After dinner, Yan Zheng glanced at the sun. It was already setting in the west, and he estimated that it would be completely dark in three or four hours. They had to set up the shelter tents before dark: "It's getting dark. Come with me to set up the tents after you finish eating."
Jiang Xi nodded. Two people working together would definitely be faster than one. Without lingering, she tidied up the fire, added some more firewood, and followed.
There are many large woody vines in the jungle that twine around their hosts in various forms and parasitize the surrounding trees.
“There are scimitars and daggers inside. Cut some vines down.” Yan Zheng handed her the sword pouch and pulled out a vine to show her. “You need this kind of green, resilient one. It can’t be too thick, about... half a centimeter is enough. It will be used to secure the wood later.”
This vine is very common in this jungle. Its leaves are oval and about the size of a human hand. The thickest vines are as thick as a human calf. Even the thinnest vines are difficult to break by hand. They spent a lot of time clearing a path because of these vines blocking their way.
Jiang Xi unzipped the sword pouch. Were they really a scimitar and a dagger? She was getting more and more confused. If the axe was for self-defense, how could she explain the scimitar and dagger? How could he have three heads and six arms and use so many weapons all by himself?
It's impossible that everything is a coincidence. Axe, pot, medicine and weapons—her previous guess resurfaced in her mind: Did he know all along that the two of them were coming to the jungle and that's why he made such thorough preparations?
This absurd idea was accompanied by a question: if he really brought her here, why would he do that?
What is his purpose?
How did they get here?
She wanted to ask him directly—do you know where this place is? How do we get back?
But reason told her it was useless; this man was no longer the Yan Zheng of the past. He wouldn't answer, or rather, he never intended to answer in the first place.
Sure enough, before she could even ask, Yan Zheng seemed to have seen through her. Perhaps it was because her gaze was too meaningful, or perhaps it was because he knew her too well, making her completely transparent to men.
He directly and clearly answered her question: "The entire route from Huaichun to Bei'an is filled with refugees; these things are for self-defense."
It seems quite reasonable.
In July, a sudden snow disaster occurred, and the heavy snow blocked the roads. Some houses were buried. Without food and warm clothing, the refugees would choose to go out to find supplies. Yan Zheng, who was wearing a down jacket and carrying a hiking backpack, was a perfect target. And it was always good to carry some weapons for self-defense.
Everything seemed reasonable, but Jiang Xi knew that this seemingly perfect closed loop was not perfect. It was like a complete jigsaw puzzle, but it was missing the most crucial piece.
She didn't make it clear; it wasn't the right time yet.
Jiang Xi pretended to believe him and drew her curved sword.
Seeing that she didn't say anything more, Yan Zheng instructed, "Make it as long as possible, and remove all the side branches and such." After saying that, he turned and walked towards the woodpile.
Halfway there, he turned back and said seriously, "Tap it before you touch it, be careful of snakes and insects."
Jiang Xi suppressed her thoughts, not daring to be careless, and carefully observed before starting to tidy up the vines.
The scimitar was very sharp and quite handy for cutting vines. The only thing that gave Jiang Xi a headache was that the vines grew in an intertwined manner, making it very troublesome to separate them one by one.
On the other side, Yan Zheng used an axe to sharpen the bottom of four of the thicker pieces of wood that had been cut earlier, and drew a rectangle on the ground that was about 1.3 to 2 meters wide and two meters long, leaning against the trees.
Four slightly deeper holes were dug out at the four corners.
Four long wooden stakes, each about the thickness of an ankle, were sharpened at one end and buried diagonally in the ground. Jiang Xi brought over the prepared vines, and Yan Zheng used the vines to fix the wooden stakes in pairs. A horizontal beam was then placed at the top where the stakes crossed, creating a simple yet sturdy tent frame.
Place the side branches that were previously cut down and trimmed on both sides, with the leaves on the side branches growing thickly, until they are piled up so that no gaps are visible inside, and the shelter is complete.
One exit faces the tree trunk to block the wind, while the other opens outwards for people to enter and exit, providing an exit on both sides for easy escape in case of danger.
