Chapter 185: Chapter 185: Spreading Wings to Soar
The transport truck seemed to have broken down, so Qin Shen and Lu Zhifeng were repairing it together.
Without the truck, they could use the moose to haul back the sea fish they caught.
To get the moose used to working, they had fitted the young calves with harnesses from a young age to help them adapt.
After the snow stopped, the monkeys, who had been cooped up on the ship, finally got a chance to stretch their legs.
Today, besides fishing, they also had to help clear tree stumps to build a fence.
The monkeys put on the little padded jackets they hadn’t worn in a while, along with conspicuous hats and well-fitting non-slip boots. Grabbing their gear, they headed onto the ice with Jiang Si and Niu Niu, leading Xiao Huang and Xueqiu.
On top of the thick layer of ice was a layer of snow that hadn’t completely frozen.
Number One and Number Two grabbed their tools with practiced ease, cleared a patch of ice, and then picked up an electric drill, WHIRRRRING as they drilled down into the ice.
The other monkeys were just as serious, all waiting at the side, ready to take over for Number One and Number Two at a moment’s notice.
’They looked so adorable, like a troop of fairytale sprites she was raising.’
After a good while, with a series of CRACKS, fissures spread across the ice.
The drill bit worked relentlessly until it finally bored a hole the size of a bucket.
Niu Niu lowered a fish trap into the hole. If there were any fish, they would rush to get inside.
The number of fish you could catch with a trap was limited.
After Number One and Number Two broke open another patch of ice.
Jiang Si took out the mixed bait from a small cart and poured it into the water.
Before long, schools of fish were scrambling over each other to swim over.
Jiang Si and Niu Niu already had their landing nets ready. They timed their moment and struck, scooping up several huge fish with a single dip.
They packed the fish into a crate, and once it was full, the Monkey King had a few monkeys carry it back.
Then they hunkered down to fill a second crate.
By the time the third crate was full, the monkeys who had transported the first one had already returned.
As satisfying as scooping up fish was, it was actually very physically demanding work. In just a short while, Jiang Si could feel all her muscles getting a good workout, tightening up.
Niu Niu was panting, so Jiang Si quickly said, "You should stop. Take a break. We’re heading back soon anyway."
With the sea frozen over, the Vultures had been driven away. This meant the sea snakes had no natural predators and could swim up from the depths at any time.
So, half an hour was their absolute limit.
Niu Niu smiled. "I’m using a small net. I’m not tired."
Jiang Si replied, "You really shouldn’t push yourself, you know. If you get too tired, you won’t grow taller."
Niu Niu nodded affirmatively. "Thank you, I know."
’It’s a good thing for a child to have her own mind.’
So Jiang Si didn’t press the issue. One scoop, two scoops, three scoops... By the time she was too tired to lift the net anymore, the monkeys were also exhausted from carrying the fish crates back and forth.
Jiang Si straightened up, stretching her back and neck. The Monkey King immediately knew this was the signal to head back.
He eagerly took the landing net from her, folded it up, and placed it in the small cart.
He blinked his beautiful, Monkey King-like eyes at Jiang Si and Niu Niu.
The Monkey King was a supreme existence among the monkeys. Just now, he had done nothing and even secretly eaten a fish. But in front of Jiang Si and the others, he was a total lightweight.
Jiang Si smiled. ’The Monkey King had to be won over so he’d make his troop work hard for them.’
She pulled a piece of milk candy from her pocket for him. "Here. Once you’ve eaten this, you can’t ask for more. If your teeth rot, Qin Shen won’t give you any anesthesia."
The Monkey King feared nothing in heaven or on earth—except for Qin Shen.
The moment he heard Qin Shen’s name, no matter the context, his first instinct was to straighten up his attitude. It was never a mistake.
The Monkey King’s eyes immediately widened as he looked at Jiang Si with a harmless and innocent expression.
Niu Niu laughed. "He’s so smart."
"Yes, he’s very smart. How else could he be the Monkey King?"
Jiang Si and Niu Niu rode the moose back, only to see a huge pile of sea fish laid out on the snow in front of the Icebreaker.
It was everything they had just caught.
Shen Baoying and Zhang Qingfang had already started a fire and were sitting on small stools, ready to gut the fish, process them, and put them into storage.
Jiang Si and Niu Niu let the moose play nearby, then walked over, grabbed a stool, and sat down to help.
Meanwhile, the Monkey King was summoned by Qin Shen and led his troop away to move lumber.
Shen Baoying quickly said, "It’s too cold out here. You two should go inside, don’t get frostbite."
Jiang Si gathered some wood and added it to the fire. "Many hands make light work. We’ll be done in no time."
Zhang Qingfang laughed. "It’s our own fault for spoiling the monkeys. Now they’ll only eat fish that’s been properly prepared."
Before, if you gave them a raw fish, they’d just bite into it and eat it.
They were afraid the monkeys would get sick if they kept eating that way. Besides, they didn’t have much else to do, so they spent a little time preparing the fish for them.
Sometimes, when the humans were too lazy to do it, they just had the monkeys process the fish themselves.
They had all come to get along like family. Though they might complain good-naturedly, they were happy to do it.
Jiang Si had just finished processing two fish when the alarm on the Icebreaker suddenly blared.
Everyone jumped in alarm, but Jiang Si remained calm. "It’s probably the baby Vultures setting off the alarm. I’ll go check."
Shen Baoying said, "Why don’t you let them out for a walk?"
They hadn’t let them out before because they were covered in downy fluff, which wasn’t warm enough.
Now that their feathers had grown in a bit more, they could probably let them out to experience the cold.
Jiang Si nodded. "If they can’t handle it, we’ll just shoo them back inside."
Jiang Si entered the cabin, and a feathery mass came flying straight at her, slamming into her arms.
Jiang Si hugged Little Chun. "What are you being so naughty for? I was only gone for a little while."
The four Vultures were named after the seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.
It was mainly because everyone was terrible at naming things, and Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter was simple and easy to remember.
Little Chun was the eldest and the most mischievous.
They were very smart, perhaps even more intelligent than the monkeys. They could even understand arithmetic.
Little Chun spread his four-meter-long wings, which felt very cramped inside the cabin.
Jiang Si instantly understood what he meant.
’He wanted to go out and play, of course.’
’Even though there was plenty of space in the ship’s hold.’
Jiang Si smiled and warned them, "When you go out, you can’t just run around everywhere, understand?"
Little Chun rolled his eyes, and the other three followed suit.
Which meant they understood.
Jiang Si opened the cabin door. The vast sky held an inexplicable attraction for them.
Little Chun spread his wings, and instinct drove him to flap them and soar high.
They took flight.
And very quickly, they crashed heavily onto the snow.
Having been cooped up on the ship for so long without being able to stretch their wings, they showed signs of muscle atrophy.
Little Chun flapped and flapped, refusing to give up. He managed to get a little bit of air before failing again.
The other three little ones were in a similar situation.
Jiang Si walked over and encouraged them, "Good boys. You can do it. Take it slow, there’s no rush."
Little Chun and the others tried again and again, but they could only circle at a low altitude.
This made Shen Baoying worry. "Do you think something went wrong when we incubated the eggs? Maybe they’re congenitally unable to fly?"
