Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 50 - Chapter 50

Catching the water Anya gave her, Qin Ruoshang was about to drink but suddenly stopped.

She realized the bottle was scarce, and since she had just vomited, putting her mouth directly on it would definitely contaminate the opening.

So she poured the water into her palm and rinsed her mouth.

Although not very graceful, her method effectively cleaned her lips and mouth.

Then she answered Anya’s question, “Seeing fresh blood and raw innards makes me feel a bit nauseous.”

“Ah? Why?” Anya was a bit confused.

She used to find the whole lamb testicles thing kind of gross too, but after handling it a few times, it was just whatever. And as for innards—yeah, they definitely felt slimy and unpleasant to touch, not something anyone would say they liked.

But once they’re cooked, it’s usually easier to accept, right?

“When I was little, my sister and I were being naughty and accidentally got locked inside an anatomy room,” Qin Ruoshang said quietly. “Ever since then, I’ve been really scared of bloody corpses.”

“Oh, that’s why.” Anya nodded slightly. When she looked at Qin Ruoshang again, her eyes carried a hint of sympathy. She said, “Then Classmate Qin, don’t force yourself anymore. Just listen to Zhang Liu and help fetch water.”

“But…” Qin Ruoshang turned her head toward Zhang Liu, who was not far off cutting up innards on a wooden stump, then said with great worry, “I really want to help.”

“So go fetch water then,” Anya scratched her head and said, “My mom once told me that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and we shouldn’t force ourselves to do things we’re not good at!”

Under Anya’s sincere gaze, Qin Ruoshang, who had been trying hard to adapt, finally gave a small nod and walked over to Zhang Liu, who was by the water basin handling the innards.

“Uh…” Seeing Qin Ruoshang come over, Zhang Liu’s first reaction was to step forward and block between her and the innards. Then, with concern, he asked, “Classmate Qin, are you okay? Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine.” Qin Ruoshang softly walked to his side and then whispered an apology, “Sorry…”

Zhang Liu was a little confused. He didn’t know why she suddenly apologized, but after carefully looking at her expression, he realized she was probably sorry for not helping with the innards.

“Well, you rich girls probably just can’t stand the bloody scenes!” Zhang Liu glanced at Anya walking over and couldn’t help but tease, “Anya’s the exception, she’s surprisingly tough!”

He truly admired Anya’s boldness earlier at the seaside, vigorously scrubbing the sheep intestines like clothes—even though they still had black feces on them!

“Hmph! When I was so brave, you didn’t even know what you were doing!” Anya raised her head proudly, then extended her hand and placed her hand on Qin Rushuang’s shoulder, who looked embarrassed. She said, “Xiao Rushuang, are you planning to show off in front of Zhang Liu again?”

“Xiao… Xiao Ruoshang?” Qin Ruoshang looked a bit surprised hearing Anya call her that.

“Hmph! Hmph hmph!” Without explaining the nickname, Anya looked seriously at Zhang Liu and said, “Zhang Liu, you’re not allowed to assign Xiao Ruoshang any bloody tasks from now on. She has psychological trauma from childhood.”

“Oh! Got it, I’ll be careful.” Zhang Liu nodded without asking more, then carrying the clam shell, walked farther away. Before leaving, he reminded Qin Ruoshang and Anya, “Fetch plenty of water, once it’s all cut, it’ll be stewed.”

“I’ll come help you cut the thin slices for the skewers!” Leaving behind “Xiao Ruoshang”, whose shoulder she had to tiptoe to reach, Anya ran after Zhang Liu quickly.

Since she cared about the taste and texture of the skewers, she wanted to personally cut the innards.

Qin Ruoshang was left standing there blinking and stunned.

She hadn’t expected it at all.

What she thought was a big deal—being scared of innards and fresh corpses—was just casually brushed aside in front of Anya and Zhang Liu?

After a while, Qin Ruoshang started focusing on pouring water, occasionally running to the fire to arrange stones into a stove that could hold the clam shell.

Though Zhang Liu hadn’t asked her to build the stove, she had now fully understood Anya’s words.

She should find things she can do, rather than worry about things she must do herself.

“That really startled me…” Zhang Liu sat about twenty meters from the cave on the beach, watching Anya grind a metal blade with a smooth pebble, and said, “I thought Qin Ruoshang ate something poisonous just now, but turns out she was just puking because of the innards!”

