Ye Zhiqiu grinned and said, "Then I'll leave it to you all. Once we can catch fish, let's get to work! Our factory staff will be here around nine o'clock."
After finishing a cigarette, I chatted with everyone and learned that there are many kinds of fish here. However, there are no turtles because they eat small fish, so we don’t keep them.
Ye Zhiqiu rode his bicycle back to the village commune, which was actually the canteen. He parked his bicycle and sat aside waiting.
Without a watch, he didn't know the exact time, and the position of the sun was not accurate, with a large error.
Just like now, Ye Zhiqiu thought it should be nine o'clock, but he ended up sitting there for half an hour and had smoked two cigarettes before the sound of a car started.
This isn't a main road, so there aren't many cars coming here. So when the car sounded, he ran to the door and saw a truck parked on the side. Liu Wenjie got out of the passenger seat.
Ye Zhiqiu went to meet them and greeted everyone. Then he pointed to the path ahead and said, "Section Chief, there's a small intersection up ahead. You need to reverse and drive in because there's no room to turn around inside the fish pond. You can't drive straight in."
Liu Wenjie nodded and asked, "Okay, you lead the way. Let's drive to the fish pond first!"
"Okay, I'll lead the way!"
Ye Zhiqiu pushed out his bicycle and rode in front to lead the way. When he reached the intersection, he waited for the truck to come and signaled to turn around and back in.
Because this road is usually used by carts and ox carts to transport goods in the village, and these two things don't need much space to turn around, so there is not much open space left in the fish pond.
After the car parked, everyone got out and Ye Zhiqiu gave everyone a brief introduction. Liu Wenjie passed out cigarettes and watched as a group of people started fishing in the pond below.
Looking at the many fish splashing in the water, he asked happily, "Village Chief Yang, these look like a lot of fish! How come they only weigh 5,000 to 6,000 kilograms? It looks like there's probably more!"
Yang Gui replied cheerfully while smoking a cigarette, "Section Chief Liu, it looks like there are a lot of fish now, but that's because the water level has dropped to that point and the fish have gathered! In fact, there aren't that many fish, only about a thousand or so. Six thousand kilograms is the best-case scenario."
In previous years, two-year-old fish like these usually weighed over 5,000 kilograms. But I'm not sure. In previous years, we also raised grouper and catfish, and there were more of them. This time, we didn't release grouper, and there were fewer catfish, so there might be more mid-sized fish.
Liu Wenjie nodded. This was a common knowledge, as both grouper and catfish ate small fish. This meant that the first batch of fish born would likely be eaten more.
However, Liu Wenjie felt it was a pity. If there was a grouper, he would have taken it alone. Recently, I have been using soft-shelled turtle to replenish the blood of my family, and the effect is quite good.
As someone waded through the mud to bring the fish back, the work began. Buckets of water were brought in to rinse the mud off the fish, and then the weighing began.
Ye Zhiqiu's job was to lift the scales. The factory's warehouse clerk and the village accountant Zhao each began to keep accounts. When the final tally was found to be correct, they used the final weight to calculate the payment.
Village chief Yang and Secretary Wang also went down to fish. If they hadn't needed to entertain Liu Wenjie from the brewery, they should have taken the lead in working in the water.
Fishing wasn't an easy job. There were only about a dozen adults working, and while it looked like a large group, the youngsters were merely helping out with the shrimp and snail picking. After all, they weren't given any work points for actually fishing.
The villagers were busy until half past twelve, and they worked for four hours before they finally caught all the fish.
The two accountants began calculating the total weight using an abacus. After they both confirmed the numbers, they came up with a total of 5,830 kilograms of fish. Just as Yang Gui and the others had predicted, the estimate was spot on.
The shrimp were not included in the public account, and there were 35 kilograms in total. Ye Zhiqiu ran to Yang Gui and whispered in his ear, asking him to help prepare some small bags. He planned to share the shrimp with everyone who came here.
After the people arranged by Yang Gui brought the bags, Ye Zhiqiu went to grab the shrimps from the basket. There were four people, including the driver, the security staff, the logistics colleague who was doing the warehouse work, and Liu Wenjie. Ye Zhiqiu grabbed about two kilograms of shrimps each and stuffed a bag into each of them.
Ye Zhiqiu believed in "I'm good to you, and everyone else is good to you." He had already eaten the meat. He couldn't let others go through so much trouble and not even have a sip of soup, right?
They were very happy to get the extra harvest and said they would send it back home soon to let their family members deal with it, otherwise it would become smelly at night.
Ye Zhiqiu rode away on his bicycle, carrying the shrimp. Liu Wenjie and the others got on their bicycles and rushed back to the factory before taking the shrimp home.
Ye Zhiqiu planned to send the shrimp back home first, and then take the shrimp prepared for Secretary Liao Yegu, Factory Director Chen Yimin, and Wu Shengli back to the factory. He would also go to the finance department to collect the money, and then he would come back to share the spoils with Yang Gui and the others!
When Ye Zhiqiu returned home, only half of the shrimps were left in the basket. He stored some in the space bubble for future use.
After returning to the door, he saw two people working on bamboo in the yard and said happily, "Mom, Aunt Liu, you're back so soon? Just in time, I can help you pick out the shrimp. Pick out the big ones and put them in a small bag, about three pounds. I'll take them to the factory leaders later. I need to go get some water first. I've been out in the sun all morning and I'm dying of thirst."
"Okay, son, how come you got so many shrimps!"
"Oh, that's a lot!"
Ye Zhiqiu, thirsty, didn't reply. Instead, he ran to the living room and poured a bowl of water for his four younger brothers and sisters who had greeted him before he could respond.
After finishing his drink in one gulp, he said to the four people who were eating lunch, "Brother, you've been working all morning without drinking any water. You're almost dying of thirst. How did you harvest today?"
Ye Wubing said with a depressed look on his face, "Don't mention it, big brother. There are too many people here during the school holidays. There are more people than wild vegetables! I cut a lot of rabbit grass, but I didn't get any wild vegetables at all."
Qian Yuanjun said happily: "Brother, don't listen to second brother, we have dug up nearly 20 kilograms of wild vegetables, and we can sell them for 40 or 50 cents, which is not a small harvest!
Ye Zhiqiu smiled and said, "Second brother, you can lead the reinforcements later. Go to the fork in the road in front of the commune, turn right, and go into the fish pond inside to pick snails. If someone asks you and tells you not to pick them, just say that it was Ye Caigou's younger brother who sent you there.
"My two younger sisters, just stay home and play. Don't follow me. The mud in the fish pond is dirty and smelly. Let your second and third brothers mess around with it."
Ye Wubing agreed. There were a lot of snails in the fish pond, so he was naturally happy.
Qian Yuanjun said happily: "Okay, I'll listen to my eldest brother and go catch snails with my second brother later!"
Qian Xiaofang also smiled and said, "Brother, I'll stay home and play with my little sister."
Only Ye Bailu clamored to play in the mud, but unfortunately no one paid any attention to her because she was too young to have a choice!
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