Chapter 134: Outdoor Camping

Chapter 134: Chapter 134: Outdoor Camping

Jiang Fan led the group of children to the edge of a small stream. He found an empty beverage bottle, took out a utility knife, and slowly began making a simple fish trap.

While working, he smiled at them and asked:

"Did any of you bring bread rolls?"

"And I’ll need a few more small bottles."

A chubby little boy beside them immediately raised his hand. "Mister, I-I have bread rolls."

"I also have some jerky."

"I have dried fish."

"Sun Xiaopang, are you silly? Little fish don’t eat dried fish."

"Those are their fellow fish!"

A few of the children piped up.

"Well... what if they see the dried fish, think it’s their friends, and go in to save them?"

He declared this with utter confidence.

For a moment, Jiang Fan didn’t know how to respond.

"The bread rolls will do. You all can keep the dried fish and jerky for yourselves."

"Mister, I have several small bottles here. I just picked them up."

Ye, clutching a few bottles, placed them beside Jiang Fan.

"Good girl."

Jiang Fan patted her head.

After making the rest of the bottles into fish traps, he put some breadcrumbs inside and secured them one by one in the stream.

"Alright, all we have to do now is wait."

"What else do you all want to do? I can take you."

"We want to catch birds! I saw them making traps on TV. Mister, can you teach us how to make them?"

A tan little boy’s face was full of excitement.

"Traps... I know how to make other kinds, but I’m not sure if they can catch birds."

"But if you catch any, you can’t hurt them, okay?"

"Okay!"

All the children shouted in unison.

The shout drew the attention of nearly everyone nearby.

Those parents all wore warm smiles.

"Miss Yin, your husband is so kind. Look how well he plays with the children. And he’s so patient, and so handsome too."

"Miss Yin, you’re so fortunate. You’ve really found a great husband."

A few young parents gathered around Yin Ruxue, all smiling as they watched the scene in the distance.

Yin Ruxue’s cheeks were slightly flushed as she nodded along from time to time.

Hearing them go on about ’your husband’ this and ’your husband’ that made her feel a little shy.

But she couldn’t leave; walking away at a time like this would seem impolite.

’Still, she was secretly happy whenever someone praised Jiang Fan.’

She just didn’t let it show on her face.

"Miss Yin, the sun’s a bit strong here. Let’s go talk in the shade so we don’t get a tan."

They were all wealthy wives who were particularly fastidious about their skincare.

Pulled along by them, Yin Ruxue went to the shade of a nearby tree and sat on a picnic blanket.

But her gaze frequently drifted toward Jiang Fan.

...

Meanwhile, Jiang Fan found a short length of rope in his hiking backpack and unraveled the hemp rope into individual strands.

"See, you need to tie this strand into a slipknot and then place it here."

"If you loop it to the right, it’s a slipknot. If you loop it to the left, it becomes a dead knot. You can’t untie it unless you cut it with a knife."

"We’ll just loop it to the right, since we have to let the little birds out later."

Jiang Fan explained to Mengmeng and the other children as he made the trap.

These little tricks were all taught to him by the old director at the orphanage.

Especially a trap like this, where skillfully threading a single rope could produce different results.

"So if you make this kind of trap bigger, can it even tie up a person?"

Mengmeng, who was standing to the side, asked curiously.

"Of course."

Jiang Fan nodded.

"If you can get this rope over a big tree branch, hide it well, and then set up the other end like this, you could even hoist a person into the air."

Jiang Fan explained briefly.

"WOW!!"

This amazing feat instantly earned him the adoration of all the children.

This made Mengmeng especially proud.

"That’s my dad!"

"Hmph!"

"Daddy, can you show us how it’s done?"

Mengmeng suddenly hugged Jiang Fan’s arm and wheedled.

"What’s the point of demonstrating that? It’s too much trouble."

"Nooo, please? We want to see."

’Jiang Fan saw this and suddenly understood. It was just a child’s vanity at work; she wanted to prove to her friends just how amazing her dad was.’

Under these circumstances, he naturally wasn’t going to refuse.

Finding a small tree a little over half a meter tall, Jiang Fan hung the rope on it, set the snare below, and arranged the trap mechanism behind the tree.

"See, you have to cover the snare lightly with some dirt or grass. Of course, you have to be very gentle so you don’t trigger it, otherwise it’s all for nothing."

Once he was done, you couldn’t tell there was a trap there at all unless you stepped on it or got down on the ground to look closely.

Seeing that his skills hadn’t gotten rusty, Jiang Fan was quite pleased with himself.

When he was a child, the orphanage was poor, and he often used this method to catch small birds and the like for an extra meal.

’But he couldn’t do that anymore; birds were protected animals.’

Besides, he was just showing these kids how it was done, just to open their eyes a bit.

After finishing all this, Jiang Fan lightly poked the snare with a small wooden stick. Instantly, the rope tightened, trapping the stick and yanking it up into the tree.

This magical scene made all the children’s eyes sparkle.

The air filled with the sound of their praise.

Afterward, Jiang Fan set up a few more small traps for birds, then let them run off to play.

He then returned to the campsite to set up the tent and prepare their meal.

Mengmeng led a group of her little friends to rummage through the hiking pack Jiang Fan had left there.

"Do you guys think there are big lions and big tigers in this forest?"

Mengmeng suddenly hugged the pack tightly, looking at her little friends with a mysterious expression.

"There probably are. I saw on TV that big tigers live in forests."

"Don’t lions live on the savanna?"

"Then there should be elephants in the forest, right?"

The children chattered innocently.

"So, do you guys want to catch a tiger?!"

"Let’s use the trap Daddy just taught us to catch a tiger, okay? We’ll set up a super big trap."

"The grown-ups will be so surprised when they see it! They’ll definitely praise us."

Mengmeng’s bold proposal made the other children a bit fearful.

"Huh? We’ll get in trouble for sure! Besides, tigers are dangerous! It’ll eat us!"

"We’ll just be careful so the tiger doesn’t find us. And we’re making a trap to catch it, not fighting it. We have to use our brains."

"Especially you, Sun Xiaopang. Can you stop thinking about nothing but eating jerky all day?"

Feeling exasperated, Mengmeng mimicked Jiang Fan and poked Sun Xiaopang on the head.