The happy little days of the Ye family

When Mr. Ye returned home, food had been laid out at home, waiting for him to come back.

Freshly caught snails and loaches need to be kept in water for two days before cooking, otherwise they will have a muddy smell.

But even so, today's dinner was still very sumptuous, including a large pot of oily fish offal stewed with fish roe, boiled cabbage and cold water celery, and a pot of milky white and sweet crucian carp soup.

Before the meal, Ye Mu served everyone a small bowl of crucian carp soup.

Before drinking the soup, Ye's mother gently reminded: "Curian carp has many small spines, so be careful when drinking the soup, and don't drink the soup while talking."

Brother Ye and Ye Qingqing nodded at the same frequency, then eagerly picked up the bowl and drank.

“This crucian carp soup is so delicious.”

Ye Qingqing finished one bowl and felt it was not enough, so he stood up and brought back another bowl.

Ye Donglin and Ye Xilin were so hungry that their chests were pressed against their backs. Each of them filled a large bowl of rice, mixed some fish soup with a spoon into the rice, and then ate hard.

After dinner, Father Ye gave the money from selling fish in the afternoon to Mrs. Ye.

Old Mrs. Ye saw that it was actually seven taels of silver, and asked in surprise: "Why so much?"

"The fish are all at normal prices, mainly the old turtle and giant eel are valuable. These two were sold for five taels of silver."

Father Ye also did not expect the price of the old tortoise and giant eel.

Thinking of catching eels in the afternoon, Mrs. Ye said with a smile: "Didn't I catch three eels in the afternoon? These three eels should be sold to the county tomorrow, and there are also a few big crucian carps. Take it to the county together."

"The big eels are the most valuable. Just keep the smaller ones at home and eat them. In addition to the crucian carp and two large eels, I also want to bring a bucket of snails and a bucket of loaches with me tomorrow."

Old Mrs. Ye didn't expect that snails and loaches could still be sold for money, "There are so many loaches and snails in the fields, why do restaurants in the county still accept them?"

"The rich people in the county like this kind of mountain village game and eat it fresh."

"There are two buckets of loaches and two and a half buckets of snails at home. You can take two buckets each to the county. There are plenty of these things in the fields. If you want to eat, just go to the fields to catch them."

"That's okay. I have to dig a pond tomorrow, and I guess I can make some loaches and snails back."

Early the next morning, Ye's father took Ye Donglin to the county.

Ye Donglin wanted to set up a stall on the pier. Ye's father first put Ye Donglin and the things for the stall on the pier, and then drove the donkey cart to deliver yesterday's harvest from the pond to the Liang family restaurant.

Yesterday, shopkeeper Liang prepared a fish feast in the restaurant, which attracted many wealthy people from the county to come and have a meal.

When Shopkeeper Liang saw Father Ye coming over, he was even more kind and enthusiastic than yesterday. Knowing that Father Ye had brought good things again, he even put his arm around Father Ye's shoulders and happily went to the backyard.

Ye's father's donkey cart was parked in the backyard, and the restaurant's waiters had already moved down the snails, loaches, giant crucian carp and giant eels that Ye's father had brought.

If the snails and loaches are not cooked well, they will have an earthy smell. It just so happens that the restaurant has a chef who makes excellent braised loach and fried escargots.

The whole fish feast tastes a bit monotonous, but with the addition of snails and loaches, the whole fish feast becomes even richer.

"Normally, the restaurant doesn't accept the snails and snails, but the restaurant just recently launched a whole fish feast. The snails and snails are perfect for cooking, so I accepted them."

"Snails are priced at 3 cents per catty, loaches are priced at 5 cents per catty, crucian carp is priced at 8 cents per catty as yesterday, and giant eels are priced at 500 cents per catty."

Snails and loaches were items that no one wanted in the town. He didn't expect them to be sold at such high prices. Father Ye didn't show it on his face, but he was happy in his heart.

The waiter on the side has already weighed the things, "Shopkeeper Liang, 30 kilograms of snails, 26 kilograms of loach, and 10 kilograms of crucian carp."

"30 catties of field snail, 26 catties of loach, 10 catties of crucian carp, plus two large eels, the total is 1 tael and 3 yuan."

In the village, Mr. Ye was leading people to dig a pond.

Mr. Ye found 10 capable young adults in the village. Together with the Tang brothers, Grandpa Ye and Uncle Ye, more than a dozen grown men were busy in the pond.

Just as they started digging, Ye Qiushi came over with a hoe to help.

Because it is an expansion of the original pond, it is easier than digging a new pond. There is still some water at the bottom of the pond. Mr. Ye has people carry water and pour it on the area to be excavated. This will make the soil softer and easier to dig.

When Ye's father took Ye Donglin to the pond in the afternoon, the pond had already expanded by one-third.

There were not so many hoes at home, so the father and son, who had no tools, had no choice but to push a cart and transport the excavated soil to a nearby location.

As for what to do with the soil, Father Ye and Mr. Ye haven't decided yet.

In addition to expanding the pond, the silt in the pond also needs to be cleaned. This silt can be used to fertilize the land. All of it was transported to the paddy field at home by Mr. Ye and used as fertilizer.

The pond was originally the size of 5 acres of land, but it took a dozen young adults only three days to expand the pond to the size of 3 acre of land.

After digging the pond, dig the previously drained ditch deeper to divert water to the pond.

Initially, it only took one night to drain the water, but it took two days and two nights to fill the pond to [-]% full.

Father Ye had already ordered fish fry in the county, and after diverting the water, he immediately went to the county to transport the fry back.

Father Ye put all 1100 grass carp, 600 carp and 800 crucian carp that he brought back from the county into the pond.

"Dad, I asked the owner who sells fish fry. Fish can eat grass. Cut more pig grass and feed it to the fish so that the fish can grow faster."

Mr. Ye has never raised fish before. Since the owner of the fish fry said so, just follow it. Pigweed doesn't cost money anyway.

The father and son cut some hogweed near the pond and threw it into the pond.

After the pigweed was thrown away, a group of small fish gathered around and began to peck at the fresh pigweed.

Mr. Ye saw that these small fish were indeed eating grass, so he and his father cut two more baskets of pigweed and put them into the pond to feed the fish.

When father and son hurried home, Father Ye remembered that he wanted to harvest honey.

Father Ye and Mr. Ye said: "It's summer now. After collecting nectar all spring, there must be a lot of honey in the beehives."

Mr. Ye: "There are also honeysuckles. I have been busy with the pond recently, and I almost forgot to collect honeysuckles."

Mr. Ye quickly asked his father to go back to Xiaohou Mountain. It was half a month into summer, and he didn't know if the honeysuckle was blooming.

The best medicinal effect of honeysuckle is in the buds that are in bud, while those that have already bloomed are not as effective.

The father and son came to the honeysuckle field. The seedlings, which were thin and small last year, have now grown very lush, and the green honeysuckle vines are covered with tiny flower buds.

Most honeysuckles are still small buds, with only a few small silver-white flowers blooming on the branches.