Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 943, 942: The Fisherman's Heartache
With sentries watching, Tang Zhitong gave the two little ones a few more instructions, then confidently pushed his bicycle home to get his fishing rod, preparing to follow them out of the coal station to continue fishing.

Fishing can be sold for money—to pay off debts, to buy a mattress, a stove, a wooden frame for the cellar, and for the sake of the family—but definitely not because I enjoy fishing.

I'm not a fisherman, so how could I possibly like fishing?

Before the Republic of China era, most of the hutongs within the Imperial City served a function for the royal family. During the execution of these functions, there would definitely be a lot of traffic, so the width of these hutongs was much better than that of the outer city.

Even at its narrowest point, Dashizuo Hutong is more than a meter wide, so you don't feel crowded at all when riding a bicycle.

Tang Zhitong rang his bicycle bell and walked north along the alley, where he ran into his mother who was returning from grocery shopping.

A playboy might pretend not to see his parents, and some people might set rules for their parents, but Tang Zhitong, as a native of Beijing, must first and foremost show respect to his parents.

Tang Zhitong stopped the bicycle, got off, and greeted Zhang Guifang: "Mom, did you buy groceries?"

Zhang Guifang, carrying a basket, happily told her son, "The supplies here are better than in Tielugu, there are vegetables, and the lines aren't long."

"That's good." Tang Zhitong was not surprised by this. Zhishanmen Street connects the west gate of Jingshan Park and the east gate of Beihai Park.

As one of the most famous tourist attractions in the entire city of Beijing, this area is frequented not only by residents of Beijing, but also by people from all over the country, as well as some people with blue eyes, high noses, and fair skin.

Even for the sake of appearances, the shops here are unlikely to be the same as those in the South City.

"Mom, Jingmin and Fengzhi are setting up their stall at the alley entrance. Jingying and Fengzhen will be done with them after class." When Tang Zhitong came out of the house, her two younger sisters hadn't finished class yet. She didn't know when she would be back, so she couldn't ask her mother to go to the alley entrance to get the popsicle boxes. Therefore, she asked her mother to tell her two younger sisters.

Zhang Guifang nodded in agreement, her gaze falling on the fishing rod: "Okay. Are you going fishing?"

"I'll go to the coal station first and ask them to deliver some coal. I'll also go fishing while I'm at it. I haven't had meat in a while, so I'll see if I can improve my meals." Tang Zhitong didn't deny it, but he also didn't say that he was going out to make money.

Even though Jingying and Jingmin are young, they are still relatives. Zhang Guifang readily accepted the reason of improving their meals. She not only agreed with her son's idea but also gave him instructions: "Go ahead, and come back before dark, no matter if you catch anything."

"Okay, Mom, don't worry, we'll definitely have fish tonight. Take care on the road, I'm going to the coal station first," Tang Zhitong replied with a smile.

Strictly speaking, coal depots, grain stores, and grocery stores all belong to the service industry. However, due to the concentration of resources, situations where customers are "unfriendly, speak harshly, and are difficult to get things done" are inevitable.

Although adjustments and calls to action have been made from above, there are always some people who outwardly comply but inwardly resist and remain indifferent. Many things that need to be changed are temporarily suppressed but will still resurface.

It can only be said that there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of service.

Tang Zhitong entered the coal station; his face wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't exactly handsome either.

After finding the station manager and showing him Yan Xiongfei's approval slip, Tang Zhitong enjoyed warm and attentive service.

"There's no rush to send this coal all at once. We can deliver it slowly when there are fewer people." The coal station has many kinds of coal. Tang Zhitong chose hard coal from Shanxi Province, which is very reasonably priced at around thirty yuan per ton.

"Okay, I'll do as you say. I'll definitely deliver it to your door with guaranteed quality and quantity," the station manager assured, patting his chest.

Even with Yan Xiongfei's note, Tang Zhitong still had to pay the money; there was no way he could get something for nothing.

Tang Zhitong handed the money directly to the station manager, while keeping two boxes of Daqianmen cigarettes.

Tang Zhitong decided not to queue at the window to pay, because when he came over earlier, he saw that people queuing to pay not only had to pay, but also had to smile and explain to the cashier that the money was missing a corner or something.

After leaving the coal station, Tang Zhitong stood at the gate, preparing to walk north along Gongjian Hutong.

To the east of the coal station was Wu Haiyang's workplace, and further north was the western entrance of Milingku Hutong, where a certain general lived.

With so many people and organizations here, and such poor service, Tang Zhitong felt that it wasn't just the coal station's fault, but also partly the fault of the ordinary residents.

According to Tang Zhitong's thinking, if he, as an ordinary citizen, came to buy coal and the coal station gave him a hard time, and he happened to have a very influential neighbor, then he would definitely have to make the coal station look bad in front of his neighbor.

But Tang Zhitong had never heard of anyone doing that before.

It's possible that Tang Zhitong couldn't get the information due to limited channels, or it could be due to the old Beijingers' strong sense of pride.

