HPDBC Chapter 84
Chapter 84
Chapter 84
Towards the end of March, Wen Qian began to select planting spots near her home.
Behind the small hill where she lived was a forest, and in front was a gentle slope. She planned to grow crops on the gentle slope near her home.
She couldn't plant near the streams, as those streams might rise during the next wave of warming and flood the nearby grasslands.
So Wen Qian planned her fields a bit higher up, while inside the fence she planned to cultivate seedlings and plant vegetables that needed daily attention.
The seedlings would need plastic covers for insulation, as the temperature difference between day and night was still quite large. As for the outdoor fields, Wen Qian had to start from scratch.
This meant she had to clear the land, using an iron shovel to scrape away the turf from the gentle slopes, and then build ridges around the fields, mainly on the lower side.
She was worried that if it rained, the soil might erode too quickly, so she wanted to create barriers to slow it down.
After stripping away the turf and exposing the soil, which looked quite fertile, Wen Qian scattered a little fertilizer and left the seeds to dry for two days before starting to plant the crops first.
In the plateau region, plant growth was very slow, and the crops wouldn't be ready for harvest until August or September. But the upside was that they would require less tending during that time.
At this point, she planned to go out and dig for wild vegetables based on the descriptions she had.
Originally she had planned to buy a sheep to raise, but then realized people might not want to encounter each other at this time.Discover new chapters at novelhall.com
Just to be safe, Wen Qian decided not to buy a sheep after all. Since the plan to raise sheep was cancelled, she figured she would spend the upcoming time foraging for wild vegetables.
Not many wild vegetables had sprouted in March, but April would be just right. As temperatures rose, the water network around the basin became relatively dense.
Water flowed down from the mountains, and Wen Qian's planted seeds slowly began to sprout. She patrolled her small planting areas every day, as this hill wasn't very large and she had only cleared two plots, with the remaining area being the small vegetable patch in her yard.
There were quite a few varieties of wild vegetables. She would only harvest one type at a time, just as she had always been obsessed with doing. She gathered a lot of wild vegetables just from the grasslands.
Later, looking at the distant mountains, she thought it should be fine to explore a little at the foothills.
Wen Qian figured she could get on the highway near Mangge City. Inter-regional transportation hadn't really resumed yet, so she thought it should be safe to move around the basin as long as she didn't encounter anyone.
At this time, people were afraid of the virus, so they were also afraid of strangers.
By May, temperatures outside the plateau region would start rising rapidly, and perhaps with the rising heat, the virus might not survive as easily.
Temperatures in the plateau region were still fine, though the sunlight was indeed very intense. At this point, Wen Qian's flushed cheeks were no different from the locals'.
When the light was too strong, she would wear sunglasses while checking on her crops near home.
She planned to venture out further from home toward the west in June and July.
At the end of April, Wen Qian got overly excited while foraging for wild vegetables and ventured up into the mountains. While using binoculars to scout routes along a river valley slope, she noticed some movement.
There were bears, a large one and a small one, appearing to be a mother bear and her cub out foraging for food.
Wen Qian gave a thumbs up after confirming they were at a safe distance, then she fled back home as fast as she could.
Along the way, she kept surveying her surroundings, afraid that if she panicked and lost her way, she might stumble into the territory of another ferocious wild animal, which would be disastrous.
This was her first time seeing wild animals that could threaten human life.
Wen Qian had never been to a zoo, nor had she seen any in her hometown, so all her knowledge came from books or the internet.
Although she had set up a fence around her home as a precaution, she knew that if wolves or bears did come, being inside wouldn't make it any less terrifying.
After returning home, she specifically searched for books about wild animals from her spatial storage, finding information on the type of bear she had just seen.
It was a species unique to the plateau region, with fur coloring different from bears elsewhere. She also recalled some news reports about border stations and herders' homes being visited by bears.
Generally they only came looking for food, but if there was a direct encounter in the wild, instead of foraging for vegetables, it would be serving vegetables to the bears.