"Alright, let's ignore her. She has nothing to do with me. Let's think about what to eat for lunch. Didn't we say we were going to have a nice meal?"
Fang Yuan quickly changed the subject, saying it was good to know that Wang Qingqing was doing well.
Zhou Jiahui was pulled back to reality by Fang Yuan's comment that she had eaten well, and asked happily, "Oh right? So what are we having for lunch?"
She expressed her anticipation for the delicious food Fang Yuan mentioned.
"How about...cold pot fish?" Fang Yuan said after thinking for a moment.
She just checked the inventory; there are still a few fish in the tank.
After eating bland food for several days, it's time to enjoy something fresh, spicy, and numbing.
"Cold pot fish? What kind of fish is that?" Zhou Jiahui looked at Fang Yuan with a blank expression.
She'd heard of boiled fish, spicy fish, cold pot fish—what kind of fish was that?
"It's a spicy and flavorful fish; you'll know once you taste it," Fang Yuan said with a smile.
"Want some fish? The snow has stopped now, how about we go to the river behind and catch some fresh ones?"
Upon hearing their conversation, Luo Jin asked directly, "I heard that once the river freezes over, fish will emerge when you break through the ice."
He wanted to try breaking through the ice to see if any fish would actually come out.
"Has the river frozen over?" Zhou Jiahui asked uncertainly.
She didn't notice whether the river was frozen or not, since Zhou He and the others were the ones fetching water.
But it's below zero now, so it should be frozen solid, right?
Luo Jin nodded: "The temperature here is so low that even if the river has running water, we still have to work. But the ice isn't thick. Last time I was fetching water, I even saw fish in the water."
If it hadn't been snowing at that time, and the roads hadn't been so cold and slippery, he probably would have already used the bucket to scoop out the fish.
“That’s possible,” Zhou He nodded in agreement.
The weather had finally cleared up, and he wanted to go out and get some exercise.
He's gotten quite used to staying home all the time.
Fang Yuan checked the time: "It's still early. Okay, I still have some bait here. We can go try it."
As Fang Yuan spoke, she turned around and took out a small plastic bag from the cupboard behind her. Inside were the fish baits she had previously stored in her spatial storage.
"You have bait? Then we should catch a few!"
Seeing Fang Yuan take out the bait, Luo Jin instantly became confident.
Last time I witnessed the power of Fangyuan bait.
"Then let's go catch fish, and bring back a lot to eat fresh for a few meals."
As Zhou He spoke, he turned around and grabbed a basket, a wooden basin, and a kitchen knife.
We'll kill the fish as soon as we catch it from the river, so we don't have to make another trip.
“Then I’ll go too? I can help catch the fish,” Zhou Jiahui said happily.
I was in such a rush to get back that I didn't go out for a walk much.
"Then let's go together." Fang Yuan said, turning around and picking up the fishing net from home.
Luo Jin specially went to town to buy this after their last fishing trip, just to make it easier to catch fish.
She then looked around the room and found a sturdy wooden stick, intending to use it to break the ice.
······
On the frozen river, Fang Yuan carefully examined the ice surface and found it to be indeed not thick.
She struck the river several times hard near the bank, creating a large hole in the river.
Fang Yuan scattered some bait inside.
Soon, a large number of fish rushed into the hole.
Whether it was due to the bait or the lack of oxygen, the hole was quickly filled with fish.
"My goodness, these fish came so fast! There are so many!" Luo Jin was overjoyed as he looked at the fish at the entrance of the hole.
"Quick, quick, catch the fish!"
Zhou Jiahui also said excitedly, as she picked up the wooden basin and tried to scoop it up.
Zhou He quickly stopped her: "This wooden basin is hard to carry, bring the basket over!"
A wooden basin is fine for holding water, but using it to hold fish is wishful thinking; a large, leaky basket would be more suitable.
"Where's the fishing net? Come up and scoop it up too!" Fang Yuan stepped back, letting Zhou He and Luo Jin scoop the fish.
"Here I am, watch me."
