77 Mountaintop
◎These hippos are very territorial and might bite her to death if they get their way.◎
Qiao Jinnian raised her head and looked at the endless mountains. She didn't know what was up there or what she would experience, but she wanted to go and see.
The way up the mountain was not smooth. It was easy for the silverback and the mantle, as they were small animals and were good at climbing trees and naturally could climb mountains. But for the striped one, it was a bit difficult.
In fact, Qiao Jinnian didn't understand why she had to drag Stripe out with her to train. Maybe she should release Stripe and return it to the zebra herd.
Perhaps the zebra herd would accept such a strange little zebra, or perhaps Stripes would be hunted down the moment he returned to the herd...
But since it already came out with stripes, Qiao Jinnian just treated it as the white dragon horse that he took on his journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures, carrying his luggage.
Stripes was very clingy and always followed her closely, working tirelessly no matter what luggage she put on his back.
Qiao Jinnian sighed, tied a hemp rope around Tiaowen's body, and led him up the mountain together, thinking that if Tiaowen couldn't climb anymore halfway, she would let him wait for her halfway.
Yes, she will definitely come back. Her home is here, and her lion father is still waiting for her to return home at his home in the southern grasslands.
She didn't know why she came here. Perhaps it was out of curiosity about the unknown, wanting to see where the edge of the grassland was? What was on the easternmost side of the grassland? Maybe next time, she would also want to see what was on the westernmost side, the northernmost side, or even the southernmost side.
Where does this grassland end? Is there an ocean in this world? Are there even humans?
There are too many questions, and she needs to explore them one by one to find the answers, but in the end, she will definitely go back and find her lion father, because she can't let her lion father become an old lion, be driven out of the territory by stray lions, and become a wandering lion again.
Stripe was very determined and kept his head down until he reached halfway up the mountain. There was a cliff here and it seemed that there had been a landslide on the mountain. The place where vegetation should have been growing was replaced by a large area of rocks.
Pushing aside the dense vegetation, what appeared before Qiao Jinnian was a magnificent natural waterfall that was tens of meters high.
"Boom--" The waterfall has a strong flow and makes a huge noise, which makes people sigh at the grandeur and greatness of nature.
Qiao Jinnian looked at the waterfall for a while and even had the urge to take a bath in it. The water looked so clean, cleaner and clearer than any river water seen on the grassland.
Unfortunately, she was in mid-air, and there was a bottomless cliff here. The waterfall looked very close, but it was actually very far away from her.
The air here is humid, filled with minerals and various fresh scents, and there are many small animals around that are not often seen.
For example, Qiao Jinnian just wanted to find a cane, but ended up touching a chameleon.
It looks like a green leaf with a dead leaf color, but it turns out to be such a small animal.
After being grabbed, the chameleon instantly changed to a darker color, stuck out its long tongue, and ate the small insects on the branches, with no intention of attacking her.
When she saw him, Qiao Jinnian suddenly remembered the lizard that always crawled on her lion father's body and ate the flies and insects on his body. She missed her lion father again and his long mane.
I don’t know if the lion father will remember her. How many brothers and sisters did Sister Sa give birth to her?
The road here was a bit slippery, so Qiao Jinnian used a flint knife to dig some holes to prevent herself from slipping backwards.
After finally reaching the top of the mountain, Qiao Jinnian stood at the highest point, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar grassland in front of him, and the animals running busily on the grassland.
Silverback stood up straight and looked back at the grassland, which was where they came from.
The Cloak family stood in a row, with the parents protecting the two little jackals in the middle, standing in a row and also looking at the grassland.
The lion groups, hyena groups, wild dog groups, and even elephant groups, hippo groups, rhino groups, or giraffe groups in the distance all shrank to the size of ants, busy on the grassland, struggling hard for daily food.
Qiao Jinnian was no longer in a hurry. She still had some fish fillets on her, and the guinea fowl on Stripe's body could lay eggs, so she wouldn't starve to death.
Let the guinea fowl out of the coop and let them eat insects on the grassland at the highest point. Let Stripes walk around and eat some grass.
"Stripe, you are awesome! You are probably the only zebra in the world that can climb mountains!" Qiao Jinnian said, patting Stripe's head.
How could the zebra possibly understand? It just walked forward, rubbed its head against the palm of her hand, and then continued to eat grass.
To the west was the endless grassland with all kinds of animals she was familiar with, and to the east, at the foot of the mountain, was a canyon several thousand meters high, and on the other side of the canyon was a mountain that towered into the clouds.
So, if she wanted to continue heading east, she would first have to go down the canyon, climb the mountain again, climb over the mountain, and then go east to see what was on the other side of the mountain?
It has been more than half a year since she came out, and Qiao Jinnian is already more than four years old. Now is the dry season on the grassland. Perhaps, she should continue to head east and return to the southern grassland in the next rainy season.
The scorching sun on the top of the mountain was too harsh, so Qiao Jinnian made a hat for herself with leaves to block the scorching sunlight.
