Chapter 123

Chapter 123

Once Xiao Che formed a plan, he set aside his work and posted a notice in the valley seeking fishermen skilled at making nets and catching fish.

Old Han arrived shortly after the notice went up.

“Valley Master, my family used to live beside a river, and my ancestors made their living by fishing for generations. Where in this forest are there fish?”

The moment Old Han heard Xiao Che wanted to fish, he hurried into the valley.

Xiao Che pointed at the enormous fish Jin Bao had brought back.

“Old Master, look at this. Jin Bao pulled it from a lake. It must weigh several dozen jin, and she says there are many more large fish there. The valley is running low on grain, so we must find a way to store food. Otherwise, this many people will inevitably go hungry.”

Listening nearby, Jin Bao blinked.

So the valley was almost out of grain?

While the adults discussed the matter, Jin Bao slipped away alone.

There were now dozens of children in the valley, giving Jin Bao many playmates. Despite being the youngest, she had become their leader.

Xiao Che did not notice her leave and assumed she had gone to play with the other children.

He continued discussing fishing with Old Han.

“Valley Master, this fish is enormous. My family fished for generations, yet we rarely caught one so large. A single fish like this could feed a family for ten days or more.”

For a poor family, merely having meat was fortunate. They would usually simmer a few pieces of fish into soup, then add wild vegetables and cook them together.

Xiao Che had never managed household provisions, nor had he seen such an enormous fish. He found it just as extraordinary.

“Old Master, do you have a plan?”

The sight of such a large fish had excited Old Han so much that he circled it again and again in wonder.

Only after a long while did he straighten and say, “We need to make two nets. One should be a large seine, roughly ten zhang long and two zhang wide, with mesh three fingers across. That net will catch large fish. Then we’ll make a smaller lift net with mesh one finger across for small fish.”

Xiao Che nodded as Old Han explained the details with confidence. The Xiao Family knew absolutely nothing about fishing and could rely only on this old fisherman.

“The material for making the nets will be rather difficult to obtain.”

Xiao Jingmo suggested, “Grandpa Han, do fishing nets require cloth?”

Old Han nodded. “Cloth would certainly work, but here cloth is more expensive than fish, and we don’t have enough to spare. Besides, cloth rots after prolonged use and isn’t durable. People in my homeland make nets from hemp rope, bark, and even vines. All of those will work.”

“The forest has plenty of those. I’ll issue a notice immediately and have everyone gather them.”

Xiao Che spoke hurriedly.

“Valley Master, don’t rush. I remember a wetland downstream from the valley stream that is covered in water-hemp stalks. They are the finest material for making nets. Dry them in the sun for two or three days, and the dried bark becomes even stronger than hemp rope. My family was poor when I was young, and my mother used the plant to weave baskets and twist rope. I’ll take people to harvest and dry it now.”

In less than two hours, a large quantity of water-hemp stalks covered an open area of the valley.

They had to dry in the sun before they could be used.

The weather had been good recently, and the valley had grown much warmer. Four days of drying at most would be enough to prepare the stalks.

On the fifth day, Old Han checked their condition and declared, “They’re ready.”

Next, they pounded the stalks with rocks to extract the fibers, twisted those fibers into rope, then knotted the rope into nets.

The process required many workers, most of them women and children.

This was an excellent opportunity for everyone to earn points.

They could receive thirty points a day.

Fishing concerned the valley’s future food supply, so many people set aside their other work. Even if they cared nothing for the points, they hurried to finish the nets for the sake of having food.

After one full day, the two fishing nets were finally complete.

At the first hint of dawn on the sixth day, Xiao Che selected twenty young and able-bodied men. Together with Old Han and Jin Bao, they loaded the nets onto sleds and headed toward the place Jin Bao had described.

It lay only seventy or eighty li from Black Pine Valley.

They left before dawn and arrived shortly after noon.

Xiao Che had not expected Jin Bao to wander so far while playing in the forest. But she was indeed faster than their sleds, and a round trip took her only one day.

Once the group passed the final few pines hung with icicles, the view suddenly opened before them.

The beautiful sight left everyone stunned.

The lake rested quietly in the embrace of the mountains, like an ancient mirror forgotten in the mortal world.

Its surface stretched so wide that the opposite shore could not be seen.

