Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 167 Sister, Don’t Listen
Those who don’t mind the cold at all are the naughty kids under seven or eight years old in the village. They are letting out their guard and having fun on the ice.

Sun Juan, five little girls and Goudan were also happily playing on the ice. Chen Weidong took a look and saw Liu Xueting holding Xiaoliu and his second sister Chen Xiuxiu taking care of them, so he felt relieved.

Soon, more and more people came, including people from Sunjiatun and other villages. For a while, the ice surface of Taiping Lake became an amusement park.

Children's laughter and adults' scoldings echoed one after another on Taiping Lake.

Of course, there is also the sound of a hammer hitting an ice pick.

Brothers Chen Weidong and Chen Dahai worked in a group. Chen Weidong swung a hammer and hit the ice pick accurately.

Digging a hole in the ice is a laborious task. Chen Weidong experienced this the last time he fished in Luwei Lake.
Moreover, it takes a lot of effort to dig holes in the ice to fish with nets.

Sun Xianghai was very experienced and had made arrangements long ago. Two people worked in groups, taking turns to dig holes in the ice.

First, make an entrance to the network, and use this as a starting point to dig out an ice hole at intervals on both sides to form a circular ice hole array with a diameter of one or two hundred meters.
Finally, an exit port was chiseled out a few hundred meters away from the entrance port.

After an hour or two, all the holes in the ice needed for winter fishing were finally dug out.

Then we start to move the net under the ice. Moving the net under the ice is like threading a needle under the ice, using "walking hooks", "twisting anchors" and "threading rods" to pull the "water line" to the bottom of each ice hole.

Pulling the water line on the ice surface can make the fishing net that has been put into the water move along the designated route. It is very time-consuming to move the net under the ice, and it took until noon to complete it.

It is said that during winter fishing in Chagan Lake, the fishing nets are several thousand meters long, and it takes seven or eight hours just to move the nets under the ice.

Taiping Lake is not as big as Chagan Lake, so naturally it does not require a fishing net as big as Chagan Lake's winter fishing net.

The fishing nets used in Sunjiatun are only about one or two hundred meters long.

There is no need for horses to pull the capstan, only a few donkeys will do.
Chen Weidong's donkey was also put to good use. According to the rules, they could share more of the fish they caught today.
Sun Xianghai is the second uncle of my brother-in-law Sun Tianjun, and he greeted him before coming.

After everything was arranged, the fish head checked it and announced that the net could be pulled in. Some villagers drove donkeys to pull the winch and began to pull the fishing net out.

They don't have a ceremony to wake up the lake and commemorate the lake god. I don't know if it's because of the movements in the previous ten years or for other reasons. Anyway, in Chen Weidong's memory, there is no ceremony to wake up the lake.

Just make sure the fish is in the net.

As the long rope was pulled out from the ice bit by bit, the underwater fishing net was tightened, and then the fishing net was also pulled out bit by bit.

As the fishing net was pulled out of the hole in the ice, everyone could clearly see the big fish trapped in the net.

The enthusiasm of the villagers on the ice suddenly increased a lot. Everyone pointed at the fishing nets with happy smiles on their faces.

Chen Weidong looked at all kinds of big fish being pulled up and a smile appeared on his face, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

The fishing nets used in the village have large meshes to ensure that the small fish will not be pulled up by the fishing nets.

This can also be regarded as a kind of simple wisdom of ordinary people. If you leave the small fish, you can catch fish every year.

Even the little kids stopped playing on the ice and came over.

Standing next to the fishing net, watching the big fish being pulled out of the ice hole little by little.

After all the fishing nets were pulled out, without Sun Xianghai's instructions, everyone rushed forward and started picking fish out of the nets.

Even a child of seven or eight years old struggled to pick up a big fish and carry it to the sledge.

Everyone work together,
The fishing nets were being sorted out here, and all the fish had been loaded onto the sled over there.

Chen Weidong glanced at his daughter in the distance.

Good guy!
The five daughters, who had somehow sneaked in, began to drag the fish onto their own sled.

They evidently thought that if they hauled the fish into their sled, it would be theirs.

Some of these little kids were holding two fish tails in each hand, panting as they walked, while others were holding big fish.

Especially the little girl Wu Ni, Chen Weidong couldn't bear to watch. She was very careful. A little girl specially picked a big silver carp weighing more than 20 kilograms. The fish was almost taller than the person. What a scene!

Seeing them having so much fun, Chen Weidong did not stop them.

“This year’s harvest is really good!”

Everyone had a happy smile on their face. The fish caught in this net weighed three to four thousand kilograms. Although it was not comparable to the winter fishing in Chagan Lake, where each net caught tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of kilograms,
But you have to know that there are not many people in the village. According to the rules, those who work here can each get more than 100 kilograms from this net alone, and each household can get several dozen kilograms.

Of course one network is definitely not enough, so here comes another one!
This net is a lot less than before, but it still weighs about one or two thousand kilograms.

In other villages, some were lucky and could catch five or six thousand kilograms with one net.

After packing up his things, Sun Xianghai shouted loudly and went home to divide the fish.

In fact, even without Sun Xianghai’s shouting, everyone was already eager to go home.

I was so happy when I first picked up the fish, but now my hands are so cold.

Even those naughty children were walking honestly with their parents into the village.

