Chapter 7: Back in the mountain pool, there were so many big fish!
In addition to receiving certain rewards, achieving specific accomplishments can also unlock some items in the store.
After opening the store, Lu Xuan indeed found that several grayed-out items had been unlocked for purchase.
Unfortunately, it doesn't include storage space.
He clicked his tongue in disappointment, glanced at the other newly unlocked items, and after confirming that there was nothing he was particularly interested in or wanted to continue with, he closed the page listlessly and lay down.
Yunlu Village is not a safe haven in the apocalypse; it lacks towering city walls that provide a sense of security. However, it also lacks the ever-present threat of zombie hordes that could attack at any moment.
Through the half-open window, you can clearly hear the chirping of insects outside. There is no smell of decay in the air, only a faint fragrance of soil and plants.
Lu Xuan, who had been constantly on edge in the apocalypse and dared not relax, lay on the bed, savoring the hard-won peace. He slowly relaxed his body in the night, feeling drowsiness creep in, and let himself drift into a deep sleep.
-
The next morning.
Having learned from yesterday's experience, Lu Qing made a large pot of rice porridge, as well as white steamed buns made of thin flour. She also served the spicy and crisp pickled radishes that the Zhang family had sent yesterday, and two fried eggs for each person. Although the dishes were not as plentiful as yesterday, the family was still very satisfied with their meal.
However, the viewers who entered the live stream after being notified that it was starting were not very satisfied with what they saw.
[We want to see a big meal! Fine, we can't eat it, but can't we even watch a little more?!]
Lu Xuan ignored them all.
Who in a respectable family eats big fish and meat first thing in the morning?
Plain congee and side dishes, steamed buns and eggs are the most suitable breakfast options for the Chinese palate.
After finishing breakfast, Lu Xuan went to the kitchen and emptied the basket that still contained wild eggs.
Seeing this, Lu Qing asked, "Are we going up the mountain again today? Aren't we going to rest?"
Lu Chen, who was still munching on a steamed bun, had his eyes light up again.
Lu Xuan hummed in agreement. "I'm planning to buy new bedding and cotton. I spent too much money on rice and flour yesterday and couldn't buy any. I should be able to buy them if I go back today."
The Lu family didn't own much land. After Lu's parents passed away, apart from the portion left to Lu Qing as her dowry, the rest was rented out to other people, and the rent was just enough to make a living.
Lu Xuan, who didn't need to work from dawn till dusk farming, had a lot of free time. Although he could help his brother-in-law Lei Yan with his work, it was obviously more worthwhile to help improve his family's living conditions.
Before leaving, Lu Chen tugged at Lu Xuan's sleeve and asked expectantly, "Brother, can I go with you? I want to go hunting and kill wild boars too."
Lu Xuan chuckled and said, "You little brat, if you really run into wild boars, will you kill them or will they kill you? Don't be silly, just wait for me to bring back some good food."
Lu Chen frowned, somewhat displeased that he was being looked down upon, but when he looked down at his short legs, he fell silent.
Seeing the little guy looking a bit disappointed, Lu Xuan reached out and poked his forehead, reminding him, "You should still have a lot of candy left from yesterday, right? Aren't you going to share some with your friends?"
In the original owner's memory, whenever other children in the village ate candy or snacks, Lu Chen could only yearn for it and suppress his envy.
This is a rare opportunity for him to make others envious, so why not go and show it off?
Sure enough, Lu Chen perked up immediately after hearing this and never mentioned going up the mountain again.
Going up the mountain is nothing compared to showing off in front of my friends!
After calming Lu Chen down, Lu Xuan finally left the house.
He encountered several groups of villagers along the way, all of whom greeted him warmly.
"Is Xuan going up the mountain again today?"
"You look so energetic, I almost didn't recognize you."
"You bought these clothes yesterday, right? They're so pretty!"
Lu Xuan returned to the village yesterday at the right time and did not run into any other villagers, so the villagers did not know immediately that he had bought a lot of things after selling wild boar meat.
However, the fact that they later sent things to the Zhang family and the village chief could not be kept secret from the neighbors, so many people have received the news today.
Normally, if people knew that Lu Xuan was willing to spend money on ready-made clothes that were not worth the money at all, they would definitely make sarcastic remarks, but today was different.
The Lu family wasn't the only ones who had a good meal last night.
It was rare to find cheap wild boar meat to trade for. Some people planned to make the pork into cured meat to fatten up for the autumn harvest, while others made some to improve their family's meals. At dinner time, the whole village could smell the lingering aroma of meat.
In the past, some children in the village would occasionally call Lu Xuan a fool without any malice, but today, probably having been warned by their families in advance, they would obediently call him "Brother Lu Xuan" when they saw him, and lick their lips with relish as they did so.
"Brother Lu Xuan, will you be able to hunt a wild boar again today?" a child asked him expectantly.
Lu Xuan waved his hand and said, "Even if I hunt it, I won't trade it."
Those who wanted to exchange meat had already done so yesterday. Even if he exchanges it again, most people probably won't come. It's better to just sell it directly.
