Chapter 89 – The fish fence
Translated by Sunyancai
Not long after Shao Xuan returned home, Lang Ga came over to inform him that he needs to participate in the patrolling. Every hunting group would oversee a small region, and they were divided into three batches taking turns guarding the tribe.
participating in the patrol did not mean that he would encounter anything dangerous, for it was only a preventive action. There were too many unknown factors in the river after all, and it was better to safe than sorry.
“Mai and the others will start patrolling tonight. You and me will go and take their spot tomorrow in the morning.” Said Lang Ga.
“Okay, I got it. Do I need to bring anything?” asked Shao Xuan.
“No need to bring too many things, a few pieces of useful stoneware will be enough. Every patrolling mission only lasts for half a day.” Lang Ga pointed at the mountain foot, “Over there, near the river. It’s somewhere near the place that you used to go fishing.”
“You probably wouldn’t know, for you stayed in the orphan cave last year… But when the rainy season comes, the river would rise a lot, and it can reach up to…there!” Lang Ga pointed it out for Shao Xuan.
Where he pointed, there was a line of stones, below which no cabin or house existed.
So even those residents in the mountain foot district would only live near the mountain foot, but not build anything directly at the foot of the mountain, because the water rose up high in the rainy season. There had been some people stationed near the riverside for fishing before, but now they all withdrew to higher ground. No one would ever go close to the river before the end of the rainy season.
Thinking that Shao Xuan probably had no idea of what might happen in the rainy season, Lang Ga told him some things about the rainy seasons in the past. When the rain had eased off, Lang Ga took Shao Xuan out to their patrolling area to have him become familiar with it. He also wanted Shao Xuan to be prepared for it. Although the place that they were guarding wouldn’t have many difficulties, they needed to stay alert.
“So you’re saying that the hunting team won’t go out for hunting missions until the rainy season’s over?” Asked Shao Xuan.
Earlier, he assumed that the hunting team was only staying in the tribe for some time, and they would go out hunting once there’s no abnormal thing. However, based on what Lang Ga was saying, the hunting team would likely spend all the rainy season in the tribe? Then what would people eat if they hadn’t stored enough food?!
“We have no other options. This is the tribe’s rule. Many people up in the mountain have stored enough food, and their game is of relatively higher quality. So they, for sure, could survive the rainy season. But people down the mountain have opposite situations. Even if they have stored something, their food contains limited energy, for the game was not strong enough. They will get hungry no matter what. But!” Lang Ga chuckled, “It’s far better than the winters. During the rainy season, some things would come out from the river, and we can collect them as food supply.”
“Some things?” Shao Xuan thought about the different kinds of insects in the training grounds, and he frowned subconsciously. But if there was nothing else to eat, they had to diet on that.
“You’ll see when they come.” Lang Ga did not explain much, “We won’t starve.”
Hmm?
Now Shao Xuan became really curious. Based on Lang Ga’s words, the things were not the insects that popped out from the training grounds. So, what were they?
“It happens once in a year. Although dangerous, it isn’t that dangerous if we are careful enough. It’s okay. Don’t worry.” Lang Ga tapped on Shao Xuan’s shoulder with his fist as encouragement.
Shao Xuan rubbed his shoulder as he stared at the river in the rain.
Afar on the river, the lords of the water were constantly leaping out high. Shao Xuan wondering something after observing those Dreads. Judging by the movements as they leaped, the lords of the water seemed to be swimming towards the same direction. If it was an isolated case, he might just as well ignore it. But the fact was, all the Dreads that leaped up were facing the same direction, with no exception!
“In that direction, is the river going upstream or downstream?” Shao Xuan pointed at the same direction that the Horrors were swimming towards.
“Upstream or downstream? I don’t know. I’ve never been there. It’s too far away.” Lang Ga said easily. For him, the terms upstream and downstream made no difference, so he cared not to think much about it.
