Chapter 51: Feeding the Ai Fish
Ying Kongtu held his phone and fell into silence at the same time as the Ba snake on the other end.
Ying Kongtu exchanged a glance with Wen Zhongshan.
“Why don’t we forget it?” Ying Kongtu said dryly.
They really had nothing right now. They were indeed making things difficult for the snake.
The phone showed that the other party was still typing.
The other party was probably also trying to find the right words to end this conversation.
It could be seen that the Ba snake really wanted to give the Abnormal Management Bureau face.
Ying Kongtu thought silently that the current Abnormal Management Bureau was quite prestigious and had pretty good connections.
The phone lit up silently again.
The Ba snake sent a new message, looking as though it had run out of ideas: [How about you buy on credit?]
[You know how to keep bees, right? When you raise bees on your mountain and harvest honey, you can settle the payment with us then.]
[We want the hundred-flower honey from your mountain, the kind nourished by divine power. Nothing else will do.]
Ying Kongtu had not expected the Ba snake to take the initiative to offer credit. After hesitating for a moment, he asked: [How much Ba-snake fertilizer can one jin of honey exchange for?]
Ba Snake: [Depends on the honey yield from your mountain. If you keep bees, how much honey can one hive produce in a season?]
Ying Kongtu estimated: [About one or two jin?]
Ba Snake: [Then, one jin of honey for ten jin of fertilizer. Can you accept that?]
The production of Ba-snake fertilizer was very low. Averaged out, one Ba snake might not even produce one or two jin of fertilizer in a season.
At one glance, this exchange ratio was clearly the other party taking care of him for the sake of the Abnormal Management Bureau.
Ying Kongtu thought for a moment: [How about one and a half jin for ten jin of fertilizer?]
After all, he was buying on credit through the Abnormal Management Bureau’s favor. It would not be good to owe too big a favor.
The Ba snake was satisfied: [At first glance, you really are an honest-hearted god. Fine. But I can only give you one thousand one hundred jin. There’s no more than that.]
Ying Kongtu: [That’s wonderful. Thank you.]
Ba Snake: [You’re welcome. I’ll find a courier and send it to you. Send me your address and wait to receive it.]
The two sides reached a cooperation, and their first impressions of each other were not bad.
Two days later, Ying Kongtu received a call from the courier in their area. “Brother Ying, your package has arrived. It’s especially heavy and especially dangerous. When will you be home? I’ll deliver it to you.”
“Especially dangerous?”
“Yeah. It’s a black stone-looking thing. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s really heavy. If it accidentally drops on someone’s foot, it’ll probably smash the foot to pieces.”
“Thank you for the trouble. I’m at home now.”
“No problem. The shipping fee wasn’t small either. I’ll drive a small truck and bring it over.”
Changchuan County was not very big, and people were all quite close to one another.
Before long, Ying Kongtu’s delivery arrived.
“Beep, beep—”
The sound of a horn rang out, and all the furry creatures at home turned their heads in unison.
“It’s fine.” Ying Kongtu casually stroked the nearest Jingwei. “It’s a delivery.”
“Coming—” After touching Jingwei, Ying Kongtu called outside and walked over to open the courtyard gate.
There was indeed a small truck parked outside, but the truck was empty. Ying Kongtu did not see the Ba-snake fertilizer.
“Brother Ying.” The courier poked his head out of the driver’s seat. “Where should I put your package?”
Ying Kongtu leaned out. “Is the package on your truck? Why don’t I see it?”
“It is. Maybe it’s blocked by the tailgate? This package is especially small and especially heavy. When we loaded it onto the truck just now, we used a forklift.”
The courier opened the door and got down, then ran to the back to lower the tailgate.
Ying Kongtu followed him over to look, and saw that in the large truck bed, there was only a jet-black stone about the size of a twenty-inch suitcase.
The courier even reached out and knocked on it. “It really is especially heavy. The people at our delivery station even said, could it be gold? Otherwise why would its density be so high? But the color and sound don’t match gold.”
It was also Ying Kongtu’s first time seeing Ba-snake fertilizer. He said dryly, “Indeed.”
