Chapter 78

"Lake!" Shizhizi was taken aback and said, "There is one, but it’s very far away, at least several mountains over. With the weather like this, it’s not easy to get there... What does Your Excellency want to go there for?"

Shizhizi couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.

"I want to catch some fish, but since it’s so far, there’s nothing I can do!" Jiang Xingchen was somewhat helpless. In the severe winter, crossing several mountains was indeed not feasible.

Shizhizi was even more surprised after hearing this: "Catch fish? The lake is frozen over, can you still catch fish?"

Although he was surprised, Shizhizi said, "If you’re just looking for a lake and not to go into the mountains, that’s easy... Go southeast for about ten miles, there’s a vast wilderness with many ponds. The smaller ones are tens of thousands of square meters, and the larger ones take a whole day to walk around. The river behind our mountain flows through there. When it’s warm, we also go there to fish!"

"Oh!" Jiang Xingchen’s eyes lit up. A lake that takes a whole day to walk around is quite large, not just a pond.

"Are there many fish there?" Jiang Xingchen asked.

"Well, it’s hard to say. We usually cast nets on the shore. Sometimes we can catch a hundred or so pounds in a day, and sometimes we catch nothing!" Shizhizi said.

"Let’s go! Take me to see it!" Jiang Xingchen grabbed Shizhizi and started walking down the mountain.

"Your Excellency, that place is too open, the wind is even stronger than on the mountain..." Shizhizi tried to dissuade him, but was pulled along by Jiang Xingchen.

The snow covered the ground, reaching up to their knees, making it very difficult to walk. Fortunately, Shizhizi was very familiar with the terrain and chose the shortest route. Even so, by the time they reached the wilderness, it was already past noon.

Ignoring the biting cold, Jiang Xingchen went directly onto the ice, using his breathing technique while walking slowly.

With the Mingzhi Array developed to his chest, his perception of vibrations was already quite sensitive. His purpose in coming here was to try and see if he could locate the fish.

In his previous life, he had seen a TV program about winter fishing at Chagan Lake, so he thought he might be able to use a similar method. The key to this method was judging the location of the fish. He remembered that the TV program said it relied entirely on the experience of the fish leader. Although he had no experience, he had the Mingzhi Array.

However, after walking on the ice for a long time, he didn’t feel any vibrations, which made him doubt whether there were any fish in the lake.

Shizhizi was completely baffled, watching Jiang Xingchen frown and walk around on the ice, thinking to himself, "Your Excellency said he wanted to fish, but now he’s just wandering around. Does this have anything to do with fishing...?"

Finally, Jiang Xingchen looked up and smiled. It wasn’t because he felt the vibrations of the fish, but because he remembered the last time he went fishing and realized that the thick ice layer was blocking the water, so he wouldn’t feel any vibrations even if there were fish.

"It seems I need to make a hole in the ice!" Thinking this, Jiang Xingchen shouted, "Old man, stop following and come out, we have work to do!"

He had already been attacked once, so this time when he called Shizhizi out, the old man couldn’t possibly not follow. The reason he didn’t show himself was clearly to protect them in secret, in case there were any enemies who might become aware.

Shizhizi was surprised again, staring at the old man who suddenly appeared and asked, "Where did you come from..."

Halfway through his question, Shizhizi realized it wasn’t a good question and quickly stopped.

"Boy! What’s the matter, hurry up!" The old man was very displeased. "In this cold weather, why are you running around for no reason? This affects my chess game."

Thinking about how happy Du Roshan and the others seemed when he left, the old man was seething with anger.

"Old man, please, dig a hole in the ice!" Jiang Xingchen said.

"Huh! Are you going to fish again?" The old man immediately perked up at this. He had heard Meier talk about the last time Jiang Xingchen went fishing and had always regretted not being there.

"Hurry up, you’re not in a rush!" Jiang Xingchen didn’t answer but used the old man’s own words to urge him. He was already feeling cold and wanted to go back early. If they stayed too late, it would be dark by the time they returned.

"This boy!" The old man glared at Jiang Xingchen, then without another word, he leaped up, rising about seven or eight meters high.

"Damn!" Jiang Xingchen’s eyes widened and his mouth opened in shock. At that moment, he felt like he was watching a martial arts movie.

The old man reached the highest point, then accelerated downward, stomping on the ice with a light "snap"...

Jiang Xingchen watched the spider-web-like cracks on the ice, swallowed hard, and thought, "If this old guy had a red short裤 and a cape..."

"Boy, what are you staring at? Find a stick and clear it out!" The old man squinted, looking very pleased with himself.

"This old guy, I knew he would do that!" Jiang Xingchen snapped out of his amazement, and the old man immediately returned to his foodie image.

