leonardwarren Chapter 2 Mango Tree?
Chapter 2 Mango Tree?
But no matter what, since we're here, we have to adapt.
The same principle applies everywhere in the world: either the environment adapts to you, or you adapt to the environment.
Survival is nothing more than food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. To stay alive, you must first solve these problems.
Clothes are enough for now; food is enough to last for a while; lodging is possible in the tricycle. The tricycle has a driver's cab, which was bought specifically to prevent the winter from getting too cold, and it comes in handy now; transportation is difficult, as the mountains are full of towering trees, weeds, shrubs, ferns, and thorns, and it seems that a road must be cleared to travel.
"roar"
Suddenly, a beastly roar came from somewhere, startling Cai Xuan. He immediately realized that living in the carriage wasn't so safe after all.
How about... building a treehouse in the tree?
Looking at the tall, majestic trees, Cai Xuan suddenly remembered that when he was looking out from the tree, he seemed to have seen a rocky mountain nearby. If he could find a cave in the mountain, it would be safer than living in the tree, and it would also save him a lot of effort.
Thinking of this, he quickly climbed back up the tree.
Sure enough, not far to his right, there was a stone mountain. The mountain was covered with lush trees and craggy rocks. Upon closer inspection, the outline of the stone mountain resembled a kind old man waving at him.
After just one glance, Cai Xuan decided to go to that stone mountain.
But there are towering trees everywhere, making it difficult to drive a tricycle!
But we can't leave the vehicle here. Putting aside the food on the vehicle, we can't just give up the steel of the tricycle itself.
So, he took the package containing a machete with a hook from the car, unpacked it, and cut down a relatively straight sapling nearby to make a long-handled machete. He went ahead to scout the area and discovered that the abundance of tall trees in the forest wasn't without its advantages. Because of their height, the trees absorbed nutrients from the surrounding soil, resulting in few other large trees surviving around them; only weeds, shrubs, or small trees remained.
After walking a little further and taking a look at the terrain, Cai Xuan felt that he could carve a path through the woods for the tricycle to pass through, so he got to work.
The newly purchased machete is extremely sharp; wherever it goes, weeds, shrubs, ferns, and thorns are all broken.
When he encountered trees that were too thick to cut with a machete, he would take out a saw and cut them down. Before long, he had carved out a narrow path through the dense forest, wide enough for a tricycle to pass through. He didn't build the path all the way to the foot of the rocky mountain in one go, but cleared a section at a time and then drove the tricycle forward a section, trying to keep the tricycle in his sight as long as possible.
The things on the tricycle were his only means of survival in this place, so he had no choice but to be careful.
While clearing the way, Cai Xuan carefully observed the surroundings to avoid being injured by suddenly appearing poisonous insects or ferocious beasts.
He arrived in early spring, shortly after the Spring Festival, when it was still a bit chilly, and a minor cold snap had hit. So he was wearing thermal underwear, a thin sweater, and a double-layered silk-cotton canvas work jacket. On his feet were soft white fur-lined military boots, and his pants were thermal underwear and fleece-lined jeans.
The weather here seems hotter than at home; after walking for a while, I'm covered in sweat.
I had no choice but to take off my sweater, thermal underwear, and the fleece lining inside my silk canvas work jacket.
As for the rest, we'll talk about it when we get out.
The woods had been untouched for who knows how long; the ground was covered with withered branches and fallen leaves, along with some rotten, fallen tree trunks overgrown with various parasitic plants and moss. However, it seemed to be the dry season, as the moss was dry and lacked moisture, and the ground was extremely hard.
Along the way, Cai Xuan constantly observed the surrounding plants.
I found that the plants here are similar to those in my hometown, but also a little different. For example, the pines are not only tall and straight, but their bark protrudes like dragon scales; the firs have sharp thorns on their leaf veins that are hard enough to pierce the soil; and the cypresses emit a faint fragrance.
Further on, we found plants similar to five-finger peach, sumac, pheasant pepper, and golden retriever.
