Chapter 27 Carp Carp
The heavy rain continued for a whole day and night. When the rain gradually subsided, the sky became dark. Looking out from the cave entrance, it was pitch black.
Uncle Su was worried about the cow tied outside, so he put on his straw raincoat and went out to check.
Su Fengzhang quickly stopped him: "Second Uncle, it's dark outside, and you don't know the way up the mountain. It just rained and the ground is very slippery. It's too dangerous to go out now. It's better to wait until daybreak."
Uncle Su was worried about the cow and said, "Why should I be afraid? I grew up in Yuexi Village too."
"Dad, why don't I go and take a look?" Su Caozhang said, and without waiting for the two to react, he snatched the straw raincoat and ran away.
"Hey, slow down." Uncle Su shouted anxiously, and now he felt a little regretful.
Compared to the cow, the son's life is naturally more important.
Su Caozhang was gone for a long time, making everyone in the cave terrified. Uncle Su wanted to stand up and walk out several times, but Su Fengzhang had no choice but to say, "Uncle, I'll go with you. We can still look after each other."
After he said that, Second Uncle Su hesitated: "No, you can't take the risk."
But Qi Kang, a hunter in the village, stepped forward and said, "I'll go. I'm familiar with the mountains."
Qi Kang's surname is not Su, but he married a girl from the Su family. He was also one of the first group to go up the mountain and had a good relationship with the Su family.
"I'll go with you." Uncle Su shouted. He couldn't let others take risks while he, as a father, acted like a coward.
Who knew that before the two of them went out, Su Caozhang ran back, his body covered in mud, and it looked like he had fallen, but at least he was still safe and sound.
Uncle Su grabbed his son and asked, "Why did you just come back? Did you fall?"
Su Caozhang laughed nonchalantly and shouted, "Dad, the water at the foot of the mountain has receded."
"What? The water's receding?" Uncle Su was surprised at first, then angry. He pinched his son's ear and scolded him, "You're quite courageous! I told you to go check on our cows, and you actually dared to go down the mountain directly."
Su Caozhang quickly begged for mercy: "Dad, it hurts, I didn't go down the mountain, I just stood on the other side of the valley and took a look down."
The village chief also heard the noise and came over to ask, "Cao Zhang, the water at the foot of the mountain has really receded. How can you see it when it's so dark?"
"The moon is out, and the places where there is water are shining. I looked down and saw that our village was all dark. The water must have receded, and even if it hadn't, it wasn't deep." Su Caozhang said.
Some people thought something was wrong, so Qi Kang frowned and asked, "That doesn't make sense. It rained all day and all night, and the rain just stopped. Logically, the water level should be at its highest. How could it have receded so quickly?"
Uncle Su said, "No matter why the water receded, it's always a good thing. We can go down the mountain tomorrow morning."
It had rained so heavily in the past two days that everyone thought they would have to stay in the cave for a few more days. Some families who didn't have enough food were inevitably worried, but they were actually happy when they heard this.
Su Fengzhang did not feel relieved. He looked up and met the village chief's gaze, and they both sighed at the same time.
Uncle Su heard this and asked, confused, "Why are you two sighing? Isn't this a good thing?"
Su Fengzhang explained: "Yuexi Village is located upstream. There is only one reason why the water level receded so quickly: another dam broke downstream. Otherwise, even if the river channel was unobstructed, the water level would not drop so quickly."
As soon as these words were spoken, the cave, which had been full of excitement, suddenly became quiet.
The dam broke. That's Qingzhou, a famous land of fish and rice. It broke once before. If it breaks again, it will turn into a vast ocean.
People of Yuexi Village couldn't help but worry about Qingzhou as they were all ordinary people.
There was also a girl in the village who had married into a village downstream, and her mother couldn't help sobbing softly.
Su Fengzhang couldn't help but regret what he said, and quickly said, "But now that the water level has receded, as long as it stops raining, everyone can go down the mountain tomorrow, which is also a good thing."
After playing a trick on us, God finally showed his good side to us. The next day was a sunny day with no clouds in the sky.
The village chief first sent people down the mountain to check and confirmed that the water level had receded, and even the water level of Yuexi had exposed the bluestone. Only then did he decide to take everyone down the mountain.
There were traces of flooding everywhere in the village. The dirt roads that had been trampled hard had turned into mud, and you would get soaked if you walked on them. Even the thatched huts of two families had half collapsed.
Su Fengzhang brought his family back to the old house. The lock on the gate was still locked properly. The traces of flooding were only as high as an adult's calf. When they opened the gate, they saw that there was still some water in the yard.
The peach tree that Su Lanzhang had always been thinking about looked fine, but she didn't know if it could survive in the end.
Su Zhaoshi hurriedly led people in to clean up. She looked at the soaked furniture with a distressed look on her face: "This is good old wood. It's ruined by this soaking. I don't know if it can still be used."
"Move it out and dry it while there's still sunshine. It will definitely be usable." It just looks a little uglier.
