Chapter 332 Threat
Manbao peeked out of the window and saw Bai Erlang still sitting outside eating small fish with Datou, so he immediately put the letter away, sat down at the desk and started writing.
Bai Shanbao's letter came back together with Liu's letter. They did not ask passing merchants to help carry the letter because such letters are easy to lose and arrive too late.
The road in this era is too difficult to travel, and there are too many uncontrollable factors. If a merchant falls ill on the road, or decides to go to another place halfway, their letters will definitely follow the merchant and wander around.
It may take three or four months at the shortest, or two or three years at the longest, for a letter to reach its owner.
The Bai family naturally could not take this approach, so they sent their servants to deliver letters back and forth.
Unlike asking a merchant to deliver a letter which only costs a few dozen coins, if you ask your own servant to deliver a letter you have to prepare a horse for him, horse feed for the journey, and the cost of his accommodation and food.
It would take only one trip from Longzhou to Qili Village, and five taels of silver would not be too little.
Five taels! In the past, the Zhou family might not be able to save five taels of silver in two years after deducting household expenses.
Even if it was the Bai family, Liu would not contact Mr. Bai in this way if there was no urgent matter, and it was even more impossible to communicate just for the two children.
As for what happens between the adults, Manbao and Bai Shanbao don’t care. They are still young, and if they know too much about adults’ affairs, they will not grow taller.
This is also what the gentleman said.
Not only Manbao trusts Mr. Zhuang's words, but Bai Shanbao also trusts them.
So they only talked about things between children.
In the letter, Manbao complained about the lack of fried fish and said, "When you come back, we'll go fishing again, otherwise you won't have any fried fish to eat this year."
Fried fish may not be particularly delicious when served on the dining table, but it is a great snack for children when served on the tea table.
Not to mention Bai Erlang, even Bai Dalang who came home for the holidays liked her.
That evening, when Bai Erlang was about to go back, Xiao Qian took out a large dry lotus leaf and took out half of the small fish from the basin for Bai Erlang to take back and eat.
Bai Erlang was so happy that he stuffed the thick letter written by Manbao into his arms and left with He Ye.
Datou saw him off, fearing he might change his mind, and repeatedly reminded him, "We'll wait for you by the river tomorrow morning. You must come, and remember to bring a wooden bucket."
Bai Jilang nodded vigorously.
The small fishes that were sent home were first sent to the kitchen to be fried, and then deep-fried again. The small fishes were more fragrant and delicious.
After dinner, Bai Dalang couldn't help but pick up one fish after another. Seeing this, Mr. Bai stopped trying to stop his youngest son from fishing. He said to Bai Dalang, "You and your brother go and have a look tomorrow. It's a rare trip home for you. It would be good to spend some time playing with the young men in the village."
Mrs. Bai muttered, "What's the fun in hanging out with them? They can't even read a single word. They might as well stay home and talk to us."
She hardly sees her eldest son all year round, so how could she send the child away?
Mr. Bai glanced at her and said, "Who says they can't read? Everyone in the Zhou family can read now. I heard that even the youngest child can recognize numbers."
Mrs. Bai: ...
Bai Dalang became interested, "Isn't that a family of farmers and scholars?"
Mr. Bai nodded. "His family has a good tradition. It's okay for you and Erlang to play with them more."
So the next day Bai Dalang followed Bai Erlang.
Zhou Silang had been waiting there with his fishing nets and his younger brothers.
Zhou Dalang and his friends were not interested in the small fish, and the villagers had been fishing these days, but it seemed like they could no longer catch any big fish.
So I was very generous and ignored them.
Zhou Silang is married and his wife has a child, so in everyone's eyes he is an adult.
Everyone felt relieved when he took them down the river.
Zhou Silang was also straightforward. He rejected San Tou, San Ya and Si Tou, who were too young to work, and took the rest of the people to the river.
Manbao couldn't work either, but he couldn't refuse her.
After meeting up with the two young masters of the Bai family, Zhou Silang led them out of the village and headed downstream.
"There's been a lot of fishing upstream these days, and some people from our village have gone there to try to catch some, but there aren't any big fish there any more."
Bai Erlang immediately said, "We don't want big fish, we want small fish."
Zhou Silang said, "Okay, we'll take the small fish back and fry them, and we'll keep the big fish. Don't worry, there are more big and small fish downstream."
Bai Dalang was confused, "Why?"
"Because no one goes there to fish," Zhou Silang said. "Fish are like people; they like to stay in one place. It's not like the dam burst last year, when the water rushed and swept all the fish downstream. If you catch them upstream, they're gone downstream."
He said, "Now that the water is calm, the fish are naturally staying in their own homes. We've been fishing hard upstream, so there are just fewer fish coming down from upstream to visit. There are still as many fish downstream as there should be."
Manbao and the others widened their eyes and actually felt that what he said made sense.
Zhou Silang chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I'm very experienced. We used to be able to catch fish here even with fish baskets, not to mention fishing nets.
Zhou Silang led them for half an hour and finally arrived at the destination.
This is a wilderness with harvested paddy fields on both sides. There is no water in the fields anymore.
The river is a bit narrow and the riverbed is very small. There are dense aquatic plants on both sides of the river bank, and the water near the river bank is also covered with dense aquatic plants. It is obvious that this is a place where few people come.
Zhou Silang took a long stick and gestured for them to look.
He put his stick into the river, only picking it up when it touched the bottom. Then he showed everyone the marks on the stick and asked, "Do you know why no one comes here to fish?"
Zhou Wulang, Bai Erlang and others were confused, but Bai Dalang's expression changed suddenly, and Manbao exclaimed directly: "What a deep water! Much deeper than me."
Zhou Silang chuckled and held the stick upright. He stood next to the stick, gestured at the water mark and said, "It's not only deeper than you, it's deeper than me. So if anyone falls in, unless they can swim, otherwise... hehe."
The ignorant and fearless teenagers and children did not move, but their eyes were shining with excitement.
Bai Dalang frowned.
Zhou Silang continued, "Even if you can swim, you still have to be careful. There are a lot of aquatic plants down here, and your feet can get tangled if you're not careful. So, without my order, none of you are allowed to wander around, understand?"
Bai Dalang felt relieved when he saw that he had explained it clearly.
Zhou Silang went to warn Manbao, who was peeking out, "You are not allowed to go near the river, understand? Otherwise, if you are dragged into the river by a water ghost, you will have no more delicious food and you will not be able to see your parents and sister-in-law anymore."
Manbao shook his body and nodded.
(End of this chapter)
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