Completing Pottery

You are so handsome and excellent, your child must be very smart and lovely too!

You saved sister's life, no matter what, sister is willing to bear this result for you.

Even if it's dangerous, even if we can't go back, even if we can only have a baby on the island, sister is willing to take the risk for you.

Sister doesn't want you to be responsible, just...just want this child.

Even if you marry one of them, sister will bless you!

Some things don't have to be forced, it's enough to have had it!

She stretched out her hand and gently stroked Lu Zhe's face.

The corner of her mouth showed a hint of sweet smile.

Another morning!

Today is June 28, the 19th day stranded on the island!

Lu Zhe began to prepare for entering the pottery age.

Twenty automatic filters filtered out a full 4L of fresh water.

Lin Qianqian, Jiang Yao and Tang Xiaoguo began boiling water, burning steel helmets, and cleaning resin.

Lu Zhe and Ning Shu took a 2L bottle to the rock crevice to divert the flow!

There is no pottery yet, I can only make do with the biggest bottle.

Soon, the flow guide is installed, waiting for the water to fill the bottle.

On the way back, Ning Shu asked:

“Where do we start when we go back?”

“Make charcoal first, then make a stove to burn pottery.”

Ning Shu thought about it: “Eh? I remember you can directly use firewood, the wood ash will become glaze!”

"You even know about glaze?"

Lu Zhe smiled approvingly, and said:

“But extremely high temperatures are needed to form glaze. To achieve high temperatures, bellows are required. I can make a blower, but making it now would be too time consuming, just to get wood ash glaze is obviously not cost-effective! Compared to wood, using charcoal in the kiln can achieve higher temperatures, and the pottery will be more durable!"

Ning Shu nodded, “Then how do you make charcoal?”

“I’ll teach you when we get back to the camp!”

When they returned to the camp, Shen Bing walked over with a smile and said, “I heard you guys are making pottery today, take me too! Lu Zhe, teach me and Little Ning!”

"Oh, Sister Bing, you’re better now!"

"I was fine all along!" Shen Bing smiled and tilted her head, "I feel this life here is quite nice!"

Then she smiled at him again, "Lu Zhe, I’ll follow whatever you do with Little Ning, it'll improve efficiency!"

Lu Zhe nodded, “That works too! Wait for me here!”

He went into the woods with a Type 30 bayonet to chop firewood. In less than twenty minutes, he dragged back a whole dead tree.

“You’re pretty efficient!"

“It’s easy to find dead trees in forests like these, I just chopped one back directly. Dead trees contain less moisture, perfect for making charcoal. Don’t bother gathering twigs anymore, let’s just use this!”

“Okay, what’s next?”

“Watch me!”

Lu Zhe cut down a thick wooden stick and stuck it in the ground. He then chopped the branches and stacked them neatly around the stick, forming a tidy pile of firewood!

Next, he plucked several large banana leaves and wrapped them around the stack, tying them with ropes so they wouldn’t scatter everywhere.

Finally, he scooped some mud from the well, mixed it with clay, and smeared it around the banana leaves, forming a large semi-circular object on the ground - the charcoal kiln is done!

Less than two meters away, Ning Shu and Shen Bing built one too. It looked decent, I gotta say.

Tang Xiaoguo looked over from a distance, “Hey, what’re they building over there?”

Jiang Yao jokingly teased, “Bigger than yours, smaller than mine, who’re they modeling it after!”

Lin Qianqian looked up and immediately blushed, “How indecent...”

Tang Xiaoguo called out loudly, “Hey, what’re you building?!”

Lu Zhe called back, “Kilns!”

Tang Xiaoguo shrugged, “See, I knew they were up to no good, men love going to those places!”

Jiang Yao scoffed, “Xiaoguo, I don’t mind your quips, but please refrain from making puns!”

After the charcoal kilns were built, Lu Zhe made a hole on the top and bottom, then took out a burning twig and stuck it inside before fanning vigorously with dry banana leaves!

Soon, the branches were ablaze inside.

“Now, seal all openings!”

Together with Shen Bing, Lu Zhe plastered large chunks of mud over the vents.

“Done! We’ll check back once the kiln dies down and collect the charcoal! Meanwhile, let’s make some pottery!”

Shen Bing pondered, “Uh, don’t we need one of those spinning thingies?”

Lu Zhe shook his head, “We can do without, too tedious to build now. Let’s use the coil technique instead!”

Ning Shu asked, “There’s such a method?”

“Of course, I’m not making things up.”

“Hmm, I know where you picked this up from. Tell us the specifics!”

As Lu Zhe explained, he demonstrated the steps: “Simply flatten a base with clay, then roll some clay into long strips and stack them up. Finally, smooth out gaps and pinch together for uniform thickness!”

Ning Shu snapped her fingers, “Got it!”

Ning Shu and Shen Bing decided to make a ceramic basin, good for storing water and washing.

Lu Zhe chose to make a ceramic jar mainly for fetching water.

It seemed easy but was pretty tedious; two hours later Ning Shu and Shen Bing finally completed their pottery.

In contrast, not only did Lu Zhe finish the jar, he even threw in some ceramic cups and bowls!

Comparatively, their basin and jug still looked a little rough until Lu Zhe helped tweak them.

Shen Bing smiled wryly, “Don’t tell me you’re trained in pottery too!”

Lu Zhe just smiled, “Know the basics.”

By then, the charcoal was ready.

Peeking into the kiln, they found chunks of jet-black charcoal inside, roughly forty to fifty pounds’ worth.

Ning Shu cheered loudly, “Haha, so much charcoal, we can charcoal grill in future! It’ll make the meat of tropicbirds and bamboo rats extra delicious!”

“We can indeed charcoal grill in future, all natural too. Let the pottery dry first before firing.”

In the meantime, Lu Zhe stacked another kiln. Once dried, they carefully arranged the pottery pieces inside and filled it fully with charcoal!

Light it up!

Unlike the previous kiln, they had to constantly fan this one with dry banana leaves to ensure sufficient airflow inside.

After a few hours, all charcoal in the kiln was spent. They pried it open and used twigs to retrieve the fired pottery!

Gently tapping emitted a pleasing crisp ring - firing was very successful!

All that’s left was to coat the fine pores with resin to seal the pottery.

While the girls Jiang Yao, Tang Xiaoguo and Lin Qianqian handled meals and cleaned supplies, collecting half a pound of dammar resin in the process.

Lu Zhe placed the resin on rocks to melt, found a twig, and smashed one end into a brush!

He carefully dipped it in resin and painted the pottery surface.

As dusk descended, they finally completed the first batch of pottery!