Chapter 118: Dollfish

  "Ah Xiong, take this branch and pick up the arrows that are shot down." Chu Jiaqiang handed his long branch to Chu Jiahao.

  Seeing Chu's family relax, Miao Huo immediately asked: "Younger brother, how did you guys do it."

  Chu Jiaqiang smiled and said, "Actually, it's not that difficult. It tests two aspects of a person's ability. First, accuracy of the eyes, second, speed of the hands. Also, when fish are startled, most of the time they escape forward, so when we catch fish with our bare hands or like I did just now, inserting the hand into the water, it's not directly below the fish's position, but rather in front of it. This also involves a judgment ability. Take Ah Xiong's method for example! Before the fish even reaches his two hands, he has to judge when to close his hands together, and just as the startled fish is passing by, he catches it."

  After hearing Chu Jiaqiang's explanation, those guys all rolled up their pants one by one, and Ye Xiaoshuang was no exception. They listened to Chu Jiaqiang's explanation and immediately understood the key point, thinking that they should also be able to do it.

  Chu Jiaqiang didn't pay attention to them. It sounds simple, but it's actually not easy to do. He also practiced for a long time before he could reach this level.

  As expected, these people didn't realize things weren't that simple until they got in the water. The principle sounded clear enough, but the problem was judging when to make a move. Often it was when they had both hands full and the fish hadn't arrived yet, or had already passed by.

  "Haha! I caught a fish!" Xǔ Hào suddenly burst out laughing triumphantly.

  Chu Jiaqiang and others were slightly surprised, they had coordinated their eyes and hands so quickly, it was indeed rare! But everyone looked over and found that the little guy didn't even have a single fish scale in his hand.

  "What about the fish you caught?" asked Wen Qiu.

  "He ran away."

  Everyone was shocked, and Liu Yang even rolled her eyes and said: "That's just because you didn't catch it? You didn't catch it, what are you triumphantly shouting about?"

  Xu Hao strongly argued: "I really caught it just now, but it slipped out of my hands."

  When they heard this, Chu Jiaqiang and other experienced people knew that the kid had indeed found the door, but still lacked experience. He should have caught the fish's body or tail just now, which is why he slipped away.

  "Try holding onto the fish head," suggested Fifth Uncle, "it might not slip away then."

  Xu Hao nodded vigorously and continued to work hard. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the kid grasped a fish's head with both hands, lifting it up. The fish tail was flailing wildly, splashing water all over Xu Hao's face.

  Chu's family was also slightly surprised by Xu Hao's analytical skills, and Wen Qiu and others were even more envious. Even that kid has learned it. But only Xu Hao himself knew that his own abilities were still far behind those of Chu's family. He could only guarantee a 30% chance of catching the fish, unlike Chu's family, who almost never missed their mark.

  Not long after, others also gradually grasped a little bit of the trick. However, their success rate was still lower than Xu Hao's, and they might only succeed once in ten attempts. Despite this, they were all quite satisfied, knowing that improving their success rate was just a matter of practice. As long as they practiced more, it would be fine.

  Ye Xiaoshuang stood up straight, just now she was busy with that one hand. She had been bending over for more than 20 minutes and felt a bit numb. Suddenly she remembered her little rabbit. She shouted to her older brother: "Brother! The little rabbit might be hungry, can you help me find some tender grass?"

  Ye Qijun smiled wryly and thought to herself: Are you raising rabbits or am I?

  "There's a lot of rabbit favorite grass by the river, I'll help you find some!" Old Man Li thought he had nothing to do, so he stood up.

  Rabbit's foot grass is also a rural name, this kind of grass has no stem, just like a bundle of long pine needles, but each one is divided into sections, the sections can be pulled out and then inserted back.

  Ye Xiaoshuang heard this and followed along, walking a distance downstream along the small river, where she saw the rabbit's foot grass that Old Man Li had mentioned.

  "Those that stretch into the water are no good." Old Man Li said.

  "Why? Those few seem even more tender." Ye Xiaoshuang asked in puzzlement.

  Got it! Without even this common sense, how can you raise rabbits? Old Man Li rubbed his temples and explained: "Grass that has been in contact with water should not be fed to rabbits as much as possible, otherwise it is easy to cause cecum fermentation or diarrhea; High-moisture green feed should be dried in the shade before feeding, and it's best to mix it with corn bran or coarse feed, especially in early spring. Because rabbits are greedy, overfeeding often leads to indigestion or gastrointestinal distension."

  After finishing speaking, Old Man Li also imparted some other knowledge about raising rabbits that should be paid attention to.

  Young rabbits cannot be given cabbage to eat, otherwise the rabbit will become weak in all four limbs. Old Li doesn't know the specific reason. In addition, feeding potato sprouts to rabbits can cause poisoning. Corn seedlings, sorghum seedlings, and second-generation sorghum seedlings that regrow after autumn are also not suitable for rabbits.

  In rural areas, few people raise rabbits. One reason is that rabbits are not easy to raise. If you accidentally feed them the wrong thing, they may get sick. Unlike raising chickens and ducks, in the morning, mix porridge with bran, let them eat a meal, and they will find their own food, even if they eat centipedes, they won't die from poisoning.

  "Oh no! Grandpa Li, look quickly! There's a big fish over there, no, not a fish, it has legs." Ye Xiaoshuang suddenly discovered a "fish" crawling in the water not far away and immediately shouted.

  Old Li looked over and suddenly laughed, "That's also a fish, we call it the 'doll fish'! When it calls out, it sounds like a doll crying. In this deep mountain, it gives people a creepy feeling."

  "Goldfish? So this is what goldfish looks like?" Ye Xiaoshuang seemed to have heard of goldfish before.

  The people above, especially Professor Wen and his disciples, heard the word "dollfish" and immediately rushed over. Seeing a dollfish about one meter long crawling around, they couldn't help but exclaim: "This place is indeed a treasure land, where even dollfish exist."

  "There are many dwarf lanternsharks here, no need to run so far, some mountain streams can see their shadows." Chu Jiaqiang said. Dwarf lanternsharks are protected animals, everyone in the village knows this, and it's still Liu teacher who popularized it, not allowing anyone to catch and kill them.

  "How much? What is it?" Professor Wen was taken aback and immediately asked in pursuit.

  Lao Li often ran the mountain, and the number of axolotls was probably no one more than he understood: "Specifically not counted, but absolutely will not be less than a thousand!" Lao Li's words had no bragging component, having seen too many, even suspecting whether this is a protected animal.

  "So many?" Xu Hao was startled again.

  "This goldfish is very edible, but it won't starve to death and is very stupid, only knowing how to guard the tree and wait for the rabbit." Chu Jiaqiang was also familiar with it, having caught one when he was very young. At first, as long as you gave it something, it would open its mouth and eat nonstop. Later on, because of going out to study, not feeding it for two weeks wouldn't kill it either.

  The professor's mood suddenly improved after seeing the axolotl and hearing that they were abundant here: "Hehe! Axolotls have a strong ability to withstand hunger, and when raised in cool water, they won't starve to death even if they don't eat for two or three years. They can also overeat, and a full meal can increase their body weight by one-fifth."

  He stroked his beard and continued, "You say it's like a hunter waiting by the stump for rabbits, this metaphor is also very apt. It quietly guards at night in the stone piles at the beach, and once it discovers prey passing by, it launches a sudden attack. Because its teeth are sharp and dense, the prey can't escape once it enters its mouth. Its teeth can't chew, they just open wide to swallow food whole, then slowly digest it in the stomach."