Chapter 124: Muskrat Appears and Digs River Sand
Sang Yu felt that since she taught her grandmother how to knit, it was like the door to a new world had opened for her.
From the small baskets at the beginning to the bamboo baskets now, his skills have become more and more advanced. Except for not being able to split bamboo, he is almost becoming a professional bamboo craftsman.
It’s a pity for Sang Xingjia. After his leg injury, he couldn’t go out. He could have stayed at home and felt sorry for himself.
Ever since Mrs. Shi became obsessed with knitting, he no longer even had time to sigh.
Every day after waking up, I would be busy splitting bamboo strips and removing bamboo thorns for my grandmother. The hands that used to hold the brush were now covered with calluses.
It was a rare opportunity to go out, so he was very excited and kept chattering all the way.
"Little sister, tell me more about how you caught fish with your bare hands last time. Do you have any tips or tricks?"
Sang Yu sighed: "Brother, this is the third time you've asked me. We're just ahead. Can't I show you how to do it myself later?"
Sang Yongjing, who was leading the way, lifted a branch across his chest and was about to step out when he suddenly stopped, turned around and made a gesture to silence the two people who were arguing.
Before Sang Xingjia could react, Sang Yu's eyes lit up. He remembered the muskrat he had seen by the stream before. Could it be that he saw it?
She avoided the surrounding grass and branches and approached Sang Yongjing silently. She looked out from under his arm and saw, as expected, a muskrat that looked like a mouse foraging for insects by the stream.
Sang Xingjia followed her lead and came closer, putting their heads together and looking at the muskrat curiously.
It was a small animal that looked like a mouse, more than six inches long, or about twenty centimeters long.
The snout is long and pointed, the tail is slightly shorter than the body length, the tail is covered with scales and has sparse long hair, and the back hair is gray-brown.
At this time, it was digging in the wet soil by the stream, and from time to time it would put its pointed mouth into the hole, pick out a piece of fresh plant root, chew and swallow it.
He asked in a puzzled voice, "Little sister, is this a vole? It's so small that it won't be enough to eat even if you catch it."
Sang Yu glared at him. All he could think about day after day was eating. He had read so many books that he almost swallowed them like a dog.
"Why do you always think about eating everything you see? Don't be fooled by its small size. If it were a male, it would fetch a fortune, the kind that would be paid in gold."
She was not exaggerating. Male muskrats have glands that secrete aromatic substances, which can be used to make a special musk-like fragrance.
Musk is a monopoly commodity exclusively owned by the official Maritime Customs Office. Each gram of musk can be sold for four to eight taels of gold, and it is even more expensive in private transactions among the people.
Even if they could only extract a few grams of musk from the muskrat, it would make their family a fortune.
"really?"
After hearing her words, when Sang Xingjia looked at the muskrat again, he was no longer as indifferent as before, and his eyes seemed to be able to spit fire.
The longer he stayed at home, the more he wanted to earn money to support his family, but he had no idea how to do it. Now that a road to wealth was right in front of him, how could he not be tempted?
As if disturbed by their whispered conversation, the muskrat suddenly stopped moving, stood up, and listened to the movements around it with its ears perked up.
The three of them instantly fell silent and stopped talking. As a result, the muskrat slowly relaxed its guard and continued to search for food.
Not only Sang Xingjia was tempted, Sang Yu himself also wanted to catch the muskrat.
As long as she could catch it and sell the musk, she wouldn't have to worry about the start-up capital for her business and could buy a restaurant in minutes.
With her craftsmanship, it is only a matter of time before her business becomes bigger and stronger.
However, they had no experience in hunting small animals, and they did not dare to tell other experienced hunters how to catch the muskrat.
Just as she was lost in thought, Sang Yongjing and Sang Xingjia looked at each other and quietly began to act.
One person stood still, while the other took a few steps back and moved further away to form a pincer attack with the person who stayed still.
Sang Yu was lost in thought when he suddenly felt someone next to him rush out and head straight for the muskrat.
The two men ran very fast and blocked all the muskrat's escape routes. They surrounded it almost in an instant, and it was not impossible to catch it.
But the frightened muskrat retracted its neck, rushed straight to the stream, dived into the water, and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Looking at the two people standing in a daze by the stream, Sang Yu's mouth twitched slightly, and he wanted to say something but it eventually turned into a sigh.
Their idea was good, and if they approached quickly, there was indeed a possibility of catching their prey, but they forgot one thing - muskrats living near the water can swim.
There was indeed no way to survive on land, but no one was setting an ambush in the water.
Seeing the two of them looking at the water in silence, Sang Yu walked forward to comfort them.
"I saw that muskrat last time, and it seems to have made its home around here. I think it'll probably come back after it escapes. It won't be too late to catch it next time when we're fully prepared."
From the beginning she had never thought of catching it in an easy way, such as setting a trap by the stream in advance or using a tool like a mousetrap.
If you can catch a muskrat with your bare hands, you're no different from Superman.
Besides, even if she could catch a muskrat with her bare hands, she wouldn't do it.
If you get bitten accidentally, there is no rabies vaccine or anything like that now, so you can easily die.
"If I had run faster just now, maybe I could have caught it." Sang Yongjing was still a little annoyed. The opportunity was right in front of him, but he failed to seize it.
"Okay, don't think about it. Come and dig the sand. You can catch some fish to take back." Sang Yu called on the two of them to start.
Since you have a shovel to dig sand, you can try a simpler way to catch fish.
Follow the stream downstream and find a narrow part of the stream. Seal both sides with wet mud from the riverbed, leaving only a small gap in the middle. Place the bamboo basket with the mouth facing upwards into the gap and secure it.
The next thing to do is to dig sand. As for the fish, some of them will be disturbed by them and will panic and dive into the bamboo baskets.
The riverbed in the lower reaches of the stream is covered with a large amount of fine river sand, and you can dig out half a shovel of fine sand with almost one shovel.
There is no need to pick out the large pebbles hidden inside. You can take them out when you go back to spread them out and dry them, and you can lay out a cobblestone path.
The two bamboo baskets we brought were padded with leaves at the bottom to prevent the fine sand from leaking out, and they were soon mostly filled.
The originally clear stream water became turbid after several excavations.
Sang Yu walked to the fish basket and saw that it was already full. Many fish could not squeeze in and were swimming close to the pile of earthen embankments.
She was a little surprised that there were so many fish, but after thinking about it carefully, she quickly understood.
In the small stream in the mountains, the fish in the stream grow wildly and their numbers have long been overflowing. It is normal for some of the fish to flow into the bamboo baskets after being disturbed.
It seems that their family will not be short of fish to eat in the short term. When the house is built, they can come here when they have time to catch more fish, pickle them into salted dried fish, and store them until winter.
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