Thank you, Wuxin! Lisu! Banxia! I appreciate the reward!
This shows Zhang Hongmei's dedication to food. Moreover, the fishing nets she buys all have large mesh, meaning she doesn't want small fish.
It took three and a half hours to get all five nets in the water, and then we just had to wait.
While they were at it, two people were left to dig a trap, while the remaining six went to check out the old traps.
No one wanted to stay. It wouldn't make a difference if the two girls stayed. Er Lengzi was familiar with the traps. The remaining five looked at each other and none of them wanted to dig a trap.
"Brother Er Lengzi, it's freezing cold now, digging traps is too much work. Let's wait until spring. There are some traps I used to dig not far from here, let's go take a look."
These two traps weren't used this year; they were both open, so the animals avoided them. Er Lengzi slowly went down, stuck the sharpened stick inside, and then the others found some dry branches to cover the trap openings and left him there.
Upon reaching the trap in the sweet potato field, they found it completely intact and left disappointed. Then, at the trap in the radish field, they finally discovered that one of the trap entrances had been damaged, and inside was just a rabbit—better than nothing, they thought.
We already have eight rabbits at home; if all else fails, we'll just go home and kill a couple. These three should be enough to satisfy a few people's cravings.
Thinking about the rabbits at home, Zhang Hongmei felt reluctant to part with them. But she couldn't keep them forever. Oh well, if they were eaten, so be it. She'd give one to the old principal, one to Li Juying, one to the old lady, one to Liu Maocai, and one to Wang Hongxi. That's it, only one left. She'd have Er Lengzi help her kill it, but then she thought, giving it to them alive would be fine too; she'd figure it out later.
Erlinzi, carrying the rabbit, said with a bitter face, "If there's only one, how many potatoes will we have to put in it if the few of us eat it? It won't even taste like meat anymore."
Zhang Hongmei rolled her eyes. "Just say so if you're after my rabbits."
"Hehe, Red Plum, it's a waste of food for you to keep it in winter. Let's eat it. I'll find you two more next spring."
"No need. Don't sneak up the mountain then, it's too dangerous there in the spring. We'll eat rabbit tonight, but I can only offer two, the rest will be useful."
"Three is fine too, better than one. We'll have to trouble Hongmei to make meat for dinner tonight, the meat stews others don't taste right."
"Don't try to fool me. You don't need to do this to get me to do the hard work. I can't even eat what you've cooked."
The group chatted and laughed for a while, then covered the trap again and returned to the edge of the pool.
They lit the collected dry branches, and the eight of them sat around it. Even though the cornbread had been covered up, it was still hard. They skewered the cornbread on branches and roasted it over a fire.
A sweet smell wafted out, and Erlinzi exclaimed, "Hongmei, you added sugar?"
"They even added goat milk; I reckon it'll taste good."
"It must be delicious." After they finished eating, they felt bored and decided to get up and gather firewood, since they were getting up early these days.
Zhang Hongmei strolled over and put a drop of spiritual spring water into the ice hole of the two large mesh nets. She didn't believe that there would be few fish in a while, so she would save the small fish to eat when they grew up.
At 2 PM sharp, they hauled in the net. The three small mesh nets were all torn by the big fish, and there were only a few palm-sized crucian carp. Da Shan's face turned pale; he was sure he'd get a beating when he got back.
When it was the turn of the big-eyed net, everyone thought there wouldn't be any fish, but to their surprise, they couldn't even pull the net up.
Er Lengzi shouted excitedly, "Shuangcun, you're fast! Hurry back and call my third uncle. Tell him to bring a few more people, all carrying big baskets!"
"Okay!" he said and ran out.
"Everyone, quickly grab your pickaxes and widen the hole in the ice, otherwise we won't be able to pull the net up and it will break."
Several boys picked up large pickaxes and continued digging holes in the ice.
The two girls were cleaning the net, picking out all the crucian carp and putting them into the basket. They were all lively and jumping around, and they looked very pleasing to the eye.
The ice hole had widened, and the five decided they couldn't wait any longer; it would be troublesome and dangerous if they waited until dark. So they slowly and carefully pulled the net up, making Zhang Hongmei quite nervous. If the net broke, all the fish would be lost, because they wouldn't survive in the water if they were tangled in the net.
It took more than an hour to pull up the first net, and wow, there were a good thirty or forty big fish weighing four or five pounds each.
They headed to the second net, while Er Ya and Zhang Hongmei continued sorting the fish. Zhang Hongmei felt her hands were so cold she couldn't feel them anymore, but seeing the big fish splashing and jumping on the ice made her feel okay; it was a bittersweet experience.
By the time the second piece of netting arrived, the two of them had already finished sorting the first piece, filling a total of eight large baskets.
But they haven't arrived yet, what should we do?
“I have five snakeskin bags in my handbag, I’ll just put them in the bags.”
"Hongmei is such a lucky star. Next time I go into the mountains with you, I'll bring plenty of gear." At this point, Dashan wasn't afraid of getting a beating when he got home.
The boys were responsible for selecting the nets, and Zhang Hongmei and Liu Erya were in charge of earning them pockets. However, even though the five snakeskin bags were full, more than half of them were still unselected.
Liu Maocai and his group arrived at this time and were stunned when they saw the eight large baskets and five full snakeskin bags on the ice. How many fish were there?
Six people arrived. Each of them carried a large basket.
"Shuangcun is tired. Let someone else go back to find the village chief. Eight more people can carry baskets instead, otherwise we won't be able to carry them back."
Xiao Suo said, "I'll run back; I can run faster than them."
"Zhong, be careful, it's getting dark. Make sure there's nothing big. Er Lengzi, you guys carry the fish and go first. Hongmei, you two go back too, you don't need to carry it, you can't carry it anyway." Er Ya hadn't forgotten about the rabbit before leaving, and carried it away. And so, only Liu Maocai and the five people he brought remained.
The five of them also selected the fish first, and after they finished, they cleaned the net again.
"Third Brother, I didn't expect there to be so many fish here."
"Yes, we came here when we were kids, but we've never seen so many fish. This year's Lunar New Year is really plentiful."
"It must be because this net works well?"
"It's good enough if there's food, but we can't let the children go unpaid. We need to give them either work points or other things."
Liu Maocai felt pleased to hear their words. He wasn't happy about the few points or things, but rather that everyone in Liujiatun was a person of good character.
When Da Shan's father saw his three tattered nets, he felt heartbroken. Otherwise, this brat would have avoided him.
Go home and beat him up.
"Dad, please don't hit the kid. It's just a few pieces of netting. I'll weave them with you tomorrow."
"That's great! With Zhao Si's skills, he can fix even if it's broken."
"You're talking nonsense. It's better to weave a new one; it's faster than repairing it."
"You said it, tomorrow you'll weave a net with me."
"Okay, fine, you can tell me what to do with my cigarettes."
The group carried all the baskets ashore. They were just waiting for everyone to arrive so they could go back together.
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