Luo Jin didn't stand on ceremony; he quickly stepped forward, used a net to scoop up the fish, and threw them onto the shore.
Zhou Jiahui then took off her gloves and grinned as she happily picked up the groceries into the basin.
"Haha, fishing in Northeast China is so much fun! We caught so much in one go."
Watching the fish being tossed ashore by the two of them, Fang Yuan took the opportunity to collect a few live ones and put them into the spatial pond.
"This is a good idea. We can catch fish like this whenever we want to eat them in the future," Luo Jin said happily.
Seeing that the two had caught more than ten large fish and a whole bunch of small ones, Fang Yuan called out to the two fishermen:
"Is that enough? There are quite a few fish; enough to feed us for a while."
These fish froze solid shortly after being brought ashore, making it impossible to keep them at home. Frozen fish lose their freshness over time.
“Okay, we can come and fish for it whenever we want, but I don’t know if it will get even colder later.” Luo Jin nodded.
He was sweating profusely after all that work, but seeing so many fish made it all worthwhile.
“From now on, we’ll fetch water from here. Even if the ice is thicker elsewhere, it won’t freeze easily here, and it’ll be easier to collect water next time we come,” Zhou He said, straightening up.
“That’s right, that’s a good idea. Let’s open up more of them, so it will be easier to fetch water and catch fish in the future.”
As Fang Yuan spoke, he turned around, picked up the large wooden stick he had been using, and banged it around the hole a few times.
The ice cave was enlarged several times over.
"It's okay if there are no fish, we can go up the mountain to take a look later!" Zhou He said, looking towards the back mountain.
He and Luo Jin are good at using guns, and Fang Yuan is also strong and lucky. They won't lack food this winter.
“That works too. There are more prey on the mountain. If we run out of meat, we can go up there to look for some.”
Looking at the vast expanse of white mountains behind her, Fang Yuan knew that going up the mountain to hunt would be effortless.
"Fang Yuan, how many fish do you need to cook?" Zhou He asked, standing up and picking up a kitchen knife.
He planned to kill the fish he wanted to eat today before going back.
Fang Yuan glanced at the fish on the ground: "It's too cold outside, why don't we go back and kill them?"
The temperature is below zero now, and the fish will freeze soon. I'm afraid it will be difficult to kill.
"It's alright. I'll kill them before they freeze, otherwise it'll be more troublesome when I get home."
As Zhou He spoke, he picked up a large fish, lifted it up, and asked, "Is this enough?"
"Since we're going to kill them, let's kill two of them. Let's have a good meal today," Fang Yuan said upon seeing this.
These larger ones weigh seven or eight pounds each; two of them are enough for four people.
Adding some vegetables in the evening makes it easy to continue eating.
"OK!"
A group of people were catching and cleaning fish here, looking forward to a delicious meal.
At the neighboring educated youth settlement, Wang Qingqing was trying her best to reject He Qiang.
He Qiang truly loved Wang Qingqing; as soon as the snow stopped, he came to find her to go to town to get their marriage certificate.
Wang Qingqing's face showed clear rejection:
"I already said we'd talk about it after spring, why can't you understand?"
She had to move back to the educated youth settlement because a fire burned down the roof of her house.
Because she was caught red-handed, she had no choice but to admit her relationship with He Qiang.
But she didn't want to marry him, so she chose to delay.
"Everyone knows about our relationship. If we don't get married and register our marriage, the village secretary and the brigade leader might think we're having an improper relationship and are being indecent."
He Qiang wasn't stupid; he wouldn't feel at ease if he didn't seize the opportunity and get the marriage certificate.
He had long realized that this woman was very cunning!
Although he didn't know exactly what happened that night, he got what he wanted anyway, so he didn't pursue the rest.
Now all he wants is to get the marriage certificate and get married.
"He Qiang, can't you wait a bit in this freezing winter?" Wang Qingqing asked angrily.
The frustration and anger she felt were beyond words.
This man clearly took advantage of her, yet now he shamelessly forces her to get a marriage certificate with him.
Does this man have absolutely no shame?
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