Catch the Mountain 1985

Chapter 123 Drilling a Hole in the Ice
After Zhang Peng and Zhao Chunming finished chatting with the old lady, they discussed where to get some fish next. To be honest, there is no shortage of meat now. Not to mention eating it every day, there is always some oil and water in every meal, so Compared with other homes, living in the village can be considered very comfortable.

Eating and drinking has always been a big problem that troubles farmers in the rural areas of Northeast China. In the past, the brigades provided food. Now it is better, and there is some surplus food at home, but it is still not to the point where everyone can eat well, and the meals can only be eaten here and there. Eat.

What do you mean by interspersed meals? Today it’s corn pancakes, tomorrow it’s sorghum rice, and the day after tomorrow it’s millet.As for the white noodles, they can only be eaten when guests arrive or during the New Year and festivals. In addition, some dried vegetables stored in the autumn are used to make it, and this is how every family survives the winter.

Only the gunner's family in the village can say that they can eat steamed buns with Erhe noodles, meat from the mountains, and some dried vegetables and mushrooms. They can be considered to be living a good life.

As for the family's money, it can only be said that the accounts were balanced every year at that time. It would be good if no one owed money, so in order to survive in the Northeast, they had to work hard on food. Before, Wang Xiaoli relied on whole fish for food. Only then did he survive.

This is a bit far-fetched. Zhang Peng doesn’t know much about fishing. It can also be said that he has mastered nine of his ten apertures. In his previous life, he rarely fished because he had less exposure to water since he was a child, so now he mainly It's up to Zhao Chunming and Wang Xiaoli. They have done this since childhood. If Zhang Peng is the leader when it comes to driving mountains, he is the younger brother when it comes to gathering fish in rivers.

In the past, Wang Xiaoli was doing the fishing by himself, but now that Zhang Peng and Zhao Chunming have joined in, things have become simpler. Soon Zhao Chunming and Wang Xiaoli have discussed where they are going to go tomorrow. It is said that this is what Wang Xiaoli has been watching for a long time. There should be a big harvest in the nest, and then the two discussed what they would bring tomorrow. Zhang Peng was like a duck next to him, staying aside and listening to their discussion.

When the discussion was almost over, Zhang Peng and Zhao Chunming got up and prepared to leave. They agreed on a time for tomorrow, then returned home, tied up Dahuang and Xiaohong, and entered the house together.

"How's it going? Are the wolves on the mountain coming down?" Wang Xiufen asked on the kang as soon as she entered the house.

"No way, it's nothing. Che Lao Zhuangzi didn't explain it clearly. It seemed like we were just lone wolves in the past," Zhang Peng responded.
"Oh, that's good. I don't know when it will be finished. This person is always on tenterhooks every day." Wang Xiufen said to herself.

Zhang Peng and Zhao Chunming also looked at each other after hearing this. This is probably a common thought among the villagers. If these matters are not resolved early, it will really become a worry for the villagers.

If it doesn't work out, what if he goes into the mountains to kill a bunch of people? Zhang Peng thought to himself, but he quickly gave up the idea. He still wanted to live a few more days and had not yet married a wife and had children.

In this way, Zhang Peng and Zhao Chunming met up with Wang Xiaoli the next day. They originally wanted to push the cart over, but Wang Xiufen and Li Cuihua firmly opposed it. This new cart would be a waste of money for hauling fishing equipment, and it would also be loaded with fish. The fishy smell firmly stopped their thoughts.

Fortunately, the riverside is not too far from the village. This is a tributary of HLJ, but there are really a lot of fish. Now the environmental protection is okay. When they pushed the cart and took the guy to the riverside, they saw that there were already many fish on the river. Several waves of people were digging holes in the ice and preparing to hang nets.

At this time, there were many people who relied on whole fish to feed their families, but fortunately the river was wide and long, and there were a lot of fish caught, so people could make a living.

