Return To 1998

The shrimp rakes and fish baskets were all left by Xu Tongdao's grandfather back then.

A shrimp rake, as the name suggests, is a rake used to fish for shrimp.

It consists of three parts, a bamboo pole...a half-moon-shaped net pocket, and a half-moon-shaped mie bow.

The net pocket itself is soft, and the reason why it can be half-moon-shaped is because the mouth of the net pocket is fixed on a half-moon-shaped frame.

This half-moon-shaped frame has a steel bar on the straight side, and is bent into a half-moon shape... it is made by bending a wooden stick.

A net bag, a bamboo pole, and a half-moon-shaped bow are tied together with a rope to form a stable triangle.

The mouth of the net bag is facing the bamboo pole.

Form a bit like a large dustpan, the kind with a pole.

The fish basket is made of bamboo strips, with a big mouth and a big belly, but there is a slender neck between the mouth and the belly.

When Xu Tongdao went out, he tied a cloth belt around his waist, and the fish basket was hung on the cloth belt around his waist.

The direction he went to was the West River at the head of the village.

Both sides of the long West River are farmland.

According to his experience, in the weather like this recently, the water in the farmland must flow into the West River day and night. Under the impact of this current, the fish and shrimp in the West River will gather at the water outlets one by one, ready to go against the current at any time. And on.

When he was young, during the rainy season every year, his grandfather always took shrimp rakes and fish baskets at dawn after the heavy rain, and went to the water outlets by the West River to rak fish and shrimp.

The harvest is often good.

When Xu Tongdao went out from the house, the sky was still bright, the visibility was very low, and the village was very quiet. Walking in the village, there was not a single person in sight.

Only from time to time a few dogs barked.

...

Wow...

At the mouth of a drainage canal that flows into the West River, Tongdao Xu skillfully threw the shrimp rake in his hand into the water, and then quickly pulled it up.

The clattering sound made a smile appear on the corner of his mouth.

Because the clattering sound was caused by the struggle of three palm-sized crucian carp and two squid in the shrimp rake.

This is the first raking, and there is such a harvest, which is really gratifying.

He quickly picked up these few fish, threw them into the fish basket at his waist, got up, and raked the drain a few times.

The harvest plummeted, but still raked two more crucian carp, and four or five finger-length fish.

In other words, raking fish with shrimp is actually not very technical.

If you want to harvest well, the most important thing is to be diligent enough.

For example, in weather like this, if you want to harvest more, you have to get up early enough, because after the day is bright, the fish and shrimp under the drain will be almost scattered.

Probably because the technical content of fishing with shrimp rakes is not high enough! Anyway, although Xu Tongdao's younger brother Xu Tonglu likes to do fish and shrimp, he has never liked to use shrimp rakes to do it.

In contrast, Xu Tonglu prefers to use his homemade harpoon.

Seeing a fish... After taking aim, a fork goes over. If the fish caught by the fork is big enough, the struggle will make the several-meter-long harpoon pole vibrate, and it makes people feel overjoyed.

Full of sense of achievement.

Xu Tongdao can also use harpoons, and the technique of harpooning can also be used.

But he has to go to the polders for his mother to be on duty later, so he can only come out with shrimp rakes before it is bright.

Along the way, whenever there is a drainage outlet to drain water into the West River, Tongdao Xu throws a shrimp rake down, and when he pulls it up, sometimes there is a harvest, and sometimes it is empty, which is a test of patience.

And he is not short of patience.

Half an hour... An hour has passed, and seeing that the sky is already bright, the fish basket around his waist has already harvested most of the big fish and small fish in the fish basket.

The big one weighs more than two pounds and is a black fish.

The smallest... are those little fish that are only as long as his index finger.

Time to go back, one last rake...

Tongdao Xu glanced at another drain not far away, and decided in his heart to go there and go home again. The drain not far away looked like there were fish, because the drain was on the left and right sides. , there are many aquatic plants.

According to his experience, such places with aquatic plants generally have fish.

He strode over, took a breath, and skillfully threw the shrimp rake down, then quickly pulled it up.

There was a tremor of struggle in the net pocket, and the movement was quite loud.

Tongdao Xu was overjoyed, thinking that he had hit another big fish, but... when the shrimp rake was pulled to the surface, he was stunned. In the net pocket of the shrimp rake... In addition to a small crucian carp, there was actually an old turtle. Maybe two or three pounds.

At this moment, the hapless old turtle was trying to climb up in his shrimp rake net pocket, trying to get out.

But is it possible?

Coming back to his senses, Xu Tongdao hurriedly pulled the shrimp rake to the shore at the fastest speed, and quickly moved away from the river with a happy smile on his face.

In his eyes, this old turtle... was in the shape of a banknote.

Such an old turtle may not be able to sell for a high price these days.

But compared to the average labor force who can only earn 20 to 30 yuan a day, this old turtle is definitely worth more than a hundred yuan.

Maybe it's enough for my sister's registration fee for the next semester.

After collecting the old turtle and the little crucian carp in the shrimp rake, Tongdao Xu went home.

Along the way, there was a smile on the corner of his mouth.

When he came, because he had to rake the fish, it took him a long time, more than an hour.

It was much quicker to go back. In about twenty minutes, the entrance to the village was in sight.

Before entering the entrance of the village, from a distance, he could see the smoke of cooking smoke rising everywhere in the village. Obviously, many people in the village had already got up to make breakfast.

When he approached the entrance of the village, he saw a familiar figure.

It's Ge Xiaoyu.

She was wearing a pair of water-brushed blue jeans, a pink T-shirt, a pair of red rubber boots on her feet, and a vegetable basket made of bamboo strips on her arm, as if she was going to pick vegetables from the vegetable field.

Xu Tongdao, who just returned from fishing, naturally knew that although the fields in the village were flooded, the terrain of the vegetable fields was higher, so most of the vegetable fields were not flooded.

Ge Xiaoyu was as young and beautiful as he remembered.

The moment he saw her, he also remembered that he once liked her.

The two met face to face, and Ge Xiaoyu also saw him. She looked at him a little differently, no longer like the bored expression Xu Tongdao remembered.

He also noticed that she hesitated and seemed to want to say hi to him.

But he didn't move, he just smiled lightly, feeling the wonder of fate, the original time and space... Every time Ge Xiaoyu looked at him, he was bored.

Later... Many years later, when we met again, Ge Xiaoyu, who had already graduated from university, every time he saw him, it was no different from seeing a stranger, and he didn't even look at him.

Therefore, Xu Tongdao had no idea about her for a long time.

But at this time, the faint smile on his face fell into Ge Xiaoyu's eyes, but she immediately showed a kind smile, as if she was willing to make friends with him.

But Tongdao Xu had already passed her, and there was a rattling sound in the fish basket around his waist, and he didn't even mean to give her two fish...