Chapter 26: Salt
After catching a four-eared ox with no suspense, Su Ran pulled the werewolf and started heading back.
The seaside campfire was still burning there, although it was far from the woods on the beach and there were no combustibles around, she still didn’t dare to leave for too long.
They returned directly along the original path, and on the way back, Su Ran picked a few red fruits from the place where wild fruits grew and held them in embrace.
After coming out of the woods, they could see from afar the campfire with fire still burning quietly there, but the height of the flames was a bit smaller than when they had just left.
Su Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She walked back quickly, and after reaching the campfire, she first glanced at the seawater boiling in the mug.
The seawater had already reduced by half compared to the beginning.
She hurriedly placed a few wooden sticks under the mug to increase the fire.
At this time, the werewolf was already processing the four-eared ox they brought back.
It still carefully skinned the four-eared ox, removing its white and brown patterned fur, then dragged the bleeding ox body to the seaside to start rinsing.
Meanwhile, Su Ran placed all the wild fruits they brought back on a stone nearby.
She picked up a red fruit, held it under her nose and smelled it; there was a rich fruit aroma.
She couldn’t describe what flavor it was, but it smelled very good.
So she took two and walked to the werewolf’s side, reaching out to offer one of the red fruits in her hand to the werewolf’s mouth.
After seeing the werewolf swallow it without hesitation, she confidently withdrew her hand, picked up the other one in her hand, and took a small bite.
Then she narrowed her eyes slightly.
She swore she had never eaten such delicious fruit before!
The fruit flesh was delicate and smooth; her teeth barely needed any force to mash it in her mouth.
The clear sweet juice was abundant, and with one bite, a faint indescribable fragrance lingered between her lips and teeth.
Just this unique fruit aroma made one want to eat another after finishing one!
She rubbed the fresh red juice that oozed from the fruit flesh on her fingertips; the juice stained her nails, and it took effort to rub it off.
Perhaps it could be used as dye later.
Su Ran thought so.
Then she similarly let the werewolf taste a bite of green fruit first, before she cut half and tried it.
The juice in the green fruit flesh was clearly much less.
Su Ran chewed a few times and felt its texture was more like avocado, but the flavor was sour-sweet.
After eating mostly sweet food for several days, Su Ran felt that this slightly sour-sweet fruit was very appetizing right now.
After eating one red fruit and half a green fruit, Su Ran began to mash the remaining fruit and kelp together, then spread the juice, fruit flesh, and kelp pieces together on the roast lamb.
But she stopped after coating only half.
Because the roast lamb was already very hot to the touch by now, so the rest of the work was handed over to the thick-skinned werewolf.
Of course, the werewolf didn’t directly apply the mashed fruit flesh onto the roast lamb.
Instead, Su Ran handed the tactical knife to the werewolf, letting it use the blade as a spoon to scoop the fruit flesh and apply it bit by bit onto the lamb, using its hand only for places that were hard to reach.
Meanwhile, Su Ran was handling the boiled seawater.
Now the seawater in the stainless steel mug had reduced to only a tenth, the seawater in the mug had become very turbid, and there was some white substance at the bottom, which was solidified calcium sulfate.
Su Ran stirred in the water with a peeled branch, then poured the remaining seawater into the hat again, placing the hat back on the mug to wait for the seawater inside to filter out.
Because the hat had already been soaked in seawater earlier and wasn’t dry yet, although the remaining seawater wasn’t much, it still quickly soaked through the hat’s fabric.
However, the speed was a bit slower than before.
After all the seawater in the hat had filtered into the mug, Su Ran placed the mug back on the fire to boil. Because the water amount was reduced, the water in the mug boiled faster this time.
In a short while, the water traces in the mug became less and less, and the white substance gradually increased.
Seeing it was about ready, Su Ran lifted the mug off the small campfire again.
But when picking up the hat again, she hesitated for a moment.
After two seconds, she finally made up her mind, took the tactical knife from the werewolf, and pointed the knife tip at the inner corner inside the hat.
Although there was no lining inside her stormsuit hat, there was still a thin inner fabric.
Because the final boiled salt still needed to filter out the magnesium chloride inside, but the moisture in the salt was already very little now, if she used the outer fabric of the hat directly, she would probably have to wait from today until tomorrow morning.
The inner fabric in the hat wasn’t thick; Su Ran folded that layer of fabric three times, poured the now semi-solid white substance from the mug onto the fabric, then lifted and gathered the corners of the fabric, twisting it tightly from the top bit by bit.
Thus, the last bit of liquid from the white substance was squeezed out.
At this point, Su Ran finally harvested a small handful of salt.
At this time, this bit of salt was still somewhat wet; Su Ran poured it back into the stainless steel mug and placed it over the fire to dry slowly.
While drying, she quickly stirred inside with a branch to evaporate the moisture quickly.
This time it didn’t take long; after more than ten minutes, the salt in the mug was completely crystallized and dried.
Su Ran pinched a small grain and licked it at her lips, then couldn’t help but happily scream “yes!”
She succeeded!
“Ao wu?”
The werewolf nearby heard her voice, its ears turned facing this way, and question marks appeared in its pale green eyes.
In a great mood, Su Ran patted its top of head, and casually scratched a handful on that pair of soft and smooth ears: “Wait for big sister to let you taste what real gourmet food is!”
“Ao wu~”
The werewolf seemed to respond by flicking its tail behind, but its eyes still revealed its confusion.
Su Ran didn’t expect any response from the werewolf; seeing its “What are you saying? I don’t understand~” expression now didn’t affect her good mood at all.
She took a small piece of salt from the mug, wrapped it in the piece of fabric from the hat’s inner lining, then used a stone to smash the salt inside bit by bit through the lining.
After smashing, she opened the fabric package; the salt inside was completely crushed, even turned into powder.
Su Ran stood up and walked to the side of the roast lamb.
At this time, the white-headed sheep mutton was sizzling with oil, and the aroma it emitted had made her and the werewolf’s bellies growl louder than the sound of the waves.
She carefully poured all the salt powder from the inner lining fabric into her hand; this bit of food salt was hard-won, and wasting any would make her heartbroken.
Then she pinched the food salt in her palm and carefully and evenly sprinkled it all over the white-headed sheep.
She didn’t know if it was an illusion, but she always felt that after sprinkling the salt powder, the white-headed sheep mutton in front of her seemed even more fragrant!
