Jasper Milton decided to skin the boar right by the sea because he was worried that the smell of blood would attract more wild animals.
Stella Grace moved a lot of stones and stacked them together. This could help to block the sea breeze so that they could build a fire. It could also serve as a makeshift stove.
Due to the rain last night, most of the dead trees and leaves were not fully dried.
She took a few and laid them out on the sand to bask in the sun.
Jasper was afraid that she would get sunburnt, so he gave the umbrella to her and made a tool that could be used to make a fire.
In order to start a fire, Stella had to drill two holes in the wood and plug the rope that she had made into it. According to the principle of rotation, as long as Stella kept pulling the rope, the wood would spin quickly.
This method was faster than rubbing her hands together, and it was also energy-saving.
Stella’s luck was not too bad. It only took her more than an hour to start the fire.
She looked at Jasper.
Jasper cut off the head of the wild boar and let the blood drain.
He put all the blood into the pot and poured it into the sea.
He didn’t know how to deal with the head of the wild boar, so he put it in the plastic bag first and prepared to bury it in a place later.
Stella walked towards him.
Jasper cut the wild boar’s belly open. There were a lot of messy organs in it.
“Why don’t we… just eat the meat. Let’s throw away the messy things inside. I don’t eat animal organs,” he said.
Stella glanced at Jasper.
She knew how to prepare this, but without the necessary seasonings and spices, it would stink even if she cooked the organs. She didn’t think she could stomach it.
“Okay,” Stella replied.
Jasper put all the internal organs together with the pig’s head.
“Well, we can use the fat for cooking, so we can probably cook some hot food with it. Do you think there are any wild vegetables around? By the way, keep the boar heart.” Stella said.
Jasper, “…”
Stella realized that she had gone back on her words and felt a little embarrassed. She gave a dry laugh.
It was already 3 o’clock in the afternoon when Jasper finished dealing with the boar.
Stella used the iron skillet to cook some of the lard.
Jasper cut the wild boar’s leg into pieces so that it would be easy to stir-fry.
They had pots, oil, and ready-made salt, but they didn’t have a spatula.
Stella picked up a branch and used it as a makeshift spatula.
It was only an hour later that they finally got to eat.
“Let’s go and get more branches, just in case the branches that we have here can’t dry in time. The sun will go down in around one or two hours. It’d be better if we keep the fire burning all night. Not only would it be our source of light, if there are ships passing by, they would be able to spot us too.” Stella said.
“Right. Let’s call it a day today. We can do more preparations tomorrow.”
Stella nodded.
Jasper wrapped the remaining pork with a plastic bag and put it on their wooden beds.
When they went to the woods to pick up some dead branches, Jasper brought along the plastic bag containing the head of wild boar, skin, and organs.
Darkness descended quite early in the forest, almost all the light were blocked out at by 6. 45 p. m.
They dared not forage too deep into the forest. They walked along the beach for about two kilometres, and came across a bamboo forest.
“Jasper, look, there’s some bamboo. Starting a fire with withered bamboo is much better than using a wood.” Stella said excitedly.
“Let’s go then.” Jasper took her hand and ran.
Stella picked up the dead wood and tied it up with ropes.
Using a piece of bamboo, Jasper dug a hold around 30 centimetres deep and buried the remains of the wild boar inside.
When he returned, he had a thick piece of bamboo in his hands.
Stella dug out six fresh bamboo shoots and returned with a bundle of bamboo slung across her back.
As the sun set, the sky was painted red with its fading light, evoking a particularly beautiful scenery. The sea breeze blew on her face, giving her a sense of comfort.
Stella looked at Jasper’s cold and stern face, and the corners of her mouth lifted up slightly.
If she didn’t have only one month of life left, she would gladly live out the rest of her life on an isolated island together with him.
Jasper looked at Stella and caught her eyes.
Stella lowered her head with a guilty conscience, her eyes shining.
Jasper chuckled. “Are you going to take a bath later?”
“Hmm… There’s such a thing called a seawater bath now. It has a lot of minerals such as sodium, potassium, sulfur, and so on all from the sea, and they could even kill bacteria. Many people take a seawater bath to treat skin problems, lose weight and for beauty purposes. it’s supposed to be very expensive, but we get to experience it for free now,” she joked.
“I’ll try it first to see how deep the sea-floor is. The bath sounds good, but the sea is also very dangerous. There are a lot of people who die in the sea every year.” Jasper said worriedly.
“Yes.”
When they arrived at the place where they were before, Stella spread out the bamboo. Although the sun had already set, the sea breeze could still wick the moisture away, and bamboo was flammable, so it could be used tonight. The catch was that they would probably have to wake up regularly to keep the fire burning throughout the night.
Jasper went into the water first. He took off his coat and pants, revealing his strong figure.
Although they had already done it many times, she was still embarrassed, so she averted her gaze away from him. She then went to get more stones to strengthen their “windshield” wall.
“Stella.” Jasper walked towards her with the net bag in his hand.
Stella saw that there were a lot of crabs, sea urchins, abalone, and sea cucumbers in the net bag.
“This is an undeveloped place, so there are a lot of resources here. I have already accumulated so much in such a short time. Tonight, we can have a midnight snack.” Jasper said with a smile and poured all the things into the pot.
Stella was also surprised.
For a while, she’d always wanted to have a vacation by the beach, and would fantasize about letting the sea breeze caress her face, eating seafood, and separating herself from the world. Now, she was able to realize it, but not in the way she’d originally intended.
“There’s not much fresh water left. Let’s boil the sea water, then. After a little longer, we should be able to eat.” Stella said happily.
“Okay, I’ll cook. You can take a bath first. You shouldn’t go further than 20 meters out. In any case, don’t go too far. It’s dark, and it’s dangerous.” Jasper took another pot to the beach to scoop up some water. Then he took out the sea urchin, sea cucumber, and abalone as ingredients to cook the crabs.
Stella took off her clothes and went swimming. She came back after five minutes. She was completely exhausted. If she swam too much, she would put herself in danger.
Jasper had already sliced the sea urchins open.
It was the first time that Stella had seen this kind of fresh sea urchin. There were five small pieces of something yellow inside.
“This can be eaten raw. Do you want to eat it?” Jasper handed the freshly sliced sea urchin to Stella.
Stella accepted it and sat on the stone next to him and bit off a tiny bit of the yellow stuff. It was sticky and sweet, but she was not used to it. She handed it back to Jasper again.
Jasper ate the whole thing in one gulp.
And the remaining three as well.
Stella saw that he had no strange expression on his face and asked, “Is it delicious?”
“Yes, it’s very sweet,” Jasper replied.
“Then you should eat more.”
Jasper turned to Stella and asked, “Do you know the characteristics of sea urchins?”
“Seafood tends to have lots of minerals like calcium and zinc that can supplement your body.” Stella guessed.
“Sea urchins contain lots of protein, which is a substance that has male hormones in it. It can improve sex drive and improve intelligence, immunity, and reduce hardening of the organs.”
He said a lot more after that, but Stella didn’t hear him clearly. Her mind was hung up on the words ‘improve sex drive’.
She awkwardly cleared her throat, turned around and drank some water.
Jasper smiled, and his tone became ambiguous. “Do you want me to eat more of this?”