It was drizzling, the mountains in the distance were shrouded in clouds and mist, and the air was moist and fresh. In Ning'an, such weather can only be found during the rainy season.
When Yang Chunyan walked to the earthen slope at the entrance of the village, she saw Zhou Huaian holding a fishing net and casting it out at the edge of the bridge. The Zhou Jiaming brothers and a group of children cheered.
"Wow~ my dad is so awesome, the fishing net he casts is so round!"
"Uncle, you are awesome!"
Seeing that they were all here, Yang Chunyan felt relieved and strode down the slope and walked over.
When the Zhou Jiaming brothers saw her coming, they grinned at her, and Zhou Yiding and others also greeted her with a smile.
Zhou Huaian said smugly, "Yan'er, wait until I put away the net."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Mom asked you to catch some small fish and put them in the fish pond."
"There are plenty, just pick one later." Zhou Huaian said and started to close the net seriously.
Zhou Jialiang pulled Yang Chunyan and said, "Aunt, come and see. Dad has caught so many fish that the buckets are full. We kept the rest in the fields."
The fields are full of water. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, we will start planting rice seedlings.
Yang Chunyan saw that they used mud to build a triangular puddle in the corner of the field, with fish of all sizes crowded together in it. They also put some leaves on the bucket placed at the edge of the field to prevent the fish from escaping from the bucket.
"There are so many of them. Are they all caught with fishing nets?"
"We caught a few from the wasteland over there." Zhou Jiaming pointed to the wasteland to the east. "My father said that the slope over there would collapse after being exposed to rain, so he didn't allow us to catch them there."
"Dad is right. It's better not to catch them there." Yang Chunyan turned her head to look over there and saw two or three people by the ditch, picking up fish with shrimp baskets.
She couldn't remember exactly which year the landslide occurred, and it was not a good idea for her to rashly ask people to avoid it.
Zhou Huaian didn't catch many fish in this net. After everyone caught the fish in the puddle, Xu Erchun took the fishing net and went to the river.
Zhou Huaian stood next to Yang Chunyan, "Why are you here?"
Yang Chunyan hesitated for a moment and pointed to the other side of the ravine. "I'm worried about you guys going there to fish. The slope above the wasteland is a bit steep. I'm worried that it will easily slide after a heavy rain."
"Just now when I went to catch Jiaming and Jialiang, I saw rocks rolling down the slope. In my opinion, even if there is no landslide today, it will be hard to say what will happen if it rains again."
Zhou Huaian thought of her dream and felt that she would not say such a thing for no reason. "I'll go and take a look and remind those people. If they really don't listen, there's nothing we can do."
Yang Chunyan nodded. "Go ahead. If they really don't want to listen, tell them that if a mudslide comes, they must run to both sides."
Zhou Huaian nodded, strode over, and saw that the person who was fishing was also Ma Lao San from the same village. "Lao San, you guys should be careful. There were rocks rolling down the slope just now. If there is a landslide, it will be troublesome."
After hearing this, Ma Lao San turned his head and looked at it, then smiled and said, "Great, thanks! I also caught about 7 or 8 kilograms of fish. If I get too much, I won't be able to finish it. I'm going home now."
The other two turned their heads to look at the earth slope, but saw nothing moving. The man with a crooked mouth smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? There's nothing moving at all. You two are as timid as rats!"
Ma Laosan picked up the bucket and said, "Laowai, we're not afraid of ten thousand, but we're afraid of one. I have enough for two or three meals here, so I won't accompany you."
"Lao Wai, if there really is a mudslide, remember to run to both sides." Zhou Huaian thought about it and told them what Yang Chunyan said.
He understands that sometimes you give a reminder with good intentions, but others may not appreciate it. Otherwise, how could there be the saying that good words cannot persuade a damned person, and great compassion will not save those who have already died!
"Yeah!" Fang Laowai smiled, "Thank you very much!"
