Chapter 164 Winter Fishing, Goblins, Guests Arrive...
A rare sunny day in winter. The outdoor temperature has been consistently below -10 degrees Celsius, but today's sunshine gives it a spring-like feel.
Ray told Neil to open the windows to air out the room, and the two of them spent the morning doing a thorough cleaning of the small house. After the fireplace was cleaned of ashes and the wood was put back on, the living room finally regained its warmth.
A fireplace provides warmth, but it also makes the air very dry, which can easily cause nasal discomfort and nosebleeds if you stay there for too long. Rye put a basin of water by the fireplace every day, and the situation improved considerably.
Tata, on the other hand, had a convenient advantage: she could drink warm water anytime.
At noon, the two brothers ate hot noodle soup with potatoes and vegetables, along with a small dish of pickles. After a one-hour nap, they packed up, grabbed their fishing gear, and went fishing at the stream near the village.
Leaving the village, we trudged through the deep snow, crossing the forest where only broken logs and tree roots remained, and continued upstream along the frozen river. After walking for a while, we finally arrived at the place where the villagers often came to fish.
This is a huge puddle formed by the river splitting apart.
Although the river surface looks frozen solid now, there is actually water flowing underneath, so it is not as solid as it appears on the surface.
The situation is different here with the water pit. Groundwater is its main water source, and its flow is not very strong. Especially in the depths of winter, as long as you don't get too close to the center of the water pit, there shouldn't be any problems.
Ray and Neil pulled their homemade ice sled across the ice for a distance and found several ice holes that had already been dug.
“Brother, look! There are several ice holes here, they’ve already frozen over.”
Neil was somewhat disappointed.
"Let's look again; there should be some that aren't frozen too deep."
"good."
Neil searched the ice for a while and found a suitable spot. Rye then used the iron pick he had brought to chisel through the ice along the original marks of the hole, slowly widening it to create an opening large enough for the two of them to fish together.
"Get away from here, I'll take care of this."
The river water overflowed at the entrance of the cave, making it slippery; one could easily slip and fall in if you're not careful.
Lai used an iron tool to smash many small pits into the ice around the cave entrance to increase friction before laying down an old blanket, placing two wooden stools, and starting to fish with Neil on either side of him.
In winter, oxygen is scarce at the bottom of the water, and food is also lacking. They use the entrails of the red rockbird to create bait, which easily attracts fish.
The two fished quietly without saying a word, patiently waiting for a fish to bite; this would be their dinner that night.
After waiting for almost half an hour, the fishing line, which had been quiet all along, finally moved. Neil blushed with excitement, though it could also be from being frozen red.
"Brother, I caught a fish!"
Neil stood up, braced himself on his arms, and pulled the fishing rod back. It took him quite a bit of effort to finally pull the fish out of the water.
This fish was only slightly larger than a palm, but it was surprisingly strong. When it was first pulled up, it was lively and jumping around, steaming with white vapor.
"Brother, look!"
Ray helped Neil remove the fishhook and put it into the bucket filled with river water.
"Not bad, we should be able to catch a few more today."
No sooner had Ray finished speaking than the fishing line began to twitch again, and a fish took the bait. After a flurry of activity, another palm-sized fish was pulled up.
This fishing frenzy lasted for an hour, and the two brothers caught a dozen or so fish in total.
It was an hour later when Neil caught another fish, and he was lucky enough to catch two more.
The weather was great today, and there was no wind, but sitting on the ice for hours without much movement was still quite cold. Lai decided to call it a day, pack up, and go home.
There were more than a dozen fish in the bucket. Apart from a few that were recently caught and were swimming around, the rest were mostly still, most likely because the outside temperature was too cold.
The riverbed temperature is not as cold as one might imagine, as the ice layer provides some insulation. Once the fish are caught, they will quickly freeze to death due to temperature differences and other factors, unless some measures are taken.
The blanket on the ground was frozen to the ice because it was wet. Neil poured the leftover hot water from his water bottle onto it and managed to tear it apart. Otherwise, it would have taken much longer to break it apart with tools.
This trip back was very rewarding.
The snow fell to the ground and was trampled down by passing villagers, forming a thick layer of snow crust.
The ground is slippery, so be careful not to slip while walking, but the ice sled is just right and saves a lot of effort.
There weren't many people coming from this side of the river, and the snow on the road wasn't very solid yet. If you dragged a sled on it, it would just sink in, so you had to carry it.
Lai and Neil carried the things out of the riverside path and onto the main road before putting them down and pulling them with a sled.
The surrounding area was a vast expanse of white, with withered yellow grass stalks and green plants frozen solid before they could even turn yellow, stuck in the snow. The trees were bare, and in this situation, nothing could hide.
The wild birds chirped and chattered, leaving a ring of droppings under the trees where they landed.
"Brother, I'll hunt some birds for you to eat tomorrow!"
"Haha, okay."
"I wonder where they hide in winter, how they can still survive in such cold weather."
Neil muttered to himself, sniffed, and buried his face in his scarf.
The only sounds on the road were the crunching of the snow underfoot and the rustling of the wire cutting through the snow crust.
Click—
The sound of a branch snapping came from afar.
Ray and Neil turned around at the same time and saw a small figure breaking off overly long branches from the ground; he must have been a goblin.
He busied himself for a while, tying the branches together with rope, then hoisted them onto his back and left the woods. Lai realized with a start that he hadn't seen the Iru family in a long time, and wondered how they had been doing for the past two months.
"Brother, is that a goblin?"
