Linxia

Chapter 11, Fishing

The night dissipates the fatigue of a day's journey. Children in the village hope that the night can be longer and longer. They don't want to face the daytime journey - because that kind of suffering is like thorns piercing into blood vessels, penetrating into flesh and blood, sucking out the spirit, making people numb, like the walking corpse.

But the sun rises as usual, and we still have to continue on our journey.

"It's the last day, and we're almost at the county town. Let's work harder." Qiao Cunzheng encouraged them when he saw that everyone was not in good spirits.

After hearing this, the villagers were indeed excited.

Fang Lin didn't have any emotional changes, because from the initial discomfort, to gradually adapting, and now still having energy to spare, he didn't find it difficult to accept - especially since he had eaten more in the past two days, he felt relatively more relaxed.

Another morning of traveling, when we stopped to cook at noon, Qiao Cunzheng said that there was not much distance left and we could rest a little longer at noon.

When Fang Lin went to fetch water, he saw a lot of fish in the water. The water was not too deep, with the shallow water reaching above the ankles and the deeper water not reaching below the knees.

After fetching water and saying goodbye to Fang's father and mother, he came back to catch fish. He first dug a small puddle by the water, then took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs and went into the water.

A fish was shaking its head and swimming freely beside the water plants. Suddenly, it sensed the change in the water flow and accelerated suddenly in surprise. However, Fang Lin accurately predicted it, scooped it out of the water with both hands, and threw it into the puddle.

He found that his hearing and eyesight had become sharper recently, his strength was increasing, and his control over every bit of strength in his body was more precise. He didn't know if it was a change brought about by the fusion of the two lives. Of course, it could also be an illusion. After all, this body had a strong memory before, and it is still in the process of growing.

Just as they caught two fish, other families started to come over to fetch water. When many children saw this, they also started to go into the water to catch fish.

"Cousin, why didn't you call us when you were fishing?" These were three peers from the eldest wife, Fang Chuanzong, Fang Chuanhui, and Fang Yuyu.

"Aren't you guys here yet?"

Fang Lin smiled. He might have shouted in the past, but now he wouldn’t bother.

After all, if he called the three of them over and caught the fish without any trouble, it would be a good thing for both of us; but if something went wrong while catching fish, such as falling, the old lady would definitely talk about him behind his back.

The three people from the first wife did not talk much with Fang Lin. They divided the work and cooperated with each other. Fang Yuyu dug a hole by the water, while Fang Chuanzong and Fang Chuanhui went into the water to catch fish.

After a while, Fang Caoer, Fang He, Fang Xiaoxiao from the second room and Fang Sui'an from the fourth room also came over.

Fang He seemed very familiar with him and said, "Linzi, there are fish here, why didn't you call me?"

He is two years younger than Fang Lin, and their relationship is average, even though they occasionally fight.

Call you? You don't even want to call me cousin! Not to mention that if something happens, at least the eldest lady is reasonable, but the second lady is really hard to describe.

Fang Lin ignored him and threw another small fish into his own puddle.

"Hey, why are you so proud? I can catch fish too." Fang He felt humiliated and wanted to compete with Fang Lin.

"Brother, our family's fish today depends on you!" Fang Xiaoxiao clapped her hands, paused, and added: "We'll eat all the pheasant eggs that my sister found yesterday."

"I caught it myself and eat it myself. If you want to eat it, catch it yourself." Fang He curled his lips.

"You said it, the fish my sister and I caught, you are not allowed to snatch them away." Fang Xiaoxiao seemed to be waiting for him to say this and agreed immediately.

The three people from the second room started arguing and then went into the water to catch fish.

Fang Sui'an from the fourth room was only six or seven years old. He did not go into the water. He rolled his eyes and called out to Fang Lin, "Cousin, I'll help you watch the fish."

Seeing that Fang Lin didn't answer, he squatted by the water.

This time Fang Lin did not say anything because he found a big fish. He quietly surrounded it in a corner, and when it tried to break out, he quickly grabbed it. Immediately, with the sound of splashing water, a grass carp weighing more than two kilograms floated to the surface, sparkling in the sunlight.

"What a big fish!" Whether it was Fang Chuanzong, Fang Chuanhui, and Fang Yuyu from the first wife, or Fang Caoer, Fang He, and Fang Xiaoxiao from the second wife, or other children, they all looked at them with envy, and then worked even harder to catch the fish.

Fang He originally caught a small fish and wanted to show off, but when he saw this big fish, he immediately lost his spirit and didn't want to catch any more fish. He went ashore dejectedly.

Coincidentally, the big fish that Fang Lin had just put into the pit suddenly flicked its tail and jumped out, landing at Fang He's feet, and was grabbed by him.

"Fang He, let go of the fish!" Fang Lin didn't want to get entangled with the little brat, but there was no way he could give up his own interests.

"I didn't catch it from your pit. It jumped out on its own."

Fang He said proudly: "As usual, let's have a fight, whoever wins gets the fish."

In the past, if pheasant eggs or duck eggs were found on the riverbank, if both of them saw them, this was how they would decide who owned them. The two had fought over this many times, with each winning and losing, and each would accept the consequences of their own mistakes.

