◎Happy Day 82: The Human Kite is ready to take off◎

The first place they went was the creek where they had dug clay.

The stream is not far from the hilltop, making it easy to carry water back and forth. The river is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, with a slight drop in the terrain. Although it's not an inlet or outlet, the water should flow well. With its good flow and high oxygen content, the river is naturally rich in fish, making it a great place to both fish and fish.

Dabai didn't go out very often, and when he was taken out, he would squat in Chu Buwen's pocket or be held in Jiang Muyun's arms. Today, it was rare to see him so excited, so Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen simply kept him on the cart and let him jump around and have fun.

What surprised Jiang Muyun even more was that Dabai seemed to know which direction they were going. He even ran to hook the corner of Jiang Muyun's clothes and pulled her to the side, adjusting the team's direction at all times.

"Are these cats of ours really going to become spirits? Can they understand that we are going to catch fish?" Jiang Muyun wondered as he saw Dabai couldn't stay quiet for a second and meowed sweetly from time to time.

Dabai had only been to the river once, and that was during the dry season. He could even pinpoint places they'd been to before, a skill even Xiaobai couldn't match.

Chu Buwen also found it curious: "Could it be that I don't take it out often enough and don't give it the opportunity to show itself?"

Jiang Muyun recalled Dabai's usual state: either in Chu Buwen's pocket, in her arms, or on Xiaobai's neck.

He seems to be hiding wherever he finds something every day. He doesn't seem to want to show off. I don't know why he is so excited today.

When they reached the river, Jiang Muyun watched the fish occasionally rising to the surface. He grabbed Dabai by the scruff of the neck and examined it carefully. "Bai, you don't smell fish, do you?"

A river is not a small pond. Even if their direction was slightly off, it would not affect their finding the water source.

But Dabai has been pulling them here all the way, and his intentions are obvious.

Zhao Jiahao was pleasantly surprised: "Dabai's foraging skills are quite good. Now uncle is relieved. Our Dabai will be able to fend for himself even if he gets lost in the future."

Jiang Muyun looked at Zhao Jiahao as if he were looking at an unscrupulous relative who took pleasure in intimidating his own children: "Even if you lose our Dabai, we won't lose it. Stop scaring us here."

As if in line with Jiang Muyun's words, there was a splash on the water surface. Several people turned their heads and saw an ordinary-looking grass carp jumping out of the water.

"Looking at the situation, is it going to rain heavily today?" Jiang Muyun frowned.

Chu Buwen looked up at the sky. It had been dark and gloomy these past few days. If there was any difference, it was just that today was a little extra dull.

But animals' perception in this regard is definitely stronger than humans'.

Before the rain, the atmospheric pressure drops, the oxygen content in the water is insufficient, and the fish float to the surface to obtain oxygen. This phenomenon was common sense before the end of the world, and after the end of the world, no fish can mutate into anaerobic organisms.

"Let it rain heavily. Maybe the weather will be better after the rain. It's not a good thing to be so stuffy all the time." Chu Buwen said.

Rather than a continuous drizzle, they would rather have a heavy rain that would end quickly and let some sunshine out to get rid of the mildew.

You have to know that they haven't washed clothes for more than half a month. After all, they can't dry them after washing, so they can only hang there wet and wait to get moldy.

Later, the temperature rose, the weather became hot and humid, and clothes became disposable products. I changed them after wearing them once, and the clothes I took off could only be left somewhere waiting for the sun to come out.

The sun never came, but a few days ago when they were drying mushrooms, they had the opportunity to dry the clothes as well.

But everyone was afraid that throwing these clothes, which were somewhat musty, into the room would affect the mushrooms, so they gritted their teeth and endured the matter.

Now everyone has a pile of wet clothes at home, and they tend to get wetter.

Various molds can pop up in all kinds of unexpected corners, and it is not uncommon for food to be lost due to improper storage.

Zhao Jiahao tossed the small bucket tied with a rope into the river. "It would be best if all the rain for the next few months could fall at once. After that, as long as the sun comes out, I can endure another year of drought."

At this moment, it’s not a question of whether they are in a good mood or not, but they really can’t live without the sun.