Qin Ruoshang had started vomiting without any warning, and Zhang Liu was really frightened.

On this deserted island, if there was food poisoning or something similar, the consequences would be extremely serious.

“It seems that Xiao Rushuang was imprisoned in the dissection room when she was a child, and she became afraid of corpses.” Anya lightly dragged her finger across the freshly ground metal piece, feeling the sharp scrape, then turned and said, “We really need to be careful from now on!”

“How come you suddenly got so close to her? And calling her Xiao Ruoshang?” Zhang Liu nodded seriously, showing he’d heard it all, then couldn’t help teasing the nickname Anya used.

“You don’t get it, do you? I’m already pretty sure that in this place, Qin Ruoshang hasn’t adapted as well as I have, so as a strong person, it’s natural that I should protect a weaker one like her!” Anya puffed out her chest, which had barely any flesh, proudly saying, “You better work hard to prove yourself too, or I’ll start calling you Xiao Liu!”

“…” Zhang Liu was speechless at Anya’s sudden proud attitude but obediently handed over a piece of lamb liver, already partly cut and drained of blood, saying, “Here, start cutting the skewers.”

Speaking of skewers, he thought about the lamb meat he had thickly covered with wood ash. There were quite a few flies buzzing around it, drawn by the smell.

“What are you thinking about?” Anya took the lamb liver from Zhang Liu and sliced it thinly. Seeing his thoughtful expression, she asked, “Do you want to call her Xiao Ruoshang too? That’s a nickname only girls can use!”

“No way!” Interrupted in his thoughts, Zhang Liu gave her a look and said, “I’m thinking after breakfast, I’ll dig up the rest of the lamb and use that pit to make a slow-roast lamb!”

“Slow-roast lamb?” Anya tilted her head slightly, clearly unfamiliar with that term.

She’d only ever eaten roasted whole lamb.

The only other thing related to a slow-cooker style would be Quanjude roast duck.

“Mm!” Zhang Liu nodded slightly, then picked up the washed and cut-open sheep’s stomach and handed it to Anya, continuing, “We don’t have oil, so roasting a whole lamb isn’t really realistic, and we also don’t have the kind of knife like Turkish kebabs use to slice meat while roasting.”

Anya, who was struggling to cut the sheep’s stomach into chunks with a metal piece, sighed quietly after hearing this.

Zhang Liu was absolutely right.

She really wished she could slice the innards thin and neat so she could control the grilling perfectly.

But for now, just being able to cut chunks was already a huge technical breakthrough.

“Do you know how to do it?” Anya asked as she started cutting the sheep’s heart, but after several tries she still couldn’t get thin slices. She had to move her aching arm and chatted with Zhang Liu about the process.

“No, but I’ve watched some related videos,” Zhang Liu smiled, then threaded a fairly thin slice of sheep’s heart on a damp twig and said, “How about we grill five skewers first, then another five? These skewers taste best when eaten in groups of five!”

“No way! Xiao Rushuang might not be able to stand the sight of blood; it’s better to thread up as many as possible at once and grill them all together,” Anya said, not knowing exactly how severe Qin Ruoshang’s fear of blood was.

Considering Qin Ruoshang had thrown up this morning, she rejected Zhang Liu’s idea of grilling in small batches, preferring to thread everything at once and cook until the meat lost all its bloody color.

“Alright,” Zhang Liu swallowed his hunger, forced himself to keep going, and continued threading meat. Anya also sped up her cutting.

She wasn’t stupid—of course, she could tell Zhang Liu suggested grilling in batches because he was hungry.

Then suddenly Anya remembered something and turned to Zhang Liu, asking, “By the way, what about the lamb’s testicles and all?”

“Huh?” Zhang Liu was momentarily stunned and didn’t immediately get what Anya meant. Then he caught the strange look in her eyes and realized.

“Those… I haven’t cut them yet,” Zhang Liu said awkwardly. “Why do you ask?”

“When you cut the meat later, I’ll grill those for you. Eat them quickly—they’re supposed to be good for your health,” Anya’s face flushed as she finished the sentence, “You can’t always think about taking care of others—you have to take care of yourself sometimes. I remember Dad said those are really nutritious for men!”

“Cough cough cough…” Zhang Liu coughed awkwardly a few times but didn’t respond verbally. Instead, he worked faster to prevent the innards from piling up.

He really wanted to say that he didn’t need to eat testicles for any supposed health benefits yet…