Before he could find a stick, Shizhizi had already found one and poked it into the cracks. The ice surface turned into slush, and a hole quickly appeared.

Jiang Xingchen walked to the edge, put his hand in the water, and used his breathing technique, immediately feeling vibrations.

"It works, great!" Jiang Xingchen rejoiced internally.

The old man was puzzled, thinking the boy was going to fish but instead put his hand in the water.

Before he could figure it out, Jiang Xingchen had already pulled his hand out, smiled, and said, "Alright, let’s go back!"

"Uh! That’s it?" The old man stared, dumbfounded, as Jiang Xingchen walked past him. After a moment, he suddenly shouted, "You little brat, you’re playing with me..."

On the way back, the old man kept pressing Jiang Xingchen, asking what he meant by not fishing but making a hole in the ice. But Jiang Xingchen couldn’t tell him the truth, so he just lied, saying he was setting up a fish trap and would catch tens of thousands of pounds of fish in a few days.

"Tens of thousands of pounds of fish!" Not just the old man, even Shizhizi, who was grateful to Jiang Xingchen, looked at him with a strange expression. No matter how much he lied, it was too unbelievable...

All the way home, Jiang Xingchen didn’t give the old man a satisfactory answer. When the old man pressed him, he simply said, "You’ve been playing chess all these days. Have you found the wild pheasant eggs yet?" This left the old man speechless.

Frustrated, the old man went home and planned to play a few games of chess with Du Roshan, but he heard that the entire Sky-Shaking Mercenary Group had gone out to practice.

"In this cold weather, you’re going out to practice? Are you trying to fool me?" The old man shouted in anger, thinking they were clearly avoiding him. Was he really that unlikable?

Then, Jiang Xingchen added, "Old man, didn’t you tell me that the colder the weather, the more we should practice?"

After saying this, Jiang Xingchen chuckled and turned to enter the kitchen, leaving the old man standing in the yard, dumbfounded...

After making dinner, Jiang Xingchen returned to the house and heard Meier’s voice as soon as he entered, "Old man, you’re pushing the bellows, let go when you’re done!"

"Ha!" Hearing this, Jiang Xingchen couldn’t help but laugh. Meier and the old man had formed a habit of playing chess, and she always asked if he was done with each move, or he would always want to take it back.

The old man, playing chess with Meier, was most afraid of the little girl asking if he was done. Each time she asked, he lost all confidence.

"Not yet, I’m thinking!" The old man said sheepishly.

"Ah! You’ve been thinking for half a month with the first move!"

"Damn!" Jiang Xingchen was speechless, thinking the game had just started...

After dinner, Jiang Xingchen called Du Roshan and asked him to go out again to buy a large amount of beast tendon thread.

Du Roshan and the entire Sky-Shaking Mercenary Group were very curious, wondering why they needed so much beast tendon thread. However, none of them asked.

The old man, hearing Jiang Xingchen’s instructions, realized that Jiang Xingchen might not have been lying earlier. But the idea of catching tens of thousands of pounds of fish was still...

The next morning, Jiang Xingchen called the villagers to the lord’s residence and selected those who knew how to weave nets. By then, the whole village knew that Jiang Xingchen was planning to go fishing, and everyone was amazed.

Everyone was skeptical, as winter fishing was too unbelievable. They couldn’t imagine how to lay the nets, especially on the ice.

The villagers were very supportive of Jiang Xingchen, and although they thought it was impossible, they didn’t say anything. However, Jiang Xingchen could clearly see the doubt in their eyes.

"Ha ha!" Jiang Xingchen chuckled to himself, imagining the villagers’ surprise when they saw the fish.

"Brother! Can you really catch fish with a net? It’s all frozen now!" Meier gently tugged at Jiang Xingchen’s sleeve and asked.

"What, you don’t believe it either?" Jiang Xingchen smiled and patted Meier’s head.

"Of course I believe it! Brother, you have all sorts of strange ideas, I believe anything you do!" Meier said with a bright smile.

"What do you mean by strange ideas!" Jiang Xingchen was speechless, "They’re called creative ideas, okay..."

This time, Du Roshan returned quickly, bringing back a whole cart of beast tendon thread, almost emptying the supply of a town.

Beast tendon thread wasn’t made from pure beast tendons but was mostly made from the fibers of a tendon tree, which was very strong and elastic, similar to nylon from his previous life, but not as strong.

After buying the thread, Jiang Xingchen started making ropes, as the beast tendon thread was too thin to make a large net.

Despite their skepticism, the villagers, seeing the lord’s seriousness, joined in the work. Soon, Qing Shan Village, which was usually quiet in the cold winter, became bustling.

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