Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 27 - Chapter 27

“Qin Ruoshuang, Anya! Look what I brought back!”

Just as Qin Ruoshuang and Anya had finished picking up firewood and were sitting down, ready to continue their melancholy conversation, Zhang Liu came back to the camp with a fish about the size of his upper body, his expression extremely excited.

“It’s fish! We have meat to eat now!” Anya immediately shifted from a depressed state to one of excitement.

And Qin Ruoshuang, who had just looked so gloomy, now had a face full of expectation. She immediately ran up to help catch the fish, which was wildly flailing its tail and trying to slap Zhang Liu’s face in one last struggle.

“Quick! Get it cleaned!”

Anya eagerly handed over the metal piece that would be crucial for their work, her tone full of enthusiasm.

But Zhang Liu hesitated, taking the metal piece, then awkwardly stood still.

“Uh… actually, I don’t know how to handle such a big fish,” he scratched his head and said. “Do you two have experience?”

Although Zhang Liu sometimes bought fresh seafood to prepare at home for his younger sisters, he had no idea where to even start with this sea fish.

After all, large sea fish were too expensive, and Zhang Liu, struggling financially, had never bought one, let alone learned how to process it.

In his mind, these two girls, who came from wealthier families, should have seen how their families dealt with sea fish.

Being looked at expectantly by Zhang Liu, Qin Ruoshuang shook her head, indicating she had no idea.

Anya shyly said, “The most I’ve done is help with handling calves at my family’s ranch. I’ve never dealt with fish.”

Although Anya’s words made him instinctively squeezed his legs together—Zhang Liu quickly pulled his thoughts back to reality.

Clicking his tongue and baring his teeth, he looked at the sea fish in front of him, which was gradually becoming less active, and said helplessly, “Guess I’ll give it a try?”

Carrying the sea fish to the nearby shoreline, Zhang Liu didn’t dare place it directly into the water.

If the thing was just playing dead, wouldn’t that be like throwing it back into its element?

So he imitated what he’d seen at the wet market: raising the fish high in the air, he tightly gripped the tail and began to swing it with force.

“Pop…”

A dull thud sounded out from the impact.

Zhang Liu kept pounding the fish’s head against the shore, causing several muffled sounds, and the blood sprayed into the air, releasing a strong, fishy stench.

Finally, the fish’s spine gave a last twitch and began convulsing.

Qin Ruoshuang and Anya, standing nearby, watched this scene. As girls, they both felt uneasy. The air was thick with the smell of blood, and Zhang Liu’s swings were vigorous; several streaks of blood had passed by them.

“I’m starting to feel a little scared of Zhang Liu,” Anya whispered to Qin Ruoshuang, watching Zhang Liu scrape the scales off the fish. “He seems so excited.”

“It’s fine!” Qin Ruoshuang took a deep breath and walked over to Zhang Liu, who was struggling with the slow progress of scaling the fish. She asked, “Zhang Liu, is there anything I can do to help?”

As she asked, she deliberately avoided looking at the fish’s bloodied body. But after hesitating for half a second, Qin Ruoshuang finally glanced at the fish.

The blood, now thick with the pungent stench, overwhelmed her senses, both visually and in the smell.

Her face turned pale immediately.

After all, she had always been sheltered at home, where she only had to sit in the living room and wait for the maid to bring food.

She had never had to deal with slaughtering anything.

Even when she occasionally went on so-called farm tours, she never witnessed the killing of chickens or ducks.

By the time Qin Ruoshuang visited a farm kitchen, the meat—duck, chicken, or whatever else—was already prepared and placed neatly on plates, sometimes decorated with green vegetables.

So the raw, unfiltered scene of Zhang Liu dealing with the fish was far too much of a shock for her.

However, Anya, who had come running over, seemed comparatively calm.

She had spent time on her family’s ranch. Though she hadn’t seen anything this bloody, she had, under the encouragement of her quirky mother, helped with some butchering of calves.

So, she had some experience with knives.

“Ah… maybe you girls shouldn’t help,” Zhang Liu looked up at the two girls with confusion, then added, “At home, my sisters always avoid helping when I process fish. They’re afraid of getting the blood on them. Why are you two coming over?”

But as curious as he was, he still explained why he didn’t need any help: “This metal piece has no handle, so it’s hard to apply force accurately. The fish is also so slippery. If you come over to help, you might get hurt… Wait, Qin Ruoshuang, why do you have blood on your chin?”

Zhang Liu carefully held the metal piece and stopped working on the fish. He became worried when he noticed that Qin Ruoshuang’s chin was covered in blood and her face was extremely pale.

Is it her period again? Zhang Liu wondered in his mind.

“I’m fine…” Qin Ruoshuang shook her head, then said to him, “I just wanted to help with something…”

Anya, standing beside them, also chimed in, “Yeah, Zhang Liu, I want to help too.”

“Ah… how about you two go pick some jabuticaba fruit?” Zhang Liu looked up at the sinking sun and said to the two, “Is that alright?”

“Sure!” Qin Ruoshuang nodded repeatedly, and Anya showed an expression of finally having something to do.

Zhang Liu then seriously began to give them some instructions.

“Be mindful of the time. It’s quite a distance from here to the cave, so when you see the sun turning red, you should head back immediately. Pick as much as you can, but don’t be greedy.”

“If it really gets dark on the way back, sleep near the coast. Don’t sleep in the forest—this way it’s safer, and I can easily find you.”

“Mm, don’t worry, Zhang Liu, we’ve been there a few times!” Anya smiled and laughed, then pulled Qin Ruoshuang off to go.

As for Zhang Liu, he continued to focus on the sea fish in front of him.

He understood that removing the scales was just the first step. Next, he would need to gut the fish, clean its insides, and cut it into pieces to roast over the fire.

The only tool available was a metal sheet, barely sharp enough.

With a long sigh, Zhang Liu knelt down and began to work hard.