Chapter 115 The Joy of Puddle Fishing

Li Changle followed the fish around in the pit twice. The fish hid in the crevice under the rock with its tail still exposed.

The fins of marine fish are mostly hard, and some are poisonous. If you are pricked by a poisonous spine, it will hurt so much that you will cry for your parents. The spines of non-poisonous big fish can penetrate your palms, and some fish have even had to have their limbs amputated due to infection caused by being pricked by the fins.

Li Changle carefully waded to the crevice, opened his hands and quickly closed them around the fish's head, holding its head down until he felt its struggling strength weakened. Then he caught the fish in his hands and gently held it up to the surface of the water.

"Wow, there's a horsehead fish."

The white horsehead fish is a fish that looks a bit strange. There is a fleshy ridge on the back of the head, just in front of the dorsal fin, which drops sharply to the position of the eyes, making the white horsehead fish look a bit square.

Although it is ugly, the meat tastes very delicate.

Over there, Ge Changfa caught another mackerel. He held the fish in his hands, his face flushed with excitement. "Ah Le, when you come back from Lucheng, how about we go to the beach to find a puddle and catch fish?"

"You and Awei go find a puddle at home first, I'll start when I get back." Li Changle happily put the horsehead fish into a puddle nearby and turned around to continue searching.

They caught a sea bass and a few stone bass, but were too lazy to take the other small fish. The three of them took a scoop net and started catching white shrimps, sword shrimps and mantis shrimps. They caught all the big ones and put them into the net bag, and left the small ones to grow slowly.

Ge Changfa poured the mantis shrimps from the scoop net into the bucket and said, "Ah Le, mantis shrimps are actually quite delicious. I don't know why no one likes them."

Chen Yongwei came over holding a black porgy, curling his lips in disdain, "It's only three-tenths of a pound. If I don't want to eat it, I'm too lazy to scoop it up even if I see it."

Li Changle picked up a mantis shrimp and saw a dark fishing line on the shrimp's back. This kind of mantis shrimp has a lot of meat and roe, and it tastes the most delicious.

"When it's cheap, no one eats it. But when it's sold for dozens of yuan a pound, people want to eat it but can't bear to eat it."

Nowadays, mantis shrimps are really despised by everyone. You can buy a bucket for ten cents, take it home, wash it, blanch it, pour some old wine on it, and slowly peel it and eat it.

"You're dreaming!" Ge Changfa said as if he had heard a funny joke. "Mantis shrimp can be sold for ten cents a pound. It's already Amitabha. You still want to pay dozens of yuan a pound?"

"I can calculate it. When it grows to several dozen yuan per pound, I'll ask you about it."

"Unless you are the reincarnation of Yuan Tiangang, you can tell the future."

"I believe my brother. He said that it will be sold for dozens of yuan per kilogram in the future. It will definitely be sold for dozens of yuan."

"That's right, Brother Shigaraki, eat more mantis shrimp while they're cheap. Don't wait until you can't bear to eat them and then think about eating them every day."

Ge Changfa couldn't imagine how it was possible to sell mantis shrimp for dozens of yuan a pound, so he shook his head and said, "You two are really something, one dares to say it and the other dares to believe it!"

"Just wait for me to ask you questions!" Li Changle smiled as he packed up the fish and shrimps. "Go back into the water and take a look. If there are no more, start catching the big grouper!"

"No, I've checked." Chen Yongwei brought the backpack over, "Brother, did you bring the oilcloth bag?"

"I've brought it with me." Li Changle said as he took out the oilcloth bag. Chen Yongwei hurriedly poured the catch in the backpack into the bucket.

After he put the oilcloth bag on, he scooped a bucket of water and poured it into it. No matter whether it was river fish or sea fish, they could be sold at a higher price if they were alive.

"You brought this with you too? Do you two know how to get the big stuff?" Ge Changfa looked at the two of them. He was already surprised by the net bag just now, but he didn't expect that they also brought oilcloth bags.

"I told you, if you want to make money, you have to do the preparation work well. It's better to be prepared, okay?" Li Changle said, picked up the large scoop net, and walked towards the giant grouper.

Seeing him go, Chen Yongwei hurriedly followed him and took the scoop net from him, "Brother, the big grouper is very strong, and you are not strong enough, so help me catch it."

"Awei, let me do it!" Ge Changfa excitedly chased after him with a scoop net.

Li Changle looked at the two people's excited faces and felt relieved. He went ashore, picked up a small scoop net, and caught the fish in the shallow pit nearby and put them into the bucket.

He came back and leaned against the rock, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, watching the two people surrounding the big grouper.

"Brother Afa, you go this way, we will surround you from both sides."

"Oh, it's all your fault. If you hadn't hit me like that, I would have already caught its head in the net..."

After struggling for a while, they finally caught the fish in the net, lifted it over and dumped it into the water backpack. The long body of the fish coiled into a semicircle in the basket.

Chen Yongwei looked at the water in the backpack, picked up the bucket and poured some water in, "Brother, let's go quickly. The giant grouper will be worthless if it dies."

Before he finished speaking, he squatted down, picked up the backpack, picked up a bucket, and walked away with big strides.

"Afa, hurry up and follow me." Li Changle hurriedly picked up the bucket and net bag and followed.

When I was still excited about catching fish, I didn’t feel tired at all. But when the excitement wore off, I just felt soreness in my arms and the bucket in my hands was much heavier than usual.

I used to live a life of luxury, but now I’ve been doing this for so long and I’m still not used to it.

