Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 47 Take a refreshing bath

Back at the camp that evening, Zhou Xin told Zhang Jianing and Edward the good news about finding a water source, and the two were very happy.

Zhang Jianing, in particular, couldn't help but cheer at the thought of being able to take showers whenever she wanted in the future.

The next morning, Zhou Xin, carrying tools such as a machete and a pickaxe, headed straight for the pool.

By this time, the water in the pool had become clear.

If it's midday and the weather is hot, he has to carefully observe whether there are snakes hiding in the pond to cool off, but he doesn't have to worry about this in the early morning.

First, clear away all the bushes along the surrounding banks. Then, dig up the animal feathers, animal droppings, and other debris along with the soil below and move them to a location far away from the pool.

This step took him more than two hours.

Looking around the clean pool, Zhou Xin rested for a while before getting back to work.

He rolled up his pants to his thighs, stepped into the pool, and began digging out the mud from the bottom of the pool with his bare hands.

There must be a lot of animal excrement and other filth in the pool, so the surface soil must be cleaned out along with these things.

The best outcome would be to be able to dig directly to the exposed bottom rock layer.

The rock strata here are generally buried quite shallow; usually, you can expose the bottom rock strata by digging only a few tens of centimeters deep.

He kept digging, scooping up the mud from the bottom of the pool and piling it on the bank.

This project was much larger than the previous cleanup around the pond. After another two or three hours, several large piles of silt had accumulated around the pond.

At that moment, he felt a friction on the tips of his fingers as he dug in the soil, and his nails even began to curl up.

He was overjoyed; it seemed they had struck a rock stratum.

This greatly encouraged him, and he immediately began to expand the excavation to the surrounding area, using this place as a base.

Although it was almost noon, he didn't feel hot at all while soaking in the water.

Just then, the walkie-talkie crackled to life; it was Edward calling him back to camp.

But he decided to persevere and finish the entire job before returning to camp.

After replying to Edward, he immediately resumed digging.

He dug for a short while and then discovered the source of the water.

At the bottom center of the pool, a crack opened in the rock strata, from which water gushed out.

It took him another half hour to finally clear away most of the mud from the bottom of the pool.

Although it's impossible to clean it completely, it no longer affects water access.

If I take some time to go to the city and buy a water pump, I can draw water from here.

He climbed ashore and looked at the pool of water shimmering in the sunlight, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

Finally, he carefully sprinkled snake-repellent powder around the pool to prevent snakes from coming here to escape the heat.

After finishing everything, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

With just one more guardrail installed, the cleanliness of the water source will be guaranteed.

Then buy the water pump back, drain the dirty water, and let the water flow back up, and you'll be able to completely enjoy free access to water.

The work at the pool took up most of the day, and by the time he returned to the camp it was already past 1 p.m.

Seeing that Zhou Xin had returned safely, Zhang Jianing and Edward finally felt relieved.

Staying outdoors in this temperature carries a significant risk of heatstroke.

"Go and rest for a bit, I'll prepare lunch, but... I'm not very good at cooking, so I'll just have to make instant noodles for you."

Zhang Jianing looked somewhat guilty and secretly resolved to practice her cooking skills diligently when she got back.

Zhou Xin nodded; he was too exhausted to cook anymore.

Zhang Jianing busied herself at the stove, cooking several packets of white curry instant noodles and then cracking in a few eggs.

In her imagination, the egg would turn into a poached egg, but in reality, the egg would quickly break apart as soon as it was cracked into the boiling pot.

She frantically tried to salvage the situation, but the egg completely broke, with the yolk, egg white, and instant noodles all mixed together.

Finally, the scrambled eggs and instant noodles formed a pot of paste.

When she reluctantly placed three bowls of food perfectly suited to Indian tastes on the table, her pretty face looked so embarrassed she almost cried.

"I'm...I'm sorry, I can't even cook instant noodles properly."

Seeing her at a loss, Zhou Xin didn't say anything, picked up his chopsticks and started eating slurping.

"Hmm, don't let its plain appearance fool you, it tastes really good," he said as he ate.

Edward joined in the eating, saying, "As long as I don't have to eat chili peppers and millennium eggs, all of this is delicious to me."

Zhang Jianing watched the two of them eating heartily and finally smiled.

After lunch, Zhou Xin asked Edward, who didn't take a lunch break, to drive to Kurgadi and buy a water pump.

At the same time, he instructed Edward to buy an outdoor shower system and some other small items.

Although Zhang Jianing certainly wouldn't mind them taking showers in the toilet inside the container, the container was only rented for half a month, so they still needed to plan for the future.

After Edward returned in the afternoon, Zhou Xin helped him load the battery into the car and then drove towards the pond.

He wanted to test the effect and, while he was at it, install a fence around the pool.

After several hours of settling, the water in the pool became crystal clear.

Even the tiny, withered branches and leaves floating on the surface of the pool seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

"The small stone pool that Liu Zongyuan saw was probably similar to this, it's just a pity there were no fish in it."

Zhou Xin was very satisfied with the results. He then moved a water pump to the center of the pool where water was flowing and started the pump to drain the water from the pool.

The pool wasn't very big to begin with, and it quickly dried up.

He took this opportunity to thoroughly clean the bottom of the pool again, and then waited for the water to flow back in.

Finally, a clean and clear pool of water appeared before him. He restarted the water pump and connected the pipe to the water tower.

As the water pump started to run, the water pipes bulged, and water gushed into the water tower.

"Successfully fixed! Now we can come here to pump water anytime, and we don't have to be frugal anymore!"

The water pump is just left in the water; it's not worth much anyway, so there's no need to worry about it being stolen.

Next, he began to use the surrounding trees to build a fence around the area.

Fences can keep wild dogs, emus, and other animals away, but they can't stop birds.

However, birds are small and don't leave much waste, so cleaning them occasionally is quite simple.

As the sun approached the horizon, he finally finished installing the fence.

Everything is finally settled. I won't have to worry about water anymore. This day and a half was well spent.

That evening, after the shower equipment was installed, Zhou Xin used the pickup truck as cover to strip naked and take a refreshing shower.

Cool water sprayed from the showerhead, washing away sweat and relieving the fatigue of the day.

How satisfying!

He washed for a good five or six minutes, until he felt a little cold, before stopping.

He had just finished dressing when Edward rushed over impatiently.

The next moment, Edward let out an indescribable sound of pleasure.

After taking a shower, Zhou Xin took a box from the supplies Edward had just bought and knocked on the door of Zhang Jianing's container.

The door opened quickly, and Zhang Jianing, who had just taken a shower, was wearing loose pajamas with a cat pattern and drying her wet hair with a towel.

"Here, take this." Zhou Xin handed her the box.

Zhang Jianing took the box and immediately showed a look of surprise on her face.

"Ah, it's a hair dryer. I really need this. I forgot to bring it last time I came."

"It's quite hot here at night, but the wind is also very strong, so you should be careful not to catch a cold," Zhou Xin said.

Zhang Jianing looked up at her, her deep blue eyes sparkling.

"Thank you."