The five of them—Grandpa Xu, Grandpa Xiao and his son, and Xu Haiguo and his son—who all knew how to swim, even happily jumped into the reservoir and experienced the joy of catching fish with their bare hands.
Xu Lai was really envious, but she had never caught a fish before and didn't know where to start.
So they pushed the rubber boat into the reservoir and took a bucket to collect the fish that everyone had caught.
After the group of people went into the reservoir, they all plunged into the water. In no time, they had fish about a foot long in their hands.
The fish were held in people's hands, their tails still thrashing about, looking very fresh.
Perhaps because of the noise they made in the water, some of the fish at the bottom of the water actually ran to the surface.
Xu Lai saw a large fish popping its head out not far ahead.
Xu Lai rowed the rubber boat over, "pulled" a retractable stun gun out of his shirt pocket, quickly swung it once, turned it on, and then swiftly and accurately swung it at the fish.
Within seconds, the fish floated to the surface, belly up.
Xu Lai used the paddle to pull the fish to the side of the rubber boat, bent down, reached out, and picked up the seven or eight-pound fathead fish.
"Haha, I'll need you to make fish soup tonight!"
"We've really hit the jackpot today! There weren't nearly as many fish in this reservoir before the flood!"
Xu Lai could understand it; plants are phototropic, while fish are naturally hydrotropic.
As the floodwaters receded rapidly, fish, which have lived in the water for generations, became naturally more sensitive to the water.
As the water level recedes, they instinctively swim towards areas with more water.
The fish around this reservoir all gather in this reservoir, which is why there are so many fish.
In less than an hour, Lu Yongbing and his son had filled the three buckets he brought with fish, and he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.
"The fish here are clean. When we get home, my little granddaughter can drink more of the fish soup to get some extra nutrition!"
Xu Lai and his group relied on floating on the water and feeling around on the bottom, and Xu Lai even used an electric baton to shock them. The five of them caught fewer fish than the Lu family father and son combined.
However, the Lu family father and son were grateful and, after filling their own buckets, continued to help Xu Lai and his family.
By the end of the morning, the fish caught by the three families had filled the buckets and basins that everyone had brought, and even the rubber boat was full of fish.
Besides fish, Lu Yongbing's nets and the nets placed at the gaps in the dike also caught a lot of river shrimp, crabs and other freshwater delicacies.
The Lu family father and son caught the most fish in their net; it could be said that they were responsible for catching more than half of all the fish.
Xu Lai knew that Lu Ping's family was short of food, so she took the initiative to suggest, "Lu Ping's family can have half of this fish, and my family and Grandpa Xiao's family can split the other half equally. What do you all think?"
The Xu family has no shortage of food because the land in their space produces grain every quarter, and there are also fish raised in the pond in their space.
Xu Jiangming and the other two agreed to Xu Lai's suggestion without hesitation.
The Xiao family stockpiled grain twice before and after the floods, in addition to the grain and flour that Old Master Qin had given them last time.
In addition, the Xu family would occasionally send potatoes and other food, so although the family's diet was not plentiful, they were not short of food for the time being.
Moreover, most of these fish were caught by the Lu family. Giving half of the catch to the Lu family means they actually lost out.
Xiao Shan and Xiao Rui both supported this division.
However, Lu Yongbing and his son were very grateful for the help the Xu family had given them.
"Xu Lai helped my family a lot before, and today he's willing to give my son and me a ride on the speedboat for free. My son and I can't be ungrateful!"
The father and son insisted that the fish be divided equally among the three families.
After today's reunion, Lu Yongbing and his son stopped calling Xu Lai "Miss" and started calling her by her name directly.
Since the Xu and Xiao families could not disregard Lu Yongbing and his son's decision, everyone had no choice but to divide the fish catch into three portions according to their request.
Xu Lai estimated that each of the three families would receive about 200 jin (100 kg).
Whether it's catching fish by hand or casting nets, it's all physical labor. After a long day of work, everyone was starving.
Xu Lai raised her hand and looked at the watch on her wrist, which showed that it was already 12:30.
"Let's rest for a while and have something to eat to replenish our energy!"
The Xu and Xiao families always bring some compressed biscuits, instant noodles, and drinking water with them when they go out, just in case.
However, when Lu Yongbing's family still had money, they spent a lot of their remaining savings on milk powder for their daughter, so they didn't have much food stored up at home.
We can only eat until we're about 60-70% full at each of our three meals a day, not to mention that compressed biscuits, instant noodles, and other foods that are considered precious at this time.
So when Xu Lai suggested taking a break and having something to eat, the Lu family father and son saw that they were all sitting together preparing to get drinking water and food, so they automatically went to the other side and started tidying up the fishing nets and other tools.
Upon seeing this, Xu Lai guessed why the Lu family father and son had done this.
Today is the second time Xu Lai has dealt with the Lu family father and son. It has to be said that it is truly rare for this father and son to maintain their upright and honest character while surviving in such an environment.
It was still drizzling, so it wasn't a good time to start a fire.
The men in the family and the Xiao family father and son had been soaking in the water for half a day. Xu Lai took out the large outdoor sun umbrella that was placed on the speedboat and stuck it in the ground.
Then she rummaged around in her bulging backpack for a bit and pulled out eight boxes of self-heating hot pot.
"Let's not eat anything else for today, let's have a self-heating hot pot to celebrate our great harvest!"
Xu Lai called Lu Yongbing and his son over and gave them two boxes of self-heating hot pot.
The two men were about to refuse, but Xu Lai deliberately put on a stern face and said, "If you're not going to eat, then we won't accept splitting the fish either!"
The father and son then reached out and took the two boxes of self-heating hot pot.
However, the father and son only opened one box; the other box was carefully wrapped tightly in a plastic bag by Lu Yongbing.
"This is good stuff! I'll take this box back for my wife and daughter-in-law to try!"
When Lu Yongbing saw that everyone was looking at him, he smiled at them a little shyly.
After enjoying a delicious hot pot meal, everyone packed up their things, boarded the speedboat, and, pulling a whole rubber boat full of fish, happily headed home.
The fishing went so smoothly today, and I was almost at the bottom of the apartment building when I ran into trouble.
They saw that when residents who had caught fish were carrying buckets of fish upstairs, they were stopped by several "staff members" from the building management office who were guarding the first floor.
The reason is that in order to take the fish they catch upstairs, they need to pay a fish tax to the building management.
"What? We have to pay a fish tax? We bring home the fish we caught ourselves, and we have to pay you a 30% fish tax? Is there no justice in this world?"
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