"It's so dark, it's not a good time to slack off, is it?"
Brother Yu directed Dazhu and Erzhu to go back and get the buckets and nets, and asked Zhou Mingli.
Zhou Mingli turned around and went back into the house. When he came out again, Brother Yu saw that he had a large black object in his hand.
Zhou Mingli pushed on a certain part of the black thing, and it immediately lit up with a bright light.
Brother Yu immediately got excited, walked over and patted Zhou Mingli on the shoulder hard, "Good heavens! You actually managed to get a flashlight!"
Zhou Mingli smiled but didn't explain. "Let's go."
"Dad! Uncle Zhou! Wait for us!"
Dazhu and Erzhu also clamored to go. The two teenagers were capable of working, so Zhou Mingli tacitly agreed that they could go as well. The four of them set off from the Zhou family home to catch fish in the nearby waters.
Zhou Yang also cried out, "Dad! Dad! I want to go too!"
Jiang Ci didn't hesitate to press him back down, not allowing him to run around.
Zhou Yang squatted at the door and cried, sobbing uncontrollably.
Zhou Miao glanced at her brother, then followed behind Jiang Ci, watching her and Sister-in-law Yu busily packing their things.
After tidying up, Jiang Ci asked Sister-in-law Yu for advice.
She took out the fabric she had bought at the supply and marketing cooperative that day and said, "I don't know how to sew clothes, sister-in-law, do you know how? Could you teach me?"
"Of course it will work!" Sister-in-law Yu wiped her hands, unfolded the cloth, and looked it over. "This is quite a lot of cloth, at least three feet long, isn't it?"
Jiang Ci nodded. "I want to make underwear and bras from three feet of cotton cloth."
Jiang Ci paused for a moment, then looked at the two children and said, "I need to make a few more for Zhou Mingli, and a set of clothes for each of the two children as well."
Jiang Ci spoke frankly, and Sister-in-law Yu felt no shame. She looked Jiang Ci up and down and said, "Let's go inside and talk."
Zhou Mingli had a lot of fabric, so he wouldn't need much for underwear. At his sister-in-law's suggestion, Jiang Ci was able to make three pairs of underwear and two small bras.
Zhou Miao and Zhou Yang also each had to make two pairs of underwear.
Zhou Mingli's case is even simpler. These days, boxer shorts aren't fashionable anymore, so just make him two pairs of big shorts.
Jiang Ci could learn to cook, but making clothes was difficult. So, Sister-in-law Yu helped her cut out the clothes and taught her how to sew them stitch by stitch.
Jiang Ci barely managed to learn it, and with some enthusiasm, she made several pieces of underwear by the light of her newly bought oil lamp.
The new clothes for Zhou Miao and Zhou Yang were made with the help of Sister-in-law Yu. The children are still young and at the age where they grow rapidly, so Sister-in-law Yu made the clothes a little larger so that they could wear them for a longer period of time.
Sister-in-law Yu is very frugal. After making several pieces of clothing of various sizes, she still has a third of the good fabric left.
"Keep these. If you need to mend clothes or make underwear later, just cut them according to what you're wearing now. But it's hard to make new clothes with this little bit of fabric."
Jiang Ci nodded silently.
Fortunately, it's summer now. If it were winter, they would have to buy even more things, including quilts, cotton-padded coats, and other warm clothing.
However, they can save up slowly now, and start making it gradually after autumn.
After seeing Sister-in-law Yu off, Jiang Ci washed all the newly made underwear. Staring at the underwear, Jiang Ci had a strange feeling in her heart.
It's incredible that she can wear underwear she made herself.
After tidying up the room again, Jiang Ci invited Zhou Yang and Zhou Miao to come inside and take a shower.
Zhou Mingli, Brother Yu, Dazhu, and Erzhu arrived at the nearby waters in the dark.
This is a small pond. Water from a branch of a mountain river flows into this depression and forms a pond. Then, another branch emerges, creating a stream that flows downhill.
Recently, everyone has been harvesting wheat, so not many people come here to fish. After Zhou Mingli and Brother Yu arrived, they took off their shoes and pants, ready to go into the water.
"Dazhu and Erzhu, you two stay by the water and see if there are any shrimp or crabs. Put them all in the bucket!"
"Be careful, you know!"
The two children were already very excited to come to the water's edge in the middle of the night. They happily agreed and began to obediently catch small fish and shrimp by the water.
Zhou Mingli and Brother Yu, one holding a net and the other a flashlight, tiptoed into the pond.
The pond isn't deep; the deepest point is only a little over two meters.
The two slowly walked into the water, their flashlights moving slowly across the surface as they searched for any life swimming within.
The water level reached above Zhou Mingli and Brother Yu's thighs. Suddenly, Zhou Mingli grabbed Brother Yu's arm and stopped him from turning the flashlight.
Brother Yu was startled and immediately looked in the direction of the light. To the upper left of the two of them, there were fish scales glowing!
Zhou Mingli gestured for Brother Yu to take the flashlight, and the net in his hand slowly moved forward, without making any movement in the water.
It was also because the light made the fish's senses more and more dulled that it was caught in Zhou Mingli's net without any struggle. Only when it was out of the water did the fish start to thrash violently.
"Not bad at all!" Brother Yu laughed heartily. "This silver carp is really big!"
With such a great start, Zhou Mingli was naturally pleased and smiled, "There are about five or six catties... If we can get one, we can get two or three."
Zhou Mingli returned to the shore with the fish in his net and put them into a bucket.
Luckily, the bucket they brought was quite large, and the fish were still thrashing around when they were put in.
When Dazhu and Erzhu saw this, they exclaimed in surprise.
Dazhu didn't hold back his praise, "Uncle Zhou! You're really amazing!"
Zhou Mingli asked with a smile, "How was your harvest?"
Dazhu showed him the catch in another small bucket, "I caught a lot of shrimp! And eels too!"
Most of them were small river shrimp, and there were also two eels, so it was already a pretty good catch.
Zhou Mingli patted him on the head, "Well done."
Dazhu grinned.
The four of them worked until late at night, catching three silver carp, two grass carp, and several eels. These animals were all quite large, and more importantly, there was a small bucket of shrimp.
Back at the Zhou family home, the four of them began to divide the fish.
Zhou Mingli said, "Brother Yu, my family needs a silver carp and a grass carp. Could you spare some of the eels and shrimp for me? I'll pay you."
Zhou Mingli caught all five fish, but he only wanted two, along with some eels and shrimp. Of course, Brother Yu had no objections.
Brother Yu actually felt like he got a good deal.
His family doesn't cook eel well; no matter how they prepare it, it always has a strong fishy smell. But it's still meat, so they don't have many fuss about it.
"What money do you want! If you want money, you're turning your back on us. We went together anyway. If you hadn't had the flashlight, we wouldn't have been able to get so much good stuff this time. My two boys are already getting a good deal by taking an extra fish from you."
"Dazhu and Erzhu, give the shrimp and eels in your buckets to your Uncle Zhou."
“These things aren’t worth much. Let’s trade the shrimp and eels in this bucket for the extra fish my family got!” Brother Yu decided. “Next time we go catch fish, we’ll need your flashlight again, so don’t worry about these things.”
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