WS - Chapter 156
Chapter 156
The rabbits were back, but before eating them, Song Shiyue still had far too many things she wanted to do.
The tear in the balloon had been patched, and it was half-inflated without leaking further, but the original accident had struck so suddenly that Song Shiyue truly could not say when the next surprise might come.
The group had so few people. If she lost consciousness again, even with the rabbits now, it would only replenish the food she had previously eaten; it would not genuinely help with what lay ahead.
Song Shiyue had finished the camp's grain earlier and had barely been half-full, but catching the rabbits had really not taken much strength; it had relied mostly on hearing and technique. Now it was truly time to put in some proper physical labor.
First, the cages for the rabbits.
Though a cleaned rabbit netted about half its live weight, and subtracting the bones left even less meat, that many rabbits obviously couldn't be eaten in just one or two meals. While the rabbits were still stunned, Song Shiyue had to hurry and build the cages, or else she'd need to give each one another knock on the head.
As luck would have it, while Ning Chuyang had been keeping watch at camp these days, she had been wandering the perimeter collecting branches and firewood. Combined with the boards that had fallen off the treehouse earlier, a sizable pile had already accumulated outside the fence.
Not having to start from whole trees meant that even if Song Shiyue's strength had not fully returned, it was no problem.
Large boards were split into cage bars; small branches and twigs were whittled into wooden pegs.
Then they were assembled, pegged together. In just the time it took Ning Chuyang to crouch by the abandoned tent and play with the tiny bunnies inside while listening to Zhuang Jiachuan recount every detail of Song Shiyue's heroic deeds on Rabbit Slope, Song Shiyue had finished two cages.
Yu Nianbing was boiling water by the fire on the other side of the fence, adding wood to the flames and glancing over at Song Shiyue, inwardly reasoning with herself.
They're all necessities, all necessities...
Yes, they're all necessities. If Song Shiyue doesn't make them, there won't be any...
Survival comes first; some concerns have to take a step back.
Actually, it's very hard.
Yu Nianbing felt it was a little too hard.
What made it so hard was that, in her view now, concealing how different Song Shiyue was had already become almost as important as survival itself.
And yet, Yu Nianbing's tangled feelings, her single-minded urgency to outpace the unconsciousness: Song Shiyue, who was so set on outpacing it herself, did not understand at all.
With both cages finished, Song Shiyue picked up one in each hand, leaned on the railing, and gave Yu Nianbing a full demonstration, showing off the sturdiness of the cages as if presenting a treasure.
What else could Yu Nianbing do...
Looking at those eyes, bright once more — the very eyes that had once captivated her in an instant...
Of course Yu Nianbing could only... praise her!
Thoroughly satisfied, Song Shiyue cheerfully went to pick out rabbits, completely missing the faint, helpless smile that rose on Yu Nianbing's lips as she turned away.
And in places Song Shiyue could not see, there were far too many keen eyes!
"Finally! I thought this had already become an angst-filled livestream — never expected there'd be a day we'd pick up sugar again!"
"Right... honestly, these past few days I didn't even know what kind of mood I was watching the stream in; every day felt so stifling I wanted to cry."
"Ah, tell me about it. These past few days I haven't had the heart to eat anything. The only time I had any appetite was when Song Shiyue woke up in the middle of the night. Too bad it was so short; the first few times my takeout hadn't even arrived before she fainted again."
"The tests of human nature and the harshness of the environment have been making the viewers depressed."
"I've been on edge the whole time; even something as sweet as Little Ice Block helping Song Shiyue wash up these days — I couldn't taste the sweetness before, my heart was so wrung out I was nearly depressed."
"Friends! Cheer up! Everything has passed! That 'What am I going to do with you' smile Little Ice Block just gave — wasn't it doting? Wasn't it sweet? Let's congratulate ourselves on regaining the ability to taste sugar!"
"It's so good; following this livestream has been so raw and emotional. Sharing hardships, standing together through life and death — what kind of divine bond is this? Now I feel that if they don't end up together, heaven itself would be unjust!"
"Yes! +1!"
"+StarNet ID!"
"Mooncakes! OTP locked! If they come out I'll register right away!"
How bitter each person's life is, only they themselves know.
And the two livestream pages, front and back, had allowed the StarNet audience to participate in the guests' joys and sorrows from every angle, had even let them feel the same pain the guests endured.
Perhaps in the future, these viewers would stan other people, climb other walls, ship other CPs; but in their hearts, this show would always have a place; they would always remember these people who had once so truly tugged at their heartstrings; always... when they saw mooncakes, they would not be able to suppress a knowing smile.
We are so far apart — far enough to span several star systems, far enough that you do not know I am watching you. Yet so close — so close that you are already in my heart.
Perhaps this was the revolution StarNet had brought: a reality so real it was no longer just an after-dinner news headline, but something genuine, happening right beside you at every moment.
Fifty-two rabbits. The twelve tiny bunnies were taken out first and placed into the more tightly pegged cage that had already been lined with large leaves. Then from the medium-sized ones, three nursing does were grabbed and also put inside: one cage, all set.
Into the larger cage went the nine smaller rabbits, the remaining ten medium-sized ones, and the thirteen big, robust ones, all stuffed in together. It was a little cramped... but that was fine; by noon tomorrow there would be more space.
The five left were the ones to be prepared for eating soon.
