Chapter 175, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City: Winter Fishing on an Icy Lake
Lu Xuan had to process too much food, and the female workers couldn't finish in one day, so they stayed in the village for three days.
The accommodation was a tent set up next to the greenhouse, which was also equipped with a heated kang bed and air conditioning. It could also accommodate any visitors from the village who came to visit in the future.
Living so close together, the female workers saw much more.
For example, how well the villagers eat their three meals a day.
In the morning, they alternate between rice porridge, fish porridge, steamed buns, mantou, and tofu pudding. For lunch and dinner, they have braised pork, steamed fish, pickled cabbage, stir-fried cured meat, stir-fried eggs with chives, and even beef and seafood!
The women in the village don't eat with them, but every time they come back from home, they smell of food. How could the villagers not smell it if their noses aren't damaged?
Although the food Lu Xuan provided for them was not bad—meat buns for breakfast and fried rice with cured meat for lunch and dinner—it was still far inferior to the conditions of the villagers.
It's not just the food; there are also the camping lights installed in the tents, as bright as day, and the amazing snow-removing gadgets on the streets, just like agricultural drones.
All the children in the village, regardless of gender, were able to read and write!
The more they learned about it, the stronger their desire to join Yunlu Village became.
Unfortunately, it's not something they can join just because they want to.
Ultimately, they're here to work.
Tens of thousands of kilograms of ingredients are waiting for them to process; how can they have time to take care of personal matters?
Winter days are short and it gets dark early, so they finish work early too, but in the dark, are they really going to people's homes to offer themselves up? Don't they have any shame?
On the third day, after finally processing all the ingredients, and with the day still early, the female workers, who had been holding back for two days, finally couldn't resist inquiring about the whereabouts of the young and strong men in the village.
But Miao Jinfeng told them, "Hey, they've been idle at home for days. They went out early this morning, didn't you know?"
The female workers: "!!!" We didn't know!
Miao Jinfeng waved her hand and said, "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether they are here or not. Ah Xuan gave me your wages for the past two days. Here, I'll pay you. I'll have my eldest son take you home later."
The female workers were astonished: "We get paid?"
Miao Jinfeng said, "Originally there wasn't any, but Ah Xuan knows that you have a hard life and don't want to take advantage of others, so I prepared some. There aren't many, so you can take them without worry."
Miao Jinfeng gave each of them a pound of cured meat, a common cabbage/radish, three pounds of common grains, and three pounds of common fruit.
The female workers, each holding a bag of supplies, stared in astonishment.
Is this what you call not having enough?
Each person has eight pounds of supplies, and fifty people together have four hundred pounds!
But then I thought about how they had processed tens of thousands of kilograms of ingredients in the past two days, so it didn't seem like much in comparison.
The female workers were both surprised and delighted by the unexpected wages, and regretful that they hadn't been able to interact with the young and strong men of Yunlu Village.
In the end, I could only be sent back with mixed feelings.
·
At that time, the hunting team was unaware that the female workers had their eyes on them; their minds were preoccupied with the enormous ice lake they had unexpectedly discovered.
Li Jing gazed at the seemingly endless frozen lake and exclaimed in amazement, "What a huge lake!"
Zhang Chengming used his hands to brush away the snow on the frozen lake, and tapped it with his fingers; as expected, it was frozen solid.
Are there any fish in here?
“Of course there are!” Li Tuo said confidently, “There must be countless fish in such a big lake.”
The others said, "Even if there are any, it won't be easy to catch them. We'd have to break through the ice first."
A villager with a strength enhancement ability slammed his fist into the ice, only to create a crack less than half a meter in diameter and two or three centimeters thick.
"Ouch! This is freezing!"
"Don't rush to smash them. There aren't necessarily any fish near the lake. It's a waste of your energy."
Others who were eager to try paused, "That makes sense."
"Shall we take a look inside?"
...
The group drove sleds into the heart of the frozen lake.
Lu Xuan first chose a spot and used his wind-based ability to sweep away all the snow covering several hundred square meters around him, revealing the ice surface underneath.
Zhang Chengming and the others scattered, kneeling on the ice with their buttocks sticking out. Some knocked and tapped, others shone bright flashlights down, and some of the less intelligent ones stared wide-eyed, trying to see if there were any fish underneath.
[...such a primitive method.]
[It's been almost a month since we entered the extreme cold season. The ice layer must be at least half a meter or even a meter thick; how could it be visible to the naked eye?]
[Isn't Wuyang visually enhanced? Perhaps it could work?]
[Level 1 visual enhancement is barely acceptable.]
The host probably—no, definitely—can see it.
[Pfft, I can't imagine what the streamer would look like with his butt sticking out on the ice; the image is too beautiful.]
Hehe, now that you mention it, I'm actually kind of interested in watching it.
