Li Dazhuang, who was furious with Liu Ping's family, was instantly overjoyed upon hearing Wei Mo's news.
"Tell me exactly how many people you need, and I'll make the arrangements right now. We'll go fishing tomorrow."
Recently, due to the thick ice covering the river, there has been no fish production. However, the supply and marketing cooperative is urging them to hurry up, since fish are easier to preserve in winter, and even frozen fish sells very well.
Wei Mo thought for a moment, then said to Li Dazhuang,
"We need a few oxcarts and ice rafters."
Wei Mo spoke as he thought, and then added,
"By the way, we also need a lot of people, since many jobs require people to do them."
Li Dazhuang nodded repeatedly from the side. Then he said to Wei Mo,
"Can we go fishing tomorrow?"
Wei Mo thought for a moment. He had already made the wooden turntable, which was used to tie ropes. Then Wei Mo nodded and said to the captain.
"Uncle Dazhuang, go and gather some men. We need strong laborers, it's very strenuous. We can go fishing tomorrow morning."
Li Dazhuang was overjoyed and quickly nodded to Wei Mo.
"Okay, okay, I'll go."
Li Dazhuang ran off happily.
Wei Mo and the old man carried more than ten kilograms of rice and slowly walked home.
Li Xiuxiu and the others were making these cotton shoes with Grandma Wang; the soles were provided by Wei Mo.
After all, given our current living conditions, there's no need to wear straw sandals; cotton shoes are much warmer than straw sandals.
Wei's mother spoke up from the side.
"These naughty kids keep their shoes wet every day. Their feet will freeze if they go out like that, oh dear!"
Hearing Wei's mother sigh, Li Xiuxiu offered words of comfort.
"Sister Wang, the child is still young, he'll be fine when he's older. If not, we can make more cotton shoes for them, it's not like we don't have anything."
Grandma Yu chimed in from the side.
"Exactly, exactly! What child doesn't love to play? They'll get used to it when they're a little older. I'll make two sets of cotton-padded clothes for my grandson and granddaughter so they can change them often. [I need to]..."
In those days, let alone changing clothes, even having a set of cotton-padded clothes was a rare treat. Even 20 years later, having a set of cotton-padded clothes would have been considered a luxury.
Moreover, it was still 1960, and many families were even sharing a single cotton-padded coat.
Watching Wei Xiaomin and Wei Xiaohui pile up snow outside, their little hands were red and swollen from the cold.
Wang Zhenhua walked to the door and called out to them.
"Come back quickly, warm up, or you'll freeze."
Wei Xiaomin reluctantly followed behind Wei Xiaohui and said to his mother,
"Okay, okay."
Then the two of them slowly returned to the house, where they warmed themselves by the stove. The snow on their shoes was swept away by Wei Ma with a broom.
The two sisters sat by the stove, stretching out their hands. Their little hands, red from playing in the snow, were warming themselves above the stove.
After thinking for a moment, Wei's mother turned to Grandma Wang and said,
"Godmother, let's make some hand warmers! Otherwise, these kids' hands will get frostbite sooner or later."
Grandma Yu's eyes lit up when she heard that.
“Sure, that thing is easier to make, so my grandson and granddaughter’s hands won’t get frostbite. If you want, let’s make a few pairs too, so you won’t get frostbite when you go out.”
Upon hearing Grandma Wang's words, the eyes of the educated youth lit up, and they all nodded in agreement.
The hand-covering method involves only the thumb on one side, while the other four fingers are integrated, making it particularly convenient to use.
By the afternoon, nearing evening, we had made hand warmers for everyone, and then tied the three children together with a rope to prevent them from leaving them lying around.
Everyone else also got a pair, so this year not only will their feet not get cold, but their hands won't get cold either.
Wei Mo, as if struck by a thought, spoke up from the side.
"Grandma, Grandma, could you make some more cotton hats?"
"After all, we still have a lot of cotton left at home, so we'll use it all to avoid freezing again."
Grandma Wang nodded in agreement after hearing Wei Mo's words.
"When it comes to good things, we'll listen to my eldest grandson."
The family was happy and joyful every day.
The next morning, Wei Mo was awakened by noises outside. He looked and saw that the brigade leader, with more than 20 men and two oxcarts, had arrived at the courtyard gate.
The captain craned his neck and shouted.
"Wei Mo, is the old village chief awake?"
They didn't come in. After all, the Wei Mo family had more girls.
Wei Mo quickly got dressed and got up, as he was particularly interested in winter fishing, and called out to the outside.
"Here they come! Here they come!!"
The old village chief also started getting dressed. He had a lot of winter clothes, so he wasn't very fast.
After the grandfather and grandson finished dressing, they went into the yard.
Wei Mo then began to direct the brigade leader and the villagers.
"Uncle Dazhuang, first lift these two fishing nets onto the oxcart, and then lift the other wooden turntable onto it as well."
Following Wei Mo's instructions, the team leader quickly ordered the villagers to load all the items onto the truck.
Wei Mo then asked from the side,
"Uncle Dazhuang, did you bring the rope?"
Li Dazhuang nodded quickly, looking at Wei Mo, who was like a little adult in front of him.
"Yes, yes, it's all in the car!"
Wei Mo thought for a moment and pointed to a wooden stick next to him.
"And you should take that long pole with you too."
Following Wei Mo's instructions, after everything was prepared, the three oxcarts headed towards the river. Now, no one knew how to catch them, and they had to wait for Wei Mo to explain the method.
Upon reaching the riverbank, Wei Mo selected a relatively narrow section of the river and addressed the captain.
"Captain, let's open an ice hole here first."
Under Wei Mo's command, the brigade leader ordered the villagers to dig ice holes here.
Wei Mo then instructed the captain to dig an ice hole at the other end of the river and to connect several large ice holes in the middle.
Then, use a long wooden stick to pierce the river and lay the fishing net across the entire river surface.
This net is a small net with a large net bag inside. Once the fish enter, they can't escape. This is just the first step.
After completing the first step, Li Dazhuang asked Wei Mo.
"Little Wei Mo, what about the rest?"
Wei Mo looked at the prepared work and said to the captain.
"We dug holes in the ice along the riverbank, continuing until we reached a distance of one or two hundred meters."
With Wei Mo's words, the brigade leader began to lead the villagers to carry out the operation, firing at intervals of ten meters or so, until they reached a distance of about 200 meters.
Wei Mocai spoke again.
“Uncle Dazhuang, send one person to keep watch so the ice hole doesn’t freeze over. The rest of you can break through the river surface and use the long net to block the river as well.”
With Wei Mo in command, the others began to move.
The old man was worried that Wei Mo would catch a cold, so he led Wei Mo to wait in a sheltered spot.
The old man asked.
"Can my eldest grandson really catch so many?"
Wei Mo nodded and said to the old man, "Grandpa, don't worry! You'll see the harvest in a bit."
"These ice holes can be left as they are. We can continue fishing here tomorrow. After all, this is a river, and fish swim around. Even if there aren't a lot, there will still be plenty."
The old man nodded. As the villagers enthusiastically began chiseling holes in the ice, the second fishing net also blocked the entire river surface. However, the second net was larger, with longer sections on both sides.
Under Wei Mo's command, the fishing nets were passed through ice holes one by one, converging towards the first fishing net.
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