Day seventy-five, Little Black's overflowing heart.

Xiao Hei’s bed is a large suitcase. He has always slept in the deeper half, so I placed the little one in the other half.

However, when I woke up this morning, I was startled—the adorable little thing was gone. It wasn’t until I had searched all around that I finally found it tucked against Xiao Hei’s belly. It was still fast asleep, curled up in Xiao Hei’s embrace.

Xiao Hei hadn’t rejected it at all. It was clear that Xiao Hei had been awake for a long time; usually, once awake, it would have already headed out to the yard to chase butterflies or play with its vine ball.

What was remarkable was that today, it just lay there with its eyes wide open. That was certainly not its usual style!

Perhaps my footsteps were too loud, as the sound of me moving about startled the little one awake. It shook its head and opened its eyes. Seeing it awake, Xiao Hei stood up and darted out in a flash.

The little one can barely crawl a short distance; it seems unable to stand yet. Combined with the fact that it only knows how to suckle, it must have been born quite recently. I have no idea when it will be able to fend for itself.

I had assumed Xiao Hei had just gone out to play, but to my surprise, it returned shortly after. It had a fruit in its mouth, ran straight up to the little one, placed the fruit by its mouth, and used its snout to nudge the fruit as close as possible before standing there, watching quietly.

I never imagined that a gluttonous creature like Xiao Hei would know how to take care of others. One thing is certain: Xiao Hei really likes this cute little fellow. Since the little one can’t walk yet, it’s certain that Xiao Hei must have carried it over to its side last night.

Seeing Xiao Hei’s attitude, I feel quite happy. After all, it hasn’t shown any signs of intense rejection or resentment over sharing my affection with a new member; instead, it has been doing its best to protect the newcomer.

Today is another beautiful day, and the sun is bright. I prepared another cup of honey water for the little one. As I fed it, watching its black-and-white fur and sluggish movements, a name came to mind: "Lightning!" Yes, from now on, it shall be called Lightning!

Feeding it honey water is a trial; it takes nearly an hour, which is enough to drive anyone crazy. But to give up on it? Faced with such an adorable little creature, I just can’t bring myself to do it.

The seafood caught yesterday wasn’t fully dried yet, and if I didn't get it dried quickly, it would surely spoil and stink. Thus, the morning slipped away in a flurry of activity. Sometimes I truly feel exhausted, as if I am endlessly busy just to survive. But that is the reality of life—if you aren't busy, you won't even have food to eat, let alone the ability to keep going. The grains, dried fish, and the rest have all been laid out to dry. Now, I plan to head to the beach again to see if the tide has gone out.

The tide hadn’t receded; in fact, it had risen a bit. Of course, one can't expect such good luck all the time. This afternoon, I plan to use the branches I cut from the small trees used for the fence earlier to reinforce it, filling in the gaps. This is no small task; it requires a large amount of vines and branches. Fortunately, I’m not short on materials—there’s a huge pile of branches, and the treehouse is stocked with plenty of vines; there are enough vines here to fill several trucks.

During a break, I went up to the upper level of the treehouse to check on little Lightning. The sight left me both laughing and crying—Xiao Hei seems to have become its nanny. It had brought a variety of things—fruit, lemons, and those black berries I have so many of—and piled them in front of little Lightning. It's a good thing there weren't more, or it would have buried the poor little thing alive!

Seeing me remove the fruit, Xiao Hei just stared at me, its eyes filled with confusion. I shook my head helplessly, pointed to the bottle of honey water I was using for Lightning, and then pointed at the little one, signaling that it wasn't ready for such food yet. I’m not sure if Xiao Hei understood.

Even if it didn’t, it doesn’t matter. I’ll let Xiao Hei do things its own way. I’ve wondered if the reason Xiao Hei likes the new member so much might have something to do with me.

Ever since I met Xiao Hei, I haven’t really been able to slow down. Even when it rains, I try to find tasks to keep busy, so our interactions are quite limited. Perhaps that’s why Xiao Hei has felt a bit lonely.

Now, with the arrival of little Lightning, perhaps Xiao Hei has finally found a companion. Perhaps.

The condition of the cornmeal and flour was worse than I had imagined. When I poured the flour out of the bags, the portions that had been soaked by water—especially those in the middle of the bags—had become moldy. Yes, clumped, moldy masses covered in fuzz...

It would be a lie to say I wasn't heartbroken. I stared at the moldy flour in my palm for a long time. Eventually, I had to grit my teeth and discard it all, keeping only the top layers that appeared free of mold.

The cornmeal fared slightly better than the flour. Three bags of flour were moldy, and the remaining usable portions combined to barely make one bag—a heavy loss. Only one bag of cornmeal had molded, which was a bit better. The rice was in the best condition; aside from some yellowing where it had been soaked, there were no other issues.

After being exposed to the sun, the clumped flour and cornmeal can be crumbled back into their original state. At first, I was worried about how to dry these two items, as the first challenge was that, unlike rice, I couldn't just scoop them up with my hands to ensure the bottom layers were exposed to the sun.

However, after a bit of thought, I found a solution: chopsticks. By simply dragging the chopsticks back and forth, the flour from the bottom is brought to the surface. After doing this a few times, the flour gets evenly exposed to the sunlight.

In the afternoon, after cutting all the branches to roughly the same length, I tied them together in a crisscross pattern with vines to make a branch panel, then secured it to the fence. This task is time-consuming; by nightfall, I had only repaired one-third of the wall.

This will have to be done slowly. The afternoon weather was so scorching that I’ve lost count of how much water I’ve drunk.

As for Xiao Hei, because of its new companion, it spent almost the entire day huddled in the treehouse with little Lightning.

Honestly, though, little Lightning is quite cute, but it always has a strange, pungent odor. Normally, an unweaned animal should smell like milk, but this one doesn’t.

That smell—even after I washed it for ten minutes yesterday, it still hasn't faded.

Perhaps it’s just its natural scent. As long as Xiao Hei doesn't mind, it’s fine by me.

I’ve been drinking a lot of water lately, and the bucket is running low again. It looks like I’ll need to fetch more tomorrow.

I only hope that little Lightning can hold out on honey water until it’s ready for solid food. Sigh...