The happy little days of the Ye family

Mr. Ye and his father, together with the Tang brothers, spent two days harvesting five acres of rapeseed in Xiaohou Mountain.

The harvested rapeseed is transported to the drying field for drying. The rapeseed needs to be dried for five or six days to be completely dried.

Taking advantage of the time in the past few days, Father Ye plans to clean up the pond at the foot of Zhulin Mountain and expand the pond a little. The current pond is still too small.

Not far from the pond, there is a creek. Father Ye plans to drain the pond water into the creek.

Mr. Ye and his father dug a small drainage ditch from the pond to a stream not far away. Before draining the water, his father blocked the drainage outlet with a woven fishing net and a basket so that the fish in the pond could not swim away. .

The pond is not big, and most of the water was drained away after one night, leaving only a shallow layer at the bottom of the pond.

After breakfast, the Ye family, Grandma Ye's family, and the Tang brothers all came to the pond to catch fish.

Men and teenagers went shirtless to fish in the pond, while women and children stood on the edge of the pond and watched the fun happily.

There is not much water in the pond, and the fish in the pond can be seen with the naked eye flapping about in angrily.

The strong man quickly caught the big and lively fish into the big bamboo basket and carried the big fish to the shore one by one.

This pond has not been cleaned for many years, and the fish in it are very big.

There are big grass carp weighing six or seven kilograms, fat carp weighing four or five kilograms, and even the crucian carp weighs more than two kilograms.

Old Mrs. Ye took the bamboo basket handed over by Father Ye and was very happy to see that all the fish she caught were big fish.

"The fish in this pond are really big. Large grass carp weighing six or seven kilograms and large crucian carp weighing two kilograms are not common."

Mother Ye smiled and said: "This pond has not been cleaned for many years. The fish in it have become sperm. Some of the big ones are estimated to weigh eight or nine kilograms."

Ye Qingqing saw a lot of snails beside the pond, so he took a small bucket and took his second cousin down to pick up the snails.

The water in the pond was drained into the creek, and there were a lot of snails in the exposed area. After a while, the two little girls picked up a bucket full of snails.

Ye Qingqing struggled to carry the snail back to find Mrs. Ye, put the snail next to the cart and took an empty bucket to continue picking up the snails.

A bucket of snails may seem like a lot, but with so many people, it probably won’t be enough.

Ye Donglin, who was fishing, touched something slippery and as thick as a sickle handle, "There is, there is a snake, such a big snake."

Ye Donglin was frightened and took a step back, but his feet got stuck in the mud, and he finally fell into the pond in embarrassment.

Grandpa Ye on the side helped Ye Donglin and pulled him up.

Then he said loudly: "What a big eel. There is a big fish here. It's buried in the mud. Come and touch it, don't let it escape."

Ye's father and Tang Yilin who were nearby heard it and hurried over. They bent down and searched in the pond, and soon they found the big eel as thick as a sickle handle from the mud.

Father Ye shouted excitedly: "Hurry, I touched the eel, it's right at my feet."

The eel was covered in fluid, and Father Ye and Tang Yilin spent a lot of effort to catch it. They worked together to pinch it and put it in the bamboo basket.

Father Ye handed the bamboo basket to Mrs. Ye next to him. Even though the well-informed Mrs. Ye and Grandma Ye had seen such a big eel for the first time.

Old Mrs. Ye exclaimed: "Have you touched all the eel's ancestors? This eel is too big."

Ye Qingqing also pulled her second cousin around. The eel looked like a snake. Ye Qingqing was a little scared and didn't dare to get too close. She looked at it from a distance, "This eel is at least three or four pounds, right?"

When Ye Qingqing saw the big fish, he thought of the stewed eel rice made by Ye Mu, while Mrs. Ye thought of the white money.

Old Mrs. Ye said happily: "It's nearly 4 pounds. If I get it to a big restaurant in the county, I can definitely sell it for a good price."

The pond is only 5 cents in size, and there are not many fish in it, but they are all big fish that have matured.

In one morning, I caught a cart full of big fish, including three giant eels as thick as a sickle handle, and two old tortoises that were only a little smaller than a bucket.

Seeing that there was nothing left in the pond, Mr. Ye called the guys back.

Mrs. Ye took two empty bamboo baskets and placed two large grass carp and two large crucian carp in each bamboo basket, and then placed a large eel in one of the bamboo baskets.

Old Mrs. Ye gave the bamboo basket with the eels to Grandma Ye, and the other bamboo basket to Tang Yilin. The two of them took the bamboo basket happily without seeing anyone else.

Mother Ye brought another bucket of snails over and gave each family half a bucket of snails.

After returning home, Mrs. Ye quickly asked her grandfather and grandson to take a shower and change clothes, while Mother Ye went to the kitchen to make ginger soup.

The south has abundant rain and numerous rivers. Whether in towns or counties, people here basically have no shortage of fish to eat, so ordinary fish cannot be sold at a high price.

Old Mrs. Ye picked out large grass carp weighing more than 6 kilograms, large carp weighing more than 5 kilograms, and crucian carp weighing more than 2 kilograms. Such large fish are not common, and the price can be one or two cents higher per kilogram.

Mrs. Ye plans to dry the remaining smaller fish into dried fish. The summer harvest will be in just over a month, so this dried fish is suitable for the season.

The two old tortoises and two giant eels must be sold to the county, which can be good things.

After Ye's father changed his clothes, Ye's mother drank so much ginger soup that he didn't even have time to eat lunch, so he hurriedly drove the donkey cart to the county.

Shopkeeper Liang was very happy to see so many big fish. When Father Ye took out the bucket containing the old tortoise and the big eel, shopkeeper Liang’s eyes lit up.

"Brother Ye, where did you find this imprisoned old tortoise and giant eel?"

"My family bought a pond that has been abandoned for a long time. It has not been cleaned for many years. These big fish have lived for I don't know how many years."

"Thank you Brother Ye for still thinking of me. I collected all these fish. Grass carp and carp cost 7 Wen per catty, and crucian carp cost 8 Wen per catty."

The price was one penny more than ordinary fish. Father Ye was very satisfied, "Just follow what you said, Shopkeeper Liang."

"This old tortoise and giant eel are rare commodities. I have great use for them. I have collected all the five taels of silver."

Father Ye originally thought that the eel and old tortoise could be sold for 3 taels of silver, which was pretty good, but he didn't expect that they could be sold for 5 taels of silver. He was really lucky this year.

The waiter on the side quickly weighed the fish brought by Father Ye, "Shopkeeper Liang, the total of grass carp and carp is 180 kilograms, and crucian carp is 42 kilograms."

“鱼一共是1两596文，加上老王八和大鳝鱼的5两银子一共是6两596文。”