"It seems so. He deliberately took a detour around the main road, probably because he didn't want to be seen by the passing villagers. Let's go back."
"good!"
In winter, it gets dark early, and by the time I got home, it was already getting dark.
Ray picked out a few fish and had Neil deliver them to Hagrid's house. He cleaned the rest all at once and froze them outside, keeping only two for dinner tonight.
It's a rare treat to eat fish in winter. Lai braised two fish and cooked a pot of steamed buns; the two of them ate their fill.
After washing and cleaning up the dishes, another day quickly passed.
……………………
Winter is more than halfway over, and the goblins' lives have changed a lot compared to the comfortable early winter.
Some goblins, having eaten too much at the beginning, now have very little food left and are only cooking one meal a day. A few sweet potatoes and a large pot of water are enough to last them a whole day, barely enough to fill their stomachs with water.
Even so, life is still much better than last year.
Aside from going out to collect firewood, there was basically nothing else to do. He would stay at home all day, eat, sleep, and when he woke up, he would go to visit other goblins' houses, hoping to get a free meal. Time passed slowly like this.
Yilu's family has many members, so naturally there are many mouths to feed.
Although they had stockpiled enough food this year, they lived frugally, eating only two meals a day. In the morning, they would just cook a simple soup with various dried vegetables and make do, only making something drier for dinner.
The food wasn't the best, but we made sure every family member was well-fed every day.
Iru wasn't the type to just sit around and do nothing. Besides chopping wood, he would also take Kai and his three older children hunting.
If you're lucky, you might even catch a red rockbird out foraging for food. One bird can feed you for two or three meals, and that will be the happiest day for the children.
Unfortunately, during this period of winter, Iru only encountered red field birds three times. He was somewhat outmatched by larger prey, such as wild goats and long-toothed beasts.
The Yilu family eagerly awaited the arrival of spring. Almost every day, right after breakfast, Yilu would take out the animal skin bag containing various seeds, sit by the stove in the morning sun, and patiently check the condition of the seeds. He couldn't bear to throw away even the shriveled seeds.
The children would gather around Iru, listening to him explain where the various seeds would be planted and what kind of food they would produce.
It's late at night again.
The Yilu family finished dinner early. The house was warm, and there was a pot of clean hot water in the iron pot.
In the darkness, without any means of lighting, the family would wash up and crawl into their animal-skin blankets to sleep, preparing to start their day's work at dawn.
On the very edge of the goblin colony, Jeru finally finished gathering the dry branches he had cut that day before nightfall. Because he feared the other goblins would steal the food he had grown, he hadn't prepared enough firewood for the winter in the fall.
The room was dark, but when the firewood under the earthenware pot started to burn, the wooden house finally felt a little warm.
He sat by the fire, warming himself, and thought about what to have for dinner.
Not long ago, while chopping wood, he accidentally encountered a long-toothed beast that had been half-eaten. He brought it back, cut it into pieces, and hid it under the eaves.
The weather was cold, and overnight the meat froze into solid blocks of ice. There was no worry about it spoiling, and I hadn't been able to bring myself to eat it. Maybe today I can take out a piece and make a pot of soup...
Jeru thought for a moment, then went outside to retrieve the frozen meat.
First, he took a large piece, then thought it over and picked through the few pieces of meat he had, finally taking the smallest one and going back inside.
He first scooped some warm water from the earthenware pot to wash the meat, then cut it into large, sturdy chunks. He added clean water back to the pot, along with the meat chunks, a few peeled and diced potatoes, and finally, with great care, took out a small jar of salt from his pocket and added a tiny bit of it.
The cold water in the earthenware pot was finally heated up again by the firewood. Half an hour later, the meat in the pot was stewed until tender, and the potatoes were cooked until soft and almost dissolved in the soup.
Jeru finally filled a large bowl with meat soup and began his dinner.
After dinner, there was still a little more than half left in the pot. He planned to save it for breakfast the next day, since the weather wouldn't get bad anyway.
After removing his animal skin clothes and cleaning himself, Jeru finally lay down on the simple wooden bed by the stove.
He is content with his current life. Although he cannot get along with humans as well as Iru, nor can he earn copper coins, he is at least far away from the life of fighting and wandering when he followed Heru.
He dislikes other goblins, but that doesn't mean he wants to kill them.
There was no wind outside, it was quiet, with the occasional sound of snow falling from above. Tomorrow would be a good day.
Jeru quickly fell asleep.
Knock knock—knock knock—
A muffled knocking sound came from outside a wooden house in the goblin settlement.
Solu kicked his younger brother, who was sleeping soundly with his eyes closed.
"Open the door."
"It's me again."
The goblin muttered under his breath as he walked barefoot through the dusty hall, adding a few pieces of wood to the nearly extinguished stove.
Knock knock—
"They're here! They're here!"
The wooden door was violently opened by the goblin, and a steaming heat mixed with a sour smell billowed out, forming a cloud of white mist in front of the door.
Who is it?!
The goblin shivered from the cold air outside the door; all he wanted was to get back inside as quickly as possible.
The firelight in the small hall brought a faint glimmer of light, and the goblin tried to make out who it was by this light. He was certain that he did not recognize this hooded, well-dressed goblin.
"What, don't you recognize me?"
The newcomer chuckled, lowered his hood, and revealed a rather fierce-looking face.
"Boss Soru! Soru!"
The goblin's expression changed, and he fled back into the house to wake up the still-sleeping Soru and another companion.
......
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Author's Note: (Sliding on knees) Yoyoyo, this is the author who's come back from the dead!
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