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Shen Yu’an quickly finished tidying up inside the tent and stepped outside, only to realize that it was already quite late.
One by one, the others emerged from their tents as well.
Shen Yu’an looked up, but the intertwining branches and leaves obstructed most of the light, leaving only a faint glow visible.
The fragmented light filtered through the gaps in the foliage, creating scattered patterns on the ground.
Shen Yun emerged from another tent and followed Shen Yu’an’s gaze upward.
He asked, “Do you have any methods to determine our direction, Yu’an?”
Everyone hadn’t forgotten about Shen Yu’an mentioning that she had a method the previous night, so their attention focused on her.
Suddenly, Shen Rong remembered reading about a method to determine direction based on the growth rings of tree stumps in a book.
He spoke up, asking, “Yu’an, are you planning to determine the direction based on the direction of tree growth?”
Then he continued, speaking to himself, “But since we entered here, we haven’t seen any cut tree stumps, and these trees are so large that it would be inconvenient to chop one down.”
Shen Yu’an had naturally thought of that method, but as her father had mentioned, it wasn’t convenient to rely on it in this forest.
So after she mentioned a few other methods, Shen Yu’an directly shared her own method.
“We don’t need to look for tree stumps. Look at the shadows on the ground.”
Everyone turned their gaze towards where Shen Yu’an was pointing.
There were shadows of tree branches and leaves continuously swaying on the ground.
GrandmaShen asked anxiously, “Yu’an, don’t keep us in suspense. Please tell us quickly.”
Shen Yu’an smiled and continued, “Grandma, don’t worry. It’s still early in the day, probably around 9 or 10 in the morning. The sun rises in the northeast, so the shadows cast on the ground will point towards the southwest. Everyone, take a close look at the shadows on the ground.”
The group turned their gaze once again and noticed that the dim shadows were slanting in a particular direction.
Since their arrival in the forest yesterday, they had been worried about someone chasing them from behind and had rushed anxiously. By the time they realized something was amiss, it was already afternoon. The weak sunlight had made them overlook Shen Yu’an’s suggested method.
Now that Shen Yu’an brought it up again, everyone realized that it was indeed a good method.
Shen Dalang excitedly pointed at the shadow on the ground and said, “So that direction is southwest.”
“Yes,” Shen Yu’an smiled and continued, “And look at this stone. The side covered in moss indicates the north. We can follow the shadows cast by the sunlight to determine our direction and adapt accordingly.”
Everyone thought it was a great method and couldn’t wait to give it a try.
However, Grandma Shen stopped the impatient crowd and said, “Even if we’re setting off, let’s have a quick bite first and gather our belongings. We’ll depart shortly.”
With the excitement of finding their direction, everyone skipped cooking and simply had a quick meal before loading everything onto the cart and setting off.
Initially, they had already emptied one cart and a cow-drawn cart of their belongings. However, Grandpa Zhang couldn’t bear to abandon the cart, so they redistributed some of the items from the other two carts onto it.
Pulling the carts required strength, but with fewer items on board, it became less strenuous.
They took turns pushing the carts, occasionally taking turns riding on the cow-drawn cart to rest while continuing their journey.
They were heading in the approximate direction of southwest, so they only needed to follow the direction of the shadows on the ground. When the afternoon came and the sun shifted to the other side, they would change their direction according to the shadows.
Everyone was busy hurrying along, and for a moment, they forgot about the time.
Fortunately, this time they didn’t get lost again. They had marked the path they had traveled, so they didn’t backtrack.
When they eventually stopped, it was due to necessity.
Liulang held the candy that Shen Yu’an had given him and hadn’t been willing to eat it all this time.
He sat on the edge of the cart, swinging his legs leisurely.
But when the cart passed under a big tree, in the blink of an eye, LiuLang realized that the candy he was holding in his hand was gone.
He thought he might have accidentally dropped it, so he searched around him for a while, but couldn’t find it. In the end, he couldn’t hold back his sadness and burst into tears.
“Sniff, sniff, sniff.”
Everyone looked over to him and asked, “What happened? Why are you crying?”
LiuLang was heartbroken and looked at Shen Yu’an with a grievance, crying out, “Sister, the candy you just gave me is gone, wuwuwu!!!”
LiuLang’s crying echoed through the entire forest.
Shen Yu’an’s expression froze, as LiuLang’s sadness was so penetrating. She believed that everyone present could feel his grief.
Zhang Shi, who was inside the cart, heard LiuLang’s crying and thought that something had happened, so she quickly lifted the curtain.
As a result, she heard LiuLang’s crying to Shen Yu’an about the lost candy.
Zhang Shi chuckled and said, “Did you already eat it and now want to ask your sister for another one?”
Otherwise, how could the candy disappear from your hand just like that?
LiuLang cried even more sadly, feeling that nobody understood his sorrow.
Just a moment ago, the candy was still in his hand, and then he felt something snatch it away, and when he looked down, it was gone.
Yes! Someone took his candy from his hand!
He wiped away his tears and looked toward other places beside him.
But there was no one else on the cart besides him.
Just as he was full of questions, a piece of candy wrapper floated down from above and landed right in LiuLang’s hand.
“Burp~ Huh?!!!”
It was his candy… the candy wrapper!
Everyone looked at the floating candy wrapper and raised their heads in astonishment.
“Squeak squeak~”
“Squeak squeak~”
The treetops shook, and everyone looked up to see over thirty monkeys perched on the branches. One of the monkeys, holding a milky white object in its hand, was about to put it in its mouth.
“My candy! It stole my candy!” Liulang shouted, pointing at the monkey.
The group of monkeys, upon realizing that they had been spotted by Shen Yu’an and the others, showed no fear. Instead, they swung back and forth on the branches above their heads, chattering loudly.
Helpless, Liulang watched as the monkey put his candy into its mouth. Filled with anger, he jumped off the cart and started leaping towards the monkeys.
“You bad monkey, give me back my candy!”
The thirty-plus monkeys chimed in with loud screeches, their voices piercing and ear-splitting.
The monkey king, who had snatched Liulang’s candy, looked smugly at him and plucked a small twig from the tree. With a mischievous grin, the monkey king threw it towards him.
The other monkeys followed suit, plucking small twigs from the trees and throwing them at the Shen family and their group.
Caught off guard, the Shen family and their companions scrambled to avoid being hit.
They tried to shoo away these mischievous monkeys, but it seemed like the monkeys had taken it as a challenge. They continued screeching and pelting them with twigs from above.
The other monkeys followed suit, plucking small twigs from the trees and throwing them at the Shen family and their group.
Caught off guard, the Shen family and their companions scrambled to avoid being hit.
They tried to shoo away these mischievous monkeys, but it seemed like the monkeys had taken it as a challenge. They continued screeching and pelting them with twigs from above.