Shao Xuan looked in that direction, while thinking and wondering what the place was, and why would all the lords of the water swim towards that direction. The river was very wide. If it hadn’t been freshwater, he would’ve assumed the river to be the ocean…The ocean?!
Did the river travel to the ocean?!
Shao Xuan memorized the two hunting trips he had experienced, and roughly speculated the positions and terrain. He figured out that the lords of the water were probably swimming in the downstream direction. Well, if the river did travel to the ocean, then why would the lords of the water swim to the ocean during the rainy seasons?
Many kinds of fishes would have periodic directional round trips due to various of reasons such as reproduction, food or seasons. It was the so-called migratory instinct. So, were the lords of the water having similar migratory habits?
Shao Xuan shook his head. All was speculation. He won’t get any answer from Lang Ga and the others, for they had no idea what the ocean was.
Doesn’t matter whether those lords of the water were migrating during the rainy season, Shao Xuan could do nothing given the circumstances right now. However, later when he returns, he will record all the phenomenons he has observed into his own “notebook”.
Shao Xuan had already collected and gathered some animal skins which were good for writing. He used them to take records, including the pictures that he saw in the orphan cave. He pictured them based on his memories. If the animal skin doesn’t last long, he will carve them on stone plates in the future.
Shao Xuan turned his gaze slowly from the vague giant figures afar, and looked at the riverside for a while. Suddenly, he said, “Lang Ga, what do you say if we make a few fish fences here?”
Lang Ga was thinking about how much food he would be able to collect during this rainy season, but immediately he was brought back by Shao Xuan’s question. He asked curiously, “Fish fence? What’s that?”
“So, we use wood sticks and nets to make something to block the fish.” Shao Xuan briefly described the fish fence he had in mind, and continued, “I’m thinking, that perhaps we can set a simple trap by making those fish fences.”
“Traps?” Lang Ga instantly had sparkles in his eyes.
“In fact, it’s something simple….” Shao Xuan took out the stone knife that he brought with him, and began to draw on the ground.
Lang Ga was also quite obsessed with setting traps, and as soon as he heard about Shao Xuan’s explanation, he could imagine Shao Xuan’s whole image with the help of the pictures he drew on the ground.
Lang Ga tapped on his head, and said regretfully, “Why hadn’t I thought of that!”
What Shao Xuan wanted to make was a fish-fence-like simple trap. It was not difficult to make, and no other precise setting was needed. It was the same as setting a fish fence. Wood or stone pillars would be made into a fence, set up around a region.
The fish fences would coil around like a mosquito coil. Some of them were circular, while others were square. Shao Xuan wanted to see what different effects different shapes would make. The entrance of the fish-fence-like trap would be in the direction of the river.
Or, he could use the fish fence to make a space, like the capital word omega “Ω”. Unlike the first two types, this trap’s entrance would be facing the bank. So, during ebb, the fish swimming inside the trap would be blocked inside.
Unless the fish trapped had really high IQ, they would not be able to swim out on their own. Shao Xuan had tried it in his former life, and it always worked.
However, since Shao Xuan did not participate in the tribal patrolling duty in the past, he was not sure whether such equipment could be set up now. Hence he asked Lang Ga about it.
“Yes, totally doable! No problem!” Lang Ga looked at the river surface which was not rising rapidly. He called on Shao Xuan, “Now, let’s find the proper stones as soon as possible, and set the trap while the water’s not rising!”
Something in the river would eat timber, so they could not use wood when setting the fish fences. The only material that they could use was stone. Now it was not the time to care about the stone’s material, so the stone pillars for the fish fence were not so hard to make.
So, when Mai took the first batch of warriors to came here for patrolling, they saw Shao Xuan and Lang Ga being busy doing something along the riverside. From the riverbank to the stone line that was set by the tribe, there were quite a few fish fences standing there in the distance.
Due to limited time, they were too busy to care about the appearances of the fish fences. The stone pillars were not of the same thickness, and some of them were even as thick as people’s thighs. People could totally stand on them.