Chapter 59: Discovering the Mango

The fish trap was extremely heavy. Xu Yi knew the harvest was substantial the moment he started pulling it up.

"Daddy, so many fish! We can have fish soup."

Su Keke clapped her small hands in delight. Compared to eating dried smoked fish, she much preferred fresh ones.

This way, not only would there be fish meat to eat, but also delicious fish soup to enjoy.

"There are too many fish here for us to finish. We'll slaughter enough for today, and keep the rest alive in the river."

Xu Yi believed that fish were best eaten fresh, so he planned to keep them alive in the fish trap for now.

"I'll go back and get the back-basket. Keeping them all crammed in one trap might cause some to die."

With that, Xu Yi put the funnel-shaped entrance back into the fish trap and lowered it back into the river.

Today, he didn't have that much time to process all these fish. Besides, the taste of dried smoked fish was indeed somewhat inferior.

Lacking saltiness, it carried only a heavy smoky flavor.

It was fine to make do with it occasionally, but eating it day in and day out was simply not sustainable.

Xu Yi ran back quickly, retrieved the back-basket from the treehouse, and returned to Su Keke's side.

The gaps in the back-basket were also quite small, so Xu Yi first emptied the fish from the trap into the back-basket.

"Let's pick out the crabs and the dead fish first and put them in the bucket. We'll deal with those today."

Su Keke nodded, and the two of them began sorting the catch.

This haul was larger than the previous one; the fish trap had been almost completely filled.

Consequently, quite a few fish had indeed perished.

The number of crabs wasn't very large—only seventeen in total, all of them small river crabs.

A good number of fish had died as well, around twenty-odd, but they were still fresh without any foul, fishy odor, and their bellies weren't bloated, meaning they were still edible.

The remaining fish were divided into two portions by Xu Yi: one part placed in the back-basket, and the other returned to the fish trap, which was then lowered back into the river.

Next, Xu Yi and Su Keke thoroughly cleaned the dead fish, carried them back to the camp, and set them to boil.

Cooking them didn't take much time, so Xu Yi wasn't in a rush.

After the two of them had a bowl of fish and a few crabs each, they got back to work.

Xu Yi led Su Keke to gather thin tree vines. Because the requirements for the vines were quite strict, it was also rather time-consuming.

Vines that were too thick were difficult to tie; they had to be sufficiently slender while possessing good flexibility.

"Daddy, this tree seems to be hollow."

Su Keke tapped it with the spear in her hand, producing a sound reminiscent of tapping bamboo.

"Hollow?"

Xu Yi glanced over. The tree in question grew quite short, barely over a meter tall, resembling a large bamboo shoot—thick at the base and tapering continuously upward.

Thus, he walked over and made a cut along the base.

"It really is hollow! That's wonderful, we can use these to carry water."

Xu Yi hadn't expected to encounter such a plant.

There were six such hollow trees in this area, so Xu Yi chopped all of them down.

"The bark of this tree is very hard yet quite thin, giving it a bit of a gourd-like feel. Let's call them gourd trees."

"Moreover, they're very light—truly an exceptional container."

Their maximum diameter did not exceed ten centimeters. As long as they fashioned a stopper, these could store boiled water brilliantly.

If cut down to two-thirds of their length, the diameter might not even exceed five centimeters, making them easy to strap onto oneself and carry water to more distant places.

This discovery was immensely valuable.

Xu Yi tied all these gourd trees together, hoisted them onto his shoulder, and resumed his search for vines.

"Keke, do you smell mangoes?"

Xu Yi suddenly asked, sniffing hard at the air.

"Mangoes?"

"Daddy, did you find mangoes?"

Su Keke grew instantly excited, gazing around as saliva began to pool in her mouth.

"No, I just smelled a scent identical to mangoes. It's exceptionally fragrant."

"Come on, it seems to be coming from this direction."

Carrying the bundle of gourd trees, Xu Yi walked toward the source of the fragrance.

After walking for a few minutes, Xu Yi and Su Keke spotted a mango tree with fruit hanging from its branches.

The tree wasn't very large, only two to three meters tall, and the mangoes upon it weren't overly abundant—just thirty or forty of them.

However, the mangoes were by no means small, each about the size of Xu Yi's palm.

"It really is a mango tree! We actually found a mango tree."

Xu Yi walked over happily and, as usual, scanned the vicinity with his X-ray vision.

There were no signs of any animals in the immediate area.

Because the mango tree was low, Xu Yi simply reached out and plucked one.

"It's already a bit soft; it should be ripe."

"The skin is greenish, so it must be a variety of green mango."

Using his fingernail, Xu Yi broke the skin and peeled off a small patch.

The skin wasn't very easy to peel, indicating it wasn't yet fully ripe.

"This shouldn't be toxic. Daddy will test it."

With that, Xu Yi took a bite and plucked another one to hand to Su Keke.

The entry was somewhat sweet, accompanied by a slight astringent sensation.

"Delicious! The fiber of this mango is very fine, and the flesh is very soft. It's not fully ripe yet, so it has a slight astringency, and the sweetness isn't very strong."

"Still, for us, this is already an exceptionally delicious treat."

After all, this was the wilderness, and these were wild varieties; they naturally differed from the mangoes cultivated by humans over many years.

Su Keke didn't speak; she simply focused intently on eating the mango in her hand.

"Also, the pit is a bit large, so there isn't an overwhelming amount of flesh."

Xu Yi finished his first mango quickly and began harvesting the rest from the tree.

Since he had encountered them, there was no way he would let them go.

When food was scarce, these mangoes could fill their stomachs and serve as a meal.

After gathering them all, Xu Yi counted thirty-one in total.

These mangoes weren't light; the entire lot weighed over ten jin.

Xu Yi's snakeskin backpack was packed to the brim, making him worry that the straps might snap under the weight.

"Keke, let's head back first."

Although the thin vines they had collected hadn't reached the quantity Xu Yi desired, between the mangoes and the gourd trees he had just harvested, it was no longer suitable to continue searching for vines.

"Daddy, let me carry some of the thin vines. I have strength."

Su Keke had her hands free, but Xu Yi was loaded down with items, so she wanted to help shoulder some of the burden.

"Then you can carry a bundle of thin vines."

A small bundle weighed four to five jin, but because Xu Yi had bundled them rather large, she could sling them across her body.

This weight was well within Su Keke's capacity.

Thus, Su Keke cheerfully slung the vines across her body, picked up her spear, and walked ahead of Xu Yi.

With his arms full of thin vines, mangoes, and gourd trees, Xu Yi was naturally in no position to clear the path.

Fortunately, they encountered no dangers on the return journey and successfully transported everything back to the camp safe and sound.

"Daddy, it looks like some animal has been here."

As soon as Su Keke put her burdens down, she caught a whiff of a pungent, urine-like odor.

The smell was quite piercing, so she picked up on it immediately.