“Okay. I’ll listen to you. Come and have a look at our home,” Jasper Milton said with a smile.
Hearing the word “home”, Stella Grace paused for a moment.
She had been eager to have a home, so when she heard that they were going to have a home, warmth surged in her heart.
Jasper took her hand and pulled her.
Stella saw their house.
Jasper had blocked the three sides with bamboo. The roof was also covered with bamboo, and the entrance was facing the sea. The bamboo ladder was placed at the very edge, and he had moved the stones to the bottom of the house. This way, even if it rained, they wouldn’t get drenched.
“I’ll use bamboo to make two doors later. When we are sleeping, we’ll be isolated from our surroundings.” Jasper said thoughtfully.
“Let me do it. You should rest for the day.” Stella insisted.
He was reluctant to let her do the heavy work. “Why don’t we use the wooden board to replace the door today, and I’ll do the actual door tomorrow.”
“I’m not going to let you do it tomorrow. You’re going to do it when your blisters recover.” Stella corrected him.
“Fine.” Jasper nodded. “I think there will be more mosquitoes next month, but it doesn’t matter. We could definitely finish building the small house in a month.” Jasper had entered into a wife-loving maniac mode.
Stella frowned slightly.
Yes, a month later, there should be more mosquitoes.
However, at that time, she would be gone from this world. Jasper had to continue living, so she had to do more work now.
“Let’s go to the beach. It’s time to have dinner. After that, you could go there and see if there are any fish in the net,” Stella said.
“Well, okay.” They went back to the beach, finished their dinner, and ate all the pork and bamboo shoots in the pot. Jasper went to the sea after that.
She dried the remaining fish in the sun to ensure that Jasper could continue to eat for a long time. In that case, even if no one passed by here, Jasper could still make a firm raft to leave.
She sat down and made a bag with a large fiber. She was very fast and it took her ten minutes to make one.
Jasper emerged from the sea but he seemed to be limping. Stella was so worried that she ran over. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Jasper smiled and said, “How could I get hurt? There are too many fish, shrimp, and crab, so it took me some time.”
Stella looked at the fishing net in the water and saw a lot of fish.
Jasper handed the net to Stella. “Hold the opening tightly.”
Stella clenched the opening tightly. Jasper picked up the stone, and Stella saw a lot of fish jumping violently in it.
“Do you think it’s around 50 kg?” Stella asked in surprise.
Jasper nodded. “Almost. I guess you’ll be busy today. I’ll help you kill the fish later since it won’t take much effort.”
“No, there’s lots of bacteria in seafood. Some parts of your skin is broken. There was once a scientist who was handling fish, his wounds got infected and he died. I’ll take care of the fish. We still have half of the ribs. You can continue to stew the ribs and bamboo shoots so we can eat them tomorrow.” Stella said firmly.
Jasper said helplessly, “I have been eating bamboo shoots stewed with ribs for the whole day. No matter how delicious it is, I’m getting a little bored of it. I’ll bring you along to get some wild vegetables tomorrow.”
“In that case, let’s spread out all the pork legs under the sun. Once you cut off all the fat on the pork and boil the oil, I will eat the rest of the ribs, the spine, the refined pork, and salt it. It won’t be bad even if you eat it for the coming ten days.”
Jasper nodded. “Well, I’ll boil the oil.”
Stella finally felt at ease.
After cutting for a whole day, the kitchen knife had become a little blunt.
Stella brushed a handful of fine sand and put it on the stone. She sharpened the edge of the knife and killed the fish.
This fish belonged to a school obviously, but she didn’t know what kind of fish it was. They were all about the same size. One of them was about eight or nine kilograms. Some of them were big and some were small, and a dozen of them were of a different species.
In order to speed the process up, Stella removed the head and the fish’s organs. She only kept the meat and its vesicles.
Fish vesicles were good stuff. After drying them, they would become the most natural type of gel. They could improve one’s complexion and invigorate one’s body. They were especially good for women.
An hour later, she had already cleaned up all the fish and brought a bucket to Jasper.
He managed to boil the oil in half an hour and was helping to make the ropes. Seeing that Stella was frowning, he explained, “I used my fingers to make the ropes, not my palms.”
Stella sighed and sat next to him to pierce the fish. “It’s getting dark. What are we going to do with these fish? Will it be eaten by wild animals when we wake up? We’d better move more stones and hide them under.”
“That’s not necessary. Some of the bamboos on our roof are long and some of them short. I deliberately left them here to hang things.” Jasper explained.
Stella lowered her head and smiled.
Jasper was so attentive, he had thought of everything.
“Then I’ll make some frames with ropes or bamboo, so that I could put some ingredients on them.” Stella said.
“Don’t worry. There will be plenty of time in the future. By the way, isn’t the small bag that you knitted a little too thin? What are you using it for?” Jasper picked up the small bag that she had made on the ground and asked in confusion.
Stella blushed and grabbed the small bag from Jasper’s hand. She continued to put it on the big leaf and glanced at Jasper. He was still waiting for her explanation.
“It’s… almost that time of the month. I’ve thought about it. It doesn’t have to be too thick. I have put smooth and fine leaves under them, so that they won’t leak. There will be charcoal ash in the middle, which can absorb water. If it’s dirty, I will throw it away.” Stella explained.
Jasper understood immediately. He cleared her throat and said, “Don’t go down to the sea today. The sea is cold. I wouldn’t mind even if you’re a little dirty.”
“I feel uncomfortable if I don’t take a bath,” Stella whispered.
“Then I will boil the sea water, and you can take a bath with the bamboo spoon…” Jasper paused for a moment. “I should build a bamboo house on the beach so that you can hide in it and take a bath. The sea breeze is too cold.”
“I’m not such a weakling. This is not something urgent. My period hasn’t come yet. You can build it when your hands recover.”
“Then you should go to our house to wash up first. I will use the umbrella to cover the side facing the sea. It should be able to withstand a lot of wind.” Jasper said.
Stella felt that he was more concerned about her than she was of herself. She smiled and said, “This is a good idea. I suddenly realised that our house is a two-story maisonette.
Jasper was amused by her observation. “I’ll go and pick more leaves and dig out some charcoal ashes later. I’ll make a few more tonight for contingency. You should teach me how to make the small bag later. I’ll make some for you.”
Stella blushed.
She really felt uncomfortable to ask Jasper, a dignified general, to help her prepare women’s supplies…
“There’s no need for that,” Stella refused.
“If you say that again, I will be angry.” Jasper said in a low voice and looked at her deeply.
Stella lowered her head. She did not refuse anymore.