Seeing that Du Ling was silent with her head down, Yan Jing'an didn't press her any further and casually said, "Don't go too far, or you'll delay your journey."
Du Ling mumbled an "okay," then turned and went deep into the woods.
Yan Jing'an leaned against a tree, closed his eyes to rest for a while, and also reviewed the map in his mind.
There would be no paper and pen to record things, so we would have to rely on human memory.
To put it bluntly, he's just an ordinary person, especially someone like him who frequently travels through the jungle. To have a strong sense of direction and the ability to find his way, he needs to have a complete map in his mind.
Whenever he passed through a new place and encountered new plants, he needed to imprint them in his mind repeatedly so that he could move freely in the forest.
After going through the process twice and waiting for about ten minutes, Du Lingren still hadn't come out, and Yan Jing'an was getting impatient.
Thinking that she was a girl after all, he patiently waited for a while longer.
Soon after, unusual sounds came from the woods, and birds scattered in all directions. Yan Jing'an became alert, gripped his longsword tightly in his right hand, and became serious.
He frowned and stared at that spot for a few seconds before Du Ling emerged from the woods.
He frowned and said, "What are you dawdling about? The sun will be setting soon."
Du Ling took a pine cone the size of a fist out of his basket.
Yan Jing'an looked over and found that it was different from the pine cones he had seen before; it just looked similar.
"What's this?"
Du Ling did not answer him, but instead pried off a piece of fruit about the size of an almond, which was covered with a thin brown skin.
She then peeled off the skin, handed the kernel inside to Yan Jing'an, and said to him, "You can eat it...it smells delicious."
Yan Jing'an was somewhat skeptical: "Are you sure? I've never seen this thing before?"
They probably don't want to poison him.
Du Ling quickly explained, "That bear picked it and ate it."
She tried her best to speak fluently.
"But this is what's left over from last year."
Her voice trailed off as she spoke the last sentence. Seeing how earnest she was, Yan Jing'an thought for a moment and continued the conversation.
It looked a bit like an almond, but smaller. He smelled it first and found no strange odor before putting it in his mouth.
The first taste is a nutty aroma, somewhat similar to walnuts, followed by a crunchy texture and a hint of milky aftertaste.
Yan Jing'an has always had a fondness for snacks, and this stuff suited his taste perfectly.
Seeing that he didn't speak or explicitly express his dislike, Du Ling handed him a whole pine cone.
Yan Jing'an didn't answer, but told her, "Take me to find this kind of tree."
Du Ling was quite surprised. Judging from his reaction, she thought he would be dismissive, but he actually wanted to go and see. So she quickly led the way forward.
After walking several dozen steps, he noticed that the tree looked somewhat like a pine tree, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. He looked at it for a while and said, "The pine needles on this tree are thinner and longer than any pine tree I've ever seen before."
If the pine needles of this tree were dry, the feeling of being pricked by them would probably be unbearable for most people.
By this time, the pine cones on the tree had long since disappeared.
Du Ling wandered around under the tree for quite a while before finding two.
Yan Jing'an followed her example and picked one up from the ground, only to find it was empty.
It seems that this nut is a favorite of small animals, and they have already gotten their hands on it.
Yan Jing'an was deep in thought.
This location is more than ten kilometers away from the village. It took them a whole morning to find it. If they have to travel this far every time they want to eat nuts, it would be a waste of time and money.
However, nuts are an excellent source of fat, which is exactly what they lack right now.
Yan Zheng observed the surroundings and found that there were not many of these trees, far from enough to constitute a population.
After walking another ten meters or so, I found a few small trees.
One of them was only up to his knee.
Yan Jing'an took out a shovel and tested the length and width of the root; fortunately, it was only about thirty centimeters long.
It would be quite a hassle to travel this far to dig.
He said to Du Ling, "Go find some banana leaves to put under my basket."
Du Ling obediently nodded and went to find banana leaves.
Yan Jing'an dug up the entire sapling, roots and all, and he and Du Ling carefully put it into a basket on their backs. Whether it would survive or not depended on fate.
Busy with work, we didn't have time to think. The sun was getting stronger, and the temperature in the forest and mountains was gradually rising.
After Yan Zheng finished cutting the sweet potatoes, he followed Jiang Xi to pull weeds in the cornfield and wheat field.
Both of them were wearing straw hats. Since they had already weeded once before, the new grass in the ground was not deeply rooted, so it was not as strenuous as before.
Even so, Jiang Xi was already sweating lightly, her face flushed.
Her hair was tied in a low ponytail, and a few loose strands were soaked with sweat, sticking messily to her cheeks and even her collarbone.
Once in the wild, Xiao Hei was like a wild horse, extremely free, running around in circles, disappearing from sight for a while, and then running wildly to Jiang Xi to lick her hand.
While resting, Jiang Xi and Yan Zheng lay half-reclined on the grassy edge of the field, enjoying the rare moment of leisure as a gentle breeze blew by.
She subconsciously felt Xiao Hei licking her, and the saliva made her hands wet and sticky.
She said fiercely, "Little Black, stop licking."
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xi heard Xiao Hei whimper. She opened her eyes and was so frightened that she scrambled up from the grass.
Yan Zheng was also startled and quickly sat up to ask what was wrong.
Jiang Xi pointed at Xiao Hei. Yan Zheng looked over and saw that the little guy had a field mouse in its mouth. The field mouse was dead, and blood was still dripping from its neck.
The culprit, Little Black, held its head high, holding a field mouse in its mouth with a proud expression.
Yan Zheng suppressed a laugh and said, "He's trying to curry favor with you."
"Well, I should have touched her head, but my hands were covered in field mouse blood." As she spoke, Jiang Xi's voice trembled violently; she felt like she was on the verge of collapse.
Although I've killed rabbits before, I still find field mouse blood extremely unpleasant.
Yan Zheng simply got up, pulled her to the water ditch, the water in which was spring water flowing down from the mountain and passing through the pond in their courtyard. He held Jiang Xi's bloody hand and carefully put it into the water to wash it.
Looking around, he picked a green grass from near the ditch, squeezed the juice out with his phone, applied it evenly to Jiang Xi's hands, and then helped her wash them clean.
He washed it very carefully, rubbing it from his palms to his fingertips.
Then I told her, "Okay, this kind of grass can kill bacteria and disinfect, so you can rest assured now."
Actually, no, it was just to put her mind at ease.
Jiang Xi carefully examined her hands before finally giving an "Mmm".
Little Black, abandoned by the two, was not disappointed by their neglect.
Jiang Xi turned her head and saw him enjoying the food he had hunted, eating with great concentration, each bite as if savoring some rare delicacy.
Her earlier discomfort vanished, and she smiled at Yan Zheng, saying, "I think this little one has great potential. She's only two months old and she can already catch such a big field mouse."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com