It was easy to lose one’s bearings in the forest as there were no landmarks. People with a poor sense of direction would find it hard to even distinguish between the direction of north, south, east, and west.
Fortunately, Jasper Milton was very sharp in directions and he made marks along the trees as they went.
She asked what the marks meant.
He explained to her in detail that the mark indicated direction and angle. In short, it included the direction the person was standing in and the direction of the time on the watch at that moment.
They would discuss the details with the team members before they began their mission. The rules for every mission were different. Even if the enemy found the marks on the tree, they would not know their direction. Only their members would know the meaning of the marks.
For example, he made a 45-degree mark as he glanced at the time on his watch when he was facing south. There would be a slight deviation in the direction, but it would not affect anything.
They set off at 9 a. m. As they were looking for prey on the way, it would take a longer time to get there compared to their way back.
It was only half-past-two in the afternoon when they arrived on the beach.
Jasper threw the wild boar’s head and viscera away, leaving only the meat. Stella Grace then placed it on the weighing scale. It was about 65 kilograms.
He went to the beach to clean up the boar.
She thought of cooking some pasta first and she planned to make creamy pork carnitas pasta later. Jasper barely ate anything earlier, and she forced him to eat a few cookies.
After a while, Jasper came over after he cleaned up the pork. He asked Stella, “How are you going to deal with all this meat? We can’t eat so much at once.”
“I think we won’t have to go hunting for a long time. There’s enough for us to eat until the end of this winter,” Stella said with a smile.
Jasper also raised the corners of his mouth, “If you like, we could stay on this island for a longer period of time. I think that would be nice.”
“Yeah,” Stella agreed. She liked the unfettered life now. She enjoyed her leisure life with no burdens to worry about.
She pointed to the ribs and said, “Let’s eat sticky pork ribs tonight. I’ll also make braised pettitoes. Later I will marinate the pork belly and make sausages with the minced meat. You could also leave this part. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the forest to look for some wild vegetables. I’ll make pork pies for you.”
“We could stay here for a week. You could put the meat in the cold storage and put the rest in the freezer. After that, we could just take out the amount that we want to eat.”
“Yes, but we have to sort it out. Some of the parts have to be marinated and some of them have been sliced. It’s a pity that you had to throw the head away,” Stella pursed her lips and laughed.
Jasper glanced at her and didn’t know why she was laughing.
“I’ll cut it now then. Just keep the amount that’s enough for us to eat for this week,” Jasper said.
“Could you please cut the shoulder meat for me? I’m going to smoke it.”
…
Stella sorted out the meat and Jasper put it in the refrigerator on the yacht. Then, he came back with the dog in his hands.
After eating, Jasper was about to go to pluck some chestnuts.
Stella looked at the time, it was already 3. 30 p. m.
“Is the chestnut tree far away? It gets dark in the forest very soon after 4 p. m..” Stella said with concern.
Jasper stroked her head, “It’s not too far away. I’ll come back before 6 p. m. Don’t worry.”
Stella nodded and sent him to the door.
“Close the door,” Jasper ordered.
Stella closed the door reluctantly, trying to comfort herself that Jasper would be back in another two hours anyway.
She went back to marinate the meat first, and she minced the meat that she wanted to use to make pork pies tomorrow.
When it was almost done, she found that the sky had darkened gradually. Looking at the time, it was already 5. 50 p. m. She turned on the light and went to the second floor to look outside.
She saw a figure coming over from a distance. It should be Jasper. Stella’s mouth curved into a smile subconsciously.
He was a person who would always keep his word and do what he had promised.
As he approached, she ran down the stairs in a hurry. After hearing the first knock on the door, she opened the door and said with a smile, “I’m so glad to see you.”
Jasper came in with two sacks. He frowned, “It’s getting cold. Why aren’t you wearing a jacket? You are not allowed to be like this in the future. You’ll catch a cold easily.”
“I was just standing outside for a while. You saw me.”
“That’s not allowed too,” Jasper said. He took the two sacks to the kitchen and poured out the chestnuts from one of the sacks.
Stella was very surprised to see the real chestnut fruit. She squatted down and took one, “Is this hedgehog-like thing a chestnut? If it were to fall from a tree, it must hurt if it spikes into someone’s head.”
Jasper picked up a chestnut fruit from the ground and opened it. There were three black chestnuts in it.
“It is really a chestnut. You picked so many,” Stella exclaimed.
“The large chestnuts could be used to make chestnut soup, and the other sack is filled with small chestnuts. They could be roasted because they’re sweet. I didn’t pluck these. I just used a stick to hit the tree and the chestnut fruits would fall. Then I picked them from the ground.”
“If I had known this earlier, I would have gone with you. That way, I could have helped you to pick them up.”
Jasper pinched her nose and said, “I would be worried as you are if you were under the tree while I’m on it.”
On the tree and under the tree… She thought that they were like monkeys. She laughed and said, “Then I’ll peel some to make soup now.”
“Put on your gloves and be careful not to get pricked,” Jasper ordered as he looked at her delicate and tender hands, “Forget it, I’ll do it. You should boil some water to cook the chestnuts instead. Put them in cold water after and their shells will be peeled off easily.”
“Oh, are you hungry now?”
“I just ate pork pasta at 3 o’clock and now it’s only 6 o’clock. Of course, I’m not hungry. Are you?” Jasper asked.
Stella shook her head with a smile and said, “I’m not hungry either.”
She went to boil water to cook the chestnuts later. She watched as Jasper peeled off the hedgehog-like thing.
His movements were quick and he had already peeled all of it soon after. After he peeled off the shell, only a third of the whole sack was left, but it was still considered a lot.
They didn’t have to go out anymore for these few days.
He peeled the small chestnut fruits after peeling the bigger ones.
The smaller ones were quite tiny, about half a size smaller than the chestnuts that were sold in the market. The size of the smaller ones was only a quarter of the bigger chestnuts. Thus, it was more time-consuming to peel them.
Stella boiled the chestnuts and put them into cold water to cool down. She wanted to help Jasper.
“You need to use a knife to peel off the skin of the chestnut. First, you need to cut four openings on it. Do you know how to do that?” Jasper asked worriedly.
“Of course.”
Jasper was worried that she would cut herself, “Forget it. You’d better cook the pettitoes. I’ll do it myself.”
“I can do it and I will be careful. If I cut my hand again, I’ll stop immediately,” She wanted to help him.
“You should cook the potatoes first. You are good at that. You have to braise them for a long time, right?” Jasper asked.
“This kind of pot doesn’t burn easily. I just have to put it on the stove and add firewood from time to time.”
“Aren’t you going to make sticky pork ribs?”
“I have placed those into the oven.”
“What about the pie?”
“I’ll do it tomorrow. We can’t finish so much food in one meal. We still have crabs for dinner.”
Jasper was speechless.