Chapter 256 Fishing in the Mountains
Late at night, Sui Yu woke up thirsty. She supported herself on a bamboo mat and sat up. The fire not far away had gone out. As the night wind blew, scarlet charcoal appeared on the fire.
The camel was kneeling on the ground to rest, and the slave on guard was dozing off with his head propped up. When he heard footsteps, the camel raised its neck, and the dozing slave also woke up alertly. Recognizing the people in the moonlight, Gan breathed a sigh of relief. He kicked the firewood at his feet, stood up, and carried a bundle of dry firewood to place on the fire.
"Is there any cold boiled water?" Sui Yu asked.
"Yes, in the earthenware cauldron."
Sui Yu went over and scooped a bowl of water and drank it in small sips. At this time, Gan Da blew the fire, the flames shot up, and the crackling sound of burning dry wood filled the air.
The camel also stood up and went to the river to drink water. Gan Da followed him, and Sui Yu walked to a place not far from the fire and sat down.
"Master, we will keep watch, you go to sleep." Gan Er said in a low voice.
Sui Yu waved his hand and said, "If you can't sleep right now, I'll hold you up for a while. You can sleep for a while, and I'll wake you up when I go to sleep."
Gan Er knew that she was not the kind of person who said one thing and did another, so after hearing what she said, he went over and went to sleep.
Sui Yu looked at the night sky. She got up and went to her sleeping place to get the wooden box. She looked through the words and paintings on the wood in the light of the fire.
Gan Da came over with the camel and saw her smiling face from a distance. He didn't go over to disturb her and continued to doze off leaning against the camel.
The firewood on the fire gradually burned out, the flames shrank, and the flames jumped a few times before disappearing into the charcoal ash. Without the light, Sui Yu's eyes moved away from the wood chips. She looked up at the night sky. The moon and stars disappeared into the clouds. Dawn was approaching.
She closed the wooden box, lay back on her bed, closed her eyes and slept for a while.
At dawn, the sleeping forest wakes up, and the chirping of birds mixed with the flapping of wings is very lively. In the depths of the forest, there is also the sound of pheasants crowing.
Outside the forest, after everyone finished breakfast, Zhang Shun brought a bucket of water to extinguish the sparks.
Everything was packed up and the caravan set off. At sunrise, the caravan walked into the endless mountains.
"Sister Yu, do you still want to go to the grassland?" Song Xian asked.
Sui Yu was stunned for a moment, then she remembered that she had forgotten something. "I said before that I would go to pay homage to the Grand Marshal when I left Chang'an. I was so busy selling honey when I came back that I forgot about it."
Song Xian didn't feel much and said, "If you forget, then forget. It's not like you won't come again. I'll pay my respects to you next time I come to Chang'an."
"That's true. The grave is there, there's no way to escape." Sui Yu nodded. "As for my father's grave, let's wait a little longer. I'll come to Chang'an next year and bring Liang Ge'er with me. Then we can go and look for it together."
"Today should be July 21st. After half a month of traveling through the mountains, it shouldn't be October before we get back to Dunhuang." Song Xian was somewhat pleased. "This year's journey has been really smooth. We can go back early and avoid having to rush through the heavy snow."
"It wasn't smooth, was it? We even encountered bandits in Daqing Mountain." Xiao Chunhong said.
Song Xian smiled and waved her hand. She pointed at Sui Yu and said, "If your master hadn't encountered the bandits, how could he have met such a noble man? Not only did he make money, but most importantly, he also hired a teacher."
"So, the bandit is also my benefactor?" Sui Yu smiled.
Song Xian agreed, "That's right."
"Then I'll thank them and burn a few more incense sticks for them tomorrow." Sui Yu joked.
A pile of camel dung appeared by the roadside. Qingshan jumped off the camel, walked over to it, and twisted it. He said, "It's still moist. A caravan passed by a day ago. It seems they are going the same way as us."
"Then we should walk faster, it would be better if we can catch up with them. It would be safer if two caravans travel together." Song Xian said.
The caravan quickened its pace and finally heard the sound of camel bells coming from the forest when it circled the mountain in the evening.
The sun set and fog rose sharply in the mountains. Sui Yu blew the whistle three times in a row to remind the camel caravan behind to slow down.
"We'll spend the night at the foot of the mountain. There's no need to chase the caravan ahead," Sui Yu said. "Those who unload the cargo, those who cook, cook. Qingshan, take three or five people and walk around the area to drive away the snakes, ants, and hidden wild animals."
After saying that, she jumped off the camel and went to the lake nearby to wash her face.
The lake in the mountains was shallow. Standing by the lake, one could clearly see the rocks at the bottom of the lake, and the wild fish swimming in the water were also clearly visible. Sui Yu rummaged through his pockets and casually threw the uneaten fried rice into the lake. The surface of the lake suddenly churned, and the wild fish at the bottom of the lake rushed out of the water to grab the food.
The herd of camels came over. Before the camels went into the water, Xiaoxi and Sancao came over with buckets and scooped two buckets of water. Before the two left, the camels had already stepped into the water, lowered their necks and drank the water.
The fish in the lake suddenly disappeared.
Sui Yu squatted by the lake, scooping water. She glanced at Song Xian and asked, "Do you want to make a hook to fish? Go break two needles and string some hemp rope on them. When the camels leave, we'll fish for a while and make fish and meat soup noodles tomorrow morning."
"Okay." Song Xian stood up on her knees.
The camels drank enough water and went to eat grass. The lake soon calmed down. Sui Yu dug a few earthworms from the humus soil at the foot of the mountain and strung the earthworms on an iron hook. She and Song Xian sat by the lake and fished.