They had initially thought that being unable to leave the house under the scorching sun was difficult, but they hadn't expected the continuous rain to make life even more difficult. Even after being able to go out freely, their mood wasn't much better than when they were cooped up at home. The inconveniences of life were even greater than during the dry season.

Not only can we not wash clothes even if we have water, cooking is also becoming a problem.

They were just relying on the fact that they had salvaged a lot of liquefied gas tanks before, otherwise they would have been in a desperate situation by now.

And they can't really rest easy at this moment.

Although liquefied gas does not have a shelf life, its tank does.

What if those liquefied gas tanks were soaked in water and malfunctioned someday? What if the firewood and charcoal they had stored were all gone by the time the tanks malfunctioned, and the sun still hadn't risen?

Zhao Jiahao sighed, "If the sun doesn't come out, and the firewood and LPG are all gone, are we going to have to use wet firewood to burn the stove, and then rebuild it every time one collapses? This kind of life is too outrageous."

Zhou Ying propped up the pre-cut stockings on the mouth of the stainless steel bucket and corrected Zhao Jiahao: "It doesn't mean you have to change the stove so frequently."

Zhao Jiahao poured the water he drew into the bucket, and all the debris in the water was blocked by the fine gauze.

"Why not? The firewood chopped at home also needs to be dried. The firewood we dried before was always covered with plastic film, and the ones on the outside are a little wet." Zhao Jiahao was puzzled.

The bucket in Jiang Muyun's hand was just carried back to the shore. Zhou Ying pushed the plastic box prepared in advance towards Jiang Muyun. Jiang Muyun poured half of the unfiltered river water into it, and then Zhou Ying poured all the substances filtered out of the gauze into the box.

This is the food they left for them in case they have to keep the fish they caught today in case they can't finish eating them all.

Zhou Ying moved the box of natural fish food to the side and, while holding up the gauze to let them pour water into the bucket, said to Zhao Jiahao, "With the current humidity, we probably won't be able to build a second stove unless we use only bricks and stones. But if they're already stacked, there won't be the problem of it collapsing due to burning wet firewood."

Zhao Jiahao thought thoughtfully: "That makes sense. If I think about it this way, I don't have to worry anymore."

Jiang Muyun poured another bucket of water in, looking at Zhao Jiahao with respect in his heart: "I have to say, I really envy you for your mentality."

Jiang Muyun felt that this might be a matter of talent.

If she didn't have the space and knew that she would never be short of supplies, her mentality might not be as stable as Zhao Jiahao's.

Zhou Ying agreed: "Our Haohao always has a pure and innocent temperament that doesn't care about life or death."

Zhao Jiahao: "Although I can't compare to you guys from Xi'an University and Nanjing University, I'm still a serious undergraduate after all. I can still tell when you're scolding me."

Zhou Ying apologized and changed her words: "I used the wrong words. What's that called? Indifferent to life and death? Extraordinary and otherworldly? We in Nanjing University are not without illiterate people like me. You have to believe that I am praising you."

"I... um?" Zhao Jiahao was getting impatient with pulling the rope. He pulled the bucket to the shore and was about to reach out to get it, but his clothes were suddenly grabbed from behind, stopping him from bending over.

Chu Buwen pulled Zhao Jiahao back and pointed at the fish that were jumping out of the water from time to time in the river.

Jiang Muyun patted Zhao Jiahao's shoulder and said, "Son, I remember there are vision requirements for joining the army. We've only been wandering for a little over a year. You're not nearsighted, are you?"

Zhao Jiahao was bewildered: "Probably not. I don't play with my phone that often. I only played with it every day when the sun was shining."

Jiang Muyun put his arm around his shoulders and pointed at the water surface. "Don't stare at the fish that jump out. Look at the ones that float to the surface and blow bubbles. Look carefully."

Zhao Jiahao really looked at it carefully.

Then he suspected that he was nearsighted.

Zhao Jiahao silently took two steps back. "What kind of fish is this? Isn't our river called the Amazon?"

Jiang Muyun stretched out a finger and placed it above a fish that was tilting its head back and blowing bubbles under the water. Then the people on the shore watched the fish suddenly jump out of the water.

