Wen Qian gathered the crops and vegetables she had grown into her Space, without taking time to process them. Instead, she turned her attention to stockpiling firewood for herself.
Hoarding another round of firewood before winter would make Wen Qian feel more at ease.
After preparing the firewood, Wen Qian took out the birds she had previously caught, boiling water to pluck their feathers.
Later, she spread the wet feathers outside to dry, then collected them into her Space. As for the bird meat she was processing, the innards and inedible parts were also collected.
Just like how she would collect chicken and duck intestines whenever she processed poultry before.
Some of the frozen chickens and ducks she had previously purchased were already processed, while others were merely plucked whole with the innards intact.
In the future, she could use these to make fish bait, so she wouldn't have to dig for earthworms anymore, how convenient.
After processing these birds, she salted and dried some for storage in her Space, while putting the rest directly into the Space.
These birds were small, so it was best to eat them fresh. If they were hung up and wind-dried, they would be nothing but skin and bones.
With these tasks done, Wen Qian took out some chickens and ducks to make cured meat, and also took out a few dozen pounds of pork to cure.
The wild boar that had fallen into her trap long ago was dissected by Wen Qian after she overcame her psychological state.
From the pig's blood to its hair, nothing was wasted; everything was meticulously utilized, even the small intestines were cleaned to make sausages.
Although laborious, Wen Qian was delighted, as the pork she had initially purchased from the Bai Sha Wholesale Market was relatively less compared to grains.
Later, she bought some more pork from her hometown, which allowed her to sustain herself until now.
However, wild boar meat and domesticated pork had their differences; wild boar meat wasn't as tasty.
When Wen Qian was little, she would accompany her grandparents to visit relatives. Back then, some mountain relatives could catch wild rabbits and pheasants.
She found the meat of those wild animals difficult to chew, particularly the stringy texture that got stuck in her teeth. At the time, she thought it was due to her crooked teeth.
Now, she realized it was likely because they engaged in strenuous activity as wild creatures.
The wild boar's meat was also stringy, making it particularly hard to chew, and requiring a lot of spices to mask the flavor.
But no matter how unpalatable, it was still meat, so Wen Qian could only slowly consume it bit by bit.
After finishing these tasks, Wen Qian mended her bird-catching nets at home. Some nets became tightly tangled from the birds' violent struggles, sometimes even tearing holes.
Sometimes, when she lacked patience removing the birds, she would also tear the nets. Now, she focused on meticulously mending them.
Wen Qian thought to herself that since there wasn't much to do in winter, she would head to the foothills of the Jade Mountain Range and set up pole-supported nets in the valleys to see if any birds would fly into them.
The previous trap hadn't caught any large prey for a long time after the wild boar, until a sheep fell into it last spring.
After the wild boar, another long-haired sheep came along, but Wen Qian didn't know its name, as it only had one horn, seemingly injured during the mating season while fighting with other sheep before descending from the mountain.
Moreover, this sheep's horns resembled those of a few other breeds, so Wen Qian couldn't distinguish it.
As long as it was edible, Wen Qian was content, for after catching the wild boar, this trap was basically useless.
In the following two or three years of warming temperatures, Wen Qian often set up small traps at the foot of the Jade Mountain Range.
Mainly targeting large pheasants and birds, but nothing larger could be caught.
Back in her hometown, she had seen traps similar to rat traps but slightly larger. When triggered, the jaws would snap shut with great force, capable of breaking bones if a person's hand got caught.
They were generally used to catch pheasants, squirrels, or yellow mongooses.
Initially, Wen Qian had also purchased many of these traps online. When temperatures rose, she would stake them into the mountain and regularly check them, occasionally reaping rewards.
Therefore, catching another long-haired sheep that had fallen into a deep pit was a significant gain for her.
Wen Qian knew the sheep had descended from the mountain because of its particularly long wool, indicative of growth in frigid alpine regions, the only kind of thick fur that could withstand the severe winter chill on the mountains.
Just like the wild boar, Wen Qian brought the sheep back and dealt with it. This sheep weighed over a hundred pounds.
