Chapter 104: Green-Light Spring-Water Fish

After chasing off the night heron, Xia Qing stunned another fish with a slap, tested it and confirmed it was a red-light fish, then chopped it into sections with a few swift cuts and tossed them to Da Xi Que and the crow. "You've been working hard catching bugs lately—have a fish to build yourselves up."

A flock of birds fighting over one fish made it disappear in an instant. Xia Qing skillfully stunned another fish and tested it. This time, the knife she had raised so deftly froze in place. Xia Qing's eyes went wide as she stared in disbelief at the green light glowing on the Qi-element detector.

There were actually green-light spring-water fish in her pond!

Xia Qing immediately scooped up the green-light spring-water fish, whose Qi-element content was only 1.8 thousandths, and placed it into a nearby water bucket.

Though it wasn't her first time stunning fish, and Xia Qing was fairly confident in her strength, she still couldn't help muttering, "Wake up, you have to wake up…"

The birds waiting to eat the fish noticed Xia Qing had stopped moving and grew anxious. The boldest of them, a white egret, waddled over to her side, craned its neck, stretched out its long beak, and was about to peck the fish in the bucket.

"Don't fuss, you can't eat this one." Xia Qing pushed the egret's head aside. The fish-hungry egret was in a fairly good mood and didn't peck a hole through her hand.

After a short while, the belly-up green-light fish shuddered twice, flipped over, splashed a spray of water, and darted to the bottom of the bucket, knocking it so hard it rocked wildly. Xia Qing slammed the lid on immediately, grinning so wide her mouth couldn't close.

Now that she had one green-light fish, how far was she from having a whole school of them?

How do you tell male fish from female? Could this one be a male? If so, she'd need to catch a female.

Xia Qing weighed down the bucket lid with a stone and went back to stunning fish.

The rest in the net were all red-light fish. The next haul brought up over twenty more, still all red-light fish, and Xia Qing was still in a wonderful mood. She cast again.

The well-fed birds were either leisurely preening their feathers or curiously watching Xia Qing fish. Even the frogs by the pond didn't dare croak, crouching in the weeds with just two eyes cautiously peeking out to watch the seemingly crazed Xia Qing.

Xia Qing hauled up net after net of fish and tested them—red-light fish went into a big water tank, yellow-light and green-light fish into buckets.

"Meh."

Xia Qing's tuneless singing was as annoying as the clacking of fish biting the iron-ring net. Ram Boss, lying not far away, couldn't stand it any longer and told her to shut up.

Xia Qing called Ram Boss over to help. "Boss rested up yet? Come help me haul the net—there's rations in it for you."

"Meeeh~~"

Hearing there was something good to eat, Ram Boss immediately came trotting over in a clipped little voice.

Xia Qing pulled out a sealed ration pack, tore it open, pinched off a small piece and stuffed it into Ram Boss's mouth, then hung the wire fishing net on its spiral horn. "You pull the net, I'll test the fish. When Zhong Tao and the others come over tomorrow, we'll trade all these red-light fish for your rations."

Evolved fish really could put up a fight, but their strength was nothing compared to Ram Boss's—small fry before a master. With Ram Boss's help, Xia Qing tested fish even faster.

The fish scared into hiding at the bottom of the pond and refusing to come up? No way—these guys were all foodies just like Ram Boss, they didn't know the meaning of fear. Toss down a handful of evolved insects and they'd fight to burrow into the net.

Xia Qing didn't stop until the big water tank was nearly packed fish-to-fish.

Though the proportion of edible fish was tiny, the base number was huge. She tested over six hundred fish and got one green-light fish and six yellow-light fish.

These seven palm-length edible fish were all treasures. Xia Qing had Ram Boss carry a big tank full of red-light fish on its back while she steadied the big tank with one hand and carried the small fish bucket in the other, heading home.

After filling the big tank with filtered water, Xia Qing left it alone. Evolved fish were absurdly tough—these red-light fish wouldn't suffocate for two or three days. The priority now was her precious fish.

Xia Qing took out the wooden bathtub she'd just made for Ram Boss, scrubbed it clean, set it on the second floor where the sun could reach, poured twenty liters of unpolluted spring water into it first, and only then tipped her precious fish in.

Ram Boss propped its front hooves on the edge of the tub and stared at the fish for a while, then squinted and turned its head to look at Xia Qing.

Fearing Ram Boss would lose its temper and knock the tub over or butt it right off the second floor, Xia Qing pressed down on the tub-fish-tank and explained gently, "This tub isn't great—let the fish use it for now. I'll make you one that fits sheep ergonomics, where you can soak and eat at the same time."

Hearing the word "eat," Ram Boss was instantly satisfied and turned to clip-clop toward the stairs.

Xia Qing didn't need Ram Boss to nag her—she followed it down to chop forage and crumble rations to mix with the concentrate feed.

Qi Fu said the perilla would flower and set seed by the end of July, so Xia Qing had stopped cutting perilla for Ram Boss lately. She wanted to let the perilla rest so it would flower and seed more, which meant she could plant more next year.

Once Ram Boss was eating, Xia Qing started making dinner for herself.

With good food on hand, Xia Qing certainly wasn't going to shortchange herself. She added water to a big pot, lit the firewood, then rinsed the rice and added water, setting the small steel basin of rice on the steamer rack inside the big pot to steam.

Then Xia Qing began preparing tonight's main dish—sour bamboo shoot fish.

Xia Qing turned on the walkie-talkie to find someone. "Brother Qi, you there?"

There was unmistakable anticipation in Qi Fu's reply, as if he'd been dying to talk to Xia Qing. "Xia Qing, you're done for the day?"

"Mm." Xia Qing asked, "Does Brother Qi know how to tell male fish from female? I got lucky today—pulled two yellow-light fish from the pond and plan to eat one."

Qi Fu had also dug a fish pond and knew exactly how many fish you had to haul to find two yellow-light ones. He stole a glance at Tang Dong and Luo Pei, who were "chatting" in his living room. If they hadn't come over to learn carpentry, he might be eating fish by now too…

Qi Fu felt miserable. He wanted to cry.

"First, look at the pectoral fins—female fish have rounded ones, males have pointed ones. You can also feel the belly—males are hard, females are soft. Or check the body shape…"

"Got it, thanks so much, Brother Qi. You go on with your work—I'll go prep the fish." Xia Qing could tell Qi Fu wasn't in high spirits, so after carefully noting the methods, she stopped bothering him.

She had barely turned off the walkie-talkie and not yet reached the fish tank when Zhang San's call came in.

"Xia Qing, how many of the fish you caught are male? If you can't tell, send them over and I'll take a look." Xia Qing knew exactly what Zhang San's mild and pleasant tone meant.

She'd known he'd call long ago. Xia Qing stood cheerfully by the fish tank, looked at the four yellow-light spring-water fish in the water, and answered, "Both are male—stewed with my pickled sour bamboo shoots, that's enough for one meal. Want one, Third Brother?"

Zhang San's voice turned benevolent. "Of course. What do you want for it?"

Xia Qing was the easiest person to deal with. "One yellow-light fish and six slices of green-light sour bamboo shoot. Whatever seeds you can plant right now, Third Brother—just give me some of those."

"Let me ask around." Zhang San was extremely cautious. He hung up directly, made his inquiries, then called back. "I can give you three green-light loofah plants, or a small packet of green-light Chinese cabbage seeds. Which do you want?"