Back to 1980: Farming the Sea and Expanding the Island

"Let's get started then." Lin Chuan smiled and took the lead, grabbing a stalk of sweet sorghum and snapping it in two.

"Xiaoman, you gather the fallen sweet sorghum together over there. The three of us can chop these up."

"Okay, brother." Xiaoman was very obedient and quickly stacked the broken sweet sorghum together.

Water Monkey and Li Jiaye also took action.

Even though October was almost over, the harvesters were already sweating after only a short time.

Just as everyone was focused on cutting sweet sorghum, a few "quacks" suddenly came from the reeds not far away, and two wild ducks suddenly darted out, flapping their wings and gliding quickly through the air.

Li Jiaye stared intently, then exclaimed in frustration, "Oh, what a pity! If only I had brought a slingshot, I could have shot it down. That duck would have been delicious!"

Unfortunately, the wild ducks quickly disappeared from sight, leaving the water monkeys filled with regret.

"It's alright, even with a slingshot you might not be able to hit them. I'll take you to Sparrow Island to hunt them later, there are lots of spot-billed ducks there." Lin Chuan squinted at the wild ducks flying away and laughed.

"Alright! Brother Chuanzi," Li Jiaye said excitedly. "I've wanted to go to Que Island for a long time to see what it's like, but my dad just wouldn't let me."

"Brother Chuan, there are some on Canhong Island too. When are we going to Canhong Island?" The water monkey lamented as the spot-billed duck ran away from him.

Although Li Jiaye was beaten at noon, he still wanted to try the delicious food that the man had mentioned.

If you bring a slingshot, this duck definitely won't be able to escape.

"Let's go tomorrow. Let's go to the island and take a look." Lin Chuan thought for a moment and agreed.

"Yes!" The water monkey nodded heavily, a smile on its face.

Li Jiaye paused, looked at Lin Chuan expectantly, and asked, "Brother Chuan, can you take me to the island?"

My father told me that Canhong Island will be yours from now on. I also want to go to the island with you to hunt ducks.

I've figured out the question you asked me to think about: Wen Dong caught the eels himself.

Renfu picked the medicinal herbs himself, and he also stewed the chicken soup.

"The chickens I stole were fed with great care by my mother. I didn't even get her permission before..." Li Jiaye's voice became unusually low as he spoke.

Lin Chuan looked up at Li Jiaye, wiped his sweat, and thought the kid wouldn't understand.

It's not that I didn't understand now, it's that I grew up crooked.

In his previous life, before he left Qingpingzhou, Li Jiaye stayed at home and spent his free time hanging out in the county town.

A few years after he left, I heard that the guy got involved in a case and was in jail for several years before he got out.

Hearing him say that made me feel quite gratified.

"That's right, it's good that you understand. Strive to achieve your goals through your own efforts, just like Wen Dong catching eels and Ren Fu collecting medicinal herbs."

"You can help your family and earn money at the same time. Your mother definitely won't hit you; she'll be happy."

"But after hearing you mention 'Dragon and Phoenix Soup' today, I'm really craving it," Lin Chuan joked with a smile.

"Me too," the water monkey chimed in.

Li Jiaye smiled sheepishly, then nodded vigorously and said, "Brother Chuanzi, I understand. I promise I won't be so reckless again."

Xiaoman said with a grin, "Brother Jiaye, you'd better behave yourself from now on and stop stealing chickens from your house."

My brother doesn't eat the ducks from our farm anymore; he even makes feed for them.

Lin Chuan smiled and said to Li Jiaye, "If you're free tomorrow, come find me with Monkey."

"Alright, Brother Chuanzi."

The group chatted and laughed, and soon got back to harvesting.

The ingredients of duck feed include not only sweet sorghum, but also reeds.

After cutting several bundles of sweet sorghum, Lin Chuan led a few people to the reed marshes and taught them how to select suitable reeds.

Perhaps because he had gone too far, Lin Chuan was bending over to cut reeds when he suddenly slipped and almost fell.

He instinctively reached out to grab something nearby, but ended up grabbing a handful of water plants.

Just as he was about to get up, he felt a movement under his hand. Upon closer inspection, he saw a fat fish thrashing about among the water plants.

Lin Chuan shouted excitedly, "Monkeys, come and see! I caught a fish!"

The others quickly gathered around and saw that the fish in Lin Chuan's hand was lively and jumping around, and it was quite big.

The water monkey laughed and said, "Hey, Brother Chuan, you've gotten a surprise out of your fall."

The group laughed and put aside their reed-cutting for the moment, continuing their search in the reed beds. Before long, they actually caught a few more fat fish.

Lin Chuan's eyes lit up, especially when he saw the water monkey touch a large "shad".

Shad is considered the top of the three delicacies of the Yangtze River, with tender and delicious meat, making it a top-selling product.

There are still quite a few in the Yangtze River basin now, but by the 1990s they were almost extinct, and it will be difficult for future generations to taste such a fresh and delicious food.

"I'm really lucky today. Nobody comes to this village, but I didn't expect there to be so many fat fish hiding here." Lin Chuan laughed happily.

"Luckily, Brother Chuan brought us here to cut reeds." The water monkey, carrying the shad, followed behind, laughing.

After a while, Lin Chuan was lucky and caught two shad in a row, and Xiao Man caught a big crucian carp.

"We're almost done with the work, let's go back." Lin Chuan went ashore and bundled up the reeds he had just cut.

Then he said to the water monkey and Jiaye, "Monkey, Jiaye has three shad. Each of you take one back."

This anchovy weighs about two or three pounds. Take the family property back, then properly apologize to your mother. We'll divide the remaining small fish and monkeys among ourselves.

Li Jiaye nodded gratefully and replied, "Yes! Thank you, Brother Chuanzi."

Lin Chuan caught the shad and anchovy, while the other fish caught a mullet and some crucian carp, all of which were much smaller than the ones Lin Chuan caught.

The water monkey chimed in, "Brother Chuan, why don't you take all the shad back with you?"

Lin Chuan waved his hand and laughed, "No need, we'll divide it like this." Then he said to Xiaoman, "Xiaoman, take the fish with you, we'll eat fish when we get home tonight."

"Okay, brother," Xiaoman replied happily.

Lin Chuan, Shui Houzi, and Li Jiaye carried sweet sorghum and reeds on their backs, walking along the narrow field ridges towards their own courtyard.

Along the way, you could hear the sounds of cattle and sheep calling in the distance, as well as the laughter and chatter of the village women.

When Lin Chuan returned home, his mother had just arrived and was preparing dinner. She was currently cleaning up the sweet potatoes.

The water monkey greeted Li Jiaye and Lin's mother and then happily ran back.

Lin's mother's job was to follow the team's sideline production team to weave reed mats or collect reed flowers to stuff pillows.

Another method is to weave baskets and vegetable baskets from willow branches. These plants grow in damp places on the riverbank and have flexible branches.

Like reeds, willow is a major raw material for sideline production on the island. Fortunately, it is abundant and only requires labor costs.

The side job is relatively fixed; each person completes their task by setting up four tables or eight frames per day.

If you can produce more, that's extra output and extra income, but very few people are willing to do that much work.

Weaving mats and baskets is a delicate craft; even a skilled female worker needs nearly two hours to weave a single reed mat.

Everyone has other chores to do at home, and most people can't manage four sheets a day.