Wen Qian kept the sheep's wool, despite its pungent odor, as she felt it might come in handy later.
With Wen Qian's current level of preparation, she would have sufficient supplies to depart immediately once spring arrived.
As Wen Qian busied herself, the first snowfall of winter arrived. After that, aside from setting small traps and bird nets at the mountain's base, she stayed at home.
At home, she still had to process the harvested crops, separating the plump seeds for planting from the average quality ones for eating.
Wen Qian began grinding flour by pedaling her bicycle, which also served as physical exercise, as she could only stay indoors during winter without much movement.
This winter, Wen Qian's mind was more active than usual.
She needed to determine when to depart, whether in the upcoming spring or the following one.
To prepare for both scenarios, she needed to observe the temperature trends and patterns at the beginning and end of this winter, comparing them to her data from previous years.
If the temperatures continued to rise gradually, she could depart when winter ended.
If the temperatures didn't rise like before, she could wait another year, but her preparations couldn't slack.
This winter's timing and snowfall were nearly identical to last year's, so Wen Qian wanted to see the ending temperature and time.
If they were similar to last year's, she would gather her belongings and leave.
Despite her eager anticipation, time didn't pass quickly, nor did it feel like an eternity.
Wen Qian closed her notebook recording the temperatures and reviewed the calendar again.
Although she had a calendar, her sense of time might not have been precise, as she didn't wake up at a fixed time every day during this period, including instances of sleeping an entire day due to fever. Therefore, there could be a day or two discrepancy in the dates, but that wasn't a major concern.
If she had the opportunity to meet others, she might need to recalibrate the date.
Winter was nearing its end, no colder than usual. At this point, Wen Qian felt she should be able to leave.
After waiting another week, the temperatures gradually rose, with the lowest temperatures slowly increasing.
In the end, she decided to set off. After this winter ended, she would leave here on the spring breeze.
(Two in One)
Spring had just arrived, or rather it was still winter, and the temperature wasn't high, but Wen Qian had already started dismantling the surrounding wall.
She didn't store the surrounding wall in the Space, but instead knocked it down piece by piece into scattered sizes that could be stored in the Space at any time.
As a result, scattered piles of stones surrounded the house, and then Wen Qian stored all the unnecessary items in the Space.
Soon, her small hut filled with bottles, jars, and scattered items was left with only a bed, a stove, and a toilet, with everything else taken away.
Originally the hut wasn't very big, and it suddenly felt empty, leaving Wen Qian with a sense of loss, after all, she had lived here for several years.
She had become quite familiar with the vast mountains and sprawling Gobi Desert grasslands here.
The previous year during the transition from spring to summer, Wen Qian had gone to the distant dunes and discovered they were densely covered in small flowers blooming.
Wen Qian didn't know when those flowers had grown there.
It should have been a desert rising and falling, but somehow it was all covered in green vegetation.
Perhaps it was due to abnormal climate conditions that caused this, but the sight of the plants here vigorously growing in the face of rainfall was still shocking to Wen Qian.
She etched those beautiful scenes into her mind's eye, but didn't take out her phone camera to photograph them like she used to.
Instead, after returning home, she recorded them in words in her notebook, perhaps one day she could paint that scene from her memory.
Using a phone camera to take pictures was a thing of the past.
And later, if the temperature rose and one day returned to the original climate temperature, Wen Qian wondered if this beautiful scene would immediately disappear again, and this place would be covered in yellow sand storms once more.
Wen Qian flipped through the calendar and found a day in the next three days that was suitable for travel. After dismantling the surrounding wall of her own house and storing it in the Space, the next morning she woke up early, stored the prefab house in the Space, and set off nonchalantly on her bicycle.
Before leaving, she felt extremely reluctant and stood on the hill, surveying the familiar environment around her.
In the end, she resolutely left, thinking that she would be on the road for a very long time from now on.
Wen Qian spent the night on the road between the ranch and Mangge City. That evening, after taking out the prefab house and setting it up, she surrounded it with a large circle.
