Back to the teenage years

Chapter 612 Devouring People
The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the mountains were chilly.

After Zhao Chengming left, Zhang Yunqi was wide awake.

He sat alone by the campfire, smoking and drinking tea, until dawn broke. He saw that the campsite was a mess, with fruit, empty bottles, barbecue skewers, and other trash scattered all over the grass, which was really an eyesore.

With nothing else to do, Zhang Yunqi got up, grabbed two large woven bags, and cleaned up, especially the non-biodegradable plastic bottles and bags.

Although Black Elk Peak is currently an undeveloped virgin land with little reputation, it will be upgraded to a national forest park in twenty years.

After cleaning, Zhang Yunqi put the bag by the roadside, planning to take it with him when he went down the mountain in the afternoon.

He returned to the campfire and boiled water to make tea.

Li Yufei came out of the tent and saw Zhang Yunqi sitting alone by the campfire. She paused for a moment, then went back into the tent, grabbed a blanket that was still a little warm, and handed it to Zhang Yunqi. She sat down on the chair next to him and said, "Have you been keeping watch alone since four o'clock? The temperature is low on the mountain. Don't catch a cold."

Zhang Yunqi nodded and said okay.

After a while, he said, "Zhao Chengming went down the mountain and left under the cover of darkness."

Why not wait until dawn?

“I asked him that question too, and he said that you might never want to see him again. He doesn’t want you to feel awkward when you meet him in the morning.”

This may be the last act of tenderness from that young man.

Li Yufei remained silent. The night wind howled all around, and the only sound was the crackling of burning firewood. After a long while, she said, "I went a bit too far yesterday."

Zhang Yunqi added firewood to the fire and laughed, "No, that's how all men are. Growth happens in a certain moment, but he has spent three whole years for that moment."

Li Yufei looked up at the sky, which was just beginning to brighten, with a few plum-shaped stars. She said, "This sentence seems to apply to so many people."

Zhang Yunqi nodded.

He threw a piece of wood into the campfire, making the fire burn a little brighter and driving away the chill of the mountains. But in the morning mist, he suddenly noticed a figure moving behind an old camphor tree to his side and called out, "Who's there?"

A small head peeked out from behind the old camphor tree; it was a little girl of seven or eight years old.

The little girl had two crooked braids, rosy cheeks, and wore a faded floral dress with many patches at the knees. She carried a small basket on her shoulder containing a sickle and straw rope. Zhang Yunqi noticed that she was holding something wrapped in paulownia leaves in her rough, dark little hands.

When the little girl saw Zhang Yunqi staring at her, she took two steps back and said timidly, "I, I'm looking for the older sister who gave me the apple yesterday."

Li Yufei recognized the little girl, smiled, got up and walked over, asking, "Little sister, are you looking for me?"

The girl gave a soft "hmm," hesitated for a moment, then walked closer and handed the paulownia leaf packet to Li Yufei: "This is for you, big sister."

Li Yufei took it, opened the paulownia leaf, and inside were three fist-sized roasted sweet potatoes with charred skin.

The little girl seemed afraid the pretty older sister wouldn't like it, so she lowered her head, her voice sounding even more timid: "It's made with stove ash, it's black..."

Zhang Yunqi also came over. He took a charred sweet potato, broke it open, revealing golden flesh that was steaming hot. The sugar syrup had solidified into a caramel-like consistency, emitting a unique aroma characteristic of sweet potatoes simmering over a wood-fired stove.

"It should be delicious." Zhang Yunqi handed the peeled sweet potato to Li Yufei, who took a small bite: "It's really delicious, thank you, little sister. What's your name?"

Acceptance is the best medicine to cure all inferiority complexes, especially for children. The little girl's rosy cheeks immediately lit up with a smile, and she seemed to have gained some courage: "My name is Shanwa, my grandfather gave me this name."

Li Yufei laughed: "Mountain boy? A child from the mountains?"

