Chapter 32: Alone with the World
After cleaning the house and having breakfast, Banxia got dressed, put on her backpack, took her bow and arrow, and equipped her dagger and pistol, becoming fully armed.
Looking in the mirror, she was wearing a light blue sleeveless dress, a neat ponytail, a pistol on her right waist, a dagger on her left waist, a longbow in her hand, and a backpack and quiver on her back. What a heroic armed girl.
Great!
Banxia gave a thumbs up and blinked.
"Mom and Dad, I'm going out. I will be back in the evening."
Closing the door, the girl went downstairs.
The sun was scorching outside, so Banxia held up a red umbrella.
The stored dry food was almost finished, so she had to go collect the raw materials for making the dry food.
The distance from Meihua Villa to Crescent Lake Park is very close, so close that you don't need to ride a bicycle, you can just turn a corner and get there. Banxia brought out a small luggage cart from behind the stairs on the first floor of the apartment building. It has two small wheels and can be stood up and stopped, or it can be pulled diagonally, like towing a suitcase. The girl hung her backpack on the small trailer, and the wheels rolled on the rough concrete road.
The temperature in Nanjing in October is very high. The sun shines on the ground at around eight or nine in the morning, and heat waves roll up. The scent of mugwort can be smelled in the air. Banxia knows that there is a large area of mugwort nearby, which is taller than her.
She was holding a red umbrella and dragging a cart as she walked on the empty street.
Turn from Alfalfa Garden Street onto the Crescent Lake Bridge, which spans across the narrow lake and faces a huge city gate. The girl walked along the railing, and the strong wind blew her hair and skirt. Standing on the bridge, she could see the gray-black ancient city wall unfolding in front of her. The ancient city wall was hidden in the green treetops, and there were three arches under the city wall. This city gate was called Houbiaoying Gate. The teacher said that Crescent Lake was part of the moat of the ancient Nanjing city, so the city wall and the lake were close together.
The girl stopped on the bridge and looked towards the lake.
Over the years, the area of Crescent Lake has shrunk a lot. Originally, its water area was shaped like a long crescent, connected to the moat and attached to the outside of the ancient city wall. However, over the past few decades, the lake has gradually dried up and the crescent is no longer a crescent. The lake water is more abundant in the summer rainy season, but in winter, the water area will shrink to the center of the lake, revealing the mud along the shore.
"The water of West Lake, my tears..."
Banxia hummed a song, turned right in front of the Houbiaoying city gate, and walked leisurely into the Crescent Lake Park.
On the lawn next to the entrance stood an overview map of the park. It was nestled in dense weeds, with only the two golden characters "Map" remaining. The one-meter-high sign was cut in half, leaving several molten and blackened bullet holes on the remaining half, which were large enough to insert a fist. They were probably caused by armor-piercing bullets.
There is a small square at the entrance to the park, which is densely paved with small white square tiles. There is also a tall and slender statue that has been broken into two parts by being fallen sideways. It is a brown marble column with a large brass bird standing on top.
The teacher said that was not a big bird.
It's a rooster.
(Actually it's Suzaku)
The main raw materials for Pinellia's dry food come from Crescent Lake. Fish can be caught in the sea, meat can be obtained by hunting deer, but starchy food can only be collected from Crescent Lake.
The girl was holding a red umbrella, walking under the city wall, passing through the dense shade of the trees, and looking through the willow branches toward the lake. The shore was covered with lush green duckweed.
Her starch comes from the lotus seeds, lotus roots and water chestnuts in the lake. Summer is the time when the lotus flowers in the lake bloom luxuriantly. Originally, Crescent Lake had an ornamental lotus pond, but later no one took care of the pond. Instead, the lotus flowers grew more and more and more luxuriantly. In July and August, when the summer solstice arrives at the lake, the lotus flowers bloom in all their splendor, filling the lake. The lotus leaves as big as washbasins overlap and you can't see the surface of the water.
