"Sugarcane?"
Everyone looked over.
"It's definitely not bamboo!"
"The leaves are growing on top, and they're purple?"
"No wonder Qian Qian can easily cut it!"
Jiang Yao exclaimed happily, "Sugarcane can be juiced!"
Lu Zhe smiled and said, "Not only can it be juiced, but you can also dry the juice to obtain sugar. You can store it in bottles for a period of time, and its taste is even better than honey!"
Ning Shu said, "That's fantastic! With sugar, our flavors will be more diverse."
Jiang Yao nodded and said, "We can use it to dress cold dishes."
Tang Xiaoguo exclaimed with joy, "Can we schedule cotton candy?!"
"Forget about it."
"Huh, such a big hamster. Is it a mutation?"
"It's a wild boar."
"How can a wild boar be so beautiful?"
"This is an Indonesian wild boar, also known as the Sulawesi wild boar. It has stripes when it's young, but they disappear as it grows older."
"Wow, it's enough to last for several days."
Lu Zhe pondered and said, "This heavy rain has been going on for too long, forcing many animals to venture out in search of food. It's lucky that we caught it. Once things stabilize, we can capture more of these pigs and domesticate them, so we'll have a constant supply of pork."
"Domesticating wild pigs, what a great idea."
Tang Xiaoguo worriedly said, "But won't we feel guilty about eating the pigs we've raised with so much effort?"
Lu Zhe shook his head and said, "Don't worry, you won't!"
As they continued to search, the girls screamed again when they saw a banded snake in a plastic bag.
But after all, they had seen it before, so after the screams, they moved closer to poke it. "Is it venomous?"
"Banded snake, not venomous."
"Lu Zhe, you're really amazing. You caught another one."
"It wasn't me this time, it was Qian Qian."
"What?" Several girls were astonished, and their eyes were filled with admiration as they looked at Qian Qian.
Jiang Yao sighed, "If it were me, I might have peed my pants in fright. Qian Qian, you're amazing!"
Qian Qian lowered her head, blushing, "Lu Zhe, do you want me to wash your clothes?"
"No rush?"
Lu Zhe observed outside, and a new round of heavy rain was approaching. As expected, this rain wasn't going to stop so easily.
Ning Shu nodded and asked, "Lu Zhe, what's your plan now?"
Lu Zhe thought for a moment and said, "Food, fresh water, and a shelter from the rain, that's settled. We might have to stay here for a while. During this time, let's try to improve our quality of life. I'll take care of the pig and the snake. In the meantime, I'll allow you to make some demanding requests, and we can brainstorm to see if we can fulfill them."
"Demanding requests?"
Tang Xiaoguo had a mischievous smile on her face, "Can I have a hot shower with warm water?"
Lu Zhe thought for a moment and replied, "That's actually something we can consider."
Jiang Yao pondered for a moment, "Although I washed after the rain, it still feels like something is missing without soap and shower gel, as if I haven't cleaned myself properly."
Shen Bing thought for a moment and said, "A hot bath is possible. We can heat water with a helmet and mix in some cold water. Soap might be a bit challenging, though."
Lu Zhe considered it and said, "Taking a shower in the rain and using soap might not be impossible. Let's think of a solution together later. But first, someone needs to handle this pig. Who can take care of it?"
As soon as handling the pig was mentioned, several girls looked at each other and finally turned their gaze to Shen Bing!
"Forget it, what has to happen will happen eventually." Shen Bing sighed and summoned the courage to grab the pig by its head, then started knocking its head against a rock.
"I'll go squeeze sugarcane..."
"I'll go collect the dried clothes..."
...
Lu Zhe carried Peiqi outside the cave and began dissecting it at the entrance.
Although pigskin is thick, it's easier to handle than bear fur.
They finished quickly!
When they squeezed the lungs, water came out.
They cleaned the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and intestines thoroughly, hanging them at the entrance of the cave. This would allow the blood to drain for a while, relieve the gamey taste, and ensure the freshness of the food in the low outside temperature, ready to be consumed later.
Then, Lu Zhe found something suitable for making soap.
However, this was just a temporary solution. Lu Zhe believed that to truly improve the quality of life, they needed to make real soap!
Set it aside for now!
Next, they started considering a hot water shower device.
Lu Zhe used thin bamboo to measure the positions and distances of the stove and bamboo door.
Ning Shu exclaimed, "Lu Zhe, are you really going to make a shower?"
"That's right!" Lu Zhe smiled faintly. "After solving the issue of survival, the next step is to enhance our quality of life. It's not asking for too much."
"Do we have to keep adding boiling water inside?"
"Oh no, that would be too cumbersome. Let's make a one-time device."
"How will we solve the heating problem?"
"If we use bamboo as the water pipe, insert an iron pipe in the middle, and let hot water pass through the iron pipe for about half a minute, the cold water passing through the iron pipe will be heated. When it flows out from the other end, it will be warm water. That's a simple water heater."
Ning Shu had some doubts, "Do we have an iron pipe?"
Lu Zhe smiled, "Of course, we do!"
As he said that, he rummaged through the treasure chest and actually found an "iron pipe"!
To be more precise, it was a barrel of a Type 38 rifle, about 60 centimeters long, just the right size to pass through the stove.
Ning Shu was astonished, "That's a brilliant idea! How did you even think of it? Wait a minute... won't the water flow out before it gets hot?"
"The Type 38 rifle barrel is over 60 centimeters long, with a caliber of only 6.5 millimeters, so the water flow is minimal. My father said that when he was a child and they didn't have water heaters, they would let cold water pass through an iron pipe on a gas stove, and the water would turn into warm water. So, it should work!"
"That's great! How do we get started?"
"First, let's make the water pipes."
Using smaller bamboo stalks and another thinner one as a drill, they removed the partitions in the bamboo.
Lu Zhe measured and determined the segments.
Then they started making bends and extensions.
The method for bending is to make a notch on the bamboo with a paratrooper knife, then heat it over a fire to soften it, and finally seal the gap with melted plastic and secure it tightly with a torn cloth.
It may not be very sturdy, but it gets the job done.
For extending it further, you can simply thin out one end of a thin bamboo and insert it into a thicker bamboo. That should do the trick.
The crucial part is connecting it to the gun barrel because one end has a sight while the other end is irregular, and the gun barrel is too narrow to directly insert the bamboo.
However, this doesn't pose a problem for Lu Zhe.
Find a bamboo of similar diameter to the gun barrel.
Then, cut two pieces of aluminum from the sides of a soda can, roll them into thin coils with a diameter of about 6 millimeters. Insert half of the coils into the gun barrel and the other half into the bamboo tube. Seal the gaps with plastic and secure them tightly.
The bamboo leads outside the house, and a hemp rope hangs the bamboo tube along with a half-cut 2-liter beverage bottle.
Extend the bamboo pole outside, just enough to collect rainwater, and pull it back to avoid the rainwater.
Final step!
Install a small bottle with multiple small holes on the water outlet pipe in the hole to create a makeshift showerhead!
And there you have it, a complete set of simple shower equipment.