The Mohs hardness of lead is about 1.5, while the hardness of silver is above 2.5, and the lowest hardness of iron is 4.
If the tal block were cast in lead, the scratches would be deeper. This level of scratching suggests it is indeed silver.
As for the reason for placing silver blocks in the water bucket, Chen Zhou thought it might be for purifying drinking water.
Although he did not know when the antibacterial use of silver originated, there are many museums in his hotown with Yuan dynasty relics. Through school-organized museum day trips during middle and high school, Chen Zhou learned that as early as the Yuan dynasty, the Mongolian Nobility used silver flasks to preserve mare’s milk to prevent spoilage.
Presumably, a few hundred years later in Europe, using silver for purifying drinking water wasn’t really an obscure knowledge.
Unfortunately, this piece of silver was too small, and the bucket was too large. Expecting it to purify a few liters of water might be a stretch, let alone a whole big bucket. It’s truly beyond the capability of silver.
Moreover, only this wooden bucket contained a silver piece, while the bottom of the other wooden bucket was completely empty, revealing only a faint mark.
Chen Zhou reasonably speculated that this small silver piece was most likely used alternately, being "bathed" in the two water buckets, transferred every few days to ensure the drinking water in each bucket was disinfected.
However, to him, it seed more like a strategy of self-deception.
After all, everyone was well aware that this water was not clean; even with the silver block, it was useless. It offered psychological comfort, allowing them to persuade themselves to drink the water calmly.
Besides the large wooden buckets filled with water, there were two tall wooden racks next to the stove, each with four layers.
The top layer was stacked with a row of burlap sacks, so of which were open, revealing long loaves of bread as thick as an arm.
The bread was entirely black, with densely packed spots like a face full of freckles, which looked entirely unappetizing.
The second layer from the top held large iron pots, wooden cups with handles, shallow wooden bowls, several iron knives and forks, and a long-handled iron ladle for scooping water.
The bottom two layers were cramd with small wooden barrels. Out of curiosity, Chen Zhou opened the lid and was almost knocked unconscious by the overwhelming stench.
The barrels preserved various bizarre pickled foods, including chunks of at in oil, salt-brined peas, pickled vegetables, and salt-brined animal innards...
From the traces drawn from the barrel, it seed the daily als of the sailors were these concoctions of dark cuisine. It’s hard to imagine how these ugly, terrifyingly flavored things combined could stew into a "feast," but Chen Zhou didn’t dare to try.
Apart from the dark canned goods, the only seemingly normal food in the small barrel was the fernted cheese.
But this cheese wasn’t the sweet cheese Chen Zhou was familiar with. It was closer to salty cheese like cheese, exuding a faint stink in addition to the unique sll brought by the ferntation culture; initially nauseating but oddly aromatic after getting used to it.
To the right of the stove were also several large wooden barrels, placed sideways and stacked in three layers.
A pipe connected to the lid could be moved up and down; when upright, nothing happened, but when tilted downwards, alcohol would flow out.
Chen Zhou didn’t drink often and couldn’t gauge the quality of this barrel wine, so he scooped a few drops with a long-handled ladle and sniffed it. Besides the alcohol aroma, it had a special sweetness, suggesting the taste shouldn’t be too bad.
But now, with so much work unfinished, drinking would be detrintal. Once the raft was complete, moving all the materials to the island would allow a sumptuous dinner celebration with so mild intoxication.
After discarding the liquid, continuing past the barrels on the right led to the "dog biscuit relic."
The lid of the large round barrel had already been knocked to the ground by a large dog, and in the warm light, Chen Zhou saw it was filled to the brim with gray-white round biscuits.
These round biscuits looked much better than the black bread loaves, resembling a form molded from wheat flour and then baked to dehydrate.
He casually picked up a piece and broke it open, revealing an extrely solid interior with almost no pores, resembling more of a brick or wood than food.
Chen Zhou tried biting into it.
The dry outer crust crumbled with sharp edges, slightly piercing his mouth.
The crumb after chewing turned into fine fragnts, quickly rolling in his mouth, absorbing saliva before softening slightly, tasteless and with a rough, hard-to-swallow texture.
Compared to this bread, even the famously hard French baguette and Russian black bread would be considered gourt.
Just one small piece of biscuit gave Chen Zhou a full week’s workout for his jaws. His face grimaced as he struggled to swallow the biscuit crumbs, skeptical yet willing to try the seemingly promising cheese.
As expected.
The cheese had an almost imperceptible milky aroma. Without prior knowledge of it being a dairy product, one wouldn’t even notice. The primary flavors besides salty were just the stinky, interspersed with the tang of mold ferntation.
If Chen Zhou were to provide an apt description for this cheese, he would call it — Cthulhu cheese.
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