Chapter 114 - A Profitable Trip (1/2)
Yu Xiaocao couldn’t just stand by idly and watch the youth suffer. She lifted the female goose in her hands and walked over. When the male goose saw that the female goose had been caught, it struggled even more mightily. With Zhao Han’s bright eyes watching her, Yu Xiaocao couldn’t easily use her cheat item, mystic-stone water, to fix the situation, so she had to use the bait that was previously soaked in the water instead. She fed the male goose with it and only then did both geese settle down.
They tied up the geese’s feet and then placed the two animals into a basket that Zhao Han had carried over. After covering the basket with a lid, they had completed their mission of the day.
As for catching a snakehead fish, it also took a bit of time even though she had her special fish bait. There was no way around it. Xiaocao’s unique fish bait was too popular with everyone. All of the fish fought to eat the bait, and they ended up catching five to six catties worth of carp. The smallest fish was about the size of the palm of one’s hand, while the largest was around the size of a grass carp. Without much effort, Xiaocao’s fish basket soon filled up very quickly.
Luckily, by the time they almost ran out of bait, they managed to catch a big snakehead fish that weighed around two to three catties. As for the remaining fish bait, Xiaocao didn’t plan on bringing it home and used the rest to catch more fish. In the end, she had caught too many fish and needed to have Zhao Han string them up on a rope and help her bring them home.
This time, they not only caught three snakehead fish but they also caught a lot of other fish that made the trip worth it. Xiaocao released the smaller fish back into the lake, but she naturally took the larger ones back home as her ‘spoils from war’!
On the way home, Zhao Han carried the majority of their gains, and Yu Xiaocao only had to carry the couple of snakehead fish and the ginseng. Despite having a lighter load, Xiaocao ended up expending a lot of energy to just barely cross that mountain range that looked deceivingly easy. By the time they got to the area where they had set their traps, the cotton lining of Xiaocao’s jacket was already soaked with her sweat.
“Oh my gosh, I am exhausted!” Xiaocao plopped heavily down on a rock at the side of the road and used the back of her hand to wipe the beads of sweat off her forehead. A trail of gray dirt was left on her face afterwards.
Zhao Han looked at Yu Xiaocao, who looked like a cute, dirty little kitten, and grinned, “Sit down and rest here, I’m going to go to the traps and take a look.”
Despite carrying two fat and large geese in his bamboo basket and having both of his hands holding strings of fish, Zhao Han wasn’t even winded after crossing over the mountain range. Xiaocao watched him walk with pure envy, ‘Ah, he’s definitely someone who practices martial arts. The difference between us is just too big!’
Zhao Han placed the bamboo basket and the strings of fish on the ground next to Xiaocao and warned her repeatedly, “Be careful. Even though there shouldn’t be any ferocious animals in this area, sometimes wild boars or dogs can appear. If anything happens, scream loudly for me!”
“I have a very good moral character, so my luck shouldn’t be that bad, right?” Xiaocao carelessly replied as she stroked the male goose’s sleek feathers on his back.
Zhao Han was a little bit confused when he heard Xiaocao’s reply. What did a person’s moral character have anything to do with coming across a wild boar or another animal? And what was this ‘pointy [1]’ thing that she mentioned? However, he didn’t try to clarify. He was already used to Xiaocao saying random things from time to time that didn’t quite make sense.
After making sure their surroundings were safe again, Zhao Han went into the shrubbery that was about half a man’s height. He only came back, fully loaded with game, after all of the sweat on Xiaocao had dried up.
She had set a total of ten traps earlier, and, to avoid rousing Zhao Han’s suspicions, she only sprinkled mystic-stone water around five to six of them. Naturally, all of the traps she used mystic-stone water on had game. Because she only used smaller traps this time around, the animals she caught were all on the smaller side, like hares, pheasants, and badgers. One of the hares she caught was actually pregnant too!
Springtime was the season for animals to mate and reproduce. Thus, experienced hunters usually didn’t choose to hunt in this season. One of the reasons was that the animals raising their children were much more fierce and violent. The more important reason was that there was no reason to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs; that is, they needed to give the animals on the mountain time to multiply and thrive.
“What should we do with this wild hare? Let it go?” Hunters who went out into the woods during the springtime usually would let the pregnant creatures go. Thus, when Zhao Han saw the pregnant female hare hopping and skipping around, he couldn’t help but ask what Xiaocao’s plan was.
Yu Xiaocao carefully picked up the obviously pregnant hare and used her right hand, which had the multi-colored stone on it, to gently stroke the hare’s soft and silky fur.
“Be careful! Wild hares can also bite people when they get scared!” Zhao Han couldn’t help but remind her. One time when he was picking up a pregnant hare, the creature fought him vigorously and bit him hard. The resulting wound wasn’t serious but it bled for a bit and hurt!
Contrary to his expectations, the hare, which had been struggling frantically, calmed down and stayed in Xiaocao’s hands as if it was a kitten that had just eaten its fill. It stopped moving and even closed its eyes, as if it really enjoyed Xiaocao’s pets.
“Xiaocao, are you sure you’re not the legendary forest spirit or something like that? How come all of the wild animals in these mountains seem to especially like you?!” Zhao Han was astounded at the change in the hare and couldn’t help but make a little joke.
There was a reason why he mentioned this. Last year, she had caught a small roe deer in her trap. When the creature saw her, it treated her as if she was its mother, and followed her blindly home. Inside the secret valley, there were a bunch of tiny white fish that were very hard to catch, but Xiaocao was able to catch a whole jar full of them without much effort. And then there was what happened today at the lake. When they were catching the geese, there were a lot of shrimp and tiny fish in the water but the two birds seemed to have a special affinity for her bait.
Yu Xiaocao definitely had a secret! However, Zhao Han didn’t plan on asking her about it. Everyone more or less had their own little secrets. After all, wasn’t his own family an example of that? He had already thought of Xiaocao as a friend, as a younger sister no less, so he decided to honor her privacy.
When Xiaocao heard his joke, she deliberately opened her mouth wide and pretended to look scary, she sinisterly said, “Looks like you’ve seen through my disguise, youngster! Guess that means I can’t leave you here in this world anymore! Zhao Han, you need to die…”