"They’re all quite large. I wonder where these kids caught them."
The n were also excited, quickly helping to unload the fish from the cart, while the won joyfully circled the fish, chatting non-stop.
"They say they caught them from the receding floodwaters, and I heard there’s more."
"Really?"
"Of course, our eldest daughter helped too, how could it be fake?" Eldest Daughter’s mother never stopped smiling, feeling quite proud.
These catches also had contributions from their eldest daughter!
"That’s great. When the sun’s a bit lower, we should go catch so too..."
"Right, right, otherwise we’d be wasting those fish."
"Exactly..."
"Well, this is good. We won’t have to worry about running out of fish to eat..."
The lakeside was bustling with excitent, and Huajin, who was washing with her mom by the lake, was listening intently. Nearby, there were Eldest Daughter and Little Cat Sister too.
Covered in mud, they decided not to change clothes since they still had fish to clean later at ho.
"Look at you, all dirty," Ms. Qi said as she helped her daughter brush off clumps of mud from her head.
She couldn’t rember ever seeing her daughter so dirty. It was quite novel, and Ms. Qi was quite amused by it.
Hua Jin couldn’t help but laugh at her mom’s words, especially after seeing her muddy face in the blurry water reflection. It was quite funny. If only the sll of fish wasn’t there, it would be perfect.
After the initial amazent at the lakeside, everyone got busy. Each person carried a few fish to the lake to scale or clean, working enthusiastically.
Seeing that her daughter was done, Ms. Qi quickly joined in and started cleaning fish with her mother-in-law.
Despite the many fish by the lake, there were also many villagers, so within no ti, the fish were all cleaned thoroughly, and even the fish guts were shared with families that had cats or dogs.
Once all the fish were cleaned, they were gathered in one place, and after counting, there were over 600 fish in total, making everyone beam with joy.
This ant each family could get at least three fish, with the extra split among the hardworking kids like Hua Dabao, Luo Song, and Eldest Daughter.
No one had any objections to this distribution. It was an unexpected delight because, without these kids, no one would get even one fish.
Everyone happily took their share of three fish ho, eager to start marinating them.
The remaining 73 fish went to the 16 kids, with each family getting four, and the nine extra given to those with smaller fish.
After all, not every fish weighed the sa.
Families of the kids who caught the fish were joyful and smiling broadly, their eyes full of kindness, already thinking of rewarding their hardworking children at ho.
Huajin, Huahua, and Eldest Daughter’s families got the most shares. After all, there were many of them, with both brothers and sisters involved.
The heroes who caught the fish didn’t arrive until everyone had divided the fish, and they imdiately jumped into the water, rinsing themselves amid everyone’s playful laughter and scolding.
Hua Jin’s family got more than a dozen fish. Old Mrs. Hua couldn’t stop smiling. At ho, they cooked one, kept two fresh, and had Hua Chengtian store them, while the rest were marinated.
They made Hua Jin’s favorite pickled fish. The spicy aroma made Huajin, who had changed clothes, sit at the table before even being called.
The late lunch turned out to be very satisfying for everyone.
In the afternoon, aside from Hua Jin, Old Mrs. Hua and several others went down the mountain to the water pit where the fish were, along with their kids.
Families from the entire valley set out, including Luo Song, who ca again, bringing a few more helpers.
Even knowing there were many fish, everyone couldn’t help but get excited when they arrived at the water pit.
Before setting off, Old Man Hua had a brief eting, informing everyone about the water’s situation, repeatedly stressing not to enter the silt, and not to have any lucky thoughts. Otherwise, they’d have no one to bla but themselves if they lost their lives.
No one dared take such life-threatening matters lightly. No one dared enter the water despite the excitent, and so villagers started searching around the mountain’s base, discovering another large water pit on the other side of the mountain, with noticeably deeper water and even more fish, which exhilarated everyone anew.
Then they started catching fish... using the tools they had prepared in advance.
Hua Chengtian casually cast the fishing net, getting a dense haul of fish with each throw. Just pulling them up was hard work, yet the young won responsible for collecting the fish were all grinning from ear to ear.
They caught fish for many hours, and by the ti they returned to the valley and cleaned them by the lake, it was already dark. The elders who stayed ho had long prepared dinner, waiting for them.
It’s no different for Hua Jin’s house. Old Mrs. Hua cooked, Hua Jin prepared the dishes: boiled fish fillets, stir-fried vegetables, cold fern salad, and a small plate of braised beef. There was a mix of at and vegetables with four dishes in total.
Unsurprisingly, these dishes satisfied the n at ho, and they ate everything up.
The distributed fish were marinated again, and they planned to continue the next day. After all, the newly discovered water pit hadn’t been touched yet.
That night, everyone slept soundly after a day of fishing, climbing, and cleaning. It was tiring but fulfilling.
The next day, everyone got up early. Apart from the won staying at ho for chores, the n grabbed their gear and headed down the mountain again.
Aiming to bring back all the fish while there was still water in the pits.
From then on, it was like unlocking a certain limit. The n didn’t mind the hard work as they searched every connected mountain range for fish. Surprisingly, they found quite a few water pits; so had many fish, others fewer. They busied themselves for several days, catching all the fish they could find around the area.
After days of sun exposure, the land at the base of the mountain beca firr. Although still a bit soft, it didn’t sink anymore when stepped on.
After dividing the last batch of fish, each family now had dozens of fish stored, all marinated for preservation.
For this reason, a few families who had just arrived, including Wei Dapeng’s, bought more salt from the village chief.
Not only Wei Dapeng but also families with little salt reserves went to the village chief’s ho and unexpectedly managed to buy so.
Seeing the village chief unpressured, everyone realized the chief must have stored plenty of salt.
It made sense, given the chief’s foresight in advising everyone to store more salt and other goods. It’s no wonder he had a considerable stock.
With this, everyone felt assured, with no worries about salt shortages in the short term.
Still, they conserved where they could, reducing their usual salt usage, even if they had enough stored at ho.
After all, no one knew when the disaster would end.
As for how the villagers might think, Old Man Hua’s attitude was completely relaxed. He wasn’t worried at all, thinking it was a good thing. At the very least, it gave everyone peace of mind.
And rightly so, they indeed had accumulated a significant salt reserve. A pound of salt could last so families half a year. Conservatively, their stored amount was more than the entire village could consu in a lifeti.
Nonetheless, while he remained relaxed, there were still considerations to make, aiming to solve the root issue. Providing salt to the village indefinitely wasn’t realistic; it would surely arouse suspicion.
The mountains were rich in resources, maybe it was ti for his son to explore further.
You never know, they might just stumble upon a salt mine or a salt lake.
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