In Beijing, people value face above all else, believing that "even a dead tiger retains its prestige, and even a dead donkey retains its frame." If someone has to ask for favors over something as trivial as this, how can they boast about their extensive network of connections across various industries in the future?
This is especially evident among the Manchu bannermen.

In the old days, even if a family was so poor they couldn't afford to eat, they would sell their rice and furniture to buy a piece of pigskin.

I buy pigskin not to eat, but to wipe my mouth with the little bit of grease on it.

Even if they eat coarse food and wild vegetables at home every day, they will always have oil on their mouths whenever they go out, to show that they are living a good life!
However, there were exceptions among the Eight Banners descendants, and Master Yu of Gongjian Hutong was one of them.

Master Yu was an eighth-generation descendant of Emperor Kangxi and lived in a three-section courtyard house at No. 8 Gongjian Hutong.

After Puyi was expelled from the palace, the Manchu bannermen's stipends were abruptly cut off, leaving his family without any source of income and plunging them into hardship.

To support his large family, Master Yu followed the example of his ancestor Hongzhou and opened a funeral parlor called "Xincheng Funeral Parlor" outside Di'anmen West Imperial City. He not only accepted funerals for Manchus but also for Han Chinese.

One of the best things he ever did was taking on a funeral in 1933 that no one else dared to handle.

One of the founders of the early development of our Party, a pioneer of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, and an editor of the magazine "New Youth," he was known for his distinctive mustache. He sacrificed his life on April 28, 1927.

According to the customs of the old city of Beijing, the burial date is usually chosen to be an odd number such as three, five, or seven.

The seven days, seven months, and seven seasons of the master's life have all passed, leaving only "seven years." No funeral parlor dared to take on the task, but Master Yu Si accepted it.

He led the pallbearers, braving the risks, to carry the coffin from the place where the deceased lay in state outside Xuanwu Gate. They carried the coffin for sixteen rounds in the city, then through Xisi and Xinjiekou, and finally through Xizhimen for twenty-four rounds, safely and smoothly delivering the deceased to the Wan'an Cemetery in Xishan for burial.

For this reason alone, Master Yu can be called a "hero".

The term "hero" does not exclusively refer to Han Chinese, and not all people with the surname Aisin Gioro are Manchus.

There are several versions of the story circulating about how Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang forced Hong Chengchou to surrender.

Unofficial histories may not be true, but they are certainly unconventional.

Some of the rumors are absurd, and some have even released genetic testing evidence to prove that Emperor Kangxi was the son of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Hong Chengchou.

Whether it is true or not is not important; what is important is that this thing has shaken the foundation of those spiritual Manchus.

After this incident, it's estimated that no one will dare to openly claim to have some kind of divine markings or be a descendant of some great ancestor anymore.

After leaving Gongjian Hutong, Tang Zhitong crossed the Imperial City Wall, which would later become Di'anmen West Street, and arrived at the Qianhai South Riverbank. The Qianhai South Riverbank was still some distance from the Bell Tower, and Tang Zhitong felt the chances of running into Tong Wang there were lower.

Although there are tour boats and railings here, it doesn't dampen the anglers' enthusiasm for fishing. They cast their lines even through the railings, but there aren't that many people, since it's a weekday.

Tang Zhitong was just thinking about finding a good spot to start fishing when he heard a guy in front of him curse, "What the hell is this bad luck!"

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the guy had caught a dead fish. To say it was a dead fish was a bit inaccurate, because half of its body had already been eaten by other fish.

There's a saying in the fishing world: "When a dead fish is biting, reel it in and leave."

That guy is superstitious; he wants to change locations when he's done fishing.

Tang Zhitong looked to the left and right. Although there were people fishing on both sides of this spot, they were about six or seven meters apart, a wide enough distance to ensure that they would not disturb each other.

Others might complain, but Tang Zhitong felt the location was just right.

As for bad luck, I'm not a real angler, so I don't need to follow their rules.

Right now, I'm short on money at home. As long as the place is suitable for me to use cheats, let alone catching a dead fish or even pulling up a floating corpse, I'll still have to cast my line a couple more times after calling the police!

Tang Zhitong stood still, holding onto his bicycle. After the guy left, he first placed the bicycle there to reserve a spot, and then started digging for earthworms in the weeds by the roadside.

Earthworms are great! They don't have a single bone in their body. They're not only nature's sanitation workers, but they're also rich in protein.

As for the specific taste, Tang Zhitong hasn't tried it and can't comment on it. The person most qualified to speak on this topic is probably a certain famous actor who has eaten all kinds of earthworms in China.

Tang Zhitong dug up a bunch of earthworms, chopped them into pieces, and returned to his fishing spot. Before starting to fish, he threw half of the earthworm pieces into the water as a way of baiting the area.

In those days, food was precious, and Tang Zhitong had never seen anyone bait the fishing spot during his limited fishing opportunities. Instead, he mostly relied on his hand rod to try his luck, which was only slightly better than Jiang Taigong's straight hook.

