Protect Our Chief - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Capturing the Crimson-scaled Eel

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

…

“Sixth Uncle, these are all secrets regarding the rise of the clan. Confidentiality is the basis of everything.” Wang Shouzhe temporarily gave up on the idea of sharing about lure fishing with him and said solemnly.

“I understand. I’ll be extra careful when doing all of this. When the time comes, please assign me two clan guards.” Wang Dinghai was so excited that his whole body was trembling. “In addition, I have some ideas about the lift nets. A lift net can be quickly modified from cast nets. Let’s test the effect first. If it’s possible…”

His eyes were shining. He couldn’t wait to experiment.

The Dingpu Crossing to the Rubble Beach was the Wang Clan’s territory. Ordinary people would not dare to approach the riverbank. After all, the riverbank had not been developed and had only been briefly cleared. There were all kinds of inadvertent dangers.

In addition, the section of the river was winding and had many remote and hidden places. After being inspired by Wang Shouzhe, Wang Dinghai, who was familiar with the fishing industry, had already come up with many plans and ideas.

After Wang Shouzhe agreed, Wang Dinghai sailed the boat all the way to a small hidden pier along the section of the river. Every small pier here was a secret stronghold that could be used for many different purposes. A cunning rabbit had three burrows, not to mention the Wang Clan’s fishing fleet.

There was also a hidden wooden cabin beside the small pier, which was a place to rest and avoid the wind and waves. Wang Dinghai accommodated Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui in this simple and humble place. After leaving Wang Goudan to serve them, he left in a hurry.

“This is the first time I’ve seen Sixth Uncle so energetic.” Gongsun Hui sighed. “From the looks of it, Zhe’er, the fishing ideas you provided will be very effective.”

“I read all of them from an ancient book. No judgment can be made without using them in practice. I hope it’s useful to the clan.” Wang Shouzhe smiled and said to Wang Goudan, “Goudan, do you know how to roast fish?”

“Yes.” Wang Goudan nodded quickly. “P-Patriarch, I’ll go roast some fish right now.” With that, he slipped out of the room.

When only Gongsun Hui and Wang Shouzhe were left, Gongsun Hui studied Wang Shouzhe carefully, until Wang Shouzhe was a little nervous. Only then did she say, “Zhe’er, you’ve changed. You’ve become carefree, uninhibited, and very confident. In the past, you only knew how to cultivate with all your might and didn’t care about anything else. If I hadn’t watched you grow up, I really would have suspected that you had been swapped.”

“Mother, you must be joking. In the past, with Father holding the fort, I could naturally ignore everything.” Wang Shouzhe’s expression was calm as he sighed and said, “But now that Father has passed away, the clan’s situation has already worsened to such an extent. If I still don’t pull myself together, what will happen to the Wang Clan? Mother, let’s not talk about this for now. You’ve been exhausted during this journey, so you should rest for a while. Let’s look forward to Sixth Uncle’s surprise later.”

Wang Shouzhe took control of the situation and proactively ended the conversation. He took the lead and closed his eyes to rest.

More than an hour later, Wang Goudan brought back a few golden roasted fish that smelled delicious. Wang Shouzhe took out two large coppers and threw them to him. “This is your reward. Wait outside.”

“Thank you, Patriarch.” Wang Goudan ran out, overjoyed.

He shared the roasted fish with Gongsun Hui. Although Goudan’s culinary skills were ordinary and he had only sprinkled some coarse salt, the advantage was that the ingredients were fresh and of excellent quality. Wang Shouzhe enjoyed the flavor and was full of praises.

It was Gongsun Hui’s first time eating such unrefined food. Her beautiful eyes flickered after she ate a few mouthfuls, as if it suited her taste very well.

After finishing the few roasted fish, Wang Dinghai’s excited voice came from outside. “Shouzhe, Sister-in-law, come out and take a look.”

Hearing it, Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui went outside and arrived at the side of the small pier. They saw that Wang Dinghai had already prepared a simple lift net moving according to the plan. Good grief, that lift net made Wang Shouzhe’s eyebrows twitch. The four supporting poles were all round wood as thick as an arm, and the main pole was even thicker than a thigh.

This thing was too heavy. It must be two to three hundred catties in weight. Earthlings could not possibly move it.

Wang Dinghai stood on the wooden dock. He coordinated the power in his waist and legs, exerted a little strength to pull the cable, and the heavy lift net was easily pried out of the water by him.

Heh, he forgot that that guy was a Arcane Martial Artist at the fifth level of the Qi Refining Realm. His strength was more than ten times greater than that of an ordinary Earthling.

Boom!

A big fish was caught in the lift net. The big fish made a sudden explosion of water, but was blocked by the net. Before it could react, it was pulled out of the water and lying in the middle of the net, waiting to be slaughtered. In addition, there were a few small fishes that weighed one to two to three catties lying silently beside it.

