My 1995 Small Farm.

Fish roe is naturally the fish eggs inside the mother fish's belly.

When Wang Qingwen and the other man heard this, they thought Chen Ling wanted to raise this kind of mandarin fish, since everyone thought he always liked to raise strange and unusual things.

Chen Ling smiled and shook his head: "No, we'll feed them."

"Eat it? Aren't we not supposed to eat fish roe?"

Wang Qingwen frowned.

There's plenty of water here, so fish roe from all sorts of fish is very common.

For example, in early spring, there are the most crucian carp, and when you cut open their bellies, you always find a belly full of fish roe.

The elderly often say that fish roe should not be eaten, as it will cause forgetfulness.

Or they'll say this stuff is poisonous or something like that.

The main reason is that most people don't know how to do it.

Secondly, although the fish roe is small and individual, it is actually not easy to cook it properly.

Therefore, many people experience diarrhea and persistent stomach pain after consuming it, leading some to believe it is toxic.

"It's alright. Susu and I eat fish roe all the time, and Zhenzhen eats it often since she's here with us. It's nutritious and good for the brain."

Chen Ling patted the belly of the big fish and laughed: "But I've only ever eaten crucian carp roe before. I've never had such big mandarin fish roe before. Today I'll make you boiled fish with fish roe, let's all try it... mainly because I'm craving it myself."

Wang Qingwen laughed upon hearing this: "Ha, since you've said so, it seems this thing shouldn't be too bad to eat."

Now, even if something happens, Chen Ling's brother-in-law won't criticize him so much anymore.

While chatting and laughing, they didn't forget to shoo away the ducks and water birds, and throw all the fish that jumped onto the bank back into the ditch.

After all, in his view, this stuff is all money.

His brother-in-law was so nonchalant and didn't care, but he couldn't just ignore it.

Zhao Gang saw this and helped pick it up.

The three of them worked for a while and collected as many fish as they could.

These are all small fish; some are so small that they hop onto the shore and die from being out of the water for too long.

We can only leave it for the ducks to eat.

So the three of them stopped interfering.

They took the two white-lipped barbs, each over half a meter long, back to deal with them.

When you cut open the fish's belly, the roe is all in clumps.

Clean the fish and fish roe separately.

Because the unhatched fish roe has a lot of impurities on it, such as membranes, it smells very fishy and smelly.

If you want to cook something from the water, you have to be careful and meticulous.

Otherwise, if you're not careful, the taste won't be palatable, and all your efforts will be wasted.

After everything was tidied up.

Marinate the fish roe and fish meat.

Zhao Gang was still amazed by the size of the fish, touching it and measuring it from time to time.

That one is for smoking. This fish is too big to finish, so after smoking it, we'll let it sit for a little while before processing it.

That's right.

The commotion was quite loud, and the fish was rather large, so the women in the house quickly found out what had happened.

Hearing that so many fish had been wasted, they were heartbroken.

Fish that costs thirty yuan per pound.

These big guys have ruined at least thirty pounds of my body.

Losing more than a thousand yuan a day, how can that be tolerated?

Although my family has earned a considerable amount of money in the past two years, we are still just an ordinary family in the countryside, far from the point where we don't value money.

Given current prices, a loss of one or two thousand yuan is quite painful.

This year, teachers at county middle schools only earn about 500 yuan a month.

Despite reports of pork prices rising this year, it's only less than six yuan per jin (500g) locally.

One or two thousand yuan is a significant financial burden for most people.

If we don't get rid of this soon, we won't be able to keep our fish.

Isn't this just like keeping a few hungry wolves among a flock of sheep, letting them run wild and eat whatever they want when they get hungry?
No household can withstand such destructive behavior.

"It's alright, don't worry, I'll take care of the big fish tonight, and you don't need to worry about the small ones..."

Chen Ling repeated his previous statement, patiently explaining, "There aren't many fish this big. Once we deal with the big ones, the remaining smaller fish, even if they swarm together, won't cause much trouble..."

Whitebait prefer to swarm and forage in groups, regardless of whether they are small or large fish.

This type of fish is impatient and fierce.

When it grows to a large size, its destructive power is too great.

There's no way to keep such a big fish alive.

Chen Ling was actually thinking that if he caught something he couldn't eat, he would just throw it into the cave or leave it in the mountain lake.

It cannot be left on the side of the canal and ditch.

All the waterways here are connected.

Making them do this in the ditch every now and then is really unbearable.

then.

Only the small fish were kept; these fierce little fish were kept.

It won't last long in a short time.

When they're almost fully grown, it's time to sell them.

Therefore, it would be better to keep them and raise them together with other animals; that would actually be beneficial.

"Oh? Is that so? Then how do we catch the big fish?"

Wang Susu tilted her head and thought for a moment, looking a little troubled.

Since it's something from the water, you can't use a dog to find it.

Moreover, the canals and ditches are interconnected.

The farm is such a large area.

These fish can easily find places to hide, making them quite difficult to spot.

"See these fish eggs? These are mandarin fish that are about to lay eggs. Like eels, these guys will protect their eggs when they first lay them, staying put. When it gets dark, just look along the water's edge and catch them."

Fish are always easier to catch at night than during the day.

Chen Ling and Zhao Gang worked together, cleaning another large fish while explaining to everyone.

Although catching such a big fish is definitely not as simple as he makes it sound.

However, he must have his reasons for being so confident.

Firstly, the whitebait is indeed at the time of spawning. Unlike crucian carp and common carp, this type of fish will mate and reproduce regardless of spring or summer, as long as the weather is warm and the water level is high, there is plenty of rain, or the environment is stable.

