After the first transaction ended, obviously, both parties were quite satisfied, especially Lee So-yeon. Chuck received a message from her early the next morning, wanting to arrange the next meeting as soon as possible.
Chuck wasn't surprised by this.
Using a basket of bananas and wild fruits, which could be seen everywhere on this deserted island, to exchange for a package of two or three catties of smoked lamb and two quite substantial sweet potatoes, this kind of business, if it were Chuck himself, he would also be tempted.
It could be imagined that Lee So-yeon was probably dying to make this exchange a daily occurrence right now, so that everyone around her could have an easier life.
But how could Chuck follow her wishes?
The bait had been cast, the next step was to start fishing.
Chuck just casually found an excuse of feeling unwell and postponed the time for the next transaction in one breath for a full two days, until three days later.
As expected, after receiving Chuck's reply, Lee So-yeon clearly panicked, constantly beating around the bush to get him to come again as soon as possible, but Chuck directly set her to do-not-disturb mode, put away the phone, and ignored her.
Besides those women in the northern part of the island, Chuck still had a bunch of important things to worry about right now.
The hunting plan for the giant volcanic bird, the house expansion plan, and of course the long-delayed silk reeling and weaving plan, were all laid out before Chuck now, waiting for him to complete them one by one.
Chuck still followed his past habits, starting with the simple things.
Living on the island until now, including Chuck, the clothes everyone in the family originally wore were already in tatters. Most of them had changed into linen clothes made of fibers, but this material somehow didn't feel like cloth, more like wearing paper on the body. Moving around inevitably felt uncomfortable, and its flexibility was also very poor. After being soaked in sweat, it was very easy to damage.
Changing everyone in the family into soft, close-fitting silk clothing was Chuck's top priority right now.
After getting up in the early morning, simply completing his past morning routine, Chuck immediately fetched that large pile of silkworm cocoons and officially started making clothes.
Although there was no clue on how to start from scratch for the time being, the good news was that the climate on this deserted island was hot and humid. Clothes only needed to be thin, provide sun protection, and simple warmth, so regarding the materials, perhaps he didn't need to worry too much. The important thing was that the quality had to be durable.
Based on Chuck's current preparations and understanding, to turn the silkworm cocoons produced on Janet's side into silk clothing, three steps of processing were required.
— Reeling silk and twisting threads, weaving silk, and cutting clothes.
First, turning the silkworm cocoons on hand into silk threads was the most crucial process, but fortunately, for this kind of simple work, Chuck's cheat often came in handy.
First, put the silkworm cocoons in boiling water to boil them soft, then the silk thread could be smoothly pulled out from the cocoon. Use a wooden stick to insert and open the silkworm cocoon, winding the silk circle by circle, and finally take it out. Fifteen strands are twisted together into a fine thread, and finally, one can obtain long and slender fine threads one by one.
Initially, Chuck did it completely by hand for a while, then as usual, he tried putting the silkworm silk softened by boiling water into the workbench, and not surprisingly, he got the recipe for synthesizing fine threads.
Next, he could use the workbench queue to synthesize silk fine threads in batches.
With the fine threads twisted from silk, soft, slender, and long one by one, rolled into balls of yarn, it came to the second step, weaving silk fabric.
There were two ways to weave fabric: spindle and needle hand-weaving, or semi-automated machine weaving.
Although the needle and thread were much easier to prepare, the actual operation was extremely difficult and strenuous, not to mention that although the family was full of women, limited by the factors of the times, even Yitong, who was in charge of housework, never had any experience in needlework, let alone Chuck himself.
So over the past two days, Chuck took the time to use the DIY recipe function of the workbench, paired with various materials, tried every means, and finally successfully made a simple small loom.
The whole process cost him a lot of energy and time, and he also took some detours, but he finally got this thing done, and thereby updated the tools on hand once again.
The wooden frame and structure required by the loom were more precise than the previous ballista, so in order to cut the wood more accurately, Chuck also finally gave up the combination of hammer and wedge tools on hand. He used hardwood branches as a frame, heated them with a furnace, and then hit the teeth one by one with a wedge on the workbench, meticulously forging a steel frame saw!
This was Chuck's first saw. With this thing, the efficiency and quality of future woodworking would also be completely different.