Yan Zheng gestured to Jiang Xi, inviting her to go in and experience it: "Want to go in and try it?"
Jiang Xi crawled into the shed and once again marveled at his excellent hands-on skills: "Wow, I didn't know you had this skill."
Although the tree shelter is not large, and people have to bend over to get in, it is precisely because of this that it has stable wind resistance.
The roof was covered with thick branches and dense foliage, making it look warm and safe. With this shelter, at least two people could get a good night's sleep.
The only downside is that there are only fallen leaves on the ground, and there might be all sorts of insects. We'll need to find some dry grass to put underneath later.
Jiang Xi then tested the sturdiness of the ceiling.
Yan Zheng also squatted down at the door and looked at her. Sweat soaked the hair on both sides of her head, which curled up and stuck to her neck. Following the V-neck of her inner shirt, the gaze fell on the snow-white skin below her neck.
Jiang Xi turned her head and inadvertently met Yan Zheng's eyes. Feeling his undisguised gaze, she was startled, lowered her head, suppressed her smile, and crawled out of the tent.
He said in a panic, "I'll go see if there's any dry grass to put in the tent."
Yan Zheng stared at her retreating figure as she walked towards the river, his eyes lowered as if lost in thought, and remained motionless for a long time.
Jiang Xi's face remained calm, but a storm was brewing beneath. What did his eyes mean?
A strange, dangerous look in his eyes, filled with some kind of signal.
She prided herself on knowing him fairly well in the past. The Yan Zheng of the past had never looked at her like this, with a scrutinizing gaze and undisguised desire that made her feel uneasy and uneasy.
Most of the time he was very quiet, but it was in this extremely silent atmosphere that she felt more pressure and fear, because whether he was talking, discussing or arguing, at least it would show that he was a normal person, instead of being silent unless necessary.
Jiang Xi searched the hillside. There was plenty of water here, and the clumps of grass looked like green carpets. She searched carefully for a long time but couldn't find any dry grass, so she had to cut some wet grass instead.
Later, Yan Zheng also came to help. The two of them used a dagger and a machete to cut a clump of wet foxtail grass that was half a person tall, and spread a thick layer of it inside the tent, about ten centimeters thick.
Looking at the remaining grass and then at the open opening of the shed, Jiang Xi had a new idea. She picked up the grass and, using the method she had used to weave colorful bracelets, combined with the principle of fishbone braiding, began to weave a grass curtain.
They quickly wove a door curtain, using a lot of straw, making it very thick.
But how to fix it at the doorway became another problem. Jiang Xi went to collect the leftover branches from building the tree shed, used the remaining vines to piece together a wooden frame the size of a straw curtain, and then used vines to fix the straw curtain to the wooden frame.
One side of the wooden frame is tied to a stick at the tent entrance, forming a movable knot. This completes a simple door that can be opened and closed.
Meanwhile, Yan Zheng was still chopping firewood, perhaps worried that it wouldn't be enough for the night and wanting to stock up on more. They didn't know what wild animals might roam the jungle at night, so they could only prepare more firewood.
At this moment, only a golden corner of the sun remained, and the earth and forest were all coated with a golden halo. In the sunset, Jiang Xi looked at the comfortable tree shed and suddenly thought of something.
Turning around, she found two stones by the river, one flat and one round. She crushed the water mint on them, boiled a small pot of water, and put the crushed water mint in to boil for a while. After it cooled down, it became natural floral water that could be applied to the hands and face and used to repel mosquitoes at night.
After applying mosquito repellent, avoiding the frostbite, the two boiled a pot of water, let it cool, and poured it into mineral water bottles to drink later that night. Jiang Xi packed all their belongings into the tent; they didn't have many possessions, and every single item was very important to them.
After tidying up, the two huddled around the campfire to warm themselves. Since there were no cell phones or other entertainment options in this place, and it was now completely dark, the tranquil primeval forest was free from light pollution, and the deep and mysterious sky clearly revealed tens of thousands of stars.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com