Once the fish eggs are mature, they often like to throw them onto the water's surface near aquatic plants and leaves to attach and provide cover.

Meanwhile, they kept watch near the fish roe for a while.

Based on this characteristic, they would patrol along the irrigation ditch at night with flashlights to search for it.

With such a big target, there's no fear of not finding it.

Secondly, he also has bait to lure fish, as well as garlic and other fish.

Bring the garlic back tonight and let it go looking for fish; those fish won't stand a chance.

……

After much persuasion, Wang Susu and the others were finally able to relax for the time being.

But by evening, before the dinner was even ready, raindrops started to fall in a pattering sound.

Summer rains come especially quickly.

Moreover, the weather is too hot.

When it first started raining, the raindrops felt warm on people.

Although it's cool around Chen Ling's house, the rain was still quite warm. It took about ten minutes for the rainwater to cool down.

But the rain got heavier and heavier.

Looking out under the cover of night, the rain poured down in a continuous curtain, and puddles formed on the ground.
On a rainy day like this, we can leave the fish alone for now.

It's perfect for hot pot.

Today's fish hot pot is basically boiled fish and boiled fish balls, with the same seasonings, all cooked in one pot.

The seasoning for stewing the fish has already released its flavor; using it again for the second batch will make it even more flavorful.

Add in various kinds of chili peppers, and it smells amazing.

The white fish meat and golden fish roe, soft, fragrant and bouncy, all melt in your mouth, followed by a spicy and savory flavor that makes you want to keep eating.

Listening to the rain while eating a steaming hot and spicy fish hot pot is truly a treat.

Rui Rui can't eat spicy food, and of course, he's still too young for that, so we don't let him eat it.

He sat in the baby seat between Chen Ling and Wang Susu, with a small bowl of pickled fish, swinging his legs and babbling incessantly towards the living room door as he ate.

He seemed eager to go over, but Wang Susu held him to the side, preventing him from moving.

The rain was indeed quite heavy tonight.

Not only were the family's dogs and calf taking shelter from the rain at the living room doorway.

The little raccoons outside the farm also ran over with the big cat, and they sat in a row outside the door, big and small.

Smelling the delicious aroma of fish and meat, they kept peering into the house.

Before long, all the cats, big and small, started meowing and whining in a drawn-out, threatening tone.

It was the family's little tabby cat, followed by several weasels, that quickly ran in from the rain.

This made the invading mountain civets feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Almost got into a fight.

Seeing such a wonderful scene, Rui Rui was overjoyed.

These weasels rarely go home when there is plenty of food.

But Rui Rui had seen it quite a few times.

However, since it's not something that's always around to play with, it's very attractive to the little guy, who always wants to grab it and play with it whenever he sees it.

When he saw the weasels running back and sniffing around the cage where he kept the chicks, he wasn't annoyed.

I even thought about going over to feed them.

"Get out, all of you get out! You're covered in mud and water, and you smell terrible."

Seeing that these guys wanted to run back inside while they were eating, Chen Ling stood up and tried to shoo them out.

The dog at home is a little better.

Knowing it's clean.

They're not as unhygienic as the stray dogs in the village.

When it rains, the village dogs fill the yard with a stench of dog urine. If the dogs are leashed, it's even worse; the smell of dog urine mixed with the smell of dog urine is so unpleasant that it's almost impossible to live there.

Dogs are better, but wild weasels and weasels that are often away from home are not.

After being soaked by the rain.

The smell was really strong.

As soon as Chen Ling rushed over, all the big and small wildcats swarmed under the eaves to the other side to take shelter from the rain.

They do know what's good for them.

These five weasels were different. They were filthy from the rain, and they were swishing their tails as they ran around him, trying to rub against him.

I tried to chase them away several times, but they wouldn't leave.

I guess it's because she hasn't seen him for a long time and misses him.

I want to get closer to him.

Upon seeing this, Rui Rui slid off his seat in a flash, excitedly calling out "Dad!" and yelling as he ran over to play with the weasels.

Even Wang Susu couldn't stop it.

Seeing this, Chen Ling had no choice but to take his son to bathe the weasels first. After washing them with soap and drying them with a towel, he allowed his son to catch and play with them.

A heavy rainstorm brought back many of the little creatures that used to live near the farm.

After they finished eating, Chen Ling and his brother-in-law went out with umbrellas to check on the livestock and poultry. There was some noise on the western mountain, which caused the dogs to bark. The two of them looked quietly, but the rain was too heavy and they couldn't see clearly even with the flashlight.

I don't know if it was those two mountain donkeys or something else.

After the two finished their inspection and cleared the waterway, they were about to go to sleep when they discovered several foxes sneaking in through the waterway opening to seek shelter from the rain and spend the night.

Judging from the dog at home and Xiao Jin's reaction, they must be the same foxes from before.

The rain was getting heavier, and Chen Ling was afraid that they would wander into the house and make a mess of it.

So they closed all the doors to the kitchen in the backyard and all the rooms in the front yard, and even blocked the doors to the first floor with thresholds to prevent rats, insects and the like from getting in.

So don't bring them inside. They can be left anywhere outside. There are plenty of places to shelter from the rain, under the eaves, or along the long corridor beside the lotus pond.

By the next morning, the rain had gradually stopped.

The dog was splashing around in the rain.

After being woken up, Chen Ling went downstairs and was immediately glad that he had closed all the doors to the rooms and blocked the thresholds the night before.

There's nothing else to it; the heavy rain that night prevented the water from draining out immediately.

The mountain streams continue to flow into it.

The rainwater filled the whole yard, and the yard was full of fish.

If the door isn't closed and the threshold isn't blocked, these fish will probably swim into the house.