“Then where should I dump it for you? Too bad the truck can’t drive into the courtyard. Otherwise, I would’ve driven it right in.”
“Just dump it by the roadside. When my family comes back, we’ll move it inside together.”
“Can you move it? You people are really strong.”
The courier quickly backed up the truck and dumped the Ba-snake fertilizer at the spot Ying Kongtu indicated.
Fortunately, he had pointed to the muddy ground beside the road. Otherwise, if such a big piece of Ba-snake fertilizer fell down, they would definitely have to repair the hole it smashed into the ground later.
Ying Kongtu could move this piece of Ba-snake fertilizer alone.
But he was afraid he would not hold it steady and would damage the cement ground or the courtyard.
In the end, he still left the Ba-snake fertilizer where it was and waited for Wen Zhongshan to return so they could move it together.
Wen Zhongshan had gone out to handle some matters today and only returned after dark.
He looked at the Ba-snake fertilizer sitting on the roadside grass and examined it several times. “So this is what it looks like?”
“Right?” Ying Kongtu said faintly. “I was wondering why the Ba snake exchanged such a precise amount with us, one thousand one hundred jin. I guess they also couldn’t really break it apart.”
The two returned to the house, put on gloves, and came back out to move the Ba-snake fertilizer into the courtyard.
The Ba-snake fertilizer was both hard and heavy. From the outside, one absolutely could not tell what it really was.
The two moved the Ba-snake fertilizer to a corner of the courtyard.
Ying Kongtu panted and used his elbow to push away Jingwei’s furry head. “Stop being curious. This is snake poop!”
Wen Zhongshan asked, “It’s this hard. How do we use it?”
“I’ll buy an angle grinder and cut it down bit by bit.” Ying Kongtu patted the Ba-snake fertilizer through his gloves. “There’s actually poop that looks like this.”
Now that the Ba-snake fertilizer had arrived, Ying Kongtu hired people with small walk-behind tillers to plow the terraces on the two mountains.
These terraces had been abandoned for many years, and the soil was badly compacted.
Ying Kongtu specifically asked the tiller operator to plow them two extra times and make the soil as fine as possible.
They had already cleared away the shrubs in the terraces before. The remaining wild grass had been repeatedly crushed by the tiller and was now shredded into fragments soaking in the water.
After fermenting for a while, they would become fertilizer and nourish the next crop of rice.
Once the terraces were ready, Ying Kongtu took an angle grinder and cut Ba-snake fertilizer in the courtyard whenever he had time.
He armed himself fully, wearing goggles and a mask. The Ba-snake fertilizer he cut off was placed in small buckets, piece by piece.
These pieces of Ba-snake fertilizer were black and hard. Even after being cut into small chunks, they looked like small stones. One could not tell their essence at all.
Wen Zhongshan was doubtful. “Can this Ba-snake fertilizer really be used as fertilizer?”
“Yes. Its fertility is pretty good.” Ying Kongtu raised his head. “When the time comes, we can mix it with water and spray it. We can also place the pieces directly in the paddy fields. They’ll release slowly and won’t burn the seedlings.”
“It’ll probably release very slowly, right?”
“Probably two or three years. For these two years, it’ll be the main fertilizer for the terraces.”
Ying Kongtu had not expected their round of planting to begin directly with debt.
But the quality of the Ba-snake fertilizer was even better than he had imagined.
He could almost already picture the autumn harvest after using this Ba-snake fertilizer.
It was not yet the Spring Festival, and there were still several days before spring began.
Their planting would not happen that quickly.
While they still had time, Ying Kongtu took Wen Zhongshan to patrol the mountains.
They would deal with hidden dangers in the forest during this period first. That way, after they became busy later, they would not have to find time every day to patrol the mountains.
That day, Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan were walking on the mountain.
From far away, Ying Kongtu saw Xian Niao and Tiaozhu leading the team on patrol on the opposite mountain.
The furry creatures were lined up in a row, weaving through the mountain forest. From time to time, they were blocked by plants and trees.
