Siheyuan: Game of Red Dust

Chapter 28 Fishing
Li Weidong and his group soon arrived at Shichahai.

Shichahai includes three water areas: Qianhai, Houhai and Xihai. Because there are ten Buddhist temples around it, it is called Shichahai.

During the Republic of China era, Shichahai was practically dry, with local residents even growing rice there. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the government organized dredging, embankment construction, and added guardrails, ultimately giving Shichahai its present-day appearance. Later, a canal was built connecting it to the Miyun Reservoir, ensuring Shichahai's abundant water and sparkling waters.

The Shichahai Ice Skating Rink is very famous, and every winter, thousands of people come here to skate. There are also many fish in Shichahai, and many people go fishing when they have free time.

Li Weidong looked over and saw that many people were already fishing.

Li Weidong took Damao and the others to an empty corner and started fishing with them.

Li Weidong took out a handful of fresh corn kernels produced in the space from his pocket, hung them up for Damao and the others first, asked them to sit next to him to fish, and then he picked up the youngest Xiu'er and started fishing.

Perhaps the corn kernels produced in the space were particularly attractive to fish. Not long after they were thrown in, the float moved.

Li Weidong slowly reeled in the line and found an opportunity to lift the fishing rod up. He saw that the hook had caught a big grass carp that was more than 40 centimeters long.

This grass carp, which weighed at least five or six pounds, swung its tail desperately after leaving the water, as if it knew the end was approaching.

Li Weidong took the hook out of the fish's mouth and put the fish into the bucket.

"Uncle Weidong, you are amazing. You caught the fish so quickly."

Damao gave Li Weidong a thumbs up, and the big grass carp looked at him enviously and said.

Xiu'er also got down from Li Weidong's arms, looked at the grass carp in the bucket, and wanted to reach out to touch it. Just as she touched it, the fish fluttered in the bucket. Frightened, Xiu'er ran to Li Weidong and pointed at the bucket: "Uncle Dong, eat big fish."

"Okay, when we get back, let your mother cook a big fish for Xiuer, okay?" Li Weidong said.

"Okay. Let's go back and eat big fish," Xiu'er said in a baby voice.

Li Weidong picked up Xiu'er again and continued fishing.

Perhaps it was the bait, as Li Weidong, Damao, and Dazhuang kept catching fish. The largest one was caught by Ermao, weighing 17 or 18 pounds and measuring about 70 or 80 centimeters. At first, they nearly dragged Ermao into the water. Fortunately, Li Weidong reacted quickly and grabbed Ermao, while his other hand hurriedly grabbed the line, preventing the fish from escaping.

Less than half an hour after it fell, the bucket could no longer hold any more water.

Li Weidong and his friends caught fish one after another, which attracted the attention of many anglers.

Li Weidong looked at the bucket and saw more than twenty fish in it. They were all big. The smallest one weighed more than three kilograms, and the largest one was the one caught by Ermao.

"Da Mao, we have to go back. We can't put down the fish." Li Weidong said.

"Ah, Uncle Weidong, I haven't caught enough fish yet?" said Damao.

"Me too." "I haven't fished enough either." The children said in unison.

"How about this, let's go back and put the fish at home first, then have lunch and get a few big buckets and come back to fish, okay?" Li Weidong said.

"Okay then." With that, Damao and the others put away their fishing rods.

Li Weidong took out two ropes from his pocket, threaded the ropes through the fish gills into two strings, held one string in each hand, and led Damao and the others towards the courtyard.

Li Weidong and his group were walking on the way back to the courtyard, attracting the attention of passers-by.

"Wow, where did you catch this?" a passerby asked.

"I'm fishing in Shichahai. Brother, go and have a look when you have time. It's quite good fishing." Li Weidong replied.

"Really? Then I'll try it too." The passerby said, nodded to Li Weidong, and walked away quickly.

After a while, Li Weidong and his friends arrived at the gate of the courtyard.

As they walked through the gate and into the front yard, they saw the three aunts cutting vegetables in the yard.

"Wow! Li Weidong, you're amazing! You caught so many big fish!"

The third aunt put down the kitchen knife and looked at the fish in Li Weidong's hand and was immediately surprised.

As far as she could remember, Yan Fugui had never brought back so many big fish at one time.

And every fish is no smaller than a small one.

Nowadays, in the age of large-scale farming without feed, wild fish rarely grow this big.

Although her husband Yan Fugui can fish, he mostly catches small crucian carp and fish weighing less than 2 kilograms.

"The fish your uncle caught were very small, far inferior to the ones you caught."

Aunt San's eyes showed envy.

"Hey, these are not caught by me. Most of them were caught by Damao and his friends. I only caught two. They were too small to lift, so I just helped them get them back." Li Weidong said.

"Ah! Is this true? Are Damao and the others really that powerful?" Aunt Three asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Hey, how could I lie to you? Third Aunt, enough talking, I'll put the fish down first. Hey, isn't Liang Ladi back yet? Why is the door still locked?"

"Just now, Xiao Liang brought two old men with two carts of things, saying that they were the furniture you bought and were sent to the backyard. They must be cleaning up the house for you!" replied the third aunt.

