Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 70: Animal Night Raid

Dinner was fish fillets, most of the snake meat was already eaten.

Wearing new clothes, Lu Ke inexplicably felt cheerful, humming a little tune while cooking.

She hummed a popular song that everyone immediately recognized.

However, she only hummed softly and refused to sing out loud, which made the audience anxiously watching.

Everyone agreed that Lu Ke would sing beautifully because her voice was lovely.

After cooking the fish fillets, she placed them in a ceramic bowl.

"Xu Yi, dinner’s ready," Lu Ke called out from the doorway.

"Coming," Xu Yi responded and then headed back.

"Hmm, are those bees?" Xu Yi noticed as he was heading back, seeing a dozen or so bee-like insects flying by.

If they really were bees, Xu Yi would be delighted.

Honey, that’s a good thing indeed.

It can be used not only for making drinks but also for cooking food.

Having bees was no surprise to Xu Yi.

Because the lychees he picked earlier must have been pollinated by insects.

If there were bees, they probably played a role in pollination.

"Why are you smiling so happily?" Lu Ke couldn’t help asking when she saw Xu Yi return with a gentle smile on his face.

"I think I saw bees," Xu Yi shared his discovery, which was indeed worth sharing.

"Really, if we find bees, does that mean we can get honey?" Lu Ke’s eyes lit up, as she always liked honey water before.

"Yes, if they are indeed bees, there will definitely be honey," Xu Yi nodded and then went to wash his hands and face.

"Honey!" Lu Ke licked her lips, then glanced at the wooden tofu by the water basin.

Honey with wooden tofu must be delicious, right?

Thinking about it, Lu Ke felt that the fish fillets smelled even better.

"What are you thinking about?" Xu Yi gently tapped Lu Ke’s smooth forehead with his finger.

"Honey, if we have honey, we can make a lot of delicious things," Lu Ke said without hiding anything, as she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Xu Yi chuckled, indeed, very few girls can resist sweets.

He picked up the bowl, took a sip of the fish soup, and began enjoying today’s dinner.

After dinner, Lu Ke carried two pieces of timber back.

Lu Ke started sewing a simple bag, having already cut out the fabric.

After bringing the timber back, Xu Yi sawed it into four pieces.

"Xu Yi, what are you planning to do?" Lu Ke asked when she saw Xu Yi was about to undertake a big task, drawing patterns on the timber with charcoal.

"Sawhorse, a wooden sawhorse used by carpenters, also known as a workhorse," Xu Yi explained while continuing his work.

What Xu Yi referred to as a sawhorse is an essential tool for carpenters.

Sawhorse, workhorse, there are different names for it in different places.

He made it with two thicker wooden pieces over three feet long and a thinner piece over four feet long. The two thicker pieces cross perpendicularly at two feet high, then are bound together by the thinner piece, allowing the longer end of the three pieces to rest firmly on the ground, stable on any terrain without wobbling.

When doing carpentry, place two of these workhorses opposite each other, lay the wood needing repair on them, and you can safely chop, plane, or carve the material with no wobbling.

Glancing up at Lu Ke’s surprised expression, Xu Yi smiled and said, "Besides being a hunter, my grandpa was also a self-taught carpenter, so I know a bit about these things."

Saying this, Xu Yi continued processing the wood with the knife in his hand.

The challenging part is chiseling a square hole between the two thick woods, typically done with a carpenter’s chisel. Xu Yi didn’t have a chisel but had a sharp dagger.

Although a bit labor-intensive, it was still doable.

Lu Ke bit her lip, feeling like she was just a bystander compared to Xu Yi.

Then, she quietly resumed sewing the bag.

Unable to do anything else, she focused on what she could still do.

By the end of the night, Xu Yi had completed the two sawhorses, and Lu Ke finally understood what Xu Yi meant by sawhorses.

Even though it was her first time seeing them, she guessed their general use.

With the sawhorse, it became very convenient for Xu Yi to saw things.

"Xu Yi, I’m going to rest first. The bag is hanging here," Lu Ke said, yawning. After all, it was already past 11 o’clock, and she could no longer resist the sleepiness.

"Go ahead, I’ll take a quick bath and come to bed," Xu Yi placed a log on the sawhorse and said to Lu Ke.

Lu Ke nodded and lay down once she went back inside.

"Better to bathe earlier next time, even if the water is warm, it still feels cold," Xu Yi shivered as a breeze hit him.

After bathing, Xu Yi put on his clothes.

The clothes had the fragrance of a young girl, making Xu Yi sniff a bit more.

After bringing some charcoal back indoors, Xu Yi added some firewood to the fire pit and then returned inside to rest.

He didn’t lay down for long before falling into a deep sleep.

"Xu Yi, wake up, an animal broke in last night."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yi immediately opened his eyes and sat up.

"The fish fillets were turned over, and more than half were eaten," Lu Ke said nervously, as she thought the fence would prevent any animal from getting in.

But today, she found fish jerky on the ground, and smoked snake meat had fallen.

"Don’t worry, don’t be afraid," Xu Yi comforted, grabbing a knife and heading out.

On the ground, there were three fish jerky, one of which was half-eaten.

There were tracks on the ground, which Xu Yi recognized at a glance as feline paw prints.

Fortunately, the paw prints were small.

"It should be a wild cat or another small feline, not very dangerous," Xu Yi explained to Lu Ke and then grabbed the hunting bow, tying on the arrow quiver.

"I’ll check around nearby; you must have startled it." Normally, it would carry off any uneaten jerky. Since it didn’t, it must have been frightened.

"Be careful," Lu Ke cautioned, feeling relieved when Xu Yi mentioned it was a small animal.

"With me here, it’ll be fine," Xu Yi assured as he opened the fence gate.

After leaving, he first checked the traps.

One area of thatched grass was missing, indicating the attacking animal fell in there.

Xu Yi noticed nothing inside, but there were marks on the pit wall, meaning the animal fell in but wasn’t caught by the barbs.

There were also scratch marks on the fence in that area, very small marks, suggesting the animal’s claws were small too.