Subsequent events also proved this point. It took Chuck less than half a day, with Momo's help, to successfully make this small treadle loom.
The structure of this loom was actually not complicated, similar to a waterwheel. There were two main shafts, one fixed on the frame, and the other connected to the pedal through a small gear. You only needed to fix the silk thread, step on the pedal, and the silk thread could be neatly arranged and opened, then combined with a wooden shuttle moving laterally between the yarns, interweaving the warp and weft threads together, a solid and uniform fabric could be formed.
Putting the synthesized fine threads together with that loom into the workbench again, after triggering the recipe, Chuck didn't wait for the countdown to end like before, but directly consumed the workbench storage time given by Jiang Qi's exclusive bonus, costing ten hours of storage time, and accelerating to complete it in one breath.
As the light faded, appearing together with the light screen was a piece of flat, soft silk satin exuding a faint luster on that workbench.
[Synthesis Complete!]
[You obtained — Colorless Silk Fabric (Poor Quality): 1m × 2m]
Taking the fabric down and looking at it carefully in his hand, Chuck's expression became increasingly pleasantly surprised.
From reeling silk to weaving, it took a total of three hours of storage time and consumed over two thousand silkworm cocoons, finally letting Chuck get this piece of silk satin one meter wide and two meters long in his hand!
Walking quickly back into the residence, gently spreading this piece of silk on the dining table in the living room, and scrutinizing it more carefully.
Although the color of this piece of satin wasn't considered perfect, and the color on some parts of the surface wasn't very uniform, and occasional tiny white spots could be seen, this irregular color instead added a natural aesthetic feeling.
The surface touch of the satin was slightly smooth, almost indistinguishable from the smooth touch of silk in Chuck's imagination, it was just that the texture was indeed a little slightly unsatisfactory, but compared to the rough fiber linen he used before, it was much, much better.
Stroking the surface of the fabric lightly with a finger, he could feel the gaps and textures between the silk threads. Although it wasn't a completely uniform weave, it was still more delicate than the previous linen.
This piece of silk fabric indeed fit the "Poor Quality" evaluation given by the workbench, but it truly, truly could be counted as silk!
As long as it was silk, then whether wearing it on the body or spreading it on the bed, it was far better than the past linen clothes and blankets, by several times.
Next was the final step, cutting.
Two thousand silkworm cocoons, finally ending up with only such a piece of fabric one meter wide and two meters long, just about enough to cut out a set of clothes for one person in the family.
Chuck had already thought that on this tropical deserted island, there was no longer any need to consider any fashion factors, everything should be prioritized for convenience and comfort, so for the style of this clothing, naturally, a close-fitting short robe was the most suitable.
No need to cut cuffs and hems, length to the knee would do, and the size should be mainly loose. After simple sewing and opening a neckline, the whole piece put on the body could be as comfortable and breathable as a silk nightgown. On this tropical island with a humid climate, for the women in the family, it could be considered perfect clothing.
If one had to say what style it was, it would probably be similar to the robes of ancient Roman and Greek women, or the yukata of Japan, but the degree of coolness would be much greater.
Chuck also had his own calculations in this regard. After all, every single one of his harem at home was top-tier, and there wasn't a second man on this island besides him. If this daily wear covered too tightly, it would be too much of a waste of heaven's gifts. It just so happened to save fabric, and also allowed him to feast his eyes.
If he got aroused while watching, stepping forward and lifting it up to fuck would also be extremely convenient.
Having thought it through, he started working directly.
The way of a tailor was no different in essence from a blacksmith, carpenter, or stonemason. The reason Chuck could forge this large pile of tools today and build such a three-bedroom, one-living-room deserted island residence relied on nothing more than the materials he collected, and this workbench cheat that was enough to complete various tasks.
Cutting clothes was naturally a piece of cake as well.
Taking a little time, Chuck made a tailoring knife at the forging table, and incidentally ground out two fine needles using scraps. Putting them together with this piece of fabric on hand into the workbench, he simply designed a loose-sized short robe through the DIY multiple recipe, and the next step was synthesis.
Finally, hard work paid off.
Taking this silk long dress down from the workbench, Chuck compared it against himself, the length actually only reached his crotch.
But after all, he was tall and sturdy now, this length seemed just about over one meter. Obviously, the size design was a bit too small. The one in the family it was probably most suitable for was only Momo.
