As soon as Li Chunmei entered the vegetable garden, she saw three children squatting by the pond, counting something. She quietly approached and was surprised to see so many fish, and they weren't small either.

Li Chunmei crouched down behind Xiao Bao and whispered, "Wow, those fish you caught are really big! And you caught so many? That's amazing!"

Xiao Bao, being so naive and innocent, didn't recognize his aunt's voice at all. "Yes! We had a great haul today!"

Upon hearing Li Chunmei's voice, Xia Minmin quickly stood up, lowered her head, and frantically poked Xiaobao.

"Sister Xiaomin, why did you poke me?"

Xiao Bao looked up at Xia Minmin, and Xia Minmin quickly gave him a look, telling him to look behind him.

When Xiao Bao saw his aunt Li Chunmei, he was so frightened that he sat down on the ground. His terrified eyes showed that he was afraid Li Chunmei would tell Chen Chunhua.

Li Chunmei said expressionlessly, "All of you, bring your fish in here."

Xia Minmin, Wang Yu, and Xiao Bao quickly cleaned up the fish on the ground, then carried the fish basket and followed Li Chunmei into the backyard.

Xiao Wu, the uncle who always seemed to thrive on chaos, was already waiting for them to return in the courtyard, ready to watch the excitement.

Seeing the children struggling to carry their fish baskets, I exclaimed, "Wow, judging by this, you've had quite a haul!"

Li Chunmei sneered, "They really did have a lot of fun! I've never seen anyone so bold. All three children are under ten years old, yet they dare to fish by the pond."

Seeing Li Chunmei's anger, Xia Minmin immediately admitted defeat, "Mom, I was wrong, I will never dare to do it again."

Wang Yu and Xiao Bao also admitted their mistakes.

Xiao Wu chuckled and said, "You little rascals are pretty quick to admit your mistakes, aren't you? Are you genuinely apologizing or just pretending?"

Other people busy in the kitchen heard what was happening in the yard and quickly came out to see what was going on.

Chen Chunhua grabbed Xiaobao's ear and twisted it, saying, "I knew you had a fishhook hidden. You kept saying you didn't, but now I've found out."

Xiao Bao dared not resist at all, having already been beaten for fishing before, and now he only hoped for a lighter punishment.

Wang Yu hid behind Li Chunmei, too afraid to come out.

Wang Jie looked at his daughter who was hiding and said, "Xiaoyu, come out here. If you don't come out, I'll beat you when we get home."

Wang Yu thought for a moment, then came out from behind Li Chunmei and said, "Dad, you have to promise you won't beat me."

Wang Jie gritted his teeth. "I promise."

Seeing that his two older sisters hadn't been beaten, Xiao Bao raised his head and said to Chen Chunhua, "Mom, look, even my sisters didn't get beaten, so why are you twisting my ear!"

Chen Chunhua grew angrier the more she thought about it. "If you hadn't taken your two older sisters fishing, how would they have gotten this? They don't even know where our machete is."

Chen Chunhua pointed at the fishing rod that Xia Xiaomei had brought back from the backyard, "And where did you get these fishhooks? Didn't you say you didn't have any last time? Where did you get these three fishhooks from?"

Xiao Wu squatted down to examine the fishing rod. "Hey, you guys have to admit, Xiao Bao's fishing rod is really well made. It can even catch so many fish."

Xiao Bao, forgetting that his ear was still in Chen Chunhua's hand, immediately beamed with joy, "Uncle, you really understand me!"

After hearing what Xiao Bao said, Chen Chunhua couldn't help but put in even more effort.

Chen Chunhua's exertion made Xiaobao cry his heart out.

Xia Jianshe, who had just returned from outside with Xia Jianguo, was drawn over by Xiaobao's crying.

Xia Jianshe saw Chen Chunhua scolding Xiaobao, "What's wrong?"

Chen Chunhua said irritably, "It's all because of your son, who took his two older sisters fishing by the pond!"

Xia Jianshe smiled when he saw the fishing rod lying on the ground. "Son, I didn't expect you to be so skilled. This fishing rod is quite well made."

Chen Chunhua didn't even bother to scold Xiaobao. She walked over to Xia Jianguo and slapped him, saying, "Look at what you're saying! Our son is learning bad things from you."

Xia Jianshe muttered, "Fine, fine, whatever you want, go ahead and pay me back!"

Xia Jianguo looked at Xia Minmin, who was bowing her head in reflection, and asked, "How many fish did you catch?"

Xia Minmin looked up and saw Xia Jianguo winking at her, "These fish were all caught by me and Sister Xiaoyu!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yu also raised his head.

Xiao Wu joked, "I never expected that our county would produce two female fishing goddesses. My apologies!"

Xia Minmin bowed slightly and clasped her hands in greeting, saying, "You're too kind! You're too kind!"

Xia Damei looked at the group of people who were still talking and said, "Hurry up and process these fish, otherwise they will taste much worse if they die."

"Thank you so much to our two female fishing goddesses for giving us a treat today. If you'd like to go fishing again tomorrow, your uncle will take you with him."

After saying that, Xiao Wu went to the kitchen and got two knives. Together with Wang Jie, they killed all twenty-odd fish in the yard.

Li Chunmei looked at Xia Jianguo who had returned and asked, "Jianguo, how did things go?"

"That's great. The auspicious time is set for 7 days from now. We gave the craftsmen who carved the tombstone extra money today, and they will work overtime to finish it. We can start repairing the tomb tomorrow."

Xia Jianshe said to Chen Chunhua, "Jianguo and the others paid for the repair of the tomb and the erection of the monument, and we will pay for the food these days."

Although Chen Chunhua was a little reluctant, she still agreed.

Xia Damei said she also wanted to do her part for her parents, "Big brother, second brother, the meals for the next few days will be prepared by me and my younger sister."

Xia Xiaomei added, "Big brother and second brother, you two contribute the money, and my eldest sister and I will contribute our labor. We're not your parents."

Xia Jianguo and Xia Jianshe nodded.

This incident today has really affected Xia Jianshe. If he hadn't done that when his father passed away, there might not have been so many conflicts, and his siblings wouldn't have become estranged. If his parents were watching from heaven, they would be very happy to see them like this now.

Looking at the fish that Xiao Wu and Wang Jie had cleaned, Xia Xiaomei asked, "Sister-in-law, what are we going to do with so many fish?"

Chen Chunhua glanced at it, but since she wasn't very good at cooking fish either, she didn't say anything.

Seeing everyone staring at her, Li Chunmei said, "It's crispy! It can be stored for a few more days, and we can take out two or three fish for each meal, which means we can cook one less dish."

Xia Damei said, "Second sister-in-law's idea is really good."

Wang Jie brought the cleaned fish into the kitchen. "Let's do it this way. Second sister-in-law, I'll take this fish in and marinate it first."

"Chunmei, can we have dinner at 6:00 PM? My brother told us that dinner would be at 6:00 PM sharp."

Li Chunmei's tone was full of disdain, "Sure. You can take these kids over and give them a bath; they're filthy."

Li Chunmei, Xia Xiaomei, Xia Damei, and Xiao Wu were about to go into the kitchen to help.

Xia Jianshe looked at Xiao Wudao, who was about to leave, and said, "Xiao Wu, come here and come with me to borrow some tables and chairs from the neighbors."

Xia Jianguo pumped a bucket of water from the well and used it to wash the children. He didn't know how they got so dirty.

Even Xia Minmin, who is always very clean, is no exception.