Chapter 187 Fishing

The sun was setting, and the afterglow of the road sun covered the river surface with a golden hue. Lin Yue stood in the bamboo forest, and a thin ray of light shone through the gaps between the bamboos and fell on her face. She held a machete in her hand and chopped off a thin bamboo with a few quick movements. She cut off the branches and leaves in a few strokes and put them together with several other smaller bamboos.

From outside the bamboo forest came the children's shouts: "Mom, are you okay? We caught so many earthworms!"

Lin Yue responded loudly: "Coming soon!"

She picked up the bamboos and walked out of the bamboo forest.

Brother Zhang took five children to work in a soft and moist grass for a long time and caught a lot of earthworms.

Little Mushroom was in charge of carrying the bucket. When he saw Lin Yue coming out, he ran over to present his treasure: "Mom, look! These are the earthworms we caught!"

The earthworms in the bucket were big and small, tangled together, so densely packed that it was impossible to count them. Lin Yue took a quick look and didn't dare to look any more. She stiffened her body and squeezed out a smile: "You guys are awesome!"

Little Mushroom laughed and raised the bucket forward. Lin Yue was so scared that he shrank back, pretending to be busy, and quickly turned to Brother Zhang and said, "Brother, can you see if these bamboos are okay? If not, I'll look for more."

Brother Zhang came over and carefully checked the toughness of the bamboo pole, and compared it with another one to see if it was straight.

"It is best to use a bamboo pole that has been dried in the shade. Once you heat it over a fire, it will be straight or curved as you like. But now there are not so many conditions, so these can be used as a makeshift!"

He smiled cheerfully, "Okay, let's go back!" Then he took the bamboo and machete from Lin Yue, put them on his shoulders, and walked back first.

The children followed him excitedly, jumping up from time to time to touch the bamboo. Unfortunately, even Wanli, the oldest, couldn't reach it.

Little Stone, like a little bee, opened his small black hands covered with mud and circled around his father, asking non-stop: "Dad, Dad, can we really stay for two more days? Will you really take us fishing tomorrow? Which one of these is for me to make a fishing rod?"

Lingling and Wanli twitched their ears, stopped jumping, and asked eagerly: "Uncle, do we have our own fishing rods?"

Brother Zhang didn't answer them, but just laughed and said, "Just wait!"

Lin Yue held the two ignorant little ones by his side, smiling as he watched the three children in front of him skipping and running towards home.

It was almost eight o'clock when I got home. The daylight hours were long, but it was still not dark.

Brother Zhang and Zhang Yuandong sat side by side in the yard. In the afterglow of the setting sun, they deftly split the nylon rope into a thinner strand, which was then wrapped around the bamboo pole. The other end was tied to the fishing hook that Zhang Yuandong had specially found.

But the fish hooks that could be found were not enough, so Zhang Yuandong took an embroidery needle, heated it over the fire, and then quickly bent it into the shape of a hook.

This set of movements is extremely skillful, and you can tell at a glance that this is not the first time he has done this.

Brother Zhang laughed and said, "When we were kids, I took you fishing using this method! We didn't have nylon ropes back then. Do you remember what we used?"

Zhang Yuandong also laughed, "How could I not remember? The hemp rope you used was thicker than the bamboo pole, and you finally tied the fishhook. In the end, you didn't catch any fish, and you also lost several embroidery needles. The lady chased you and beat you up for several blocks."

Brother Zhang laughed, "You only remember this, kid. Then we will catch fish sometimes!"

Zhang Yuandong nodded.

"Yes, you stole the pottery jar and half of a croaker from our home, hung them with a rope and put them in the water. You did catch some fish, but they were smaller than a finger and not even enough to make soup. The half of the croaker floated to the surface of the water and was found by Aunt Su. She went home and told my aunt, who then chased you for several blocks with a broom."

Several children had been squatting nearby, eagerly watching them make fishing rods. When they heard about the two's embarrassing moments as children, they were all very happy. Little Stone even stood up exaggeratedly, holding his stomach with one hand and pointing at his father with the other, laughing: "Haha, hahaha, my grandma has embarrassed you by several blocks!"

Brother Zhang said unhappily, "Go away, what are you doing joining in the fun?"

Then he sighed, "At that time, we really had nothing. If we had nylon ropes, we would have felt so happy!"

Zhang Yuandong said, "I still have quite a bit here, you can take some with you on your way back."

Brother Zhang was not good at refusing, so he accepted it straightforwardly.

It was completely dark. Lin Yue held up a flashlight to illuminate the two of them as they finished the last bit.

The nights in Black Market in June were still very cold, and the children were reluctant to go into the house. Lin Yue asked them to put on their coats by themselves and left them to go crazy in the yard.

The child's voice was heard far away in the yard, and soon the three children from Dongkai next door and Aunt Hua's family in front came over with Xiaoya.

When Xiao Shitou and Lingling saw that there were so many people around, they took out their fishing rods to show off and held them up to them proudly.

