Although it is spring, the night temperature in the mountains is still low, so it is really hard to bear without wearing a down jacket.
They didn't sleep well that night, and the father and son took turns keeping vigil, mainly because they were afraid of being attacked by wild beasts.
The next morning, after eating a few more bags of snacks, the two of them continued walking down the mountain.
Around noon, the cliff in front became more gentle and turned into a hillside of less than 60 degrees. The hillside was still densely covered with vegetation, and various thorns and vines blocked the road. It had to be split bit by bit, and a lot of Ju Ming's sweater was ripped out.
holes.
Zhu Guoxiang was similar. He left his down jacket in the car and wore a woolen sweater underneath, which was now dirty and torn.
While walking, Zhu Guoxiang suddenly squatted down and dug into the ground with dead branches he had picked up.
"What are you doing?" Zhu Ming asked standing nearby.
Zhu Guoxiang pointed to the plants in front of him: "Wild polygonatum is not only a traditional Chinese medicine, but also can be used as disaster relief food. Previously, the cliff was too steep and it was inconvenient to dig things, but now we have to collect food. The snacks in the backpack are not enough for us."
Ju Ming felt that it made sense, so he pulled out his sword and helped dig out Huang Jing.
There is not much food left and must be replenished along the way.
If he traveled alone, he would probably not be able to get out of the mountains. He would either starve to death due to lack of food, or be poisoned to death by eating wild vegetables.
Putting the dug Polygonatum sibiricum into his backpack and walking more than ten steps, Zhu Ming pointed to a piece of weed: "Is this edible? I remember when I was very young, my aunt cut this kind of grass to feed rabbits."
Zhu Guoxiang immediately popularized the science: "Chicken is edible and can clear away heat and detoxify. But it is best to blanch it before eating, otherwise the taste will be very bitter."
"As long as you can eat it, you can tolerate the bitterness." Zhu Ming waved his sword to cut wild vegetables.
The father and son collected food while overcoming obstacles.
Suddenly, Zhu Guoxiang shouted in a low voice: "Don't move!"
"What's wrong?" Zhu Ming asked confused.
Zhu Guoxiang pushed aside the weeds in front of his knees, revealing a large pile of feces. He lay down and smelled it, then observed carefully: "There are ferocious beasts around here."
Ju Ming also squatted down to study the feces: "It looks like the feces of a large animal."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "The excrement of carnivores is more smelly, and you can see that there are still incompletely digested bones in this excrement. I'm afraid this excrement was either pulled by a wolf or a tiger. And the beast is not far away.
The moisture in this shit hasn’t completely dried up yet.”
The father and son became alert, gripped their weapons and moved forward carefully, trying to avoid the path left by the beast.
Ju Ming used his sword to cut down a branch and cut off the branches and leaves to make a cane for his father. It was easy to carry down the mountain with the cane, and it could also be used as a weapon when encountering ferocious beasts.
As we continued walking down the mountain, it was almost dusk before we knew it, and the dense vegetation made the sky appear darker.
"there's noise!"
Not only did Ju Ming return to his teenage state, his physical strength and eyesight were much better, his hearing was even sharper.
Zhu Guoxiang listened carefully: "No."
Ju Ming said: "Right in front, there was movement just now, but now it's suddenly silent. They are probably ambushing us."
The father and son stopped moving and stood quietly in place.
After a stalemate for at least half an hour, the guy hiding in the dark finally couldn't help but show up.
"throat!"
A deep and loud roar came from the bushes ahead.
Ju Ming swallowed and turned to look at his father: "It seems to be a tiger. I've heard of it in the zoo."
"Go back?" Zhu Guoxiang turned pale with fright.
It's too late, we can't go back.
This is a Qinling tiger, a branch of the South China tiger, with a body length of more than two meters. It will go out for a walk in the morning and evening, equivalent to patrolling its territory, and the main hunting time is at night.
The huge tiger body walked out completely, opened its bloody mouth, and roared at the two humans: "Hang... roar!"
Ju Ming held the sword in his hand, but his legs felt inexplicably weak.
Zhu Guoxiang's hands were also shaking. He was holding a cane and confronting the tiger. His throat was dry and he could no longer speak.
No matter how loud you bang on the keyboard, no matter how loud you brag, if you really meet the King of Beasts, you can only resign yourself to fate.
Suddenly remembering the allusion of "Guizhou donkey has no skills", Zhu Ming reluctantly mustered up the courage and fiercely faced the tiger... imitating the donkey's cry: "Ang~Ang~Ang~"
Zhu Guoxiang also stamped his feet and shouted: "Ha! Ha! Ha!"
This Qinling tiger may have encountered humans for the first time. He didn't know their details, so he cautiously took half a step back.
Ju Ming swung his sword and slashed at the nearby tree branch, and the small tree branch broke in response, thus showing his attack power.
The tiger was startled, jumped out diagonally forward, turned to the side and continued to observe the humans, with a bit of curiosity in its eyes.
Two people and one tiger, just facing each other on the same spot.
