At seven o'clock in the morning, the heavy rain finally stopped, after five hours of continuous rain. Chen Hong got up and opened the door in the morning, and there were some fallen leaves in the yard.
She first went to the backyard to check on the chickens and ducks. The weather was cool after the rain, and the chickens and ducks were full of energy, clucking and quacking as if having a morning meeting.
"You all live such comfortable lives, with no worries about food or drink, three palaces and six courtyards, and a multitude of wives and concubines, and you don't even need to practice family planning! When you're hungry, someone feeds you; when you're sick, someone treats you. You have no worries at all, and you're happy your whole lives!" Chen Hong said to the chickens and ducks while adding food and water to their food.
After feeding the chickens and ducks, I checked the vegetable garden. The vegetable trellises weren't set up very high, so the wind from last night didn't affect them. After being washed by the rain overnight, the leaves became green and shiny again.
Chen Hong swept the leaves from the front and back yards together, put them in a basket, and poured them into the septic tank, cleaning everything up! After washing up, she went to the kitchen to cook porridge and also cooked two salted duck eggs.
Heat a gas stove and place a frying pan on it. Pour in peanut oil. While the pan is still hot, beat two eggs in a plate. Take two steamed buns and slice them. When the oil is hot, use chopsticks to dip the steamed bun slices in the egg mixture and place them in the frying pan. Fry until both sides are golden brown, then turn off the heat. The pan-fried steamed bun slices are ready.
Remove the salted duck eggs from the large pot, cool them in cold water, cut them in half, and arrange them on a plate. Sprinkle a handful of small green vegetables on the rice porridge, then pour it into a bowl. Place the porridge and vegetables on a tray, add two pairs of chopsticks and two spoons, and carry it back to the main room to set the dining table.
I went back to the bedroom to wake my son up, wash up, and eat. "Mom, did it rain heavily last night? It's so cool today!"
"Yes, it rained heavily last night. When you play today, don't go near the stream. The stream is full of water and it's dangerous."
"Okay, Mom, I won't go to dangerous places. After dinner, I'll go to Grandpa's house. Wang Xin and Xiao Hao are both looking for me. We made plans yesterday."
Chen Hong said to her son, "When you go, bring some cookies and bread, and two cartons of yogurt. Share them with your friends when you get hungry. What are you planning to do today?"
Yu Yang shared his little secret with his mother: "Mom, yesterday when Grandpa and I were weeding, we found a lot of earthworms in the yard. Wang Xin and Xiao Hao and I agreed that we would dig up earthworms to feed the chickens today."
"Then be careful not to hurt your hands. When you eat, wash your hands with soap. There are many tiny insects on the ground that you can't see. If you don't pay attention to hygiene and eat insects, you will get a stomachache."
"Don't worry, Mom. We are all hygienic children who love to wash our hands. We will definitely pay attention."
Chen Hong instructed Yu Yang: "Be good at Grandpa's house and don't be naughty. Grandpa is old, so don't make him angry."
"Okay, I even helped Grandpa with the chores!"
Chen Hong praised her son: "Really? You're so great, such a sensible and good child!"
After finishing his meal, Yu Yang packed a small basket with snacks and took it to the old house.
After sending her son out, Chen Hong began tidying up the kitchen, cleaning, and doing laundry. She finished around eight o'clock, but since it had just rained, she couldn't go up the mountain; the path was too slippery and she could easily fall.
Seeing that there was nothing much to do in the morning, Chen Hong couldn't stay idle at home. She uncovered the tarpaulin on the tricycle and hung it on the clothesline in the yard. She then took out fishing rods, fishing boxes, landing nets, and an aerator from the storage room and loaded them all onto the tricycle.
I took a bag of pork liver strips from the kitchen freezer, changed my clothes and shoes, put on a sun hat, and brought two pairs of non-slip silicone gloves. Fully armed, I rode my bike to the village dock.
There are only a few boats left at the village dock; the large boats are no longer moored there, and many of the smaller boats have already set sail. As fishermen know, the weather after a storm is usually good for fishing, so everyone who can go out to sea has already done so.
It's currently the closed season for fishing, and nets and traps are not allowed in nearshore waters, so fishermen can only catch very few fish. Small boats are not resistant to wind and waves and cannot go out to sea. Nearshore waters are also heavily polluted. In addition, the use of destructive fishing methods such as gillnets, blast fishing, and electrofishing in recent years has brought nearshore fishery resources to the brink of extinction, resulting in very little catch for everyone.
Sometimes the money earned from selling goods isn't even enough to cover the cost of fuel, leading to a large number of young and middle-aged people leaving to work in other places, leaving only the elderly and children in the village.
Many families have stopped fishing, and fishing boats can't be sold. Scrapped fishing boats can be seen everywhere on the docks and beaches. Iron boats can still be sold for scrap metal, but wooden boats can only be left to rot in the wind and sun before being salvaged for cooking.
The country has implemented a summer fishing moratorium policy since 1997, but the effect has not been very good. Fishermen who have made a living by fishing for generations have no other means of livelihood.
The fishing villages by the sea have very little arable land; most of the land is either sea or mountains, leaving no other way out. Young adults have no choice but to go out to work.
In order to make a living, many people also go to sea to fish secretly, which leads to a confrontation with the fishery administration department.
Fortunately, starting this year, the government has increased subsidies for fishermen, providing a buffer period for marine resources to recover.
Over the next 20 years, marine resources gradually became more abundant, the lives of fishermen improved day by day, and the tourism projects in the fishing village flourished.
Chen Hong drove the tricycle to the berth of her fishing boat, loaded the items from the tricycle onto the boat, called a gas truck to fill it with diesel, locked the tricycle, and then boarded the boat.
Chen Hong started the engine and set sail alone. Her family's small boat could carry 4-6 people and had two live water compartments, one large and one small.
The boat is 12 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, and is equipped with a pilot's awning, making it comfortable for 2-3 people to work.
Chen Hong hadn't been out to sea for over a decade, so she decided to be cautious and find a fishing spot nearby to practice and get a feel for the fishing before venturing further out.
She kept driving north, remembering that there used to be a small group of reefs to the north, but few people went there because of the complicated terrain. Chen Hong drove straight there.
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