Catching Fish (Continued)

Using himself as the center, he had gnawed out a circular area, stripping it bare of grass and even digging up the roots underneath to eat.

When he was done, he lay dejectedly on the bare ground, his big eyes half closed.

He looked a little pitiful.

With nothing else to do, Jian Mo saw him like that and cut a pile of grass nearby for him. Then he went home and brought back a few not-so-tasty tubers and a large dried-out bone.

The Flying-Winged Beast spotted the food Jian Mo had brought from a long way off and immediately rolled over and sat up. "Chirp, chirp!"

Jian Mo approached from the front and to one side and set the food down in front of him. "So that's what you sound like when you're happy."

The Flying-Winged Beast grabbed the big bone at once, blinked, and chirped happily at Jian Mo again. "Chirp, chirp."

With the bone in his front paws, the Flying-Winged Beast immediately started gnawing on it.

His bite didn't seem particularly strong. After gnawing for quite a while, he had only scraped off a few shreds of meat.

Seeing how absorbed he was in gnawing the bone, Jian Mo smiled and reached out to pat his backside.

His plump backside was soft, and the fur on it was smooth—it felt quite nice.

The Flying-Winged Beast didn't mind Jian Mo patting his backside at all. He turned to look, his eyes still clear.

Jian Mo sighed. "Go on and eat. When I have time this afternoon, I'll see if I can find you some more food."

The Flying-Winged Beast chirped happily, "Chirp, chirp!"

The sun rose higher and higher, bringing a cozy warmth.

Jian Mo hadn't bathed in the past two days, so he planned to take advantage of the warm weather and have a quick bath. Before that, he would wash the clumps of fur he had brought back yesterday.

The fur shed by the Long-Headed Beast was quite soft, but it had been lying around for so long that all sorts of debris had gotten tangled in it, and its color was grimy. It needed a thorough wash before it could be spun into yarn.

The clumps of fur would easily float around when washed in water, so Jian Mo found a basket at home. He planned to put the basket in the river and then wash the fur inside it.

These baskets were all woven from vines, with gaps that let the water through without allowing it to carry the fur away.

Before leaving, Jian Mo made a special trip to where the soap was drying in the shade and picked out a better-looking bar.

He carried the basket of fur in one hand and the soap in the other as he headed for the river.

As for his clothes, he had no change of clothes at all. He could only take them off and wash them before bathing, leave them to dry on a large rock, and put them back on afterward.

At that thought, Jian Mo sighed. He had quite a lot of things to make.

The river beside the tribe was wide and calm. He walked upstream and found a stretch where fewer people came, intending to wash his clothes and bathe there.

As soon as he got into the river, he washed his clothes and hung them up to dry, then began cleaning the clumps of fur.

Perhaps because the fur had been shed quite some time ago, there wasn't much oil left on it. Most of the dirt was loose dust, so it was fairly easy to wash.

As Jian Mo washed, he sorted through the fur, picking out and discarding the strands that were especially short or coarse, along with the debris tangled inside.

He scooped out the clean fur, wrung out the water, spread it flat on a rock to dry in the sun, and laid two sticks over it to keep the wind from blowing it away.

While Jian Mo was absorbed in washing the fur, he caught sight of a dark shape in the water.

Looking closer, he discovered a large fish swimming slowly back and forth by his feet, seemingly without a care.

He was stunned for a moment and instinctively punched the fish.

The big fish swayed by his feet, then turned belly-up and floated to the surface.

The fish had been knocked out.

"Wait, does nobody around here eat fish?"

Jian Mo scooped up the belly-up fish and put it in the basket, then turned to look around.

There really were quite a lot of fish nearby, big and small. He could see several dark backs at a glance.

Jian Mo slowly took two steps forward, fixed his eyes on a fish, and lunged down to grab it.

This time, the fish reacted much faster than he did and slipped away with a flick of its tail.

He chased after it and tried to catch it several times, but it swam faster and faster until it vanished from his sight.

He didn't know how to catch fish with his bare hands.

Jian Mo looked regretfully at the fish swimming lazily nearby and went back to washing the fur.

Once he had finished washing the fur, he scrubbed himself thoroughly from head to toe, then put on his clothes.

His clothes were almost dry already. They would probably dry completely on the way back to the tribe.

As he came ashore, he saw that there were still plenty of fish swimming slowly in the water.

The current was gentle along this stretch, and the river was wide. By rights, the fish should have been easy to catch, but his technique wasn't very good.

He looked at the fish, still unwilling to give up.

Jian Mo carried the basket of fur back to the tribe. As soon as he returned to Wu Jiong's home, he rummaged through the pile of odds and ends.

He remembered seeing several baskets with large holes rotted through their bottoms when he picked up a basket that morning. Where were they?

"Found it!" Jian Mo happily pulled out the most badly damaged basket, then found a knife and trimmed the bottom, making the hole rounder. He picked up the basket and headed out.

As soon as he stepped outside, he ran into some children playing nearby.

The children had eaten the meat patties he made. When they saw him, they came up and greeted him politely. "Brother Jian Mo."

Jian Mo said, "Good kids."

The children looked curiously at the broken basket he was carrying. "Brother Jian Mo, where are you going?"

Jian Mo waved the basket in his hand. "To catch fish."

Qiu Li, who was among them, immediately said, "Fish doesn't taste good!"

Before Jian Mo could speak, the other children all chimed in:

"That's right. Fish tastes awful."

"Brother Jian Mo, doesn't the chief give you meat? I'll go home and find you a piece."

"My dad said that once, when they were little, they ate fish for a whole winter. They smelled fishy all over for a long time, and the smell didn't go away until the next summer."

"The fishy smell is awful."

The children shuddered as they spoke. Apparently, none of them liked the smell of fish.