Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 45

Volume 02 Chapter 45: Who Said There's No Food In The Desert?

A water station was placed every three li. On flat land, it will only take a quarter of an hour to walk three li, but in the desert, it would take half an hour at first. However, as time progresses, it would take up to an hour to walk three li.

The children who ran first had already reached the water station, and those behind were still walking slowly. Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan did not rush, but they were still able to keep a far distance from the people walking behind them. The benefits of having special shoes, a walking pole, and wooden board was evident after crossing several dunes.

When the two of them arrived at the first water station, only a dozen of the children who arrived first had continued to rush ahead, and the others were playing with the water. At this time, it was not too hot. The laughter of those children who were playing with water could be heard from time to time.

"How child-like." Zhang Xiao'bao shook his head and commented.

"They are children. Have you ever seen any child of this age that is sensible? Oh, I forget, the place you used to stay at needs to be excluded. Go, get water. We need to wet the towel and then wrap it in greased paper. We should cover our faces. When it gets hotter later, this will help minimize water loss."

Right after Wang Juan refuted Zhang Xiao'bao's sentence, she suddenly remembered the life Zhang Xiao'bao lived before, and felt that it was the environment he grew up in that affected his personality.

While the two of them were talking, they took a few water bags. First they wetted the large handkerchiefs they had brought along with them. Then, they took out a few small paper packets from the backpacks. They opened the packets and poured its contents into the two water bags.

"What did you two pour in?" Li Xun rushed over at this moment. He was watching them work and he didn't dare let his mind wander off. He leaned closer and asked while watching.

"It's Young Childe Li. This is sugar, this is salt, and this powder is made from oranges and apples. There's just those four ingredients; there's nothing else." Zhang Xiao'bao laid the ingredients out in front of Li Xun for him to see. There was not much powder, and it wasn't food, so it was not confiscated---it was actually mainly because those who checked it didn't know what it was.

Li Xun became very humble at this time. He listened carefully. He dipped his finger into it and tasted it in his mouth. He nodded, "Yes, it does contain those four ingredients. Why did you bring these four things?"

Zhang Xiao'bao explained the dosage to Li Xun in detail. The salt here is not pure so one hundred parts to one part is almost the same ratio as normal saline.

Li Xun took note of this. He had seen how much of the powder they added and he didn't think they would lie to him at this time since there was no need to. He set his gaze on the apple and orange powders. He pointed to them and asked, "What about these two? Can you add more?"

"No. In particular, if too much of the orange powder is added, it will cause stomach discomfort; especially when the person didn't have anything to eat at noon. Only a little bit needs to be added."

After Zhang Xiao'bao answered this question, he was ready to keep moving. The wet towel was folded and wrapped in greased paper, and then carefully stuffed it into their backpacks. They took out two pouches and they each wore on their head. They wore their conical hats over top and they were ready to leave.

"Wait a minute, why are you wearing that thing on your head?" Li Xun looked at the pouches on the two people's heads and there were only holes for their eyes and nose. He asked curiously.

"Later when the sun rises and shines on the body, it will make people sweat. It's the same for the face too. Moisture will---forget it, you won't understand it. Just remember that this helps the body retain water. Of course, you don't have to worry if you bring enough water bags. This is just our habit."

After Zhang Xiao'bao said this, he decided to stop wasting time with Li Xun. He rushed forward with Wang Juan and they continued forward with one person behind the other.

Li Xun watched the two of them leave. Li Xun made use of what he just learned and copied what they did. He didn't have the other ingredients but he had salt and he brought a few water bags with him. He spoke to Li Xing who was beside him, "Remember that headgear thing they wore--- that's the most important thing. It might not be important when there's water, but it has to be used when there's no water."

"Yes, please be assured, Young Childe. I understand." Li Xing responded earnestly. He was here today to memorize all of the items that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan took out. He couldn't forgo any of the items. This kind of knowledge might not mean much during this playful event, but if there comes a day where it needs to be used on soldiers, then it's benefits will be truly known.

The other slower children arrived, and in order to stay ahead, the children in front ran again. The parents, who were following behind all the children, were also thirsty and hot. Today was a sunny day, and they also replenished their water.

