A Bountiful Fish Harvest

Morning sunlight spilled over the sparkling river. Wang Yan took a deep breath, recalling the movements he had seen in videos in his previous life. Gripping the prepared hemp-rope fishing net with both hands, he twisted his body to generate force and flung it out.

The net swiftly spread in midair, forming an almost perfect circle. The stone sinkers along its edge pulled it rapidly downward, and it plunged into the water with a splash, leaving only the floats on the surface to mark its position.

"It worked!" Gubang growled excitedly.

Wang Yan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as well. At least his casting technique had looked reasonably proper. He slowly pulled the main rope in his hands, feeling the weight beneath the water. At first it was light, but as the net's opening gradually closed, the resistance grew noticeably stronger, and the water inside the net turned murky and churned!

"There's something in there! Lots of them!" Sharp-eyed Shouchai spotted the thrashing shapes in the water and cried out excitedly.

All three pulled together, carefully dragging the fishing net ashore. The moment the net left the water, all three were stunned!

Silver flashed inside the net, with frantic flapping and slapping everywhere! It was full of fish! The large ones were as long as an adult's forearm, their mouths opening and closing; even the small ones were palm-sized, packed tightly together.

"So many!" Gubang's mouth fell open. He could hardly believe his eyes. He had fished with the adults using the old net before, but when had they ever hauled in this many at once?

"Quick! Pick out the fish and clean the net. Let's try another cast!" Wang Yan commanded, forcibly suppressing the wild joy in his heart.

While cleaning the net, Wang Yan made a point of inspecting the hemp ropes and knots. Despite the struggles of that netful of large fish, the hemp ropes remained sturdy, without any signs of breaking. Their color had merely darkened a little after being soaked. The toughness of this hemp cord far exceeded his expectations!

The second cast brought another astonishing haul! Although it was not as outrageous as the first, it still filled a good half of the net with fish.

The three large bamboo baskets they had brought were soon filled to the brim, probably weighing over a hundred jin altogether! Each heavy basket required two people carrying it on a wooden pole to move it.

"Let's go! Home!" Looking at their abundant haul, Wang Yan's face blossomed into a smile.

When the three returned to the tribe, taking turns carrying the three baskets of lively fresh fish on shoulder poles and between them, the entire Fire Tribe erupted once again!

"Fish! So many fish!"

"Heavens! Are these... did Yan and the others catch all these?"

"How much must there be?! It's even more than the hunting team brings back sometimes!"

The tribespeople all surged around them, looking at the fish still opening their mouths and flicking their tails in the bamboo baskets, letting out exclamation after exclamation.

Over a hundred jin of fish in a single trip!! In the past, bringing back ten or twenty jin with that worn-out net had counted as a bountiful harvest.

Qingye hurried over upon hearing the news. At the sight of those three baskets of fish, she too was so shocked that she could not speak for a long while. Qingye came from the Fish Tribe and was no stranger to fishing, but even she had never seen such an efficient way of catching fish!

"Yan... were all these caught with that new net?" Qingye pointed at the hemp-rope fishing net, which was still dripping, her voice even changing pitch a little.

"Yes." Wang Yan nodded firmly and patted the sturdy hemp-rope net. "With this new net woven from hemp rope. It's much stronger than the old net, and it spreads wide too. One cast can scoop up quite a few fish."

He paused, then added, "From what I can see, this river isn't particularly big, but hardly anyone fishes nearby, and there are plenty of fish. It connects to the big river outside, so we can't fish it empty. The Fish Tribe relies on fish to feed so many people. Now that we have better nets, we won't do any worse than them at fishing!"

His words brimmed with confidence, and Qingye's heart blazed with enthusiasm!

That evening, Jianshi and Qingye called Wang Yan straight over to them and questioned him closely about the hemp rope and the new fishing net.

"Yan, is this hemp rope easy to make?" Qingye was more concerned about the material.

"It is, Mother," Wang Yan explained. "Processing the hemp stalks takes a bit of work. They need soaking and pounding. But once you get the hang of it, twisting rope is quick. It's much easier than searching everywhere for suitable tree bark."

"And is this new fishing net difficult to weave?" Jianshi was more concerned about efficiency.

"No." Wang Yan shook his head. "As long as you can tie that kind of knot and know how big the mesh openings should be, it's quick to learn. Gubang and Shouchai watched for a little while and more or less had it."

Jianshi and Qingye exchanged a glance, each seeing resolve in the other's eyes.

"Good!" Jianshi slapped his thigh. "Starting tomorrow, aside from pottery-making and the necessary hunting and gathering, we'll organize another... fifteen people! No, twenty! Specifically to learn from you how to twist hemp rope and weave these new fishing nets! We must stockpile enough dried fish before winter arrives!"

He seemed already to see countless fish being hauled up, dried in the sun, and piled high in the storehouse. It would be a winter when they no longer had to worry about food.