From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 125: Building a Cave
To be honest, the taste of the big fish doesn't match its size.

Having eaten a lot of freshwater and sea fish, Chen Zhou felt that the meat of this big fish was far less delicate and delicious than that of small fish.

Its meat fibers are coarse and have a strong fishy smell. The belly of the fish is quite fat, and it tastes greasy and not fragrant, and even makes people feel nauseous.

Fishing is more interesting than eating fish.

The joy and sense of accomplishment that Chen Zhou gained from conquering such a huge creature are things that could hardly be given to him by anything else.

It’s a pity that the island is too small, and this size of freshwater fish should be the limit. If you want to catch something bigger, you can only go out to sea and try your luck.

There are also fresh lobsters, giant shellfish, sea cucumbers and crabs, which are not ingredients that can be obtained by just waiting on the shore.

If he was skilled in swimming and could independently build a large boat that was sturdy and safe enough, Chen Zhou might venture out to sea to catch or fish for some rare marine fish.

But now, he dared not even think about such a thing that might cost him his life, for fear that he would act on it in a fit of anger.

……

If you cook and eat alone, you won’t get any praise even if you share the food with your cats or dogs.

Even if you catch such a big fish, you can neither take a photo and post it on your Moments to show off, nor can you brag about it in a fishing bar. The emotional value and sense of identity you can gain from it are minimal.

It was the tedious process of preparing ingredients during cooking, as well as the effort and energy put into cleaning the dishes and wiping the chopping board after meals that stood out, leaving a deep impression on Chen Zhou and making up his mind.

Next time I catch such a big fish, I would rather cut off the meat to make a fish bone model or measure the length and then release it, rather than go through the trouble of cooking it.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s numb or not, the key is that this thing doesn’t taste good.

……

An unprecedentedly big fish made Chen Zhou indulge in his fishing addiction.

But there are not always such highlights in ordinary life, and the routine work must continue.

With a cart available and the ability to make his own cart, Chen Zhou no longer had to worry about the wheels becoming disposable. He could finally transport building materials up the mountain with confidence, lay the ceiling, and build the exterior walls that had been shelved for more than half a year.

After the mountain road is repaired, the cart can give full play to its carrying capacity and can transport more than 200 kilograms of stone or clay to the mountain at one time.

Chen Zhou planned to lay the bedroom ceiling first and then build the stone exterior walls.

At the same time, he is not very satisfied with the current lighting of the cave house, thinking that there are too few windows and they are too small. Once the rainy season comes, the room will be stuffy all day long, which will greatly affect the mood.

It would be better to make a larger window frame with wood, remove the glass from the windows above the bed, and install it on his homemade window frame. This will not only increase the lighting, but the window frame designed by him will also be more in line with modern people's aesthetics.

……

While preparing materials, I used my spare time to build a cave.

On January 1, Chen Zhou went to the beach to collect the mysterious reward.

The mysterious rewards, which have always been extremely valuable, are like stocks. After soaring all the way, they finally slump.

From a container of Damascus steel billets at the 28th reward, to a full set of auto repair tools at the 29th reward, to a box of instant noodles at the 30th reward, the value plummeted.

Finally, the thirty-first mysterious reward brought a perfect end to this ever-declining line.

It was a small tube of toothpaste with a net content of 120g.

A disposable toothbrush that is only a few times thicker than a toothpick was given along with the toothpaste.

The moment he opened the box and saw the toothpaste, Chen Zhou felt that his heart had finally given up.

He estimated that even if he was like a five or six-year-old child and only squeezed out a soybean-sized amount of toothpaste every time he brushed his teeth, this tube of toothpaste would not last long.

If a container of steel billets costs tens of thousands, auto repair tools cost thousands, and instant noodles cost dozens of dollars, then this tube of toothpaste may be worth only a few dollars.

It can be said that in just two months, the mysterious reward has plummeted from Taobao’s “Rich People’s IQ Tax” zone to Bingxixi’s affordable promotion zone.

But for Chen Zhou, there is nothing wrong with this. Instead, it makes him feel more at ease.

Because the previous rewards were too valuable and made him too uneasy.

Especially the fountain pen, which is a luxury item that he can never get in modern times.

He was restless because he received a reward without any merit. As a challenger, he never really expected to get a priceless treasure from the "mysterious reward".

Therefore, when he got these valuable things, in addition to excitement and joy, he also felt a faint sense of resistance deep in his heart.

This sense of resistance does not come from inferiority, but from the feeling of getting something for nothing.

