CHAPTER 387: CHAPTER 385: MAKING YOUR OWN FUN

Yuan Bao was lost in her own thoughts, giving outsiders the impression that she was daydreaming.

Of course, at this time, no one cared if she was daydreaming or not.

A little child just over two years old, as long as she wasn’t sick, could do anything without attracting much attention.

In this family, Yuan Bao often felt quite unnecessary.

Being an adopted daughter, her biological parents became Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt, so naturally, they wouldn’t pay attention to her.

And her little uncle, whom she should call "father," went to Yanmen County to be the Prefectural Governor, far away from Yunyang City, so he couldn’t possibly care about Yuan Bao.

As for her only concerned grandparents in this house, their attention was mainly on the little grandsons right now.

After all, the previous infant plague truly scared them.

Because the weather was too cold, Yuan Bao, apart from necessary practice, really didn’t want to go out.

The north wind blew like a knife, making people’s faces hurt.

When Yuan Bao was lying on the heated brick bed daydreaming, beside her, Hu Niuniu and Ximei were doing embroidery!

As Yuan Bao’s two maids, they were quite skilled with their hands.

Though both came from ordinary families, they both had a drive to improve.

With Yuan Bao’s encouragement, they were now learning literacy and martial arts. However, they didn’t neglect to learn skills related to women’s work.

Compared to them, Yuan Bao seemed quite unlearned.

Yuan Bao opened her eyes and glanced at Hu Niuniu and Ximei, who were discussing embroidery techniques in low voices, and then looked at Nanny Xue, who was dozing on the edge of the bed, and sighed.

"Alas, I must find some fun for myself!"

She glanced at the dimly lit window and suddenly sat up.

Her sudden movement startled Ximei and Hu Niuniu, who were doing embroidery, and both pricked their fingertips with the embroidery needles.

"Let’s go catch fish!"

Yuan Bao looked at Nanny Xue, Ximei, and Hu Niuniu, who were startled by her, with a spirited look.

"Village chief, where are we going to catch fish at this time?"

"The river’s surface is all frozen, and the ice layer is thick!"

Ximei looked at Yuan Bao in surprise.

Yuan Bao, of course, knew the surface was frozen. If it wasn’t, she wouldn’t think of going to catch fish.

Last year, she and her little uncle caught quite a few fish in the river near Shiqu Village.

Now, there was a bigger river outside Yunyang City.

The surface was completely frozen, and in such a large river, there must be a lot of fish.

"Come on, let’s find Mei and the others, and we’ll go fishing in the river!"

This time, Yuan Bao decided to try a different method for breaking the ice.

Yes, just as an experiment.

She wanted to use hot water to break the ice!

Soon, under Yuan Bao’s call, everyone was ready with the necessary tools.

To prevent the hot water method from failing, Yuan Bao also had someone bring a pickaxe. If hot water couldn’t break through the ice, they would rely on brute force to break it open.

In any endeavor, it’s wise to have a fallback plan.

On the way out of the city, Yuan Bao sent someone to the Wei Family to inform her godmother that she was going fishing in the river outside the city and asked if Wei Qiqi and Wei Lingtu wanted to join.

As a result, not only were Wei Qiqi and her brother interested, but Mrs. Wei Shen also came along.

Additionally, Wei Wushang and his mother, the Eldest Princess, also joined in on the fun.

Because Yuan Bao and Wei Qiqi had previously delivered food to children suffering from the plague in the city, the Eldest Princess became more approving of Yuan Bao.

This time, she wanted to see firsthand who this little girl recognized by her sister-in-law was.

Yuan Bao was quite surprised to see the Eldest Princess come along.

However, when Mrs. Wei Shen suggested calling the Eldest Princess "Great Aunt Grandma," Yuan Bao felt slightly relieved.

And the Eldest Princess did not object to Mrs. Wei Shen’s suggestion, which made Yuan Bao think she was indeed a kind person.

The river was fully frozen, with the ice nearly two feet thick. Breaking through such a thick ice layer wasn’t an easy task.

Yes, at least in Yuan Bao’s understanding, it was quite difficult.

Unfortunately, she forgot one thing.

That there existed real martial arts in this world.

Just when Yuan Bao had people shoveling snow into the pot to boil water, the thick ice layer had already been broken open by Wei Wushang with a large hole.

"Jiaojiao, what are you boiling water for?"

Mrs. Wei Shen was quite curious about Yuan Bao’s arrangement.

What could Yuan Bao say?

She could only say she wanted to experiment and see if hot water could penetrate the ice surface.

This was a rather naive answer, yet her reply piqued the interest of Mrs. Wei Shen and the Eldest Princess beside her.

Seeing the two eagerly awaiting the experiment, Yuan Bao could only ask Mei Jiu to boil more water since the ice layer was nearly two feet thick, and just a little water wouldn’t be enough.

Luckily, Yuan Bao brought an extra-large iron pot used at the mansion for boiling bathwater.

"Jiaojiao, this ice hole is already opened by Little Uncle, so how are we going to catch fish?"

Wei Qiqi wasn’t concerned about whether the hot water would melt the ice; she was eagerly waiting to catch fish!

During the summer, she had fished but only caught a few small ones.

Fishing in winter, however, was something she had never experienced.

"Well, that’s simple!"

Seeing that the water would take a long time to boil, Yuan Bao decided to go catch some fish with Wei Qiqi first.

This task was super easy for Yuan Bao.

First, use cooked porridge to lure the fish, then wait.

After sprinkling half a bowl of porridge into the ice hole, it wasn’t long before Wei Qiqi exclaimed.

"Fish, there are fish, there are really fish!"

The porridge in the water quickly attracted fish from below to come and feed.

"Where’s the fishing rod?"

"Jiaojiao, hurry, find a fishing rod so we can fish!"

Wei Qiqi was very excited.

Yuan Bao rolled her eyes and said, "Qiqi, what fishing rod? We came to catch fish!"

"How are we supposed to catch them?"

Wei Qiqi was puzzled, "The ice layer is so thick, we have no way to catch fish!"

"Do we lie on the ice? Wouldn’t that freeze us to death?"

Wei Qiqi expressed her confusion.

Yuan Bao chuckled and said, "Qiqi, just wait and see!"

Just as Yuan Bao finished speaking, a carp jumped out of the ice hole, and after flopping on the ice a few times, it stopped moving.

"Fish!"

"Fish!"

"Mother, Great Aunt Grandma!"

"Look, the fish jumped up by itself!"

Wei Qiqi jumped up in excitement.

Yuan Bao remained calm.

After all, she had an adult’s soul and had witnessed a similar scene before.

Of course, Yuan Bao was also quite thrilled inside, given the ice was two feet thick, and she was indeed worried the fish below the ice wouldn’t be able to jump so high.

Following the first carp, more and more fish leapt out from the ice hole, then laid motionless on the ice.