The girl nodded emphatically, her voice sweet and clear: "Yes! Grandpa said I'm a child who grew up in the mountains."

Zhang Yunqi also ate half a roasted sweet potato. It did indeed taste very much like the kind he used to roast in the fields of Yunxi Village when he was a child. However, he noticed that the little girl was wearing plastic sandals barefoot, and there were many red marks on her ankles from being scratched by thatch. He immediately thought of Xiao Chunlan, who used to follow him around the mountain collecting firewood.

"Where are your parents?"

"Grandpa said that Mom and Dad went to a very, very far place and will not come back until I grow up."

When Shanwa said those words, her pure eyes were filled with childlike innocence. Li Yufei reached out and touched her little head, her beautiful eyes flickering with a different kind of emotion: "Where do you live? Why are you up so early?"

Shanwa pointed to a dilapidated mud-brick house halfway up the mountain: "Over there, Grandpa went to town to buy fertilizer. I have to cook pig feed and herd sheep, so I got up early."

"Shanwa, wait here for your sister."

Li Yufei reached out and patted the little girl's head, then turned and went back into the tent. When she came out again, she was carrying a large bag of snacks and fruit: "This is for you."

Shanwa stared intently at the bag of expensive snacks she'd never seen before, her eyes glued to it. What child in the world could resist snacks? Especially a poor, orphaned child from a remote mountain village! But surprisingly, Shanwa finally lowered her head and shook her head, saying, "Grandpa said I can't keep taking other people's things..."

Li Yufei squatted down in front of the little girl, smiling and speaking gently: "This isn't something we took, it's something we traded for. Your roasted sweet potato is very precious; I've never eaten such a sweet roasted sweet potato in my life."

"really?"

"Whoever lies is a dog."

"Okay then." Shanwa thought for a moment, took the bag of snacks, then grinned broadly, his bright white teeth gleaming: "Thank you, big sister! And big brother..."

By this time, the sun had already risen from the eastern horizon.

The rays of dawn pierced through the cold, high clouds, illuminating the earth and bringing warmth to this mundane world.

After the little girl Shanwa left, Li Yufei felt much better. She ate about half of the three authentic farmhouse-style roasted sweet potatoes, while Zhang Yunqi finished the rest, which served as breakfast.

Since it was still early, the two rode their bicycles around Yiyun Reservoir for a while.

The sun rises in the east, and white clouds drift by.

The Yiyun Reservoir shimmered in the sunlight, and the verdant slopes were bathed in warm light.

Zhang Yunqi followed behind the girl, watching her slender figure. For some reason, he suddenly remembered a certain afternoon many years ago when he was studying in Jiangchuan. The girl was also riding her bicycle to school like this. In the warm summer breeze, the bicycle bell rang crisply, her skirt fluttered, and the smile on her face seemed to be frozen in the sunlight.

Time changes so many things, but some moments seem to never go away.

The two walked around and returned to the campsite. By then, everyone had already started to get up from their tents in twos and threes. One of them, still half asleep, looked at the clean campsite outside his tent and was a little dazed, but no one cared who had cleaned it.

Lu Yuanzhou was brushing his teeth and rinsing his mouth when he watched Zhang Yunqi and Li Yufei ride their bicycles back from Yiyun Reservoir. The girl's smile was one he had never seen before.

He spat out mouthwash, which contained blood.

Today is the last day of the event. The plan is to have a picnic at noon and then head back home in the afternoon.

There is a stream valley on the north slope of Black Elk Peak, which locals call Pine Needle Flat. The environment is beautiful, it is close to the stream, and firewood is easy to collect. It is a perfect place for young people to enjoy outdoor life and talk about their ideals.

They decided to have their lunch picnic here.

The picnic was divided into three groups, each with about eight or nine people. Three earthen stoves were built, and everyone cooked separately. The boys were responsible for the physical work, such as moving stones to build the stoves, gathering firewood, and fetching water from the stream. The girls washed and chopped vegetables and spread out the picnic blankets.