Fang Lin looked at the middle school boy and didn't want to fight him. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Fang He put down the fish and pounced on him - there was no way to reason with a little brat like this.

He dodged sideways, leaving Fang He empty-handed.

Fang He pounced again, and Fang Lin dodged again, and this happened three or two times.

"Linzi, why are you so cowardly? Fight with me!" Fang He's blood was boiling. He felt like the old general on the stage in the community opera, and Fang Lin was the one being chased by him... What's that called? No matter what, charge!

"I don't want to quarrel with you, lest you tell my parents if I lose. Give me back the fish!" Fang Lin dodged again and shook his head slightly. "Who would tell my parents? Don't look down on me!" Fang He refused to give in and pounced again with great force, like a little bull.

"Ugh!"

Fang Lin did not dodge this time. After giving way, he took the opportunity to use his skill to trip him.

Fang He missed his target and moved forward due to inertia, but was tripped and lost his balance. He fell down like a toad with a thud, and his face made close contact with the ground. Just from that, a big blister appeared on his mouth and half of his face was bruised.

"Wow!"

He subconsciously wanted to cry, but felt embarrassed, so he held it back, grabbed his little fish, covered his face, turned around and ran away.

"Well, now Er Niang has something to make trouble for again!"

Fang Lin said to himself, but he was not too worried. He estimated that it was almost time to go back, so he did not go into the water again. He pulled a piece of grass to string the fish he caught, one, two, three... After stringing them all, he touched Fang Sui'an's head, turned around and left.

It wasn't that he was stingy and reluctant to give. If there were really 20 or 30 pieces and they couldn't finish them, it wouldn't hurt to give a few, but with that much, it wouldn't be enough for the four of them in the family. If he gave one piece to the other party, Tian Xuan, who had the lowest status in the family, would have one less to eat, so naturally he wouldn't give it.

After all, kindness and generosity are never about giving others what you need, but about giving others what you have in excess.

Fang Sui'an, on the other hand, was stunned as he watched Fang Lin string the fishes together one by one and walk away, unable to react.

No wonder he is like this. This kid is chubby and quite cute. He often begs for food from Grandma Fang by acting cute. Even Fang Lin had given him wild duck eggs before.

But this time, he couldn't figure out what went wrong: "Did the food dispute yesterday make my cousin angry? But my parents clearly said that my cousin's family took advantage of me!"

……

The fourth branch of the Fang family.

Fang Qin saw Fang Sui'an coming back empty-handed and asked, "Didn't you go to show the fish to your cousin? Why didn't he tell you he'd give you one?"

She went to fetch water with Fang Sui'an, but Fang Sui'an wanted to stay, so she left her son there.

"My cousin didn't give it to me." Fang Sui'an curled his lips and said.

"He didn't catch many, did he?" Fang Qin guessed.

"No, there are more than ten of them, and one is this big." Fang Sui'an said and gestured, retorting unconvinced.

"Oh?"

Fang Qin was silent for a moment before she said, "The third room's son has come to his senses and is not as generous as before."

"Alright, stop talking. If you didn't give it to me, then you didn't give it to me. You're making your son look like a beggar." Fang Jiping scolded his wife, stood up, and said to Fang Sui'an, "Come on, Dad will go catch some fish for you."

"Great!"

……

This is the big room.

"Oh, quite a lot, there are seven or eight of them, enough to satisfy you three little greedy cats." Fang Liu said with a smile when she saw the three brothers and sisters Fang Chuanzong, Fang Chuanhui and Fang Yuyu coming back.

"Not much, not much. My cousin Fang Lin caught a lot." Fang Chuanzong scratched his head and smiled naively.

"Yes! However, cousin Fang Lin also had a fight with Fang He from the second branch. Fang He had a big blister on his mouth and half of his face was blue." Fang Chuanhui gloated and did not even call Fang He cousin in his words. It was obvious that because of the food dispute, he also disliked Fang He from the second branch.

"How can you talk like that? No matter what we adults say, you still have to call me cousin."

Fang Liu scolded her second son and then asked, "What happened? Did Linzi beat him? I don't think he would be so ignorant of the severity of the situation!"

"It was cousin Fang He who pounced on him, and cousin Fang Lin dodged. After several hits, cousin Fang He wanted to fight back, so cousin Fang Lin stumbled." Fang Yuyu explained.

"That's what they say, but the second son's wife is not easy to deal with. This matter is going to cause a lot of trouble! Alas, the third son's family will probably suffer again this time." Grandma Fang was also listening nearby. When she heard this, she sighed.

"That's not necessarily the case."

Fang Liu was thinking about yesterday's food incident. After returning, she pondered over it again and again and found that yesterday's result was actually closely related to Fang Lin's subtle guidance. The third branch took advantage of the excitement. Apparently, as the rumor in the village had it these past two days, Linzi from the third branch had become wise.

Therefore, when these two people confront each other, it is hard to say who will suffer the loss!

"Although Fang Wang is not easy to get along with, I can't figure out the boy from the third room even more!" she thought to herself.

……

(End of this chapter)