After Zhou Huaian returned, he saw Xu Erchun casting two more nets, "Come on, brothers, it's almost done, let's divide the fish and go back to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival!"
Xu Erchun put away the fishing net and shook it straight, "You guys share it, I'll catch another one."
Zhou Yiding and Lin Wu caught the fish weighing more than half a pound in the puddle and threw them into the bucket. They scooped up the ones weighing less than half a pound with a shrimp basket and poured them into a urea bag. They then put them in the fish pond for Zhou Huaian to raise and eat during the New Year.
Zhou Huaian picked two carps and grass carps weighing more than one or two kilograms, strung them together with willow branches, and handed them to the three children, "Take them home and eat rice dumplings."
"Oh! Thank you, uncle." The three kids jumped away with the fish in their hands.
Xu Erchun's last net contained two big-headed silver carp weighing four or five kilograms, and some small fish that were only two or three fingers wide. He shared the big fish with Lin Wu, and poured the small fish into urea bags for Zhou Huaian.
There was a urea bag hanging on one side of the back seat of the bicycle and a bucket full of fish hanging on the other side. When they arrived at Zhou Yiding's house, Wan Xuejiao was amazed.
Zhou Xiaomei took out a porcelain bowl and asked, "Sister-in-law, what kind of fish do you want to eat?"
Wan Xuejiao looked at it and said, "Catch a few crucian carps to make soup, and a bighead carp to cook with pickled fish. There's nothing else I want to eat."
Yang Chunyan pointed at the big black fish in the bucket and said, "Xuejiao, big black fish are good for nutrition. Catch two and make fish soup."
Wan Xuejiao laughed after hearing this and said, "When I was pregnant with Xiao Wan, my mother wouldn't let me eat it, saying that if I ate black fish, my baby would have ichthyosis on the head and neck."
The scientific name of black carp is Channa ulenta. This fish is ferocious by nature and has a huge appetite. If there are a few black carps in a fish pond, the entire pond may be eaten by them, and even their own fish fry will not be spared.
The meat of black fish is tender, delicious and has high nutritional value. It has the medical effects of removing blood stasis, promoting regeneration, nourishing and conditioning, and strengthening the spleen and promoting diuresis.
It can be eaten after illness, childbirth and surgery, and has the effect of promoting tissue regeneration and blood replenishment, accelerating wound healing. It can also treat edema, dampness, athlete's foot, hemorrhoids, scabies and other diseases.
"It's okay to eat it now." Yang Chunyan asked Zhou Yiding to catch two more, but he only caught one that weighed about two kilograms.
Zhou Huaian glared, "Uncle Daqing is coming back too, and you only caught two of them, just to feed the cat!"
Zhou Yiding waved his hand, "One is enough. If you can't finish them, you can put them in the fish pond. I can catch them when I want to eat them."
Zhou Huaian laughed and said, "I dare not raise black carps. After half a year, all the fish in my pond will be in their stomachs."
The black carp caught today, the smallest one is estimated to weigh about a kilogram. It is raised in the fish pond, and the fish in the pond become its feed.
When Yang Chunyan and others arrived home, Zhou Huaian poured all the fish in the urea bag into the fish pond. The fish pond, which originally had only half of the water, was now full.
There were a few emerald green water lilies floating in the fish pond. The raindrops on the thick leaves were swaying back and forth due to the knocking of the fish that broke into the pond.
Zhou Jiaming pointed at the water lilies in the fish pond and said, "Dad, I fished them out from Guanyin Brigade. Take a look!"
Zhou Huaian looked disgusted, "This thing is so annoying. Look, there are only a few now, but next year the fish pond will be full of them."
"When there are more, we can catch them once." Yang Chunyan said with a smile, "Water lily leaves can be fed to pigs and used as fertilizer. I saw my old man use fresh leaves to make juice to treat pityriasis versicolor and eczema for people."
