Du Lai was completely speechless!

He was terrible?

Compared to this young mistress, who at the drop of a hat would toss someone into the ocean to be fish food — he was terrible?

The double standards here were truly something extraordinary!

“In any case, I’ve told you the method. Whether you go or not is up to you! If you want to keep starving, I’m not stopping you!” Du Lai lay back down again, carrying a trace of frustration, and turned his entire body away from her, the back of his head facing her direction.

Fu Miaoxue’s stomach let out an uncooperative, embarrassing gurgle.

She bit her lip, pressed a hand to her belly, and asked Du Lai: “Is the banana tree really edible?”

Du Lai had no desire to respond to her.

He felt he had already done everything within his power. Today he had very nearly been maimed by her antics, and now he was supposed to be responsible for filling her belly too. If it weren’t for the fact that her weeping and wailing was so insufferably annoying, he truly would not have bothered with her at all!

After lying there a short while, he heard a rustling sound behind him — followed by the sound of footsteps crunching away over dead leaves.

Du Lai turned his head and looked: Fu Miaoxue had gone out into the blazing sun.

He finally had a moment of peace and quiet.

He had originally planned out many tasks for himself today: find water, dig clay, build the shelter, ideally construct a simple makeshift stove as well, and begin preparing clay pots for firing. But as things stood, apart from sorting out the water situation, he hadn’t managed to accomplish a single one.

Du Lai was full of pent-up frustration. He couldn’t let himself think about Fu Miaoxue — every time he did, his head throbbed. No — his whole body throbbed!

He closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to sleep, to forget this wretched day entirely.

The fierce midday sun on the beach had left him dizzy and disoriented. Drowsiness crept in quickly. Du Lai got what he wished for and drifted off to sleep.

He had a dream——

In the dream, Fu Miaoxue had turned into a doll — one that couldn’t speak, couldn’t blink. And he was inside some strange game.

The game presented two paths: one was a mountain of blades, the other a sea of flames. Anyone who survived either path alive would receive a holy water capable of reviving the dead. But he had no idea how to traverse either route — until he pulled out an item called the “Stand-in Doll,” passed through the game with ease, and successfully obtained the holy water.

He poured the holy water over Fu Miaoxue.

She opened her eyes. She could speak again — but she still looked like a doll, and immediately flew into a furious tirade, demanding to know why he had left her in this half-dead, half-alive state.

It was a strange dream.

Rich in detail, it felt uncannily real — so much so that when Du Lai woke, he remained dazed for a moment.

As he was coming to his senses, Fu Miaoxue came dragging back a large bundle of banana stalks.

Her face was flushed bright red, her whole body drenched in sweat, her hair plastered in damp strands against the back of her neck. Her arms and legs were dotted with red, swollen welts — clearly mosquito and insect bites. In short, she looked absolutely bedraggled.

Du Lai’s mood grew… complicated.

Like a set of scales — with gloating on one side and tender concern on the other. His heart swung between them, unable to settle.

Fu Miaoxue dragged the banana stalks into the cave and hauled them all the way to Du Lai’s feet, breathing hard, and asked: “Tell me quickly — how do we eat them? Do we roast them or boil them?”

Du Lai glanced out at the fierce sunlight, then looked back at her. His anger had finally subsided. He asked, with a half-smile: “You’re really going to eat pig feed?”

Fu Miaoxue sat down, swallowed dryly, and said with faint energy: “We eat together.”

The meaning was clear: if one of them was a pig, both of them were pigs — neither one gets off the hook.

Du Lai nodded, picked up a banana stalk, and unhurriedly peeled back the outer skin. “Relax, I’m not tricking you. As long as you strip off the outer layers, the inner core of the banana stalk is edible. You can cook it or eat it raw. If you don’t believe me, watch me eat one first.”

He peeled away the deep green and pale green outer layers and pulled out the white inner core — soft and moist, carrying a fresh, clean scent of leaves and grass.

He was just lifting it toward his mouth when Fu Miaoxue suddenly lunged forward!

She bit right into the core in his hand!

And nearly bit off his fingers in the process.

—