[Want to see +1]
Lu Xuan: "..." Anything can happen in a dream.
Besides, who says you have to lie on the ice to see visual enhancement?
For a Level 7 visually enhanced individual, the difference in height is completely negligible.
In addition to visual enhancement, hearing is also useful at this time.
Lu Xuan used his amplification ability to enhance his hearing again, blocking out the sounds of wind and falling snow. The clear sound of flowing water quickly entered his eardrums, occasionally mixed with the unnatural sound of fish swimming by.
Following the direction of the sound's intensity, we soon found a suitable spot to stop.
Lu Xuan flicked his palm, conjuring a pure iron ice shard weighing over fifty pounds, and forcefully stabbed the pointed end into the ice surface.
The two-meter-long ice shard instantly sank halfway into the ice surface, and almost simultaneously, a 'plop' sound of the ice being pierced came from below.
As soon as the ice sluice was pulled out, the lake water immediately gushed out from the ice hole.
Lu Xuan searched for the smart fish finder in the store, clicked to buy it, briefly learned how to use it, and then threw the small visual probe down into the ice hole.
After struggling for a long time without success, the others noticed the commotion on Lu Xuan's side and gathered around.
"Ha! You've already broken through the ice?" Zhang Chengming touched the water gushing from the ice hole and hissed, "So cold!"
Li Jing leaned closer to Lu Xuan to look at the screen in his hand, and exclaimed in surprise, "Is this a scene from the lake?"
"I saw a fish! And it's quite big!" Xiong Mao exclaimed excitedly from the side.
"Where is it? Let me see!" Everyone else crowded over when they heard that.
Lu Xuan was getting a headache from being squeezed by them. He swiped at the screen, and a semi-transparent video immediately appeared in mid-air.
The group then stepped back slightly, looking at the virtual screen in amazement. "There really are quite a few fish, and they look pretty big too."
"Is this what we're standing on? Shouldn't we hurry up and make the ice hole bigger so the fish can't get away?"
"Lu Xuan?"
Lu Xuan said, "No rush."
Who makes a racket when they see three or five fish during winter fishing? That's nothing unusual.
In addition to seeing underwater, Star Alliance's smart fish finder can also detect lake depth, underwater topography, and the composition of the lake water.
Their main function is to find fish; other functions are not important.
Lu Xuan entered his specific requirement, 'Find a fish nest,' on the display screen. After receiving the instruction, the fish finder quickly began its automatic patrol and search.
About five or six minutes later, the first fish nest was found.
Zhang Chengming's eyes lit up with excitement when he saw the large fish huddled together in the water.
"So many fish!"
"This is going to be a windfall!"
"Lu Xuan, where is this fish nest? Let's go dig it up quickly!"
Lu Xuan glanced at the coordinates displayed on the screen. It wasn't far from them, about fifty meters away.
The group followed Lu Xuan to the vicinity of the fish nest. Lu Xuan then conjured more than a dozen ice shards for them, which the strength enhancement type used to form a circle around the area and stab downwards.
A group of people were poking and prodding the ice with ice picks.
Their strength was inferior to Lu Xuan's, and it took them a lot more effort to pierce through the one-meter-thick ice layer.
Once all the ice holes were in place, Lu Xuan told everyone to step back, then stretched out his arm, palm facing the lake surface, and suddenly pressed down with double the gravity!
The ice layer, about five meters in diameter, enclosed by the ice eye, suddenly collapsed and then crashed into the lake with a loud 'plop'.
The young men and women around couldn't help but cheer.
"Is this using gravity manipulation?"
"This is so much easier than smashing it with our bare hands!"
"If gravity manipulation is so useful, why not just smash it directly instead of using an iron spike?"
"Nonsense, of course it's to demarcate the area of the ice cave. What if we accidentally break through all the ice beneath our feet? Are you planning to go winter swimming?"
Lu Xuan said, "Stop talking nonsense and get to work."
During normal winter fishing, dozens or even hundreds of ice holes are broken in different locations to make it easier to spread out the fishing nets and get more fish.
They use fully automatic fishing nets, so it doesn't require that much trouble.
Throw the fishing net down and aim it at the fish nest. The net will automatically spread out in the water, covering the entire fish nest.
Once he was sure the fishing net was completely gathered, Lu Xuan's arm muscles tensed up suddenly, and he pulled upwards with force.
The calm water surface gradually began to ripple, and soon a large number of fresh lake fish caught in the fishing nets appeared in the sight of the hunting team and the viewers in the live broadcast room.
Lu Xuan used his gravity ability again and waved his hand sharply. The entire net of fish burst out of the water and was thrown onto the other side of the lake.
With the help of gravity-based superpowers, the fish were released without making much noise.
Zhang Chengming and the others, however, stared in astonishment at the mountain of live fish before them, exclaiming, "So many—!?"
"This net has caught all the fish in the entire fishpond!?"
