Fish Traps
After finishing their double-skin milk pudding, Mo and An packed their things, preparing to go hunting and gathering. Chuan wove a basket, while Bai Wu cleaned the sheepfold.
The sheep had rested overnight in his vegetable garden, and when milked again, it didn’t resist as fiercely as the day before.
After milking the sheep, Bai Wu cleaned the sheepfold and found that the sheep had eaten most of the grass he had cut the day before, leaving only some older stalks.
There was also some sheep droppings in the soil.
Bai Wu shoveled the droppings and piled them in a corner of the vegetable garden. He then shouldered his basket and went to cut grass for the sheep early in the morning.
When he returned with the grass, the sun had already risen, and the light was excellent. From afar, he saw a beastman lying outside his vegetable garden, watching the sheep.
“Wu!” The beastman heard the noise, turned around, and greeted Bai Wu, revealing a set of large, white teeth.
“Hey, what brings you here?”
“I wanted to get some stones from the riverbank, so I came to ask you.”
“Just go ahead, I’ve collected enough stones for my house building. You can use the rest.”
“Okay, I’m going now. Why are you raising a sheep beast? And such a big one at that! If you’re going to raise one, raise a small one. At least a small one has some meat. What can a big one do?”
“Can’t I just milk it?”
“Sheep beast milk doesn’t taste good, it’ll give you diarrhea. Why would you drink that?”
“Not everyone can do this, I think it tastes pretty good.”
Ta was about to argue when Bai Wu pushed him. “My father and the others have gone hunting, why are you still here?”
“I’m going to get some stones, not hunt. Don’t be angry, raising this big sheep is less cost-effective than raising the smaller ones too.”
“Father only caught this one big one, where am I supposed to find the smaller ones?”
He also wanted to raise the lambs, so the ewes could produce milk for a longer period.
However, sheep weren’t easy to catch, and the sheep-catching area was very far from the tribe. They rarely went there, and it was especially dangerous for a lone beastman to go.
Bai Wu would rather not raise sheep than risk his father’s life.
Ta said, “I’ll go ask around and see who got the lambs.”
“Asking is useless, they’ve probably been eaten.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Ta said. “Wait here, I’ll ask around this afternoon.”
Bai Wu didn’t take Ta’s words to heart.
Unexpectedly, Ta really came running over again that evening, blocking Bai Wu as he returned to his nest. “Wu, I know who got the little lambs! They’re with the chief! Yesterday when the sheep were being distributed, the chief took two lambs.”
Two lambs were far less worthwhile than one adult sheep.
Bai Wu asked, “The chief said he wanted lambs, and everyone actually gave them to him?”
“The chief said he didn’t lack food, so he only wanted lambs. How about I go and exchange them for you?”
If the sheep were with someone else, Bai Wu might have considered it, but with the chief, it was fine. He and the chief didn’t get along.
“Forget it. I’ll just keep it for fun, don’t tell anyone.”
“Hey, you really argued with the chief and are ignoring him?”
“No.”
Bai Wu found Ta noisy and, after a few words, shooed him away.
Ta didn’t make a fuss and ran off with a grin.
A little while later, Chief Ya came up the mountain carrying two sheep in a basket on his back.
Chuan was weaving baskets by the fire pit. Seeing the chief arrive, he quickly stood up to greet him.
Ya said, “I’ve come to bring Wu the little sheep. Where is Wu?”
Chuan smiled and pointed to the vegetable garden where Bai Wu was busy sweeping up sheep droppings.
Ya walked over and gently knocked on the garden fence.
Bai Wu didn’t even look up. “I can’t accept this lamb without doing anything in return.”
Ya asked, “Still holding a grudge?”
“What grudge do we have?”
“It’s about last time when I wouldn’t let you build a house at the foot of the priest’s mountain,” Ya said. “Think about it, if you were the chieftain, how would you feel if your people went to build houses at the foot of the priest’s mountain and disturbed the priest? What would the other tribes think?”
Bai Wu remained silent.
Seeing his silence, Ya took the two lambs out of his basket and put them in the vegetable garden, “Here, take these little lambs. Don’t hold a grudge.”
Bai Wu quickly scooped up the two lambs and shoved them back into Ya’s arms. “I don’t hold a grudge.”
Ya stopped him, “If you don’t hold a grudge, take these two little lambs. I also want to know if you can successfully raise them. If you can’t, you can always return them to me next time.”
