From Robinson Crusoe

The unexpected encounter with the snake dissuaded Chen Zhou from continuing to explore the grassland.

Holding the oil lamp, he saw that the half of the snake body that fell to the ground was still twisting. He turned the hand axe and hit it several more times with the hammer face.

Only after he had flattened and smashed the snake's head and neck did he take Lai Fu away from the vines.

When he was setting up his resting place and preparing to camp that night, he carefully checked the surroundings, mowing the weeds and chopping down the low bushes, fearing that there might be snakes hiding in dark corners that might sneak up and attack him while he was sleeping.

……

In the early morning of August 8, Chen Zhou was awakened by the sound of flowing river.

It was still dark at that time, and the campsite near the river was extremely humid. The outer layer of the sleeping bag felt damp to the touch, as if it had just been shaken dry.

He drowsily lifted up half of the down jacket covering his body, squinted his eyes and sat up. Seeing Lai Fu lying obediently by the campfire, he felt a little relieved.

"Standing guard all night again?"

As he asked, Chen Zhou got out of the sleeping bag.

He always sleeps with clothes on for fear of being attacked by snakes.

Being in this desolate wilderness is completely different from the feeling of resting in a cave. There is no sense of security at all.

Having lived in the cave for more than a year, he had developed feelings for the shelter that he had dug, built and improved with his own hands. He left suddenly and inexplicably felt a sense of longing.

But a short separation is for a better reunion.

I am looking forward to finding the cocoa trees and citron trees mentioned in the book as soon as possible, and by the way, to see if there is cassava here.

Chen Zhou packed up his sleeping bag, took out some food, lit a campfire, and prepared to have breakfast before taking action again when it got brighter.

……

Lai Fu sleeps in all kinds of strange postures at home. Sometimes he even leans against the wall with his belly exposed and sleeps soundly with his four legs facing the sky, just like a modern domestic pet dog.

Once outside, it immediately regained its guard dog or hunting dog instincts, always lying straight on the ground to rest.

In this way, when encountering an emergency, it can get up as quickly as possible, give an alarm or launch an attack.

The reason why Chen Zhou likes to go out with Lai Fu is not only because he is too lonely alone, but also because Lai Fu is dedicated to his duties and can provide protection when he is resting.

Lai Fu stayed by the sleeping bag all night and hardly slept.

When Chen Zhou was cooking, it realized that its owner had woken up and finally let down its guard. It came to the backpack, closed its eyes and went back to sleep peacefully.

……

After breakfast, the night finally slowly melted into the white light in the east.

A few stars were scattered in the dim sky. Chen Zhou packed up his parasol, extinguished the campfire, woke up Lai Fu, and went along the clear river bank into the depths of the unexplored plain.

The island is most comfortable during the dry season when the sun has not yet risen.

The breeze from the river blows on my face, bringing with it the coolness of the morning dew, which reduces the summer heat and makes people feel less hot.

In order to make it easier to find cassava, Chen Zhou brought a shovel head. After arriving at the plain, he only needed to select a wooden stick of suitable thickness, and after a little processing, he could install it on the shovel head and dig the soil.

However, although the tools have been improved, he has never seen cassava and has no idea what it looks like, so his search efficiency is still very low.

This plain was certainly not as vast as the prairie in his hometown, but it was still too big for him personally.

He dug here and there like a headless fly, and did dig out a lot of various insects, but he didn't find any plants with particularly thick rhizomes.

……

By noon, the sun was high in the sky and the scorching sun was pouring down, making both the man and the dog exhausted.

After a rough calculation, Chen Zhou felt that almost all the plants growing on the plains had been dug up by him.

I have been busy since the sun first came out until now. Not to mention anything else, I have dug at least seventy or eighty holes, but there is not even a shadow of cassava.

Logically speaking, a plant with strong adaptability, fast reproduction speed and large plant size should not be so difficult to find.

If it can't be found, it means there may be no cassava at all in the river valley plain.

If you think about it carefully, in the original book, Robinson lived on the island for nearly thirty years, built a house on the river valley plain, and lived there for a long time.

If there really was cassava in the river valley plains, Robinson would have been able to find it after having lived there for so many years.

This kind of thing only requires time and effort, and does not require much technical skills. Chen Zhou doesn't think he can be more detailed than Robinson.

Therefore, after searching and digging for a whole morning without any results, he decisively gave up his original plan of searching for a whole day and prepared to go straight to the Fruit Tree Valley after lunch to look for cocoa trees first.

……

We put up our parasols, had a quick lunch, and avoided the hottest time of the day.

Chen Zhou found that this year's dry season was much hotter than last year.

