binnovel Chapter 512 Scouting
Chapter 512 Scouting
For the next two days, Xu Xiaoyan lived a busy and regular life. Every day before dawn, she would get up to prepare the food she would sell that day.
Although she had a considerable amount of supplies in her space, she didn't want to live off her savings forever. She wanted to stock up as much as possible so that she could have enough to eat and drink every day, which would be a great blessing.
She didn't focus all her attention on business; she would close the shop promptly after noon every day, then sling her canvas bag over her shoulder and head out the door.
She had only one destination: the riverbank outside the city, where she was going to scout out the location.
It wasn't the return zone we had considered before, for a simple reason: Blue Moon said the news was "circulating in a small circle."
But the fishing tackle shop owner said, "Several people came to buy nets early this morning." These two pieces of information together only mean one thing: quite a few people already know this.
Moreover, as time goes on, more and more people will find out, and on the day the dam releases water, any decent spot downstream will be packed with people.
Xu Xiaoyan didn't want to squeeze in with the crowd.
It's not that I'm afraid of crowds, it's that it's not worth it.
Think about it, if a dozen people stand in a good spot, and each of them swings a net, how many fish can they catch?
If you take turns fishing and I take turns fishing, we'll work ourselves to the bone and only catch a few fish.
Xu Xiaoyan wanted a place that only she knew about, so she was going to find it.
On the first afternoon, she went out of town and walked a long way downstream along the riverbank. The riverbank became more and more desolate and the road became more and more difficult to walk.
At first, there were narrow paths worn down by people, but they were still passable.
After walking for about forty minutes, the path disappeared, replaced by waist-high weeds and dense thickets of thorns.
She had to go around in circles, sometimes climbing over rocks, sometimes stepping on fallen tree trunks to cross ditches.
After walking for an hour and a half, she found the first location.
It was a river bend, much smaller than the backwater area she had seen before.
The river makes a small bend here, and on the inside of the bend is a narrow shoal, only two or three meters wide and about ten meters long.
At the end of the shallows was a clump of reeds, tall and dense, separating the riverbank from the fields behind it. If you didn't look closely, you wouldn't even notice there was a shallow area from the outside.
Xu Xiaoyan pushed aside the reeds and went inside, standing on the shallows and looking around.
The place isn't big, but its advantage is that it's secluded. Standing on the opposite bank of the river and looking this way, you can only see reeds, not the shallows, and certainly not the people standing on the shallows.
Moreover, this location is far downstream, almost twice as far as the previous backwater area, and most people wouldn't be willing to walk that far.
But Xu Xiaoyan was not satisfied, not because the location was bad, but because the location was too small.
This shallow beach is only two or three meters wide. Will it be completely submerged when the water rises? She didn't know.
With the dam's gates wide open, no one can give her a precise answer as to how high the downstream water level will rise.
The timing, flow rate, and duration of the water release are all unknown.
If she chooses this spot, and the water rises and the shallows turn into the riverbed, she won't even have a place to stand, so how can she catch any fish?
She stood in the reeds for ten minutes, carefully examining the terrain and slope of the riverbank, and finally shook her head, noting the location as a backup.
She continued downstream.
After walking for almost another hour, she found the second location.
This place is at least two and a half hours away from Qing City, and it is a narrow ditch that branches off from the main river.
It was only about one or two meters wide, winding its way inland for more than ten meters before stopping in front of a dirt slope.
After the dam gates are opened wide, some of the fish that are washed down will swim downstream with the main current, but some will swim in the wrong direction and turn into these small tributaries.
Once inside, it's hard to get out; the ditch is narrow and the water is shallow, making it difficult for fish to even turn around.
This place is much better than the first location; it's secluded, safe, and naturally forms a pond for trapping fish.
Moreover, it is far from the main river channel, so no matter how high the water level rises, as long as it doesn't flood the earthen slope, this place is safe.
Xu Xiaoyan sat down on the riverbank, took a sip of water, and without making a decision immediately, stood up and continued walking downstream, wanting to see if there was anything better.
After walking for about forty more minutes, she found the third location.
This location is even better than the second one; it's a small delta carved out by the river, surrounded by water on three sides and connected to the riverbank on one side.
The delta is much higher than the river surface, covered with wild grass and a few crooked, dead trees. There is a natural shallow water area on each side, where the water flow slows down.
Standing on the delta, Xu Xiaoyan looked around and almost immediately knew that this was the best of the three locations she had seen.
She stood on the delta for a while, took a picture with her phone to note the surrounding terrain features, and then turned around and walked back.
It was past 7 p.m. when she got back to Qing City. There weren't many people on the streets. Her legs were sore and swollen, and she dragged herself back to C-12.
The next afternoon, she went again and carefully examined the terrain, water depth, riverbank elevation, and surrounding environment of each location.
They also stayed at each location for at least half an hour to observe the direction and speed of the water flow.
The ditch at the second location was shallower than yesterday, probably because there hadn't been any rain in the past few days, resulting in less water coming from upstream.
The delta at the third location remained largely unchanged.
She walked back and forth between the three locations, calculated the distance and time, and finally ranked them in her mind:
The third position is the best, the second position is the second best, and the first position is the worst.
We'll go to the third position first, and if someone has already taken it, we'll go to the second position.
The first location is the last resort; we only consider it if we have nowhere else to go.
As for the backwater area she had previously set her sights on, she had completely abandoned it.
It's too close to Qing City, and too many people know about it, so it'll definitely be overcrowded.
She didn't want to be crowded with others, nor did she want others to see how many fish she had caught. She believed that keeping a low profile and quietly making a fortune was the right thing to do.
The third day, early morning.
Xu Xiaoyan got up early, quickly washed up, cooked herself a bowl of hot noodles, slurped it down, and cleaned up the dishes.
After the deliveryman brought the supplies she had ordered the day before to her door, she immediately put them into her storage space and then hurried off.
She walked very fast, with large, hurried steps. The road became narrower and narrower until only the beam of her phone flashlight shone in the darkness, illuminating the road three to five meters ahead.
As she walked, she discovered light ahead.
It wasn't a streetlamp, but the light of a flashlight, flickering on and off in the far, far distance ahead.
Xu Xiaoyan immediately guessed what was going on.
Upon closer inspection, there were at least seven or eight points of light, scattered in different directions, all moving south. It seemed that quite a few people shared her idea.