Chapter 90: Chapter 90 Preparing for Fishing
The Yue Family’s fish pond was ready for harvesting, and the news spread quickly throughout Daye Village.
Now that the busy farming season had passed, many people headed toward the pond after breakfast to watch the excitent unfold.
There were two most common thods of fishing from the pond.
Previously, most would drain the water from the pond and catch the fish directly from the dried bed.
The advantage of this thod was convenience and speed; after selling the fish, the pond would freeze over in winter, and they could refill it with water and stock it with fish fry the following spring.
However, the Yue Family planned to use another thod, encircling the pond with a large net from one end to the other, with several people on each side pulling the net, “scooping” up the fish inside.
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This thod was much more troubleso, involving not only many preparations beforehand but also continued maintenance of the pond during the winter.
But the benefit was that the offspring of those “escapes” could be raised as new fry, and the fish that were not harvested would grow fatter and larger by the next year.
Yue Jiannan, usually the most talkative at ho, was unusually silent today.
After setting the fishing net, he paced around the pond, circle after circle, staring at the swimming fish, lost in thought.
Yue Jianxi asked in confusion, “Third brother, don’t you feel dizzy?”
Yue Jiannan shook his head and kept walking…
Today, the whole family ca to the pond, so they brought the children along as well.
Yue Xiaohu was squatting down playing with mud, while Yue Xingxing and Yue Qingqing were squatting not far from the pond, eagerly peering into the water.
Yue Xingxing, very sister-like, told Yue Qingqing, “We’ll have fish to eat tonight.”
Yue Qingqing nodded vigorously, constantly swallowing saliva.
It was a crisp autumn day and the fish swimming back and forth seed to be very lively, perhaps even waiting for Yue Jiannan to feed them.
Unfortunately, their wishes were dood not to be fulfilled today.
After being well-fed, fish consu more oxygen, which can cause them to panic and jump after the net is pulled, leading to unnecessary casualties.
Therefore, Yue Jiannan had already stopped feeding them the day before, preparing for today’s harvest.
Needless to say, he had learned all this from books.
Lin Chunju and Yue Jiandong were quietly discussing the sale of the fish, with the village chief also standing by.
Yue Jiannan calculated, “There are about four or five families, so purchasing for the entire clan and so specialize in making smoked fish for the New Year’s goods. There’s also one that supplies to city restaurants. They all require a lot, and they should be arriving soon.”
Lin Chunju was slightly relieved, “That’s good. Fish have to be sold quickly once they’re hauled out since they can’t be kept for long. Village Chief Zhang, how many in the village want them?”
Village Chief Zhang frowned, appearing troubled, “Not many, basically one or two fish each. You know the nature of these people, after Wang Jinshun instigated, those who had originally ordered all backed out.”
A few days before, Lin Chunju had asked Village Chief Zhang to help find out how many in the village wanted to buy fish, so the Yue Family could sell to them at a lower price.
After all, winter was approaching, and many households were thinking of making fish soup to nourish their bodies and put on so fat for autumn.
But Wang Jinshun claid that the fish from the Yue Family had only been raised for a year, so they would surely be small and lack nutrients.
Many suspected that Wang Jinshun, having a hard ti himself, didn’t want others to have it better.
This year, when harvesting the crops, everyone knew that even though Wang Jinshun had contracted two plots of land, his yield was only 30-40% higher than the previous year.
After calculations, it wasn’t even certain he could recoup the rental cost.
He was simply biting off more than he could chew with not enough hands, yet he insisted on running both ends.
However, influenced by Wang Jinshun’s words, many villagers still got cold feet.
Even though the Yue Family said they were willing to sell at a discount, it was their first year raising fish, and who knew what they could produce.
If they committed to buying in advance and upon harvesting, they found the fish smaller than wild ones from the river, whether they wanted them or not, they would likely have to swallow their pride.
Due to this concern, there weren’t many in the village who were willing to buy fish in the end, with the remaining being those who had good relations with the Yue Family, like Granny Zhou and Jin Aijun’s household.
But with only these few families, who were buying for their own consumption, how much could they really purchase?
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