Chapter 54: This Soup Is a Little Salty

Page 1 of 3

Chapter 54: The Soup Is a Little Salty

He scraped off the fish scales, slit open the bellies with a file, and removed the gills.

Xu Yi’s movements were still somewhat clumsy, so he worked slowly.

But he had plenty of patience.

He cleaned the fish one by one, occasionally looking up at Su Keke.

There were plenty of stream snails in the creek, so Su Keke did not need to go far. She could gather a small handful from the same spot.

That put Xu Yi even more at ease, and he continued cleaning the little fish in the bucket.

Since the scales had to be removed, the work took quite a while.

After more than an hour, Xu Yi had finally finished cleaning all the fish.

“There are more than thirty crabs, too. Breakfast is going to be quite a feast today.”

The crabs needed to be washed as well, though there was no need to clean all of them.

They could not serve as a meal by themselves. Half of them would be enough to cook.

“Huh? There are two little shrimp as well?”

Xu Yi discovered two shrimp, each about the length of an index finger, at the bottom of the bucket. His smile grew even wider.

“Keke, we should head back and cook breakfast.”

Su Keke was more than a hundred meters away, but she could still hear him.

“Dad, I heard you! I’m coming back now.”

Su Keke called out loudly, then turned and walked downstream along the creek.

She had made quite a haul. Not only had she gathered a basketful of stream snails, but she had also stuffed plenty into her snakeskin backpack.

There were simply too many stream snails here, and she had only picked out the large ones.

After walking for more than ten minutes, Su Keke returned to Xu Yi’s side.

“Dad, there are so many stream snails here! The basket is completely full, and there’s nowhere else to put them.”

Su Keke patted the basket hanging from her body, grinning with delight.

Stream snails did not contain much meat, but they were delicious.

Of course, that was only true when there were enough seasonings.

Without any seasoning at all, they would hardly have any flavor.

Xu Yi had always liked eating stream snails. Whenever he was tired, he would prepare a plate of them and open a bottle of beer.

Slurping stream snails, watching a documentary, and drinking beer—there was no better way to relax.

Unfortunately, he would have to wait until he won the final challenge before he could enjoy days like that again.

After pouring all the stream snails into the bucket, Xu Yi led Su Keke back to camp.

The campfire no longer had much of an open flame, but the embers were still glowing.

Xu Yi added some dry branches, and the flames quickly sprang back to life.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

He poured the stream snails and crabs into the basket Su Keke had woven the previous night, then went to fetch water.

“We still have far too few containers. We’ll have to cut down a large tree and make a few more buckets.”

Xu Yi currently had only one bucket, and it was nowhere near enough. There were simply too many things that needed to be stored.

They did not even have anywhere to keep the water they had boiled.

What Xu Yi really wanted was to find some bamboo. In the wilderness, bamboo was practically a treasure.

It could be used as a container, for boiling water and cooking, and for weaving all kinds of tools.

Finding bamboo would greatly increase their chances of survival.

Unfortunately, Xu Yi was not blessed with such good fortune.

After returning with water, Xu Yi immediately took some river stones from the fire and used them to boil the water.

Once all four wooden bowls had been filled, he put some fish and sixteen crabs into the wooden bucket to cook.

After sixty-five minutes, the fish and crabs were done.

The cassava they had dug up was also cool enough to eat.

“Dad, this fish soup tastes a little salty.”

Su Keke had not tasted salt for eight days, and she was extremely excited.

Xu Yi took a sip as well. It really was somewhat salty.

Before coming to the wilderness, Xu Yi had never understood what it meant for food to be so bland that it tasted like nothing at all.

Now he understood perfectly.

Human beings truly could not live without salt.

On the ninth day, the taste of salt filled both Xu Yi and Su Keke with excitement.

Salt was indeed one of the problems troubling them most at the moment.

Finding salt in the jungle was no easy task.

Unless they discovered a salt deposit or a plant such as salt sumac.

The two of them ate half a cassava each, along with fish soup and crabs.

It was the best meal they had enjoyed since arriving here.

“Dad, these crab shells are so soft. Can I eat them?”

Su Keke chewed on a small river crab and looked eagerly at Xu Yi.

“Yes. Just chew them thoroughly.”

Xu Yi suspected that the salty flavor had come from the crabs.

The shells had a stronger salty taste, which was probably why Su Keke wanted to eat them whole.

“I’m so full. This is wonderful.”

Su Keke rubbed her round little belly, her face glowing with happiness.

“Don’t worry. From now on, we can eat our fill every day.”

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

Xu Yi was growing increasingly confident. After all, it was already the ninth day, and they had yet to encounter any real danger.

They also had a certain amount of food stored up.

The river could provide them with a relatively stable source of protein.

As long as they stayed by the river, they would not go hungry.

And as long as they were not hungry, they would have enough energy to get things done—to make tools and weapons.

With enough weapons, there would be nothing to fear even if they encountered a vicious beast.

After resting for a while, Xu Yi took out the two toothbrush handles he had carved the day before.

Using a stone knife, he shaved a slender piece of charcoal and drew lines across the handles. This would allow him to drill a row of relatively straight holes.

The hand drill proved remarkably effective. Xu Yi easily drilled two rows of small holes into each toothbrush handle.

Because the drill bit was rather large, he could make only two rows.

After drilling holes in both handles, Xu Yi took out the stiff bristles they had collected earlier.

Then he pulled out one of his own hairs.

He had no choice. Without any fine thread, he could only use his hair.

This was delicate work. The bundles of bristles had to be just the right thickness. If they were too thick, they would not fit into the holes; if they were too thin, they would easily fall out.

After all, he had no adhesive.

Xu Yi counted the bristles carefully. Once he had worked out the proper amount for the first bundle, the rest would not differ much.

The holes were nearly identical in size, and the stiff bristles were similar as well.

Because the bristles were so rigid, he quickly determined the right size for the first bundle.

He only needed to make a small bundle and keep inserting hairs one by one until no more would fit. That would tell him the final number.

Once the first bundle was ready, the rest were completed quickly.

Half an hour later, Xu Yi had finished the first toothbrush.

“Keke, come and try our new toothbrush.”

Xu Yi immediately called Su Keke over.

Su Keke set down the basket she had been weaving, took the toothbrush from Xu Yi, and put it in her mouth.

After brushing for a while, she lifted the bowl of water and rinsed her mouth.

“Dad, the toothbrush is so soft. It feels really comfortable.”

Xu Yi took the toothbrush and inspected it. Not a single bristle had fallen out, so he nodded in satisfaction.

“I’ll mark yours so we won’t mix them up.”

As he spoke, Xu Yi picked up a burning branch and used it to scorch several small dots into the handle.

End of Chapter

Page 3 of 3