After saying goodbye to the villagers, Lu Xuan followed the familiar route from yesterday and headed into the mountains, glancing at the live stream room along the way.
From the time he started broadcasting while eating breakfast until now, the number of viewers in the live stream has reached more than 5,000, several times more than when he first started broadcasting yesterday. Many people in the chat are asking him if he is going to continue hunting today.
Lu Xuan: "We'll definitely go hunting, but today I'm going to try a different route and see if we can find anything else."
Besides buying new bedding, what the Lu family needed most was actually to build a new house.
The Lu family's house was a mud-brick house built when Lu's father and mother got married. Over the past twenty years, despite several repairs, it has become dilapidated, leaking rain in the summer and drafts in the winter, with cracks in the walls in many places. It is definitely a dangerous building.
To improve his living environment, demolition and reconstruction were imperative. He planned to rebuild a spacious and beautiful brick house, following the layout of a traditional courtyard house.
The price of blue bricks is definitely not low. Building a new house will cost at least a hundred or eighty taels of silver. After renovating the house, you will need to buy new furniture. For travel convenience, it would be best to buy an ox or even a horse-drawn carriage.
Owning a house and a car is the life of a true winner in life.
But all of this requires money.
It would take a long time to save enough money to buy a house and a car by hunting. It would be best to find another way to make money.
Yesterday, Lu Xuan focused on his prey, but today he changed his mind and started paying attention to plants.
As before, they first occupied a suitable tree and jumped up to use it as a high vantage point to search for targets. Before long, they successfully found several common medicinal herbs.
Dandelion, plantain, large thistle, small thistle—these are all plants that even modern people who don't know anything about traditional Chinese medicine can recognize.
However, I didn't recognize many of the people in the live stream.
[What is the streamer doing? What are these things? Are they edible? Wild vegetables?]
I've watched other streamers from the early days of the industry; it seems to be about traditional Chinese medicine?
Lu Xuan said, "It's fine to eat them as wild vegetables, but they are indeed Chinese medicinal herbs. They have anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, hemostatic, and blood-cooling effects. They are quite effective and can be sold to pharmacies."
It's just that they're so common that they don't fetch a high price.
A moment later, he found a few more Ophiopogon japonicus plants in another area. Ophiopogon japonicus is a relatively precious medicinal herb, but its preciousness is limited, and the quantity is too small to be considered anything more than a little.
Lu Xuan: I feel like hunting is a faster way to make money.
He clicked his tongue inwardly, but still carefully collected all the medicinal herbs into the basket without missing a single one.
Just as he was wondering whether he should focus on hunting, he paused, his ears twitched slightly, and he suddenly turned and walked in another direction.
What did the streamer discover?
Is it prey?! Is it a wild boar?! Will we get to watch the streamer show off his skills again today?!
[I was recommended this by a friend. I missed the live stream of the streamer kicking the wild boar yesterday, but will I be able to see it today? I'm really looking forward to it!]
While the audience was engaged in a lively discussion, Lu Xuan arrived at his destination.
There were no wild boars or other prey that the audience had been expecting; instead, there was a stream about two meters wide flowing down from the mountain. The babbling of the water was masked by the rustling of the leaves and could only be heard when you got close.
The stream was no more than a meter deep, and you could vaguely see quite a few fish swimming around inside; they looked rather large.
Lu Xuan's lips finally curled into a smile.
Yunlu Village also has a stream, but the water is much shallower than here, and there are basically no big fish. The village boys used to go there to catch fish and shrimp whenever they had free time. Nowadays, catching a fish the length of a finger is considered a big catch.
But here, Lu Xuan casually glanced around and spotted several large fish, each the size of two palms.
The viewers in the live stream also noticed the fish shadow and became excited as well.
Shall we catch fish today?
[The fish tastes just as good as meat, I want some! Ahhhh! I especially love eating fish! Streamer, hurry and catch some! I've already seen several big fish!]
[Braised, steamed, or even made into a milky white fish soup...slurp...tears involuntarily streamed down my face.]
Lu Xuan said in a good mood, "We can also make fish porridge, boiled fish, and pickled fish."
The viewers in the live stream couldn't take it anymore and shouted in unison: [Stop talking! Arrest them now!]
In contrast to the impatient audience, Lu Xuan remained calm. "No rush. We will definitely catch them, but not here."
The audience wondered, if they can't catch it here, where can they catch it?
Lu Xuan did not answer, but simply followed the direction upstream.
Half an hour later, the sound of flowing water gradually grew louder, and a small 'waterfall' about a meter high appeared in front of Lu Xuan. The waterfall water flowed down and formed a pool of water about two or three hundred square meters in size below. One corner of the pool merged with the stream that Lu Xuan had just discovered.
Lu Xuan walked to the edge of the pool and looked down.
This stream is much deeper than the one we just passed, at least five meters deep. The fish here are easily half an arm's length long and weigh ten pounds.
This is the big fish he wanted!
This time, without needing the audience to urge him, Lu Xuan casually put the basket aside, stretched his arms and legs a little, and then jumped into the pool.
With a splash, Lu Xuan's figure vanished from the live stream.
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