"I've struck it rich!"
Even if they couldn't weigh it on the spot, their two months of fishing during the rainy season allowed them to make a rough estimate.
At least 10,000 jin!
They caught tens of thousands of kilograms of fish with just one net cast!
The hunting party members were stunned.
This was too easy!
The feats of catching hundreds of kilograms at a time from the waterfall or retrieving thousands of kilograms from the floodwaters pale in comparison to winter fishing!
The live stream room was buzzing with excitement.
[666! Tens of thousands of kilograms of fish in one go! Quick, type "Awesome!" in the chat!]
[This streamer is awesome!]
[Playing the net with one hand, that was impressive! I give it 100 points, don't get too cocky!]
[Speaking of which, why doesn't the streamer just store the catch in their virtual space? Wouldn't that be easier?]
[Putting it away directly doesn't look as good as holding it by the hand!]
[Forget about whether you can directly collect the space, just tell me if you enjoyed watching this streamer's skill demonstration. I'm a country bumpkin, and I loved it!]
[Stop talking nonsense! At this point, just shut up, clap, and throw gifts!]
Lu Xuan glanced appreciatively at the last comment, "So sensible."
Xiong Mao's eyes lit up with excitement, and he couldn't wait to say, "This is awesome! I want to join in too!"
The others, as if waking from a dream, became equally excited.
That's right!
Instead of being intimidated by Lu Xuan's gains, why not do it yourself and create your own online? That would be truly satisfying.
The group first exchanged fish finders with Lu Xuan, and then, just like before, they dispersed in groups of three to five, each finding a good spot, breaking ice holes, throwing fish finders, searching for fish nests, and then casting their nets.
With the spatial ring as a magical artifact, the others did not smash the ice cave.
After finding the fish nest, cast the net along the ice hole. Once you've caught enough fish, store the net and the catch directly into your spatial storage. All done!
The fishponds vary in size, and the catch from each net is different, but without exception, they all yield no less than a thousand catties.
Those weighing over a thousand kilograms are particularly unlucky, as the fishing net gets tangled in aquatic plants or other obstacles on the lakebed during the process of being laid out.
Most people carried at least three to five thousand kilograms of supplies, making the efficiency of resource acquisition unprecedented.
These people were also particularly cunning. They figured that since tens of thousands of catties of fish had been caught in the ice hole that Lu Xuan had smashed, there probably wouldn't be any fish to catch nearby, so they deliberately chose a place far enough away to catch them.
But why did Lu Xuan deliberately create such a large ice hole?
It's just to make it easier to scoop up the fish and give them a visual impact, to feast the eyes of the audience.
Of course not.
His real purpose was to introduce enough air into the water through a sufficiently large ice hole.
The fish, which had been holding their breath underwater, sensed the increased air content in the water and swarmed towards the area without Lu Xuan needing to do anything.
Less than fifteen minutes after the first net of fish was caught, Lu Xuan cast the net again and harvested another five thousand catties of fish.
The third time, he bought several enhanced fish-attracting lights from the mall, shone them downwards into the water, attracted enough fish, and then cast his net again, reaping another six thousand kilograms of fish.
The fourth time, a large amount of chopped, fishy-smelling game entrails were thrown in as bait, and a catch of over 7,000 catties of fish was obtained!
Using different methods in round after round, Lu Xuan alone managed to catch 50,000 catties of fish in just one afternoon.
Others would have to move to a new spot after catching a net of fish, wasting a lot of time. However, they learned to use bait like Lu Xuan, and eventually their catch reached 20,000 to 30,000 catties.
The viewers in the live stream roughly calculated what they had gained that day.
Guaranteed 200,000 catties of fish!
Wow! Isn't this data a bit too exaggerated?
Lu Xuan was not surprised at all.
It's not uncommon for a single winter fishing operation on a well-known modern lake to yield tens or hundreds of thousands of kilograms of fish.
They only managed to get this much with fully automated fishing nets and a spatial cheat, which is already a very small amount.
The real shock should come from another point.
Lu Xuan reminded the audience: "We've caught so many fish in just a small area of the frozen lake this afternoon. Guess how many fish we could catch in a whole winter if we explored the entire frozen lake?"
Audience: !!!
·
The group returned home laden with countless fish.
Upon meeting their relatives in the village, the young and strong men couldn't wait to show off their great harvest of the day.
As a result, the elders and women in each family looked at these young people as if they were fools.
"Tens of thousands of kilograms of fish?! What kind of dream is that in broad daylight?"
“You’ve only been gone for less than a day, not half a month. And it’s not the rainy season. Where are you going to get so many fish?”
"I could believe you if you said you got a few thousand kilograms of fish, but tens or hundreds of thousands of kilograms? That's a huge exaggeration."
"Who's bragging? Come on, let me show you whether we actually caught that many fish!"