While Li Yufei was washing vegetables, she suddenly saw a girl named Shanwa standing on the pine forest slope waving at her and sweetly calling her "big sister".

Ever since they met that morning, Shanwa had become much bolder. Li Yufei seemed to like the little girl very much as well, smiling and waving for her to come down and play together.

The other female classmates were filled with curiosity about this little girl from the deep mountains. They surrounded her by the stream, chattering away, asking her how old she was, whether she went to school, what she usually played, and what delicious food and fun things there were in the mountains…

Shanwa chatted with the group of city girls, but her eyes and hands were always busy helping to wash various vegetables. She was quick and efficient, picking vegetables, peeling garlic, and scraping ginger with fast and skillful movements. This innocent eight-year-old girl made the group of female college students feel both ashamed and heartbroken.

Song Junxian and Zhou Dingchuan were responsible for fetching water from the stream.

Zhang Yunqi, Jin Shengze, and Lu Yuanzhou found a job building stoves and cooking.

Ma Rulong and He Lin were in charge of gathering firewood. These two brothers were from Lijin City and rarely had the opportunity to go to the countryside. Now that they were in the woods, they were very happy, climbing trees and raiding bird nests, startling a flock of chickens in the woods.

Zhang Yunqi and Jin Shengze had already built the stove, but the two brothers didn't return.

Li Yufei walked over and wiped her wet hands with a tissue: "Yunqi, Shanwa will eat with us later. She's herding sheep over at Songshupo, and she's driven them back to the shed now."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said okay.

At this moment, Lu Yuanzhou chimed in, "Yufei, I overheard you talking earlier. That girl seemed to have a pitiful background. It looked like she was an orphan who lived with her grandfather."

Li Yufei glanced at Lu Yuanzhou and nodded.

Zhang Yunqi chimed in, "President Lu is right, and he never went to school as a child."

Lu Yuanzhou turned to look at Zhang Yunqi and smiled, "How about we each contribute half the funds to sponsor her education, Mr. Zhang?"

Zhang Yunqi was disappointed that Lu Yuanzhou showed no signs of being a playboy in front of Li Yufei: "That's no problem, but are you sure, Mr. Lu? I originally wanted you to put on this act."

Lu Yuanzhou was choked half to death.

Kim Sung-taek tilted his head and couldn't help but laugh.

Lu Yuanzhou had never admitted defeat verbally, and was about to retort to Zhang Yunqi when a terrified scream suddenly came from behind him.

Zhang Yunqi turned his head and saw Ma Rulong and He Lin running out of the pine forest, howling like ghosts.

Behind them, there was a column of brownish-yellow smoke!
Upon closer inspection, Zhang Yunqi exclaimed in disbelief! They were all wasps, and they seemed to be local black-tailed hornets. There were probably thousands of them, buzzing and their wings gleaming with a cold metallic sheen in the sunlight. Like a giant python taking flight, they were chasing after Ma Rulong and sweeping towards them.

This has really stirred up a hornet's nest!

Zhang Yunqi immediately realized the danger. This thing was no joke; it was known as a killer bee, fierce in nature, with an aggression and venom far exceeding that of honeybees. While it usually retracts its stinger after stinging, a second sting is extremely dangerous. Its venom can cause severe hemolysis, myocardial damage, liver dysfunction, and even induce anaphylactic shock within a short period. A sting can cause anaphylactic coma, and if treatment is not timely, death can result from respiratory or renal failure!
Having stirred up the hornet's nest, Ma Rulong ran wildly while shouting, but his speed was far inferior to that of his kin. Suddenly, he screamed and fell to the ground, then was attacked by a swarm of hornets. More than a dozen red blisters instantly swelled up on his neck and arms.

He Lin, standing nearby, covered his face and rolled around, crying out hoarsely, "My eyes! I can't see!"

