October 9th, the weather was clear.
Around two in the afternoon, a southwest wind blew across the sea, the tide rose slowly, and the waves gently stirred.
A few faint white clouds floated in the sky, and the sunlight poured down, warm but not scorching.
Beside the gap in the cabin, Chen Zhou had laughed until he was tired, seeing the raft gradually drifting away from the merchant ship with the sea, quickly found a long rope, tied one end to a pillar inside the cabin, and jumped into the sea holding the other end.
This was an oversight on his part, not expecting the raft to drift towards the shore with the tide when pushed into the sea. Luckily, it wasn't too late to remedy.
The distance hadn't widened yet.
Chen Zhou quickly treaded water, swam to the back of the raft, tied the long rope to the wooden stake holding the anchor, and pulled the raft, halting its trend of drifting with the waves.
