Leaving Mangge City and heading north, the scenery along the way was somewhat monotonous, but fortunately it was spring, and Wen Qian could gradually see some greenery.
However, the colors were still very pale, and there was a significant day-night temperature difference.
During this period, she came across a large river near the highway, called the Mangyu River, whose traces were still quite visible on the map.
With the word "fish" in its name, Wen Qian had high hopes of catching fish in this river.
Although it was called a river, in fact, it was linked by many lakes, some of which had particularly wide water surfaces.
It didn't look like a river, but rather a string of green beads threaded on a line.
As Wen Qian had hoped, this river with "fish" in its name indeed had plenty of fish.
Wen Qian stopped near a relatively large lake, planning to stay there for a couple of days, with the purpose of catching fish.
However, she couldn't go too far by herself, so she only set up fish traps and used trawl nets at the lakeside.
Back in the old days at the large pond in her hometown, if a large-scale fishing activity was to take place, even the fishing nets alone would require several people to carry, and the ropes being pulled also needed many people.
Wen Qian didn't have such large fishing nets, and even if she did, she didn't have the strength to pull them, let alone with the help of cattle or machinery.
Therefore, she could only use various small fishing tools suitable for herself.
Although there were many fish in the lake, Wen Qian couldn't bring too many with her, so she could only do her best.
Looking at the fish she had caught, jumping on the shore, she was still very happy.
While searching for the lakes in this area, Wen Qian found that if she went further, there was a wetland area.
That place was likely to have more wildlife, so Wen Qian didn't plan to stay there for too long.
She put the dead fish into her dimensional space, except for the ones she had processed for her own consumption. For the rest, she didn't even remove a single fish scale.
Thanks to the preservation ability of her dimensional space, Wen Qian wasn't worried about the fish spoiling at all, and it also saved her a lot of time.
You see, sometimes people don't lack food, but rather, some foods cannot be preserved for too long or too much food is inconvenient to carry.
But for Wen Qian, she didn't have such worries. She could put all her harvests into her dimensional space, without worrying about not being able to take them with her.
At the same time, she could reduce the processing time. When she was busy, she could find as much food as possible, and process it when she had free time.
If she didn't have the dimensional space, she couldn't do that.
Wen Qian harvested a lot of fish, and it seemed this river not only had wild fish species.
Many parts of this river had traces of aquaculture, although now abandoned, but the variety of fish within was still quite diverse.
Otherwise, Wen Qian couldn't have obtained so much fish meat.
Another important point was that she discovered some boats on the lake shores.
Some were made of wood, and some were metal, but after being ravaged by time and wind and snow, not a single one was usable.
Wen Qian felt it was a great pity, as she didn't buy such boats herself, and making one was not an easy task either.
But she had checked everything she could see around, and there were no intact small boats to take away.
Although it was a pity, she still took a wooden boat and continued along the highway.
After walking for a day and comparing with the map, Wen Qian got off the highway and headed towards the nearby wetland.
This was also part of the Mangyu River area, and the relatively low and flat terrain had formed a wetland.
The grass nearby was quite tall, and Wen Qian hid among it, watching the birds foraging in the middle of the wetland.
It was very likely that these were birds wintering there. Through her binoculars, Wen Qian watched these leisure birds and felt that it would be quite difficult for her to catch them.
Moreover, going further, it would probably be impossible to proceed, as the swamps and mud pits here would be difficult to get out of once stuck.
Wen Qian could only continue to move towards the grassy areas on the edges, and then saw a flock of sheep grazing on the grassland not far away.
Spring seemed to have come a little earlier here, with mist rising from the water surface, and new tender leaves sprouting from the withered grass on the banks.
It was understandable for a flock of sheep to appear here.
Wen Qian observed while looking for slightly deeper flowing water nearby, using a bamboo pole to lower her fish traps into the water to see if she could catch any small fish.
Although it wasn't ideal for casting nets here, Wen Qian absolutely wouldn't miss any opportunity to catch fish.
After placing the fish traps, with the white rings serving as markers lying quietly on the water surface, Wen Qian laid out a yoga mat underneath to prevent her clothes from getting wet by the water and mud.
A flock of sheep is a very vigilant group, being a herd animal. While a group of sheep were grazing, the ones responsible for keeping watch stood with their heads raised, observing their surroundings.
At that time, Wen Qian was relatively far away and lying prone, so the flock didn't detect her.
Now as Wen Qian gradually approached, she took out her crossbow for adjustment.
Having practiced archery many times, this time her targets were not self-made stationary ones, but moving targets.
She felt a bit nervous, even deliberately controlling her breathing rate.
She had a gun but no silencer. If she fired a shot, basically all the wildlife in the area would flee.
But a crossbow would be slightly better, without such a loud noise, and she could shoot from far enough away.
After waiting for the target to be identified, Wen Qian shot an arrow and hit the target, but it didn't seem to be a lethal hit as the prey struggled and fled.
A part of the flock was startled and ran a few steps before resuming grazing.
However, the prey jumped into the grass and disappeared from sight.
Nevertheless, since the arrow drew blood, the prey's movements would only aggravate its injury.
Wen Qian circled around to the direction where the prey had disappeared, and following the blood trail, eventually found it lying on the ground.
Wen Qian approached and held down the dying young lamb, using a dagger to slit its throat, hastening its death.
Wen Qian carefully observed this lamb. Back in Xia Province, if it was wildlife, it was basically a protected species in those days.
So now that she had hunted prey, her first reaction was to contemplate whether it was a key protected species.
Of course, now people were no longer able to protect those animals, as they themselves were caught in a crisis of survival.
Before the prey died and spilled blood, Wen Qian was on high alert, fearing that animals might be attracted by the scent.
Therefore, after confirming the animal's death, Wen Qian immediately put it into her dimensional space and quietly left.
As she left, she set a few small hunting traps on the edge of the wetland before going back for lunch.
In the afternoon, Wen Qian shot and caught a large and a small young lamb with her arrows, and also successfully caused the flock to be alarmed.
After examining the fish traps and removing the fish from them, Wen Qian added bait and returned them to the water.
There were one or two creatures that had fallen into the snares as well, and after taking the prey, she reset the traps.
The day was growing late, and Wen Qian needed to return and rest. Her harvest had exceeded her expectations, and she planned to set out the following day.
Overnight, the traps and fish baskets would reveal their contents come morning.
Once she had gathered everything the next day, she could continue her journey.
Perhaps the plentiful gains along the way had alleviated her worries about failing to grow crops and vegetables this time.
