Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982
Chapter 90

There’s a saying that goes, “Men are boys until they die,” and it couldn’t be more accurate.

Playfulness is in a man’s nature. Some of the things boys loved to play with as children, they still love as adults, and even when they’re old, they can’t break the habit.

This describes these guys perfectly!

“Let’s go, let’s go, while it’s not completely dark yet, let’s go call everyone else.”

Ye’s mother and Lin Xiuqing didn’t bother stopping him. After all, he was doing his chores at home seriously now. Once the important things were done, why care what he did with his energy?

Catching loaches and eels was better than drinking and playing cards.

“Don’t lose the traps.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.”

This was his meal ticket for the foreseeable future; he wouldn’t dare lose them.

Ye Yaodong and Ah Guang each took a trap and went out. They didn’t bother bathing; they’d have to wash up when they got back anyway.

They went to their friends’ houses and called everyone out. This kind of thing was only fun with people; going alone would be boring.

When the others heard about setting traps in the river pond, they all excitedly headed out. Some had only eaten half their dinner, stuffing a big mouthful in before running off, not even afraid of choking. Their families cursed behind them.

Ah Zheng asked as they walked, “How come you suddenly thought of setting traps in the river? Who’s the genius?”

“Ah Guang suggested it. He saw I’d just made a few traps sitting idle, so he said to take them to the river and set them, see if we catch any fish, shrimp, or loaches. Test the waters, you know.”

It’d be even better if they caught some crayfish~

Summer isn’t complete without crayfish.

Fatty excitedly chimed in, “Set a bunch! Catch a lot, and I’ll do the cooking.”

“Why set so many? Who knows how much we’ll catch? Let’s try two first, we can set more next time.”

“Are we going to Dongqiao Village or down to Xishan Village? Xishan has a river too.”

“Let’s go to Dongqiao Village, the river there is wider, there’s bound to be stuff.”

“We always go to Dongqiao Village, we’re going to clean out everything in their ditches and fields.”

“How is it cleaning out? We’re pest control, if there’s too many of these things, it affects the ecology…”

“What bullshit~ I almost believed you…”

Ye Yaodong listened to their banter, a smile playing on his lips. “Hurry up, stop the nonsense. At this snail’s pace, it’ll be dark before we know it, and we’ll be fumbling around.”

“No worries, I brought a flashlight!” Ah Wei pulled a flashlight from his pocket and waved it.

“I brought one too,” Xiao Xiao added.

Ah Zheng grinned, “Well-prepared, aren’t we? Planning a big night, huh?”

“Let’s set the traps first before talking about anything else!”

The group chatted and laughed as they walked to Dongqiao Village. By now, it had gotten dark, mainly because gathering everyone had taken so much time.

People cooling off by the roadside naturally glanced a few times at the group of young men passing by, but because it was dark, those far away couldn’t see what they were carrying.

At this time, families with traps would have boats and would set them in the sea to catch seafood. Who would be full enough to set them in the river? That would be asking for trouble. River catches weren’t worth much.

Really, it was probably only these guys who were that well-fed!

They found the widest river in the village, with rice fields on both sides and no houses nearby.

“I’ll shine the flashlight, you guys set the traps.”

“This river is pretty wide and long, we should’ve brought more traps to set.”

“Why catch so much? Wouldn’t it be a waste if we can’t eat it all? Besides, it’s so close, we can come anytime.”

“Later, Dongzi will set the traps in the sea, who’ll give you traps to set in the river for these little things?”

“That’s true.”

As they chattered away, Ye Yaodong set the traps and said, “Go find a big rock first, there’s nowhere to tie the rope. If you want to do this kind of thing, you can bring one or two to set next time, provided I make more traps. Right now I only have five, not even enough to set in the sea.”

These guys just liked to play around a bit; they didn’t actually like these river catches that much.

“Then let’s do this a few more times before you set them in the sea.”

“Let’s set these first, then we’ll talk about the rest.”

“When are we coming to collect?”

“Tomorrow? If we leave them too long, someone might come to work in the fields and see them, and take the traps away. Dongzi would cry.”

Ye Yaodong was also afraid of losing the traps, “Let’s come early tomorrow morning to collect, say 6:30. I have work later, and if it’s too late and the traps are gone, my wife will be furious.”

“That’s too early!” Fatty frowned.

“Those who can’t get up don’t have to come, you can just pick up your share at my house later.”

“Alright, or how about we pull them up in two hours to see if we caught anything?”

Ah Guang looked at Ah Zheng incredulously, “So we’re going to feed mosquitoes for two hours?”

Ye Yaodong snapped, “No way, you feed them, I won’t!”

Fatty chimed in, “Me neither!”

“If we’re pulling them up every two hours, might as well use a throw net. Wouldn’t it be more convenient to just throw one here? And we wouldn’t need to come at night.”

Ah Zheng scratched his head, “That’s true…”

Ah Guang rolled his eyes, “True my foot. If we really came with throw nets in the daytime to catch these things, we’d be famous again, for all the wrong reasons! At least at night no one sees us.”

“How about we catch cicada nymphs? We have flashlights anyway. We can catch some, and when it’s time to go home, we’ll come back and pull up the traps to see if we caught anything?”

“That works, we’re just killing time anyway.”

“Dead set on feeding mosquitoes tonight, huh? Alright, let’s go, we’ll fry them when we get back.”

The group chattered away, settling on a plan.

Ye Yaodong went along with the flow. After all, it was just getting dark, still early before bedtime, and he wasn’t due to go out to sea tomorrow. Otherwise, he wouldn’t dare come out.

On the main road from Baisha Village to Dongqiao Village, there was a mountain on one side with a forest. Any kind of trees would do, preferably where you could hear cicadas during the day, indicating there were nymphs underground. Usually, when it gets dark is when the nymphs start crawling up from underground.

They walked a short distance on the main road, saw a path up the mountain, and went straight up.

When they reached the slope, Xiao Xiao was the first to realize, stopping in his tracks, “Wait, we don’t have anything to put them in!”

“Oh yeah, we don’t have anything to put them in!”

“How about we take off our shirts, tie knots in the bottom and sleeves, and just leave the neck open to put them in?”

“Huh?”

“Idiot!” Ye Yaodong cursed, then pulled out a sack from his pocket and shook it out.

“Whoa, you even brought a sack?” Everyone was surprised.

“Who knows when you’d want to collect the traps? Can’t do it without something to put stuff in. When I was getting the traps, I saw some sacks folded in the corner and just grabbed one to put in my pocket, just in case we needed to carry something.”

“That’s a good habit!”

“Yeah,” he’d developed it after being reborn, “Let’s go.”