But without a doubt, each one is enormous.
"Huh, a tree fern."
Cai Xuan's eyes lit up when he saw a clump of plants rising from the ground ahead.
Tree ferns mainly grow in tropical and subtropical regions, meaning that I am from the south, specifically in southern Fujian and further south; otherwise, tree ferns could not survive.
Continuing on, he discovered a persimmon tree.
The fruits growing on it are extremely tiny, smaller than pigeon eggs, and some of them are covered with crystal-like red fruits, making them a delightful sight from afar.
It's a pity it's not convenient now, otherwise I would have picked a couple to try the taste.
"Looking at a mountain makes you feel like you're running yourself to death." The rocky mountain seemed close at first glance, but it turned out to be a long and winding road, and not a straight one at that. To make driving easier, Cai Xuan had to choose a more convenient route, resulting in a long and arduous journey with many twists and turns.
After crossing hills and groves of trees, the sound of water came from ahead.
He used a machete to cut through a patch of grass. The grass smelled rather strong. Upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't weeds, but rather a plant that resembled mugwort. It was growing so vigorously and thickly that he hadn't even noticed it before. Next to the mugwort-like plant grew many other plants that looked like houttuynia cordata, water celery, smartweed, dayflower, and firethorn, but with slight differences in shape and color.
It's unclear whether this phenomenon is due to different geographical locations or because they are different varieties.
In front of the plant resembling mugwort was a ditch about ten feet wide, with clear water and fine sand at the bottom that shimmered like gold and silver in the sunlight.
The sand in the stream near Cai Xuan's home used to shimmer like this. As a child, I thought it contained gold, but later I learned it was mica.
The water wasn't deep, only ankle-deep, probably because it was the dry season. I wonder what it would be like during the rainy season. A small spring, originating from a rocky mountain, flowed gently from afar. As for the source of the ditch, it came from the deeper, dense forest on the right.
When they finally arrived at their destination, Cai Xuan drove the car over, took out jasmine tea, and leaned back in the car to drink it.
Having not worked for so long, my hands were starting to ache from carrying a machete and saw all the way here.
As he drank, he looked at the stone mountain in front of him. The stone mountain was tall and looked like an old man from a distance, but up close it resembled a towering, majestic giant.
The mountain was covered with jagged rocks, clinging together haphazardly, with various trees growing in the crevices. At the foot of the mountain, on the left and right sides, were gentle slopes formed by rainwater washing away the sand and silt from the rocks, covered with tall, dense trees. Between these two slopes lay the small spring that flowed down from the rocky mountain. Perhaps because the spring was abundant during the rainy season, washing away the sand and soil from the middle of the slopes, this area was much lower than the slopes on either side.
However, it was also covered with weeds and trees.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Cai Xuan discovered that at the source of the spring, there was a fruit tree over twenty meters tall with leaves resembling mangoes.
The reason it is said to be similar is that the branches and trunk of the fruit tree look very much like a mango, but the leaves are a bit round, pointed and thick, unlike the varieties that Cai Xuan had seen before.
At this time, some leaves on the fruit tree tips were tinged with red, some were in bloom, and others had already borne small green fruits. In his hometown, mango blossoms bloom from late February to around March. He remembered that when he traveled here, it had just passed the Spring Festival; perhaps the seasons are the same here?
In any case, it's always right to act according to the mango flowering season.
Having a reference point helped me understand how to grow the crops I brought.
"Um?"
Suddenly, he noticed that there wasn't just one mango-like fruit tree. Beside that tall mango tree, at the foot of the mountain to the left, there were two more thick and tall fruit trees. Seeing this, he perked up and turned to search around. Sure enough, he found some tall fruit trees on the slopes where the stream flowed. Behind him, a massive, gnarled fruit tree, like a deity, stood proudly atop a small hill.
Cai Xuan's eyes lit up. With these fruit trees, he wouldn't be able to starve to death even if he wanted to.