BXBX NOVEL Chapter 21 - 21: Fishing Again_l
There’s an old saying: frost before cold, snow after cold.
The freezing weather was not enough to deter the villagers from their dreams of wealth.
Lately, the area around the Chuanhe River had become exceptionally lively.
Ever since the Jiang brothers caught two big fish in the river, many villagers had been lingering by the river with their tridents and nets, hoping they, too, would experience such good luck.
However, after waiting for over ten days, they hadn’t even seen a single small shrimp.
“Sigh, why do you think the Jiang brothers are so lucky?”
A villager remained puzzled.
“First they encountered a herd of deer and caught three to bring back, and now they’ve caught sturgeon. Such big ones that would usually appear only in major rivers, how did they get into our modest Chuanhe river?”
“Well, isn’t it because the Jiang’s have their little Fairy Child? It’s only natural they’d have good luck,” another villager responded sarcastically.
“Oh, you know, you might be right.’
Another villager chimed in, bringing up old gossip, “Look at Mrs. Jiang who hadn’t been pregnant in ten years yet after picking up Yingbao, she became pregnant within a few months, and with twins no less. And now they are becoming richer and richer. It is tough for us to be skeptical about it.”
“Exactly, you can’t deny that,” a villager nodded thoughtfully. “The Jiang family seems to have struck it rich. When will the Fairy Child bless us as well? We are from the same village after all, she always releases the deer from our fields.”
“Heh, yes, the Fairy Child should bless the rest of us too. It’s only fair to ‘send blessings to all equally’, they can’t keep all the blessings in one family.”
“Exactly! ”
“Oh, you lot need to cut it out.”
An annoyed villager interjected, “Does the Fairy Child eat your food? Drink your water? Wear your clothes? Hmph! Stop daydreaming.”
Stirred by these words, someone immediately grasped the new idea, smacking his head, “Ah! That’s it! You’ve hit the nail on the head. Hahaha, I’ll head home. You guys carry on chatting.”
With that, he bolted off.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion, having no idea what had gotten into him.
So, one day when Yingbao took Youyou out, they came across two six-or-seven-year-old children, who each gave her a boiled egg and then ran off
Yingbao: …
The eggs in her hand were still warm, as if they had just been boiled.
A few days later, when Yingbao and Dani went out to play, they hadn’t gone far when they were surrounded by three or four children.
Without saying a word, each of them gave her a piece of food: pancakes, boiled eggs, walnuts.
One child even gave her two soft, red persimmons, but being overly nervous, he accidentally squeezed the persimmons, spilling juice all over Yingbao’s hands and staining the front of her new cotton jacket.
The seven or eight-year-old boy immediately started crying when he realized his mistake and apologized, “Little…Little Yingbao, please don’t be angry, 1…1 didn’t mean to.”
Yingbao was speechless and curiously asked, “I’m not angry, but could you tell me why you’re giving me these things?”
She didn’t consider herself to be universally popular, and even with Youyou, the ultimate weapon, by her side, she found it hard to believe that all the children in the village would be giving her gifts, especially precious items like eggs and pancakes.
You must understand that in the village, less than three households were well-off, only four or five households had enough to eat; the rest were half-starved and struggled to survive.
How could they possibly be giving the most valuable things in their homes to a stranger?
“My…my…my parents told me to,” the little boy faltered, “They said… if you eat our food, then…then we’ll be blessed…
Yingbao: …
She roughly understood their intentions now.
When she got home, Yingbao put the food on the table, washed her hands, wiped her dress with a cloth, then sat down and sighed.
In her previous life, she hadn’t experienced this situation and she really didn’t know how to handle it.
She didn’t know who sent these gifts, as she couldn’t distinguish which child belonged to which family.
Well, she would wait till her dad came back to discuss it.
At this time, Jiang Erlang was going to another place along the river with his two brothers, trying to find the best spot for fishing.
With too many villagers gathered on the banks of the Chuanhe in Chen Village, it was impossible for them to make a move.
If people found out they had something that attracted big fish, they would surely strip them alive.
“Is this place alright, Erlang?” Jiang Erlang asked.
The area they chose was several miles away from the village, with bumpy roads and many stones, making it difficult to walk.
The only advantage was the broad river surface, gentle water flow and a likely shelter for fish.
Jiang Erlang stroked his beardless chin, “This place might not be good for luring fish.”
His thoughts remained focused on the big fish they caught last time, assuming they could catch another sturgeon this time too.
“We’ve brought big baskets, we should be able to carry the fish back,” Ling Erlang replied.
“Alright then,” Jiang Erlang said, his main focus was on supporting his little brother for everything.
The three brothers came down to the water, and Jiang Erlang took out a small dough wrapped in oil paper from his bosom.
Jiang Erlang stretched his neck to look at it, but couldn’t see anything special about it.
“Was it really this thing that lured the fish last time?” He found it hard to believe.
“Sort of,” Jiang Erlang crumbled the dough into fragments and only pinched a little bit to spread on the water surface.
They waited for a while, but the river remained quiet.
Jiang Erlang’s stinginess upset Jiang Erlang, “Just this bit, will it really work?
Isn’t it too little?”
“Let’s wait and see,” Jiang Erlang replied, leaning on his hand.
After waiting for a while longer, the river started to stir.
Jiang Erlang and Erlang held their breath, their eyes wide open, watching the ripples on the water intently.
“Thi…this… they’re really coming,” Jiang Erlang said, his face flushed with excitement, “quick, Erlang, get the fishing fork!”
Jiang Erlang glanced at the ripples and said, “The fish this time aren’t too big. We need to catch them alive for a good price.”
“Okay, okay! Let’s use the big net then.”
After their previous fishing experience, Jiang Erlang had specially bought materials from the town and made a big net, the kind that could catch several dozens pounds of fish at once.
It finally came in handy this time.
Several greenish fish silhouettes bobbed up and down, soon reaching the fish bait and lapped up the fragments.
Jiang Erlang and his brothers made their move, each aiming at one, and swung their big nets toward the bottom where the big fish were.
“Hahaha, we got them we got them! Erlang, quick, come and help, I can’t hold on anymore! ”
Jiang Erlang first helped Erlang pull the fish up, and then helped Jiang Erlang hold on tightly to the net to avoid the thrashing big fish getting loose.
In no time at all, the three brothers were drenched in sweat but secured two big fish on the line. They looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“This fish is good, over five feet long, perfect for the wealthy households to use for ancestral rites,” Jiang Erlang stated while laughing, “It’s a shame that two got away.”
Jiang Erlang responded nonchalantly, “It doesn’t matter if a few got away, let’s secure these two first and aim to catch more.’
The fish for sacrifices had to be alive, so he put these two fish into a nearby puddle to ensure they wouldn’t suffocate.
Having secured the fish, the three brothers, though drenched to the bone, collected their nets and returned to the river to continue waiting.
Jiang Erlang once again took a pinch of the fragments and dispersed them onto the water surface…
They continued this activity for a whole day and caught eight more five-feet long fish as well as a few smaller ones.
As the day grew late, the three brothers carried all their fish and headed home..