Chapter 249
Chapter 249
“What are you all standing around for? Chase them!” Shen Qingzhu shouted at the dumbstruck people on the bank.
They could hardly be blamed. None of them had ever seen such a huge fish before.
Not only was it enormous and immensely strong, but it was still swimming that fast with a person clinging to its body!
Whenever Jiang Yunsui’s head broke the surface, she sucked in a deep breath, then held it again.
She was not exactly a normal human, so she could hold her breath underwater for a long time. Even after the fish dragged her through the river for quite a while, she was perfectly fine.
Faintly, she heard someone shouting for her to let go.
Let go?
Impossible. After bullying her like this, that fish had no choice but to end up in her belly today!
Little Mushroom’s stubborn streak had awakened. She clung tightly to the great fish, jamming her fingers into its mouth and gills.
The fish struggled even more violently.
Jiang Yunsui thought, ‘I refuse to believe I can’t wear you out!’
Unable to see, the fish charged blindly through the river. Even with all its strength and tricks, it eventually exhausted itself from hauling such a hefty “burden” around.
In the end, it rammed into a large rock and knocked itself unconscious.
Jiang Yunsui was dizzy too.
She had hit the rock as well.
With that crash, girl and fish both rolled over belly-up.
*
“Jiang Yunsui, wake up. Are you all right?”
Jiang Yunsui woke to someone patting her face. She opened her eyes and spat out a mouthful of water.
“Don’t hit this side. It hurts a little.”
Shen Qingzhu pinched her nose irritably.
She grumbled and twisted her head away.
“Meanie!”
Shen Qingzhu scoffed. “Your voice is still that strong. Looks like you’re fine.”
“Where’s my fish?”
As her memories flooded back, the absurdly hard-to-kill Jiang Yunsui sprang upright and looked everywhere for it.
“You’re still worried about the fish? You almost lost your life. You really are something!”
The fish had dragged her underwater for so long without her resurfacing. They had nearly died of fright.
Jiang Yunsui rubbed her head and looked at Shen Qingzhu with pitiful eyes.
He drew a deep breath. “You’ll scare me to death sooner or later!”
“Miss Yunsui, the fish is over here. We’re getting ready to cook it.”
The moment she spotted the fish, Jiang Yunsui ran over.
“Don’t be angry, Shen Qingzhu. Come eat fish! It’s definitely going to taste good.”
The guard cooking their meal was laboriously scraping at the scales with a knife.
“No idea what kind of fish this is. Its scales are huge and incredibly hard.”
Jiang Yunsui picked one up to examine it. It was only a little smaller than her palm.
When someone jabbed it with a knife, the blade slid straight off.
The scale had a little give and was not as hard as iron, but it could clearly stop a powerful blow.
Shen Qingzhu’s eyes gleamed.
“Once we finish this fish, everyone go see if there are more in the river.”
“Wash the scales clean and find somewhere to dry them.”
The fish proved every bit as delicious as expected. Its flesh was tender and flavorful, without much of a fishy smell.
Wonderful!
Jiang Yunsui ate a great deal all by herself.
The fish was enormous, and even after everyone had stuffed themselves, they still could not finish it.
Yet somehow there was not enough to go around.
A whole ring of canines surrounded them, staring at the fish with glowing green eyes.
Shen Qingzhu could not help laughing.
“All right, then. Let’s go catch more fish right now.”
Only when they actually tried did they discover that these fish were difficult to catch.
Extremely difficult.
They were strong, fast, and fond of darting beneath the waterfall. Even with excellent aim, no one could spear one with a sword or saber.
Their scales provided formidable protection and were terribly slick. The instant a weapon struck them, it slid aside.
After struggling for ages, they had not caught a single fish.
“Doctor Shen, we can’t catch them.”
Jiang Yunsui rolled up her sleeves. “I’ll do it!”
Her childish voice rang with confidence, carrying the swagger of a tiny bandit she had somehow picked up from somewhere.
Then Shen Qingzhu rapped her on the head.
“You stay right where you are.”
“I remember seeing vines in the woods over there. Why don’t we try making a fishing net?”
Naturally, the net they made was hardly proper. None of them had ever made one before.
In the end, the vine net tore apart less than a minute after trapping its first fish.
Jiang Yunsui watched anxiously from the side, desperately wishing she could dive in and catch one herself.
But she was tied up.
That was right. Shen Qingzhu was afraid the little girl would run off again. After all, the instant anyone released her hand, she vanished.
So he found a rope, tied one end around her, and secured the other around his own wrist.
Honestly, this was his first time raising a child like this too.
Jiang Yunsui applied for permission to catch fish again and was rejected.
Her pale cheeks puffed out until she resembled an angry little pufferfish.
She sat at the side watching them struggle, muttering and pointing out what they were doing wrong.
Every adult ignored her.
Letting her try again would be a test of their hearts, and no heart-however healthy-could withstand that kind of torment.
Watching them work soon bored Jiang Yunsui, so she quietly began plotting something of her own.
If they would not let her enter the water to catch fish, she would fish from shore.
She found a straight branch she liked and a length of cord.
“What do these fish eat?” she muttered as she nibbled on a mushroom.
Suddenly, her gaze fell upon the mushroom with a bite missing from it.
“Should I try it?”
There was only one way to find out.
She tied the Beauty Mushroom to the end of the cord. Afraid a fish might snatch it away at once, she wrapped the cord around it several times from different directions.
Once everything was ready, she tossed her fishing line into the river.
Of course, Jiang Yunsui did not expect to catch anything on her first try.
She leaned against a rock, crossed one little leg over the other, and prepared to take out another mushroom to eat.
Even raw, the mushroom tasted like fruit, with a fresh, sweet flavor. Every night lately, she had been able to grow piles of Beauty Mushrooms.
She loved them, so she ate to her heart’s content.
Just as she was relaxing, the “fishing rod” in her hand jerked violently. Jiang Yunsui’s entire face contorted in alarm.
“Huh?!”
The next instant came a splash.
She had fallen into the water again!
Shen Qingzhu, connected to her by a single rope, was dragged in with her for the second time.
“Doctor Shen!”
“Miss Yunsui!”
Half an incense stick later…
Shen Qingzhu crawled out of the river in a sorry state.
He wiped his face and sighed deeply.
His public image was that of a gentle and refined gentleman-not some calamity-plagued gentleman!
How many times had this happened now?
Shen Qingzhu fixed a dark, brooding gaze on a certain equally drenched child.
Guiltily, Jiang Yunsui poked her fingertips together, glanced at him, then hurriedly lowered her head.
“Shen Qingzhu, listen to me explain. This time really wasn’t my fault.”
She hastened to defend herself.
“I was just bored, so I made a fishing rod and tried fishing. Who knew… I’d really catch one?”
And so quickly, too.
Jiang Yunsui had been completely unprepared, while the fish was absurdly strong. Of course its first tug had yanked her into the water.
Unfortunately, her makeshift rod did not have a proper hook, so the fish escaped.
“But I found out what those fish like to eat.”
Her eyes lit up again.
Although she was soaked through like a drowned rat, she was naturally pretty enough to remain adorable.
“Look, my mushroom! The fish like eating my mushrooms.”
Shen Qingzhu was speechless. Forget it. What was he supposed to do, hit her?
Once they knew what bait the fish liked, however, several rounds of experimentation really did net them three fish.
One was even larger than the fish Jiang Yunsui had caught before.
Everyone wiped the sweat from their brows.
“These fish really are difficult to catch.”