Chapter 185: Go on a Date

Chapter 185: Go on a Date

Chapter 185: Go on a Date
When we arrived at the paddy fields, we saw people hunched over and busy in each rice field, picking up the fallen rice and tying it up with straw.

A reduction in production is inevitable, so we should make up for it as much as possible. Even if we cannot harvest full grains, we can still harvest some loquats to feed the chickens and ducks.

After seeing this, Li Changle thought about when he came here, there were only two or three households in a village growing rice, and the rest all bought food because the cost of growing food was higher than buying food.

When they arrived at the rice field, Chen Yongwei came with a bundle of straw. The three brothers joked with him for a few words and then got busy.

There was a field of rice lying down near the pond bank. The three men were busy for more than an hour before they tied up the fallen rice. They then helped Chen Yongwei tie it up for a while, went to the ditch to wash their feet, and walked towards the cornfield at the foot of the mountain.

"Ah Le, hurry up, there's a field crab in front of you."

Li Changle was lost in thought and hadn't reacted yet when Brother Li quickly pushed him aside, stepped on the back of the fleeing crab, and reached out to grab it.

"Hehe, there's still only the cream."

"There must be some field crabs hiding in the grass." Chen Yongwei stepped forward and started digging. He grabbed the bare, hairless claw of a large crab, threw it back into the grass with disgust, and continued digging.

There are two kinds of field crabs here. One is the one caught by Brother Li, which looks similar to the hairy crab, with a sturdy body and hair on its large claws. The other is a flat and small one with no hair on its large claws.

The hairless crabs are not caught even if they crawl past people, because they are not fat enough and the crab meat is not sweet enough. People only eat crabs with hair on their claws, believing that these are the authentic crabs.

The three of them rummaged in the grass for a while and caught three field crabs. They tied them up with grass and threw them into the backpack. Then they went to the cornfield to break off the corn cobs, cut down the fallen corn stalks and tied them up.

Li Changle suddenly remembered the crucian carp he saw in the ravine. "Brother, Awei, if the tide doesn't recede this afternoon, how about we go to the Changtang sluice gate to fish for river eels?"

"You have to get some loaches to fish for eels."

"That's easy. Go back and get the reel net and lower it into the stream. By the time we get down from the mountain, there will be enough loaches in the net to catch eels."

Li Changle thought this was a good idea. "Put the net under the bridge hole!"

"Ok!"

The four of them agreed to quickly tie up the corn stalks, load them into their shoulder poles and carry them back.

When they got home, Li's mother had already returned, and Grandma Chen was also there helping to weave the trawl net.

"Mother, has the Jin family agreed?" Li Changle felt that there was hope for the relationship between Awei and Jin Chan when she saw their expressions.

"Yes!" Mother Li looked at Chen Yongwei with a smile, "Mother Jinchan asked her, and Jinchan agreed to go with you."

After hearing this, Chen Yongwei's face turned red again. He could only smile foolishly and didn't know what to do with his hands and feet.

Brother Li smiled and said, "Look, I told you, Awei is tall and big, and his family is well off. If the Jin family has a keen eye, they will definitely see this."

Grandma Chen was so happy that the wrinkles on her face were squeezed together. "Ah Wei, Jin Chan's daughter is pretty good. You should take good care of her. How about taking her to the town to watch a movie today when it's raining and you have nothing to do?"

Li Changle patted him and said, "Listen to your grandma, go back quickly, take a shower, pack up, ride your bike to the Jin family and ask her to come."

Chen Yongwei blushed and looked at them, "It's still raining, why don't we wait until the rain stops before going?"

"Silly, take an umbrella. She's sitting behind you and can hold it for you."

Li Changle took the carrying pole from his hand and said, "Let's go quickly. After the movie, we'll go to a restaurant in town. Once the new house is built, we can marry our new wife."

"Oh oh!" Chen Yongwei was pushed out of the door. He turned around to look at the others. Grandma Chen waved at him and said, "Go quickly. There's nothing to be embarrassed about watching a movie."

"Oh!" Chen Yongwei took a deep breath and walked away with big strides. He didn't look like he was going on a date, but more like he was going to the battlefield.

Grandma Chen watched him go, and patted Li's mother with satisfaction, "Finally, a decent family has taken a liking to that idiot Awei. He can find a good marriage, and I can give an explanation to his father when I go down."

Li's mother smiled and advised: "Grandma, don't think like that, you still have to help take care of your great-grandson!"

Grandma Chen sighed, "I want to help him forever, but how can I help him forever?"

Li Changle remembered that in her previous life, Grandma Chen did not live to see Awei get married and passed away very suddenly. She thought about waiting for Chen Yongwei to come back and asking him to find time to take Grandma to the hospital for a check-up to see if there was any problem with her heart or brain.
Second Brother Li went home and came out with a two or three meter long reel net. When Li Xiaoyang and the others heard that they were going to catch loaches and eels, they all clamored to go with them.

"Dad, let's go fishing for eels too!" Li Xiaobo said, pulling him.

"Uncle, take us with you. We can also fish for crabs!"

"It's still raining, the water in Changtang is full, what are you doing?" Brother Li gave Li Xiaotao a sidelong look, "Fishing for eels, I think you guys are better at fishing for eels."

"...I knew it was useless to tell you." Li Xiaotao muttered softly.

Li Xiaoyang turned his head and looked at Li Changle, "Uncle San, when the tide recedes, you have to take us with you to fish in the sea. You promised last time!"

"When have I ever broken my promise?" Li Changle glared at him. "The tide hasn't receded yet, and the waves are as high as a hill. None of you are allowed to go to the beach. If you are swept into the water by the waves, no one can save you."

