A Small Farmer Girl 's Story of Making a Fortune by Farming

38

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, we welcome the Kitchen God, and on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, we celebrate the Little New Year.

　　After the Little New Year, on the 25th day, the village chief notified each household to prepare to catch fish.

　　There was a big pond in Dalui Village, and fish fry were placed in the pond. At the beginning, each household in the village contributed one cent to buy the fish fry.

　　With little capital, the fish fry they could buy were naturally small, and there was no fish food to feed them. The villagers only brought back the weeds when they went to the fields to pull them out and threw them into the fish pond. Therefore, the fish grew slowly, and the village only built a pond once every four or five years.

　　This year marks the fifth year since the last time we released fish fry.

　　The water level was already low in winter. The only two water trucks in the village were brought over, and several men took turns to pump water. In one morning, the water in the pond was empty, and the mud at the bottom of the pond gradually leaked out, as well as the backs of the big fish.

　　The fish out of water were struggling and jumping, looking so happy.

　　"Wow, this grass carp is not small." Old man Shen squatted on the shore and gestured to the grandfather.

　　"It's not small. I think it weighs at least five or six kilograms."

　　More and more people came to the shore to watch, and someone shouted, "Catch the fish!"

　　Men and young boys all rushed into the mud like a swarm of bees. Some boys who were not even as tall as an adult's knee also wanted to catch fish, but they were held back by the women, who would never let them wallow in the mud.

　　Grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp, crucian carp, long-mouthed carp, long-spined fish, bamboo fish, black carp, as well as the small minnows, river crabs and river shrimps.

　　Except for grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp, all other species are wild.

　　Some of the men who fish have quick eyes and hands, and can catch fish accurately. Some have no skills at all, and fish in troubled waters, but end up with mud on their hands.

　　"Wow~ Mom, save me..."

　　The little fat boy Chen Yangyang didn't know when he sneaked into the fish pond while the adults were not paying attention. As a result, he didn't catch any fish, but his hand was clamped tightly by a crab. The little fat boy cried for help in pain.

　　"My son, when did you run down?" The fat boy's mother was frightened and rushed down, pulled the crab away and carried the boy to shore.

　　The fat boy who was rescued was sobbing, but when he looked up, he saw Shen Yao laughing happily beside Old Man Shen. He felt insulted at once, and turned around to go back to the fish pond to show his power.

　　But just as her calf took a step forward, her mother grabbed her and slapped her: "Don't you learn your lesson? Guihua, hand me the branch at your feet."

　　When he heard his mother asking for a branch, the little fat boy was so scared that he dared not move, and cried for mercy: "Mom, Mom! I... I won't go down anymore."

　　"Dad, under your feet, under your feet!"

　　“Ouch~”

　　The crying of the little fat boy, the excited shouts of the children, and the screams of the men who accidentally fell in the fish pond and were covered in mud were intertwined.