"The stove has been flooded and the firewood is soaked. Zao'er, please help me move it out, otherwise I won't be able to light a fire to cook later." Madam Wei also shouted.
Su Fengzhang stood on a stool and lowered the things hanging from the beam one by one. Their house was high, so the things placed on the beam were not soaked. Only a bag of taro was soaked in water, but it looked still edible.
"Second brother, there are fish here." Su Lanzhang suddenly shouted.
When I looked over, I saw a remaining puddle in the low-lying area of the yard. What was even more surprising was that there were two fish in the puddle. The big one was a grass carp and the small one was a carp, both of which were quite heavy.
"How did this fish get in?" Aunt Bai was also surprised when she came out and saw that their door was closed tightly.
Su Fengzhang actually smiled: "No matter how he got in, we're having fish for lunch..."
"Forget it, let's send it to my second uncle's house." I almost forgot that their family is still in mourning and they can't eat fish even if they have one.
Su Lanzhang showed a bit of disappointment on his face, and then said: "Second brother, can I raise this carp?"
Aunt Bai frowned and scolded, "Why are you raising fish? You have nothing to do, don't you?"
Su Lanzhang immediately lowered his head, but Su Huihui hesitated for a moment and said, "Dad also raised fish when he was in the county government office."
In fact, it was not raised by Su Dianli alone, but there was a Menhai in the courtyard behind the county government office. It was actually a water tank used to store water to prevent fire, and lotus and carp were usually raised in it.
Su Fengzhang happened to hear this when he came out. He looked down and saw that the carp was not the kind that is usually eaten. The whole fish was bright red with slight patterns. He didn't know whose ornamental fish it was that escaped.
"Okay, let's keep it. There's an empty watering tank in the backyard. We can keep it there." Su Fengzhang said with a smile.
Aunt Bai still disagreed: "Erlang, don't spoil him all the time. Everyone is so busy, but Sanlang is still thinking about playing."
Su Fengzhang patted his brother's head and said with a smile, "Since you want to raise it, it will be your job to change the water in the tank and feed the fish. If you can't take good care of it, we'll just eat the fish."
"I'm sure I can recover." Su Lanzhang shouted loudly.
Su Zhaoshi also heard this and shook her head helplessly: "Erlang, how old are you, and you are still fooling around with Sanlang?"
However, Su Fengzhang felt that there was nothing wrong with raising carp. The main reason was that after the recent flood, the atmosphere at home was inevitably a little tense, and they needed something to ease the mood.
He smiled and said, "Mom, I asked Sanlang to raise this fish for the good of our family. Carp represents good fortune. Even though the gate is closed and the water is not deep, the carp happened to come into our yard."
"It can be seen that this carp has a connection with our family. This blessing deserves to come to our family."
Su Lanzhang looked up and asked him, "Second brother, why do carp represent good fortune?"
Su Fengzhang smiled and said, "I'm sure everyone has heard the story of the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate. In fact, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, there was already a custom of carp representing auspiciousness, which probably originated from the story of the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate."
There is also a legend that when Confucius' wife gave birth to a son, the King of Lu sent a live carp as a congratulatory gift. The sage was delighted, believing it to be an auspicious sign, and so named the child Li, with the courtesy name Bo Yu.
Before Su Lanzhang could speak, Su Huihui nodded and said, "So that's how it is. The saint's son is called Carp."
Su Fengzhang laughed heartily and continued, "Look at this fish again. Isn't it bright red and festive? It makes people happy just by looking at it. Red is an auspicious color, and this carp is red, so it naturally represents good luck and good fortune."
When he said this, Madam Wei clapped her hands and shouted, "Oh my, then this carp sneaking into the Su family, does it symbolize that our second young master will sooner or later make the leap and become an official? It must be this way, otherwise why wouldn't the carp go to someone else's house?"
After she shouted like that, the others thought more and more that it was so, and they looked at the red carp with a bit of surprise.
Su Zhaoshi even said, "This is an auspicious sign. How can we keep it in a broken water tank? Why not buy a more spacious one?"
Su Fengzhang didn't realize that he had gone too far, and quickly said, "Mom, since the fish have come to our house, they will definitely not be picky about where they live."
"A son will not despise his mother's ugliness, a dog will not despise his home's poverty, and a carp will not despise a broken water tank. As long as you have food and clothing, just raise them. If they die, it means that they are not destined to be together."
Su Zhaoshi's attitude was not so good. She glared at him and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? If you want to raise a child, you must raise him well."
Aunt Bai, who was originally the most opposed to raising fish, no longer opposed it and went to clean up the fish tank herself. Now Su Lanzhang's job of raising fish was almost taken away from him, and it was because he fought for it.
For this reason, Aunt Bai even pulled his ear and warned him privately: "You must take good care of it. If anything happens to this red carp, I will punish you."
As for the grass carp that appeared together and was even bigger than the carp, no one paid attention to it. It was soon sent to Uncle Su's house and turned into a delicious dinner with the cooking skills of Aunt Su.
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