It was dark, the fire was lit, the rice porridge was cooking and smelled delicious, Qingshan also came back with his men, they were carrying live pheasants and rabbits in their hands.
"Boil water and scald the feathers, and stew a pot tonight." Qingshan threw the pheasant at Liuyaer's feet.
The fish hook in Sui Yu's hand moved. She lifted the stick in her hand, and the hemp rope left the water. The fish under the water floated to the surface. The man and the fish pulled against each other like a tug-of-war, and the water on the lake surface made crackling sounds.
"You can't even pull up a fish?" Song Xian found it funny. She put down the stick and walked over to help Sui Yu pull.
As the wild fish emerged from the water, Sui Yu excitedly shouted, "Bring me a bucket."
"Oh! My hook!" Song Xian saw the stick fall into the water out of the corner of her eye, and she hurried to grab it. Aniu, who came to deliver the bucket, saw it, and he stepped into the water with one foot, and half of his body was submerged in water before he pulled back the stick with the hook tied to it.
"There's a fish." A Niu handed the stick to Song Xian. He stepped out of the water and said, "Before it got dark, I thought this lake seemed quite shallow. How come after I got in and took a few steps, the water was up to my waist?"
"Perhaps the water is too clear, which is why it confuses people." Sui Yu carried a bucket half full of water. She took out a crucian carp that was more than a palm's length and threw it into the bucket. She said, "Go change your clothes. The fish soup will be ready tomorrow morning. Have a couple of bowls."
"What kind of fish is this?" Song Xian held the fish and walked over to Sui Yu and asked, "Look, can you see it clearly?"
“It’s also crucian carp.”
"We don't have this kind of fish in Dunhuang," said Song Xian.
"The fish in Dunhuang are cold-water fish. This kind of fish..." Sui Yu thought for a moment and said, "If we bring crucian carp to Dunhuang, they probably won't survive the winter."
Song Xian said "Oh", she didn't care much. She put a worm on the fish hook, threw the hook into the water, and sat by the lake to continue waiting.
After resting, Mr. Chen asked his servant to make him a fishhook, and then he walked to the lake and sat down to fish.
The rice in the pot was cooked, the thick porridge was poured into the basin, the pot was cleaned and the meat was stewed. With the meat in the pot, only one person was needed to keep the stove burning. The others were free, some broke their sewing needles and went fishing. Those who were not interested in fishing went to the other side of the lake to wash their hair and clothes.
By the time the chicken and rabbit meat were stewed, the bucket containing the fish was full. The wild fish in the lake were not very vigilant and would take the bait as soon as there was food.
Sui Yu and Song Xian each filled a bowl of thick porridge and a bowl of chicken. They sat by the lake, eating while watching the hook. Once a fish was caught, they would not care about eating and would quickly put down their bowls and pull the stick.
Servants follow their masters, and others follow suit.
A group of people fished until late at night and only went to bed after yawning continuously.
Sui Yu woke up in the morning and looked at the fish in the tub. He said, "We probably caught half of the fish in the lake."
Song Xian looked up at the sky and said, "Why don't we fish for another half an hour? Wait until the fog clears before continuing on our journey?"
Sui Yu shook his head, "Don't grab it all, leave some for those who come later."
"Yeah, okay, let's leave after dinner." Song Xian stretched and asked, "What are we going to do with these fish? Should we take them with us on the road?"
"It's the only way."
The bathtub was quite heavy with water and fish, so Sui Yu asked the servants to clean it up and free up a camel to carry the bathtub.
The water in the bathtub was changed every day. The fish lived for five days, and Sui Yu and his group drank fish soup for five days in a row.
As soon as the fishy water in the bathtub was poured out, a black-haired wild boar rushed towards them. The wild boar had two fangs sticking out from its muzzle and was breathing heavily. It rushed straight towards them from the mountain road in front, almost scaring the camel silly.
Three or five arrows flew out one after another, and a series of pig squeals spread into the mountains and forests, startling the birds and making them fly away.
Zhang Shun and Qingshan jumped off the camel. Holding machetes, they approached the twitching wild boar lying on the ground. Qingshan knocked on the pig's tusks with his knife, making a loud bang.
"Don't throw away the wild boar tusk. Take it off and I will bring it back to Xiaozai and Liang Ge'er." Sui Yu shouted.
The uncle and nephew, whom Sui Yu had been thinking about, were watching the excitement at the west city gate. The 7,000 garrison troops in the city were about to set out to Cheshi to fight the Huns, and half of the people in the city came to see them off.
The soldiers were wearing armor, holding big swords and riding big horses. They were really heroic. The boy's eyes were shining and he watched carefully and excitedly.
"With the army arriving, I'm sure the situation outside the Great Wall will stabilize soon." Several merchants stood together at the foot of the city wall. A tall merchant said, "I plan to lead my caravan out of the city tomorrow. With the army leading the way, the journey will surely be peaceful."
"Why don't we go together?" said another dark-faced merchant.
"That's perfect."
"Then shall we prepare food and fodder now?" The tall merchant saw Sui Liang, pushed through the crowd, and said, "Second Shopkeeper, please contact the little boy's aunt and ask her to send us 500 kilograms of food and fodder today."
Sui Liang agreed, and after the army left the city, he took his child to find Zhao Xiaomi.
At this time, a group of merchants had just entered Dunhuang City. Seeing that there were few people at the city gate, they asked the city guard what had happened in the city.
"Today, an army is going out of the pass to fight the Huns, and all the people have run to the west gate. Brother, there is a war outside the pass, do we have to wait until next year to go out?" asked Yan Erdang.
"Let's go to Changgui Guest House first and deliver the things that Manager Yu entrusted to us. And by the way, let's ask Captain Zhao for some information."
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