Squinting his eyes, Qiao Jinnian decided that he'd better go to the waterfall to fill up his water tank before going down the mountain. People can go without food for a few days, but they cannot go without water for half a day. This is a very important thing in this dry season grassland.
Holding Stripe, everyone headed towards the waterfall. Qiao Jinnian made another water cup on the spot, filled three cups with waterfall water, and hung them on Stripe's body. He almost trained this zebra into an ordinary horse.
You should know that zebras are completely different from ordinary horses, and they are difficult to be tamed by humans.
After filling up the water, Qiao Jinnian and everyone else walked towards the canyon again. The mountain path was slippery, so they made a seat with dead branches. They sat on the rough seat, holding on to the trees and sliding down.
Of course, they were not always on the road. As long as they found a suitable cave, Qiao Jinnian would smoke the cave with torches, surround it with thorn branches, and keep the torches lit all night. Sometimes he would sleep with Silverback in his arms, and sometimes he would just sleep with Stripes in his arms.
Stripe has probably had issues with his own identity since birth. He may not know that he is a zebra. Sometimes he thinks he is a lion and even imitates the roar of a lion. More often than not, he doesn't know what he is, but is very clingy.
The most frightening thing in the mountains and forests is poisonous snakes. Qiao Jinnian put on woven hemp rope shoes and kept knocking on the ground with a cane to scare away snakes in advance.
Of course, with Silverback by his side, if there really is a poisonous snake, he can eat it in advance.
After an unknown number of days, Qiao Jinnian and his party finally reached the bottom of the canyon. However, the canyon here was very narrow and made of wind-dried rocks. It could only accommodate one person, which was too difficult for this couple.
Qiao Jinnian could only leave Stripe here for now and guard the luggage while she prepared to go down alone to take a look.
Slowly climbing down from the crevice of the rock, he came to a flat rock platform. There was a layer of white salt grains on the rock here. Qiao Jinnian licked it and it tasted salty. It was indeed salt.
Continuing to climb forward, as she climbed higher and higher, she smelled an increasingly strong smell of sulfur, and thought that this must be the volcano.
The crater is shrouded in thick smoke, and from time to time there is a rumbling sound that echoes throughout the valley, making people marvel at the wonders of nature.
Qiao Jinnian made special preparations this time. After eating a full meal, he caught a rabbit in the mountains, roasted some dried meat, took some eggs, and filled his bottle with water before continuing to head towards the higher mountain top.
After who knows how many days, Qiao Jinnian was so tired that she couldn't even lift her legs. She just sat blankly at the top of the canyon. The road here was very narrow, but it was more than enough to accommodate her.
Standing on the narrow mountain top, Qiao Jinnian looked at the colorful scene in front of him. It seemed as if God had chopped the cliff down with an axe. The fragments were amazing in shape and color.
At the bottom of the canyon are beautiful lakes of various sizes, the surface of which reflects the colors of the different mountains. They are like gems scattered deep in the canyon, nurturing the animals on the grassland.
Looking at these magnificent scenery, Qiao Jinnian's heart was filled with emotion. She looked towards the east. Sooner or later, she would go to the farther east.
But now, she is going home because she misses home.
After several days of running around, Qiao Jinnian found Stripe. Stripe had been staying here eating grass and had not left the spot.
Everyone continued to return along the original route, but Qiao Jinnian thought of another way this time. She wanted to make a raft and prepare to go back to the grassland along the river.
He did what he said. Climbing the mountain was too difficult, so Qiao Jinnian started cutting trees directly in the forest. It took him several days to make a raft. He tied it with several layers of hemp rope to ensure that the stripes would not fall off.
Qiao Jinnian found a cactus with very strong vitality here, with white flowers blooming on it.
In such a place, cactus is absolutely delicious food and contains moisture. Qiao Jinnian found a lot of it, put it in a hemp bag and carried it with him to replenish nutrition at any time.
When the raft was put into the lake, Stripe was a little scared when he stood on it for the first time, but he trusted Qiao Jinnian very much, so he overcame his fear of water.
To prevent crocodiles from entering the lake, Qiao Jinnian had to carry a spear at all times to prevent them from overturning her raft.
She couldn't actually tell the direction as she was drifting along like this, but she was sure she would be able to return to the grassland. Then, she would let the jackal help her figure out the direction, and she believed she would be able to return to the southern grassland. It would be more convenient than climbing up and down the mountain.
However, there are not only crocodiles in the lake, but also hippos, who open their mouths wide as if asking for tolls.
These hippos have a very strong sense of territory and might bite her to death if they are not pleased.
Qiao Jinnian offered to bribe Mr. Hippo with a cactus with the thorns cut off, but he ate it too quickly.
Fortunately, there were fewer hippos in this river, probably because the rainy season was approaching, so they were not so irritable. She came to a flat grassland and simply gave up the raft, planning to walk home from here.
Then, after she had finally made a thorn circle for herself and lit a torch, she was about to go to bed when she was attacked by Mr. Hippo, who she thought had become more patient...
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