Half an hour later, Yan Zheng returned carrying firewood.
Breakfast was fish soup, the first meat dish the two had eaten since arriving here. Yan Zheng had removed very few bones from the fish, and the meat was firm and elastic, making it quite delicious. However, the two remained silent while eating.
Jiang Xi broke the silence first: "Are we going to the back mountain later?"
Yan Zheng replied, "Okay, let's familiarize ourselves with the environment here first, and see if we can find more food."
Jiang Xi nodded. Currently, their main food sources are the fig tree and the fish in the river. They need to continue exploring the surrounding area to see if they can find more ingredients.
As for taking a bath, she plans to wait until the water temperature is higher at noon. It should be around 30 degrees Celsius outside now. Although it's hot, it's not the hottest time yet. By noon, the temperature here will reach 37 or 38 degrees Celsius, and the water temperature should be much more comfortable then.
Jiang Xi's personality is just like her reading habits—she always gets to the bottom of things.
The question from this morning still hadn't been answered. Seeing that Yan Zheng seemed to have calmed down a lot, she wanted to continue the topic from this morning, but the words were on the tip of her tongue and she didn't know how to start.
Perhaps because her gaze was too frequent, Yan Zheng coldly replied, "Eat your food properly."
Seeing his attitude, Jiang Xi's anger, which hadn't been extinguished yet, was reignited. She said in a harsh tone, "You still haven't answered my questions this morning. Why are you treating me like this? And what's this about the green hat?"
She believed she hadn't wronged him over the years; they had grown up together and shared a deep bond, and she felt she shouldn't be treated this way no matter what.
Yan Zheng paused upon hearing this, his voice calm and his tone utterly indifferent: "Did you ever care whether I lived or died back then?"
Hearing his question, Jiang Xi was stunned. Was it because of this?
Yan Zheng turned his head and stared into her eyes, his gaze turning slightly cold as he said, "I've been hospitalized for half a year, and you're so heartless as to not even come to see me, disappearing without a trace as if you've vanished into thin air."
Jiang Xi felt a lump in her throat. As expected, she was right. No matter what the reason, her current explanation seemed hypocritical and ridiculous.
Her voice was low and hoarse: "The doctor said you can't be subjected to any more stimulation."
Yan Zheng stared at her for two seconds. Thinking of that photo, he was consumed by jealousy. The two people in the photo were so inseparable, but he was just being perfunctory with the doctor's words.
His eyes turned cold, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips as he said, "Yes, I was the one who broke up with you. I shouldn't have forced you to do these meaningless things."
From now on, you can continue to treat me as a heartless ex.
Jiang Xi snorted inwardly. Was this some kind of sarcastic or perfunctory response?
Are you trying to fool me like a child?
"I'm saying this precisely because I consider you an adult."
Yan Zheng put down his chopsticks and said slowly, "If I treated you like a child, I would tell you that I regretted it, and then coax you and beg for your forgiveness. I would deceive you and take advantage of you, regardless of whether you live or die."
Which one of you do you think can escape?
The broth was bubbling and steaming, and the aroma of fish soup filled the air, but Jiang Xi found it unusually sour and astringent.
She blushed with anger and said, "You really have reached a whole new level of shamelessness."
Yan Zheng remained calm, but then turned and added, "Well, so from now on, you'll treat me as a shameless and despicable barbarian."
"It would be best if you lived a life of careful survival under my suppression, and spoke very carefully. I will take care of our past friendship and take care of you and take you out."
Jiang Xi laughed in anger, her tone sharp and sarcastic: "If you despise me so much, why did you come looking for me in the first place?"
Yes, you look down on me so much, but you still came to find me. Have you truly let go of your feelings for me?
Yan Zheng understood the meaning behind her words: "It was Uncle Jiang who asked me to."
Jiang Xi could no longer bear his verbal attacks. At this moment, she felt that the person in front of her was both despicable and unreasonable.
She put down her chopsticks, got up, and walked out, saying, "I'm done eating."
Where to?
"Wash up."
———
After the meal, the atmosphere between the two was somewhat subtle and particularly oppressive. Jiang Xi decided to ignore him. They came out of the cave, turned left, headed east, followed the river, and went around the foot of the mountain to the back of the mountain.
The back mountain has richer vegetation cover than the front mountain, which is covered with shrubs and rocky beaches, but the path is covered with moss and tree roots, making it difficult to travel.
They started from the cave entrance and walked for about twenty minutes before reaching the widest part of the river behind the mountain. Standing on the edge, the water looked more like a flowing lake, with dense forests on both sides and melodious birdsong filling the air.
The withered trunks of the cedar trees stood in the water as if sealed, making the surface appear even cleaner and clearer, truly deserving of the description "beautiful mountains and waters." The vegetation on the opposite shore was much denser, with tall trees forming a forest, but crossing it required a raft or boat.
Clumps of reeds and cattails grow along the lake shore, and wild ducks with blue feathers and other birds of unknown species fly out from time to time. There are also some birds that are slightly larger than wild ducks and are entirely gray. Yan Zheng said that there must be a lot of wild duck eggs here.
Jiang Xi really parted the reeds and searched. Without human interference, this body of water became a paradise for wild animals. The dens of these natives were not hidden deep or concealed. As long as you were willing to dig a little, you could see them.
Yan Zheng had cleaned his backpack before coming, and Jiang Xi had cut a lot of grass by the lake to put in the backpack to store the duck eggs.
When collecting duck eggs, she made a point of leaving two eggs in each nest. When she was little, her grandmother often said that when collecting chicken eggs, you should leave the nests, otherwise the hen will lay eggs in a different place next time. And only when new lives are born will they have an endless supply of eggs to eat.
In no time, the two of them had collected about thirty wild duck eggs. Some of the nests even had ducklings with their wings still attached, but they did not disturb them.
After collecting the duck eggs, the river flows upstream, where the number of trees gradually increases.
When he reached a boulder, Yan Zheng suddenly stopped and looked up at the mountain. Using the boulder as leverage, he climbed up a tree as thick as his waist, and then used the tree as leverage to pull down a string of "sorghum ears" from a two-meter-tall tree.
This is certainly not a sorghum stalk, but it looks like sorghum. The stalk is covered with flat, green and red fruits the size of mung beans, and is covered with white crystalline exudate.
He crushed it with his hand, tasted it, spat it out, and handed it to Jiang Xi.
Jiang Xi picked one and put it in her mouth. It was very salty and a little sour, and her eyes lit up instantly.
"It's salt." The voice was full of surprise.
Yan Zheng shook his head: "It's not salt. It's a kind of sumac. Its saltiness comes from organic acids. After processing, it can temporarily replace table salt."
In any case, this is good news; at least they won't have to eat boiled food anymore.
The only usable part of the sumac is its stalk that looks like a sorghum ear. Yan Zheng went up to pick it, while Jiang Xi gathered them up below and put them in her bag. It wasn't easy for them to make this trip, so they spent most of their time harvesting the sumac.
When the backpack couldn't hold everything, Jiang Xi tied a bundle with vines to hold it all. Finally, when they couldn't carry any more, the two of them headed back home.
It was already late afternoon when we got back to the cave. Lunch was very simple. As usual, we made soup with wild mushrooms and shepherd's purse. The difference this time was that we added a few poached eggs.
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