The mountains beyond formed a dark line on the horizon.
It was just after noon. Winter sunlight spilled across the lake and shattered into millions of cold silver fragments.

A thin layer of snow dusted the nearby ice like frosting.

Where the wind had swept it aside, blue-gray ice showed beneath.

The ice was so clear that strings of frozen bubbles could be seen inside.

Verdant pines surrounded the lake, their straight trunks thrusting toward the clouds.

The forest held no sound but the soft hiss of snow falling from branches as the wind passed and the occasional cry and flutter of a startled bird.

Silence was the only thing everyone felt.

No one had ever seen such beautiful scenery, and they stood frozen in astonishment.

Only after a long while did Xiao Che begin deploying everyone.

“Old Master, I’ll take people to break the ice. You lead the others in lowering the nets and catching fish.”

“You got it.”

Old Han hurriedly brought the nets onto the frozen lake.

Meanwhile, Jin Bao ran wild like an escaped foal, playing happily with her little squirrel across the ice.

Breaking the ice required brute strength. It had frozen three chi deep, making it extremely difficult to pierce.

After considerable effort, the group finally opened a hole.

It was barely large enough to lower a net.

Jin Bao stopped running and crowded close to watch.

Old Han possessed fishing experience, but not Jin Bao’s supernatural abilities.

Through the plants at the bottom of the lake, Jin Bao could sense where the fish were most numerous, largest, and fattest.

She activated her Mental Power and used the underwater plants to drive the fish into the net.

The net had barely been lowered before its floats began sinking.

“Already?”

Even Old Han’s face changed with delight.

“Old Master, have we caught fish?”

Xiao Che was also excited. He wondered how many this net would bring up.

Old Han nodded. “That’s right, and there should be quite a few. Wait a little longer, then we can pull.”

Jin Bao clapped happily at the side. “Grandpa Han, there are enough! There are enough! Hurry and pull up the net. So many big fish!”

Old Han and Xiao Che exchanged a glance, then began hauling.

At first, only five or six people pulled, and the work remained manageable. As the rope gradually stretched taut, they gritted their teeth, braced their legs, and began sweating all over.

Old Han’s expression finally changed.

“How… how many fish are in there?”

Xiao Che immediately barked, “More people!”

The twenty men split into two groups and pulled as if in a tug-of-war, chanting in rhythm as the net rose inch by inch.

Lake water splashed across the ice. The ropes bit painfully into their palms, and their faces turned red with exertion, but no one dared relax.

Jin Bao stood nearby with her little fists clenched, cheering constantly.

“Go, Daddy! Go, Grandpa Han! Go, big fish!”

“Fishies, hurry and come out. Be good, fishies. Don’t make Baby’s daddy tired…”

Sometimes Jin Bao bounced as she cheered. Other times, she muttered at the fish beneath the water.

Suddenly, a flash of silver broke the surface.

The first fish emerged. It was a taimen almost as long as a person, with a silver-white belly and a blue-black back.

Even after leaving the water, it fought with all its strength. Its powerful tail slapped icy water into everyone’s faces.

No one dared release the rope. They continued pulling.

Then came a second fish, a third…

Soon, fish covered the ice, their pale bodies piled into a small mountain.

Everyone’s hands trembled with excitement. Old Han even knelt on the ice, touching one fish and examining another.

“Heavens… This is the first time I’ve seen so many large fish.”

“The biggest must weigh fifty jin, and even the smallest weighs thirty. We caught all of these in a single net.”

“I counted them. There are three hundred and twenty fish in this haul. How many jin is that?”

The men could not calculate it at all. The total exceeded their education.

Old Han trembled as he looked at the fish and sighed. “This lake is wonderful. With it, all our people can survive.”

Xiao Che looked at Jin Bao skating across the lake, smiled slightly, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“From now on, this lake will be called Koi Lake.”

Everyone agreed in unison.

“That’s a good name. From now on, we’ll have more fish than we can eat.”

“Without this lake, where would we obtain so many fish? It can save our lives and bring us good fortune, providing us with food without end, just like a lucky koi.”

After laughing and talking for a while, everyone lowered the net again. With Jin Bao as their secret weapon, the second haul matched the first.

Less than fifteen minutes after the net went down, it had already grown too heavy to lift.

