Stranded on a Deserted Island—They All Started Plotting Against Me - Chapter 56 - Chapter 56

How to put it…

Being force-fed roasted meat by a rich girl from your old class wasn’t such a bad feeling.

After all, what boy wouldn’t want a rich girl to force-feed him?

If only it hadn’t almost ended with her choking him to death…

After gulping down the “food leftover because my stomach hurts” graciously gifted by Anya and Qin Ruoshang, Zhang Liu hurried off.

His goal was the pit where the heat had made it impossible for him to stand nearby earlier.

That was the place where they planned to roast the lamb legs and he needed to keep a close eye on the situation.

In just a short while, Zhang Liu arrived at the exposed rocky area. About ten meters ahead was the pit.

From afar, thin wisps of pale smoke rose from the pit’s mouth, so the intense smoldering phase had probably ended.

Stopping at least ten meters away from the pit opening, he cautiously tapped the ground with the back of his finger just in case.

The cool sensation he felt reassured him he had nothing to worry about.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Zhang Liu approached the pit.

Standing far away hadn’t given him much feeling, but now getting close, he could still feel a wave of heat rolling towards him.

Squinting, Zhang Liu leaned over to look inside the pit.

The long stick he had left earlier for ventilation had been completely burned up. Only a few large chunks of charcoal remained at the bottom of the pit, glowing faintly red.

He kicked the rocks beside the pit hard with his foot, and after confirming they were firmly in place, Zhang Liu squatted by the edge and stretched out his hand, then hovered it just above the edge of the rocks, feeling the temperature with the back of his hand.

It was somewhat hot, but not too hot to touch.

He boldly reached out and touched it, and after confirming he could safely touch the rock, he breathed a sigh of relief.

If he could grab hold, there wouldn’t be the danger of slipping with nowhere to hold on.

Being in the wilderness, every action required careful consideration.

He went to find a longer stick nearby and began stirring the ashes at the bottom of the pit.

The stick didn’t stick to the ashes at all—obviously, everything inside was already roasted very dry.

This made him very happy; the pit-roasting plan was a success!

However, as he stirred, some unburned dry grass or leaves at the bottom caught fire from the sparks in the ashes, starting a second roasting of the rocky walls.

After mixing every spot inside the pit evenly with the ash and wood fragments, Zhang Liu threw down the stick and sighed in relief.

The preliminary preparation was complete!

Next up was organizing dinner.

To him, the four enormous roasted lamb legs already seemed to be waving at him!

He had only seen the method of roasting meat in a clay pit on TV before, but he remembered all the details very clearly.

The sight of juicy roasted lamb legs was incredibly tempting for a poor boy.

The first step was to have enough firewood!

That was easy to solve—just make a few more trips back and forth.

After several days of gathering, there was already a large pile of firewood stored on a flat area near the cave.

The three of them had collected it from nearby or distant woods.

There were sticks of all sizes, the largest and longest being over three meters, with a diameter as thick as Zhang Liu’s waist.

It had originally been a very tall tree, hollowed out and eaten by bugs, which Zhang Liu and Anya had carried back together.

It took quite a bit of effort.

Looking at the pile of firewood in front of him, Zhang Liu nodded with satisfaction.

Not just four lamb legs—he could probably roast ten!

Outside the cave, Qin Ruoshang and Anya had already left, while the hanging meat rack was still smoking and roasting the lamb.

Zhang Liu didn’t hesitate or slack off but began tirelessly carrying wood like a little hamster.

One trip, two trips, three trips…

He lost count of how many times he went back and forth between the cave and the deep pit.

But in the end, he took away exactly one-fifth of their entire firewood stockpile.

He stacked all the wood upright to form a hollow space inside, filled dry grass in the middle, then placed a firestarter and lit a bonfire right there in the open space.

The smoke spread through the sky again, and Zhang Liu didn’t dare to leave casually now.

Because not far beside him were dry, withered grasses, and he was afraid that any stray spark might fly over and start a grass fire.

But at this moment, the heavens were on his side. There was no wind at all, just the scorching sun baking the ground fiercely.

It must be around noon by now, right?

He glanced over at the sun that was heating his body to a burning temperature and sighed helplessly.

Over these past few days, the difference in skin tone between their faces and the skin under their clothes had become quite obvious.

He had heard that crushed coconut meat could be pressed for oil and used as sunscreen.

While his mind wandered with these random thoughts, the bonfire was burning at its most intense.

Every piece of wood was ignited and quickly charred on the surface, crackling loudly.

The fierce flames even made it impossible for Zhang Liu to stand within two meters.

But this level of burning was exactly what he needed.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Liu grabbed a stick and pushed all the wood burning at peak intensity into the pit behind them, which was over a meter deep.

Flames constantly ignited the smoke, and flames also went out, releasing smoke; thick black smoke mixed with bright yellow fire billowed out from the cave entrance, creating a spectacular scene.

However, Zhang Liu had little interest in watching this carefully.

All he needed now was to wait for it to burn down enough, then toss in the lamb legs, cover the top with fresh coconut leaves and yellow sand for moisture and insulation, and that would be it.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his already somewhat aching arm, Zhang Liu turned and headed toward the cave.

He was eager to find a shady spot to hide and then prepare the sheepskin he would need tomorrow.

Near the cave, Zhang Liu ran straight into Anya and Qin Ruoshang returning at the same time.

Anya had a simple foam box held over her head to shield from the sun, while Qin Ruoshang directly used two coconut leaves to cover her head.

Like Zhang Liu, both had been scorched by the harsh sunlight outside and had chosen to come back to avoid the intense UV rays.

Seeing Zhang Liu, their faces brightened happily as they each spoke:

“Zhang Liu, you’re back?”
“You’ve worked hard.”

“Mm.” Zhang Liu nodded and looked at Anya, who had the foam box on her head, and asked, “Were you by the seaside?”

“We wanted to add a seafood dish for dinner.” Anya came beside Zhang Liu to hide in the shade and took a long drink of water stored in the giant clam shell, complaining helplessly, “The sun today is way too strong!”

“The sunlight today is definitely stronger than yesterday,” Qin Ruoshang said as she picked up two clam shells, handed one to Zhang Liu, and held the other to her lips while drinking. Then she asked, “That dirt on your face—is that from working on the pit?”

“Yeah, it’s already burning. I came back first to prepare the sheepskin. Once the sun goes down a bit, I’ll put the lamb legs in to roast. Should be ready by sunset.” Zhang Liu nodded, then turned to remind Qin Ruoshang, “Why don’t you go rest upstairs for now? I’m going to strip the meat off the sheepskin later. It might look kind of gross.”

“I’ll help you!” Almost at the same time, both Anya and Qin Ruoshang offered to help.

Seeing them say the same thing, the two glanced at each other, then both changed their minds and said together, “Then I’ll go fetch water…”

Zhang Liu was stunned. Watching Anya and Qin Ruoshang being humble to each other like that, he felt the situation was a bit strange.