Chapter 162: A Sense of Déjà Vu
The severe cold and gusty wind lasted for two days.
During these two days, the wild grass lay flat, leaves fell, and frost formed outside the car windows.
The car swayed back and forth in the cold wind for two days, yet the snow in the sky never fell.
The laptop battery had drained, so Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei sometimes read and sometimes chatted, eating fried beans from the pan with water.
The two of them tried to minimize eating; enduring for two days was no problem.
During these two days, Lu Xi'an told Yao Wei the story of Xiao Li's Flying Knife, as promised earlier.
Yao Wei patiently listened to the whole story and then commented, "Being obsessed with the emotions between men and women indeed makes one lose self-control.
"Li Xunhuan, for instance, it feels like Xiao Li's Flying Knife missed its target, and even Fei's fast sword was not that fast.
"We need to learn from this and avoid being like them."
Having heard Lu Xi'an's explanation before and based on her own experiences, now after listening to the entire story of "The Sentimental Swordsman," Yao Wei thought she understood "the emotions between men and women" quite well, and thus she made a sharp comment.
However, Lu Xi'an already understood Yao Wei's perspective, so he had predicted Yao Wei would evaluate the story this way without any surprise.
He nodded, saying, "That's right, that's right, we must learn from the lessons, don't be like Li Xunhuan and Fei, we must see emotions clearly and not be indecisive."
Yao Wei glanced at Lu Xi'an, his words seemed to be agreeing with her, but also had another layer of meaning which she could perceive.
She thought Lu Xi'an made valid points, but her many years of survival experience kept telling her that her own thoughts were not wrong, causing some contradictions.
She felt she needed to think carefully and clear her thoughts.
After two days, the snow eventually did not fall, the wind blew away the clouds, and the sun came out, quickly melting the frost on the car's glass into water and leaving streaks as it slid down the glass.
Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei woke up from their sleep, feeling the change in temperature, they turned off the air conditioner and unplugged the socket from Gou.
From afar came a "hum hum" sound, catching their attention suddenly.
Following the sound and looking closely to the front side, they saw a strong wild boar appear in their field of view.
The wild boar was rooting its nose in the grass, completely unaware of the distant vehicle and the people inside watching it.
This boar instantly took Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei's thoughts back to the days from a couple of months ago.
Back then, they had just met, sitting in the car warily and nervously spent the night.
When they woke the next day, they saw a wild boar in the forest. Then Yao Wei demonstrated her remarkable archery skills with bent knees and a bow, astonishing Lu Xi'an.
Unexpectedly now, they woke up in another city and saw a wild boar again.
"Such a familiar scene!"
Lu Xi'an lowered his voice and exclaimed, already considering this newly appeared wild boar as prey.
"Mm."
Yao Wei responded equally softly, then added, "This one's bigger than that one."
Indeed, the wild boar in front of them was far bigger and heavier than the one they encountered in Yubei City.
Moreover, this wild boar was boldly pushing its nose into the grass, and it pushed its way to a towering tree.
Suddenly, it went crazy, biting the tree bark fiercely and tearing it off.
Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei sat in the car, watching as the wild boar turned its massive body sideways, rubbing furiously against the spot on the tree where it had stripped the bark.
"What kind of tree could possibly armor?"
Lu Xi'an was slightly surprised.
"Armor?"
Yao Wei questioned. She didn't have much knowledge about the wild boar's behavior.
Lu Xi'an replied, "Yes, I think I heard people say before that wild boars would bite off the bark of pine trees and rub the oil from the pine trees onto themselves.
"When the resin dries, it forms a kind of armor-like layer on the boar, serving as protection.
"This tree isn't a pine, but I estimate the resin could have a similar effect, that's why this boar is rubbing so madly."
After rubbing one side, the boar turned around and rubbed the other side furiously.
Watching this animal rub so joyfully, it almost seemed like it was scratching an itch.
"Like this?"
Having understood, Yao Wei didn't want the boar to successfully armor itself. She rolled down the car window, ready to take her bow and arrow, pose, and repeat the move she did in Yubei City.
Lu Xi'an actually wanted to see Yao Wei's cool and graceful move again, but with a prey in front, it was not the time to be distracted.
"Let me do it."
Lu Xi'an stopped Yao Wei's next action, explaining, "This boar is quite substantial, and with the power of the bow and arrow, we might not be able to finish it in one shot.
"If we scare it and it runs away, we'll have to chase it. Better to let me do it, one hit fatal is best."
"Mm, okay."
Yao Wei agreed with Lu Xi'an's reasoning and nodded, putting down her bow and helping him with a bicycle wheel spoke.
Lu Xi'an didn't overestimate himself, thinking he could manage with just one spoke, holding more did not take much effort and provided more preparation and security.
He lightly rolled down the car window, leaned his upper body out, sitting on the window frame, the movement naturally not as graceful as Yao Wei's, but more suitable for him to exert force.