As evening fell, Xi Yi arrived on the slope with the group of several dozen people who had been assigned to the terrifying forest. They had searched for several of those ochre-colored thick vines and left once no more could be found in the forest. After delivering the vines, they learned that the work on the slope wasn’t yet finished, so they hurried back.
Standing before the massive pit of mineral salt, Sha Yi had initially intended to have Xi Gu notify everyone to withdraw. But when she spotted the tall, muscular bronze figure rushing toward her from afar, she instinctively glanced at the interior of the pit and changed her mind.
The brine in the mineral salt pit had been stirred up by the heavy rain, which had also flushed out groundwater. Moreover, when the soil blocks were lifted earlier, many other things had fallen in, inevitably increasing the impurities. Now, as she observed the salt crystals lining the pit, she felt the urge to break off a few pieces and take them back.
She wasn’t formally trained in chemistry, so she couldn’t claim absolute professionalism, but she had mostly relied on authoritative knowledge she had learned to analyze and handle everything. Back in school, she hadn’t been outstandingly brilliant, but she had maintained a balanced performance across subjects, coupled with a good memory. Recalling these things now wasn’t particularly difficult, though the limited conditions of this world meant that subsequent steps would likely have to be simplified.
She wasn’t aiming for perfection—just the bare minimum of success.
But precisely to ensure that bare minimum, she needed to take a few salt crystals back for comparison.
However, she couldn’t bring herself to ask this of the others. Xi Yi was different. He was the closest person to her here, and he had always been compliant with her. This time, her request wasn’t unreasonable, capricious, or futile, so he probably wouldn’t mind. Thinking this, she quickly reached out to wave him over and explained her idea.
As expected, Xi Yi agreed almost without hesitation. The salt crystals were only about two of his body lengths below the surface, so retrieving them would be effortless for him.
Xi Yi soon picked up one of the thick vines lying on the ground and prepared to descend. But the vine was too short—even tied to a boulder, it wouldn’t reach far enough. At the moment, only she was by his side; the others were likely already on their way back to the settlement’s cave with the containers, including Xi Gu, whom she had just seen but who had now disappeared.
A few women from other small groups, whom they barely knew, were the only ones nearby, hurriedly bundling the wooden containers together.
At this point, Sha Yi shrugged helplessly and smiled at him, indicating that she was the only one left to hold the vine for him.
Xi Yi immediately shook his head, scrutinizing her up and down as he did so. Yet, in the end, he firmly repeated the gesture.
Sha Yi was speechless at the blow but had to admit that her physique, which would have been considered average in modern times, was downright frail compared to the other women of this era—let alone the towering, muscular Xi Yi. Naturally, she couldn’t blame him. Right now, he was probably at a loss over her utterly unhelpful size and weight.
She suspected that, in Xi Yi’s eyes, she was nothing more than a porcelain doll that couldn’t withstand even the slightest rough handling.
The thought made her both amused and exasperated, but she couldn’t be bothered to argue. After all, the contrast was obvious. If measured against him as a reference, she really was as he imagined.
The only thing that frustrated her was how he automatically overlooked the fact that her mental contributions far outweighed her physical ones. Sha Yi sighed in resignation.
After surveying the surroundings of the pit, she took the vine from his hand and gestured for him to push the sturdy wooden pole—used for prying soil blocks—to the edge of the pit.
Though puzzled, Xi Yi didn’t question her and simply complied.
Without further explanation, Sha Yi picked up another short, thick wooden stick, tied the vine into a tight knot, and hung it over the pole laid horizontally across the pit. The other end of the stick was wedged firmly into the gap between the pole and the ground, locking it in place—all in one smooth motion.
He watched in slight astonishment before his expression cleared with understanding. She suppressed a laugh and simply shook the vine to signal that he could descend now.
Xi Yi moved swiftly, scaling up and down with remarkable agility. In the blink of an eye, he had descended four or five meters into the pit, chiseled off several chunks of salt crystals with a fruit knife, and climbed back up just as quickly.
The crystals he brought back had a faint whitish hue, most of them transparent and clear. Earlier, when she had looked down from above, they had appeared grayish-yellow, leading her to assume they were mineral salt mixed with impurities. Unexpectedly, upon closer inspection, the grayish tint was merely a reflection of the soil’s color. The crystals themselves were nearly colorless, pristine in their purity.
Recalling her past studies and comparing them with what she now held, Sha Yi couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement. This might very well be a rare deposit of high-purity mineral salt.
She could only hope that the brine they extracted would crystallize just as clearly. If it did, they would only need to collect the brine in the future. Otherwise, they’d have to send people down to chip out the crystallized chunks for use.
Everything depended on the results of the upcoming simple filtration, sun-drying, and boiling processes.
Even without seeing the outcome yet, she was thrilled. Mineral salt, unlike sea salt, was inherently much purer.
Moreover, sea salt contained magnesium chloride, which gave it a bitter taste—something they had no means to address with their current conditions. Additionally, due to its bromide content, sea salt carried an unavoidable fishy odor. Another issue was its coarse texture. While it might suffice for preserving food, using it for seasoning was a stretch, especially without professional purification tools.
By the time they finished their work, much time had passed, and the sky had darkened considerably. Most people had already left the slope.
After carefully wrapping the extracted salt crystals, she followed Xi Yi back.
The entire way, he held her hand. Though neither spoke, the atmosphere was warm and gentle. They walked slowly, unhurried, and only returned to the settlement’s cave when night had fully fallen.
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