From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 80 Back to the Cave
After taking care of the emotions of the pets at home, Chen Zhou carefully checked the internal structure of the wooden house, especially whether the shelves on the wooden beams were loose.

The results are pleasing.

It may be because the earthquake was too small, or it may be because the wooden house has strong earthquake resistance and it was just built a few days ago, so the materials are still relatively solid. After inspection, except for some moss that had stuffed into the gaps in the ceiling and had fallen off, basically no other problems were found.

After finishing the inspection inside the house, Chen Zhou went outside and checked the supporting pillars under the floor.

Several of the supporting columns were slightly shaky from the earthquake and would have come loose if they had not been held in place by nails driven through the floor.

Chen Zhou stuffed some small stones into the soil under the pillars for reinforcement, and then covered them with a layer of soil to compact them, thus stabilizing the situation.

In fact, there are many supporting pillars under the floor, and just a few loose ones will not cause much harm to the wooden house.

But the wooden house is newly built after all. Just like newly bought clothes and shoes, if a mud spot falls off, it will make people feel distressed and they have to quickly take out alcohol wipes to wipe it. If it is an old house of ten or eight years, Chen Zhou will not care.

After maintaining the wooden house, he put on a leather raincoat to prevent the heavy rain after the earthquake. With the restless Lai Fu, he went to the cave and checked if the crops in the fields were damaged by the earthquake.

……

The density of fallen leaves in the forest increased several times after the earthquake. Many birds and animals were still in fear. Chen Zhou even saw a few wild rabbits squatting at the entrance of the cave with their ears drooping on their backs, as if they were frightened.

But when he picked up the axe and walked forward, ready to take down the rabbit by surprise, the rabbit suddenly came to its senses and ran away.

Thanks to Lai Fu's company, it took advantage of the opportunity created by the earthquake, kept its eyes on a fat rabbit and chased it, eventually successfully biting the rabbit's neck and capturing it.

After taking the prey that Fu brought back, Chen Zhou praised it highly and was very happy holding the rabbit weighing about six pounds.

Although I have been saying that I am tired of eating rabbit meat these days, but then again, fresh meat, even if it is a little tough, is still better than dried meat stewed in soup, isn’t it?

The only pity is that there are fewer seasonings now, and the amount of salt is running low, so we can’t use it indiscriminately.

Otherwise, chop the rabbit into small pieces, add chopped onion, ginger and garlic, beat two eggs, add some starch, knead it into balls and fry it in a pan. It will taste absolutely delicious.

Missing the rabbit meatballs, Chen Zhou thought of another animal that Robinson Crusoe ate in his life in the book - pigeons.

According to the book, there were countless wild pigeons living in a natural cave on the island, and Robinson often went there to take pigeon eggs to eat.

During this dry season exploration, he wanted to find the pigeon cave. It would be great if he could bring back a few little pigeons and build a few nests for them next to the cave so that they could reproduce next to their home.

Pigeons are not as diligent in laying eggs as chickens, but he is only one person. If he raises more pigeons, he can still eat a few pigeon eggs every three to five days. Whether fried or boiled, pigeon eggs taste good.

Of course, it would be even better if we could catch and tame a few large birds similar to wild geese.

Chen Zhou heard from an elder Mongolian man in his hometown that if you catch wild geese and take them home and raise them well, they will lay more and more eggs over the years.

If a dozen eggs are laid in the first year, more than twenty eggs will be laid in the second year. By the fourth or fifth year, sixty or seventy eggs will be laid a year.

Moreover, wild geese have a long lifespan. A wild goose can be raised for thirty years. When it is young and strong, it can lay eggs for at least eight or nine years. Four or five female geese can provide eggs for a whole year.

Compared with pigeon eggs, wild goose eggs are much larger. If you can’t eat them, you can pickle them with salt and keep them as a side dish with rice. They are very cost-effective.

After the wild geese are domesticated, raising them is similar to that of geese. They are usually released in the river, where they will eat grass and catch fish on their own. If there is food, you can feed them some, and they will not starve to death without food.

All that needs to be paid attention to is to build a fixed residence for them and give them a place to lay eggs, so that they don't lay eggs in the weeds and cannot be found.