Wang Xiaoli, however, did not go over to join in the fun. Instead, he took Zhang Peng and the two of them and continued downstream. When they reached a fork in the river, they stopped. Seeing that there was no one nearby, he nodded and asked to take the things away first. The car was put down and ready to start digging holes in the ice to lower the net.Zhao Chunming looked around and nodded secretly. The place Wang Xiaoli found was good. This place happened to be next to the mouth of Jiangchazi. It was considered to be in the slow water area. The water in the river was too fast, and fish liked it here. Gathering often yields great results here.

As Zhao Chunming cleared a piece of snow from the river to expose the ice layer underneath, Wang Xiaoli used an ice hammer to slowly poke a hole in the ice layer. As the ice hole formed, Wang Xiaoli stopped and waited. Zhao Chunming picked up the net and then quickly cut away the last layer of ice.

The moment it was dug, the river water quickly surged up along the bottom of the cave, as if it were a boiling pot. In a short time, it filled the entire ice cave. Wang Xiaoli was used to it, so he didn't stop. He kept using an ice trowel to expand the bottom of the cave, while Zhao Chunming used a net to scoop up the floating ice shards from time to time and dump them upside down on the other side.

Zhang Peng looked at their operations dully. He had seen others do it before, but he didn't know what to do at this time. He was unfamiliar with these things. The most he usually did was go to the river with Zhao Chunming. Next net, so these traditional skills are also novel and ready to start.

After Zhao Chunming quickly scooped up the ice floes and ice debris, he quickly inserted the net into the ice hole, fished it out quickly clockwise or counterclockwise, and then quickly lifted it up. Not to mention that there was something there, but Just some small fish and shrimps, not the big fish they want.

Wang Xiaoli and Zhao Chunming seemed to have expected this, and asked Zhang Peng to pick out all the small fish. After all, the small fish stewed in sauce is also delicious when baked in big pancakes.

Obviously, although it is close to the river, the water here is still very deep, so not many can be fished out. Most of them are washed over with the current. Wang Xiaoli raised his head and was looking for another fixed point. This is very particular. I can look at the direction of the water flow and predict the movement patterns of fish schools. Although it is winter, the fish schools under the ice are not stationary. They are also swimming slowly to eat, but they are not so active.

Why choose here instead of going to the center of the river? This is because the water is still flowing rapidly under the seemingly calm ice. The water in the center of the river is even more turbulent. In winter, most fish swim slowly. Basically, Those who have not challenged the rapid current in the center of the river may have some oversized fish with this spirit, but this is not something that Wang Xiaoli can trap with the mesh of the hanging net.

Wang Xiaoli brought a hanging net with him. The mesh was not very big, so it was fine for hanging some fatheads, carps, larger crucian carp and melon seeds, but not for any larger fish.

"Xiao Li, how's it going? Which one should I choose next? I'll dig the ice later, you two have a rest." Zhang Peng also volunteered. He felt that it was easy to dig holes in the ice, and he really couldn't do other things. .

"Haha. Okay, second brother, it's up to you. We just have to take a break. Don't be exhausted after a while," Wang Xiaoli said with a smile.
"You're just kidding me, tell me where you are now. I'm about to show off my skills. You're just destroying my enthusiasm." Zhang Peng also laughed and scolded.
Then Wang Xiaoli chose another spot. After clearing away the snow on it, Zhang Peng started working. He grabbed the ice trowel with both hands and pushed down hard, and a large piece of ice ballast was plucked down. , Zhang Peng was even more motivated when he saw it.

"Hey. Xiaoli, don't tell me, this thing is very easy to use, but it came off such a big piece at once, haha" Zhang Peng smiled and showed his results to Wang Xiaoli and Zhao Chunming

"Okay, second brother, come on, we are optimistic about you." Wang Xiaoli and Zhao Chunming looked at Zhang Peng working hard to dig holes in the ice, then looked at each other and secretly smiled.
(End of this chapter)