Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

By Friday, the moment school was over, He Lai came back to life and was finally able to control his time for two days again.

I ran back home, threw my schoolbag down, and went to Xu Damao's house as planned to see if I could borrow some of his elementary school books.

Arriving at Xu Damao's door, He Lai knocked on it and called out, "Brother Damao, are you there?"

Xu Damao turned around and replied, "Xiao Laizi, come in quickly, what do you want to talk to your brother Damao about?"

"Brother Damao, it's like this. Aren't you going back to school now? I'd like to ask if you still have your elementary school textbooks? Can you lend them to me first? I can also buy them." He said.

"Hey, why are you being so polite to your brother Damao? Wait for me to find it for you. But there may be one or two books missing. You sit down first." Xu Damao immediately went to the room to look for it.

He Lai sat at the table and saw Xu Zhaodi, Xu Damao's 4-year-old sister.

He took out four White Rabbit candies from his pocket and handed them to her. Zhaodi said timidly, "Thank you, brother." She picked up a candy and started eating it.

"Zhaodi is so good. You're welcome." He touched Zhaodi's head.

After a while, Xu Damao brought the textbooks over. "Several books are missing, but basically they are all here. Xiao Laizi, take a look yourself."

"Thank you, Brother Damao. I'll take it back first." He Lai quickly bowed to express his gratitude. After all, so many books could fetch several thousand if sold as waste paper.

"Don't worry, Brother Damao will help you take them." Damao took most of the books and walked towards He Lai's house. He Lai followed closely with the remaining books.

After finishing the books, looking at Damao standing there with an expression that seemed to be hesitant to speak, He Lai said speechlessly, "Brother Damao, if you have something to say, just tell me. You lent me so many books, I don't know how to thank you."

"Haha, you figured it out. Then I'll tell you." Xu Damao stopped being shy and continued, "Last week you took Shazhu to go fishing and caused such a big commotion in the yard. Can you take your brother Damao with you this week as well?"

There's no way Sha Zhu is flamboyant, he must have shown off to Xu Damao.

"Of course, but the weather is getting colder and colder, so it might not be easy to fish." He Lai readily agreed. After all, it doesn't matter who you take with you. Xu Damao is actually a pretty good guy.

"Okay, then it's a deal. We'll go fishing tomorrow morning."

"no problem!"

In this way, a consensus was reached and He Lai began to organize his textbooks. He was now in the second grade, so he categorized the textbooks and took out the Russian books in particular. After all, this was brand new knowledge that he had to master as it would be of great use in the future.

After a while, Wu Juan brought Xiao Yushui back. Seeing He Lai sorting the books, Wu Juan looked pleased. Her eldest son finally decided to study hard.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Yu Shui asked curiously.

"Hehe, sister Yushui, I'm looking for textbooks for you to read. Well, this stack is yours. Follow brother Lai and do your homework together in the future, hehehe." He Lai said with a grin.

Xiao Yushui suddenly felt bad, she stood up and hid behind Wu Juan and pouted, "I don't want it, I don't want to do my homework."

Wu Juan said with a smile, "Xiao Yu Shui will be 7 years old this New Year, and it's time for him to go to school. Xiao Laizi, Yu Shui is now in your hands. You must teach her well." She completely forgot what she said before about leading Xiao Yu Shui astray.

"Sister Yushui, don't you want to come and study with your brother? Brother will be so sad if you come!" He Lai pretended to be sad.

Little Yu Shui had never seen such a posture before, so he could only say, "Come on, brother, teach me how to read!"

"No problem!" He Lai patted his chest and assured.

Little did they know that a more painful path had quietly emerged.

Another good dream. Will the great man come to shake your hand again?

Early in the morning, I found that my mother and Yu Shui had left, so I had to get up, wash, and exercise for a while. Then I saw Xu Damao appeared at the door of my house. In our current language, "My sword is thirsty!"

He Lai called out "Brother Damao" and went back to prepare the things needed for fishing. Brother Damao took his fishing rod, net bag and bucket and was already sitting in He Lai's yard waiting for him.