With that, before Bai Wu could refuse again, Ya transformed into a large white bird and flew away.
Bai Wu stood behind, staring at the white bird’s retreating figure for a long time. Looking at the thin, frail lambs at his feet, he hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn’t return the lambs.
The two lambs bleated for a while in the vegetable garden, then tentatively approached their mother to nurse.
Bai Wu didn’t stop them. Instead, he took out a broken bucket, filled it with water, and placed it in the makeshift sheep pen.
When An returned at dusk, he saw two extra sheep in the sheepfold. After hearing Chuan’s explanation, he said, “The chieftain probably couldn’t bring himself to apologize, so he gave you the sheep beast.”
Bai Wu silently drank his soup, not answering.
An kicked his foot. “You’re really holding a grudge, aren’t you?”
“No, not at all.” Bai Wu put down his bowl and turned to leave.
An called after him, “Hey, where are you going instead of eating dinner?”
Bai Wu, carrying a tattered basket with a stone hoe, walked down the mountain without looking back. “To dig for earthworms.”
He ran straight to the river where he washed up and found a patch of grass to dig for earthworms.
The soil there was very fertile. Bai Wu dug until dark, finding more than forty earthworms.
He put the earthworms in his basket, covered them with leaves, and carried them back to his nest.
He divided the earthworms into two portions, wrapping one portion in leaves and scattering the other on the sheep manure in the vegetable garden.
The sheep lying in the garden were startled and bleated.
The fire in the hearth hadn’t gone out; its flames danced in the wind, illuminating a small area.
Bai Wu dragged out several tattered baskets and withered vines, making two makeshift fish traps,l that were wide at the belly and narrow at the mouth by the hearth. He then stuffed them with branches, almost completely blocking the opening.
His family, enjoying the cool air by the hearth, watched him fussing around and asked curiously, “What are you doing?”
“Making a big fish trap.”
“Huh? Don’t you dislike eating fish? Why are you making this? It doesn’t look very useful.”
“Catching some fish, we’ll see if it’s useful tomorrow.”
Bai Wu spent most of the night making two makeshift fish traps, crushing the earthworms and scattering them inside, finally adding a handful of leftover root residue from washing root powder.
He carried the fish traps downstream, threw both traps into the river, and tied the vines holding them to a large tree on the bank.
The two traps were several dozen meters apart, so he could collect them all at once when he came back to retrieve them the next day.
Bai Wu was covered in mud and sweat from working with the fish traps and earthworms.
Back at his nest, he took out another feather skirt from the wooden box.
An who was already half-asleep in his nest, felt him rummaging through drawers and cupboards. He opened his eyes a crack and looked at him, asking, “What are you looking for?”
“I’m going to take a bath. You should go back to sleep.”
“Taking a bath at this hour? No one down there?”
“I’m not going to bathe at the foot of the mountain.”
“If not at the foot of the mountain, where do you want to bathe?”
“The riverbank where we collected stones. You should go back to sleep. I’ll go by myself.”
“Why go all that way to bathe? We can just go down there.”
“Someone down there will see us.”
“You’re so fussy.” An sighed, painfully sitting up. “I’ll go with you.”
“I can go by myself. I know that place well.”
“What if you encounter snakes or drown? Stop talking nonsense, I’ll go with you.”
Without further ado, An got up, put on his shoes, slung his basket over his shoulder, and went with him.
Bai Wu didn’t refuse outright. He went to the other nest to tell his fathers, then turned to the opposite bank and said, “Let’s go.”
“Come on, come on! Of all the people in the tribe, you’re the most particular. You even have to bathe in the wild. Are you trying to imitate the priest?”
“Imitate the priest?”
“Bathing in a completely deserted place. The priest flies up to the Heavenly Lake on the mountaintop every day to bathe, and he never bathes with anyone else.”
Bai Wu had never heard of such a thing before.
He paused, then asked, “What about when he was a child?”
“How would I know? I wasn’t even born when the High Priest was a child. Do you like the High Priest? Tell the truth, I won’t laugh at you.”
“No, not at all.”
“If you like him, just admit it. There’s no point in denying it. The High Priest doesn’t have a partner. Besides, there are plenty of young sub-beastmen in the surrounding tribes who like him.”
“Well, I don’t have those feelings for him.”
The river water on the other side of the riverbank was clearer, and the bottom was full of stones. You could bathe standing on the rocky bank without going deep in, making it very convenient.