Seeing Tang Zhitong throw earthworm segments into the water, the old man with chocolate next to him twitched his eyes and finally couldn't help but ask, "Young man, is this your first time fishing?"

"I haven't fished many times." Tang Zhitong smiled at the old man. The old man was dressed very neatly, wearing a traditional Chinese jacket and tapered trousers. His skin was dark, but he didn't have any muscles. He looked like a seasoned angler who had been fishing all day and had been exposed to the scorching sun.

The old man with the chocolate shook his head and lectured Tang Zhitong, "Young man, that's not how you fish. You have to use bait slowly. How can you just throw it all in at once? If the fish are full of bait, will they still bite?"

"Grandpa, you won't catch many fish if you don't bait the hook. If you want to bring fish ashore, you have to trade them for grain. I don't have any grain, so I'll just try earthworms." Tang Zhitong threw out the old fisherman's twisted logic, almost knocking the chocolate-loving old man unconscious.

Setting up a nest? That was impossible for Tang Zhitong.

As the economy improves, the crisis of fishery resources becomes more prominent. In order to restore fish populations, the country has issued a fishing ban. However! Fishing enthusiasts who fish alone with a single rod, line, and hook are exempt from this ban and can still go out early and return late, or even fish all night.

The reason the government does this is to reveal a painful truth in the fishing world: anglers can provide extra nutrition to fish by baiting, promoting the growth of fish in local waters, and the number of fish caught is only a drop in the ocean compared to the feed used for baiting.

To put it bluntly, most anglers end up empty-handed; they're basically just feeding the fish.

The old man with the chocolate clearly didn't believe it, shaking his head and saying, "There's such a saying? How strange."

Tang Zhitong didn't care whether he believed it or not; he was just looking for a different explanation to make it easier to serve the fish later.

After baiting the hook, Tang Zhitong cast the line and then quietly hooked the fish onto the hook.

Right now, neither the fishing rod nor the fishing line can withstand the pull of the big fish, and Tang Zhitong is hooking a fish weighing about a pound onto the hook.

There are experienced anglers nearby; you have to think twice before taking a fish that weighs three to five pounds, because they can tell at a glance that something is wrong.

"Hey, here it comes." Tang Zhitong cast his line, and a catfish weighing about a pound was hanging on the hook, wagging its tail.

The old man with the chocolate sat there, his eyes wide with amazement. When did fishing become so easy? Had he been fishing for nothing all these years?

Tang Zhitong removed the fish from the hook, pinched its body, and swung his arm, making the fish's head have a close encounter with the railing.

Perhaps the railing was too sweet, and happiness came too suddenly. The catfish was so overwhelmed by happiness that it obediently lay down at Tang Zhitong's feet.

Tang Zhitong didn't bring a bucket with him when he went out. He originally planned to fish and sell the fish for money, and displaying the fish at his feet would make it more visually impactful.

With the help of the cheat, Tang Zhitong caught five fish in a quarter of an hour, each weighing about a kilogram, which made the players on both sides lose their composure.

With the mindset that "it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost," the chocolate players on both sides stopped fishing and started digging for earthworms on the side.

Tang Zhitong, on the other hand, was fishing and selling fish at the same time.

Any kind, 2.5 yuan each, no bargaining.

A fish weighing about a pound, priced at two and a half yuan, is really not expensive.

Fresh meat is no longer available on the market. Although meat coupons can be used to buy canned meat, how much of that canned meat is broth and how much is meat?
This has inadvertently driven up meat prices.

The chocolate players on both sides dug up earthworms, cast them down following Tang Zhitong's previous actions, baited them, and waited for the fish to bite.

There weren't many big fish in Shichahai. Tang Zhitong tiredly hooked the fish for the two of them. They weren't big, but they caught more than the two of them before.

As soon as the two of them served the fish, fewer customers waited around Tang Zhitong's side for their fish and instead went to buy from them.

Today is the first day of business, and knowing that there aren't many customers who know that there is fish here, Tang Zhitong has the idea of ​​stopping business as the number of customers dwindles.

"Ouch, ouch, big fish!" Before stopping, to attribute everything to the baiting, Tang Zhitong baited the two players on either side of him, who were like two generals, with big fish, each weighing twenty or thirty pounds.

Anyone who has ever fished knows that a seasoned angler would rather break his rod or snap his line than let go of the bait.

The tearing action caused by a 20-30 jin (10-15 kg) bighead carp was definitely more than 20-30 jin. Not long after Chocolate Player made his statement, the fishing rod snapped and the bighead carp sank into the water.

Of course, the silver carp didn't escape; Tang Zhitong's cheat code was waiting for them ahead. This was just a brief respite for them.

"Oh no! My big fish!" The chocolate players were furious, pounding their chests and stamping their feet. They didn't care about the fishing rod and line at all, only about the big fish that had escaped.

This kind of heartache is incurable, not even painkillers or ibuprofen can stop it, and even general anesthesia will only cause it to convulse in your sleep!

(End of this chapter)