bookrandom Chapter 250: Looks like he got a lot of discipline when he was a kid.
Chapter 250: Looks like he got a lot of discipline when he was a kid.
The next morning, while it was still dark, Li Daqiang carried a wooden bucket to Li Xiangyang's door.
"Xiangyang, are you up yet?" Li Daqiang called out in a low voice.
Li Xiangyang had already woken up and was packing up his tools.
Li Xiaoyun also got up early and prepared dry food in the kitchen.
"Coming," Li Xiangyang replied, carrying his tools as he went out.
In the courtyard, Wang Ergou had just arrived, carrying a net bag filled with the clips he had woven the day before.
The three greeted each other, and Li Xiangyang accepted the dry food prepared by Li Xiaoyun.
"Come back soon," Li Xiaoyun urged.
Li Xiangyang nodded and led the two towards the river.
The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and a thin layer of fog floated on the river surface, with water plants swaying gently in the morning breeze.
“Let’s go upstream today. The water is deeper over there, and there might be some big fish there,” Li Xiangyang said as they walked.
Wang Ergou followed behind, chuckling and teasing, "Brother Xiangyang, do you have another idea up your sleeve?"
"What ideas could I possibly have? It's just that using a bobbin is really convenient. We can put the bobbin down and have plenty of time. I think we might as well find a place to catch some shrimp."
Li Daqiang's eyes lit up: "Catch shrimp? Can we catch them at this time?"
"Yes," Li Xiangyang nodded. "June is when the prawns are at their fattest; let's look for them carefully after we set up the trap."
As they talked, the three of them arrived at a river bend with deep water and dense grass, and based on yesterday's experience, they began to place the traps.
This time they brought even more clips, a total of more than fifty.
"Now that these are done, let's go catch shrimp." After setting the last trap, Li Xiangyang took out several cages woven from thin bamboo strips from his basket.
"What is this?" Li Daqiang asked curiously.
"Shrimp traps," Li Xiangyang explained. "We put some snail meat inside as bait, and the shrimp will smell it and crawl in."
As he spoke, he demonstrated how to place the bait in the right spot in the cage, then carefully sink it into the water and tie it to the reeds on the bank with a thin rope.
"Shrimp are greedy, but also wary," Li Xiangyang instructed as he placed the cage. "Place it gently, preferably in a place with lots of aquatic plants."
Wang Ergou quickly learned the trick, and the three of them worked together to set up more than ten shrimp traps.
"Let's go. How many we catch depends on our luck. Let's not sit idle for now; let's catch some loaches or something in the shallows."
As Li Xiangyang spoke, he walked downstream.
As the sun gradually rose, the mist on the river slowly dissipated.
The three of them went to the shallow water area, took off their shoes, rolled up their trouser legs, and got to work.
Everyone has been doing this kind of mudfish catching work since they were young, so they are very good at it.
Wang Ergou was the first to go into the water. He rubbed his toes in the warm mud and quickly got the hang of it.
He bent down, his fingers deftly groping in the mud, and soon caught a plump loach.
Li Daqiang was not to be outdone, and he specifically chose to touch the areas where the roots of the aquatic plants were dense.
Loaches love to burrow near the roots of grass, and he caught one in no time.
Li Xiangyang moved along the edge of the riverbank, his movements skillful and accurate with every shot.
The sun gradually rose, shining on the water and creating shimmering ripples.
The three of them were busy with their work, and no one spoke. The only sounds were the sound of water and the occasional exclamations of praise.
Small fish swim past your feet every now and then, and you can see crabs scurrying sideways among the water plants.
The riverbanks are teeming with life at this time of year, teeming with creatures.
Wang Ergou suddenly whispered, "Look over there!"
A large loach suddenly darted out from the water plants and swam towards the deeper water.
The three of them tacitly spread out, blocking its escape route.
Li Daqiang reached out and caught the loach, which was about the thickness of a thumb.
"Goodness!" Li Daqiang laughed. "We've struck gold this time."
Just then, a rustling sound came from the reeds on the bank.
Li Xiangyang looked in the direction of the sound and saw a black-spotted frog about to jump into the water. He reacted quickly, rushing forward and catching the frog firmly in his right hand.
"This is bigger than any domesticated dog," Wang Ergou said, walking over to take a look and marveling at it.
The three of them worked for a while longer, until the mudfish in the wooden bucket were piled up in a thick layer, before they moved to the shade of a tree to rest and check the clips they had put down earlier.
As soon as the first clamp was pulled up, a large carp was seen thrashing about on the surface of the water.
Then they caught a few more chub and a catfish.
After collecting the clips, the three of them began to put the shrimp traps back in one by one.
I was lucky today; I caught a lot of shrimp from almost every one of the dozen or so shrimp traps.
"Look, is this enough to sell in town?" Li Xiangyang asked as he poured the shrimp into the wooden bucket.
"That's enough!" Wang Ergou said excitedly. "There are over ten pounds of shrimp alone, plus these fish and loaches, we're sure to get a good price in town."
"How about we go to town together tomorrow?" Li Daqiang suggested. "I'll go see Xiaofang at the supply and marketing cooperative."
"That works too," Li Xiangyang said with a smile. "Anyway, tomorrow's the weekend, and I'm planning to take Xiaoyun to see my mother and Xiaohua."
Wang Ergou packed up the last shrimp trap and said, "That's perfect, Hongxia and I will go to the city for some fun too."
The three discussed their plans to go to town the next day and sorted and packed up their haul from the day.
These river delicacies, if delivered to state-run restaurants, will likely fetch a good price.
"Okay, it's settled then," Li Xiangyang decided. "We'll meet at the village entrance first thing tomorrow morning and take the early bus into town."
The sun was already quite scorching, so the three packed up their tools and prepared to return to the village.
Although we were busy all morning, no one felt tired at all, seeing the abundant harvest.
When Li Xiaoyun got home, she saw Li Xiangyang return from get off work and asked with a smile, "How was it? How was the harvest?"
"Not bad. By the way, tomorrow's the weekend, let's go to the city for some fun, and visit Mom and Xiaohua while we're at it, what do you think?" Li Xiangyang asked with a smile.
"Great! I just finished making clothes for Mom and Xiaohua, I'll send them over tomorrow."
"Making clothes must take a lot of time, right?" Li Xiangyang picked up a carp and began to skillfully tidy it up.
“I don’t need it.” Li Xiaoyun took the fish that Li Xiangyang had prepared. “Thanks to the sewing machine you bought before we got married, I finished it in no time at all.”
“Even if we had a sewing machine, it’s because my wife is so skillful,” Li Xiangyang said with a smile.
"Hey, stop joking." Li Xiaoyun rolled her eyes at her husband, secretly pleased. "How should we cook this fish?"
"It's up to you, you can cook it however you like." Li Xiangyang handed over the prepared fish.
"Okay, then I'll stew the fish. You hurry up and prepare the shrimp."
After Li Xiaoyun finished speaking, she walked towards the kitchen.
Just as Li Xiangyang was about to speak, he suddenly heard a "meow" from the yard.
The black cat was the first to spot the fish in Li Xiangyang's hand, but it didn't rush forward because it now preferred to eat cooked food.
Little Tiger wasn't so picky; seeing food, he ran over and rubbed against Li Xiangyang's leg.
"Here, this is for you." Li Xiangyang carefully removed all the fish bones before tossing a piece to it.
Little Tiger, carrying the fish in his mouth, didn't rush to eat it. Instead, he carried it to the black cat, put it down, and nudged it with his nose.
"Haha, Little Tiger really knows how to handle things," Li Xiaoyun laughed. "Looks like he got a lot of discipline when he was little."