Zhang Chengming and the others were indignant and excitedly started scooping fish out of the water.
You took out several thousand kilograms, I took out several thousand kilograms, and about twenty people worked together. Luckily, we almost drowned the whole village with the fish.
The villagers, who had been full of disbelief just moments before, were now in an uproar.
They were both excited and dazed as they looked at the mountains of fish piled up in the open space outside the village.
Li Tie grabbed Lu Xuan and excitedly pressed him for details.
Lu Xuan said, "We encountered a very large frozen lake, and these are the fish we caught after breaking through the ice."
Li Tie exclaimed in shock, "What lake has so many fish?"
Lu Xuan replied, "That's not much."
Given the size of the frozen lake, even if they worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk throughout the entire cold season, they probably wouldn't be able to catch all the fish in half the lake.
Li Tie was so excited about the size of the ice lake that he could hardly contain himself.
Seeing that Li Tie's face was flushed with excitement, Lu Xuan worried that he might faint from over-excitement, so he reassured him, "The ice lake and the fish are all there, they can't escape. Don't think too much about it. Let's divide up these fish first."
Li Tie took a deep breath and nodded, saying, "That's right, let's divide the fish first!"
Of the 200,000 catties of fish, Lu Xuan took 60,000 catties for himself, 40,000 catties were distributed among the public supplies, and the rest went to the hunting team that went out today.
Those in the Li family hunting team who had two spots received over 6,700 jin (3,500 kg) directly, while the Wu family, whose members did not join the hunting team or who just happened to be absent today, received a subsidy of over 700 jin (350 kg), nearly 800 jin (400 kg).
The hunting team from Wucheng missed out today, but they won't be at a disadvantage if they go next time.
Mei Cheng stared wide-eyed, both happy and worried, "Sister, how are we going to finish eating so many fish?"
More than 700 kilograms of fish, what does that mean?
Eating fish every day, even two pounds a day, could last for over a year.
This is just one day's harvest; they'll definitely get even more in the future, and we don't know if they'll have enough space to store it all.
Mei Xue was also happy, "If we can't finish it, we'll save it!"
If there's not enough space, just get a bigger one. Who can complain about having too many supplies?
Let alone seven or eight hundred pounds, even seven or eight thousand pounds, she wouldn't mind!
·
During the rainy season, everyone stores a lot of fish, but the first catch of fish in winter always has a different significance.
That evening, everyone agreed to use the fish caught in winter as the main dish for dinner, and the whole village was filled with the rich aroma of fish.
In addition to their usual fish dishes, the Lu family also made a mixed fish hot pot.
The mixed fish hot pot, made with lard and homemade soybean paste, and with plenty of potato chunks, is incredibly fragrant.
The viewers in the live stream were so engrossed in eating that they didn't even have time to send comments. Lu Qing, in particular, praised the fish highly: "These fish are much fresher than those caught during the rainy season, and they don't have any muddy taste at all!"
Lei Yan nodded and said, "The water quality of the ice lake must be better."
When the floodwaters are so murky, the fish that are caught all have a muddy taste, making them very difficult to process.
With his mouth full of oil, Lu Chen looked at Lu Xuan with bright eyes and asked, "Brother, can you take me fishing next time? I want to see that big lake too."
Lu Xuan nodded and said, "Okay."
Winter fishing is indeed a very interesting activity. Although their fishing methods are a bit unconventional, it's still a good idea to take Lu Chen there to broaden his horizons.
Lu Qing also said, "Lei Yan should go next time too. I won't have any problems staying home alone."
Lei Yan didn't go today and missed out on her share of the hunting team's harvest, which meant missing out on a full three thousand catties of spoils. Just thinking about it made her wince.
Lei Yan said, "Then we'll have to ask who in the village is free to come and keep you company. Otherwise, I'm still worried about you being alone."
Even though Lu Xuan said that it's not so easy for a superhuman to lose their child, he was still worried that Lu Qing might get hurt when he couldn't see her.
This pregnancy was something Lu Qing had been looking forward to for several years; it absolutely couldn't go wrong.
Lu Xuan didn't pay attention to the couple's conversation; he was currently thinking about what to do with the tens of thousands of fish he had just acquired.
They'll definitely have to hold a lottery, and they'll also have to process a batch of recyclables, but what about the portion they keep for themselves?
I've already made quite a few preserved fish, salted fish, and fish balls, so I could make more to stock up. But it's really not very original to make the same few kinds of things over and over again.
Caviar is delicious, but unfortunately, it's not the breeding season during either the rainy season or the coldest season, so there's very little roe.
Lu Xuan's gaze inadvertently fell on the noodles in the mixed fish pot that Lu Qing had married into, and a thought suddenly struck him, reminding him of a type of fish noodle he had eaten at a private restaurant before.
Perhaps he could try to replicate it?
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