Upon arriving at Huluze, everyone began unloading the items they had brought from the tractor, such as fishing nets and ice picks—things needed for fishing. After unloading these items, Liu Mancang started the tractor again and turned it around to head towards the village. This time, he was going to pick up the second group of people and also ask the village elder to drive the oxcart with some other people.
It was only a little past 5 a.m., and the sky was not yet fully bright. Although wild animals on the mountain were less likely to come down at this time, since the sound of the tractor was quite loud and would usually frighten some wild animals away from the busy road, Liu Sanqian still took his gun and got on the tractor to go back to the village with Liu Mancang, as it would be safer that way.
Those who remained began setting up stoves in a sheltered spot against the mountain. Once the stoves were built, they would boil ginger soup in the large pot they had brought. Drinking ginger soup in this weather would warm them up and help prevent colds. Before doing this, they lit several campfires, as it was still dark and they were worried about hungry wild animals coming down the mountain after hearing human voices. Lighting the fires would make them safer. Those who didn't need to build stoves went with the old man to explore the ice and locate the fish. Once they confirmed the location, they would dig a hole as close to the fish as possible.
Feng Mingran was left behind by Wu Qiaoqiao to cook ginger soup, while she herself followed behind the old man. Old man Liu Dinghai had originally thought that since Wu Qiaoqiao was the only girl in their group, she could also help with the fire and start a fire so that they could warm up and not have to freeze on the ice with the other men. However, after seeing how Wu Qiaoqiao walked, Old man Liu Dinghai didn't say anything. Wu Qiaoqiao's walk was much more steady and agile than his two burly sons and the other men in the village. People like them who had lived a long time and seen a lot could tell at a glance that Wu Qiaoqiao had real skills.
So Wu Qiaoqiao, Liu Gen, and the two sons of old man Liu Dinghai, along with two strong laborers from the village, followed behind old man Liu Dinghai to confirm the safety of the entire lake and the location of the fish. Wu Qiaoqiao watched with shining eyes as the old man, relying on his years of fishing skills, determined the exact location. After confirming the exact location, Liu Yougen walked to old man Liu Dinghai's side.
"Uncle Hai, how's it going? Have you finalized the location? And how do you feel about our harvest this year?"
When Liu Gen asked him a question, Old Master Liu Dinghai did not answer immediately. Instead, he took out the pipe he had tucked into his waistband, chose a vent, struck a match, lit the pipe, took a puff, exhaled a puff of smoke, and then spoke to Liu Yougen.
“I came to check on it before it froze over. The fish this year should be better than in previous years. After all, we didn’t feed them in previous years. This year, you specially sent people over several times to feed the fish in the lake.”
When Liu Yougen heard the old man say that this year's fish harvest would be more plentiful than in previous years, he was glad that he had listened to Wu Qiaoqiao and Liu Mingfeng and harvested the sweet potatoes. The sweet potato leaves were originally intended to be piled up in the pig farm to make pig feed, but Liu Mingfeng and Wu Qiaofeng stopped them and told Liu Yougen a fish feed recipe. They told him to mix sweet potato leaves with other things, such as rice bran and wheat bran, to make fish feed. During that period, they had someone come and scatter the feed into the lake every seven days.
Liu Yougen couldn't help but feel fortunate. After listening to Wu Qiaoqiao's advice, the pigs in the pig farm were growing better than last year. So, he listened to Liu Mingfeng and Wu Qiaoqiao's suggestions about raising fish again. In his opinion, people should listen to the opinions of others, especially those with real skills. Now, everyone in their village can have a good New Year this year, not only with pork but also with a lot of fish.
As they were talking, they also heard the sound of a tractor coming from afar. It turned out that the second group of people that Liu Mancang had gone back to pick up had arrived, and behind the tractor, the village's oxcart group followed.
Once everyone arrived, they got to work. The old man led his men to the location he had chosen, and the strong, able-bodied men immediately got to work, using ice picks to chisel away the hard ice. Others used shovels to scrape away the ice chips. They first had to make a 1.5-meter-wide opening for the net, and then chisel out about ten more ice holes. Only after all these holes were made could the fishing net be lowered into the water.
While they were chiseling holes in the ice, Wu Qiaoqiao also tried her hand. The villagers were once again amazed by the strength of this educated youth's wife from their village. While it took two or three men working together to chisel a single hole, Wu Qiaoqiao, alone, could chisel a suitable hole in the same amount of time—and that was after she had restrained herself. Otherwise, given her current physical condition, she could have chiseled a hole with each stroke.
After the ice hole is drilled, it's time to start casting the nets. Just laying all the nets out under the ice takes about an hour. In such cold weather, the fish will gather and not move, while the drilled ice will bring in fresh oxygen, attracting the fish into the nets. While waiting for the fish to be caught, everyone sits around the fire and drinks ginger soup.
While they sat sipping ginger soup and waiting for the fish to be caught in the net, the village leaders from the other three villages arrived in their village vehicles. Wu Qiaoqiao was a little surprised and asked Feng Mingran, who explained that it was just a routine procedure. Whenever a village was fishing and about to haul in their nets, people from the other three villages would arrive. After all, this lake supported four villages, and it wasn't feasible for just one village to fish freely. Therefore, they agreed on a mutually acceptable condition: each village could only cast one net at a time.
Some might argue that the last village wouldn't have much of a catch, right? They're aware of that, so the following year, the last village would be the first to fish. While this means one village might have very few fish for two years, isn't it better than fighting tooth and nail over a small share of the catch?
Time passed slowly as Liu Yougen and the team leaders from the three teams chatted. Finally, Grandpa Liu Dinghai stood up, walked to the ice hole, and pulled on the net. He waved to signal everyone to start preparing to haul it in. But when they got there to pull, they found they couldn't budge it. Feeling the weight in their hands, they all grinned. Finally, with the help of oxen from their village and another village, they slowly pulled, and the fishing net gradually emerged from the ice hole. Everyone held their breath as nearly four plump fish broke through the ice.
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