Last August, he was dressed similarly and although he felt hot, he could bear it. But this year, he couldn't stand it no matter what.

Not to mention him, even Lai Fu was so hot that he jumped into the river and soaked in the water to cool himself down.

Sitting by the lit campfire during lunch, the feeling of being so dry that I was sweating profusely was particularly intense.

Worried about heatstroke, Chen Zhou went to the river to wash his hair several times before he felt better.

……

Finally, when the sun was setting, Chen Zhou, carrying Lai Fu, followed the river and headed straight into the depths of the plain.

The entire river valley plain is surrounded by mountains. The river originates from the mountains and flows straight along the river channel. At the end of the grassland, it enters the mountains.

The mountain here is not as high as the mountain where the cave is dug, and the mountain is not as steep. It extends upward gently like a big mound of earth.

In the woods near the foot of the mountain, you can see an orange tree every few steps.

In addition, there are even more lemon trees and citron trees with yellow fruits, some of which even form fruit forests with dozens or even dozens of trees gathered together.

There are a lot of birds here, and the ground is covered with ripe fallen fruits, giving off a smell of rot and fermentation.

The abundance of food makes fruit-eating birds picky and only eat the freshest fruits on the trees, and they simply ignore the fruits on the ground.

After walking a few steps, Chen Zhou saw many birds with colorful feathers clinging to branches and pecking at fruits.

These guys don't know how to appreciate what they have, just like the Monkey King in the Peach Garden, who never eats all the fruits. On the tree next to Chen Zhou alone, there are many fruits with holes bitten from them.

……

The shade of the trees blocked the sunlight. After entering here, Lai Fu became energetic again. He stared with his eyes wide open, looking around curiously, and observing the birds flying high in the sky.

Among them was a light green parrot, which was the bravest. When it saw the two uninvited guests, it did not hide but stood stupidly on the tree branch. When Chen Zhou approached and tried to grab it, it spread its wings and flew away, making an exceptionally clear cry.

Compared with the coastal areas, this place is simply a paradise. Surrounded by mountains, it is not affected by strong winds and rainstorms; the terrain is flat and vast, the soil is fertile, and it is suitable for planting and grazing.

It is close to the water source, and the road to get water is not bumpy, which saves energy; the products are rich, and there are densely packed fruit trees. Not to mention daily use, even picking them is enough to feed the sheep...

If it weren't for the time-consuming and laborious task of transporting the building materials here, and if the cave house had not been built satisfactorily enough, Chen Zhou really wanted to move here to live.

Anyway, he could return to real society without leaving the island. Instead of enjoying the scenery near the coast and guarding against attacks from the natives or contemporary pirates, it would be better to retreat deep into the island and return directly after the challenge is over.

Of course, that's under the condition of being law-abiding.

He was also thinking about taming a few natives to help him with his work, and even had his eyes on the Spanish pillaging ship.

It is impossible for Chen Zhou to be a coward and hide in this paradise where he is unable to understand the situation in the outside world. That would not only be a form of escape, but would also increase unknown risks.

However, if I have time in the future, I can follow Robinson Crusoe and build a spacious and bright wooden house here. If I get tired of staying in the cave, I can come here to stay for two days occasionally.

……

Chen Zhou took out a container prepared in advance from his backpack, picked some ripe citrons, and carefully dug up a few small saplings from the ground. Then he continued to walk deeper into the valley.

When he reached the halfway point of the mountain, he finally saw the cocoa tree he had been longing for.

The cocoa trees were much taller and sturdier than he had imagined. The short ones were about 5 meters tall, while the thick and ancient ones were even more than ten meters tall. They were more than three times taller than the apricot and pear trees in Chen Zhou's hometown, and looked very spectacular.

The trunk of the cocoa tree is dark brown with some white spots on the surface.

Its branches are smooth and the leaves are green. The fruits hang directly on the branches, forming a bunch when viewed from below, which is quite spectacular.

The state of the fruits is not consistent. Some are green, some are reddish-brown, and some are yellow. They are all olive-shaped and of different sizes.

As with most tree fruits, the color of cocoa berries indicates their ripeness.

The green ones are the least mature fruits. When they develop to a certain stage, they will slowly turn into light yellow, then yellow, and then turn into orange-red.

During this process, the cocoa beans inside the cocoa fruit will gradually grow larger and mature until the flesh of the cocoa fruit becomes woody and forms a hard shell. The cocoa beans inside are then fully mature and become seeds that can grow new trees.

At this time, cocoa beans are the raw materials for making chocolate.

