Wen Qian went out and encountered the legendary bear, which really frightened her.
For a short period of time, Wen Qian didn't dare go up the mountain again, only wandering around near her home. Later, she thought about it and decided to simply take advantage of the currently favorable climate and soil conditions to start her own cultivation.
Since the environment was nice, Wen Qian had even harvested a batch of vegetables already, so she felt she could continue planting more of the fast-growing vegetables.
Wen Qian started giving herself more land reclamation tasks at this time, opening up a number of vegetable patches in the areas with hills and nearby rivers, sowing seeds and watering them, hoping they would grow well.
Wen Qian was thinking that maybe this year she could fully stock up on the vegetable intake for the next two to three years.
As for the grass patches, Wen Qian had collected them in her space as well.
She felt that completely clearing the surrounding grass patches would be detrimental to soil and water conservation, so she wanted to cover them back up after the vegetable planting was done, but she wasn't sure when that would be.
However, she thought that in the future she probably wouldn't need to grow this many vegetables.
Various small vegetables were growing in this place, and while it was fine during the day, at night some couldn't tolerate the big temperature difference, so Wen Qian had to cover them with thin films to keep them warm.
She had almost taken out all the seeds to reference, planting more of the ones suitable for the temperature, and just a little of the ones unsuitable or requiring more care near her home, while planting the ones easier to grow a bit further away.
She was also worried that if she planted too many delicious vegetables around her home, it might attract other wild animals, leading to a chain reaction that could draw even larger predators.
So she was extra careful when planting the vegetables. She remembered the rapeseed field scenery she had seen by Jade Lake, so she also wanted to find a place to plant some.
The areas near the river wouldn't work, because the seasonal sudden snowmelt runoff could cause floods here. If she planted in low-lying areas, they might get submerged by the floods, which would be a waste. Spring and summer are the flood peak season.
In addition to some areas around her home, Wen Qian simply went to the high-altitude areas at the foot of the nearby mountains to plant. Scattered here and there, she even suspected she might forget where she had planted some.
While Wen Qian was running around looking for suitable places to reclaim and cultivate, the situation in the city wasn't as good. First of all, the population was dense, and with the virus not fully eliminated, many people's activity ranges were just their homes or small balconies.
Maybe some people on the first floor of the residential area could grow a little bit of vegetables, but that would be just a little.
For people, the city becoming quiet had a big impact.
But for nature, with people quieting down and human activity reduced, not only did the sky become bluer and the water cleaner, but the plants and animals were also growing better.
The air pollution, light pollution, water pollution, and noise pollution had all been alleviated to a certain extent.
There were already not many people in Xia Province where Wen Qian was located, and with the absence of tourists, there were even fewer.
There used to be tourists, cyclists, and self-driving travelers here, but now everyone was staying at home, so no one came over anymore.
It has to be said that the place Wen Qian chose was originally hard to come across people, and now it was even more difficult to see anyone.
However, for safety, Wen Qian still stayed away from the roads, and even reduced the number of times she checked messages near the pastures.
She was thinking that even with the most severe and timely measures, this year would still not be good with such a serious infectious disease.
Since she was not in the midst of the crowds, her mentality was slightly better. Some people had suffered blow after blow of losing family and friends, and their mentality had already collapsed.
This was not because their psychological quality was not strong enough. It was because the hardships came one after another, and even an optimistic person would have problems under such blows.
Some people say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but the truth is that some people who look like they're still alive have been worn down to ashes by the hardships.
They may not have been killed, but they are already half-dead.
In May, Wen Qian focused on reclaiming land and planting vegetables everywhere. She already had a lot of grain, but she still needed to store more vegetables, so she did some physical labor every day.
However, her vegetable planting was a bit rough, first opening up the land, then immediately sowing the seeds, watering afterwards, and then going to open up another piece.
During this time, whether going out and coming back home, or sleeping at night, she was extra vigilant, afraid that wild animals would come knocking on her door.
The main reason was the shock that the bear had given her previously. Although she had defensive tools, that was not an animal that could be killed with a single shot, and she didn't have that capability yet.
Fortunately, after that, she saw other wild animals, such as mice and red foxes, but no other threats to human life.
At the foot of the Jade Mountain Range, on the edge of the basin, in the desolate uninhabited areas, Wen Qian lived alone.
So when she saw the foxes, she still found it amazing, and even seeing a mouse made her happy.
Even Wen Qian was like this, let alone some people who need friends and companionship, they would probably go crazy with boredom.
Fortunately, Wen Qian had a lot of things to entertain herself, from toys and dolls to books and even colored paints, although she was not good at painting.
The thing that humans can tolerate the least is boredom, no matter what the situation, they always find something to do.
This applies not only to the solitary Wen Qian, but also to the city residents who don't go out at all.
Even just the packaging of an ordinary snack bag at home, they would read the ingredient list over and over again to pass the time.
Wen Qian interacted with the soil and seeds every day, observing the plants that had already grown and the seeds germinating.
The fast-growing ones changed appearance every few days, giving her a great sense of accomplishment.
Of course, even in the highlands, there would be pests, and Wen Qian had previously thought that there shouldn't be so many insects in the highlands, but when she actually started planting, those insects appeared from nowhere.
And in this environment without intense heat, aphids actually grew better.
Wen Qian found in books that wood ash could be used for pest control, and she didn't buy much pesticide, preferring not to use it if possible. But seeing how active the insects were, she eventually tried spraying some.
She just had to make sure there was enough time between spraying and harvesting for the pesticide to dissipate.
Wen Qian also had some medicinal herbs stored, some of which could also repel insects.
She looked up in the books and found a couple of things that could kill insects when soaked in water, but were harmless to the crops.
There were a lot of things to worry about when growing vegetables and grains alone.
When Wen Qian used to follow Auntie Chen to plant vegetables, the other often reminded her when to plant what, when to thin the seedlings, and when to spray.
Wen Qian had taken notes at the time, but didn't worry about it much.
Now in this new environment, starting to grow, the knowledge needs to be relearned, and for Wen Qian, just reading on paper is not enough, everything needs to be practiced hands-on.
Fortunately, the books she bought were very reliable, otherwise, whether it was wild vegetables or medicinal herbs, Wen Qian would be completely clueless.
The ability to grow vegetables is also a very useful skill, so she doesn't have to dig up wild vegetables and risk encountering bears.
