novelraw Chapter 166: Picnic, Clothes
Chapter 166: Picnic, Clothes
Evelyn Ford found a flat piece of ground, lit some branches, and tossed the pinecones into the fire.
The pinecones quickly began to ooze resin, which made a SIZZLING sound. Before long, the fragrance of pinewood filled the air. Evelyn Ford and Wendy sat on the ground, both staring intently at the pinecones in the fire.
Once the green pinecones were roasted until they were pitch-black, they could be pulled out.
Evelyn Ford picked up a rock and smashed a pinecone flat. After loosening the scales, she could break it open, and the steaming hot nuts inside tumbled out.
Evelyn Ford picked one up, popped it in her mouth, and cracked the shell as if it were a sunflower seed. The nut inside was fragrant and sweet.
"Is it good?"
Wendy nodded. "It’s delicious, but it’s really hard to open."
Evelyn Ford smiled. After they finished the pine nuts, the two of them went to the pond to clean the pheasant, which they then skewered on a stick to roast.
"Miss Ford, it’s so much fun being with you."
"Is it? Then you should eat more later. We can come out for a picnic again when we have time."
"Hey, you two! That’s not very nice. Roasting a pheasant out here without inviting me."
Evelyn Ford and Wendy turned around and saw Quincy. The two of them sighed in unison.
"What’s with that? Why are you sighing at the sight of me? Look what I brought."
He brought his hands out from behind his back. Only when Evelyn Ford saw he was holding two cleaned fish did she scoot over to make room for him.
"I saw you two sneaking into the woods a while ago. I never thought you’d be roasting a chicken. Alright, I have to get in on this action."
He propped the fish over the fire, then took out a bundle wrapped in a plastic sheet. When he opened it, it turned out to be salt.
"You can’t do without salt. Were you two just going to eat it plain?"
"Thanks. But weren’t you harvesting wheat?" Evelyn Ford took the salt from his hand and sprinkled a little on the roasting chicken.
"All done."
"Where’s Wyatt Vaughn?"
"Her? She went to see her brother."
Quincy looked left and right but didn’t see Ronan Kendrick. "Ronan Kendrick isn’t here?"
"He’s at home. I had nothing to do, so I came out for a stroll."
The chicken was ready soon. Evelyn Ford tore off a drumstick and handed it to Wendy. Even with just salt, it tasted delicious.
"It’s been getting hotter and hotter lately. Just half an hour under the sun is enough to make you dizzy."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "The temperature will probably keep rising. I have a feeling this heatwave is going to last a long time."
As the three of them were eating, a few boys came over. They had seen the smoke and thought the woods were on fire, so they rushed over, only to find Evelyn Ford’s group having a picnic.
"Dr. Ford, the wind is picking up. Make sure you put out the fire before you leave."
Evelyn Ford nodded. "Got it. Don’t worry."
The young patrolmen left with their spears. Quincy watched them go, feeling a little emotional.
"Taylor Vance and his people are really good people." ’It couldn’t have been easy to raise so many orphans into the young men they are today.’
Evelyn Ford quite agreed. "I heard they’re organizing everyone to dig a few more cellars recently?"
"Yeah. It’s getting hotter, and vegetables are hard to preserve in the heat. We can’t turn everything into dried vegetables, right? So they suggested we keep digging cellars to store all the vegetables and grain. They’re thinking ahead. They’ve been burned by natural disasters before, so they know you have to prepare for the future when things are stable."
"That’s a good idea. They should dig them."
Quincy sighed. "If only we had sweet potatoes and potatoes. They last much longer."
A flicker of thought crossed Evelyn Ford’s face, but she said nothing.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, they put out the fire with dirt and went their separate ways. The moment Evelyn Ford walked in the door, Ronan Kendrick smelled the scent of roasted meat on her.
Ronan Kendrick felt a little hurt that Evelyn Ford had gone out to eat without him, but he didn’t show it.
"What took you so long?"
"Long? It’s only been two or three hours."
Ronan Kendrick’s gaze grew even more forlorn. "Are you still eating dinner tonight?"
"No, I’m already full."
Seeing the dangerous look in his eyes, Evelyn Ford quickly backtracked. "Well, I guess I’m not *that* full. I could eat a little more."
Evelyn Ford turned on the tower fan to cool off. She had worked up a sweat on her trip out.
Seeing Ronan Kendrick reading *Heavenly Craftsmanship*, Evelyn Ford leaned in curiously.
"Besides the cookbook, this seems to be the book you flip through the most."
"It has a lot of useful things. Cultivation, weaving and sericulture, dyeing fabrics, salt and sugar production, making bricks, tiles, and ceramics, building carts and boats, forging metals, mining and smelting ores, pressing oil, papermaking, weapon smithing, pigments, yeast for brewing, mining gold and silver... Evelyn Ford, is this book the reason you’re so capable?"
That was giving Evelyn Ford too much credit. She had hardly ever read *Heavenly Craftsmanship*. It had been her father’s favorite book, so naturally, she treasured it, but she rarely flipped through it for fear of damaging the pages.
The things she knew were mostly from school. Some of it, she’d learned from watching various short videos and popular science content from online creators.
But there was no denying that *Heavenly Craftsmanship* was indeed a remarkable book.
"I know a little about a lot of things, but I’m not an expert in much. What part are you on?"
Ronan Kendrick showed her the page. He was reading about mining well salt.
"Why so diligent all of a sudden?"
Ronan Kendrick didn’t quite know why himself. He just wanted to learn many things so that Evelyn Ford wouldn’t have to puzzle over these difficult problems alone. In the future, he wanted to be like her, able to solve any problem with ease.
He didn’t want the distance between him and Evelyn Ford to grow any wider.
But what he didn’t know was that in Evelyn Ford’s heart, Ronan Kendrick was already something far beyond ordinary.
"You said it yourself: ’Fumble through what you don’t know, keep growing, and always strive to move forward.’"
Evelyn Ford watched him with a smile. "Why are you so obedient? Ronan Kendrick, are you actually a robot? A nice, obedient robot."
"I don’t think so. I think I’m human," he replied in all seriousness.
After dinner, Evelyn Ford continued making clothes for him. She made ten identical long-sleeved T-shirts. Evelyn Ford had originally wanted to make short-sleeved ones, but he had adamantly refused.
’On second thought, that makes sense,’ Evelyn Ford mused. ’If he got hurt in front of others and the wound healed instantly, it might scare them. Long sleeves are indeed more convenient.’
"Ronan Kendrick, let’s go gather pinecones tomorrow. I’m no good at climbing trees. Can you help me?"
A faint smile touched the corners of Ronan Kendrick’s lips. "Of course."
’Sure enough, Evelyn Ford still needs me.’
"Oh, right, what Quincy said today reminded me of something. I think we could plant some potatoes and sweet potatoes. Sweet potato leaves are delicious; you’d definitely like them. And there are lots of ways to cook potatoes. You can fry them, make a cold salad, or put them in a hot pot. Most importantly, potatoes are a high-carbohydrate food."
"What you really mean is, should we share them with everyone?"
Evelyn Ford snapped her fingers. "Clever boy. What do you think? Should I share them with everyone?"
"You could share them with Quincy or Mr. Graham. Those two would help you cover for it."