Jiang Muyun retracted his hand and nimbly took half a step back.

The fish that was hooked out of the water by the fresh bait right in front of it took a bite and fell to the shore. It immediately flapped its tail and struggled, its body almost flipping half a meter high.

Seeing that it was about to jump back into the water, Chu Buwen was quick-witted and scooped the fish with an empty bucket while it was still in the air. With a dull thud, the fish hit the bottom of the bucket and finally calmed down a little.

Zhao Jiahao and Zhou Ying came over.

Jiang Muyun picked up a small branch from the side and poked open the mouth of the fish at the bottom of the bucket, exposing its dense and sharp teeth to the eyes of several people.

Before Zhao Jiahao and Zhou Ying could get closer to take a closer look, the fish suddenly became fierce, raised its head and bit the strange thing that was poking in its mouth.

Jiang Muyun pulled for a long time but couldn't move it. It was not until the fish at the bottom of the bucket collapsed due to lack of oxygen that she finally managed to rescue the branch from the fish's mouth.

The end of the branch had been bitten into pieces, and the green fibers under the brown bark were loosely scattered in strips. Zhao Jiahao also saw several pieces of bitten fibers embedded in the fish's mouth.

Zhao Jiahao looked at his fingers, then at the branch that had cut into the fish's mouth, and rubbed his arms silently.

"Brother, you are my real brother." Zhao Jiahao said sincerely: "If you have anything to say in the future, just tell me. As long as I, Haohao, can do it, I will definitely not refuse."

Chu Buwen hesitated to speak, and finally pulled him away from Jiang Muyun by putting his arm around his shoulder, and said earnestly, "Just live well."

Zhao Jiahao was deeply moved and wanted to pull Chu Buwen to worship heaven and earth on the spot.

Zhou Ying looked at the fish over and over for a long time. "It looks like a black carp, a local species, but the teeth don't look right."

A group of people who had rarely been to the market heard the unfamiliar pronunciation and asked sincerely: "What is Wuli?"

Zhou Ying explained, "Have you heard of rice fish? That's the black carp, the carp in the carp. We call them rice fish when they're raised in rice fields."

They all tasted similar anyway, so Jiang Muyun, who never asked about the variety after the apocalypse, just ate whatever he picked up.

"Rice fish." Jiang Muyun thought of the delicious rice fish he once ate. He glanced regretfully at the small, pointed teeth of the black carp at the bottom of the bucket. "It's a good thing we can't grow rice now. Otherwise, if we released this fish into the fields, it would probably help keep the locusts away."

Zhou Ying choked for a moment and thought to herself that your mentality is not bad.

Zhou Ying: "That's really lucky."

The lucky ones who couldn't grow rice no longer dared to reach out to the river. Of course, this mainly referred to Zhao Jiahao. Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen would never do such a suicidal thing.

They obediently used a rope to tie the bucket to draw water, and at the same time put the fish in a net bag and immersed it in the water.

After all the buckets brought in the car are full, the water is dragged back and replaced with the next batch of buckets to continue drawing water.

But the fish was not easy to handle, and they didn't have any paper or pen. If they just sent the fish and water up together, the two defenseless people on the mountain might be forced to cut their own flesh to feed the fish.

They felt it wasn't worth going up the mountain just for it, but it would be a bit of a loss to put it back, so they simply kept it in the car.

After two trips back and forth, the weather remained unchanged. Even the whitebait just kept circling the fish. It followed the bucket where the fish was placed, showing no sign of worrying about the weather.

A few people got the last stainless steel bucket, which was only half filled with water, and the water in the bucket was not filtered. They were going to use it to catch fish.

Jiang Muyun looked up at the sky while sorting out the net bag. He felt that the sky had not changed much, but the wind seemed to be a little stronger.

She rubbed Dabai and said, "Where's your old fear of water? Just give me a definite answer about whether it's going to rain or not. You can't just let it be dry and cloudy today and then hold it in for half a year before something bad happens, right?"