The sky was getting darker and darker, and there was no time to light a fire. Zhu Ming held the sword in one hand and took out his mobile phone with the other, and quickly turned on the flashlight function of the mobile phone.
The sudden light made the tiger even more vigilant. He took a few steps back and hid in the grass, lowering his body and preparing to pounce at any time.
Ju Ming was so frightened that his heart was beating wildly and his palms were covered with sweat.
Zhu Guoxiang also took out his mobile phone, quickly turned on the flashlight, and whispered to his son: "You slowly back away, and I will stop this beast."
"Don't talk nonsense. You can't run away. Whoever runs away will lose his momentum." Zhu Ming has never dealt with ferocious beasts, so he can only make guesses. However, his father's words still moved him a little. At least, this man who is his father, met him.
Danger did not leave his son alone and run away alone.
I don’t know how long the confrontation lasted, but the tiger in the grass continued to retreat.
When Zhu Ming heard the rustling noise, he bravely said, "Let's retreat too."
The father and son retreated cautiously. As they retreated, the tiger suddenly stepped forward out of the grass and continued to roar at them. The two were immediately frightened and did not dare to move.
After repeating this process many times, the tiger finally left and disappeared into the bushes.
It is estimated that there is enough food in the mountains and the tigers are usually well fed and do not need to risk fighting with humans.
After making sure that the thing had gone far, Zhu Ming felt his legs and feet were weak. He sat down on the ground and muttered: "Fuck, fuck, who dares to say that a sliding shovel can kill a tiger? I will crawl along the network cable and chop him to death."
he!"
Zhu Guoxiang bent down and rubbed his calf. He was so scared that his calf cramped.
After waiting for a while, the two decided to go down the mountain overnight.
They were walking in the opposite direction of the tiger. Because they were too nervous and it was difficult to see the way in the dark, they lost their footing several times and rolled down.
At dawn, Ju Ming's mobile phone ran out of battery, so he took out his power bank and connected it.
Zhu Guoxiang panted and said: "Huhuhu, after running so far, it should be no longer in the tiger's territory. Let's wait until daybreak. I really can't run anymore."
They were all so tired that they didn't care about the beasts and lay down on the ground to rest.
After finally surviving until the morning sun rose, Ju Ming found that his sweater was full of holes, and there were many scratches and bruises all over his body, including a big bump on his forehead.
Zhu Guoxiang also suffered a bruise and a swollen face, and was shivering from the cold. He hurriedly picked up dead branches and leaves to make a fire. The low temperature in the mountains can kill people.
They only had two bags of instant noodles left, so they took out one bag and ate the noodles and drank it with mineral water. They didn't feel full at all with this little food, so they took out the Polygonatum japonica they dug along the way, roasted and ate the stems of two Polygonatum japonica plants.
The instant noodle packets are just sprinkled on top for seasoning. Even the oil packets of instant noodles are melted and spread on the Huangjing.
Finally, I calmed my hungry stomach and continued walking down the mountain.
The terrain became gentler and gentler, and when we reached the bottom of the valley, it was already noon and a small river appeared in front of us.
There are still no traces of human activity on both sides of the river. There is no fertile farmland, only thorns and weeds.
Ju Ming asked: "Which way to go? Upstream or downstream?"
"I don't know, my mind is a little confused and I need to analyze the situation." Zhu Guoxiang said.
After encountering the tiger's fright, the father and son became more aware of the dangers and began to work together to find a way out.
"If, I mean if," Zhu Ming forced himself to calm down and analyzed, "Before we traveled, we were on the border of Xixiang County, and it was not far from the Han River. If we traveled to ancient Xixiang County, then what is in front of us
This small river is probably a tributary of the Han River."
Zhu Guoxiang, who knew nothing about history, asked: "Isn't the Han River a commercial road in ancient times?"
"Yes, it was an important trade route in several dynasties," Ju Ming said. "We follow the river and keep going downstream. We will probably reach the edge of the Han River. There are merchant ships coming and going there, and we will definitely meet ancient people. First follow
They make excuses, ask which dynasty it is, and then take the next step based on the actual situation."
Zhu Guoxiang breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good to have ideas when doing things. Don't mess around. After taking a rest, go downstream to find someone."
Ju Ming sat on a rock and muttered to himself: "Time travel is not fun, it's too torturous. It's better to just sit at home and shoot videos."
Zhu Guoxiang opened the hem of his clothes, looked at the large scratches on his waist, stood up with a cane and said, "I'm going to get some herbal medicine."
"You really know about herbal medicine?" Zhu Ming found it amazing.
Zhu Guoxiang was happy to show his ability in front of his son and said with a smile: "I come from the countryside. When local dogs in the countryside are injured, they all know that they have to go into the mountains to find herbs."
These words sounded strange. Zhu Ming thought carefully. Was he scolding himself for being worse than a dog?
(I updated three chapters on the first day. I was too lazy to update in the afternoon, so I posted them all at once. Today’s three chapters are more than 10,000 words, and I will update twice a day starting tomorrow.)