This Is My Primitive Tribe-Chapter 81 - 75: Breeding Fish Fry

"Everyone, let’s work harder! Once we finish digging this land, we can go back and eat!"

In the fields, Gan Song was diligently using the Bone Plow to turn over the wasteland while calling out to the Wanderers.

As soon as the Wanderers heard the word "eat," their tired bodies were suddenly filled with energy, and their efforts increased.

The soil on the wasteland was very compact, full of grass roots, tree roots, broken stones, and the like. It took a lot of effort to open it up.

But for these Wanderers, reclaiming wasteland for food was much better than their previous life — at least they didn’t have to risk fighting wild beasts in the jungle.

Thanks to Gan Song and the Wanderers’ efforts, the Vine Tribe’s farmland was slowly expanding.

If everything goes smoothly, this new farmland will bring more food to the Vine Tribe.

In front of the bamboo huts, Jiang Xuan drained all the water from a pond he had dug last year.

A simple drain had been constructed at the base of the pond’s dike with stones; it only took opening the blocked stones and mud to drain it.

"Splish splash..."

Jiang Xuan opened the drain, and the pond water began flowing out with a splash.

Inside the drain, Jiang Xuan placed a small fence to allow drainage and prevent the fish from escaping.

Da Jiao and a few Wanderers stood beside Jiang Xuan, each holding a basket made of vines, intended to store fish.

Once the pond was drained, Da Jiao and the Wanderers entered barefoot and loaded the fish into vine baskets.

"Be careful with the pregnant female fish, catch them separately and put them in the basket by the stream, while the other fish are placed in other ponds to continue growing."

"Got it."

Da Jiao responded and continued catching fish with the others.

Jiang Xuan carefully caught a pregnant female fish and carried it to the streamside.

By the side of the stream, there was a large basket placed in a gentle flowing spot, partially submerged in water and partially above the surface.

Jiang Xuan placed the female fish in the basket; it swam a couple of circles and then gradually calmed down, its gills opening and closing to absorb oxygen from the clear stream water.

Jiang Xuan, Da Jiao, and the Wanderers caught all the visible fish in the pond, eventually getting over a dozen pregnant female fish.

These female fish were herbivorous and had a large number of roe in their bellies, which Jiang Xuan intended to use for breeding fish fry.

That was why he cleaned out the pond, as too many miscellaneous fish would eat the roe, making it impossible to breed many fish.

"Chief, why do we need to raise our own fish fry?"

Da Jiao asked Jiang Xuan.

In his mind, just catching fish from outside and fattening them up seemed easier.

Jiang Xuan, while cleaning the pond mud, asked, "Da Jiao, haven’t you thought about how the fish in the river might decrease over time if we keep catching them?"

Da Jiao paused, unsure, "Will they?"

"Of course they will. Haven’t you noticed there’s been fewer fish in the stream?"

Da Jiao thought for a moment, nodding, "It seems like there are indeed fewer fish."

Jiang Xuan continued, "This situation will worsen as our tribe’s population grows, until there comes a day when we can’t catch any decent fish in either the stream or the river, not even small ones!"

Jiang Xuan’s words worried Da Jiao.

Fish were one of the Vine Tribe’s important food sources, and he couldn’t imagine life without them.

"Then... what should we do?" Da Jiao asked reflexively.

"Very simple."

Jiang Xuan loaded the pond mud into a fine basket of vines, dumped it outside the dike, and said to Da Jiao, "We raise our own fish fry, then each year release them into the pond, stream, and Feiyu River."

"Chief, I understand placing them in the pond, but if released into the stream and Feiyu River, won’t the fish just swim away?"

As a tribesman, Da Jiao found this behavior hard to understand.

Jiang Xuan laughed, "Think differently — apart from our tribe, there’s no one else around catching fish!"

"That... might be true."

"So, both the stream and Feiyu River are essentially our big fish ponds. Those released fish fry will eventually become ours."

After hearing Jiang Xuan’s explanation, Da Jiao still didn’t quite get it. But he didn’t dwell on the matter further.

After all, the Chief was clever; whatever he said, they just had to follow.

Jiang Xuan, Da Jiao, and a few Wanderers cleaned up the silt in the pond, removing the miscellaneous fish hidden within the mud.

Fish such as loaches, eels, and snakeheads; if left in the pond, they would eat a large quantity of roe and fry.

"Done — now that the water’s been drained and the pond mud cleaned, we’ll let it dry for two days, and it’ll be fine."

Jiang Xuan went to the stream to wash his hands carefully, then instructed Da Jiao to cover the basket and watch over the female fish.

After dealing with the fishpond, it was already noon.

"Time to eat!"

The woman in charge of cooking called out, and regardless of whether they were Vine Tribe members or Wanderers, they packed up their tools, returned happily to their huts, and grabbed their bowls and chopsticks.

Most of them had bamboo bowls, as the Vine Tribe had a large bamboo forest, making bamboo bowls the easiest to get.

As for chopsticks, most people weren’t used to using them, but without chopsticks, there would be no food, so they worked hard to learn how.

Soon, a spectacular scene of over a hundred people eating appeared.

"One by one, don’t push, you won’t starve!"

A few fierce women were responsible for serving meals to the Wanderers. Though they sounded unfriendly, the Wanderers smiled politely, knowing that offending them could easily lead to hunger.

Several Large Pottery Cauldrons contained various foods, including plant tubers, wild vegetable leaves, bamboo shoots, and some meat.

This stew was not appetizing, but the Wanderers didn’t care about taste — they cared about filling their stomachs.

After eating, the Wanderers could have a bowl of soup; although there weren’t many added vegetables, they still competed for it since the soup had added salt and a savory taste.

Before coming to the Vine Tribe, they never imagined eating salt every day.

Having food and salt was a blissful thing for these Wanderers; who cared about taste?

Jiang Xuan also returned to the bamboo hut to eat; his food was better than the Wanderers’, with more meat and better taste.

He had a Pottery Bowl and finely polished bamboo chopsticks.

Jiang Xuan filled his bowl with food, walked outside the bamboo hut, sat on a smooth stone, soaking in the sun, gazing at the scenery, and leisurely eating. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

This was the rare leisurely moment of the day.

Nan Xing sat beside Jiang Xuan, while Chi Shao, Gou Teng, and Shi Qiu had gone hunting and wouldn’t return soon.

As Jiang Xuan was eating, he suddenly saw a large flock of birds in the sky flying lower and lower, seemingly about to land in the Vine Tribe.

Jiang Xuan immediately stood up. With his keen vision, he noticed the large birds were carrying many things on their backs, perhaps even people.

Who are these people? What do they want?

Jiang Xuan’s heart was filled with doubt, and he watched the sky vigilantly.