On the relatively "dry" meadow, Wei Ran stood beside his pick, listening to Squad Leader Liu's introduction.

"That's Nurse Ji from our health team, Comrade Ji Chunlan."

After finishing speaking, Squad Leader Liu gestured to Wei Ran to look at the lama who was already within ten meters, "That's our Zang guide, he can be considered a guide...

We met him just the day before yesterday. He doesn't know a few words of Chinese, so we don't know his name. We called him Jampa Kelsang, and that should be his name."

Should? We just met yesterday?

Wei Ran became increasingly curious about the composition of this team.

Nurse Ji and the lama who was probably named Jampa Kelsang had also walked onto the meadow through the mud.

Now that they were closer, Wei Ran could see clearly that whether it was Nurse Ji or Jiangba Gesang, they looked young.

The former is estimated to be in his prime at the age of 20, with the same pretty face, the same patched Red Army uniform, and a handful of weeds in his hand.

The latter is probably younger, with a plateau red color on each cheek and a bright, somewhat dazzling smile on his face.

In addition to holding a prayer wheel in one hand, he also held a furoshiki in the other hand, which also contained some weeds.

"This comrade is..." Nurse Ji looked curiously at Wei Ran who was looking at him.

"This is Comrade Wei Ran"

Monitor Liu helped introduce, and then described what just happened.

"Hello, Comrade Wei Ran!"

Nurse Ji saluted Wei Ran neatly, and after Wei Ran subconsciously returned the salute, she took the initiative to shake his hand.

That instant touch made Wei Ran feel the coldness from the other person's fingertips, and he also noticed the large and small scratches on her hands and the frostbite that had not yet healed.

Just when Wei Ran and Nurse Ji finished shaking hands, the young lama also imitated Nurse Ji and saluted Wei Ran with a non-standard military salute, and after the latter subconsciously returned the salute, a look on his face

With a brighter smile, she patted his chest and said, "Jangpa Kelsang!"

"Wei Ran!" Wei Ran imitated the other party's example and patted his chest.

"Revolution! Resist Japan! Comrade!"

Three Chinese words with non-standard pronunciation popped out of Jiangpa Kelsang's mouth, and then he patted his chest again, "Jiangpa Kelsang!"

Although the language communication was not smooth, Wei Ran could guess what the other party wanted to express.

After getting to know each other, everyone sat on the floor and gathered around the sick soldier named Jiang Yu.

“I only found so many wild vegetables”

As Nurse Ji spoke, she placed a pinch of no more than twenty "weeds" in her hand on the unrolled furoshiki of the little lama Jiangpa Kelsang.

Compared with her harvest, Jiangba Kelsang's harvest was not much more, but there was a frog carcass that was at most the size of a walnut and an unknown small fish that was at most the size of a little finger.

"Jiangba Gesang! You are so awesome! Now we have broth to drink!" Liu Youxiang said happily.

"Comrade!" Jiangba Gesang said what seemed to be one of the few Chinese words he knew, and once again showed a clean and bright smile.

"Come! Let's cook now!" Liu Youxiang greeted.

Before he finished speaking, two young soldiers named Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa had already taken out several "kitchen utensils" from the two baskets leaning behind the patient Jiang Yu.

This so-called kitchen utensil is just a copper ladle that looks like a German paratrooper helmet in World War II but has a handle, and an enamel spoon with a five-color flag pattern.

Under Wei Ran's watchful eye, after the two little soldiers handed the kitchen utensils to Squad Leader Liu, they each immediately picked up a wooden stick and skillfully dug up the damp soil under their feet.

But looking at the way they dug a few times before taking a break, you could tell that they probably hadn't had a full meal in a long time.

By getting up and searching for things in his two bamboo baskets, Wei Ran also took a look at the things in their bamboo baskets.

There are really not many things in these two bamboo baskets. In the first basket, in addition to three enamel jars tied together with straw ropes and two aluminum kettles with wooden stoppers, there are also several pairs tied together.

There were straw sandals and similar-shaped wooden objects in the two burning bamboo baskets. In addition, there were handfuls of withered yellow grass stems that had been carefully sorted and tied up.

In another bamboo basket, in addition to the dead grass that was also pressed at the bottom of the basket, there was a dark red furoshiki, two single shoulder bags made of coarse cloth, and a tattered blanket with patches inside it.

The color of the furoshiki was exactly the same as the color of the little lama's robe, so it was probably his.

Even the two single shoulder bags can easily find their corresponding owners. One of the bags has a red cloth with a cross pattern sewn on the cover. This should belong to Nurse Ji.

The other one is embroidered with the symbol of sickle and hammer and the traditional Chinese character "Liu". Thinking about it, this bag should belong to Squad Leader Liu.

Without looking further, Wei Ran took out the enamel jar stuffed with a ball of cloth from his bamboo basket.

Carefully taking out the piece of cloth and untying it, there were only two hot red dried chili peppers and a small handful of highland barley grains inside.

He was even sure that as long as he was given at most five minutes, he would be able to count the total number of these not-so-full grains of wheat.

After thinking for a while, he rewrapped the small handful of wheat grains in the coarse cloth and stuffed it back into the enamel jar, and then picked up the British army kettle that didn't know why it appeared here.

Carefully unscrewing the lid, he found helplessly that the sugar-sweetened butter tea he had filled the kettle with in advance had been replaced with plain water without any nutrition.

Fortunately, there were only four sticks of yak jerky left that he had stuffed into the kettle holder.

