Back to my 1980s

"Well, the fish are small, but there are a lot of us, so it's better to separate them. Maybe those fish sellers at the market were originally one family."

"Brother, I think you're pretty smart. You even thought of this. How come I never realized you were so smart before?" Zhao Ru stepped aside, carrying the bucket of water.

Zhao Hua scoffed, ignored her, took a few steps forward, and rearranged the fishing net in preparation for going into the water.

After nearly a month of fishing and casting nets, Zhao Hua's movements became increasingly skilled, but today the water flow was faster than usual.

Walking along the shore, I had to frequently change locations and collect the fish from the nets. By evening, I had only cast the nets about twenty times.

Shaking his arms, Zhao Hua looked up at the sky, then turned to Zhao Ru and said, "Go and row the boat over here first. After we haul in this net, we'll collect the fish traps and then head home. It's getting late."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ru stood up and nodded in response. The sun had lost its midday scorching heat, and she and Zhao Hua had now circled around to the other side of the desolate island, where the reeds blocked out the sunlight.

She was now standing by the river. It was too hot at noon, and she hadn't dressed warmly enough before going out. Now, with the wind blowing, she felt a bit chilly.

Seeing her run to row the boat, Zhao Hua didn't rush to pull up the net in his hand. The fish caught in the net later in the afternoon were not as many as in the first net. It was probably because the noise of casting and pulling the net was too loud, and many fish at the bottom of the water were scared away.

Moreover, the fish on the shore are very good at playing dead. You won't even feel them when you cast the net in the afternoon. They will only struggle violently when the net leaves the water.

Seeing Zhao Ru rowing the boat towards him, the tip of the boat cutting through the river and creating two shallow ripples that slowly spread towards both banks, he slowly pulled back the net rope.

Having followed him for over a month, Zhao Ru's rowing skills have become increasingly proficient, and she soon stopped on the shore next to Zhao Hua.

"Brother? Do you want to come aboard and haul in the net? That way we won't have to go to the shore to collect the fish anymore! We can just dump them into the hold!" She stood on the boat and called out to Zhao Hua.

"Aren't you pretty smart? Did you see the fish we caught this afternoon? Were any dead?" he said, picking up the net rope and jumping onto the boat.

"I checked, none of them are dead. I changed the water every time I put the fish into the fish hold." The small boat swayed violently from side to side after Zhao Hua jumped so suddenly. She had to grip the oars tightly to keep her balance and avoid falling.

"Hmm, that's good." He went into the cabin and focused on retrieving the net.

"Hey!" The net rope in his hand suddenly jolted, a feeling he hadn't experienced all afternoon. Startled, he abruptly turned to look at Zhao Ru and chuckled, "Looks like this net has a big catch!"

"Really?" Zhao Ru loosened her grip on the handle and climbed over from the stern.

He pursed his lips and didn't reply. The jolt of the net rope came again, more intense than before. He dared not slacken his pace. He immediately gripped the handle tightly with both hands, lowered his center of gravity, and withstood the impact, slowing down the speed of pulling the net back, slowly reeling the rope in little by little.

The fishing net was almost pulled ashore, and he was worried that if he pulled it in too fast, the fish would rush and break through the net. He had just had a new hand-thrown net made, and if this one broke through, it would be unusable.

But then came an even stronger sense of throbbing. He had rarely encountered this situation before. Judging from the force transmitted through the net rope, if the stalemate continued, the fish would likely break free of the net. But Zhao Hua was unwilling to let it go.

The next moment, the force increased, and his heart sank. Then, the net rope suddenly stiffened and stopped moving completely.

He tugged at the net rope in his hand, but there was no resistance or hesitation. He tried to pull it back, but it wouldn't budge.

"Tsk, this might be a carp, it's been driven into the ground."

"What does 'pile driving' mean?" Zhao Ru asked curiously when she saw him suddenly stop moving and stop retrieving the net.

"Driving a pile means it plunges headfirst into the mud, like a wooden stake firmly nailed to the bottom of the water, not moving at all." Zhao Hua tightened his grip on the fishing net.

"Isn't it good that it's not moving? You can pull it up now, right?" Zhao Ru felt confused. This pile driving didn't seem like a good thing, so why wasn't her brother taking the opportunity to pull the net up?

"No, it's being driven into the ground, not dead. The more you pull it, the deeper it will sink. If you pull it too hard, it will just push into the mud. Besides, carp have a lot of explosive power. If you pull it upwards, it might just break through the fishing net."

"What should we do?" Zhao Ru peered into the riverbed, but it was murky and she couldn't see anything.

"It's alright, no rush." ​​Zhao Hua gently shook the fishing net.

"How do you know it's a carp? Are only carp capable of 'shoveling'? Don't other fish do it?" She turned back and looked at Zhao Hua.

"Catfish can also drive piles, but they don't have that much strength. Large catfish are not as common as carp, so I think it's a carp."

"Oh, fish can drive piles? This is the first time I've ever heard of that."

"Yes, grass carp and bighead carp also eat them, but there are more common carp that often come to the river to feed in the summer."

After saying that, he ignored Zhao Ru and focused on shaking the fishing net. Seeing her brother's actions, Zhao Ru didn't dare to disturb him anymore.

After shaking for a while, feeling the force loosen, Zhao Hua glanced around, jumped off the boat, and dragged the fishing net toward the shore.

The water is shallow near the shore, so no matter how strong it is, it has no room to exert its power.

A moment later, Zhao Hua finally managed to drag the fishing net ashore. Sure enough, there was a big carp inside. As soon as it was out of the water, it began to struggle violently, splashing river water everywhere on the shore. It was still jumping around even after it was out of the water.

"Wow! It really is a carp!" Zhao Ru ran to the shore and exclaimed in surprise when she saw the carp that had just come out of the water.

"Hmm, it probably weighs close to ten pounds, so this one will cost seven or eight yuan." Zhao Hua clicked his tongue.

"Let's go! Let's go! We still need to collect the fish traps!" Zhao Hua picked up the fish and tossed the fishing net to Zhao Ru behind him to handle.

He threw the fish into the fish hold, walked to the stern, and rowed, waiting for Zhao Ru to finish hauling the fishing nets aboard.

After Zhao Ru boarded the boat, she gently pushed the water with the oar, and the boat started moving.

"Hey, brother, this fish is huge, but it's still not as big as the mandarin fish we caught the first time!" She lifted the wooden plank of the fish hold and peered inside.

"That's not the same! If you catch fish with a net, the net will break with just a little force. If you catch one that's stranded, it's just luck. It's not the same. How many fish did you catch today?"

"Let me see, there are so many crucian carp today, much more than before. But there's only one big carp. The crucian carp must weigh fifty or sixty pounds. Won't they get crushed to death?" Zhao Ru reached out and poked at the fish in the fish hold.

"Anything else? Any other fish?"

"There are so many whitebait too. We've thrown away all the small ones, but there are still plenty here. There are also a dozen or so catfish, lots of loaches, and a few snakeheads and catfish. Wow! Bro! How come there are so many fish on the shore?"