The rains in the south fell heavily, making one feel as if the sky had been pierced and was leaking water.
August was originally a hot month, and the heavy rains did little to cool things down, instead creating high heat and humidity.
Fang Ya sent Wen Qian a message complaining about the constant rain, feeling that the rain missed last year during the drought had all concentrated this year.
Wen Qian said if it kept raining, they could move to a higher place to live.
Fang Ya asked her, they were already in a hilly area, with a high elevation, so if it flooded even there, then a third of the country would be submerged.
Wen Qian said they would all be cramming onto the hillsides then.
Fang Ya thought she was joking.
But thinking about it, whenever they turned on the TV, the news basically had no good news.
Earlier, J Country had suffered an earthquake and volcanic eruption. The earthquake was now only experiencing small aftershocks, but the volcano remained very active, with increasing emissions.
Now J Country was in chaos, with its struggling economy becoming even more difficult, and people living in constant anxiety.
Sometimes when Fang Ya looked at her own children, she wondered if she had given birth at the wrong time, otherwise why would life be so hard?
When Wen Qian said going to a higher place, she didn't mean a high elevation, but rather a place with fewer people, a truly sparsely populated area.
These places happened to be either at high latitudes or high elevations, so combining the two, Wen Qian chose a high elevation area.
She had already seen heavy snowfall in her dreams, and the north already had significant snow, so if it increased further, she didn't dare imagine what it would be like.
She had come to Xia Province, and was still adapting to the elevation and trying hiking, no longer paying much attention to the weather in An Province.
But Fang Ya would sometimes chat with her, though it was mostly about the weather and disasters.
It wasn't just Fang Ya - recently, everyone's conversations seemed to revolve around these topics, as if they had become unavoidable.
Nothing seemed able to keep people optimistic.
Wen Qian stopped looking at such news, putting down her phone to focus on eating.
After washing up, she would go lie down, planning to head to Jade Lake the next day for a two-day camping trip before starting her hike.
Jade Lake was a very large lake within Xia Province, frequently visited by people hiking or cycling around it.
There were many supply points nearby, so there was no need to worry about not passing through villages or towns.
The vegetation around Jade Lake was also diverse, with grasslands, forests, alpine shrubs and meadows, and snow-capped mountains visible.
It was also said to be convenient for stargazing at night.
This area was Wen Qian's second choice, and during this hike she wanted to scout out if there were any suitable places for her to settle.
Finding a place with absolutely no people that was still livable would be difficult, but finding a sparsely populated area would be better.
Head to where transportation is inconvenient, and the answer presents itself.
Wen Qian's plan was to look around as she hiked, using maps and local transportation information.
Before winter arrived, she would build a small house and prepare to spend the winter in Xia Province.
She had it all planned out - build a very small house, then put up a wall encircling it. After winter passed, she would see about building a bigger home in the spring.
In winter, one's activity range wouldn't be too wide, so she figured she could just settle down without too much trouble.
During her previous hikes, she had wondered why she came to Xia Province, ultimately concluding that she no longer felt safe in her hometown.
Just as she wanted to leave An City after hearing rumors there, facing the constant rains in her hometown, Wen Qian also wanted to leave.
Her visions were limited, so timing depended on herself. Leaving early could avoid many troubles.
But leaving early also brought its own troubles, like having to spend the winter in an unfamiliar place.
She had once seen a movie about an old grandfather and a young girl living together on a mountain, surrounded by mountains, raising sheep for a living.
Xia Province just happened to have terrain similar to that movie, and Wen Qian had already envisioned her life after spring, but first she had to get through the winter.
Regarding building a house, she discovered that there were many ethnic minorities here with the tradition of tent dwellings.
Wen Qian thought about getting a cotton tent to spend the winter, adding an encircling wall for safety.
Thinking about it, she fell asleep.
The next day, she headed to Jade Lake.
The hikes here could start from anywhere, so Wen Qian found a suitable camping area.
This whole area was for self-driving, with a designated parking area nearby where people set up tents.
When Wen Qian arrived, she saw tents of all sizes, colorful and lively, but also too crowded.
She set up her tent innermost, to have some quiet.
During the day she would go for walks, returning by evening. There were many local shops nearby to either cook your own food over a fire, or eat prepared meals.
For Wen Qian, having the occasional meal out wasn't bad, but she wouldn't choose to eat in the scenic area.
Since Wen Qian had just finished a hike and was resting for a day or two, her schedule was relaxed.
She took some nice photos and videos, and recorded the sounds of the lakeside.
The sky was blue, the water was clear, with distant snow-capped peaks and nearby verdant grasslands.
The more she looked, the more open it felt, and Wen Qian felt her mood lifting.
After eating lunch, Wen Qian started napping in her tent, putting in earplugs so she wouldn't be disturbed by noise.
Not having set an alarm, Wen Qian ended up sleeping for over two hours before waking up and immediately checking her phone, realizing she had overslept.
That's when she saw the earthquake alert.
It was a notification that had popped up while she was sleeping that she had missed, with the app warning followed by a text message reminder.
There had been a level 4 earthquake in a nearby county, showing up as a level 3 quake at their camping area.
Wen Qian had slept through it, being on flat ground with no disturbance.
She asked someone outside her tent, and they said they had felt the shaking.
Seeing her just-woken appearance, they laughed that she had missed the earthquake.
Since it wasn't very strong, everyone still had an amicable mood and could joke about it, though for Wen Qian it wasn't very funny.
There had been an earthquake within Xia Province. While the frequency of recorded quakes wasn't high nor the magnitudes large, was there a possibility of a bigger earthquake?
Wen Qian had planned to set up a cotton tent in a relatively flat area for winter for this very reason.
She no longer really wanted to live under a roof, not knowing when disaster might strike.
This was her second choice location. Further west in Xia Province, at the edge of the high mountains, was Wen Qian's first choice - terrain similar to here but even more remote with fewer people and inconvenient transportation.
More importantly, the elevation was higher there.
Wen Qian was thinking that after finishing her hike here, she would go check out that area.
Then she could decide where exactly she wanted to settle down and live.