It had been snowing and raining before, but Dabai had long since lost his fear of water and rolled around in the snow more happily than anyone else, even sneaking out on rainy days to get some eggs from Jiang Muyun. Now his attention was drawn to the fish again, and Jiang Muyun couldn't tell from Dabai's reaction whether it would rain or not.

But looking at Dabai's indifferent attitude, even if it rains, it shouldn't be a catastrophic rainfall, right?

Jiang Muyun once again pushed away the whitebait that was trying to stretch out its claws to grab the fish.

"Son, look at your own size, and then look at your soft skin. I'm afraid you can't even bite the fish scales. Stop provoking me, be good. Go back and let your brother fillet it and feed it to you." Jiang Muyun was going to put the fish directly into the bucket to prevent Dabai from giving up.

Dabai has such soft skin that if he gets bitten, he'll probably cry for three days.

Dabai was not convinced. He meowed twice and then watched Jiang Muyun pick up the net bag containing the fish. In desperation, he grabbed it with his claws.

After a tiny squeak, blood and scattered scales fell onto the car deck. The fish, which had already lost its fighting spirit, began to struggle violently again under the stimulation of pain.

Jiang Muyun was silent for a moment, then picked up half a piece of fish scale and looked at it carefully.

The fish scales were cut neatly and clearly, obviously by a sharp object.

And the sharp weapon that cuts off the fish scales...

Jiang Muyun put the unfortunate fish down, pinched Dabai's claws, and gently pressed the black pads of the little coal ball.

Dabai was very sensible and showed his claws that he had kept hidden. Jiang Muyun tried to reach out and feel the hardness, but Dabai retracted his claws in time.

Jiang Muyun looked up at it. Dabai meowed sweetly and then moved its head over to rub against Jiang Muyun's hand.

After Zhao Jiahao brought the water back, he saw that Jiang Muyun hadn't said anything for a long time. Dabai was acting like a spoiled child again. He asked with concern, "What's wrong? The child is disobedient? Are you going to beat him? It's a big holiday, and beating children is not allowed."

Zhou Ying was bewildered: "Celebrate a festival? What festival?"

Zhao Jiahao counted the days and scratched his head: "Um... Arbor Day?"

Jiang Muyun frowned: "I have always believed in loving education. I never hit or scold children, unless the child's name is Zhao Jiahao."

Zhao Jiahao felt wronged.

Jiang Muyun patted Dabai's head to comfort it: "Got it, I won't touch it anymore. Can you stretch it out again so I can see it?"

Dabai meowed again, and his sharp claws with a metallic luster appeared again.

Jiang Muyun was holding Dabai, and when he looked up, he saw Chu Buwen also staring at Dabai.

"As your brother, you don't know either?" Jiang Muyun asked.

Chu Buwen was silent for a moment: "Our Dabai is very well behaved and never scratches around."

Even when Dabai was angry and scratched someone, he would always keep his claws retracted. So they only knew that Dabai's claws were sharp and he could plane wood with no problem, but they didn't know to what extent.

Looking at it today, what Zhao Jiahao said about Dabai being able to hunt and feed himself is true.

Jiang Muyun looked at the fish that had started to bleed, and simply knocked the fish unconscious with a few bangs. Then he poured the fish out of the net bag and put it on the ground, and then put Dabai in front of the fish.

Dabai excitedly showed his claws again, and with a few swipes he gutted the fish. The scarlet fish blood soaked into the mud. Dabai ate so much that he couldn't even lift his head.

If Dabai wasn't so small, the scene would have been quite ferocious.

Jiang Muyun fixed the net bag on the stand and stretched it out, comforting Dabai, who was not up to the task of being a good brother: "The child has grown up and has his own little secrets. As his brother, you can't always control him."

Chu Buwen helped her steady the stand and said helplessly, "I was just wondering where it usually goes to sharpen its claws."

Looking at Dabai's claws, I'm afraid I'll need to get a piece of steel plate to use as a scratching post for it in the future.

Jiang Muyun had someone to help him, so he was able to fix the net bag much faster.

They made the brackets to fix the net bags themselves, using a few long hollow iron pipes with a circle bent at the front. Then they tied the woven net bags on them to create a fishing net for catching fish.

