How would Feng Jiu’er know what was going on?
But that doubt in her heart seemed to grow larger and larger by the moment.
Jiu Qing, the Ninth Imperial Uncle… If Jiu Qing truly was the Ninth Imperial Uncle, why was he concealing it from her?
Could it be he was afraid her acting would be too poor and she’d give them away in front of everyone?
That was far too underestimating of her, wasn’t it?
Sigh. Was he or wasn’t he? This was so frustrating!
Yanu led his men out and returned before long with a great heap of Feng-ce Orchid grass.
“Someone recognized the grass — it’s called Feng-ce Orchid. Once you strip away the outer skin, what’s left is these fine, densely-packed strands,” Yanu explained, demonstrating for Jiu’er.
Feng Jiu’er took some of the Feng-ce Orchid herself, gently rubbed it, and rolled off the outer skin. Sure enough, inside were long, slender fibers.
These fibers were astonishingly tough — she could not tear them apart no matter how hard she pulled!
What a vast world this was — truly still full of so many things she had never encountered before. Simply incredible!
“Why did you have them bring back so much grass?” In Qiao Mu’s eyes, this pile was nothing but weeds — useless, and inedible besides.
“Help me strip the skin off all this Feng-ce Orchid. I assure you it will be useful.”
Jiu’er gathered an armful and walked to the open ground ahead, where she began sorting through it herself.
Naturally, Yanu deferred to her in everything — whatever Jiu’er asked of him, he never refused.
Without further ado, he scooped up the remaining Feng-ce Orchid and followed her over.
The others had their own tasks to attend to and did not follow.
Qiao Mu hurried after them quickly. “Jiu’er, let me help you.”
Of course — as long as Yanu was there, she was more than happy to do anything.
Qiao Mu deliberately chose a good spot and sat down beside Yanu, the two of them working together to strip the outer skin from the Feng-ce Orchid.
“But Jiu’er, what are you actually going to do with all this?” By now she had figured out that once it was stripped, the result would be an extraordinarily fine kind of cord.
“Weave a net.” Once everyone had produced a sizable pile, Jiu’er set them to continue working while she herself genuinely began weaving a net.
“What for?” Qiao Mu seemed to have rather a lot of questions.
“You’ll see shortly.”
But “shortly” was not quite the right word — for once they got started, they ended up working for a full hour.
It was already nearing midnight by the time Yanu and Qiao Mu had finally stripped the outer skin from all of the Feng-ce Orchid.
Looking at Jiu’er again — her hands had grown quite quick, yet still, only a small portion of the net had been woven.
“Let me help you.” Yanu shifted over beside Jiu’er and picked up the other end of the net.
“What on earth are you making this for?” Qiao Mu stood up and stretched with a long, lazy yawn.
She could manage rough work well enough, but fussing with these long, slender strands was genuinely difficult — her eyes were practically going crossed.
“I already said you’d see shortly. Too many questions — come quickly and help weave the net.”
The strands were so fine that the weaving moved quite slowly.
Jiu’er thought for a moment, then looked at Qiao Mu, who had just sat back down. “Go check whether Xue Gu and Keyan are asleep yet. If they aren’t, ask them to come and help.”
Qiao Mu leapt up, turned, and headed toward where the others were resting.
Before long, she had indeed brought back Tuoba Keyan and Xue Gu.
Tuoba Keyan, just like Yanu, took one look at what Feng Jiu’er was doing and immediately began weaving alongside her.
Xue Gu frowned, looking puzzled. “What is this for?”
“Fishing net.”
“Fishing net?”
Jiu’er said nothing more.
After exchanging a glance, Xue Gu and Qiao Mu had no choice but to sit down and focus on finishing the remaining Feng-ce Orchid weaving first.
An hour later, Feng Jiu’er, Yanu, and Tuoba Keyan were carrying the finished fishing net with great excitement as they walked toward the small river.
Feng Jiu’er fetched two slender, long branches, threaded the fishing net through them, and bent down to roll up her trouser legs.
Tuoba Keyan and Yanu both changed expressions in an instant. Yanu hurriedly said, “What are you doing?”
“Going into the river, of course.”
“I’ll go!” Tuoba Keyan rolled up his own trousers, pulled off his shoes, gave Feng Jiu’er no chance at all to object, snatched the branches and the fishing net from her hands, and stepped into the river in one stride.
She was a young lady — to actually roll up her trousers and expose her legs in front of everyone, then wade into the river barefoot?
Even knowing full well that she was not that sort of person, this girl was genuinely far too unconventional.
How could something like that be left for a young lady to do?
Jiu’er did not protest. She had a fair idea of how men in this era viewed such things.
“Yanu, then you take this end — just like Keyan, but you only need to stay at the riverbank. You don’t need to wade across.”
“This river flows too fast. The fish will be gone the instant you lay eyes on one — how could anyone catch them?”
Xue Gu had tried before with her own people, even in the brief time when there had been a little daylight — and they had caught nothing. How much less now, in the middle of the third watch of the night when nothing could be seen?
“It’s precisely because the current is swift that this will work. If the water flowed slowly, catching them would actually be harder!”
Jiu’er watched Tuoba Keyan, and when he had waded far enough out, she called quickly, “Keyan, stop right there — drive the branches into the riverbed mud, make sure they’re firmly planted.”
“Yanu, you do the same — work together with him and push the branches in.”
“Alright.” The two nodded and began pressing the branches into the riverbed.
Xue Gu thought for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up. “I understand now — you want the fish to swim into the net on their own, don’t you?”
“Exactly.”
Though, Feng Jiu’er could not be sure how many fish were actually in this river. They would try first and see.
The commotion they were making quickly drew a crowd of brothers. Twenty or thirty men gathered along the riverbank — most had not yet grasped the principle behind it, but they all seemed eager and itching to leap in themselves.
Feng Jiu’er had Yanu and Tuoba Keyan return to the bank. Everyone stood along the water’s edge and waited in quiet.
Jiu Qing sat atop a rocky ledge over the mountain stream, watching from a distance the slender figure by the river.
Whatever she set her mind to doing, he knew — this girl would always find a way to succeed.
Yet…
He suddenly raised his gaze and looked toward the mountain ravine on the far side of the river.
In the dead of night, no matter how keen one’s eyesight, it was impossible to make out the figures concealed within that distant ravine.
But he knew — in those mountains far across the way, a considerable number of people lay hidden, and even now they were watching this side with hungry, predatory attention.
For the moment, though, his group’s perimeter defense was solid enough that those people had not yet dared to move.
The distance was far too great — ordinary people would most likely have no idea those hidden figures were there at all.
Jiu Qing withdrew his gaze and looked down at the young woman below.
After approximately the time it took two incense sticks to burn, Feng Jiu’er began issuing commands, directing Yanu and Tuoba Keyan to enter the water and lift the net.
When word spread that it was time to pull in the net, everyone immediately crowded over. No one had ever seen such a rudimentary fishing net — could something this simple actually scoop up fish?
Most critically: this river ran far too fast. Were there even truly any fish in it?
“Remember, you need to move in unison. Bring up the bottom of the net first. Whatever you do, don’t go one ahead of the other — you need to be in sync, understood?”
Jiu’er directed from the bank, wishing she could wade down and pull the net up herself.
Tuoba Keyan and Yanu exchanged a glance, then together lifted up the bottom of the net…