They worked until night completely fell before finally moving all the fish to the shore.
Transporting all the fish back would require two trips.

After discussing the matter, Xiao Che and Old Han decided that Xiao Che would remain by the lake with some men. Old Han would lead another group in delivering part of the catch, then return with more sleds for the rest.

Jin Bao had already checked the map in her mind. The route from the lake to Black Pine Valley held no danger, and they would not encounter wolf packs, tigers, or other ferocious animals. No one needed to worry about safety along the way.

It was not until the following evening that all the fish reached the valley.

They had caught more than twenty thousand jin in total.

The sudden arrival of so many fish sent the entire valley into an uproar.

Even the people of New Life Village poured toward the valley entrance to watch, ignoring their exhaustion from a full day of mining.

The children darted laughing through the crowd as though celebrating the New Year.

Bringing back so many fish was not entirely good news.

Processing them all would take considerable effort.

They would also need a large amount of salt to cure the meat.

Salt was already scarce in the valley. Using several times the usual amount at once meant they needed to trade with the Cannibal Tribe.

The Cannibal Tribe lacked tools and food.

After discussing the matter, Xiao Che and Xiao Jingmo decided to send Xiao Jinghao and the Shadow Guards to exchange for salt.

The Cannibal Tribe controlled a salt spring and possessed ample supplies.

Xiao Che sent Xiao Jinghao with ten fish, several fire strikers, a few daggers, and one bolt of cloth.

A round trip to trade with the Cannibal Tribe would take two days.

That gave everyone time to prepare the fish.

The men continued mining, while most of the women set aside their work to help clean, salt, and smoke-dry the fish.

Pei Wanqing took overall command.

They had caught more than eight hundred fish.

Xiao Jingmo kept the accounts.

Every fish would feed Black Pine Valley and had to be recorded carefully.

Preparing all of them took an entire day.

The fish heads were treated as part of the workers’ compensation and distributed to the women who helped that day. Each received two heads for making soup, along with twenty points.

The remaining fish heads were sold to the residents of New Life Village at the low price of five points each.

That night, everyone in Black Pine Valley and New Life Village drank hot fish soup.

The next day, Xiao Jinghao lived up to expectations and returned with three large sacks of salt.

Xiao Jingmo immediately organized people to construct smoking racks, cut pine branches, and make smoked fish.

Old Han had taught him the process.

The fish would keep much longer this way.

They could have stored the fish outside the valley to freeze and brought it back to thaw whenever they wanted to eat it.

But it was already the second lunar month. In another two months, temperatures would rise and the earth would warm, making outdoor storage impossible.

Processing the fish took seven days in total.

At last, Xiao Jingmo entered all the fish into storage, recorded them in the accounts, and added a substantial amount of food to the valley’s supplies.

That evening, Xiao Jingmo and Xiao Che discussed the price of smoked fish.

They ultimately set it at the same price as grain: twenty wen per jin.

One jin of grain, once cooked with water, could feed a family for two days, while one jin of fish lasted that family only one meal.

Still, fish was meat and improved their diet. Families with men working in the mine would be willing to spend points on it.

Most people continued exchanging their points for grain.

Thus, grain remained in short supply.

Xiao Che returned home from the council chamber.

Pei Wanqing had already made the bed and heated water.

As soon as he arrived, Pei Wanqing brought a basin of hot water to wash his feet and ease his fatigue.

“Husband, all this fish will feed everyone for some time. Why are you still frowning? Our daughter says the lake has plenty more. If this isn’t enough, can’t we simply catch more?”

Xiao Che shook his head. “That solves only our immediate problem. If our daughter is to inherit the throne, our ambitions cannot be confined to this tiny patch of land. Grain is a problem we must solve permanently. We don’t even have fields right now, so possessing seeds is useless.”

He lacked neither weapons nor people. Only grain remained a problem.

Even an army had to keep its soldiers fed and warm.

Otherwise, who would risk their neck to follow him in conquering the realm?

Jin Bao was playing with her little squirrel and a wooden ball on the bed.

At those words, she leaped onto Xiao Che’s back, wrapped her arms around his neck, and blinked. “Daddy, Baby has food. Lots and lots of potatoes. Baby planted them.”

Xiao Che looked at Pei Wanqing.

Pei Wanqing shook her head. “I don’t know anything about this either. Our daughter never told me.”