Without a second thought, Zhang Yunqi took off his coat and covered Li Yufei with it, pulling her up and jumping into the stream in a few steps. Then he shouted, "Everyone, crouch down! Those near the stream, jump in! Don't fight back, cover your exposed parts with your clothes!"

Before he could even speak, thousands upon thousands of bees had already split up and attacked the crowd in all directions, causing chaos at the scene. People scattered in all directions, and cries and screams rose and fell. Some people, upon hearing Zhang Yunqi's words, covered their heads with their clothes, lay on the ground, and covered their mouths and noses tightly, trembling in fear. Others frantically waved their arms in an attempt to drive them away, only to be met with even fiercer attacks, screaming as they fled into the distant woods.

Lu Yuanzhou fell into the bushes while running away, and his face was stung three times, instantly swelling up like a bun. But when he looked up, he saw Li Yufei being protected by Zhang Yunqi, almost hugging each other. He suddenly gritted his teeth and rushed towards the bushes by the stream.

There grew tall reeds, more than a person's height. Lu Yuanzhou grabbed a large handful, then, with the wasps at his side, quickly braided them into a large bundle of grass like a torch, leaving the end loose. At the same time, he shouted, "Girls, hide! Boys, get up and burn them! Wasps are most afraid of smoke!"

Smoking wasps was a common folk method in the 90s, and it was incredibly effective! Despite the wasp attack, Lu Yuanzhou pulled out a lighter from his pocket and lit the base of the bundle of grass. Even though his handsome face had turned into a pig's head, he still held up the burning bundle of grass and charged headlong into the densest swarm of wasps!

The movements were graceful!

The act was heroic!

The effect is amazing!

Sure enough, the wasps' attack was thrown into chaos by the thick smoke. Like a black fog scattered by a strong wind, many wasps crashed to the ground or scattered in all directions, disoriented.

Seeing this, the other boys followed suit, grabbing dry grass and branches nearby. Some used lighters, while others simply set their coats on fire, and flames and thick smoke rose up around the campsite in no time.

Zhang Yunqi had been keeping his head down, trying to avoid the wasps.

Hearing the noise, he looked up and saw that everyone was already lighting fires to make smoke.

Decades of life experience and rural mountain life made him realize something immediately. His face turned pale in that instant, and he almost screamed at the top of his lungs, "You damn idiot! There are pine needles all around! Don't wave the torch!"

His voice was instantly drowned out by the buzzing of wasps.

Everyone was focused on dealing with the wasps, and the crackling of the torches drowned out his shouts. In fact, even if the boys who were nearby heard him, they would put down their torches with puzzled expressions, but it would be too late.

Black Deer Peak is covered with towering trees, with dead branches and rotten leaves accumulating over the years. In particular, the area under the pine trees is covered with a layer of semi-humus pine needles that can reach more than half a meter in some places. Mixed with various flammable grasses and withered ferns, it is a hot summer day. The area has been dry for several weeks, and the humidity is extremely low, making it almost flammable.

Zhang Yunqi told Li Yufei to squat down and not move!

He dashed from the stream, shouting and grabbing for the torch, but he found it was no use. Seven or eight people had already burned smoke to scare away the wasps, and no matter how careful they were, sparks would still fly. In such a dangerous moment, everyone's minds were in a whirl of confusion because of the wasps, and their torches were being waved around in a chaotic mess!
Sparks fly!

Therefore, this is no longer a matter of probability, but a disaster that is destined to happen.

Zhang Yunqi didn't know how many sparks had landed on the extremely dry pine needle layer under the surrounding trees, causing smoldering, but white smoke quickly rose up, and with a "boom," flames instantly shot up.

It wasn't a single place that started smoking and caught fire.

Zhang Yunqi's wide-open eyes reflected at least four or five tongues of fire that erupted almost simultaneously, greedily licking at the dry pine needles and withered grass. The fire spread rapidly like a living thing, engulfing the denser pine forest.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky, like a man-eating dragon!

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