The nets are made of fishing line, so they are definitely strong. They can be disassembled after catching the fish, and several pieces can be connected together to form a simple fishing net.

But they don't know how to cast a net yet, this is just an idea.

Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen are both experienced in catching fish, not to mention that now fish float to the surface from time to time, which makes the difficulty of catching fish drop sharply. Except for a few times when they failed to find their touch at the beginning, they basically caught one right after that.

Zhou Ying got the hang of it pretty quickly. She told me she had caught rice fish with her bare hands when she was a child. After getting used to this homemade fishing net, she was able to catch them steadily, accurately and ruthlessly.

Only Zhao Jiahao was strong and fast, but every time the fish would get stuck and slip away before his net bag arrived.

Before Zhao Jiahao could adapt, his three companions had already caught five or six fish.

Zhao Jiahao silently encouraged himself in his heart and was about to make another effort when he heard Jiang Muyun say, "Let's catch a little less today. Ten or so will be enough. If we catch more, we won't be able to lift it up."

These fish were very lively. Jiang Muyun was afraid that if they used the pulley to transport the fish, they would break the lid and jump out of the bucket halfway, and then all their work would be in vain.

Zhou Ying hadn't expected the fishing process to go so smoothly: "This damn weather is good at least."

If it weren't for the gloomy weather, the fish wouldn't run to the surface one after another, and they might even get bitten a few times when trying to catch them.

Before Zhou Ying finished speaking, she felt a slight pain on her cheek. The next second, she was thrown to the ground by the sudden strong wind without any preparation. Even the large barrels filled with water in the car were shaken a few times.

Zhou Ying subconsciously looked up and was hit head-on by the heavy rain.

"Hiss, it hurts, it hurts!" The raindrops as big as beans rushed down and hit people so hard that Zhou Ying felt like he was beaten for a moment.

The gust of wind came so suddenly that Jiang Muyun swayed several times before he could steady himself.

After finally standing firm, Jiang Muyun's first reaction was to find a place to hide. She held her head and looked around before she remembered that she had a hat on her head for posing.

Jiang Muyun instantly retracted the arm that was protecting the sun hat into his arms and rubbed it twice.

It’s no wonder Zhou Ying shouted so many times, it really hurt.

Then Jiang Muyun's hat was blown away by the wind.

The strong wind pulled the hat back, and the string of the sun hat was directly tied around Jiang Muyun's neck.

The force at that moment even made Jiang Muyun's ears silent for a moment. The suffocating feeling of having her throat strangled made her lose her strength for a moment, and she fell backwards because of her unstable center of balance.

Chu Buwen tried to reach out to help her, but in the end, the two of them fell into a heap after struggling for a few times.

"Put it on." The raindrops fell with such force that Chu Buwen could hardly open his eyes. He could only push Jiang Muyun's hat back on her head by feeling.

Jiang Muyun's face was covered with the hat. He reached out and touched Chu Buwen's arm, then took his hand and put the hat back where it belonged, tightening the straps.

Jiang Muyun didn't dare to let go this time. She held the brim of her hat with one hand to block the rain, and supported herself on the ground with the other hand to steady her center of gravity, and struggled to return to a squatting position.

"Where's Dabai?" Although there was a curtain of rain, it was still possible to find that a small ball of coal was missing.

"Over there." Chu Buwen was also squatting in a high-low position, with one hand covering his eyes to block the rain, and the other hand free to point at the cart.

Jiang Muyun tilted his head and saw that Dabai had already squatted under the cart, using the wheel hub to shelter from the wind and rain. It had not even forgotten the half-eaten fish in its mouth.

Compared to the miserable appearance of the other four, Dabai's fur was not even wet, and it was obvious that he had hidden before the rain came.

Jiang Muyun, who had just said that he wanted to give his child a loving education, was instantly furious: "This unfortunate child, he ran away so fast without even making a meow!"

Dabai's tongue turned around, rolled the blood on his beard into his mouth, and meowed in a delicate and coquettish voice, so soft that it was almost drowned out by the wind and rain.

Zhao Jiahao pulled Zhou Ying and bent over to the side of the car, facing away from the wind, finally getting a moment to breathe.

