Chapter 11 Catching Fish

Gu Yihan ate her steamed buns while waiting for her uncle and her adoptive father to arrive.

Just after finishing her meal, Gu Hao arrived. Gu Yihan ran over, took his hand, and said, "I've been waiting for so long, it's so boring."

Gu Hao sniffed the air: "Why do I smell meat?"

Gu Yihan pretended to sniff hard and said guiltily, "How come I can't smell anything? Maybe I smelled something wrong. I only smell pig manure."

Gu Hao fell silent when he thought of pig manure.

Seeing Gu Hao's expression, Gu Yihan turned her head away, suppressing a laugh.

A little while later, Uncle Gu and my adoptive father arrived. Uncle Gu asked Gu Yihan with concern, "Isn't Hanhan scared being all alone on the mountain?"

Gu Yihan said in her childish voice, "Uncle, I'm not scared."

Gu Yihan glanced at her cheap father, whose eyes were only on wild boars and who didn't even look at her, probably not even worried about her safety.

Gu Yihan didn't care. She would be good to whoever cared about her, and she didn't care about whoever didn't care about her.

The three of them quickly loaded the wild boar and the dead branches onto the vehicle.

When they reached the riverbank, Gu Yihan suddenly remembered that there were still fish traps in the river. "Big brother, let's go and collect the fish traps. Let Uncle and Dad go back first."

Gu Hao glanced at the river, worried that he might not agree, and he wasn't comfortable with his cousin going alone either: "Okay, I'll go and pull the fish trap out."

The two walked to the riverbank. Gu Hao told Gu Yihan to stand by the river while he went down to pull the cage. It was quite heavy and took him a long time to pull it up.

When Gu Hao looked inside, he saw that it was full of fish. Upon closer inspection, he found that they were all blackfish and catfish, and they were quite big. He quickly put the fish cage into the water.

He quickly walked to Gu Yihan's side and whispered, "Let's go home first. I'll have my dad and second uncle come and pick them up tonight. The three cages are too heavy; we can't carry them back."

Gu Yihan exclaimed in surprise, "So many!"

Gu Hao said, "Quite a few. I didn't expect fish to eat meat."

Gu Yihan looked at Gu Hao and whispered, "Then wouldn't we be able to catch a lot of fish with the offal that our wild boars don't want?"

Gu Hao was also not very calm. Without saying a word, he picked up Gu Yihan and started walking home.

When Grandma Gu saw Gu Hao carrying her granddaughter back, she quickly went over to check if she was injured.

Gu Yihan held her grandmother's rough hand and said with some heartache, "Grandma, I'm fine, I'm not hurt, I'm just hungry and sleepy."

She hasn't had a moment's rest all day, mainly because children have little energy.

Grandma Gu quickly brought the separately prepared steamed egg custard and rice porridge to Gu Yihan: "Eat first, and then go to sleep."

Gu Yihan's eyes were so tired from eating that she could barely keep them open, so she went back to her room to sleep.

After dark, Gu's eldest and second eldest brothers quickly killed the wild boar under the cover of night, and Gu Hao told Grandma Gu how to catch fish.

"Eldest son, don't throw away any of the pig's offal," Grandma Gu said anxiously.

Turning to Grandpa Gu sitting at the door, he said, "Old man, weave a few more fish traps."

Grandpa Gu didn't ask what it was for and simply agreed, "Okay, old woman."

"Eldest and second sons, don't go to your wives' parents' house to pick up your wives and daughters for the next few days." Then Grandma Gu repeated what Gu Hao had said to the three of them.

This startled the group. Gu Hao quickly led his father and Uncle Gu to pull up the fish trap.

The three men were speechless with excitement as they looked at the overflowing fish traps, and hurried home under the cover of night.

Grandma Gu was so happy to see so many fish that she cried. She said that Hanhan was a lucky star and that the fish had come to repay her kindness because they were so hungry.

Gu Aidang listened to these words without feeling anything. This daughter had always been raised by his mother and was not close to him. He didn't feel any blessing from her. His mother was just superstitious.

Grandma Gu: "Eldest son, second son, catch more fish, make dried fish and salted fish, and bring in pig offal."

Gu Laoda and Gu Laoer agreed, and in the following days, they caught a lot of fish. There weren't as many fish in the river in Gujia Village, and they also secretly caught a lot more in other villages.

Grandma Gu looked at the cellar full of goods and threatened Gu Lao Da and Gu Lao Er: "You two better keep your mouths shut. If you tell your wives, I won't let you off the hook."