Ying Kongtu found it interesting and watched them for quite a while.
“The two wild wolves are there too. It feels like those two wild wolves have already become Xian Niao’s underlings.”
Wen Zhongshan glanced over. “Xian Niao doesn’t look up to them.”
“Xian Niao isn’t that picky. It’s a wolf king. Great tolerance makes greatness. No matter how foolish a wolf is, it will still try hard to accept it.”
Wen Zhongshan made two sounds through his nose, clearly not quite agreeing.
Ying Kongtu patted Wen Zhongshan’s shoulder and laughed.
The two watched for a while, and gradually noticed something was wrong.
“Are they carrying something in their mouths?” Ying Kongtu turned to Wen Zhongshan to confirm.
“Their patrol route isn’t right either. They’ve been heading upward this whole time.” Ying Kongtu said again.
Wen Zhongshan observed them. “They’re heading toward Ai Mountain, aren’t they?”
“It really looks like it.” Ying Kongtu quickly recognized it too. “Jingwei and the two wild wolves are all carrying mountain rats in their mouths. Xian Niao, Tiaozhu, and Dart have empty mouths. What are they going up there for?”
“Should we follow them and take a look?”
“Not yet. Xian Niao is too sharp. If we follow them, it’ll notice very quickly.” Ying Kongtu reached out to stop Wen Zhongshan by the chest and leaned slightly closer to his ear, whispering, “Let’s climb from this side and watch them on the opposite side. The view is more open.”
The two decided to follow and see what was going on, so they climbed upward quietly.
They were much stronger than the furry creatures opposite them, and they climbed much faster.
Soon, they reached the summit and stood behind a tree, looking down from above at the furry creatures on the opposite side.
“They really are going to Ai Mountain.” Ying Kongtu said softly. “Look at their route. At one glance, they’re heading toward Ai Mountain.”
“Should we climb up there and intercept them?”
“Climb, but climb the mountain opposite them.”
The furry creatures climbed the whole way, and Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan followed them from across the mountain the whole way.
Among the furry team opposite them, the two wild wolves were the first to lose the ability to keep climbing. Jingwei took over the things they were carrying.
Ying Kongtu had sharp eyes and discovered that they were indeed two fat mountain rats.
Dart soon could not climb anymore either. It squatted on the ground, panting like a little dog.
The other furry creatures stopped to wait for it.
After resting for a little while, Dart tried hard to climb upward again, and soon could not continue once more.
This time, the other furry creatures still waited for it very patiently. Even Tiaozhu, the most impatient one, did not urge it.
Wen Zhongshan said, “Dart’s stamina isn’t good. It’s only an ordinary little cat. It can’t climb to Ai Mountain.”
Wen Zhongshan said, “Maybe it’ll slowly stop halfway up and wait for the others.”
“No, it won’t.” Ying Kongtu watched from far away. “This height is already a little dangerous. There are quite a few wild animals nearby. Xian Niao won’t leave a cat here alone.”
“Then what will it do? Start going down the mountain?”
“Probably not. Since Xian Niao dared to bring it up here, it must have a way.”
The two worried about Dart from across the mountain.
Dart walked a little farther, then sat down on the ground, completely unable to keep going.
Even from so far away, Ying Kongtu could see that it was panting.
Xian Niao walked over from the front and lowered its head to sniff it.
Immediately afterward, Xian Niao picked it up and directly tossed it onto its back.
“Xian Niao is carrying it!” Wen Zhongshan shouted in a low voice.
Among the furry creatures, Xian Niao’s status was almost the highest, yet now it had carried Dart on its back.
Ying Kongtu said, “I told you it had a way. In the past, it also carried wolf pups in the wolf pack like this.”
“Xian Niao really is a very good wolf king.”
After Xian Niao carried Dart, they continued forward.
This time, Xian Niao still walked at the very front, Tiaozhu followed close behind, and Jingwei walked at the back with three large mountain rats in its mouth.
Those three large mountain rats were so big that Jingwei’s mouth was stuffed bulging. Its upper lip was stretched open, making it look like a puppy whose lips had been swollen by bee stings.
