Chapter 33
The next day, everyone woke up early. It was already daybreak, but the sun hadn't risen yet. They all went to the lake to wash up. Afterward, Bingxiang, Xia En and Fengshan, the three more adept swimmers, jumped in to spear fish. My sister and Su Feichen packed up the tent.
Those going up the mountain also began to prepare.
"Let's go too," Chu Huaiqin stretched his muscles and took a deep breath of the fresh air. It was something he couldn't experience in big cities, it was especially comfortable. "There's usually a lot of dew in the morning, so mushrooms are usually growing. Everyone, pay attention here."
"Okay," Su Huaichen emptied the herbs from the basket and put the empty basket on his back. To this day, he still couldn't figure out why the director had asked them to find herbs. "Huaiqin, I'll be on your team!"
"Brother, let me join you!" The little monk's stomach growled, and he couldn't help but drink water. He was very hungry. "Brother, your luck must be off the charts today, for sure."
The little monk looked at Chu Huaiqin pitifully.
"Huaiqin, I'm in the same team with you." Tong Tao walked towards Chu Huaiqin with a smile.
As a result, the remaining three people are Lin Yongfu, An Shunan and Park Pen.
After the teams were divided, we started to climb the mountain. There were a lot of dew on the mountain road in the early morning. After a while, everyone's trousers were wet and a little uncomfortable. The mountain road was a bit difficult to walk on because we had never walked before. In addition, we didn't eat last night, so we all felt a little tired.
We set out at around six in the morning, and by the time the sun came out, we had only dug some mushrooms and didn't see any other food. It seemed that there were very few edible plants on this mountain. Disappointment spread in everyone's heart, and even their mood became depressed.
"Looks like we chose the wrong mountain." Tong Tiao drank from a bamboo tube. He had borrowed it from Bingxiang. Group A2 had been walking along the water's edge, and it was a hassle not having a container to hold water. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to find any bamboo, so they had to bear it for now. They were going ashore in a day, so he had to find a way to get some.
"Before landing, no one knows which mountain has food, so we have to look carefully." Su Huaichen said lightly, walking in front of Chu Huaiqin and looking left and right, hoping to see something to eat, but there was only a green leaf, which made him sad.
"Huaiqin, I thought they were joking before, but I didn't expect that you would really feel uncomfortable when the sun comes out!" Tong Tao stretched his head to look at Chu Huaiqin at the back, who was sweating profusely, as if he would collapse from heatstroke at any time.
Chu Huaiqin felt a little dizzy. Tong Tao was in the front, a little far away. He only heard the voice but didn't understand the content clearly. He just vaguely felt that someone was talking to him, so he nodded several times and responded with "Yeah, yeah."
"Pfft, my dear brother is amazing."
The live broadcast room burst into laughter.
The mountain was not high, and the few people reached the top quickly. However, they still didn't find anything edible. They were planning to go back home and prepare to compete with the lake. Chu Huaiqin's eyes suddenly sharpened, and he seemed to see something. He walked forward slowly with a cane. The little monk saw him, his eyes lit up, and he hurried to Chu Huaiqin's side.
"Brother, did you find anything?"
"That green, round thing, go and see if it's a winter melon."
The place Chu Huaiqin pointed to was a cliff with an angle of almost ninety degrees. If someone slipped, they would definitely fall straight down. Chu Huaiqin asked if it was the winter melon. It was outside the cliff. It was hanging along the branches of the tall trees with vines wrapped around it. The melon was hanging happily outside. When the wind blew, it swayed a few times, and it felt like the melon's butt would break at any time, which was terrifying to watch.
Tong Tiao said, "It's not easy to get this melon back!"
The branches are so thin that people can't climb up at all.
"I can't give up this melon. It's my breakfast and lunch today." The little monk was anxious. He scratched his head and tried hard to think of how to get the melon back.
"Let's look around to see if there are any more winter melons." Chu Huaiqin said. Logically speaking, it is impossible for a vine to grow on only one branch.
"Yes, let's look for it!" Su Huaichen also felt that it was too dangerous to climb up. The melon was two meters wide from the edge of the cliff, and the melon was at least half a meter long, so its weight was terrifying.
We did it right away, but unfortunately, after searching around, we did find a few melons, but they were all rotten. This might be because it had rained for several days before.
“This is the melon of life!”
Chu Huaiqin's throat moved slightly, hungry. The others looked up at the melon and nodded.
The people in the live broadcast room were also anxious, and everyone offered suggestions:
"Tie the little monk's waist and let him pick it up. He can also catch it if it falls."
"The one in front, you must have a grudge against the little monk."
"Smart. Who told him to be so close to his sister?"
"Brother, you can fly the melons. If they fall into the water, we can all go pick them up on the bamboo raft."
"What if we fall in? Where will we get stuck? This is the melon of life. We didn't eat enough last night, and the other team going up the mountain couldn't find any food either. Whether we can leave the lake safely today and have the strength to paddle the bamboo raft depends on this melon."
The four of them started by standing and then sat down, their eyes never leaving the melon, their heartbeats quickening as the melon swayed more in the wind.
"I have an idea, I don't know if it will work," Chu Huaiqin said suddenly. Everyone looked at him in surprise, and he continued, "Listen to me!"
