There was a supply of water every three li. If it was on flat ground, it would take less than a quarter of an hour to finish the three li journey. In this desert, it might be faster at the beginning. Half an hour was enough. Towards the end, it would take less than an hour. It was impossible to even think about it.
The children who ran first had already reached the water supply station, but the children behind them were still walking slowly. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were not in a hurry, but they still slightly opened up the distance between them and the children behind them. One had a shoe, one had a stick, and one had a wooden board. After a few hills and descents, the advantage was obvious.
When the two of them reached the first water supply station, only a dozen children who had arrived first were already on their way. The rest were playing with water here. At this time, the weather was not too hot. The children were holding water and playing with water, and laughter could be heard from time to time.
"They are all children." Zhang Xiaobao shook his head and said with emotion.
"They are children. Have you ever seen a child this old be sensible? Oh, I forgot. The place you used to live doesn't count. Let's do it. Pour water, wet the towel and wrap it with oil paper. We should also cover our faces with something. When it gets hot later, try to reduce the loss of water as much as possible. "
Wang Juan had just refuted Zhang Xiaobao when she suddenly remembered Zhang Xiaobao's previous life. She could only think that it was the environment that affected his character.
As the two of them talked, they took a few water bags. First, they wet a few large handkerchiefs that they brought. Then, they took out a few small paper bags from their backpacks, opened them, and poured the things inside into two water bags.
"What are you pouring?" Li Xun rushed over at this time. Seeing the two of them busy there, he did not dare to ignore them. He came closer to see and ask.
"So it is Young Master Li. This is sugar, this is salt, and this is orange and apple powder. There are only four things, that's all." Zhang Xiaobao placed the things in front of Li Xun for him to see. There was not much powder, and it was not considered food, so it was not taken away. The main reason was that the people who checked it did not know what it was.
At this time, Li Xun became very modest. He listened carefully and even put a little bit of it in his mouth to taste. He nodded and said, "Yes, these are the four things. Why did you bring these four things?"
"Drink it with water to reduce the consumption of the body and replenish some of the things the body needs. We don't know what the things are, but we heard others say that you must put less salt. It's about 100 parts of water plus 1 part of salt. Don't put too much. The same goes for sugar. This is ice candy foam."
Zhang Xiaobao explained the dosage to Li Xun in detail. The salt here was not pure, and the ratio of 100 parts to 1 part was about the same as normal saline.
Li Xun memorized it. He had seen how many things the two of them had put in. He did not think that the two of them would lie to him at this time. There was no need for that. He then looked at the apple and orange powder. He pointed at them and asked, "How about these two? Can you put more?"
"No, especially the orange powder. If you put too much, your stomach will feel uncomfortable, especially when there is nothing to eat at noon. Put a little bit."
After answering this question, Zhang Xiaobao was ready to go. The towel was already wet, so he folded it and wrapped it with oil paper. He carefully put it into the backpack, took out two bags, put them on his head, and put on the bamboo hat. Everything was ready.
"Wait a minute, why are you wearing these things on your head?" Li Xun looked at the bags on their heads, which only left holes for the eyes, mouth, and nose, and asked curiously.
"When the sun rises, it will make people sweat, even their faces. Water, forget it, you won't understand even if I tell you. Just remember that this is a way to reduce the water in the body. Of course, you don't have to worry about it as long as you have enough water bags. We are used to it."
After Zhang Xiaobao finished speaking, he no longer wanted to waste any more time with Li Xun. Together with Wang Juan, he rushed forward.
Looking at the two leaving figures, Li Xun also began to prepare. He did not have other things, but he did have salt. He put a few water bags on his body and said to Li Xing next to him, "Remember the thing about the mask. This is the most important thing. You can ignore it when there is water, but when there is no water, you have to use it."
"Yes, young master, don't worry. I understand." Li Xing answered seriously. He came here today to remember all the things that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan took out. He was not allowed to miss anything. It might not be a big deal in this kind of thing, but when it was used on soldiers one day, then he would know the benefits.
The children later arrived. In order to maintain their advantage, the children in front started to run again. Behind all the children, the adults were also thirsty and hot. Today was a sunny day, so they also drank some water.
Time passed quietly as the children moved forward. The position of the sun also changed. When they reached the fourth water station, it was almost noon. The children in front finally did not have the energy and strength to continue running. Each of them had a bitter expression on their faces as they moved forward bit by bit.
