I served as Li Bai's page.

After having lunch at the Zhang family's house, we prepared to go home, but Mr. Zhang tried his best to persuade Li Bai and Wu Zhinan to stay.

"Gentlemen, why don't you spend the Spring Festival at my humble abode before going to Dazhi's place? Alternatively, you can stay here until the river thaws in spring and becomes navigable, then return directly to Yuzhou."

"Thank you for your kind words, Master Zhang. Let's go back to Dazhi's place; our boatman and luggage are there," Li Bai said.

After exchanging pleasantries, we traded some cured meat, fresh meat, and rice at Zhang's house. Master Zhang even gave us two extra jars of wine. I took out some money to give him, but he refused.

After saying goodbye to the Zhang family, we headed back. Dazhi carried everything by himself, while Qiangqiang, Zhuangzhuang, and I ran through the mountains covered in red leaves. Li Bai and Wu Zhinan pointed out the landscape in the Wu Gorge, where the red leaves were in full bloom.

We played all the way home, and it was already dusk when we got back. Xiaoyong and Xiaoying stood on the ravine, looking out. When they saw us return, they came out to greet us. Xiaoyong took the load from Dazhi's shoulders, and we walked home together.

Shui Lian had already prepared the meal and placed it on the table, waiting for us to return. When Xiao Yong carried the food into the house, Shui Lian saw the meat and rice and happily exclaimed, "Finally, we can eat meat and rice for the New Year! Last year, we only had potatoes to eat!"

"Sister Shuilian, why didn't you exchange the rice and meat last year?" I asked.

"Last year's potato harvest was poor, so we didn't dare to exchange them for rice. We were afraid that if we exchanged them for rice, we wouldn't be able to wait until spring, and then our whole family would go hungry," Dazhi said.

"Now that things have changed, will you have enough food? Plus, the five of us have been eating here for so long." I suddenly realized that our arrival might bring unprecedented difficulties to this family.

"It's alright. When spring comes and the waterway is open, I can go up the mountain to dig up some herbs to sell and supplement my household income," Shui Lian said.

Li Bai listened quietly, tears welling up in his eyes. The lives of farmers were something he had probably never heard of before.

"Enough talk, let's eat," Dazhi said.

We sat down at the table and buried ourselves in our food, no one wanting to say much, except for Qiangqiang and Zhuangzhuang who kept telling Shuilian how good her lunch was.

The next morning, after getting up, I asked Dazhi for a sturdy knife and fishing gear. I took Qiangqiang and Zhuangzhuang with me, and called Li Bai and Wu Zhinan to the Yangtze River. I used the knife to chisel at the ice. After chiseling a small hole about the size of a bowl, I put an earthworm on the fishing line and placed it in the hole. I put the fishing rod on the ice, and the five of us stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly, the fishing rod moved slightly. I picked up the fishing line and carefully pulled it back. The higher I pulled, the bigger the waves in the water became. I actually caught a big fish weighing more than two pounds! The two kids were overjoyed and shouted: "We can eat fish during the New Year!"

Both Li Bai and Wu Zhinan exclaimed, "It's unbelievable that fish can be caught like this!"

I followed the same method and dug three such holes. This morning alone, I caught four big fish. When we carried the fish home, Dazhi and his wife, as well as Xiaoyong and his wife, were all stunned.

"What a great catch! I've never caught a fish since this river froze over," Dazhi said.

"Brother Dazhi, I'll teach you in a bit, and I guarantee you'll have fish to eat all year round. Plus, fish is better than meat," I said.

Xiao Yong said, "I want to learn too."

We gave the fish to Shui Lian and Xiao Ying.

Li Bai, however, said, "Yuehua, go and make the diving fish. While you're at it, teach them how to do it."

"Yes, young master." I replied as I followed Shui Lian and the others into the kitchen. Qiangqiang and Zhuangzhuang were like my tail, following me wherever I went. They stayed by the stove while I cooked the fish. When I poured the prepared sauce over the fish, the aroma filled the room, and Qiangqiang and Zhuangzhuang's mouths watered. I picked up two pieces and popped them into their mouths, and the two children walked away satisfied.

"Sister Shuilian, you can cook fish like me from now on. You have plenty of scallions, ginger, and garlic here, and you don't need much cooking oil. The fish you make will be delicious and nutritious. Most importantly, you live near the Yangtze River, so you can catch fish to eat anytime," I said.

"Thank you, Yuehua. The two children are tired of eating potatoes every day. Now it's great, we can change their diet anytime." Shuilian said, wiping away her tears.

Dazhi was determined to learn how to fish in winter, and as soon as we finished eating, he dragged me to the riverbank.

I said to Dazhi, "Brother Dazhi, do you have a fishing net? You can use a fishing net to catch fish; it saves time and you can catch more."

"Yes." After saying that, Dazhi turned around and went home to get the fishing net.

We all spent the entire afternoon playing on the banks of the Yangtze River at the foot of Goddess Peak. Li Bai and Wu Zhinan played like children. Dazhi and Xiaoyong seriously learned how to fish, while Shuilian and Xiaoying sorted the fish they caught by size.

Since the next day was the Spring Festival, after catching fish and returning home, Dazhi and Xiaoyong caught a chicken and two ducks to kill. Li Bai and Wu Zhinan exclaimed upon seeing this, "How cruel!"

"Young master, where do you think the duck and chicken you eat at home come from? They have to be killed alive to get them," I said.

Li Bai sighed and said, "This is truly a world where the strong prey on the weak; it's better to be the butcher than the fish."

Wu Zhinan said, "We should strive to improve ourselves and become stronger so that we won't become easy prey."

"I say to you two young masters, don't elevate common sense to a philosophical level. This is just a matter of the food chain," I said.

"What is a food chain?" Li Bai and Wu Zhinan asked in unison.

"For example, snakes eat frogs, frogs eat insects, insects eat green plants, and so on. Each level eats the level below. We eat chickens and ducks because we raise them for food, not to keep them as pets," I explained.

"Have you considered that perhaps the chickens and ducks don't want to be raised by us? Chickens and ducks have no right to choose. Isn't this just a matter of choosing between the knife and the fish?" Li Bai retorted.

"I'm not going to argue with you guys anymore, I'm going to get to work." I felt I really couldn't win against Li Bai, so I simply made a quick getaway.

I went to the kitchen to help Shui Lian and Xiao Ying prepare the fish they had just caught. We sorted them into small, medium, and large sizes. The small ones were fried, some of the medium and large ones were steamed, and some were used to make "diving fish".

On the evening of the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, everyone was busy late. Li Bai and Wu Zhinan took out red Xuan paper from their bags and wrote a couplet for Dazhi's front door. They asked Shuilian to cook some corn porridge and paste it on. Instantly, the house was filled with the atmosphere of the Spring Festival. Although the two children didn't have any new clothes, they were so happy to see the adults making so many delicious things and seeing the red couplets on the door that they jumped around the adults, unwilling to go to sleep.

Fortunately, as the Spring Festival approached, Wu Zhinan drank water boiled with herbs that Shui Lian had dug up from the mountain, and his cough actually stopped. Li Bai and I both breathed a huge sigh of relief, and could now enjoy the Spring Festival in peace.