Chapter 47: Toiletries Fully Prepared

If brown sugar is exposed to the air for too long, it absorbs moisture and softens.

To prevent this, Qin Tian put the brown sugar into an earthen jar, sealed it with a lid, and stored it in a cool place.

That evening, the two of them had stir-fried pineapple with dried pork and a mushroom meat stew.

The stew was fine, but the pineapple and pork combination was truly bizarre, and the taste was rather strange—sour and bitter at the same time.

Still, they both ate happily.

No wonder—although they now had salt to enhance the flavor, every day they were eating either fish or meat, always the same two things, and had long since grown tired of it.

Now that they had new ingredients, of course they wanted to experiment and change things up for themselves.

Perhaps they were conquered by the pineapple, because after dinner, they each peeled another pineapple, treating it like a proper after-meal fruit.

“By the way, where did you find this pineapple?” In the kitchen, Qin Tian asked Ye Lin as he ate.

“If you walk east from here for about an hour, there’s a pineapple field,” Ye Lin replied. “It’s about the same size as the grassland.”

“An hour’s walk?” Qin Tian was surprised.

For a normal person, you could walk four or five kilometers in an hour.

“That’s too far,” Qin Tian said. “In the future, just look for resources around here. No need to go so far.”

“I’m telling you, you’re underestimating women.” Ye Lin snorted dramatically. “I can go out and gather resources just as well as you.”

It was obvious Ye Lin was joking, but Qin Tian just rolled his eyes and said nothing, letting her read his reaction on her own.

“Besides, with Han Pi around, even if I run into wild beasts, there’s nothing to worry about.” The seriousness on Ye Lin’s face vanished, replaced by a bright smile. “Are you just worried about my safety?”

To be honest, if Han Pi weren’t there, Ye Lin really wouldn’t dare go that far, and at most would only wander around near the grassland.

“Yes!” Qin Tian said earnestly, then added lightly, “If something happened to you, where would I find a free mushroom-gathering girl on this deserted island?”

***

If Ye Lin hadn’t mentioned it, he would have forgotten—she had gone out with Han Pi today.

With Han Pi there, there really wasn’t much to worry about.

In effect, he’d tacitly agreed to Ye Lin going out to gather resources.

“Get lost!” At that, Ye Lin grabbed the pineapple crown beside her and threw it at Qin Tian—but then stopped herself halfway. “Almost made me lose a pineapple!”

“It’s just a crown that’s been cut off. How is that a pineapple?” Qin Tian let it drop.

“You don’t get it.” Ye Lin lifted her chin, clearly showing off. “You can use the pineapple crown to grow a new plant.”

“All you have to do is peel off the little leaves at the base, then leave it in a cool place for two days.” Ye Lin explained enthusiastically, “After the wound heals, you can put it in water to sprout roots. After some time, white roots will appear.”

“Then you transplant the crown into soil, and it’ll grow into a new plant.” As she spoke, Ye Lin was already imagining the cave surrounded by pineapples.

“Learned something new.” Qin Tian clapped.

“There was a senior of mine, Xue Jie, who made potted pineapples. That’s how I learned about this.” Having received Qin Tian’s praise, Ye Lin grew a bit modest, though her smile only grew brighter.

“But your senior probably didn’t tell you—it takes two to three years from planting a pineapple crown to flowering and fruiting.” Qin Tian said lightly.

“Two to three years?!” Ye Lin’s smile froze. She really hadn’t known that.

“If the growing conditions are good, you might be able to shave a few months off.” Qin Tian smiled. Ye Lin’s reaction was exactly as he expected.

In the end, Qin Tian and Ye Lin removed all the leaves from the pineapple crowns they’d cut off today, planning to plant them in a couple of days.

It didn’t take much time—just a bit of fun.

Who knows, maybe they really would end up staying on this island for three or four years.

If they planted them now, there was a chance they’d see a harvest. Of course, deep down, neither of them wanted that to happen.

***

The next morning, Qin Tian, Ye Lin, and Han Pi set off together for the seaside.

The cave’s location wasn’t in line with the original camp, meaning this time their route to the beach was entirely new.

Not being familiar with the path, the journey took longer than usual.

Still, it wasn’t a huge difference.

If before it took a little over an hour to reach the beach, now it took more than two.

Once they got used to the route, they’d probably be able to cut it down to under two hours.

But time wasn’t the real issue—the important thing was whether there were any dangers along the way, whether they’d cross into wild animal territory and be targeted.

Fortunately, with Han Pi as their bodyguard, they reached the beach without incident.

Qin Tian and Ye Lin set out at eight in the morning, and by the time they arrived at the beach, it was already around half past ten.

Since it wasn’t yet noon, they didn’t stop to rest, but split up to collect the supplies they needed.

Under a coconut tree, Qin Tian said to Han Pi, “Han Pi, go.”

As soon as he finished, Han Pi crashed into the coconut tree, making it shake violently.

In the next instant, three or four coconuts fell to the ground.

Qin Tian picked up every single one and put them in his bamboo basket.

Using this method, Qin Tian’s bamboo basket filled up with coconuts.

On the other side, Ye Lin was collecting shells along the beach.

The shell powder Qin Tian had used before to make lard soap and paper had all come from leftovers from meals, and there wasn’t much left.

Now there were only a few in the camp, and since they might need more in the future, it was best to stock up in advance.

