The next three days were wonderfully comfortable for Yuan Si and the old woman.
Yuan Si skipped the canteen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Instead, she would cook the fish in their earthenware pot at home, and when the old woman brought back two bowls of congee, she would simply pour it in.
If there was one thing to complain about, it was that the two bowls of congee from the canteen were always vegetable congee, and she wished they didn't have poplar leaves in them.
On the fourth day, they finished the large black fish. The old woman, with her seasoned experience, wrapped all the fish bones from the past few days in a large leaf. Then, when no one was around, she tossed the bundle into the pond at the bottom of the slope to destroy the evidence.
Yuan Si had started pondering her next move the day before. The pond below the slope was out of fish, so if she wanted to keep eating her fill, she had to venture further out. The most reliable option was the large reservoir about ten *li* from her home. But getting there on foot would take a whole day for a round trip, so she had to explain the situation to the old woman.
Yuan Si had expected it to be a difficult conversation, but as soon as she started and mentioned her fictional Immortal Master, the old woman began nodding enthusiastically in agreement.
"Since your Master told you to go, then you should go. It's only for a day, that's not long." The old woman's face was wreathed in a smile. "Your Master is truly incredible! He knows from so far away that our family is struggling and can't get enough to eat, so he specifically called you over. He's so good to you. You have to take this seriously, you hear? Be filial to your Master, just like you are to your mother. When you're there, be observant, work hard, and don't be afraid of hardship or exhaustion when you're learning any Immortal Techniques." She rattled on, giving a long list of instructions.
"I know, Mom. I'll only be gone for a day. If Master gives me anything good, I'll bring it back for us to eat together." Yuan Si could be a sweet-talker when she wanted to.
"You silly girl, who taught you to be so silver-tongued? I'm not after a bite of your food. What really matters is that you learn your skills properly." The old woman was coaxed into a cheerful laugh. "Let me tell you, you're still young and don't understand, but I'm old and see things more clearly than you do. If your Master offers you things, just pick a few to take. The main thing is to go and learn more skills. Only when you've mastered a skill yourself can you enjoy its benefits for a lifetime." The old have their own wisdom.
"Mom, Master just said he wants me to pick something up. He didn't say anything about teaching me," Yuan Si explained quickly. 'What if Mom asks me to perform an Immortal Technique for her when I get back? I'll be exposed!'
"Aiya, you dense girl! He's letting you pick things up today, so maybe tomorrow he'll let you start learning skills. I'm just giving you a heads-up. You need to be a little more clever about these things." The old woman was genuinely worried about how simple the young girl was. 'But then again,' she thought, 'perhaps the Immortal took a liking to my daughter precisely because of her honest nature.'
Needless to say, the old woman repeatedly lectured Yuan Si that night. The next day, when the old woman got up, she hauled Yuan Si out of bed as well, stuffed a small bundle into her hands, and sent her on her way.
The cool morning breeze instantly woke Yuan Si up. She looked around, wrapped her clothes tighter, and, with the small bundle on her back, walked step by step out of Li Family Village.
She had already asked for the route to the reservoir, but since she had never been there before, it still took her a good while to find the place.
Yuan Si didn't have a watch. Looking at the sun, she estimated it was already past nine in the morning. That meant with all the stopping, starting, and backtracking from wrong turns, it had taken her nearly four hours to get here.
She didn't rush into the water. Instead, she walked a good part of the way around the reservoir to observe the terrain and environment. It wasn't that she didn't want to circle the entire reservoir; it was just that the reservoir was enormous. Even walking just that partial lap had taken her an hour.
This area was truly desolate. There were no villages, trees, or hills nearby. Not a soul was in sight—only a field of waist-high weeds. 'Calling this a reservoir feels like a stretch,' she thought. 'It's more like a giant puddle.'
The water's surface was very calm, with only ripples stirred by the gentle breeze.
Yuan Si's little tour wasn't entirely fruitless. She discovered a wrecked boat by the reservoir's edge. It was in really bad shape and looked like it hadn't been used in a very long time. The wood was rotting, and a thick layer of moss covered its hull.
Yuan Si didn't need the boat, but she felt it was an excellent spot to enter the water. With the small boat for cover, her going in and out wouldn't be so conspicuous, and it would provide a buffer if something unexpected happened.
Having chosen her spot, Yuan Si found a place to sit down and opened the bundle her mother had prepared. Inside were a dozen or so dried, roasted loaches.
Yuan Si wasn't picky. She grabbed one and started chewing. The loaches weren't salted and didn't taste good at all. There was no helping it; they had only a little salt left at home, and they'd used it all up in the fish congee over the past few days. The old woman had a hard time saving money and was very meticulous with her spending, pinching every penny, so she hadn't been willing to spend money on salt at the supply and marketing co-op.
So, Yuan Si could only eat unsalted roasted loaches.
The loaches themselves weren't large, and there weren't many of them. She finished them quickly. After cleaning up the area, she didn't hurry to change clothes. Instead, she sat cross-legged and began to meditate under the sun.
She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that meditating under the sun was more effective than meditating in bed at night. This was something she'd never discovered during the apocalypse, perhaps because the sun in that era only gave off light, not heat.
Yuan Si cultivated under the sun for half an hour. She felt a pleasant warmth spread through her, her body returning to its peak state. After confirming that no one was around, she finally stood up and began pulling diving gear out of her space.
This time, she didn't bring a bucket. After putting on her diving suit, she held a bee sting in one hand and a dagger in the other.
The dagger could also be called a blade. It was made from the foreleg of a mutated Left-Wing Mantis from the apocalypse, as thin as paper yet sharp enough to cut through iron like mud.
She predicted she might run into some big creatures this time. Carrying a bucket wasn't practical. It would be better to just stun the fish, finish it off with her dagger, and store it directly in her space to save trouble.
With her preparations complete, Yuan Si slowly waded into the water. The reservoir's bank was steep, and after just a few steps, the water was already up to her neck. Yuan Si switched on the searchlight on her head and swam down into the depths.
The reservoir water wasn't very clear, and Yuan Si could only see things within a five-to-six-meter range. She hadn't been swimming for long when she encountered fish—and not just one, but a whole school of palm-sized crucian carp. The fish probably hadn't expected to see a stranger underwater and scattered in fright, swimming around her.
Yuan Si wasn't interested in such small fish. Although she knew crucian carp soup was delicious, she'd been drinking fish soup for days and had lost her enthusiasm for it. She now wanted to catch a few big fish to rub with salt and roast over a fire, or to stew in a pot. In short, she craved different ways of eating; fish soup alone no longer satisfied her.
Most importantly, she had a feeling that a bigger surprise was waiting for her deeper in, so there was no need to waste time near the shore.