A large rabbit weighed a little over three kilos — a six-jin rabbit. Skinned and gutted, about three jin of dressed rabbit remained, and on that dressed rabbit the actual meat was less than one and a half jin...
Everyone had been hungry for so many days; they had to have a good meal. Song Shiyue figured one rabbit per person, which made four. She could eat more herself, but she was afraid that if she fainted again it would be a waste, so she also counted just one for herself. As for the offal, if no one else wanted it, she wouldn't be polite.
Dog would have his share too. Song Shiyue planned to give him a hind leg from her own portion, plus a few rabbit heads: enough for Dog to have a solid meal.
Judging by the sun, it looked to be around one in the afternoon. Whether this meal counted as lunch or dinner was hard to say.
But after being hungry for so long, there was no need to stand on ceremony about three fixed meals a day.
Butchering the rabbits was normally either Song Shiyue's job or Zhuang Jiachuan's.
Recalling how Zhuang Jiachuan had trembled while holding the tiny rabbits, Song Shiyue figured she should do it herself. It wouldn't take much effort anyway; once she finished and they ate, there was still a big project to tackle.
The only water source nearby was the temporary washroom in the camp that the production team had originally used.
Though she didn't much like doing something this bloody inside the camp, Song Shiyue didn't have many options.
But before taking the basin of rabbits to the washroom, Song Shiyue went over specially to warn Yu Nianbing, telling her not to go near the washroom for the next while.
She'd barely spoken the word "washroom" when she watched Yu Nianbing's face steadily turn red, and then Yu Nianbing hurriedly nodded twice at her and fled into a tent.
The thing was... that wasn't Yu Nianbing's tent... It was Zhuang Jiachuan's... Granted, no one was inside, but still...
Sure enough, before Song Shiyue could call out a reminder, Yu Nianbing darted back out the next moment. Before ducking into their own tent, she didn't forget to shoot Song Shiyue a glare.
Song Shiyue: "..."
Alright, being glared at like that, Song Shiyue also began to catch on.
The washroom, ah, the washroom...
So what was she blushing about? And what was she glaring for?
Who exactly got the short end of the stick here, huh!
Song Shiyue spun around and stomped toward the washroom, the breath beneath her nose growing hot from each rapid exhale.
It must be from anger, thought Song Shiyue, a flush of red shrouding her face.
But before those stomping steps had carried her very far, someone called her to a stop.
In truth, Feng Qianqian had witnessed the entire scene of the two of them blushing one after the other and hadn't wanted to stop Song Shiyue at this moment. But... this was something that had to be said now.
"These rabbits, when you skin them, can you keep the pelts as intact as possible?" Feng Qianqian pointed at the basin of rabbits in Song Shiyue's hands.
"I can. Do you want to use the rabbit skins for clothes?" Song Shiyue recalled Feng Qianqian's practiced skill when sewing the cloth bags earlier. "It's just that animal hide like this has to be treated many times before it's usable. Right now we don't have anything; if it's not processed well, it'll smell."
Feng Qianqian paused, then smiled. "You know about that too? True, we can't fully process it right now, but if we get it halfway there and take it out often to sun and air, even though it might not turn out very soft, it can still be used if we really need it. It doesn't necessarily have to become clothes; just save it so that if the weather turns cold, we'll have some options."
Song Shiyue agreed with that; she'd had the same thought.
"I saw there are still some laundry powder and soap by the washroom... washroom over there. Should we use those?" Song Shiyue stumbled slightly over the word "washroom."
"No need. Wood shavings will do: those tiny wood curls a plane makes. Can you produce those? If not, just use a knife to scrape the leftover bits off the hide clean. I can handle that part." Feng Qianqian still remembered how deftly Song Shiyue had whittled trekking poles before, and naturally wanted to save whatever effort they could.
"I can try a bit later," Song Shiyue agreed, though she was not entirely sure. After all, she had been on the combat line during the apocalypse: her job was to kill things and at most break them down further; she had some understanding of the edible parts, but regarding subsequent manufacturing and processing, she honestly didn't know much.
After speaking with Feng Qianqian, Song Shiyue embarked on her great rabbit-butchering enterprise.
Bleeding them, cutting the skin at the hind legs, turning the pelt inside out, pulling it forward and off...
Each whole rabbit skin came off as easily as taking off clothes in Song Shiyue's hands.
Then came the business of slitting open the belly and removing the innards...
Handled this way, the pelts had barely any blood stains on the fur, making further processing much easier.
In no time, all five rabbits were finished.
Soon three would be roasted, two stewed, plus a pot of offal stew — perfect~~~~
It was a shame there weren't many seasonings; the basic scallions and ginger had been left in the cave, so relying on salt alone would probably be rough. Oh, and there was still a bit of ground pepper and MSG collected from the camp earlier...
Ah, whatever. In any case, Zhuang Jiachuan's cooking was even worse than hers. They'd have to make do without seasonings! Otherwise, if Yu Nianbing saw this basin of raw, bloody rabbit and got upset, that would be bad.
It's said that concern clouds judgment. At this moment, Song Shiyue completely forgot who had cooked that raw snake originally.
Yu Nianbing, who was just carrying the long-unused pots and bowls out of the storage tent across the fence, watched as Song Shiyue, holding a basin of something, crept stealthily toward the campfire...
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