The two of them walked through the dark passage of the hot spring water together, with their tight-fitting clothes sticking to their bodies. As they entered the cave, Lu Zhe pointed at the bottom and said:
"Xiaoguo, we can consider the bottom of this volcanic cave to be a planet. There are two pools of water in the north and south, a bit like the North and South poles - darker and relatively cooler. The east-west line is like the equator, which gets the most sunlight in the entire cave bottom. Our goal is to clear a piece of land there, about 100 square meters, to grow more delicate crops."
"Oh...strawberries, watermelons, passion fruit?"
"And that sweet potato vine. I still haven't found a second one on the island, it's a very important resource."
"It's been so long, won't it have died?!"
"Although it's a bit dried up, it probably hasn't. You have to understand, the first sweet potato vine that came to our country was woven into ropes brought back from the Philippines, which resolved a major famine during the Ming dynasty."
"Do we have to chop all of this 200 meter sunlight strip down?"
Lu Zhe shook his head: "There are also many important plants growing on this sunlight strip, we have to choose a place with fewer important plants that is also easy to chop down. First clear out about 100 square meters, then chop down all the nearby tall plants that block the sunlight, to ensure maximum sunlight every day. Once we've taken care of that, then we can consider everything else."
"That means chopping down so many trees, even more tiring than Bald Qiang!"
Lu Zhe put his arm around Tang Xiaoguo's shoulders: "Hehe, Bald Qiang only had two meddlesome bears, but I have a beautiful maiden accompanying me, so my motivation to work is different!"
Flattered by Lu Zhe's praise, Tang Xiaoguo smiled shyly: "Hey, can I ask, back in school, did you ever like me?"
"Not at all!" Lu Zhe shook his head frankly: "I feel that feelings need to be slowly nurtured. Only feelings that have undergone trials of separation and death are truly sincere, otherwise it's just child's play."
"I should be unhappy hearing you say that, but I just can't get mad. What should I do?"
"No no, you have to get mad! Angry Tang Xiaoguo is the most fun!" As he spoke, Lu Zhe stretched out his hand and squeezed her little mouth into a pig snout.
"Bad Lu Zhe, I'm going to bite you!"
"Alright, Xiaoguo, if nothing unexpected happens, we'll be spending the night here tonight. I'm about to start my arduous life of lumberjacking, everything else will have to rely on my beloved empress!"
"Fine...what should we eat in a bit? Oh right, Lu Zhe, what do you want to eat? I'll make it for you!"
"Dumplings with three delicacies filling plus western-style steak, best if there's also Australian lobster, with a couple bulbs of garlic. For drinks, kumis would be fine!"
"There's none of that stuff here!"
"That's why, the simpler the better, we're on a deserted island after all. As long as we can replenish protein and carbs, that's good enough. We should spend the rest of our energy making the temporary camp more comfortable!"
After circling around the volcanic bottom back and forth, Lu Zhe finally selected a location 20 meters southeast of the center.
Then he started chopping.
Tang Xiaoguo built a temporary shelter 20 meters south of this location.
This was the first time Tang Xiaoguo built a shelter alone. She didn't want to lose face, so she was inevitably a bit nervous.
What kind of shelter should she build?
The little girl was a bit stumped.
A hammock plus roof?
No way, tying on a roof means climbing trees, but she was too short and simply couldn't climb up.
Then...
Lay leaves directly on the ground?
Wouldn't that be cold?!
Just then, she heard a "swish swish" sound as a 10-meter tall tree came crashing down, scattering parrots in all directions.
Clearly chopped down by Lu Zhe.
Tang Xiaoguo was startled for a moment. She poked her head out to take a look, and saw a bird's nest fall out.
She walked over and picked up the bird's nest to examine it closely, when her eyes suddenly lit up.
In that moment, she had new inspiration for building the shelter.