……

Growing up in the countryside, Chen Zhou has always had a simple idea - if you want to get something, you have to work hard for it.

Just like the crops that farmers plant in the fields, if they want a good harvest, they have to sow, irrigate, fertilize, spray pesticides, and harvest. This way they can earn money steadily.

In his opinion, the mysterious reward is a huge fortune that can be obtained out of thin air without paying anything in return.

It always made him feel like a cloud floating in the sky, so light in his hands that it even made him a little panic.

Chen Zhou didn't know whether his efforts were worthy of these praises.

He only knew that on this isolated island, he should survive and live seriously instead of just wasting his time, counting down in his mind, waiting for the end of the challenge and the day when he would be "released from prison".

After all, these are genuine more than 10,000 days, which are enough to transform a person from a child who knows nothing into a qualified carpenter, an excellent painter, an outstanding rattan craftsman, or even a musician or calligrapher.

Instead of wasting these years, it is better to do something practical.

Chen Zhou thought that if those wealthy people in their seventies and eighties were given a chance to take out tens of millions of dollars and extend their lifespan by 28 years in the challenge, a large number of them would be willing to participate in the challenge.

Sometimes he even felt that the material rewards indicated in the challenge or the wealth and treasures loaded on the Spanish looting ship were not the real rewards for successfully challenging the challenge. These 10300 days were the most precious.

……

The cat grew bigger day by day, and the lamb became stronger day by day.

The little chinchilla moved into the new home customized for it by Chen Zhou and no longer had to squat in a dark wooden box all day.

Its "new house" has a bright glass window and is divided into three floors, including a feeding area, a bathing area, a rest area, a play area, and even a green plant.

There are simple wooden fences between each partition, and the green plants are protected in the middle of the wooden grilles to prevent the chinchillas from gnawing on them.

Every corner of the neat "Totoro Villa" has been carefully polished by Chen Zhou. There are no wood splinters and it even feels smooth to the touch. Not to mention the little Totoro, even Grapes is a little envious and wants to get in.

Of course, in order to protect the little chinchilla, Chen Zhou would never give it this opportunity.

The newly built Totoro Villa is placed next to the bed, and the silver-gray little guy matches the newly changed sheets and quilt covers quite well.

The morning sunlight shone in through the large window of the bedroom. When Chen Zhou opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the little guy.

……

After making a work plan, his work efficiency was always high. The bedroom ceiling was laid on January 1. On January 14, he spent a day cleaning the bedroom, clearing out the sand and dirt deposited in the corners, dead insects, and bones and small animal remains that the kittens had brought back from somewhere.

After luxuriously using soap to wash the used bedding, he changed into the four-piece bedding set sent by the system.

During this major cleaning, in addition to cleaning the floor, he also wiped and changed the layout of the furniture, moving some wooden boxes that affected the appearance to the kitchen or storage room, where some space had been expanded these days.

The newly replaced ceiling blocked the falling sand and gravel and also provided a fulcrum for the chandelier.

Chen Zhou selected several of the largest chandeliers that held the most lamp oil and fixed them under the ceiling to provide better lighting for the room.

However, it is much more difficult to light and extinguish an oil lamp than an electric lamp, and a bench has to be brought in every time to assist in the work.

Fortunately, a few days later he demolished the outer wall of the bedroom and replaced it with a new window.

Since then, the indoor brightness has been greatly improved and oil lamps are rarely used.

When reading or studying at night, you can just move a homemade floor lamp to meet your needs.

As long as there is no great demand for lighting, the chandelier can be used as a decoration and hung under the ceiling without being turned on.

……

The completed bedroom is like a model house, providing inspiration and experience for the subsequent construction of the kitchen and storage room.

After realizing that small windows in cave dwellings had a serious impact on lighting, Chen Zhou no longer skimped on wall space.

When building the outer walls of the kitchen and storage room, he prepared enough space for installing windows on both walls and customized two large windows.

The kitchen window is the most exaggerated, it can basically be regarded as a floor-to-ceiling window with bright light.

The windows of the storage room are slightly smaller and located higher up, close to the eaves, giving the storage room a rural warehouse feel, which is exactly the effect Chen Zhou wanted.

……

While building the exterior walls and installing doors and windows, he received his 32nd mysterious reward.

That day was January 1661, 1. It was a rare cloudy day on the island in the dry season, with light rain.

During the journey, we felt the long-lost coolness, and when we got to the beach, there was a gust of sea breeze that made us feel relaxed and happy.