Another thing is to clip their feathers frequently, otherwise they might be abducted by wild geese and fly away with the flock, never to return. However, the more poultry and livestock you raise, the more time you need to spend. Chen Zhou doubts whether he can afford so much work in the future.

The orchard, sheep, pigeons, wild geese, fish ponds, crops, animals raised at home, and even flowers, plants, pets such as parrots and ornamental fish, can indeed make his life extremely fulfilling, but they can also make him busy and exhausted.

……

The plan to go to the river valley plain during this dry season has been finalized. In addition to collecting necessary crops to bring back for planting, he also wants to see if there are any wild seasonings.

For example, the wild leek, mountain pepper, and wild onion that are common in the north, although the taste of these natural crops is relatively spicy, it is better than nothing. He is really fed up with the bland diet of the bird in his mouth.

However, this place is far away from the Eurasian continent, and the animal and plant systems are similar to those in South America, which is very different from the Bashang grassland. The hope of finding the natural seasoning he knows is probably quite slim.

……

Carrying the dead rabbit, Chen Zhou soon arrived at the field.

The ridges and ditches in the fields were all changed by the earthquake. The high places were not high and the low places were not low. It was a mess and returned to a nearly flat state.

The crops rooted in the soil did not fall to the ground with the furrows and ridges, their stems and leaves were still straight and they looked very healthy.

The few rice and wheat plants that Robinson Crusoe casually threw in the corner were not damaged by the earthquake. It was also within his expectation that Chen Zhou's carefully cared-for "treasure eggs" were located in open land and would all survive the earthquake.

However, the fact that there is nothing wrong with the fields does not mean that everything is normal near the cave.

The wooden piles he hastily drove around the platform before the earthquake were of poor quality. Most of them fell to the ground due to the impact of the large pile of soil on the platform, and a small part of them collapsed directly and were buried in the soil.

In other words, the platform is not right next to the field, otherwise several crops at the end of the field would have been damaged.

Looking closer at the collapsed edge of the platform, Chen Zhou felt that if he wanted to stabilize it completely, he still had to use the old plan and build a wall.

But he couldn't spare the time to complete the task in a short period of time.

The importance of the platform is undoubtedly ranked last among all the to-do items. Everything must be prioritized and time should not be wasted here.

Seeing a wooden stake buried in the sand poking out, Chen Zhou tried to pull it out for recycling, but failed. He then carried the rabbit upstairs and left the stake to rot in the soil.

When he arrived at the entrance of the cave, the scene before him made him completely relieved.

There were large pieces of sand and small stones scattered on the ground outside the cave. The outside of the bedroom wall was dyed a yellow earth color, but the wall itself did not fall off, crack or collapse. The wall made of various colored rocks was exactly the same as when he left.

Moreover, the white mud lines filling the cracks in the rocks remain continuous and uninterrupted.

The strength of the wall made of rocks and white mud is definitely not as good as the cement load-bearing columns. Since the outer wall is intact, the load-bearing columns inside the cave must be fine as well.

Going around the outer wall of the bedroom that was like the "Maginot Line", Chen Zhou peered inside from the gap in the storage room, fearing that rocks might fall from the cave ceiling and hit him on the head, and carefully observed the inside of the cave.

　I said I would update chapter 25, but as of today, there hasn’t been any more chapters than chapter 27. Now I owe a debt of 6000 words. Everyone please remember to ask for repayment. I will pay it back slowly.

　　感谢：仰天长啸兮气白虹、星辉映剑影、书友尾号5678、门前有条大马路、吸猫症晚期、火鬼、所当者破所击者服、Mr_七月、珞珈山刘某人、这名字呵呵呵、书友尾号9704、须臾不可或缺、余烬大人、读者尾号7564、撞钟的和尚、书友尾号8899、淡然处事的账房先生、永爱九织、月明天曦、想吃紫柚还是蟠桃、书友尾号3734、嘿嘿哼哼哈哈乎乎、胖子罗格本尊、书友尾号9122、吸猫症晚期、晔、读者尾号7564、十天乌鸦、真滴是菜呦、毒奶粉玩家、三三等酒、隐形电饭锅、书友尾号3476的月票，感谢各位支持！

　　
　
(End of this chapter)