When Wen Qian reached the grasslands, in addition to taking photos and videos, she also chatted with the nearby people.
There were quite a few people living in this area, although they were scattered, it was absolutely not lonely.
Here, some people raised horses, yaks, and sheep. With abundant water and grass, it could be said to be a relatively suitable place for survival.
Moreover, some people would also sell handicrafts and specialties by Jade Lake, as there were quite a few tourists. They had places similar to farm stays in this area.
As long as the prices were reasonable, the tourists were willing to spend money.
But most of the people here were ethnic minorities, and many of their customs were different. Wen Qian was an outsider.
She could live here, but Wen Qian still planned to continue on.
After reaching the bushland area and going a little further, it would be the forest area. Although this route was said to be around the lake, in fact, it was still a long distance from the lakeside.
So there weren't many people on this route, and most people chose to take a vehicle for this section.
Wen Qian didn't take a car but rode a bicycle along the highway.
Although it was rare to see people here, there were still some. At one point, Wen Qian put away her bicycle and walked up a small path.
She had previously taken a telescope from her space and looked around the area from a higher hillside.
She found that there were people living here too, just much fewer than in the grasslands.
Many people had moved from the mountains and halfway up the mountains down to live, although not as densely populated as the grasslands area, it was not deserted either.
Wen Qian had bought maps and had offline maps on her phone, so she decided to go up the mountain, to where people had lived before moving down.
The satellite map screenshot showed a green area, with the locations of rivers and lakes clearly marked.
Wen Qian inquired with the locals, asking them if there were any particularly ferocious wild animals in this area.
They told her that it was rare to see them before, but as the environment improved, in May of this year, bears and wild yaks appeared in their area.
Although rare, they did appear, so these animals may still be active in this area.
Wen Qian thought about it, and it seemed like wild yaks and bears were unavoidable in Xia Province and Qing Province.
But the residents also told her that it was indeed very rare, and at least in her view, the danger was very small. Occasionally, people even went up to the rivers to fish and didn't encounter any issues.
In the end, she decided to camp near the residents' homes and then set out early the next morning to go up the mountain, aiming to return within a day.
That night, Wen Qian was alone, with no other tents around, and the villagers' homes were not far away.
Wen Qian thought for a moment and took out some thorny vines and branches she had cut from her hometown, which were very prickly, and then surrounded her tent with them.
She thought this could somewhat prevent small wild animals, or at the very least, she would be able to hear some noises.
She lay down before it got dark, feeling a little uneasy being alone here, but thinking that there were villagers nearby made her feel a little better.
Even so, she didn't sleep very well that night and woke up very early the next day.
So she went out of the tent to put away the thorny branches, and even got pricked by them. It seemed like there was no movement on the thorny branches overnight.
Wen Qian left early. The slope at the foot of the mountain was relatively gentle. The true mountain peak, carved like a knife and covered with snow and clouds, only looked close, but to actually get there was very far away.
When moving through the mountains, the straight-line distance from the starting point to the destination might be short, but finding a path to reach it was not an easy task.
Fortunately, there were still remnants of the old paths here. She followed a relatively steep slope upwards, where trees and grasslands were mixed together.
At a lower elevation on the mountain, a lake had formed. It wasn't very large, but the surrounding flowers and grasses were in full bloom, with butterflies flying around.
Wen Qian heard the sound of sheep bleating, but she didn't see where the flock was.
So she continued upwards. After crossing a hill, she saw two wooden stumps on the slope, which were two very thick trees that had been sawn off. Looking at the black cross-sections, they seemed to have been cut down a long time ago.
Wen Qian looked at these traces of human activity and continued upwards.
The slope became a little steeper, and the grass became a bit more lush, with some stones exposed on the ground not far away.
It was then that Wen Qian saw the flock of sheep, but the shepherd was on another hillside across from her, separated by a larger lake.
The shepherd seemed to be a child.
She recalled the setting in a movie where a girl and her grandfather lived, and if there was a wooden house here, it would be even more similar.
If she took a photo, it wouldn't be obvious whether this was in China or abroad.
Wen Qian took photos and videos. She took out her phone and could still get a bit of signal.
She could also pick up radio channels, but maybe a few steps further, and she wouldn't be able to receive them anymore.
As she walked on, it was nearly 11 o'clock when she finally saw the mountain peak.
Although it was a peak, its height was insignificant compared to the surrounding mountains, but this place was indeed very suitable for living.
From afar, the end was a small forest of straight, emerald-green trees.
Wen Qian walked to the left of a large slope, afraid that if she slipped down that slope, she wouldn't be able to stop rolling and might even crash into rocks and die.
Wen Qian went to the right, afraid of slipping down herself and having to climb back up, which would be very tiring, and she might even hit rocks.
Her eyes saw the mountain peak, but actually walking up step by step took her quite some time. After passing through a small forest, it was a grassland with some large rocks.
On this inward-sloping hillside, she saw traces of human habitation, which was a collapsed house.
Most of it was stone, with the foundation being nearly a meter high in some places. It seemed that a solid stone foundation had been built on the gentle slope, and a house was built on top of it.
Perhaps the later residents moved down, and this place was abandoned. The foundation area was very small.
The wooden parts had almost disappeared, looking like it had been abandoned for a very long time.
Wen Qian felt that a house could also be built here, and she continued upwards.
When she reached the small forest at the end, she realized that behind the forest was basically a cliff. If she fell from here, she would become mud.
However, it was also good. Wen Qian stood at the bottom of the large trees and looked down towards the wooden house site.
Due to the recessed terrain, she couldn't see it, but standing in this spot and looking in the direction she came from, two overlapping mountains blocked her original path.
In other words, anyone who wanted to come to this mountain could only approach from the direction Wen Qian came, as the back was a cliff with no path. This made it easier to observe as well.
Wen Qian found a flat grassy area to rest, laid out a yoga mat, and felt very content.
This mountain, nestled among the surrounding mountains, had forests, grasslands, and lakes, making it very suitable for grazing sheep.
She felt that this place was just like a utopia, and if one wanted to escape from war, living here wouldn't be bad.
Moreover, this mountain seemed very safe. She didn't need to worry about collapse, landslides, mudslides, or the like.
Unlike the distant steep peaks, Wen Qian didn't need to worry about avalanches, falling rocks, or strong winds either.
Even in the case of an earthquake, this place had large expanses of grassland and gentle slopes, with many open areas, so there wouldn't be rocks falling from the sky with nowhere to take shelter.
Here, she could renovate the foundation and then build a house on it. The path down the mountain wasn't very easy to walk. If it rained or snowed, she would have to stay alone on this mountain, essentially cut off from the world.
She felt this place was also very similar to her old hometown of Yuanao, except that Yuanao was surrounded by hills, while this place was surrounded by towering mountains.
If her first envisioned safe haven wasn't as good as this one, then she would settle down here.