"Oh, Auntie, you are busy. I will go back and take a look." After saying that, Li Weidong took the children and walked towards the middle courtyard.

Walking into the middle courtyard, the women who were washing clothes and vegetables at the tap turned their heads to look at them.

When they saw the big fish in Li Weidong's hand, they all opened their mouths in shock.

"Hiss! So many fish, and they're all big. Where did you catch them?"

"Is fishing so good now? How can you catch so many? Let my husband go this afternoon." "I want my husband to try this this afternoon too?"

……

While everyone is eating steamed buns, you have so much fish that you can't finish them, which really attracts hatred.

Li Weidong carried the fish and walked from the middle yard to the backyard. His back felt hot and burning.

Pairs of jealous and envious eyes fell on him like sharp arrows, as if to poke a hundred holes in him.

Banggeng was playing at the doorstep when he saw the fish in Li Weidong's hand. He ran to Qin Huairu and shouted, "Mom, I want to eat fish!"

"Wait until your dad comes back and ask him to go fishing for you this afternoon. Be good, Bang Geng."

Qin Huairu suppressed her inner irritation and coaxed him patiently.

She wanted to eat it, too, but Jia Dongxu was out with an old man. She'd wait for him to come back and go fishing. It should be easy to catch. How long had Li Weidong been gone this time? He only caught this much.

"I don't want to wait for my dad to come back, I want to eat now!"

Banggeng cried loudly and rolled on the ground, his clothes were covered with large amounts of dust and became dirty.

Seeing this, Qin Huairu was too lazy to coax him. She just let Banggeng make noise and lowered her head to continue washing clothes.

After returning to the backyard, Li Weidong handed the fish that Dazhuang and his friends had caught to them and asked them to take it home. He also said that they could continue fishing after dinner in the afternoon.

Da Zhuang and his friends took the fish and went home happily.

Li Weidong led Damao and the others into his house.

As soon as I entered the house, I saw Liang Ladi wiping the newly bought furniture with a rag.

"Hey, Sister Liang is busy?" Li Weidong joked.

When Liang Ladi heard what Li Weidong said, he rolled his eyes at me. Suddenly, he saw the fish in his hand and said, "Dongzi, that's great. You're really good at fishing! You caught so many."

"Sister Liang, these were not caught by me. Most of them were caught by Damao and the others. I only caught two." Li Weidong explained.

"Is it true?" Liang Ladi asked.

"Mom, I caught four."

"Mom, I caught the biggest one."

"I caught three too."

"I, I, eat, big fish." This is Xiu'er.

Liang Ladi came over and picked up Xiu'er, and praised Damao and the others, saying, "Well, you are great. Mom doesn't even know how to fish."

"Sister Liang, don't go back at noon, just eat here. After dinner, we will continue fishing. I will go to the factory to borrow a tricycle and catch more fish in the afternoon." Li Weidong said.

"Ah, you're going in the afternoon?" Liang Ladi asked in surprise.

"Yeah, we haven't even been fishing for half an hour and the bucket is already full. If we weren't afraid of not being able to hold it, we would have continued fishing! We haven't caught enough yet. Sister Liang, come with us this afternoon."

"Okay." Liang Ladi didn't say much. He took the fish from Li Weidong and prepared to go to the kitchen to clean it up.

Li Weidong was just about to follow and clean up the fish with Liang Ladi when suddenly, Wang Jianjun and Dazhuang arrived.

Wang Jianjun still had the fish in his hand and said to Li Weidong, "Weidong, why did you give Dazhuang and the others so many fish?"

"Brother Jianjun, you misunderstood. These were caught by Dazhuang and the others, not given by me." Li Weidong said.

"Ah?" Wang Jianjun looked confused.

"Really? If you don't believe me, ask Damao and the others." Li Weidong said.

"Uncle Wang, this is what Dazhuang caught. We brought it to the kitchen." Damao said.

"Brother Jianjun, we're going there in the afternoon, you can come with us. Dazhuang and the others are very good at fishing." Li Weidong suggested.

"Brother Jianjun, let's eat here at noon. I'll cook the fish later."

"No, Weidong, your sister-in-law has cooked everything. I'll go fishing with you guys in the afternoon." After saying hello to Li Weidong, she left.

After Li Weidong saw Wang Jianjun off, he went to the kitchen and started cleaning the fish with Liang Ladi.

……

After lunch, the team assembled.

Liang Ladi's family, Wang Jianjun's family, and Li Weidong pushed a borrowed tricycle and went to Shichahai.

It was five o'clock when they came back. Li Weidong and his team had pulled a full truck of fish. This was because they had exchanged some tickets in Shichahai, otherwise they would not have been able to pull the fish.

After returning, the three families began to pack the fish, salt them, and then air-dry them.

Among the three families, only Li Weidong's family has a yard, so the clothes can only be dried in Li Weidong's yard.

During this period, some neighbors came to ask about it, and Li Weidong and his friends told the truth that they were fishing from Shichahai.

It was almost seven o'clock after they finished cleaning the fish. Li Weidong and the others had another meal together before going home.

(End of this chapter)