??Chapter 306: 306. Earthworm breeding_1
Chapter 306: 306. Earthworm breeding_1
Lao Song’s family was in high spirits, and the stubborn group of 10 who held their ground by the pond ca back again.
They wore sun-protective shirts and so were fully equipped, setting up a sun umbrella by the pond. Once they placed their little stools and held their teacups, how was this fishing? It was clearly a divine enjoynt.
Except for…
“This tea is just too expensive; every sip makes my heart ache.”
“What do you an, expensive tea? Your heartache is obviously your angina acting up. Take my advice and don’t co tomorrow.”
“Hey, Old Liu, are you jealous that I caught one more carp than you yesterday? Let
tell you, that carp made such a delicious soup! My wife and I ate it up without leaving any residue!”
The boasts of the fishern were all too barefaced.
Old Liu snorted disdainfully through his nostrils:
“What’s to be proud of? Can’t you just fiddle with that cara of yours a bit? That’s just cheating to get the earthworms.”
However, as the two chatted, they indeed noticed that the fish in the pond tasted much better than on their first trip.
Of course, because Song Tan spared no effort, night after night, to evenly distribute the “Spiritual Energy” to his batch of fish fry.
Now, they couldn’t bear to throw away even a mudfish they caught; it had to be brought ho to stew with tofu.
Speaking of caras, a couple of proud smiles with lifted corners appeared among those present:
“Actually, this is just a hobby for us, we really don’t want to win any prizes or take part in any contests, but who makes the young boss need our little hobby so much?”
“Oh my, look how many earthworms there are; I’m almost embarrassed to take them…”
Listen, listen!
After so many years of friendship, are these even things to say?
However, Old Liu didn’t scold them but chuckled as he took a small box out of his pocket.
It was a palm-sized box, full of breathing holes. Now, as he placed it under the sun, everyone’s gaze was drawn to it:
“How so?” soone teased him: “You still can’t let it go and want to bait your own spot again? Let
tell you, it’s useless; the fish in the pond are too crafty. Aside from these red earthworms over here, they don’t want anything else.”
“Even if you just flip so waterweeds, it’s more enticing than any bait you make yourself.”
As they spoke, the topic shifted again.
At that mont, soone chid in: “Exactly, that day I mixed these local waterweeds into the bait and went fishing in soone else’s reservoir.”
“Man, do you know how many I caught in a day? 13! That’s right…”
As he spoke, he didn’t feel a sense of achievent; in fact, he was a bit disappointed: “The fish tasted fine before, but when I cooked it this ti, it clearly had a muddy sll, it was too fatty, and the texture wasn’t good, far worse than the ones from this pond.”
“No matter what I catch here, my wife cleans it up tidily, and we get to eat it that night. If I fish sowhere else, she sells it right at the entrance of our compound for 5 yuan a kilo and absolutely refuses to let it enter our ho.”
Speaking of which, which fisherman didn’t have sad stories? Everyone chid in excitedly, sharing the low prices they got for their hard-earned catch—
Five yuan a kilo was considered good; so sold a whole bucket for ten yuan, and so even gave them away for free!
Old Liu looked at his box which no one paid attention to and laughed: “What do you guys know? What makes you think I made this bait myself? Look at this!”
He opened the box, and inside was a clump of brown soil; in the middle, a few earthworms could be seen wriggling.
The big n beside him suddenly felt a string of goosebumps on their arms: “What’s wrong with you? Carrying earthworms around with you? What, are you going to raise them?”
They were not afraid to skewer bait, but keeping a box of it close felt sowhat perverse.
Old Liu humd, expressing disdain for these foolish mortals:
“What do you know? The young boss’s earthworms are so good, unfortunately, I’ve secretly tried to dig in several places but couldn’t find any! I figured there must be so secret technique she has. It wasn’t easy to get this earthworm, and when I got ho, I chopped it in half and raised them in this box.”
“Now look, both pieces of the earthworm have grown! You lot, with the earthworms you get, only know fishing, not the concept of ‘sustainable developnt’.”
With those words, the group imdiately regretted it.
Especially the photography master who had gotten 20 earthworms all to himself; his face now showed nothing but pain.
What had he done with those 20 earthworms?
He divided them over three days, each yielding a full catch.
Once they got ho, everyone from the wife to the children was stuffed to the brim, utterly content.
His status in the family had been skyrocketing those few days, a pride beyond description!
But who would have thought, there were such cunning tricks?
So, with a flicker in his eyes, he said, “Old Liu, words alone aren’t enough, earthworms are everywhere. Just because the young boss’s are so attractive to fish, I’d say she must have a unique thod of raising them. Whether your own are of any use is another matter altogether!”
“What thod?” Old Liu was anxious, “How could there be a thod to raising earthworms? Besides, these earthworms were given to
by her; they’re definitely effective!”
“That’s not the sa.”
Curious onlookers walked over to have a look, “Your earthworms don’t look as red as the ones the young boss gave, and they’re a bit thin.”
Could they not be thin?
Old Liu defended himself, “Mine have grown from being cut in half, if you don’t believe , I’ll fish right now and show you! Today, the one who catches the most will surely be .”
As he spoke, he unhesitatingly pulled out scissors and with a snip, he cut one of the earthworms in half again.
Taking out that half, he split it into two again, and then with care, threaded one-quarter onto the hook before casting it into the fishpond.
10 minutes had passed, and he was getting restless.
The young boss’s bait would surely have a bite within 10 minutes, so why wasn’t there any movent yet?
20 minutes went by, still nothing.
The crowd began to laugh, “See, I told you your own earthworms aren’t the sa as those raised with a secret recipe.”
Old Liu’s eyes showed his panic, “How could that be? My earthworms are well-tended… ”
Little did he know, these were devoid of Spiritual Energy, just ordinary earthworms now.
However, there was still a bit of residue left. After persisting for 30 minutes, Old Liu finally managed to catch a palm-sized crucian carp.
But by then, the crowd’s envious looks had long vanished into thin air.
Looking at his box, he sighed in disappointnt and then took out his scissors, snipping the remaining one and a half worms into small segnts—
Since raising them was futile, might as well make use of them now.
…
In the evening, when Zhang Yanping ca to check, seeing Old Liu’s catch, he couldn’t help but praise:
“Uncle, you’re having a bumper harvest!”
Old Liu snorted with a laugh, thinking to himself, What bumper harvest?
8 pieces of earthworms yielded a total of 6 little fish, a stark contrast to the big fellows attracted by the young boss’s earthworms.
Still, it was enough to be at the top of the scoreboard among everyone.
Indeed, if it weren’t for such modest catches every day, this pond wouldn’t be enough for their ssing around.
Zhang Yanping glanced at his schedule:
“Uncle, you guys have been coming for three days now, it’s ti for a change.”
The pond had a rule that one person could fish for a maximum of three consecutive days, then had to wait another 10 to half a month. Everyone was well-accustod to these peculiar rules and grunted:
“Then we won’t co, your family’s als aren’t that special.”
“Xiaofeng who sells stead buns at my door makes really good ones too!”
The one speaking would order 4 servings of food every day, almost wishing he could carry any leftovers with him. Zhang Yanping wasn’t offended, just responded with a chuckle:
“Uncle, buy so spring onions to fry in oil at ho, your stead buns will be just as delicious.”
No, thanks.
A few spring onions for 20 yuan, plus having to fuss with oil and dough at ho.
So money, after all, should be earned by others!
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