“Good!”

The surrounding fishermen cheered excitedly, scooping the catches out hurriedly with scoop nets. Although it was a scarlet carp without much value, with a weight of six to seven catties, it could be sold for dozens of dimes. At the same time, it also proved the effect of lift nets.

Then, under Wang Shouzhe’s personal guidance, Wang Dinghai made further improvements to the lift net. He installed an inverted rod, weights and so on.

The principle was very simple. It was like the see-saw on Earth. However, this see-saw was a triangular shape. The two ends were connected by a cable. The other end of the see-saw was equipped with a suitable weight. As long as one applied slight pressure, the other end would raise the lift net like a see-saw.

Another four hours passed with their preparations, and the sky was already dark by the time they got everything busy. However, everyone was in high spirits. They could lift the net every less than half an hour, and it wouldn’t take much effort.

Of course, it was impossible to avoid empty nets. However, it was already dark at this time, and many fishes had begun to quietly approach the shore under the cover of night to search for food along the shore. There was much more food by the shore than in the center of the large river.

Boom! Splash!

After a few rounds of empty nets, there would always be a loud sound, followed by a big fish or something. Occasionally, there would be two or three in a net. This made the fishermen and Wang Dinghai extremely excited.

“Shouzhe, we’re rich, we’re rich,” Wang Dinghai reported in ecstasy, holding a torch. “We lifted thirty nets in the past two hours, five escaped, and we got nine big catches. The small and medium-sized catches were not counted.”

“In just two hours, we’ve already obtained more than 50 catties of catch. The total value is around 10 large coppers.”

Such a terrifying harvest made even Wang Shouzhe a little dumbfounded. This was the Arcane Martial World, and the resources here were much better than on Earth. However, Wang Dinghai also said that it was currently the fishing season, and nighttime was also the best period for fishing, so this harvest was reasonable.

“This thing is much more powerful than net casting,” Wang Dinghai said excitedly. “Net casting gets a lot of catches too, but a fisherman with abundant physical strength can only cast at most a hundred nets in a day before running out of strength. But this new tool doesn’t require too much physical strength, nor does it require technology. We can arrange for two fishermen to take 12-hour shifts or rotating work, and it’s quite safe. After all, the river bank is much less dangerous than the center of the river.”

“That’s right, but you’ve neglected one advantage, which is that it can be replicated.” Wang Shouzhe was also in an excellent mood. “Sixth Uncle, tomorrow, find some skilled craftsmen from the clan and refine this simple and crude thing. Then, we’ll expand its usage gradually and take advantage of this year’s fishing season to earn another sum.”

“The most important thing is to keep it a secret.” Gongsun Hui added, “Sixth Uncle, we can’t expand our workforce blindly. Try to find reliable helpers from the collateral clansmen.”

Everyone added on their own take.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion.

Wang Goudan shouted, “Master Hai, quick, come quick!”

The three of them looked over at the same time and saw a large snake-like creature in the lift net. Its explosive power was extremely fierce. Even with two adult fishermen pressing down on the frame of the lift net to lift it out of the water by force, it was still struggling frantically in the net, shaking the entire frame.

“It’s a Crimson-scaled Eel!” Wang Dinghai was overjoyed, but his expression quickly changed, “Not good, it’s breaking the net!”

The Crimson-scaled eel bit the hole of the netting with its sharp teeth, its body twisting and turning in a frenzy, instantly tearing a large hole in the fishing net. It twisted along the hole to squeeze out.

Without another word, Wang Dinghai dived into the water and swam towards the fish net at an extremely fast speed. Just as the Crimson-scaled Eel was about to escape, he reached out with a large hand and grabbed its neck. His right hand pulled out an underwater spike from his waist and ruthlessly stabbed it in the head, stirring the spike left and right.

Even so, the Scarlet-scaled Eel still wrapped itself around him and stirred with all its might. It was clear that its life force was extremely vigorous. Only after another hour did the thing finally die.

Wang Dinghai dragged it ashore and laid it on the simple pier. The thing was more than 20 feet long, and its thickest place was thicker than a thigh. Its entire body was covered in crimson scales.

“The Crimson-scaled Eel is a Class One aquatic dire beast. Sixth Uncle, this should be an adult Crimson-scaled Eel. It should weigh at least a hundred catties, right?” Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui were also watching curiously.

“Hahaha, it’s more than that. This one weighs at least 150 catties. It’s worth at least 30 to 50 gold.” Wang Dinghai sat on the ground and gasped for breath, his eyes shining with excitement. “If this ferocious creature goes into the water, your Sixth Uncle might not be able to win against it. But this Crimson-scaled Eel is full of treasures. Patriarch, it’s all thanks to you today, hahaha… I’ll bring it to Dingpu Crossing to show off tomorrow.”

…