Ordinary people's rice bowl

Chapter 143 Chenxi Surprise
According to the habit of previous years, Tian Cheng went to Binhu Town early in the morning to buy two big red roosters and two carps. These were the most basic gifts for visiting his father-in-law during the Mid-Autumn Festival every year. The other matching items were purchased temporarily on the way to his father-in-law's house. All kinds of snacks, in the eyes of rural people, are already high-standard gifts.

The conversation was divided into two parts. On the one hand, Tiancheng father-in-law was preparing a rich gift, and on the other hand, Lao Mu was worrying about visiting relatives.Just as Tian Cheng estimated, although the old Mu's family hadn't reached the point where they couldn't get rid of it, they actually didn't even have the money to buy oil.

At this time, Lao Mu, who was depressed, did not know how to pass this traditional festival of Chinese family reunion.

It was just dawn, and before Lao Mu and Mu Bao got up, Mu Yan carried a bucket and followed her mother, Xiuhua, who was holding a long bamboo pole, to the west of the village.

After leaving the entrance of the village, the two mothers gave each other a wink, but still didn't speak, and went straight to the stream outside the village in silence.One end of this creek is connected to several hundred acres of land in Xiaowangzhuang Village, and the other end is connected to the Xiaoqing River a few miles away. Naturally, all kinds of wild freshwater fish are indispensable. In case of drought, when the creek is shallow, all kinds of fish Children become the best dishes on the village table.

Because it was still early in the day, few people in the village got up, and those insects who were afraid of the cold did not know where to hide to keep warm, and they could not hear any sound. The fields were quiet, and there was still a distance from the creek, and there was a special smell faintly. It made people's nostrils feel uncomfortable, and the closer they were to the stream, the stronger the smell became. Both of them understood that it was the smell of polluted water caused by mulberry in the village.

When Xiuhua and Mu Yanniang were standing by the brook, the thin mist rising from the surface of the water was like a layer of light veil covering the surface of the brook, making people feel like they were in a fairyland. Uncomfortable smell, this is paradise on earth.

The dew drops on the leaves of various weeds by the stream hung densely on the tips of the leaves like a light rain, stepped on them, and after walking a few steps, they wet the shoes of the two of them. But he didn't care about it at all, and moved forward slowly.In particular, Xiuhua stretched her neck and walked along the stream as if she was looking for something important. When she saw something she was looking for, she widened her eyes as if she had found a treasure, and stretched out the long bamboo pole in her hand. Go over, slowly approach the bamboo piece that sank in the water, and then slowly lift it up. It is a cage made of thin nylon thread and supported by several bamboo pieces. According to the person who sold the cage , This is called a block, a simple fishing gear.When she found that there was nothing inside the cage, Xiuhua shook her head helplessly, and then slowly lowered the cage into the water.

Xiuhua and Mu Yan were a little disappointed when they picked up several blocks in a row. Just when the couple felt at a loss, a block placed at the gutter made Xiuhua unable to pick it up anyway. Xiuhua turned her head. Looking at Mu Yan, she seemed to be saying that this appointment caught a big fish.Mu Yan said softly: "Looking at the darkness, there are many!"

"You watch from above, I'll go down and pick it up!" After Xiuhua finished speaking, she threw the bamboo pole to the stream, then rolled up her trouser legs, and without taking off her shoes, she slowly slid into the water along the muddy stream Xiuhua's shoes were soaked in the polluted sewage. Xiuhua didn't care so much. As she slid down, the water soaked her knees. Xiuhua still didn't stop. When the sewage soaked her thighs, not only did she She shivered and shouted softly, "It's so cold!"

It wasn't until the sewage soaked Xiuhua's waist that she stopped when she successfully lifted the bar. The upper part of the bar had been lifted out of the water. Because there were too many fish in it, she didn't dare to lift it out of the water easily for fear of breaking it. The bamboo piece below can only be dragged with one hand, while the other hand grabs the reeds by the stream, and slowly drags the soaked bamboo towards the stream until it reaches the stream, freeing up both hands Grabbing one end of the cage, she gently lifted it up. There were all crucian carp inside, filling half of the cage. Before she raised it to the surface of the water, the sewage splashed all over Xiuhua's face.Xiuhua wiped the water off her face with her hand, and shouted to Mu Yan: "Quick, throw the bucket to me!"