After all, it was the first time designing and making it, some deviations were inevitable. Fortunately, there was still someone who could wear it.
This piece of fabric consumed about two thousand silkworm cocoons, and calculating according to the current scale of silkworm breeding in the artificial cave, the harvest of this batch of silkworm cocoons every four days was just over four thousand. Looking at it this way, every harvest was just about enough to add a new piece of clothing for two people in the family.
That was to say, on average every two days, he could make a piece of clothing for the family.
Such a speed, although not slow either, was still somewhat strained.
But to increase the yield of silkworm cocoons, the scale of silkworm breeding in the artificial cave needed to be expanded, but the wooden racks and wooden trays used for breeding silkworms were okay to talk about, the key was the mulberry leaves needed for feeding, which was linked to the planting scale of mulberry trees in Julia's greenhouse below the stone slope.
But nowadays the greenhouse had long been fully occupied by various crops, there was no extra space to transplant mulberry trees additionally. To expand the scale, the greenhouse needed to be upgraded first.
But speaking of which, this matter could actually be put on the agenda too.
Thinking like this, Chuck shook the clothes in his hand and folded them neatly.
The remaining silkworm cocoons were still enough to make another piece of clothing. This time he would try to make it as long as possible. In this way, later today, he could first let two women in the family take off those makeshift linen clothes and put on this soft and breathable silk robe.
...
Another day passed in a hurry.
After the matter of clothes was settled, Chuck dealt with some chores again, and the subsequent work was postponed to the next day to continue.
In the evening, the dinner on the table was also a bit more abundant than before. Stir-fried eggs with wild vegetables, candied baby lamb chops, paired with pancakes, sweet potatoes, and taro. Chuck and the women ate with great relish.
As the pregnant female goats in the livestock shed successively gave birth to cubs, and the wild chickens adapted to the environment and started laying eggs, the ingredients on the dining table once again became much more abundant, and the standard of diet was raised to a higher level again.
Especially eggs, this thing whether in modern society or on this deserted island, is undisputedly a good thing. It is an ingredient that can be used whether boiled, stir-fried, made into soup, or even making desserts, and its nutritional value is high. Even if not eaten, one can still wait for chicks to hatch...
Wait until the water diversion problem is solved, successfully reclaim a piece of paddy field below the stone slope, and start planting rice, then he can taste the long-lost egg fried rice.
Chuck happily had dinner together with the women, then started boiling water for a bath as usual.
Right at this time, the Gu family mother and daughter sneaked into the bedroom and sat side by side on the edge of the bed discussing something.
Taking over a pair of overalls covered in dust, full of holes and rough patches from her daughter's hand, Yitong placed it on her voluptuous white thighs. She scrutinized it for a moment by the firelight outside the house, then sighed helplessly.
"Let it go, Momo, it really can't be patched anymore."
"..."
Hearing her mother's answer, Momo slowly lowered her head. After a long silence, she still obediently nodded her head.
The work she was responsible for on normal days was very simple, nothing more than going out to gather firewood and pick fruits. Even up to now, these things were completely fine not to do, but Momo still insisted on going out for a walk every day, doing her meager part for the family.
It was exactly because of this, walking back and forth in the jungle, her clothes were easily caught by branches and vines, and her arms scratched. Fortunately, the little one acted carefully on normal days, an occasional superficial scratch would heal if left alone for a few days, but this pair of overalls on her body that she had been wearing since coming to the island, was getting more and more torn.
Before, Yitong would try to use bone pieces and hemp thread to help her daughter repair some slightly with linen material, barely able to sew up the holes, but as these holes became more and more numerous, continuing to patch had no meaning anymore.
"There's still a set of new clothes at home, start wearing that outfit from tomorrow. Mother will help you put this one away."
Yitong looked at the daughter beside her with heartache, raised her hand and rubbed her soft hair, smiling and saying softly.
"Don't be sad, baby, things like clothes are originally meant to get older the more they are worn."
"Mmh."
Momo nodded her head, quickly adjusting her emotions. Her pinkish lips curled up slightly, revealing a well-behaved smile.
"You mother and daughter two, hiding in the room what are you chatting about?"
Right at this time, Chuck's face bearing a smile poked in from outside the bedroom.