135 Adaptation
Currently, An Xiulan should be sleeping inside her tent that share with Song Xueyun who was fast asleep.
But was An Xiulan sleeping?
No, how could someone sleep with an empty stomach?
Anyone could do that but the ex-oppressed missy who was now a spoiled missy wasn’t blessed with the ability to sleep with an empty stomach.
She was sitting on the log placed outside her tent, shivering. She was shivering in cold as well as fear as she looked at the dark woods far away.
Humans are lethally adaptable, she had learned this phenomenon during her time in this world. How could someone who had come from a time where light bulbs or mobile phones were something they would have called witchery be so easily adapted to this life?
When she had transmigrated to this world, she had thought that how could someone like her who was illiterate and a fool survive in this world?
Now, look at her. She was an internet-addicted girl.
The girl who lived in a broken and isolated part of the duke’s estate couldn’t sit alone on the grass outside the tent even when the teachers had arranged light outside?
Thus, she said that adaptability is a lethal concept.
She used to spend days without food and now she couldn’t handle her hunger even when she had dinner with everyone else.
She knew better than anyone that she wouldn’t die if she didn’t eat one night.
Her heart and brain knew this but it was her stomach that was in protest with her heart and brain.
She was sitting on the pot with her elbows placed on the thought and her hands below her chin and pouting at the tyrant world.
Before she could grumble more, a hot cup of instant noodles appeared before her eyes.
She gulped and closed her eyes.
“Dear goddess of nature, I know that I told you that I won’t die without eating for a night. But you need not test my forbearance,” An Xiulan said in a grumbling tone. “Seeing this cup noodle before my eyes is like seeing an oasis in the desert. I know it’s a mirage but I still can’t help but taste beef-flavoured noodles.”
She opened her eyes in hopes that the goddess of nature had heard the prayer and the mirage of cup noodles had disappeared but she found the same noodles again.
“Dear goddess of nature, if you keep on teasing me, I will seriously die,” An Xiulan pouted. “Be nice to me, okay?”
Suddenly, she heard a bout of laughter. It was only now did she see Han Zixin sitting on the bed of grass holding a cup of instant noodles for her.
“I didn’t have much for you but I packed several packets of instant noodles with me,” Han Zixin said in hopes that this little blockhead would stop being silly and fill her stomach.
“As expected, you are my life saviour,” An Xiulan faked sobbed as grabbed the cup of noodles from his head and quickly began eating without asking him. When she was halfway, she looked up and asked, “Do you wanna try?”
Han Zixin looked at her and then at her mouth that was smeared with the soup of the noodles and then at the used chopsticks. Then, he shook his head. It wasn’t that he was OCD like one of his friends, it was just that he didn’t have the heart to take her food. And if he did, she was going to be upset with her.
She loved food more than anything else in the world. Oh, her mom was on #1.
As she saw him shaking his head.
Good Boy. An Xiulan smiled and began eating again.
“Where did you get the noodles?” She asked him.
“I told you that I packed some with my luggage. Food is a necessity,” Han Zixin said. He wouldn’t tell her that he had watched too much discovery to know he wouldn’t be able to survive in the wilderness and thus he packed all the things that he might need in order to survive there, in case he got lost somewhere.
“Were you worried that the school staff won’t feed us?” An Xiulan grinned.
“I was just afraid that a foodie will die on the trip without getting fed every two hours,” Han Zixim commented.
An Xiulan gave him a pout. “It’s not my fault. My mom says I might have a strong metabolism.”
Han Zixin had an urge to snort. No matter how strong your metabolism is, no one can eat every two years like her. He had seen her eating between the classes. An Qinyan packed several snacks in small packs for her for each period.
“You are not allowed to expose me,” An Xiulan said in a complaining voice. “What kind of friend exposes their good friends?”
“Good ones,” Han Zixin commented and An Xiulan gave him a look. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Oh my god, ” An Xiulan gasped as she placed her empty noodle cup on the log and stood up.
“What happened?” Han Zixin asked as he stood up to find what she was looking at. As he turned around, he saw the area covered with hundreds or thousands of fireflies playing in the air.
It was a surreal scene as the dark beauty of nature was lit up with the sparkling natural creatures as they danced over An Xiulan’s head.
An Xiulan giggled as she ran after them to catch one to feel it for a while.
Han Zixin didn’t know what came over to him but his hands went to his pocket and he pulled out his phone to capture this memorable moment to make it unforgettable.
When An Xiulan turned back to look for him, she saw him capturing the video of the fireflies.
“Me too! Me too!” An Xiulan said as she posed.
Han Zixin chuckled as he nodded his head and began clicking a few more pictures.
“One with you!” An Xiulan said as she captured one firefly and he put the phone against the log setting up on timer mode.
*Click!*
Little did anyone know this picture was going to forever serve as his wallpaper.
____
“Students, gather here, ” The teachers announced the next morning after all of them had eaten breakfast and were now dressed up to tour the woods.
“We will be touring the old heritage site,” One teacher announced.
The students began murmuring to each other. What heritage sites were the teachers talking about? For as far as they could be there were woods or open grasslands. There was no way there could be some hidden heritage sites.
“I know what you all must be wondering about,” The second teacher said. “Behind the woods, there is a village that has a unique position in our country. The people here still live in the same fashion that their ancestors lived centuries ago.”
The students gasped.
“We will be handing each student a map in case someone got lost, ” The teacher said. “However, two teachers will lead the students while another two will follow them. In order to minimise the chances of getting lost in the woods. The village is around ten kilometres by foot from this place and no cars or buses are allowed there. In fact, none of you can bring your mobile phones or cameras or any other gadget with you.”
“But sir, we want to take pictures,” One student argued.
“The rules of the village are strict. They have no place for modern advancement in their land,” The another teacher said.
“What kind of fool are we visiting?” A girl grumbled. “It’s the twenty-first century and they are still living like prehistoric people. Why is the government not trying to end these weird traditions and rules of the villagers?”
Instead of getting angry, the teacher smiled at the girl’s question. “You are right. What kind of people would still want to live this way even when the words have more comfort than necessary to offer? In order to find the answer to your question, we are touring the village. And it took us two years to get permission from the village head.”
Jingyuan High wanted to research that tribe of people but they were never allowed to enter the village. Only a few special classes could enter the village but only after the permission of the tribal ministers and then by the village committee.
The government was keen to protect this indigenous tribe of people who said a big no to modernisation and the era of science.
It was only later the founder of Jingyuan High heard that the village was very warm and welcoming to students who were genuinely curious about that village and would love to welcome a group of students. They used the summer camp idea to enter the village to research about it.
While the students were following the teachers, Song Xueyun and Lu Xuan burst into an argument. The teachers separated them from their group to ease the tension between them. Who would have thought that in a fit of anger both of them would end up straying from the path?
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A/N:
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Ever heard the line? Well, its quite adaptable for me at this moment. The month ends soon and I need around 400+ unlocks to reach my win-win target.
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