An hadn’t originally planned to bathe, but encouraged by him, he picked a couple of leaves on the bank and scrubbed himself thoroughly.
The two brothers felt refreshed after their bath and flew back to the tribe for a good night’s sleep.
The next day, Bai Wu got up early to go down and collect the fish traps.
An sensed him getting up and insisted on going down with him to collect the fish traps.
Bai Wu didn’t refuse and took a bucket down with him. They walked downstream for a while before reaching the spot where the fish traps were placed.
The vines for the traps were neatly tied to the tree.
The river below was swift, and it was unclear how effective the traps would be.
The person on the bank watched for a while. “Now how do we catch the fish? Go down and catch them?”
“No need, just pull the traps up.”
“Won’t the fish escape when we pull them up?”
“They won’t escape.” Bai Wu, impatient to explain further, said to his brother, “Brother, stand a little to the side, I’ll pull the traps up.”
The waterlogged fish traps were quite heavy.
Bai Wu leaned forward and pulled hard for a while before finally managing to bring the traps close to the bank.
An, watching from the side, saw the fish trap being pulled close to the bank and quickly ran over to lift it up.
Bai Wu followed, saying, “Brother, lift the trap a little higher, be careful the fish don’t jump back into the water.”
“Fish can jump like that?”
“Of course.”
Bai Wu said, already pulling the trap three or four meters from the riverbank. He took out the branches inside, and dumped everything out.
The fish and branches were dumped out of the trap. Their snow-white scales shimmered in the sunlight, and jumped among the branches.
“We actually caught fish!” An exclaimed incredulously, “One, two, three… thirteen, thirteen of them!”
Bai Wu examined them carefully, “There are a lot of fish here, that’s normal.”
“Thirteen of them! That’s enough for two meals!” An examined the fish in his hands, turning them over and over, “It’s a pity the fish we caught today aren’t very big.”
The largest fish in this basket weighed just over half a pound, and the smallest was only two fingers wide.
Because of the different types of fish, a fish weighing a little over half a pound was still considered small, while a fish only two fingers wide was already considered large.
Bai Wu carefully examined them and tossed them back into the bucket of water one by one, showing no disdain. “Let’s go check the next fish basket.”
An, who had just seen him pull the fish trap once, insisted on doing it this time. “You put it down, let me pull it.”
“Can you do it?”
“It’s not something complicated, why wouldn’t I? Move aside, move aside.”
An enthusiastically pulled the fish trap up, deliberately placing it quite far from the water’s edge before emptying the fish.
“One, two, three… fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, my luck is much better than yours!”
Bai Wu glanced at the fish jumping on the ground and gave his brother a perfunctory thumbs-up.
An, full of energy, collected all the fish back into the bucket. “It’s been a long time since I’ve caught so many fish at once! I really enjoy eating fish.”
“Let’s dig up some earthworms later, and come back to fish again tomorrow.”
“I’ll go dig! I know where to find really fat earthworms!”
Thirty fish of various sizes filled the bucket, making it almost half full. When they carried it back, many people in the tribe were preparing to go hunting and gathering. Seeing them carrying the fish, they all rushed over to watch.
“That’s amazing! They caught so many fish in such a short time.”
“It’s been a long time since the tribe went fishing together.”
“These fish look pretty good. I’ll go catch some this afternoon when I have some free time.”
After everyone had finally finished watching, Bai Wu carried the bucket back to the village, found another bucket, and caught six fish about the width of a hand. He took the rest to Chief Ya’s place.
Chief Ya lived with his great-grandfather at the foot of the mountain, a little downstream from the river.
His family had four nests, and their exquisite furnishings suggested they had lived a comfortable life in the past.
Bai Wu approached the nests, where only his great-grandfather sat spinning thread.
“Wu?” the old man called out, a kind smile spreading across his face. “You’ve come to see Ya?”
“Mm. The chieftain lent me two little sheep beasts. I’ll return them later. I brought some fish for you to try first.”
Bai Wu carried the bucket over, showing the old beastman the fish inside.
The old beastman’s eyes widened in amazement. “So many fish! Where did you get so many?”
“I caught them in the river. Mu, here are the fish. I’ll head back now.”
“No need, this is too much,” the old beastman smiled. “Thank you for your kindness, but Ya will be unhappy if I accept them.”
“Then I’ll leave them here. If he’s unhappy, he can bring them back to me this afternoon?”
Mu smiled.
