Chapter 2: Li Yuanjing’s Secret That Shall Not Be Passed Down...

Dinner was a watery vegetable soup.

It was barely thicker than plain water, and you’d need a magnifying glass to find a grain of food in it.

Li Yuanjing took a sip and was left speechless—this bland, thin broth was truly hard to swallow.

Yet beside him, Yuniang was eating as if it were delicious.

Li Yuanjing glanced over and was instantly stunned.

He had a full, large bowl, while Yuniang’s portion was just a small half-bowl.

The crucial detail—

His bowl clearly contained scraps of vegetable stems and leaves, but Yuniang’s bowl had only a bit of vegetable broth.

“Yuniang, I—I'm not feeling particularly hungry today. Here, let me share some with you.”

A sudden ache welled up in Li Yuanjing’s eyes, and he quickly poured half his soup into Yuniang’s bowl, turning away so she wouldn’t see his face.

“Brother, what’s wrong? Do you dislike the way I cook?” Yuniang looked at Li Yuanjing in alarm. She was clever, and soon understood his gesture, quickly adding:

“Brother, you don’t need to worry. The firewood I’ve gathered these days should fetch about eight hundred coins—enough for us to eat and drink.”

“And also…” Yuniang slowly took out the black jade bead she wore around her neck, speaking with resolve:

“Brother, you needn’t worry about the debts either. I’ve had someone appraise this bead; it’s worth roughly ten taels of silver—enough to repay what we owe and cover our taxes.”

Even though Li Yuanjing’s heart had long been hardened like stone, in this moment it felt as though a crack had opened.

He, Li Yuanjing, had lived two lifetimes, and never before had anyone shown him such tenderness.

Though he didn’t know much about antique jade, he could tell that Yuniang’s bead was of exceptional quality—definitely not a common item!

To offer only ten taels for it was daylight robbery.

Li Yuanjing wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to begin. He could only say:

“Yuniang, you mustn’t sell this bead. I’ll find a way to get the silver. Come, I suddenly feel hungry again—let’s share this soup equally.”

With that, Li Yuanjing poured back some soup from Yuniang’s bowl, splitting it evenly between them, and they both drank heartily.

Suddenly, this flavorless vegetable broth tasted to Li Yuanjing a thousand times better than the most expensive dragon-phoenix tonic soup from the future.

Yuniang was taken aback by his demeanor.

Though young, she was far from foolish; she sensed the change in Li Yuanjing’s attitude toward her, which made her both anxious and delighted.

Her brother, it seemed, no longer disliked her.

But she didn’t know how to express her gratitude, and could only take small sips of the soup.

…

The firewood crackled in the hearth.

Even with the wind whistling through broken windows, the room retained a hint of warmth.

On the earthen bed.

Exhausted from the day, Yuniang had fallen into a deep sleep, her face still wearing a smile, as if filled with hope for the future.

Li Yuanjing tucked the quilt around her, wide awake and deep in thought.

He was pondering how to make money.

He couldn’t possibly let a fourteen-year-old girl like Yuniang work herself to the bone just to support him, could he?

Suddenly.

Li Yuanjing’s eyes lit up, and he carefully got out of bed, tiptoeing around the room to search.

Soon.

He let out a triumphant whisper.

He had found the bundle of rattan left behind by the couple, Li Honest and his wife.

Immediately, Li Yuanjing began weaving near the clay stove, working with care.

From memory.

Within ten li downstream from the Great Spring in Quanzi Village, there were no other settlements.

The terrain was extremely narrow, as if split open by a blade into a long, thin fissure.

Because of this, the river’s channel contained many natural deep pools. It was said that, in years past, children playing nearby had accidentally fallen in and drowned.

This meant—

Although Quanzi Village had plenty of water, no one dared fish there.

No one had the skills or the courage; it was truly dangerous.

Now, though it was snowing outside and the air had turned cold, this was the first snow of the year—the cold hadn’t fully set in.

This meant that, even if the edges of the deep pools were frozen, the central parts likely remained unfrozen.

Before long.

Li Yuanjing had finished weaving a rattan basket.

It was shaped much like a vase, with a narrow mouth and a large belly.

Inside the basket’s mouth, he carefully wove dozens of rattan strips into a conical shape, tightly narrowing the opening.

This way—

When fish, attracted by bait, swam inside, they could enter but not escape, achieving the effect of trapping them.

Survival experts in the future, like Bear Grylls and Ed Stafford, had taught similar methods.

He checked the basket thoroughly, making sure there were no flaws—indeed, it was nearly perfect. Li Yuanjing’s spirits soared.

He took a bundle of hemp rope that Yuniang had carefully braided, tying it to the basket, and left thirty or forty meters of slack.

This way—

Even if the cliffs were deep, the rope would suffice.

Though nearly finished, Li Yuanjing was stumped when it came to preparing bait.

There was half a pound, maybe a pound, of grain left in the jar at home, but not a drop of oil.

As everyone knows—

For bait, grain isn’t the most important ingredient; oils and aromatic oils are crucial.