Ge Changfa carried the full bucket with difficulty. He felt that although this life was more tiring than when he helped people weave bamboo products in the mountains, it was much more enjoyable than sitting there all day.

He took a few quick steps to catch up with Li Changle and asked, "A Le, when you sell fish, do you usually send them to A Dong's at the dock, or to the Tu Xiaqiao Seafood Store?" "We send them to the Tu Xiaqiao Phoenix Restaurant. I have acquaintances there, and the price is higher than at the seafood store." Li Changle did not hide it from him and told him the truth.

"Oh my goodness!" Ge Changfa looked at him in surprise, "You are really good. You can even get in touch with the people at the Phoenix Restaurant!"

Li Changle glanced at him complacently, "It's just so-so!"

Ge Changfa rolled his eyes at him and said, "Look how proud you are."

As they were talking, they arrived at the mudflat. Li Changle and he were so tired that they didn't even want to talk. They looked at Awei who was striding ahead, and they were full of envy.

The two followed Awei and walked laboriously through the muddy flats. It was almost noon, and the villagers who had been fishing in the mud on the tidal flats had all returned home. The tidal flats were full of sand crabs and jumping fish that had come out to look for food.

The two were already out of breath when they got ashore. They thought Chen Yongwei would stop to rest, but he walked all the way to a stone step beside the long pond and stopped.

"Hurry up, you two. Why are you walking so slowly? Did you steal cattle last night?"

"You are the one who stole the cow!"

"Your brother didn't steal the cow. He went to plow the fields."

"It's normal for people of my age to till the fields. You walk slower than me. Could it be that you tilled your own fields and then went to help others do the same?"

"Brother Afa," Chen Yongwei patted Ge Changfa, "I heard from those gossipy women in the village that you fell in love with a young widow in the mountains, so you don't go to the mountains to take jobs weaving bamboo articles?"

"Fuck his ancestors!" Ge Changfa glared, "Which bitch said that? I'll tear her mouth apart."

"When I was walking back through the alley last night, I heard a few women talking, but it was dark so I couldn't see clearly who they were."

"It was probably Agen's wife, that gossipy woman, who said that. I'll go find her when I get back." Ge Changfa put down the bucket, walked down to the pond, and quickly scrubbed the mud off his legs.

Li Changle glanced at him and asked, "How do you know it was Agen's wife who said that?"

Ge Changfa: "Before I came back, I worked in the village where Agen's wife's parents lived. Several women in their village asked me to help sharpen knitting needles for sweaters. One of them was a widow, and the other women even jokingly asked me to help find a live-in son-in-law."

Li Changle cornered him and asked, "Are you attracted to the young widow?"

After washing, the three of them put on their sandals, followed the two men ashore, picked up the buckets and continued on their way back.

"Absolutely not!" Ge Chang said solemnly, "When my uncle was helping people weave bamboo products, he would also help the owners cut bamboo chopsticks, knitting needles and so on. This was all to attract business, and he didn't charge for it."

Li Changle patted him and said, "You can block the mouth of a bottle, but you can't block a person's mouth. If you go to pick a fight with someone today, something that didn't happen will become something that happened.

Go back and explain the whole thing to your sister-in-law. As long as she believes that you didn't find the young widow, the rumors will be broken."

Ge Changfa thought about it and nodded, "I'll tell Ah Xiu when I get back, so she won't get suspicious if she hears about it."

The three of them returned to the village and reached the intersection, only to see smoke rising from the village.

Chen Yongwei turned around and looked at Li Changle, "Brother, you should send the fish to the restaurant, and I will send the sand crabs and blue crabs back to my sister-in-law to raise them."

Now that they had caught a big fish, they didn't plan to sell the fish and shrimps. Instead, they would send them to Li Changle to honor his mother-in-law tomorrow morning.

Li Changle glanced at Ge Changfa and said, "Are you assured? If not, let's go together." He liked to say ugly things in advance to avoid having no friends in the future.

Ge Changfa's face turned red. "Ah Le, you are slapping me in the face by saying this. I followed you today purely to take advantage of you. If I still doubt you, am I still a human being?"

"Brother Afa, my brother also told me the same thing. He was scared by that beast Wang Mazi." When Chen Yongwei said this, he thought of the matter of cutting the ground trap again.

Suddenly, an idea flashed in my mind, and I thought to myself: Could it be that Wang Mazi, that bastard, mistook Afa's trap as mine and Ale's?

After hearing this, Ge Changfa felt relieved. "Why would I bother with a guy like that? Since you stopped going to his house to play cards, I haven't been there once."

"It's better to have less people around!" Li Changle put down the bucket and took the backpack from Chen Yongwei. "I'm leaving. You guys take Shadan home and let my wife raise him."

"I see." Ge Changfa thought for a moment and said, "A Le, why don't you leave the fish outside my house and let A Wei take you to the village entrance. He's stronger and can walk faster."

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll take you to the car and come back." Chen Yongwei hurriedly ran towards Ge Changfa's house with a bucket of water, "Brother, you go a few steps first, I'll catch up with you."

"No need. I'm not that weak yet." Li Changle replied without turning his head. After entering the village, he walked back along the long pond.

Fortunately, it was lunch time and there was no one near Changtang. When they reached the village entrance, Chen Yongwei caught up with him. He took the backpack and walked him to the roadside.

After walking on the road for a few minutes, I met a minibus. I got on the bus and it was wobbling towards Tuxia Bridge.

(End of this chapter)

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