Mu Yan gently lowered the bucket along the side of the stream. The bucket was unbiased and rolled down to Xiuhua's legs. When it stopped, Xiuhua put the bucket in the mud nest by the side of the stream. Open the barrier that was folded and pulled with a bamboo stick, lift it up with both hands, and pour the barrier into the bucket. With the sound of "Hula", the fish in the barrier was dumped into the bucket in an instant, and there was a sound of fish in the bucket immediately. With the sound of joy, more than half of the bucket of crucian carp was poured out in this one stop.

Mu Yan slapped her hands with joy on the shore and shouted: "That's great!"

"Keep your voice down, don't let anyone hear you!" Xiuhua reminded.

Mu Yan immediately closed her mouth, looked left and right, and whispered, "No one is coming!"

Xiuhua handed the bucket to Mu Yan who was standing on the shore, then fastened the barrier and put it back again.

After landing on the shore, Xiuhua didn't care about wringing the water on her clothes, so she picked up the bamboo pole and continued to look at the few barriers behind the stream. Except for a few crucian carp, most of the others found nothing. Hua scooped up a few traps that hadn't caught any fish, and placed them next to the ones that caught fish just now, and then the mother and wife walked around the village's main road with the bucket in their hands, and walked back home quietly like thieves from the small road behind the village. Xiuhua hurriedly changed into dry clothes, then picked up a few medium-sized crucian carp from the bucket, and confessed to Mu Yan: "You soak these few in clear water for a while, then kill them and stew them to eat. I mentioned it to the town to sell!"

Mu Yan agreed, and then went into the kitchen, washed the ground pot, and prepared to make breakfast.Xiuhua picked up the bucket and walked quickly towards Binhu Town.

It was three shots in the sun, when Lao Mu and Mu Bao came back from school, they saw Mu Yan who was serving dinner in the kitchen, and Lao Mu asked, "Where's your mother?"

Before Mu Yan answered, the greedy Mu Bao ran into the kitchen and shouted, "Sister, where did you get the fish? It smells so good!"

Mu Yan whispered to the old Mu who followed: "This morning, my mother and I went to see the traps that were dropped last night, and we caught almost a bucket. I cooked at home, and my mother went to the town to sell fish!"

When Lao Mu heard this, his heart sank and he didn't make a sound.

"You can't mention the fish we caught to others. We will catch more tomorrow. If you tell people, we won't be able to eat fish!" Mu Yan said seriously to Mu Bao.

Mu Bao nodded his head half-understood.

Then Mu Yan continued to say to Lao Mu: "When my mother went to work in the field yesterday morning, she saw fish floating heads in the irrigation ditch at the west end of the village because of retting, so she went to the market this morning and bought ten of them. It was put in the irrigation ditch in the afternoon, and when I went to pick up the traps this morning, I found that one of the traps had caught so many fish, it was the fish left by my mother, and the rest were sold in the town."

While the three were talking, Xiuhua came back with an empty bucket.

"How much did you sell for?" Old Mu asked with a puzzled face.

"There are less than [-] catties of fish in total, and they sold for five yuan and a dime!" After Xiuhua finished speaking, she looked at the stewed fish on the table, her face was full of joy, and then said, "I found a special place to sell it to me tomorrow. The person who stopped me asked me why all the grass carp were caught (the dialect of crucian carp), but the person told me that grass carp should be caught when the water is shallow. If you want to catch Huotou (the dialect of mullet), you must The deeper you go down, and it is said that you can only catch more when you go down to the junction of clear water and sewage, no wonder why so many people went down yesterday, but this one stop caught more?"

Mu Yan and Mu Bao were fascinated by what they heard, as excited as if they could eat fresher and more delicious mullet tomorrow.

"Then how did you know there were fish there?" Lao Mu was a little puzzled, Xiuhua was not from the lake, and she was rarely seen catching fish, so how did she find out that there were fish there?
"I don't need to ask about this. I haven't caught fish, so I can't listen to others? Besides, I have been working in the field for the past two days. Every time I noticed floating fish coming up, I asked the person who sold the trap. He told me Ah!" Xiuhua said a little proudly.

"Then we will definitely catch more fish tomorrow!" Mu Yan said.

"That's designated, but we must keep this a secret, otherwise everyone will know, and we will have no fish to catch!" Xiuhua smiled.

The whole family savored the fish feast and immersed themselves in a unique kind of happiness.

(End of this chapter)