Father Li looked at them seriously again and said, "Did you remember what Uncle San said?"

"Remember, grandma always says we won't go." Several children responded seriously. Father Li looked at his eldest grandson and rubbed his head, "Be good! Help grandma and the others with the shuttle thread at home. I'll take you with me tomorrow morning when the tide goes out."

Li Changle stroked him and suddenly missed her son a little. She thought about going to pick up her son when she came back from the sea tomorrow.

The three brothers took the rolled-up net to the hole at the creek bridge, went into the water, lowered the net into the hole, and fixed it with a bamboo pole. Then they went up the mountain carrying the backpack and the bamboo pole.

Many branches of the bayberry and orange trees were broken, and the ground was littered with oranges blown away by the wind.

The melon rack that had been reinforced last time was blown askew by the wind and was about to collapse. Several winter melons on the vines were also blown down.

The three brothers propped up the collapsed bean racks, picked the edible cucumbers, cowpeas, green beans, winter melons and pumpkins and put them in backpacks.

Brother Li used a machete to cut off the broken branches, tied them up with hemp ropes and carried them down the mountain to use as firewood after drying.

The three of them were busy for a whole morning before they propped up the melon racks on the mountain and in the vegetable garden, and they also cut down all the fallen corn and brought them home. Zhou Ruonan and her mother-in-law also wove two trawl nets at home.

Li Changle put down the backpack and walked towards the stream with Li Erge, carrying the bucket. They went into the water, pulled up the bamboo pole, and lifted the net. Then they heard the sound of fish hitting the water.

"Dad, Uncle San, there are fish in there!" Li Xiaoyang and others shouted excitedly. Catching fish and shrimps are the two most primitive hunting activities, which are enjoyed by men of all ages.

Li Changle also nodded happily, "Brother, be careful not to let the rocks at the bottom of the ditch break the net."

"Don't worry, I'll hold it." Brother Li brought the cage net to the shore, and several children gathered around.

Li Xiaotao shouted excitedly as he collected the fish in the bag, "Wow! There are two big grass carps, thicker than my arm."

Li Xiaoyang rolled his eyes at him and said, "Fool, that's not a grass carp, it's a snakehead."

Brother Li picked up the fishing net and poured the fish in the fish bag into the bucket. There were crayfish, river shrimps, loaches, two large snakehead fish weighing two or three pounds each, small crucian carp, small miscellaneous fish, a few crucian carp as big as a palm, and eight or nine eels.

"Not bad, it's about 10 pounds in total. Leave the small loaches and crayfish for bait, throw away the small crucian carp and other small fish, and take the rest back to kill and braise."

Although Li Changle doesn't like eating river fish, he likes catching fish, especially big fish. He was quite excited to be able to catch so many fish in the creek at his doorstep.

Li Xiaoyang hurriedly said, "Uncle San, you can't pour it out. Take the small fish and shrimp back to feed the chickens and ducks."

Brother Li smiled and said, "It's our Xiaoyang who is taking care of the family. Your uncle is not sensible at all."

Li Changle argued, "I am pursuing sustainable development. If all the small fish are eaten up, where will I catch the big fish in the future?"

"There are plenty. We can catch at least thirty or forty kilograms of fish today after fishing for a whole day." Brother Li folded up the fishing net.

Seeing that they were about to collect the net, Li Xiaoyang quickly pulled him and said, "Uncle, cast another net. We will help collect it this afternoon."

"Okay, don't let my brothers and sisters go into the water." Brother Li went into the water and lowered the net to the entrance of the bridge, then returned home with a group of children.

Seeing so many fish caught, Li's mother was very happy and said to Grandma Chen, "Awei and Achan may be having dinner in town. You can eat with them too."

"Okay, I'm not welcome."

Chen Yongwei hasn't come back yet, and it seems that he has successfully had a date with Jin Chan. The smile on Grandma Chen's face has never disappeared.

Li Changle and Li Erge helped to kill the fish, while Zhou Ruonan and Li Ersao went to the stove to kill the eels and loaches and braised them with the black snakehead with sauerkraut.

Fry the crucian carp until both sides are browned, then add water, put in scallion, shredded ginger, and pickled mustard greens, cook crucian carp and dried vegetable soup, stir-fry cowpeas, and serve cold jellyfish skin. The pot of sweet potato rice is finished cleanly.

After the meal, everyone thought it was nice to have a meal of river food occasionally.

After resting for a while, the two brothers Li Changle went out with buckets, small stools, and a few homemade fishing rods to the Changtang Gate.

Li Changle walked through the gate and took a look. He saw that the highest mudflat on the edge of the trench was also submerged by the sea water, and the short shrubs in the grove were completely submerged in the water.

"Alas, the tide has not receded at all."

"It looks like we'll have to come back tomorrow morning to have a look." Brother Li held him and walked back, "If we're lucky, it would be nice to catch a few more big eels."

Li Changle smiled and nodded, "I'm lucky. I caught a big snow eel and I'm rich."

"I don't want big snow eels, but catching a few river eels weighing three or four pounds would be good."

When the two brothers returned to Changtang, Brother Li had already untied the hemp rope tied to the fishing rod. The fish hooks they used to catch river eels were all big hooks.

This way, it will be difficult for the eel to swallow the hook into its stomach and remove it. The eel will die quickly if the hook is in its stomach.

Each person had three fishing rods. Li Changle caught a small loach, knocked it unconscious, put it on the bait, and cast the first rod.

(End of this chapter)