Xu Damao watched He Lai mixing the bait and then he understood why others could catch fish. This bait consisted of white flour, sesame oil, distiller's grains, and corn.

This is not fishing, this is a waste of money. Uncle San will probably be very upset after watching this. I can't afford it. I can't afford it. If I can't catch any fish, I will lose a lot of money. I only have a few earthworms, so Xu Damao knew it was a bit embarrassing.

They set off after all the preparations were completed. Although the 14-year-old Xu Damao was also tall and strong, not inferior to Sha Zhu at all, he was probably much weaker in strength, so I wonder if there would be any accidents.

Xu Damao was extremely excited, after all, he knew that He Lai would definitely catch fish. In this way, the two of them had already arrived at Shichahai.

As usual, he started to make a nest, while explaining the reason to Xu Damao. Xu Damao also nodded and smiled. It was too wasteful. A big bag of bait was thrown into the water. This behavior shocked Xu Damao.

After marking, they started to make grass nests. Xu Damao exclaimed that it was amazing that grass could be used for fishing. After finishing, the two began to fish in their respective nests. Not to mention that they started to catch fish in a short while. After all, no one made nests in this era, unlike the fish thieves in later generations.

The two of them started using earthworms, and the fish they caught were crucian carp, whitebait, and a carp.

He Lai took a short break and told Brother Damao that they wanted to go see the grass nest together. Xu Damao knew that it was for fishing grass carp and followed immediately.

After observing for a while and finding two fish nests, I started to wait. Xu Damao said that this little guy is really good. This grass hook is really good.

Xu Damao lay on his stomach holding the fishing rod, his eyes fixed on the float, afraid of missing it.

He Lai was also waiting with a net bag and a fishing rod, hoping that no fish would be caught at the same time, otherwise it would be difficult to deal with. He probably wouldn't be able to handle the big fish for too long with his own strength.

Before he had time to think about it, he caught the fish first and quickly called Xu Damao. Xu Damao came over to pull the rod immediately. As he was not very experienced, it took him more than ten minutes to catch a big fish weighing 8 or 9 kilograms, which made Xu Damao almost choke.

The two of them took the fish to the spot where Xu Damao had been before, but when they arrived they found that the fishing rod was almost pulled into the water. They quickly put down their things and tried to grab the fishing rod. Fortunately they caught it. This fish was obviously much bigger than the previous one.

Xu Damao was already exhausted, so He Lai also started to help. The two of them worked together and it took half a minute to bring the fish ashore.

The two of them lay down on the grass and started fishing. Too tired, He Lai couldn't help but think of Sha Zhu. The difference was too big. No wonder Xu Damao couldn't beat Sha Zhu. So they rested for a while and returned to the original den to start fishing with corn. Another round of continuous fishing, a full harvest.

Xu Damao suddenly felt the fishing rod sinking. He knew he had caught something big. He wanted to cry but couldn't lift it up. He called He Lai for help, but both of them were exhausted. Just as they were about to give up the fishing rod, the old man's voice came to his ears, "Give it to me!"

The old man was very skilled in fishing and caught the fish in no time. It was a nearly 30-jin black carp. Xu Damao must be a really good man.

"Grandpa, you're here." He Lai collapsed on the ground and greeted him.

"If you don't come soon, you two little guys will probably drown here." He glanced at Xu Damao, shook his head and continued, "What about the boy before? This guy is a bit worse than that little guy."

Xu Damao's face turned red instantly. There was nothing he could do. His strength was indeed too weak.

"Brother Zhuzi, he is still learning how to cook, so he is not available today. This is my brother Damao. Damao is young, so he is naturally not as strong as Brother Zhuzi." He Lai explained. Xu Damao felt better.

"Oh, so that's it." The old man didn't say anything. After all, people are different, so he didn't worry too much about it.

"I have caught a lot of big fish and grass carp using your method these days. It's a pity that I haven't caught many big ones using the screw method. I want to try it again today. Can you teach me again?" The old man directly stated his request.