Bai Wu smiled, his tone unusually gentle, “Fish is good for you, Mu, eat more.”
After giving away the fish, Bai Wu slung his basket over his shoulder and went to gather more.
He now liked to walk along the river; in places teeming with aquatic plants, he could always find something special.
It wasn’t until evening when the afterglow reflected on the river, turning half the river red, that he finally returned. He dragged his weary steps, carrying half a basket of miscellaneous food.
An had already returned. Seeing him, he stood happily by the vegetable garden and waved, “Wu, come here quickly! How should we cook the fish today?”
“Make milky white soup, and add some chopped scallions. It’ll taste so fresh and delicious!”
“How can fish soup turn milky white?”
“I can.”
“Aren’t you just bragging?”
“Why don’t you try and see? You kill the fish first, scrape off the scales, remove the innards, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go do it. This is the first time I’ve heard of someone making fish soup milky white; I’ll learn something new later.”
Bai Wu put down his basket. He first went to the water vat by the hearth to fetch water to wash his hands and feet, then returned to sit by the hearth to rest.
Chuan and Mo returned one after another. Everyone had a good haul today. Chuan even found two nests of bird eggs, each one bigger than the palm of his hand; steaming them would definitely taste delicious.
An, having cleaned the fish, carried it up in a winnowing basket. Upon seeing Chuan, he said, “Dad, Wu said he’d make us a milky-white fish soup.”
“Put goat’s milk in it?”
“Of course not, goat’s milk would taste so strange,” Bai Wu said. “Just fish, salt, and scallions, nothing else.”
“How can that make it milky white? I’ve been making fish soup for so many years, and it’s always just clear broth.”
“There’s a secret to it, you’ll see in a moment.”
Mo interjected from the side, “Give the High Priest an extra portion…”
Bai Wu, without looking up, continued, “Give the High Priest an extra portion, I know.”
Chuan and An burst into laughter.
Bai Wu laughed too.
Bai Wu took six thin wooden sticks, skewered the fish An had prepared onto them, brushed them with oil, and placed them over the fire to roast.
An asked, puzzled, “Didn’t you say you were going to make fish soup? Why are you grilling fish?”
Bai Wu replied, “Grill it first, then boil it. Father, could you boil a pot of water for me in an earthenware pot?”
Chuan poured a pot of water, placed it on the fire pit, and asked with a smile, “Besides water, what else do you need to make?”
“No need, just boil the water.”
Bai Wu was grilling the fish.
He brushed oil on it as he grilled, turning both sides golden brown.
Once the fish was done, the water was already boiling. He used chopsticks to slide the grilled fish directly into the boiling water and added some firewood to the stove.
When the water boiled again, it had turned a milky white color.
An stared wide-eyed at the pot, “It actually turned into a milky white soup?!”
“Why would I lie to you? Smell it, doesn’t it smell good?”
“It smells amazing! Wu, you’re incredible!”
“It’s alright. Let it simmer a little longer. Tonight we’ll have stewed noodles and mixed wild vegetables with fish soup.”
“Should we use citrus jam?”
“Yes, but if you don’t want it sour, you can eat it plain.”
“Sour! Tomorrow I’ll see if I can pick some citrus fruits, and we’ll make some more citrus jam. That’s delicious!”
The fish soup was brought to a boil over high heat, then simmered over low heat.
The originally clear water gradually turned into a thick, milky white broth, looking incredibly tempting.
Bai Wu mixed the wild vegetables, scooped out the stewed noodles, chopped some scallions and added them to the fish soup, then turned off the heat and added salt.
The family of four each ladled themselves a bowl of soup.
Bai Wu, ignoring the heat, gently scooped a spoonful, blew on it to cool it, and then drank it.
Instantly, a delicious flavor assaulted his taste buds—fresh, fragrant, rich, and piping hot—a multitude of tastes bursting in his mouth.
By the time he finished the soup, a bead of sweat appeared on Bai Wu’s forehead.
It was so delicious.
In both his lives, this was the best fish soup he had ever tasted.
Only wild, small river fish could produce such a delicious flavor.
Bai Wu savored it carefully, his expression serene.
His father and brother opposite him wore the same expression.
Bai Wu took another sip, squinted at the distant mountains opposite, leaned back, and didn’t even want to speak.
He was completely immersed in this delicious fish soup, and even felt slightly tipsy.
It truly was a bowl of fish soup that could bring happiness.