Even Lai Fu was more cheerful than usual. He jumped up and down happily, running around on the beach like a mad pony.

Walking to the beach with a happy mood, taking the box and opening the outer packaging, Chen Zhou's face froze.

Perhaps it was a rebound from the bottom, the price of this reward soared from a few yuan to thousands of yuan, but in terms of practicality, it is not as good as a roll of toilet paper——

This is a lipstick set, which contains two luxurious lipsticks in different colors, whose overall shape is quite similar to that of a butt plug.

Chen Zhou curiously looked at the instructions that came with the gift box and found that one of the colors was called "Fiery Red Brown" and the other was called "Beauty Rose".

He curiously tried the two lipsticks on his tanned forearm, and found that they were just as their names suggest, one was hot and the other was sexy.

Knowledge of cosmetics is limited to a few brands that are frequently advertised on television.

Chen Zhou really didn't know what the brands of these two lipsticks were, whether they were high-end cosmetics or ordinary cosmetics. He could only judge from the packaging of the lipsticks that they were definitely not cheap.

It’s a pity that no matter how expensive these two lipsticks are, they are of no use to him. At most, they can moisturize his lips that are cracked due to dryness.

But the island is humid enough that lips rarely get chapped.

And even if his lips were chapped, he would not apply this stuff on his lips. He would feel disgusted when he saw it when looking in the mirror.

……

Before the first rainy season in 1661, Chen Zhou built the outer walls of the kitchen and storage room and installed the doors, windows and ceilings of the two rooms.

After being enclosed by the outer wall and decorated with the ceiling and floor, the cave finally looks a bit like home.

Even though there are more supplies piled up, the space is a bit small.

As he walked through the space and saw the neatly arranged furniture, wooden shelves, clean dishes and chopsticks, as well as the hand-painted landscapes and homemade pottery, his mood became cheerful.

……

It was already February, and a few days before the frequent rainfall, Chen Zhou raced against time and began to burn ceramic chimneys and square ceramic bricks in large quantities.

He wanted to build the kitchen stove and fire wall as soon as possible.

Nowadays, kitchens have exterior walls, so the convenience of leaving the door open to let in smoke is a thing of the past.

When making a fire indoors, if the firewood is a little damp, thick smoke will soon billow, making people's eyes hurt, frowning and crying, and the ceiling above the stove will even be blackened by the smoke.

If this goes on for a long time, not only will the ceiling become dirty, but the people and cats and dogs in the house will also not be able to stand it.

The construction of a new stove is imminent.

……

Referring to the shapes of the three main cooking utensils at home - frying pan, large iron kettle and large iron can, Chen Zhou customized two stoves for them.

The smaller frying pans and large iron kettles share a double-burner stove, while the largest iron pots have their own stove.

While waiting for the ceramic chimney to be fired, Chen Zhou was not idle. He used the flat-headed shovel and pickaxe that he had cut himself to set up a scaffolding and dug a flue above the kitchen eaves.

This flue is not long and is not difficult to dig. Its diameter is consistent with that of a ceramic chimney.

After the ceramic chimney and bricks were all prepared, he assembled all these essential components.
Because the design was rigorous enough, there were no accidents during the assembly process, and it was even smoother than he expected.

While building the two stoves, he also broke through the partition wall between the kitchen and the bedroom and built a fire wall.

The fire wall is about 1.5m long and 1m high. It is connected to the flue of the large iron pot stove used for boiling water. When boiling water, it can stir up the smoke and heat the fire wall, adding a heat source to the bedroom.

After it was built, Chen Zhou placed a stone slab on the fire wall and placed the box containing the crucible on it.

In order to prevent the crucible from getting damp in the past few months, he had to change the charcoal every few days and put a layer of dry ash in the box, which was very worrying.

When the firewall was completed, his hard days were finally over.

……

After a fire wall was added to the bedroom, Chen Zhou immediately moved his office next to the fire wall and quickly made a clothes rack and placed it in front of the fire wall.

With this wall of fire, he no longer has to worry about washed clothes not drying or even getting moldy and hairy, even during the rainy season, when the humidity is the highest on the island.

Just add more firewood when boiling water, and bake the washed clothes for two or three hours, and you can enjoy dry, warm, and musty-free clothes. It's so comfortable.

Of course, Chen Zhou hopes that there will be a fireplace in the expanded bedroom. It would be a nice thing to warm up by the fire when he has nothing to do.

However, time waits for no one, and a heavy rain soon falls, heralding the official arrival of the rainy season on the island.

(End of this chapter)