Without the scent of oil, fish were unlikely to bite.

Li Yuanjing’s household was so poor that even mice would starve; he couldn’t use animal offal instead.

What to do?

He paced back and forth, sweating, unable to find a solution.

Inadvertently, he kicked the chamber pot in the corner, and suddenly a spark of inspiration struck him; he clenched his fist in excitement.

He had found a way.

Quickly.

Li Yuanjing took the stone mortar used for crushing garlic, grabbed a handful of grain, and ground it into fragments.

Then.

He unfastened his belt and carefully poured a stream of “golden water” into the mixture, treating it like a precious commodity as he kneaded it into bait.

Using urine as a “seasoning” for fishing was not only a trick of Ed Stafford’s in the future, but also a common method among older generations in Shenzhou—its effectiveness proven time and again.

After everything was ready, dawn was breaking, and Yuniang was groggily rising to make breakfast.

Li Yuanjing called to her, saying he felt better and wanted to exercise outdoors; before she could respond, he grabbed his precious gear and headed out.

It was early, and the road to the little cliff was deserted, sparing Li Yuanjing the trouble of explaining.

Upon seeing the deep pool beneath the cliff, Li Yuanjing’s excitement surged—he pumped his fist repeatedly!

Just as he’d hoped.

The area around the cliff pool was beginning to freeze, but the middle remained open, its dark waters like a mysterious mirror.

Li Yuanjing took out the wooden wedges and hammer he’d prepared, and busied himself on the bank.

He fixed the safety rope of the basket to three wedges, creating triple security, then carefully added his specially prepared bait, throwing the basket with all his strength into the pool.

Splashing sounds echoed as the basket settled in the water.

Li Yuanjing lay exhausted at the edge of the cliff, nervously watching the pool.

He had no choice.

Surviving on such sparse meals, he had little energy.

Though urine-bait fishing had been proven effective by countless predecessors, Li Yuanjing had never succeeded yet, and he felt anxious, waiting patiently.

He wondered—

Hopefully the fish of the Great Qian dynasty weren’t different from those on Blue Star, and would still go for this trick.

“Splish splosh…”

Just as he was thinking this, a series of splashes came from the pool—fish were already entering the trap.

Soon after.

The splashing continued, and more fish swam in.

Perhaps the wild fish in this pool had gone too long without predators or human disturbance, or perhaps people’s fishing methods in this era were too primitive.

Very quickly.

Li Yuanjing saw it.

A huge fish, more than a foot long, barged right into the basket.

He was so thrilled he nearly shouted aloud—more excited than if he’d wooed the daughter of a wealthy boss in the future.

Within less than a quarter of an hour.

At least twenty or thirty fish, of various sizes, had rushed heedlessly into the basket.

With so little space inside, they thrashed about, splashing water everywhere, even shaking the three wedges holding the basket.

“Heh, time to haul in the net.”

Li Yuanjing grinned with excitement, feeling a surge of strength as he carefully pulled up the basket.

“Ah!”

“We’ve struck it rich, truly the heavens never cut off all roads…”

When Li Yuanjing finally hauled it up and saw the catch, he exclaimed in excitement, pounding his thigh repeatedly!

The harvest was even better than he’d imagined.

The basket contained not only twenty-some small crucian carp and grass carp, but also five big fish, each longer than a hand and weighing two or three pounds, some even three or four.

This was enough for Li Yuanjing and Yuniang to eat their fill for a whole day, not just one meal!

He could hardly wait to see the look on Yuniang’s pretty face when she saw so many fish.

Quickly.

Li Yuanjing tidied up the area, covering the wedge holes with earth so that no one would notice.

After all.

Poverty breeds cunning, and adversity breeds theft.

Li Yuanjing, with more than a decade of experience in the cutthroat world of business, knew this lesson well.

…

“Virtuous nephew, Yuanjing, where are you off to? I’ve been looking for you.”

As Li Yuanjing, drained but elated, carried his basket back toward the little slope near his home, eager to show Yuniang he could provide for her—

Not far off.

A middle-aged man, leisurely riding a small donkey and dressed in a brand-new sheepskin coat, suddenly called out to him.

Li Yuanjing started, then recognized the man.

It was Wang Yudao, the foreman among the masons—his father Li Honest’s colleague, living in the neighboring Daguo Village.

No wonder he rode a donkey and dressed so smartly, looking every bit the successful man of his era.

Li Yuanjing hadn’t wanted to reveal the secret of his basket, but had no choice.

He quickly showed only the belly of the basket, keeping the crucial opening hidden.

He smiled and said:

“So it’s Uncle Wang! Where are you heading?”

Wang Yudao glanced at Li Yuanjing’s basket, but made no comment, replying with a smile:

“Nephew, I came especially to find you. I worked with your father for more than ten years, and now…”

“Ah.”

“Here are ten pounds of white rice, a little token from me. Take it, won’t you? I have business in town, so I won’t stop by your house.”

As he spoke, Wang Yudao handed over a small sack of white rice.

“This…”

Li Yuanjing was momentarily stunned.