Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 29 - Chapter 29

Zhang Liu had come over to collect stones.

He remembered there were many scattered small square stones next to the huge rock, and there were even two especially flat rectangular natural stone slabs.

Together, they were perfect for making a simple stove.

But then he overheard Qin Ruoshuang’s words.

At that moment, Zhang Liu was a bit at a loss.

The thought of abandoning Anya and Qin Ruoshuang never occurred to him.

After all, from what he could see, the resources on the island were sufficient for the three of them to survive for quite some time. There was no need for any absurd survival competition between them.

So, why did Qin Ruoshuang ask such a thing?

Curious, he looked at Anya, who shrugged and shook her head, indicating that she was just as clueless.

Meanwhile, Qin Ruoshuang, who was facing Anya and had her back to Zhang Liu, didn’t realize she was in an awkward situation. She interpreted Anya’s gesture of shaking her head as a denial toward her question.

Laughing, Qin Ruoshuang nodded and said, “You’re right. Zhang Liu is so gentle; he definitely won’t be mad at us.”

With that, she turned to head back, just as her gaze met Zhang Liu’s, who was staring at her in a daze.

And then, Qin Ruoshuang froze in place, staring at Zhang Liu, who asked her, “Qin Ruoshuang, are you alright?”

Even with her normally calm personality, Qin Ruoshuang was startled by this sudden confrontation.

“You… you… you…” Stumbling over her words, she couldn’t form a complete sentence.

In the end, Anya helped her voice her question.

“Zhang Liu, what are you doing here?”

“Collecting stones to make a stove for grilling the fish!” Zhang Liu walked out from behind the rock, holding a large stone slab in his hand. “There’s quite a bit of fish, so I want to try boiling some and grilling some on the stone.”

As he spoke, his gaze once again fell on Qin Ruoshuang, who was still staring at him with wide eyes, her face flushed red.

Although he tried hard not to look at the two pink spots on her chest, he understood that some things couldn’t be controlled.

Otherwise, the ancient saying “The mouth says no, but the body is honest” wouldn’t have existed.

After thinking for a moment, he casually continued, “Qin Ruoshuang, what was that all about just now?”

As he spoke, Zhang Liu carried the stone slab towards the cave.

After quickly walking a few steps, Qin Ruoshuang followed behind Zhang Liu but didn’t say anything in response.

Her thoughts were tangled, and she wasn’t sure what to do herself.

It was Anya, still at the back of the group, who spoke up. “Isn’t it because you said you didn’t have any thoughts about us, and then turned and walked away? Qin Ruoshuang thought you were angry.”

“You… weren’t you also worried that Zhang Liu might abandon us this morning?” Qin Ruoshuang tried to defend herself after being blamed by Anya.

Listening to the bizarre back-and-forth between the two girls beside him, Zhang Liu instantly lost any will to argue.

He had almost forgotten about this, but now these two were still obsessing over it?

Stopping in his tracks, he turned to look at Qin Ruoshuang and Anya. He stayed silent for a long moment, speechless, then turned away again—flustered by the two pink spots on Qin Ruoshuang’s chest.

Letting out a long sigh, he said to the two girls behind him—who were now clutching fruit in their hands like timid little quails and too embarrassed to speak: “Let’s eat first. We can talk about this afterward!”

Zhang Liu had a rough understanding of how Qin Ruoshuang and Anya still had the energy for love-brained antics even while hungry.

It was simple: they weren’t hungry enough!

Or maybe, they were too hungry, and hallucinations were starting to occur…

…

Fire is a powerful tool that marks the progress of civilization, as clearly stated in history.

Like back when Liu Bei and Sun Quan teamed up to roast Cao’s million-strong army into pork chops.

Now, Zhang Liu also had a deep understanding of fire’s usefulness.

Of course, this time it wasn’t for military purposes, but for personal use.

After moving the fire source into the cave, he began preparing dinner.

Anya and Qin Ruoshuang stood beside him, watching the process.

The windbreak wall Qin Ruoshuang had set up earlier was now serving double duty as a wind and fire shield.

Even if the wind blew into the cave, they were not worried about the foam board being scorched by the flames.

But for now, Zhang Liu was still preparing to boil water.

He placed three pebbles into the fire until they were almost glowing red and then poured some fresh water from a mineral water bottle into the clamshell.

Carefully, he used a stick to position the hot pebbles inside the clamshell.

“Shh…” The pebbles were instantly cooled by the water, releasing heat, causing the water in the clamshell to boil and bubbles to rise around the pebbles.

He didn’t stop this process and added the other two pebbles from the fire into the clamshell.

At once, the water in the clamshell began to boil even more vigorously.

“Zhang Liu, what are you doing?” Anya, who stood next to him, couldn’t help but ask.

To her, it seemed like he was just contaminating perfectly good, clean water.

“He’s probably boiling water,” Qin Ruoshuang, who was more accustomed to drinking cold water, observed. She guessed, “By placing the hot stones in the water, the water absorbs the heat from the stones and then boils!”

“Yes, I’m boiling water,” Zhang Liu nodded in agreement with Qin Ruoshuang’s explanation.

Noticing Anya’s confused expression, he continued to explain: “Before, we didn’t have fire, so we couldn’t boil water.”

“But now that we have this condition, I think it’s better for us to drink boiled water in the future.”

“After all, the water from the puddle has a slightly bitter taste. Though I’m not sure if boiling it will help, it’s definitely safer than drinking unboiled water. Also, the ash on the pebbles has anti-inflammatory and sterilizing effects.”

“This… Okay,” Anya reluctantly agreed, glancing at the cloudy, grayish liquid in the clamshell. Though she was a bit disgusted, Zhang Liu’s explanation made sense.

Just as she reluctantly nodded, Zhang Liu continued with a smile, “Don’t worry, normally, the water will clear up after a while. I’m just testing this method of boiling water with stones.”

With that, he carefully removed the now-boiling clamshell from the fire and began preparing the main course for tonight.

That was the clamshell-boiled fish head, stone-grilled fish tail, and fish liver and meat skewers!

However, as usual, everything had to be done in sequence, especially since Zhang Liu didn’t have enough firewood to manage two fires at once.

The fish head was the easiest to prepare, so he immediately placed the largest clamshell on the fire and poured fresh water from another mineral water bottle into it.

“I’ll go get more water!”

Just as Zhang Liu was feeling a bit frustrated due to the lack of water, Qin Ruoshuang stood up and grabbed two mineral water bottles, heading down from the cave.

“I’ll go get firewood!” Anya, also eager to help, immediately climbed out of the cave to pick some suitable firewood from the pile below.

Sitting still for a moment, Zhang Liu suddenly smiled and began cutting the fish liver and largest fish meat on a stone slab.

Meanwhile, the fish head and swim bladder were already boiling in the clamshell.

While the fish head was boiling, he could also roast the fish on the stone, which was his plan.

Looking at the fish tail wrapped in seaweed and the setting sun slowly sinking, Zhang Liu suddenly felt a sense of warmth and satisfaction.

Below, Qin Ruoshuang and Anya, while fetching water and firewood, exchanged smiles.

None of them realized that obtaining protein-rich food had lifted the suppressed mood they’d been in, restoring a truly optimistic and relaxed state.

For Zhang Liu, who had been forcing optimism, this feeling was the most noticeable.