Walk a little further along the city wall and you will find the banquet hall of Night Shanghai Hotel. The building with white walls and red tiles stands by the lake and is surrounded by green lotus leaves.
They are restaurants built on the lake, but their original appearance can no longer be seen. Only the foundation pillars and the water platform left in the lake are left. On the platform are broken walls and ruins, and the red roof and white walls can barely be seen.
Banxia went into the water from here.
She took off her shoes and socks, changed into sandals, left all her equipment on the shore, climbed over the chain fence, and with a strong "hey", jumped onto a large concrete block two meters away from the lakeshore. Half of the concrete was submerged in the water and half was exposed outside, forming a small isolated island.
This is her official launching point.
Every time Banxia goes down to the lake, she passes through here. The water here is relatively shallow, and it is only up to the knees at most when you step down. Moreover, large and small construction waste is sunk on the lake shore, so she can climb up and rest at any time.
Banxia tentatively stepped into the water and slowly sank into the mud at the bottom of the lake. The water was very clear and only started to become turbid when the mud was stirred up by the girl's feet.
The mud was big enough to completely bury her ankles. Banxia stepped hard and made sure it was steady before she put her second foot into the water. Both of her long legs were covered by the cool lotus leaves.
Banxia hung a large bag in front of her chest to hold the dug lotus roots or water chestnuts. If there were any lotus pods, she would also throw them in. She tilted her head and held the handle of the red umbrella with her neck. The umbrella was used to block the sun. Long-term direct exposure to such scorching sun would burn the skin. Banxia slowly explored among the lotus leaves with her feet. She put her feet into the soft mud and groped among the complex lotus rhizomes. If she came across an enlarged root node that was suspected to be a lotus root, she would bend down and slowly dig the mud with her hands. Slowly and steadily, she applied force to dig the whole lotus root out from under the mud.
This is a technical job. The lotus root cannot be dug out during the process of being taken out of the water. If it is dug out, it will be difficult to preserve. The whole lotus root can be preserved for a long time. Banxia must pull the entire half-meter long lotus root out of the mud intact and then wash it in water.
If she is quick, she can dig one out in five minutes. If she encounters a difficult one, it may take more than ten minutes. At this time, the girl will angrily break it in pieces, wash it, put it in her mouth and chew it, just to vent her anger and let the fish die without a complete body.
The lotus root just out of the water was not tasty and tasted quite bitter, so the girl chewed it and then spit it out with a bitter face.
Pinellia ternata slowly strolls among the green lotus leaves, carrying a bright red umbrella.
The girl's tender instep and toes are so sensitive that she can clearly distinguish the lotus roots.
"Is this it? No."
"Is this it? No."
"This one... this one is, wow, this one is definitely, so thick and long! And hard!"
Banxia bent down and pulled it hard, took it out and looked at it, then frowned.
I pulled the wrong one.
What is this black cylinder?
Whatever it was, it was certainly not lotus root.
The girl shook her head and threw it into the dry mud by the lake.
There is a lot of garbage in the mud at the bottom of Crescent Lake, which is why Banxia has to wear shoes when going into the water. In addition to stones, bricks, and broken concrete, there may also be broken glass, rusty nails and other sharp metal fragments at the bottom of the lake. If you go barefoot, you may cut your feet.
When the bag around her neck was full, she returned to the lakeshore to unload the goods and sat down in the shade of a tree to rest.
On hot days, take a big sip of water.
"Wow! It feels so good!"
Banxia sat on the stone slab by the lake, looking at the green trees on the opposite bank and enjoying the breeze leisurely.
A person's life is actually simple and lazy. There has never been anything urgent. Banxia can do it whenever she wants and not do it whenever she wants. She can continue to dig lotus roots this afternoon, or she can sit here and wow. She can count the leaves on the trees, or she can squat on the ground and watch the ants move, or she can even close her eyes and rest, letting the breeze and time pass slowly.
That was her time alone with the world.
(End of this chapter)
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