Chu Huaiqin was trying to find a way to pick papayas, while the other team at the camp had already returned. After walking on the mountain road for more than an hour, they still only found a few papaya trees and some mushrooms, which were all common. They did not pick any that could not be confirmed.
"Haven't Xia En and the others come up yet?" An Shunan looked at the shimmering lake, then at the papayas on the ground. He was hungry and wondered whether he should go into the water to catch fish. But after thinking about it, he decided to forget it. He was so hungry and weak now, and it would be troublesome to ask others to rescue him.
"Let's get them to come up!" Lin Zhinan said. No one had eaten much last night, and she was so hungry that her hands and feet were weak. Xia En and the others would have to work harder if they went into the water. She was a little worried about their safety. Their current food consisted of a few papayas, the two fish Xia En and the others had just speared, and a shrimp cage they had thrown into the lake last night, which contained a few crabs and some small shrimp. If they couldn't find any more food, they could eat something to fill their stomachs.
"Call!" Lin Yongfu finished speaking, walked to the lake and shouted loudly: "Xia En, Daxiang, Fengshan, they are back."
The three people who were diving at this time did not hear the shouting from the shore, but looked into the distance with wide eyes in surprise.
The water in this lake is very clear and the visibility is very high, so when they first saw the black shadow appear, they thought it was a plane flying by. It was not until the black shadow swung and made a loud water sound that everyone realized it might be some lake creature, such as a water monster.
Because of the refraction of sunlight, no one could see the entity clearly. They only saw a black shadow coming towards them. Xia En drew out his dagger and tried to swim over, but was caught by Bing Xiang and Feng Shan. One of them held down one of his shoulders and swam wildly towards the shore.
"Splash!" The sound of water was heard as the three of them emerged from the water. The first thing they did was to turn around to see if anything was chasing them. The people on the shore saw that the three of them looked strange and asked hurriedly, "What's wrong?"
Feng Shan's throat moved nervously, "We seem to have seen a water monster."
"I told you before that I saw a big black shadow, but you said I was overthinking it." Bing Xiang looked at Feng Shan with dead eyes, making him think that he was seeing things.
"My fault, my fault," Feng Shan quickly admitted his mistake and said worriedly, "What should I do next?"
"What should we do? We sailed for two days before and nothing happened." Xia Entang glanced at Feng Shan and began to look for someone on the shore, but he didn't see Chu Huaiqin.
"No, I want to ask, what were you planning to do with the dagger just now?" Bing Xiang only then remembered Xia En's actions just now. He was like a newborn calf that was not afraid of a tiger, and he actually dared to rush forward.
Xia En frowned and thought about it, but didn't say anything. He wouldn't tell these people that the fish was quite big, enough to eat for a few days, so he was ready to rush forward.
"What about him?" Xia En asked.
"Who?" Bing Xiang didn't react to his sudden change of subject.
Xia En had never expected that these people didn't understand who he was looking for. He didn't want to call Chu Huaiqin by his full name, as that would seem unfamiliar, but...
"Who?" Bing Xiang was also puzzled by Xia En's conflicted look.
After a long while, Xia En uttered two words, "Qingqing!"
"Pfft, is it Qingqing or Qinqin?" A teasing voice sounded behind them. Everyone turned around and saw Chu Huaiqin and the other three coming back. The little monk and Tong Tiao were each holding a piece of the basket, which contained a big winter melon.
Everyone ignored Xia En and rushed over immediately. Instead, Su Huaichen approached Xia En with a sly grin, put his hand firmly on his shoulder, and said with a grin, "Come, read with me, Chu Huaiqin, q...i...n..."
"Get out of the way." Xia En grabbed Su Huaichen's wrist, pulled it away with force, glared at him fiercely, turned around and saw Chu Huaiqin standing beside him and smiling, his face instantly turned red.
"Pfft, haha, it's officially confirmed. Xia Entang really made a slip of the tongue and pronounced 'qin' as 'qing'."
"Understand him, qing, qin are equal."
"It looks like everyone can have a good meal today. This big winter melon will provide us with food for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."
"Chu Huaiqin is also very good. He thought of tying a frame with vines and placing it under the winter melon. Then the vines were stuck on the tree trunk. After cutting the melon stem, the winter melon fell into the frame. The vines connecting the frame were stuck in the tree and delayed the impact. My brother's brain really works well."
"No, am I the only one who cares about the water monster? The water monster!"
"It would be strange if there were no water monsters in such a big lake!"
"So everyone believes in the existence of water monsters?"
"Yes, the water monster must be a big water dragon."
"I think it's a big turtle."
"I think it's catfish."
Everyone in the live broadcast room kept speculating, and they were half-believing and half-doubting whether the water monster was real. Some people said it was a shadow, or water plants or something like that. After all, the so-called water monster did not float up, and no one saw it.
Chu Huaiqin and others who had just returned also heard about the water monster. Chu Huaiqin did not express any opinion because he was hungry.
Winter melon fish soup, twelve small pots were put on the stove, boiling one pot after another, and when they were scooped out, they looked almost transparent. The fish soup was sweet and rich in flavor, and the winter melon had a very good texture, soft and sweet in taste, and everyone praised it again and again.
Live broadcast room: I want to eat winter melon too.
The author has something to say: This chapter was written a long time ago. I set the time to post it at 9 o'clock in the evening, but now I realized that it has not been sent out.
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