When the second snake slithered out, Feng Jiu’er pulled Jian Yi back.

“Let me.”

No sooner had she spoken than a silver needle in her hand pierced the snake’s body; the large snake writhed once and went still.

“Don’t kill them by cutting—snake blood is valuable too. We’ll finish them off once we’re back.”

As the fire grew, more and more snakes crawled out.

Before long, at least a dozen had emerged.

They let the smaller ones go and ended up with six large ones.

This was when the rope-grass that Duan Liuyang and Yue Qinchun had gathered came in handy.

One length of rope was used to tie three snakes together, and the six large snakes were slung over the two ends of a branch.

Gong Xinyue carried the branch, while Xing Zizhou and Jian Yi picked up the earlier catches, and everyone headed toward the lake together.

“So many fish, come and look, everyone.”

Yue Qinchun waved excitedly at the others.

“They don’t look easy to catch, though—hurry up and come over.”

The lake was large, with both shallow and deep areas, but the water was clear enough to see all the way to the bottom.

Yue Qinchun’s fair, slender finger pointed at a school of fish, and she jumped up happily.

“Come quick, all of you! Hurry!”

“There really are so many fish,” Gong Xing’er’s clear, sweet voice rang out.

“Brother Shiyi, hurry and catch some fish! Xing’er loves braised fish the most—Xing’er will cook it for you, all right?”

“All right!”

No sooner had he spoken than Long Shiyi leapt into the water.

Unfortunately, in the water, Brother Shiyi wasn’t nearly as nimble as he was on land.

After thrashing about for quite a while, when he surfaced, his hands were empty.

“Xing’er, the fish here swim too fast—I can’t seem to catch them.”

“Let me try.”

Gong Xing’er crouched down and began taking off her boots.

Gong Xinyue stopped her.

“Xing’er, autumn has already begun—the water’s cold now, don’t go in. Let’s think of another way first.”

“Right.”

Long Shiyi smiled at the two Gong sisters. “You just sit and wait for me.”

With that, he dove back into the water.

Everyone watched him “playing” with the fish, feelings of amusement mixed with genuine anxiety.

After a while, Qiao Mu turned to look at Feng Jiu’er, who had turned and was walking away.

“Jiu’er, do you have an idea?”

She hurried to catch up.

With so many people around, catching fish by hand wasn’t entirely impossible, but it was far too slow.

Besides, Qiao Mu had studied the lake’s terrain—the rocks underwater were slippery, and even getting in the water wouldn’t make it easy to catch fish, with the added risk of injury.

Gong Xing’er sat on the grass, tilting her head to one side.

Watching Long Shiyi surface and dive again and again without success, she sighed.

“Why do the fish swim so fast? Brother Shiyi, be careful! Xing’er doesn’t necessarily have to eat fish.”

In the sunlight, the soaked Long Shiyi waved toward Gong Xing’er.

“It’s fine, just wait a bit longer.”

“Mm-hm.”

Gong Xing’er stood up and waved back.

“Brother Shiyi, be careful!”

“Okay.”

Long Shiyi nodded and dove back under.

Stirred up by his movements, the lake water grew a little murky, and Gong Xing’er couldn’t see clearly what was happening beneath the surface.

She kept her eyes fixed on the ripples in the water, unaware that everyone else had gone off to work on something else.

Feng Jiu’er found a kind of grass with excellent flexibility, suitable for making a fishing net.

In the past, she had made similar nets with her sworn brothers—it took some time to make, but the results were always excellent.

Everyone gathered together to make the net; Jian Yi left for a while and came back with some fruit.

Long Shiyi, after finally catching one fish, returned to shore and sat down beside Gong Xing’er.

“Brother Shiyi, you’re amazing! Even such a slippery, big fish got caught by you.”

Gong Xing’er stood behind Long Shiyi’s tall figure, resting her hands on his shoulders, peeking her head out from behind him.

Long Shiyi tied the fish with a rope of grass and put it back into the water.

He turned and handed the other end of the rope to Gong Xing’er.

“Hold onto this, I’ll go try again.”

“Mm-hm.”

Gong Xing’er took hold of the rope.

The fish wasn’t small, and it thrashed about even while tied, forcing Gong Xing’er to grip the rope tightly.

Long Shiyi rubbed the little head beside him, stood up, and stepped back into the water.

Gong Xing’er watched the fish, unable to escape, for a while, then turned around.

“Jiu’er, sister, what are you all doing? My Brother Shiyi caught a fish.”

She stood up and looked toward the group.

Yue Qinchun stood up too and waved at Gong Xing’er. “Xing’er, Jiu’er is teaching us how to make a fishing net—we’ll be done soon.”

“Mm.”

Gong Xing’er nodded, turned, and crouched back down by the lake.

The net took roughly an hour to complete. By the time everyone brought the finished net over, Long Shiyi and Gong Xing’er were lying together on the grass by the lake.

Beneath their feet, two ropes were tied to a large stone.

The two fish seemed to have gotten used to being tied up, swimming leisurely back and forth.

“How did you handle it earlier?” Long Shiyi turned his head to ask Gong Xing’er.

“I didn’t do anything special, I just left it alone.”

Gong Xing’er answered with a smile.

Hearing footsteps, the two of them sat up together.

Long Shiyi took Gong Xing’er’s small hand and helped her stand.

“Is it finished?”

Long Shiyi asked, looking at the net in Jian Yi and Xing Zizhou’s hands.

“Mm.”

Feng Jiu’er nodded. “It’s a bit simple, but it won’t need to last long—let’s give it a try.”

“All right.”

Long Shiyi walked toward Jian Yi.

He took the net from Jian Yi’s hands and turned back to Feng Jiu’er.

“Just put it in the water, right?”

“Mm, you stay on this side, Xing Zizhou goes…” Feng Jiu’er looked up toward the opposite shore.

“Xing Zizhou, go over there—the distance should be about right.”

“All right.”

Xing Zizhou walked to the lakeside, exchanged a glance with Long Shiyi, turned, and leapt.

He landed steadily on the rock Feng Jiu’er had just pointed out, turned, and looked at the others.

“Pull it taut, and lower it into the water together.”

Feng Jiu’er said softly.

Long Shiyi and Xing Zizhou each pulled from one side and bent down.

The net dropped into the water, both ends secured in place.

Soon after, Xing Zizhou got into the water as well.

He drove the fish from the left side of the net while Long Shiyi drove from the right.

A quarter of an hour later, Feng Jiu’er said, “We can pull the net in now.”

Xing Zizhou climbed ashore while Long Shiyi stayed in the water; together, the two of them slowly pulled the net toward the shore.

“There are fish!”

Sharp-eyed Gong Xing’er noticed immediately.

“There really are.”

Yue Qinchun grew excited as well.

“So many at once, so many!”

Gong Xing’er hurried over and stood behind Long Shiyi.

“There are shrimp too, Brother Shiyi, be careful! Don’t let them get away.”

“Mm.”

Long Shiyi nodded. “Go get some rope ready.”

Fortunately, once he’d learned that Jiu’er and the others were making a net, he hadn’t kept fishing blindly on his own.

With a net, catching fish was no longer any trouble at all.

“Jiu’er really is clever—she can always figure out a way.”

Long Shiyi couldn’t help but marvel.

“That’s right.”

Gong Xing’er turned with a smile. “I’ll go get the rope ready—there are so, so many fish.”

“Jiu’er’s net turned out to be so useful.”

Yue Qinchun turned as well. “Xing’er, wait for me, let’s go together.”