Each stick of these yak jerky is only about the size of a disposable lighter. If it is used as a snack, it may not last for half an hour before it can be stuffed into the stomach of anyone with sound teeth.

But Wei Ran knew very clearly that these four pieces of beef jerky might be able to save his life!

Wei Ran habitually tried to put the vital kettle and beef jerky into the metal book, but Wei Ran was stunned for a moment. He couldn't put the kettle back!

Is it because of the beef jerky?

Wei Ran held the strips of dried meat in his hands and tried again, but found that he still couldn't take them back.

Is that also the anti-Japanese sword?

Wei Ran quickly stuffed the dried meat into the kettle holder, and then pressed his left hand on the anti-Japanese sword. As expected, there was really no way to take the sword back!

Suppressing the anxiety in his heart, Wei Ran tried to take out the blues harmonica from the metal book under the cover of the bamboo basket, and then immediately tried to take it back, but this time he was not affected by anything.

Where's the camera?

Wei Ran thought for a while, and then took out and retracted the Rollei dual reflex camera in the same way and tried it. Similarly, this camera was not subject to any restrictions.

Not daring to delay any further, Wei Ran took out the anti-Japanese broadsword as a digging tool, helped young soldiers Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa dig out the soil densely covered with grass roots, and used them to build a stove high above the ground.

Immediately afterwards, he used this anti-Japanese sword to chop up the wet firewood that Li Zhuang had picked up. Then he took out a few sticks from the bundle of firewood on his bamboo basket and split them together, and he was particularly skillful.

He chopped some pieces of wood thinner than chopsticks.

"Comrade Wei Ran, please lend me your knife." Liu Youxiang asked after Wei Ran finished his work.

Hearing this, Wei Ran happily handed the anti-Japanese sword to the other party. The latter also used the bottom of the copper ladle as a chopping board, cut the wild vegetables picked by Nurse Ji and the little lama into sections and put them into the copper ladle.

Then he cut the little frog open and threw it in together with the little fish.

However, although Liu Youxiang then took out a kettle with a wooden stopper from the bamboo basket and poured the water into the copper ladle, he did not rush to light it, but instead dug out the two kettles from the basket.

There was also a wooden object in the combustible basket, but he didn't know what it was.

At the same time, the little warriors Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa also took out the withered yellow grass stems from the basket, and even the grass stems they had just picked up, and placed them next to the unlit firewood.

He picked up a few more wooden sticks and poked them into the soil.

Under Wei Ran's slightly confused gaze, except for the young lama Jiangpa Kelsang and the unconscious patient Jiang Yu, the other four people sat together like playing mahjong, using the object Wei Ran didn't recognize and the

Those yellow grass stems began to weave... straw sandals?

It should be straw sandals, right?

Wei Ran wasn't sure whether his guess was correct, but he took out the wooden object from his bamboo basket without any delay, then picked up a handful of grass and started weaving like they did.

Fortunately, although he had never learned this craft before, it was really not difficult.

However, before he could thread the twisted grass rope twice around the four warp threads, the young soldier Zhang Erwa handed over a large handful of withered grass stems, "Comrade Wei Ran, what are you doing?"

Use grass to make straw sandals? Use this!"

"Can't we use grass?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"It's OK, but it won't make it five miles before it falls apart!"

Another young soldier, Li Zhuang, also handed over a handful of grass stalks while speaking, and also imparted his experience, "Looking at your posture, I know that you have never made straw sandals before. You must use dry grass for making straw sandals. If you can mix it with

Some rags and scrap hemp rope will be stronger.

But...but it shouldn't be, Comrade Wei Ran, you are a porter, right? How could you not know how to wear straw sandals?"

Wei Ran followed the other person's example and twisted the yellow grass stalks into straw ropes while explaining, "I used to go barefoot. Even earlier, I had a pair of cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles."

"I also had a pair before I went over the snowy mountains."

Li Zhuang happily agreed, "It was a gift from a fellow villager in front of the branch. I was reluctant to wear it until I started climbing the snow-capped mountains. Unfortunately, I climbed over the snow-capped mountains and the shoes were worn out."

Taking advantage of this topic, Wei Ran, who was learning to make straw sandals, also started to talk in a roundabout way, while the little lama Jiangpa Kelsang sat alone by the campfire, shook the prayer wheel and started chanting sutras that only he could understand.

When it got dark, Wei Ran also made a pair of not very beautiful straw sandals under the guidance of Squad Leader Liu and others. By the way, he also got to know this small group of people and the current situation.

First of all, and most importantly, this was July 1936. No one present knew the specific day. They could not even remember the day they entered the grassland. They just remembered,

They met the young lama Jampa Kelsang who chased them from behind the day before yesterday.

Secondly, Wei Ran also learned in the chat that Liu Youxiang was from Jingchu, Li Zhuang was from southern Hunan, and Zhang Erwa was from southern Jiangxi.

These three people were all in the same cooking class, but a few days ago, Nurse Ji from Chongqing borrowed these two young soldiers from the cooking class and took them to the head of the team to collect the separated injured and sick patients.

However, he had clearly agreed to let them return to the cooking squad the next evening. However, Liu Youxiang waited until the third day but still did not see them back, so he asked the company commander for instructions and came back alone to meet his cooking squad.

As Wei Ran saw, Squad Leader Liu finally found Li Zhuang and Zhang Erwa, as well as Nurse Ji, the wounded Jiang Yu who was being cared for by the three of them, and another wounded man whose name they did not ask.
To be continued...