Time ticked by, and the temperature on the beach gradually rose.

Looking up, at some point the sun was already high in the sky, the weather scorching hot.

Qin Tian and Ye Lin both took refuge in the shade to rest.

But they’d only just sat down when they heard the sound of waves, and saw the sea gradually receding.

“The tide’s going out,” Ye Lin commented quietly.

“Yeah,” Qin Tian replied.

In the past, when the tide went out, they would’ve rushed out right away.

But now, with plenty of food, they didn’t really care about chasing the tide.

Both of them had gathered enough materials, and after regaining their strength, Qin Tian and Ye Lin headed straight back to camp.

***

By afternoon, the sunlight had softened a lot.

After returning to the camp and resting for a bit, Qin Tian began making coconut oil.

There are three steps to making coconut oil: dicing, grating, and simmering.

The names of the steps pretty much say it all.

In the kitchen, Qin Tian used a stone axe to crack open the coconuts.

Ye Lin scooped out the coconut meat, then used the survival knife to cut it into cubes and loaded it into the ceramic pot.

Working together, they turned a whole basket of coconuts into two full pots of diced coconut meat.

Then Qin Tian poured a certain amount of clean water into the pots.

Each of them took a pot and mashed up the mixture with a wooden stick.

Normally, you’d use a stirring paddle to turn the coconut into pulp, but they didn’t have that, so this was their only option.

Under their efforts, the clear water gradually turned milky white.

Once it reached a certain consistency, they lit a fire and began simmering.

Ten minutes later, the coconut milk began to boil, with a thick layer of floating residue on top.

After half an hour, the coconut milk had reduced by half, and the residue had grown thicker.

After an hour, the residue began to diminish, and a layer of oil appeared on the surface.

At seventy minutes, the residue solidified, like tofu pudding, and the coconut milk separated into oil and water.

At eighty minutes, Qin Tian used a bamboo basket to scoop out the residue and pressed it with a spoon to squeeze out the remaining coconut oil.

At this point, all that was left in the pot was pale yellow coconut oil.

Qin Tian poured the coconut oil into an earthen jar, then put the other pot onto the stove to continue simmering.

“Smells so good.” Leaning over the jar, Ye Lin took a whiff, savoring the pure coconut aroma.

“It’d be weird if it didn’t, seeing as it’s made from coconuts.” Qin Tian rolled his eyes.

Coconut oil needs to cool before it can be used for making toothpaste.

While it cooled, Qin Tian finished simmering the second pot of coconut oil.

An entire basket of coconuts, two pots of coconut cubes, and yet only half a jar of coconut oil in the end.

After an hour, the coconut oil had completely cooled, and Qin Tian started making toothpaste.

“All of it goes in? What’s the ratio?” Ye Lin had already prepared all the ingredients and asked eagerly.

“Let me do it. You just watch,” Qin Tian said, afraid Ye Lin would get too excited and mess up the measurements.

Qin Tian scooped out a bowl of coconut oil, poured it into a clean earthen jar, then added three spoonfuls of baking soda and stirred constantly.

Once it was mixed evenly, Qin Tian added half a spoonful of mint essential oil and kept stirring, then poured the mixture into a bamboo tube.

“It’ll take about a night. Once the coconut oil solidifies, the toothpaste will be ready.” Qin Tian handed the bamboo tube to Ye Lin.

Ye Lin nodded repeatedly, unable to suppress her smile.

“Next up, we just need to make the shampoo.”

“We can do that now.” Qin Tian picked up the jar soaking the soap pods. After days of soaking, the soap pods were fully swollen.

“It’s ready?” Ye Lin was excited.

“More or less.” Qin Tian picked up a stick and started mashing.

Soaking the soap pods just softens the outer skin, making them easier to mash.

If you wanted to skip that step, you could, but the resulting shampoo wouldn’t be as good.

The soap pods in the jar were still a bit tough, but close enough, so he decided to just get it done now.

The steps for making shampoo were pretty similar to making toothpaste.

After mashing the soap pods, Qin Tian put them in the pot and simmered them with sliced ginger.

They worked for quite a while, and by the time the soap pods were simmering, it was already getting dark.

While Qin Tian was busy simmering the soap pods, Ye Lin started preparing dinner.

Of course, Ye Lin didn’t really know how to cook, so like last night, she just threw in dried meat and pineapple for a stew.

Soap pods need to simmer for a long time.

Even after dinner, Qin Tian let them simmer for another hour before taking them off the heat.

The soap pod juice looked like traditional medicine—dark brown and with a strong ginger smell, not pleasant at all.

After filtering out the soap pod residue, Qin Tian mixed it with coconut oil at a 1:1 ratio, which puzzled Ye Lin.

“I don’t remember you mentioning coconut oil in the shampoo recipe,” Ye Lin said.

“There’s more than one way to make shampoo,” Qin Tian explained. “Coconut oil nourishes and protects the hair. If you mix it with soap pods, it keeps the soap from being too harsh and damaging your hair.”

That’s why Qin Tian made shampoo even without other medicinal herbs—the coconut oil they’d made was a perfect substitute.

“Oh.” Ye Lin nodded, half-understanding.

As they stirred, the ginger smell was gradually masked by the coconut aroma.

By the end, you could still smell a hint of ginger, but it was completely tolerable.

Like the toothpaste, the shampoo needed to be set aside to solidify.

Qin Tian put it into bamboo tubes as well.