North-south Water Diversion Project

Lu Zhe looked in the direction the sun bear had escaped and let out a sigh of relief: "Damn, that was close!"

"How was it close? As a bystander, I can confirm that from start to finish, you were the one beating it up."

"That's because I couldn't give it any chance to fight back, otherwise the one getting injured could have been me."

Lu Zhe then picked up the beehive and peered inside through the damaged opening, trying to find the largest queen bee, but couldn't find it.

"Crap, the queen bee might have been eaten!"

"Is there only one queen bee in a beehive?"

"Usually just one. Almost all the bees in a beehive are its descendants."

"If there's no queen bee, can the bees continue to reproduce?"

"Hard to say! Typically if they lose the queen bee, the worker bees will build queen cells and feed the larvae left by the queen bee royal jelly. When those larvae grow up, they become new queen bees. After mating with drones, they can continue breeding."

"Drones...I remember worker bees are all females..."

"That's right. Worker bees are all females, but some females give birth to babies. When those babies grow up, they become drones!"

"Heavens! So don't bees marry their grandmas?"

"Well, if you insist on putting it that way, I can't stop you."

Lu Zhe let out a sigh, somewhat worried: "But if the queen bee dies without leaving any larvae behind, this colony might face extinction. I hope these little creatures can create a miracle to continue propagating, providing us with a steady supply of honey."

"But how do we take this?!"

"Hang on, I'll weave a basket!"

Lu Zhe chopped off a bunch of branches and spent 20 minutes weaving a simple bamboo basket. He carefully placed the beehive inside and wrapped it with his clothes before putting it on his back.

"Don't get stung!"

"Honey bees aren't as aggressive as wasps. They usually won't attack people if left undisturbed. Even if stung, it's not a big deal. Just pull out the stinger, wash with soap, and it will be fine in a few days."

Jiang Yao was a bit puzzled: "What kind of person would disturb honey bees?"

"Yao Yao, sometimes I really can't answer your questions."

The two continued walking upstream along the creek. After another dozen minutes, they encountered that sun bear again.

At the moment, it was sitting on a rock, rubbing its face, and whimpering. It would occasionally slap the boulder, full of pent-up anger.

"How did it run here?"

Lu Zhe's first thought was to find another stick. This thing coming over spelled danger.

However, the sun bear didn't give him that chance. The moment it saw Lu Zhe, it let out a terrified cry and fled without a trace.

"I wasn't here to beat it up. Why did it run when it saw me?"

Jiang Yao said, "Wouldn't any creature be stricken with fear after being inexplicably tortured by a sudden stranger while sleeping?!"

"Who said so? Not me!"

"You? Who tortured you while you were sleeping?"

"Humph! Last night until this morning!"

Jiang Yao tilted her head. "Oh that. If it counts as torture...keep gloating. Oh, what a nice little flower."

"Want me to help you put it on?"

"Why don't you pick one for me yourself!"

Lu Zhe sighed. What could he do with a girl like Jiang Yao?

After walking another 10 minutes, as luck would have it, they encountered that sun bear again.

Lu Zhe lamented: "Thrice now. Why so persistent?!"

It was probably a bit hungry now, gnawing on tree bark. Still rattled, it saw Lu Zhe appear again.

This mood could no longer be appeased with a few words.

The sun bear let out a mournful cry, slammed its head despairingly against the tree three times, changed direction, and fled again, rolling and crawling.

"It doesn't think you came specifically to beat it up, right?"

Lu Zhe sighed. "I'll have to properly explain to it someday that I only wanted some honey that time and didn't mean to disturb its sleep. It wouldn't have come to blows if it didn't yell at me."

Jiang Yao smiled thinly. "It probably has a psychological shadow now."

"As neighbors on this volcanic island, some bumps and scrapes are inevitable. But if we keep a compassionate and friendly heart, we'll eventually gain the understanding and support of the little animals here."

After walking another half hour without encountering that frightening sun bear again, they arrived at Lu Zhe's destination.

Lu Zhe's guess was completely accurate.

Sure enough, about 300 meters from the campsite upstream on one side, he found the bend.

Along the way, Lu Zhe discovered countless dried gullies. These gullies were very narrow, usually without water unless there was heavy rain.

But they could divert the flow during downpours.

Lu Zhe carefully observed where these gullies flowed, and indeed found one leading towards the campsite.

Lu Zhe put down the beehive.

"Let's see if we can divert water towards the campsite through this gully."

"How do we do it?!"

"Like this. I'll open the water source here and divert the flow. You move some rocks to block the gullies to the west so the water flows towards the campsite."

"Got it!"

"Remember, don't block everything. It's enough for some of the water to flow towards the camp. I'm worried a downpour might impact the campsite too much."

Although he said this, Lu Zhe was secretly worried about something else.

It had rained continuously in July, but in August, not a single drop had fallen. Could they be facing another long drought?

But there was no need to worry too much!

After all, they had two mountain streams, a lake, and two ponds at the volcano's bottom. Even if it really didn't rain for months, they wouldn't starve.

Jiang Yao rolled up her sleeves. "Alright, I'll block first. Come check if it works later."

Lu Zhe observed which way those dried gullies flowed and determined one. Then he chopped a handy wooden stick to dig open the mountain stream, diverting the water flow to the diversion channel.

The clear mountain stream babbled towards the campsite.

"So now the campsite will have a steady fresh water source?"

"It should work, but I still feel a bit uneasy without seeing it myself. Let's go down and take a look,"

The two happily headed down the mountain, bringing back grass feed to the campsite.

Upon arrival, they saw Tang Xiaoguo beaming as she said:

"Brother Lu Zhe, Yao Yao,"

She then pulled them both by the hand to near the campsite and mysteriously said: "You definitely won't believe what I'm about to say. I sneezed twice in a row today and somehow felt the gods' favor. So I made a wish that it'd be perfect if a mountain spring flowed down, guess what happened?!"

"Then...a spring really flowed down?!"

Tang Xiaoguo excitedly exclaimed: "Yes, yes!"

"Xiaoguo, I suddenly feel you're more amazing than Little Zhe!"

"I know, right?!"

"Little Zhe went through so much trouble to snatch honey from the bear. But you, with an effortless sentence, snatched away our two hours of labor from northern water diversion!"