November 24th, according to the newly devised plan, Chen Zhou began transporting firewood up the mountain and stocking up on fresh water.
Close to the forest, firewood was naturally abundant. All he needed to do was walk down the gentle slope and chop down those short trees to obtain a large amount of fuel.
However, living trees contained high moisture content, and if not dried, they would burn with thick smoke and were hard to ignite.
Most of the time, Chen Zhou chose drier branches or dead trees instead.
As for fetching water, taking it from the river at the foot of the mountain was too far. He spent most of the day traversing the woods, exploring, and found the source of the stream in the ravine of Broken Cliff.
It was a stream trickling out of a rock crevice, not much in volume but minimally affected by the dry season and flowed continuously.
With some patience waiting for the bucket to fill up, it was enough for daily use.