"How come the rain came so suddenly without any warning!" Zhao Jiahao shouted at the top of his voice.

Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen also bent over and slowly stood up and walked towards the car. When they turned their backs to the wind, they were almost pushed forward by the wind. The two of them almost hit Zhao Jiahao and Zhou Ying directly.

"The sky has been cloudy for so long, and there's no sign." Jiang Muyun moved her hand, which was pulling at the brim of her hat, to the back of her head. The strong wind blew the raindrops onto her exposed fingers. Jiang Muyun knew without even looking that her hands must be red.

There were some signs of trouble when the wind started, but with no tall trees around, the noises from the bushes and weeds in the distance were barely noticeable. By the time they realized something was wrong, the wind was already blowing in their faces.

"What do you say now?" Zhao Jiahao tried to pull the cart, but he lost his balance when he exerted force and was almost blown away by the wind.

Zhao Jiahao cursed as he steadied himself: "I, it seems like these 100-plus pounds of mine were all gained in vain... Ugh."

The wind carried not only rain but also some fine sand and gravel. Zhao Jiahao tilted his head and was filled with water.

Jiang Muyun patted Chu Buwen and signaled him to go to the front and pull the cart with Zhao Jiahao. He picked up Dabai and put him in the middle of several buckets of water. Then he and Zhou Ying pushed the cart at the same time from the back.

The wind generally blows from east to west, and the direction of the wind is exactly the river channel, so they have to go against the wind.

But it is not easy to push a small cart weighing hundreds of pounds in such strong wind and rain.

When Zhou Ying pushed forward, the car body was pulled. She slipped and fell to the ground without paying attention, and was directly carried by the wind and rolled a distance on the ground.

Jiang Muyun let go of the cart in time and fell to the ground, grabbing the hem of Zhou Ying's T-shirt. Zhou Ying felt that she almost turned into a kite at that moment, and the string in Jiang Muyun's hand was the only thing that could prevent her from being blown away.

Zhou Ying gritted his teeth and dug his ten fingers into the soft mud in front of him. With this little resistance, he struggled to complete the movement from lying down to squatting, and then slowly stood up.

Jiang Muyun bent his waist, holding Zhou Ying's left hand and holding the sun hat with his right hand to keep out the rain.

Chu Buwen and Zhao Jiahao in front had already noticed that something was wrong with them, and were now stopping the car and trying to turn around to look for them.

When Jiang Muyun saw them turning around, he raised his right hand and tried to hold down the sun hat with the inside of his upper arm. At the same time, he waved at them, signaling them not to come over.

Jiang Muyun and Zhou Ying quickly returned to the car. With a place to lean on, they could finally catch their breath.

"Let's find a place that can block the wind first." Jiang Muyun lowered his head to avoid the debris and rain blown by the wind, and tried to raise his voice as much as possible.

But even though she tried her best to avoid it, she couldn't help but choke on some strange things when she spoke.

"Hold on to the car, don't let go. The wind seems to be getting stronger." Chu Buwen's voice came faintly from the wind, just saving Jiang Muyun the effort.

Their car had four 80L stainless steel barrels filled with water and a half-full barrel of fish.

The combined weight of the bucket, water, and cart was heavier than the four of them put together, and the balance of the four-wheeled cart was much more reliable than that of the humans who walked on two legs.

In order to maintain their balance and find shelter in the strong wind, they must not abandon this broken cart. No matter how difficult it is to drag it forward, it is better than being blown away halfway.

Dabai didn't seem to understand why they were having such a hard time walking in the rain, so it squeezed its head out through the gap between the two stainless steel barrels.

As soon as the two pointed little ears poked out of the protection of the stainless steel barrel, they were blown against the wall of the barrel by the wind.

The pink-core, black-haired ear shrank back in an instant.

Jiang Muyun kept his head down and watched the whole process of the cat's ears sticking out and retracting. He was almost laughed out of anger by Dabai.

Dabai is indeed very sharp, not just ordinary sharp.

How could it not sense the wind and rain? Not only did it sense that the wind and rain were coming, it also intuitively judged that the wind and rain posed no threat to itself, so its mind and eyes were full of its fish!