"Oh! After all this time, it can be used to treat diseases, so let's keep it!"
Zhou Huaian pushed his bicycle into the yard, and Xiao Jiuer followed Zhou Jiakang and the others and ran over, "Dad, fish swing."
Yang Chunyan was worried that he might catch fish, so she quickly picked him up and said, "Look, mommy, hold him and see, they are all big fish!"
"Wow! It's so big!" Little Jiuer looked at the fish in the bucket with his eyes wide open. He stretched out his chubby fingers and tried to poke the fish. "I want it, I want it!"
Zhou Huaian hugged him and said, "I'm telling you, wash your hands after you get poked, or else you'll get bugs."
The little guy nodded, "Wash your hands!"
Zhou Huaian asked him to poke the big-headed silver carp floating on the surface, but the little rascal just reached out and slapped it, causing the fish in the bucket to jump up and splash water all over the people.
The little guy clapped his hands and laughed.
"Hahaha!" Zhou Huaian laughed proudly, "My son is awesome!"
"Dad!" Zhou Xiaolin looked at the yellow mud stains on the little skirt, pointed at Xiao Jiuer with her hands on her hips angrily, "Jiuer brother, bad brother."
"Auntie, let me wipe it for you." Yang Chunyan hurriedly pulled her to get a wet towel to wipe the mud stains on her floral skirt.
When I entered the room, I saw Zhang Xiuxiang and Li Qiuyue also came here to help. In the large sand pot on the coal stove were stewed chicken medicinal roots, and the old duck was chopped into small pieces and braised taro.
Zhou's mother put the chopped sweet potatoes at the bottom of the earthenware bowl, placed the marinated spareribs on top, opened the lid of the steaming steamer, put the spareribs into the steamer, and placed some cold rice dumplings on the top.
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "You guys are back! I heard there were a lot of fish. How many did the youngest catch?"
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "A lot, there are people everywhere by the river. Huai'an said there are dozens of fish in the net, and he gave some to Lin Wu and Xu Erchun..."
"Let me take a look." Zhou's mother closed the lid of the steamer and went out to see that there were indeed a lot of fish in the bucket. "Kill a few carps and cook the fish with bean paste. Pick out the yellow croaker and black fish to raise in the pond, and raise the others in the fish pond."
Yellow croaker and black carp are not easy to die and can be kept in the pond for a few days, making it more convenient to eat them.
Zhou Jiaming volunteered to help Zhou Huaian carry the bucket to the fish pond. At this time, the rain started to get heavier again.
"It's raining again." Zhou's mother looked at the stone bridge worriedly, "It's already past five o'clock, why haven't your sister and the others come yet?"
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Jiaming caught the fish and threw them into the fish pond. "Maybe the shop is just closing now. We should be here around six o'clock."
"Youngest, you got so many!" Zhou Huaishan came running around the corner of the courtyard wall, carrying a hoe. "If I had known, I would have gone fishing with you."
Zhou's mother glanced at him and asked Zhou's father who was following behind, "Have the corn and sorghum fields been flooded?"
Father Zhou shook his head. "The water is not deep. We cleared the potato and sweet potato fields. The old house is still leaking a little bit."
Zhou Huairong: "Maybe I didn't mend it properly last time. When the weather clears up, I'll comb some wheat straw and mend it again."
Zhou Huaian picked up the bucket and said, "Repair it and use it for another two years. Let's just renovate that place and use it to dry mugwort in the future."
Father Zhou shook his head. "That house has rammed earth walls. It won't collapse even if you live in it for decades. Why spend money to repair it? You can just cover the roof when you have time and use it."
Zhou Huairong: "Okay, I'll find time to fix it next year."
The rain was getting heavier, and several people hurried back. Suddenly, Lai Fu and Wang Cai, who were lying at the door of the main hall, "Awooo" and rushed to the gate of the courtyard, barking anxiously at the bridge head. (End of this chapter)
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