Chapter 49: Being Artistic is Impractical

Chapter 49: Romantic Ideas Are Impractical

Xu Yi did not have much experience in building a shelter.
In his past life, whenever he went camping, he always brought a tent and was fully equipped.
The idea of a vine house was merely a "romantic" notion of Xu Yi's.
Whether it was feasible and how much time it would consume were completely unknown to him, as he lacked any prior experience.
However, since he was already out in the wilderness, it would be a huge pity not to give it a try.
It was only the 8th day, so even if he only challenged himself to 100 days, there were still 92 days left.
Since he had the idea, he might as well put it into action.
If it didn't work out, he could always change plans early on.

"Can we really weave a house out of vines?"
Su Keke thought Xu Yi's idea of a vine house was very interesting and sounded exceptionally wonderful.
Sleeping inside it must feel very special.
"Well, Dad will collect some vines in a moment, and you can weave a small hammock for yourself first."
As for how to build the treehouse, Xu Yi would have to collect the vines first and then slowly plan it out.
If it wasn't feasible, those vines could still be used to weave a vine fence.
In short, wasting materials was out of the question.

Walking over to the campfire, Xu Yi placed the back cover of the tablet directly onto the fire.
"Dad is going to fetch some water to wash his face and brush his teeth."
With that, Xu Yi picked up the wooden bucket.
Speaking of brushing teeth, Xu Yi figured he could start making toothbrushes tonight.

Soon, Xu Yi returned with a bucket of spring water.
Su Keke had already thrown some pebbles into the fire without even needing Xu Yi to ask.
Since the temperature was relatively high, boiling water was still necessary, but the two of them simply washed their faces with cold water first, and then began brushing their teeth with charcoal powder.
After finishing their ablutions, Xu Yi chopped a section of a branch from the tree he had felled the previous night.
The branch was about two fingers wide, and Xu Yi took a section that was a dozen centimeters long.
Then, he split the branch right down the middle.
The texture was quite uniform, making it quite suitable for making a toothbrush.

Xu Yi then began carving the piece of wood with his stone knife. After a dozen minutes of whittling, the shape of a toothbrush emerged.
"Dad, is this making toothbrushes for us?"
Su Keke recognized it at once and blinked her large, curious eyes.
"Yes, tonight Dad will drill some small holes in it, bundle up the coarse animal hair we picked up yesterday, and thread them through to make a toothbrush."

Xu Yi explained to Su Keke, then handed the carved toothbrush handle to her.
Next, Xu Yi used tongs to retrieve the heated stones from the campfire and dropped them into the wooden bucket.
Before long, the water in the bucket was boiling.
Then, he moved the campfire aside and dug the roasted cassava out of the earth pit.
The water was scalding hot, and the cassava was even hotter.
Taking advantage of this moment, Xu Yi began carving the second toothbrush.

"Dad, the boiled water isn't hot anymore."
Su Keke scooped a bowl of water and handed it to Xu Yi.
Because it had settled for seven or eight minutes, a bit of plant ash had settled to the bottom.
Xu Yi took the water and took a sip.
"Mmm, very sweet."
It had the feeling of drinking mountain spring water, leaving Xu Yi quite satisfied.

The temperature of the cassava had also dropped enough, so the two of them began eating breakfast.
Once he was full, Xu Yi picked up his machete and went to collect vines.
He first gathered the vines around the campsite, and within half an hour, Xu Yi had collected several bundles.
Since there were plenty of vines available, Xu Yi specifically chose the thinner ones, about the thickness of a thumb or less.
Upon returning, Xu Yi helped tidy up a few vines, tied their ends tightly, and left hanging loops at the ends.
After that, the remaining weaving work was left to Su Keke herself.
Xu Yi instructed Su Keke to weave it like a fishing net, saying that a hammock woven that way would be much more comfortable to sleep in.

After finishing that, Xu Yi looked at his reddened hands.
All of this was caused by pulling the vines off the trees with force.
Taking a sip of cooled boiled water, Xu Yi wiped the sweat from his face.
"Originally, I wanted to weave a vine house, but I found that pulling the vines down takes way too much effort."
"Besides, weaving a vine house large enough to accommodate both Keke and me would require far too many vines."
"Spending time collecting and weaving a vine house would take much longer than just cutting down trees to build a wooden cabin."
"Just now, when I was collecting vines, I noticed there are quite a few small saplings on the opposite riverbank, which are much more suitable for building a small log cabin. So, I've given up on the idea of weaving a vine house."

With that, Xu Yi walked about fifty or sixty meters downstream from where he usually fetched water.
At the spot where the small stream converged with the main river, small saplings grew thickly along both banks of the creek.
"I plan to cut down this tree so that it falls across the riverbank, and then I can use it as a bridge to travel back and forth across the river."
Saying this, Xu Yi picked up his machete and began hacking at his chosen tree.
This tree was thicker than Su Keke's waist, so cutting it down was quite laborious.

Before he had been chopping for long, blisters formed on Xu Yi's hands.
Without work gloves, that was simply what happened to your hands.
Today was already the eighth day, and calluses had already begun to form on Xu Yi's hands.
Therefore, even after the blisters formed, he chose to keep on chopping.
Although the stone knife was quite sharp, it still took Xu Yi twenty minutes or so to bring the tree crashing down.

The sound of the tree falling was quite loud, and the top end even broke off upon impact.
However, a single-log bridge had appeared across the river just as Xu Yi had envisioned.
Xu Yi stepped on it with one foot to test it out.
It was very stable.
Thus, he walked right up and headed across to the opposite bank.

Over the river, Xu Yi cleared away the branches that were blocking the way.
Very soon, he reached the opposite bank.
In the small stream, the water was crystal clear, and quite a few swimming fish, smaller than a finger, could be seen.
At the sight of this, Xu Yi immediately thought of weaving a small fish trap to catch these little fish.
Turning the cassava into flour, coating these little fish in it, and frying them in hot oil would definitely make anyone's mouth water.

"Huh? There are even stream snails here?"
Seeing the small black snails, Xu Yi's eyes lit up involuntarily.
These stream snails tasted exceptionally good; Xu Yi had eaten them in Su Keke's village and had even gone gathering them with the local children.
During his time volunteering as a teacher in the village, Xu Yi had learned quite a few skills from the village kids.
After boiling these stream snails in water, the broth would turn green. This broth was excellent for clearing heat, resolving toxins, and reducing internal heat in the liver.
"As soon as I finish building the house, I'll come back and gather these stream snails."
Xu Yi muttered to the follow-cam ball, then prepared to chop down the small saplings along the creek bank.

Right at that moment, Xu Yi suddenly saw a large number of bees flying past right in front of him.
"There's a beehive?"
Xu Yi's eyes lit up, not expecting to find bees living here.
"I hope it's not too far. I'll follow them and take a look; if I can find some honey, Keke will definitely be thrilled."

Special thanks to book friends: Lan Jia, Leader Ou, Because There Is Only One We Must Hold the Line, Sleepy in Autumn and Tired in Winter Just Right for Sleeping, for their generous tips to this book!
(End of Chapter)