"You naughty kid, look at what you've done, your cotton pants are all wet, you'll freeze to death!"

"What's wrong with you? Your cotton shoes are all wet. Aren't you cold?" Along the way, the voices of parents scolding their children could be heard from time to time.

The same thing happened on Chen Weidong's side. Liu Xueting was holding Xiaoliu and scolding a few little girls. The five little girls were all wet to some extent. Goudan was also called away by his grandfather!
"Sisters, you are not obedient!" Xiaoliu, in Liu Xueting's arms, suddenly pointed at his five sisters with his little hand, and his childish voice rang out.

As soon as she finished speaking, the little kid looked at her sisters again, and was so scared that she hugged her mother tightly.

Adults like Chen Weidong couldn't help but laugh when they heard Xiaoliu's actions.

"Xueting, stop talking about the child! Go home and warm yourself by the fire!" Chen Xiuxiu said with a smile.

Chen Xiuxiu and Liu Xueting brought the children back home. As soon as they got home, Chen Xiuxiu asked the five little girls to take off their cotton trousers, let the children hide in the quilts, and then put the cotton trousers on the hot pack to warm them up.

Of course, the same thing happened to other people in the village. Those who had children would take their children home first, take off their cotton trousers, let the children hide in the quilt, and then put the cotton trousers on the hot pack to warm them up.

The difference with Liu Xueting is that some of them even give a few slaps on the buttocks.

At this time, the naughty child could only be beaten obediently, lying naked on the bed with no place to run if he wanted to.

After beating the child, his hands were warm, and he rushed to the village chief's house.
Chen Weidong, Sun Tianjun, and Chen Weihai did not go home. Instead, they followed the fishing team, pulled the fish on the sled to Sun Xianghai's house, and began to weigh the fish.

Soon, the door of Sun Xianghai's house was full of people, all waiting for the fish to be divided! They couldn't wait any longer and wanted to get their share of the fish.
Sun Xianghai didn't waste any time. After weighing the fish, he directly arranged for people to start dividing the fish. Sun Tianjun and Sun Xianghai greeted them and took one home first, asking Chen Xiuxiu to cook.

Chen Weidong and Chen Weihai were waiting for the fish to be divided. Soon, the villagers who had received the fish left one by one.

After a while, it was the turn of Chen Weidong and the other two. The three of them shared more than 400 kilograms in total.

More than 400 kilograms may seem like a lot, but a larger fish weighs more than 20 kilograms, and a smaller one is around 7 or 8 kilograms. In total, each person gets about eight or nine fish.

There are still a lot of fish left, and it will probably take another hour or two to sort them all.

Chen Weidong and the other two had no interest in watching the fun, so they drove the donkey cart carrying the fish back. Liu Xueting and Chen Xiuxiu had just finished cooking.

Chen Xiuxiu made fish soup, but due to the lack of seasoning and oil, the taste was not as good as that made by Chen Weidong, but it was also very fresh.

After dinner.

After chatting for a while, brothers Chen Weidong and Chen Weihai prepared to go back. After all, they still had to go home to process the fish.

Before leaving, Goudan came over again!

Goudan was also reluctant to leave Si Ni.

Si Ni: "Brother Goudan, next time you come, I will take you fishing."

Goudan: "Sister Sidan, you must come play again!"

……

Then Chen Weidong drove the donkey cart, took Chen Weihai and his family back home.

After returning to the village, they first went to their eldest sister-in-law's house. Liu Xueting did not go with them. There were still chickens and dogs at home that had not been fed, so Liu Xueting took the children and went back first.

Chen Weidong and his older brother Chen Weihai shared the fish. Chen Weidong took two less and asked his older brother to give them to his parents later.

Then he left the yard and was about to catch up with the donkey cart when he heard the voice of the soldier behind him.

Turning around, I saw Bingzi and his wife Zheng Xiaofang.

"Brother Wei Dong!"

"Brother Wei Dong!"

When they saw Chen Weidong, they shouted happily.

"It's Bingzi and Xiaofang! Where are you going?" Chen Weidong greeted with a smile.

"I just came back from Xiaofang's mother's house. Brother Weidong, where are you going? Why are you hauling so many fish?"

Bingzi smiled and said that before he got married, he had to live in the village with his head held high. After getting married, he straightened his back. However, he knew that this was all thanks to Brother Weidong. If Chen Weidong hadn't brought him into the mountains, he probably wouldn't have been able to get married.

"I just came back from my second sister's place. They were doing winter fishing, and I caught some fish along with them."

"You and your wife can take this fish home to eat!" Chen Weidong said, then he took out a fish weighing more than ten kilograms from the sled and handed it over.

"Brother Weidong, this... is so embarrassing!" Zheng Xiaofang declined politely.

"Why are you being so polite to Big Brother? Bingzi and I have played together since childhood and we are also relatives."

Chen Weidong smiled.

"Brother Weidong..."

"Just take it if I tell you to. Don't be polite with me!"

Bingzi took the fish, then looked at Chen Weidong and asked, "Brother Weidong, when are we going into the mountains? You didn't call me last time you and Shitou went into the mountains!"

"Isn't that because you just got married, I will take you to the mountain? Xiaofang will agree to that!"

Chen Weidong scolded with a smile.

(End of this chapter)