Reborn in the Great Northern Wilderness in 1982, I farmed and hunted to support my whole family.

He Yinglian was busy starting a fire and cooking in front of the stove when she heard Li Siming shout, and she stopped what she was doing.

"What good news? You're so happy."

Li Siming mysteriously pulled He Yinglian into the house, closed the door, and said in a low voice, "Let's go and dig a pond and see what happens."

"Dig a pond? Are you crazy? Didn't you see how hard Li Mu and the others were working? Besides, where would we get the money to dig a pond?"

Upon hearing this, He Yinglian's eyes widened.

Li Siming waved his hand: "Hey, don't be in such a hurry. Listen to me, we don't need to dig like Li Mu and the others. We can find a small place and dig one quietly. Once we raise fish, we can make a fortune too."

"No way! You're just jealous and unhappy seeing others get rich, aren't you? Let me tell you, that Li Mu is a madman, and we can't go crazy with him!"

After He Yinglian finished speaking, she turned around and continued to work at the stove, ignoring Li Siming.

Li Siming was a little annoyed when he saw He Yinglian's strong opposition, but then he thought that digging a pond to raise fish was indeed a good opportunity to make money, and he would lose a lot if he missed it.

He pondered how to persuade He Yinglian to agree to dig a pond and raise fish himself.

So he went to He Yinglian's side and said with a smile, "Don't be so stubborn. Think about it, with our family in such a situation, if I'm the only one earning money by farming, when will we ever have a good life? This pond for fish farming is a rare opportunity. If we can seize it, our future will be much more comfortable."

He Yinglian was somewhat shaken after hearing Li Siming's words.

She longed for a better life, but the risk of digging a pond to raise fish was too great. If she lost money, it would be a huge loss.

"Where are you going to get the money to buy tools and fish fry? Besides, we've never raised fish before, we don't know anything about it, do you think this will work?"

Seeing that He Yinglian was wavering, Li Siming quickly pressed his advantage: "Don't think I don't have money right now, but I can borrow some from Old Wang in the village. He has money and is happy to help. We can pay him back after we dig up the fish and sell them."

"As for raising fish, we can learn from Li Mu and the others first, and see how they raise them. Once we've learned, it's not too late to raise them ourselves."

Raising fish is easy. Just dig a plot of land, catch some small fish and put them in the pond, feed them regularly, and they'll grow big.

Li Siming became more and more enthusiastic as he spoke. He Yinglian listened to Li Siming's words, and although she was still a little worried, she finally nodded when she thought about her family's poverty: "Let's give it a try. We have to be careful and not let anyone find out."

When Li Siming heard He Yinglian agree, he was so happy he almost jumped up: "Don't worry, wife, I'm always careful and cautious, nothing will go wrong."

After discussing it, the two decided to wait until dark to secretly dig the pond so as not to be seen by anyone.

As night fell and all was quiet, Li Siming and He Yinglian took advantage of the darkness to quietly arrive at a piece of wasteland on the edge of the village. They first checked on Li Mu's pond, and seeing that there was no movement there, they returned home reassured and began digging.

They didn't bring any tools, only a few shovels and bamboo baskets, and they dug very hard.

But the thought of raising fish and making money once the pond was dug, and living a good life, filled them with energy.

After digging for a while, He Yinglian was panting heavily. She stopped, wiped her sweat, and complained, "This job is really inhuman; it's tiring and dirty."

Li Siming was also exhausted and covered in sweat. The wind was still cold on the April night, making people shiver, but he didn't care. While wiping his sweat, he encouraged He Yinglian: "Keep up the good work. Once we finish digging the pond and raise fish, we can make a lot of money and live a good life!"

They dug all night but only managed to dig a shallow pit. They covered it with some weeds and leaves to temporarily cover it up.

As dawn broke, Li Siming and He Yinglian dragged their weary bodies home.

They quickly washed up and then fell asleep on the bed.

I was awakened by the loud banging on the door.

"Open the door!" Li Siming rubbed his sleepy eyes, struggled to get out of bed, and muttered, "Who is it? Can't a person get some sleep this early?"

He staggered to the door, opened it, and saw Tao Qingshan standing there, holding a wooden stick, his face ashen.

When Li Siming saw that it was Tao Qingshan, his heart skipped a beat.

"Uncle Tao, what brings you here?"

Tao Qingshan said irritably, "Why do you think I'm here? What were you all doing last night? Don't think I don't know!"

“Lijia Village is such a small place, how could anyone hide what they did from me? I took a stroll around the edge of the village this morning and I could tell at a glance that the soil behind your plot of land had been disturbed. I knew it must have been you two.”

Upon hearing this, Li Siming inwardly groaned, never expecting Tao Qingshan to be so shrewd and discover it so quickly.

He smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Uncle Tao, what are you saying? We just walked around the back last night and dug a hole in that spot, planning to plant some trees or something. We were just thinking of adding some greenery to our home."

"Wandered around? Went to that wasteland on the edge of the village to dig a pond?"

Tao Qingshan stared wide-eyed, his voice rising a few decibels.

Seeing that he couldn't hide it any longer, Li Siming had no choice but to tell the truth: "Uncle Tao, you already know? We just wanted to dig a pond to raise fish and make some money."

"Making money? You think digging a pond to raise fish is such an easy thing? Look at Li Mu and the others, how long did it take them to dig a pond? You just dig one up like this, do you think you can raise fish?"

Tao Qingshan grew angrier as he spoke, banging his wooden stick on the ground with a loud thud.

Seeing that Tao Qingshan was angry, He Yinglian put on her clothes and came out.

"If Li Mu can dig, why can't we? Uncle Tao, you're clearly biased and on Li Mu's side. Why can't we dig a pond?"

He Yinglian's words infuriated Tao Qingshan even more: "You woman, how can you be so unreasonable? I'm on Li Mu's side? I'm on the side of reason! Look at you, you don't know anything, you just dig a hole and think you can raise fish, isn't that ridiculous!"

"You think you can just move around on this land as you please? Do you think this is your backyard? You can't just dig whenever you want and do whatever you want?"

"Besides, this land doesn't belong to you, it belongs to the village! Did you get the village's permission to dig like this? If everyone did what you did, wouldn't the village be in chaos?"

Seeing that Tao Qingshan was serious, Li Siming shrank back in fear and dared not utter another word.

Although He Yinglian was unconvinced, she knew that Tao Qingshan was telling the truth; they had indeed dug the pond without the village's consent.

She tugged at Li Siming's sleeve, signaling him to stop talking.

Tao Qingshan looked at them and sighed, "It's not that I don't want you to dig the pond, but you have to follow the rules. You should first inform the village and get their permission before digging. Digging like this without permission makes things very difficult for me."

"They're only speaking up for them because they accepted a few pounds of meat from Li Mu!" He Yinglian muttered under her breath.

Upon hearing this, Tao Qingshan became even more furious: "What are you saying?!"

Enraged, he grabbed a wooden stick and swung it in the air.