Paired with its pure, innocent eyes, it looked especially funny and especially adorable.
Ying Kongtu said, “Now we can be sure. They’re definitely going to feed some kind of little animal. We just don’t know what animal they’re feeding.”
Wen Zhongshan asked, “You mean they might be raising some kind of little animal on the mountain?”
“Very likely.” Ying Kongtu pulled Wen Zhongshan behind the tree and watched the furry creatures on the opposite mountain from afar. “Xian Niao put Dart down. It may be going hunting.”
“Wait, Tiaozhu followed too.”
The furry creatures opposite them had already split into two groups.
Xian Niao and Tiaozhu ran off swiftly. Dart and Jingwei stayed where they were and waited.
Jingwei was still holding its three large mountain rats in its mouth. It was unclear whether its bulging mouth was tiring.
Wen Zhongshan asked, “At this height, what are Xian Niao and Tiaozhu going to hunt?”
“I guess wild boar.” Ying Kongtu said, “There are too many wild boars on the mountain. Xian Niao will definitely think of a way to control their numbers. It just so happens that there’s a wild boar nest nearby.”
As a mountain god, Ying Kongtu was very familiar with nearby animals.
Sure enough, more than half an hour later, Xian Niao and Tiaozhu returned.
Each of them had a wild boar in their mouth.
Xian Niao was carrying a half-grown wild boar weighing nearly a hundred jin, while Tiaozhu was carrying a small wild boar weighing thirty or forty jin.
They lined up and continued up the mountain.
Now, aside from Dart, every furry creature had prey. They looked much more imposing.
Although Dart did not have prey, it could keep up by itself, which was already more impressive than most cats.
“I know what they’re going to do.” Ying Kongtu suddenly said. “Fish. They’re going to feed the fish in Ai Lake!”
“?”
“Have you forgotten? Last time, Tiaozhu carried a big Ai fish down the mountain. Ai Lake must also be within their patrol range.”
The Ai fish originally had no name. It was just an unnamed wild fish from a snowy mountain lake.
Now that Ying Kongtu and the others had mentioned it so often, they had simply given it the character “Ai.”
Ai Mountain, Ai Lake, Ai fish.
The latter two both followed the mountain’s name.
Ying Kongtu said quietly, “Ai fish are carnivorous fish. In winter, most wild animals can find ice and snow in the mountains, so they don’t need to go to Ai Lake to drink water. The Ai fish don’t have enough food either. Xian Niao and the others may have noticed.”
Most fish could endure hunger very well. Ai fish were the same. Going two or three months without meat and only eating a little algae to survive was not a big problem.
As a mountain god, Ying Kongtu did not interfere much with the natural activities of wild plants and animals unless they faced the risk of death.
The Ai fish definitely had not reached that point yet.
The furry creatures continued up the mountain and soon arrived at the shore of Ai Lake.
Just as Ying Kongtu had guessed, they really threw the prey they were carrying into the lake.
Before long, the Ai fish smelled the blood and came out to hunt.
Tiaozhu stirred restlessly, stretching out a paw to fish, but Xian Niao blocked it with its body.
“Xian Niao and the others may be craving fish.” Ying Kongtu said to Wen Zhongshan. “Maybe they want to fatten them up before eating.”
“Should we catch fish for them to eat?”
“There are too few Ai fish. Besides, spring is almost here. We need to leave them for breeding. Even if we want to eat them, we can’t do it now.”
A trace of regret appeared on Wen Zhongshan’s face, clearly feeling sorry for the furry creatures.
Ying Kongtu pulled him along. “Let’s leave first. We’ll see if we can think of a solution after we get back.”
Author’s Note:
Today’s little skit:
Tiaozhu loves cleanliness very much.
When it first became a mountain god, whenever it saw rotten wild fruit, it would bury it.
After burying too many, it became exhausted, and its paws hurt.
Later, when it saw rotten fruit again, it would find the right angle and elegantly kick it with its hind leg.
The rotten fruit would roll away.
Out of sight, out of mind.