It looked like a circle of construction debris surrounding a house in the middle.
After creating sufficient obstacles, Wen Qian lit a fire in the stove inside the house, ate, and slept.
Ensuring her physical health remained the top priority, because in all these years, although she was very careful, she had unfortunately fallen ill once or twice.
After getting sick, one becomes frail and lonely. Wen Qian didn't want to experience such a situation on the road.
However, that night the temperature started dropping. Wen Qian looked at the strong winds howling outside and the roof flapping noisily in the cold wind.
She had initially treated this house to prevent wind from blowing in, but after all, it wasn't as solid as bricks and wood.
She felt like she was sitting in a dilapidated bus traveling down the road, still usable but rattling constantly, as if it could fall apart any second.
When Wen Qian woke up the next day, she found it had snowed, so she didn't plan to continue on.
Braving the cold wind while walking or pedaling a bicycle would make you sweat and get hot.
And after that sweat cooled, she would surely catch a cold.
So Wen Qian stoked the stove to burn stronger and began studying her detailed route and schedule ahead.
The route she had planned before was just a general direction and path, but she didn't know what the current natural environment was like.
Even when transportation was once convenient, she still had to take detours to reach her destination, let alone in this abandoned environment now.
So the detailed plan she made was only for about 3 to 7 days ahead, nothing further than that.
During this season, Wen Qian didn't even want to enter the urban area of Mangge City, but instead planned to bypass it through the suburbs, where many places were flat with fewer obstacles.
She preferred the open spaces over the oppressive feeling of the ruined buildings in the city.
Therefore, she decided her next route would pass through the city outskirts.
After the wind and snow stopped, Wen Qian prepared to leave, cycling for half the time and walking the other half.
After reaching the suburbs of Mangge City, Wen Qian set up her house there, surrounded it with a circle, and then began exploring the surroundings.
Wen Qian still took out large fish traps and set bait as usual, and also set out sticky nets.
There was still some ice in the river at this time, but it didn't affect the fishing, especially since there were quite a few small fish inside the traps.
The weather was cold, and these small fish died quickly after being taken out. If Wen Qian tried to process these tiny fish now, her hands would freeze.
So she still just put them in the Space, planning to take them out and deal with them when the weather warmed up.
After staying here for an extra day and catching many fish, Wen Qian began to fantasize that her future residence would be near a river so she could fish year-round.
That would be ideal, since she had learned to weave nets, so she could prepare more nets in the future with the line she had bought previously.
The small fish could be fried in oil or dried and preserved for a long time.
Wen Qian even thought that if she had a cat now, she could actually afford to keep it.
However, whether it was her previous two visits to Mangge City or now, she saw no trace of cats or dogs.
Originally this place had fewer people, so the number of pet cats and dogs as well as strays was not high. With the subsequent food scarcity, it's very possible that the previous cats and dogs were simply eaten.
More cautious and wary cats and dogs may have run off to nearby uninhabited areas to live, but the odds were not good for them either.
Especially in Mangge City, which the map showed as isolated and remote, these animals would have had a hard time traveling very far from their original environment, let alone surviving in the harsh conditions at that time.
There may have been some survivors, but they would no longer appear in front of Wen Qian.
Wen Qian set off again as the temperature rose from its low point.
Her next direction was to follow the railroad and highway northward, and then when she reached the fork in the two roads, she would follow the highway heading north.
Wen Qian planned to cycle along the highway, because this area was too desolate and the routes were too sparse. Once she strayed from the path, it would be very difficult to find her way back.
The next stop was Jade Lake, and further north was the former Xia City.
Wen Qian thought that was probably the most likely place she could encounter other people.
However, she was still very afraid, so she wouldn't pass through the city area, and most likely would skirt around the outskirts instead.
She had no curiosity at all about what the city looked like.
In between, Wen Qian may pass through one or two other small towns, but he is unlikely to go through the urban areas, and at this time, even if he passes through farmlands, there will be no naturally growing vegetables or crops.
Therefore, Wen Qian plans to look for rivers.
