Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 1288: Saving People by the River 1

Chapter 1288: Chapter 1288: Saving People by the River 1

As soon as it was announced that everyone was allowed to catch fish in the river, excitement surged among the villagers.

Not bound by any particular season or festival, even if they just caught a basin of "white water banquet" fish, curing them into salted fish would be enough to last the entire summer.

Not every family was like Lu Jiang’s or Wang Zhengguo’s, who, thanks to Zhang Yuejin’s convenience, occasionally bought some meat scraps, skins, and bones that didn’t require ration coupons, just to indulge a bit. For the majority of families, it was only during the holidays that they could enjoy a bit of meat.

So, even before the heavy rain had ceased, men and women, young and old, all mobilized.

Rivers large and small, canals and puddles, were crowded with people.

Guan Cheng, being rather smart, took advantage of his home being closest to the reservoir. He led Lu Tianzhi and Guan Yu upstream to a point close to the floodgate of the reservoir. Though the current there was faster.

They arrived early, and no one else was there.

Xibao, Fubao, and the twins, all loved to join the excitement. The older ones quickly made their way to the riverbank, wading through the water. The younger ones, babbling away, were in a hurry, struggling to express themselves. Four elders and Lu’s father stayed back to watch over the cowshed and took Ding Hailan with them, who kept running after Xibao, incessantly calling out "brother."

Ding Hailan seemed to be only six or seven years old, but in fact, he was two months older than Xibao. He was born in March, and in May, it would be Xibao’s seventh birthday. When they were eating longevity noodles for Xibao’s birthday, Ding Guofeng suddenly realized that his grandson had been wrongly calling Xibao "brother" for several months.

The elders, dressed in straw raincoats and holding umbrellas for the children, stood by the riverbank and watched the water.

The river had swelled, its depth reaching waist level.

Guan Cheng and his two brothers began moving large rocks to block the river, placing a nylon net with vine circle openings in the gap. The net, woven by Feng Qingxue using nylon rope, had small meshes.

Lu Tianzhi and Guan Yu each held one side of the vine circle, preventing the nylon net from being washed away by the water.

Before long, the two brothers lifted the net together, heaving a scoopful of lively fish onto the bank, to the delight and cheers of the children.

"Fish! Fish!" Xiongxiong, always talkative, pointed at the fish in the net and shouted with excitement, while Dundun echoed the chant.

Fubao cradled her little cheeks in awe, "So many fish, I want to eat the fishballs Mommy makes!"

The children immediately surrounded the buckets to watch the fish being placed inside, their smiling faces blossoming like flowers.

Carp, crucian carp, grass carp, "white water banquet" fish, snakehead, and catfish—of various sizes—filled the three wooden buckets they had brought. The brothers quickly packed up the net and, carrying the buckets, headed home, leaving the river to carry off the large and small fish through the gaps in the rocks.

They couldn’t be greedy; they had to leave some for downstream. That’s why they didn’t block the gap in the rocks when they collected the net in the middle.

Upon leaving, Guan Cheng prepared to clear away the rocks, but Xibao shook his head vigorously, "Don’t clear them, don’t clear them!"

"Why not?" Guan Cheng asked.

Xibao wouldn’t say, merely insisting, "Just don’t clear them, just don’t!"

Since it wasn’t a big deal, Guan Cheng and the others didn’t clear away the rocks on both sides.

Back at home, the brothers sorted the fish by type, placing them in buckets and basins. The largest snakehead weighed more than four pounds, and the smallest "white water banquet" fish was no bigger than a finger, most of them still lively and wriggling.

Since snakeheads and catfish, apart from their heads and backbones, were boneless and had exquisite flesh, the adults weren’t worried about the children choking on bones when eating them. The "white water banquet" fish and small crucian carp were more troublesome to handle. Feng Qingxue took out the two biggest carps and three large grass carps, asking Guan Cheng to deliver them to the elders for an additional meal. The snakeheads, catfish, and the rest of the live fish were kept in the water tanks and buckets, while the dead fish and "white water banquet" fish were processed first.