out its tongue to drink a lot of water.

During this process, Chen Zhou always followed behind it.

After Tizi had drunk enough water, she returned to the bed, lay next to the wooden box in the delivery room, and licked her vagina.

This process lasted for about another hour. Chen Zhou noticed that a sticky yellow-brown liquid was flowing out of Ti Zi's vulva. At the same time, her abdomen began to rise and fall significantly, which should be uterine contractions.

Knowing that Tizi was about to give birth, he quickly took out some soft and clean cloth, ready to act as the "midwife" and wipe the bodies of the newborn kittens in time.

The contractions lasted for more than ten minutes, and it was obvious that Tizi was becoming more and more tired, as if she was a little exhausted.

At this time, it is best to have a glucose bottle to replenish energy.

In the past, when there was no glucose, brown sugar water could also help replenish physical strength.

There was no brown sugar in the cave, but there was still a lot of white sugar. Chen Zhou could only light a bonfire and boil a can of hot sugar water in a can, ready to feed it to the grapes after it cooled down a little.

Around nine or ten in the morning on the 20th, Grape finally began to give birth.

The kitten was wrapped in the afterbirth, moving slowly and arduously out of the baby's vulva - it was pushed out by the constantly contracting uterus.

What made Chen Zhou happy was that the kitten was in a very correct fetal position, with its head being delivered first from Tizi's belly, and there was no worry about dystocia.

Not long after, the "little Boss" was completely separated from the mother's body, with only an umbilical cord connecting him to her.

At this time, the sugar water also cooled down.

Chen Zhou poured the sugar water into a plate and put it to Tizi's mouth. It could be seen that Tizi did not have much desire to eat, but it still forced itself to lick some of the sugar water. Then it lowered its head, used its head to push the kitten under its belly, and began to lick the kitten's body.

The kitten's afterbirth was soon licked by Grapes, and then Grapes began to lick the kitten's mouth and nose.

Judging from Tizi's behavior before giving birth, it seemed that it was a first-time mother and she didn't have much experience, but after actually giving birth to the kittens, she behaved very maturely.

Squatting aside with a soft cloth in his hand, Chen Zhou really wanted to help, but looking at the responsible Tizi, he had no chance to intervene.

Soon, the little boss's body was licked clean by Grape, and Grape paid special attention to its mouth and nose.

Only by licking its mouth and nose clean can the little guy breathe normally and make loud calls.

Seeing that the kitten was fine and healthy, Chen Zhou, who was even more nervous than Tizi, breathed a sigh of relief and gently placed the kitten next to Tizi's nipple, letting it feed on its own instinct.

While the kitten was feeding, Tizi bit off the umbilical cord, ate the placenta, and then began to lick the kitten's still wet fur.

Newborn kittens are wet all over, have small heads, thin limbs, and tails that look thin and short, like a mouse's tail.

The little boss's paw pads were like pink gummy bears, crystal clear. Its eyes were not open yet, and its ears were small and not standing up. Instead, they drooped diagonally, making it look very ugly.

Its fur is slightly black with some yellow stripes. It looks like it has inherited more genes from Grape and does not look much like Xiao Huihui.

……

After giving birth to the first kitten, Tizi's belly did not shrink significantly, and Chen Zhou felt that she might be pregnant with triplets or even quadruplets.

Later production confirmed his guess.

Grape then gave birth to her second and third kittens at the rate of about one kitten every half an hour.

It was not until the third kitten licked its afterbirth clean, bit off its umbilical cord, ate its placenta, and drank its milk that Tizi's abdomen collapsed.

Chen Zhou, the "old father", also put down the burden in his heart at this time.

He knew that the grape production had been completed smoothly.

However, the entire delivery process of Grape was carried out outside the "delivery room". Chen Zhou was not at ease leaving the weak Grape and the three fragile kittens outside, so he put them into the "delivery room" one by one.

Then he cooked some rabbit meat for Grapes—

Recently, the output of rabbit meat at the edge of the field has been unable to keep up with consumption, and he was forced to expand the scope of his rabbit traps.

Fortunately, the rabbits reproduce fast enough. Even if Chen Zhou wants to kill them all, he cannot suppress their reproduction rate. As long as he walks farther away, it is still not difficult to catch the rabbits.

After giving birth, the abdomen is empty and there is no uterus to press on the stomach and intestines, so the appetite is greatly improved.

Moreover, in the late stage of pregnancy, it almost never had enough to eat. After feeding the kittens and coaxing them to sleep, it sat in front of the wooden box, devouring the cooked rabbit meat that Chen Zhou had carefully torn into pieces.

(End of this chapter)