However, the modern common solid chocolate manufacturing process is very complicated, requiring the use of cocoa bean roasting machines, and even cocoa bean crushing machines and shelling machines, and finally chocolate refining machines and chocolate tempering machines for further processing.

With Chen Zhou's current technical level, it is completely impossible to achieve.

The methods of making and eating chocolate he knew were far less complicated.

In fact, in the 17th century, this craft had already spread from South America to Europe with the help of the Spaniards, and became one of the must-have drinks for afternoon tea for European aristocrats.

This method of eating processed chocolate is very simple. You only need to shell the roasted cocoa beans, grind them into powder, add spices such as cinnamon, vanilla and sugar, put them into molds and press them into blocks.

The cube is then placed in a metal container and heated. During this process, a stirring tool is used to constantly stir the heated chocolate powder to fully mix it with the spices.

After stirring, pour the hot and sticky chocolate directly into the cup and the sweet and mellow hot drink is ready.

……

Chen Zhou basically had all the tools and raw materials needed to make chocolate using the traditional method, except for a few seasonings. However, he felt that chocolate made with only sugar should taste pretty good.

After all, chocolate is different from coffee and does not require much seasoning and craftsmanship.

Coffee beans are mainly bitter, and have a sour taste. After being made into coffee powder, the taste is not acceptable to most people without adding sugar and other seasonings.

The taste of cocoa beans is mainly fragrant. After all, the main ingredient of chocolate is cocoa butter. It also has a slightly bitter taste, which can be clearly felt when eating chocolate candies. The taste of chocolate is very soft and smooth.

Just like the Dove advertisement - enjoy the silky smoothness.

Therefore, compared to coffee, chocolate is more popular among the public, especially children and women, and has become one of Chen Zhou’s favorite desserts.

……

This time he finally made time to go to the fruit valley. Seeing the densely packed cocoa fruits on the trees, he opened his backpack without saying a word and picked a large number of ripe fruits with hard shells.

In order to fit more cocoa beans, after picking the fruits, he directly used an axe to knock open the hard wooden shell and poured the dark brown cocoa beans inside into his backpack.

The surface of the cocoa beans is still covered with a smooth thin shell. When they are poured into the backpack, the sound is very crisp, just like the taste of chocolate, which makes people feel happy when they think about it.

……

This time, the mission to find cassava was a complete failure, but the search for cocoa beans was surprisingly smooth.

It didn't take long for Chen Zhou to fill most of his backpack with cocoa beans, and then transplanted a few cocoa saplings. Only then did he leave the Fruit Tree Valley with great satisfaction.

He originally planned to stay outside for four days in case he ran out of time and failed to find the target plant.

I didn’t expect everything to be finished so quickly. The work was completed in just two days.

That night he made a fire, cooked, and rested at the edge of the orchard.

In the early morning of August 8, before the sun rose and the temperature was low, he set out early to return to the cave.

……

On the way, Chen Zhou carefully reviewed the process of searching for plants over the past two days to make sure there were no omissions.

The experience of digging a hole in the grass flashed through his mind, and he had completely given up on cassava.

Then, thinking of the full of cocoa beans in his backpack, he couldn't help but dig out the ancient process of making chocolate from the depths of his memory. Following the steps in the video, a cup of steaming sweet drink seemed to emerge in his mind.

But pleasant things are always short-lived.

It is already August, and there are less than four months left until the natives land on the island.

We had been preparing for this for nearly a year.

Now, whenever he has free time, Chen Zhou can't help but think about what kind of unexpected situations he might encounter and how he should deal with them when the natives land on the island.

In his opinion, the fact that Robinson Crusoe got Friday as a helper in the original book cannot be entirely attributed to Robinson Crusoe.

If Friday had not seized the opportunity and escaped decisively when the other natives were not paying attention, Robinson would probably not have interrupted the natives' cannibal feast.

As a plantation owner who claimed to be a "civilized man", Robinson was full of malice towards the natives. If Friday did not express submission after seeing him, or if there were other people on the island with whom he could communicate, Robinson would definitely kill Friday directly.

Chen Zhou really hopes that he can also encounter such a good opportunity, hoping that a native with a strong will to survive will take the initiative to escape to the depths of the island, ask him for help, and submit to him.

But the chances of this happening are too slim.

If captives had escaped from every cannibal feast, another tribe would have formed on the island long ago.

If Robinson hadn't been so lucky, he wouldn't have gotten such a loyal and simple servant like Friday.

Thinking that his luck was far worse than Robinson's, Chen Zhou could only try to make his plan more thorough.

Take the initiative to create more opportunities for yourself while reducing unexpected situations. (End of this chapter)