Time quietly passed by as the children moved forward. The position of the sun also changed. When the fourth water station was reached, it was almost noon. The children in front finally ran out of energy and strength to continue running. Each one of them had a pained expression on their face as they inched forward.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan found a place to stop at this time. Just when they complained that Li Xun had sent someone to clean up the place, they looked at each other and smiled. They splitted up and searched for something with their heads lowered. They didn't know if this small desert did not have poisonous bugs to begin with, or if Li Xun's men cleaned up this place too well. No matter what, they couldn't find anything.

Since there were none of those bugs, they could only look for other things that were not easy to get rid of. After searching for a quarter of an hour, a cheer was finally heard on Wang Juan's side. Zhang Xiao'bao hurried over and looked at the place in front of Wang Juan. He said,

While talking, the two took out the sugar from the backpacks and put them in a small pit they dug in the sand. They put a flat wooden box inside at an angle and they added some sugar water to it. Now they waited for the ants to come over.

After doing all this, the two of them found a sand dune slope with the sun behind it. They squatted down in the shade, and slowly waited.

Li Xun finally caught up with Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, and he was there just in time to see them squatting there motionless. He came up to them and also squatted down. He felt that this place was definitely a little cooler.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan looked up at him, and then they lowered their heads back down. They slowly changed their breathing rate, and it seemed like they were asleep. This made Li Xun more curious.

"What are you two doing?"

"Don't talk, it's a waste of energy." Zhang Xiao'bao whispered and stopped talking.

"Okay." Li Xun nodded earnestly, and copied them. He adjusted his breathing rate. He didn't care about moving forward right now. As long as he could learn more, it didn't matter to him if he arrived first or not.

After waiting for about half an hour, Li Xun was about to fall asleep. Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan stood up and walked to the area on the side. Li Xun was quick to react and he stood up. He asked in a daze, "What are you two doing?"

"Looking for food. If you don't eat at noon, how can you catch up to others?" Zhang Xiao'bao didn't stop moving as he threw this sentence to Li Xun.

"Oh, looking for food. I'm really hungry. Wait, what? Looking for food? There's food?" Li Xun, who was still in a daze, replied back without thinking. He suddenly snapped to his senses and he looked at Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan with eyes full of surprise. It was fine to be able to find food on the grassland since there were wild vegetables there, but how could they still find something in the desert?

This was impossible. Absolutely impossible. How could there be anything edible here? Are they planning to eat sand?

Full of shock and doubt, Li Xun speeded up his pace to catch up with the two people. After they made a small turn, the two of them stopped there to get things out from their backpacks. Li Xun was shocked by the scene in front of him. There are layers upon layers of countless densely packed ants on the sand up ahead.

Some of the ants were carrying sand grains, and some were crawling in and out of a box. After taking a closer look, he noticed that many ants were stuck in the box.

Now Li Xun finally knew what kind of food Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan said they were looking for. It turned out to be ants. These ants were huge and they ran quickly. He had no idea how they were going to catch them. Do they plan to eat the ones in the box only? But there weren't enough.

He turned his head over to Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, and he saw that they took out a paper bag. When they opened it, there was a powdery substance inside. He asked, "What's this?"

"Soda ash. It's taken from over-proofed dough." Zhang Xiao'bao opened the water bag and replied to Li Xun. He poured some powder and water into his mouth. He gurgled twice to dissolve the powder in the water and then he poured the remaining powder into the water bag and shook it vigorously.

After finishing this, Zhang Xiao'bao glanced at Wang Juan, who also had water in her mouth. She nodded, indicating that she was ready.

Li Xun followed behind, and watched in amazement as the body of the ants, which were wet with water, curled into a ball. They twitched a few times, and then stopped moving. When Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao'bao were in front of the box, they picked the box up and tossed it over to somewhere else. They sprayed a few mouthfuls of water to the spot in front of them, and then stopped.

They took out a small broom from their backpack and gently swept the ground. Once the dead ants were swept into a pile, they collected them with another box.

Li Xun was dumbfounded. There were four full boxes of ants. Now there was finally something to eat. He felt that since Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were able to eat it, he could too.

He glanced at the discarded box over there, and asked wonderingly, "Why was that box thrown away? There are also a lot of ants in it."

"The ants in the desert can run fast, so if they set their targets on us, we won't be able to ever rest. There are living ants in the box. They will continue to call other ants over now that they're in a different spot. We don't have to worry about them anymore. The more cautious we are, the better."

Zhang Xiao'bao gave an explanation.