Fishing is not only time-consuming and laborious, but the rewards are also small. Everyone thinks it is an entertainment activity and few people do it, not to mention that this kind of entertainment is generally considered to be for adults, and children have no chance to touch a fishing rod.

The older boys all looked at him with envy, even the twelve-year-old Dongkai. He reached out to take it, but was interrupted by Xiao Shitou, who shouted, "Brother Dongkai, be careful, there are fish hooks on it, don't break it!"

Dongkai was so frightened that his hands trembled. He nodded to indicate that he understood. Seeing that no one said anything, he carefully took the fishing rod and carefully examined it in the not-too-bright moonlight.

He knew how to make some common small tools and was sure he could imitate them and make a fishing rod.

The three treasures also curiously put out their hands and fumbled around on the fishing rod. They had all gone to the river to catch fish before, but they had never used a fishing rod to fish. When Dabao heard that they were going to go fishing with the newly made fishing rod tomorrow, he was extremely jealous.

Little Mushroom lifted a wooden board outside the wall, and ran over with a small bucket to show his treasure. The children thought he was just digging for fun, so they still gave him a polite "wow". Only Dabao thought of the point and asked, "What are these earthworms used for?"

"For fishing!"

That was all the kids could say, because they had never fished before and didn't know how to catch fish with these earthworms.

Dabao nodded and made up his mind to go and see how they fished tomorrow.

A group of children played until very late, and they still refused to rest even when the moon was at its highest point in the sky. Lin Yue threatened them, "If you still don't go to bed, your uncle will go fishing by himself tomorrow, and he won't wake you up!"

After hearing this, the children quickly lay down and went to sleep.

The next day was Saturday. After dinner, Brother Zhang led a group of children to the river.

Originally, Zhang Yuandong was going to go, but something suddenly happened in the army, so he left early in the morning.

The riverside was still quite dangerous. Lin Yue was worried that Brother Zhang could not take care of five children by himself, so as soon as he finished his work, he rushed to the riverside.

When Lin Yue arrived, Zhang and several children were sitting by the river, each with a pony, and none of them were running around. Lin Yue was still wondering how these children were so obedient, but suddenly he saw an abnormal commotion in a patch of grass not far from Zhang, and then a fiery red shadow ran away in an instant.

Lin Yue was startled and turned her wrist behind her. Something cold instantly appeared in her hand. She was frightened by the tiger last time. In order to avoid such danger again, she was ready at any time and anywhere.

When Brother Zhang heard the noise, he turned around and saw Lin Yue, who was facing a powerful enemy. He smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. You just scared away a customer."

Lin Yue didn't understand, and part of the nervous expression on his face was replaced by confusion. Judging from the size of the person, the one in the bushes just now definitely couldn't be a person. Is this some new idea?

When Lingling and Wanli saw Lin Yue, they said excitedly, "Mom, didn't you see that a little fox just came and uncle fed it with fish!"

Lin Yue suddenly realized that Brother Zhang had lived in the Northeast for a long time and had a natural awe for these spiritual creatures, so when he mentioned them, it was inevitable that people would feel a little confused.

But she had been here for so long and had never seen a fox nearby, so she was very curious when she heard this.

"What kind of fox is this? It's not afraid of people and dares to eat the fish given by your uncle?"

Brother Zhang said with a smile, "These things are very spiritual and not very afraid of people. You sit here for a while, and it will probably come back soon."

Lingling stood up and asked, "Mom, what is this big bamboo basket in your hand for?" Then she ran over.

Lin Yue was holding a cage in his left hand, with his right hand behind his back. At this moment, he flipped his wrist, and the cold object in his hand disappeared, replaced by a long and thin net bag.

Ling Ling ran to her, took the cage and studied it for a long time, but still couldn't figure it out. Lin Yue handed the net bag in his right hand to her and said with a smile: "I will teach you how to use this cage later, you go and distribute the food to everyone first."

Lingling happily took the net bag, looked through it and shared it with everyone. Finally, she took a dried sweet potato from it and put it in her mouth, then ran to find Lin Yue.

The dried sweet potatoes made by Lin Yue are not that hard, and are closer to the soft dried sweet potatoes of later generations. They are just not that sweet. It is still a good snack to grind your teeth.

This kind of dried sweet potato is not uncommon at this time. It is called sweet potato dates and is a favorite of children. However, it is difficult to store and adults find it troublesome and are not very willing to make it.

Lin Yue knew that Lingling was curious about the use of the cage. In fact, the other children were also very curious. They had been sitting on the stools for too long and were a little restless now, especially Sisi and Xiao Mushroom. They were the youngest and had been unable to sit still for a long time. If the little fox had not attracted their attention just now, they would have stood up long ago.

The children had no intention of fishing, so Lin Yue simply called them over and demonstrated to them how to use the ground cage.

She put some pork bones in the cage, then pulled the rope and slowly lowered it into the river, clapped her hands and said, "Okay, wait!"

The children looked at each other in disbelief, "Is that all?"

"How about this? Let's collect the cage and study it to see what the principle is. Whoever gets it right will get a prize."

When the children heard that there were prizes, they almost jumped for joy.