She pulled away the thin hand and put it close to his chest, listening to his orderly heartbeat and calming his disordered breathing.
Wen Qizhou let her go for now.
He picked up the shoulder strap of his nightgown and pulled it up, rubbed his collarbone that looked like white jade twice with his fingertips, and picked up the cattail leaf fan again.
"Is it still hot?"
"Hot." Despite the wind, she could still feel the heat surging in the tent.
"Then you get in the car and turn on the air conditioner first." He changed Chi Yue into a short-sleeved shirt, and then handed her the car keys in his pocket.
Chi Yue walked out of the tent.
The scorching sun was pouring down. She raised her hand to shield her forehead and quickly walked towards the off-road vehicle to avoid the sweeping heat wave.
The interior of the car was like a steamer, and the sun-stained seats were extremely hot. She bravely got into the car, sat down against the edge of the passenger seat, and leaned over to turn on the air conditioner in the car.
Cold air spurted out.
She breathed a sigh of relief and waited until the heat of the seat gradually decreased. Then she slowly moved back and adjusted her posture to lean on the back of the chair.
Before anyone else got in the car, she took out a cup of iced coffee, poured it into a thermos, and took two sips slowly.
"Sister Yue." Xunsong hummed as he climbed onto the back seat and handed her a bag of dried meat jerky: "Brother Shuo said he won't cook in the morning and asked us to eat dried meat to cushion our stomachs."
"Have you got a meal yet?"
"Not yet." He raised his head, a smile blooming on his white and tender face: "Sister Yue and I will eat together."
Chi Yue said "Okay" softly.
She and Xunsong chewed slowly together, and then fed him a few more pieces after Wen Qizhou got in the car.
"Can we cross the desert today?" She handed the thermos cup into his hand, her eyes falling on the dazzling yellow sand.
"not sure."
Wen Qizhou swallowed the chicken jerky.
He raised his knuckles and tapped the steering wheel twice: "None of us have experience driving in the desert, so we can only rely on a compass to determine the direction. But if the magnetic field changes or a sandstorm occurs, the compass may not be effective."
"If the compass fails, wouldn't it be easy to get lost?" Chi Yue has never been to the desert and has only read popular science online: "It seems that you can judge the direction by looking at plants and stars?"
"Well, the sun will do, too."
He stroked the top of Chi Yue's hair: "It's okay to get lost. Anyway, we have enough time and we are not in a hurry to rush north."
Chi Yue didn't care if he got lost.
Even if they are trapped in the desert, as long as they have enough supplies, they can still spend the delayed time safely.
"How much water do they have left?" The weather is hot right now and there are many uncertainties. Water is a must.
“Not much, but it’s fine for two days.”
"Two days..." She felt that it was not enough: "Why don't we look for a water source nearby first? If we can't find it, we can set off again."
As a last resort, Chi Yue didn't want to openly take out the extra water and arouse suspicion.
Hearing Qizhou nodded: "Okay."
He told the others to wait for Mingzhang and Yunqi to sit in the back seat, and then drove for a while in the direction they came from.
Unfortunately, no water source was found.
He didn't dare to drive any further. After all, a volcano erupts only once, and it's not known whether the fire in the mountains has been extinguished. It's easy to run into danger if you get too close. He can only drive towards the desert with regrets. .
The tires ran over the yellow sand and drove in the clear desert reflected in the sun according to the direction pointed by the compass.
The wind carried yellow sand and covered the tracks of tires. When they looked through the rearview mirror, it was difficult to tell the direction they came from, and they felt as if they were forgotten in the desert.
"Beep──Beep──"
As they drove into the afternoon, the SUV that had been following them suddenly honked its horn several times.
As they drove into the afternoon, the SUV that had been following them suddenly honked its horn several times.
Wen Qizhou noticed that they had stopped where they were, turned around and drove back, asking Ge Huai in the driver's seat: "What's going on?"
"Can't start the fire."
Ge Huai and Xie Changxiao got off the car one after another.
The temperature outside was frighteningly high. The two of them stepped on the fine sand, and a thin layer of sweat was visible all over their bodies.
They opened the hood of the car, endured the magma-like temperature, and bent down to inspect it carefully.
"Qizhou." Chi Yue took out two bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi water and handed it to Wen Qizhou: "Let them drink it to avoid heatstroke."
Hear Qizhou's "hmm" sound.
He walked up to the hood with the Zhengqi water, stuffed it into them, and asked, "What went wrong?"
"spark plug."
"Want to get a new one?"
Ge Huai nodded: "Do you have any?"
"Yes." He opened the trunk of the off-road vehicle and found the spark plug from the repair box that he had passed through the road a long time ago.
He handed it to Ge Huai, but he couldn't open his eyes due to the scorching sun, so he turned around and sat in the driver's seat instead of watching over him.
After they replaced the spark plugs and made sure they could drive normally, the two cars continued to drive in the same direction until it was completely dark, and then stopped against three or four trees.
Obviously cut down a tree for firewood.
He lit the fire, and Xie Changxiao took out the hare they had shot on the road, and worked with Yan Shuo to process the skin and internal organs.
Due to the shortage of water resources, they did not plan to cook vegetables and noodles. They simply washed the rabbit meat twice and filtered the water that was not stained with blood the second time. After boiling it and letting it cool, you can drink it.
Chi Yue: "Do you want to eat lettuce?"
Ge Qinyao: "Yes!" She walked to the trunk of the off-road vehicle and asked, "How many lettuces do we have now?"
"Seven."
Lettuce is grown in Heshi.
They were worried that it would go bad if kept for too long, so they sealed it with plastic wrap in advance, and it has been well preserved so far.
"Then let's take two?"
"Two are too few, not enough." Chi Yue took out three, washed them again with a small amount of water, and then handed the water in the folding basin to Ge Qinyao, who filtered it.
They sat around the fire, waiting for the rabbit meat skewered on twigs to be roasted. They each took a wet paper towel given by Chi Yue to wipe their hands, then put a piece of meat on the lettuce and wrapped it.
The lettuce is rich in moisture and has its own sweetness. Mixed with the juicy rabbit meat that is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, it has a unique flavor.
"Do you want garlic?" Ge Huai peeled a clove of garlic and stuffed it into the lettuce wrapped with rabbit meat: "It tastes better when wrapped like this."
Mingzhang: "Then I'll take one."
Not everyone can adapt to the strong taste of raw garlic, but seeing how delicious it tastes to them, I gave it a try.
Chi Yue used to add garlic to barbecue.
But unlike Ge Huai, which puts a whole clove of garlic, it is cut into thin slices, one piece of garlic for each dish, which has the aroma of garlic without being overpowering.
She used a dagger to cut a garlic clove, gave Wen Qizhou a piece to taste, then wrapped it in rabbit meat, narrowed her eyes and took a bite.
"Do you want more? I'll cut it for you." When Wen Qizhou was three-thirds full, he found that the small bowl where she put the garlic slices was empty.
"I want another petal."
"Okay." He fed the freshly wrapped rabbit meat to Chi Yue's mouth, and cut a clove of garlic quickly. Worried that she would be thirsty, he unscrewed the lid of the thermos cup and placed it next to her.
(End of chapter)