At this time, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan found a place to stop. When they were lamenting that Li Xun had sent people to clean up the place, they looked at each other, smiled, and scattered to look for something. They did not know whether it was because there were no poisonous insects in this small desert, or because Li Xun's people had cleaned it up, but the two of them did not find a single one.
Since there were no insects, they could only look for something that was not easy to clean up. After searching for a full quarter of an hour, there was finally a cheer from Wang Juan. Zhang Xiaobao quickly ran over and looked at the place in front of Wang Juan.
"Sure enough, there are still ants. Not bad, this is not poisonous. Take out the candy, we will eat ants for lunch today."
While talking, the two of them took out the candies from their backpacks and placed them in a small sand pit that they had dug out. They placed a flat wooden box diagonally there, filled it with some sugar water, and waited for the ants to come over.
After doing all this, the two of them found a sand dune with its back to the sun and squatted there, waiting slowly.
Li Xun finally caught up with Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. He saw them squatting there motionless, so he also squatted in front of them and felt that it was indeed cooler than before.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan looked up at him, then lowered their heads and slowly adjusted their breathing, as if they were asleep. This made Li Xun even more curious.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't talk, it's exhausting." Zhang Xiaobao whispered and stopped talking.
"Okay." Li Xun nodded seriously. He also followed the two of them and adjusted his breathing. As for the journey, he didn't care. As long as he could learn more, it didn't matter whether he was the first to arrive or not.
After waiting for about half an hour, when Li Xun was about to fall asleep, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan stood up and walked to the side. Li Xun also stood up and asked in a daze, "Where are you going?"
"Looking for food. If you don't eat lunch, how can you chase others?" Zhang Xiaobao didn't stop walking and threw a sentence.
"Oh, looking for food, I'm really hungry. What? Looking for food? There's food? " Li Xun said in a daze. Suddenly, he reacted and looked at Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, his eyes were full of surprise. Looking for food on the grassland was one thing, after all, there were wild vegetables there. But in this desert, how could they find food?
This was impossible, absolutely impossible. What else was there to eat here? It can't be sand, right?
With a stomach full of shock and doubt, Li Xun quickened his pace to catch up with the two people. After turning a small corner, when the two people stopped and took out something from their backpacks, Li Xun was frightened by the scene in front of him. The sand in front of him was densely packed with countless ants, layer after layer.
Some were carrying the sand there, and some were crawling in and out of the box. Looking carefully, he found that many ants were stuck in the box.
At this time, Li Xun finally knew what Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were looking for food. It turned out to be ants, but these ants were a little too big and ran very fast. He didn't know how the two of them were going to catch them. Could it be that just eating in the box was not enough?
When he turned his head again, he saw Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan take out a paper bag. When he opened it, there was a powdery substance inside. He asked again, "What is this?"
"Flour alkali, it's made after the flour is big." Zhang Xiaobao opened the water bag and replied to Li Xun. He poured some powder into his mouth, drank a mouthful, and rinsed his mouth vigorously. He dissolved the powder into water, then poured the rest of the powder into the water bag and shook it vigorously.
After doing all this, Zhang Xiaobao glanced at Wang Juan. Wang Juan nodded with water in her mouth, indicating that she was ready.
Then Li Xun saw a scene that he would never forget. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan began to spray water at the running ants from the periphery. After spraying a mouthful, the ants moved forward two steps, and then continued to spray. After spraying for a while, the two people walked to the box.
Li Xun followed behind and was surprised to see the ants that were stained with water curl up into a ball. They struggled there for a while and then stopped moving. When Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao came close to the box, they picked it up and threw it away. They then sprayed a few mouthfuls of water on the spot and stopped.
They took out a small broom from their backpack and gently swept the ground, waiting to sweep the dead ants into a pile and put them in another box.
Li Xun was dumbfounded. There were four boxes full of ants. Finally, there was something to eat. He felt that since Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan could eat, he could eat too.
Glancing at the box that was thrown away, he asked in puzzlement, "Why did you throw away that box? There are a lot of ants in it. "
"Ants in the desert run fast. If we are targeted by them, we won't be able to rest. There are living ants in the box. When they go to other places, they will continue to call for other ants. We will be much more relaxed. If we can reduce the danger, it will reduce the danger."
Zhang Xiaobao explained.
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