Back to my 1980s

night.

Zhao Hua was lying in bed.

People are already saying that there are no secrets in the village. If someone finds something interesting, it can spread throughout the whole village overnight.

This is not a good sign. Although people in a village tend to stick together nowadays, we can't assume that everyone is perfect. If the villagers go to the market to compare vegetable prices and calculate the fish he brought back, they can roughly estimate how much money he made.

In a large village, not everyone is an acquaintance; there are always people of varying degrees of closeness. Those with whom he has only a casual relationship might feel resentful seeing Zhao Hua making money and might report him.

If someone reports you, they'll definitely investigate. These days, those police officers are brutal in their enforcement. Even if you're innocent, being taken away could cause you trouble, especially since they've made so much money.

The bed creaked as he turned over.

This is barely the beginning, and everyone already seems like a bad person...

It's better to keep a low profile. Being a little outstanding is fine, but being too outstanding is not. Others work for a year without eating or drinking to buy a bicycle, but he can buy one in a few days. Zhao Hua thinks that if he were in his shoes, he would also want to report it...

I'll come back a little later next time, and tomorrow morning I'll pick out some small fish mixed with whitebait to give to the neighbors.

A few seconds later, he fell into a deep sleep. He didn't feel tired during the day because he was busy hauling in the nets and fishing, but at night, a feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed him.

……

The crisp chirping of birds came from outside. Zhao Hua closed his eyes and began to process the information in his mind. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and looked out the window.

It was still getting dark, and he could vaguely hear noises coming from the kitchen. It must be Zhao Ru preparing breakfast. He got up, dressed, and went out of the room.

"Did you tell your friends? Ask them to help you keep an eye on things this morning too." He took a basin and went to the kitchen to fetch water, and sure enough, Zhao Ru was inside.

"I already said it last night. Let's eat first. They should be here soon." Zhao Ru lifted the pot lid.

"Did you see the fish? Is it still alive?" He picked up a towel to wipe his face.

"Look, they're all still pretty fresh, lively and energetic. Brother, you're so lazy!" She picked up the cornbread from the pot one by one and put it into a bowl.

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm lazy? I almost lived in the river and you call me lazy?" Zhao Hua glared at her irritably.

"You say you're not lazy! There are so many fish in such a small tank. Luckily, the fish survived last night, otherwise all my work yesterday afternoon would have been for nothing."

Zhao Hua had a vague feeling that something was wrong, and tentatively asked, "So you added water?"

"Hey! I'm not like you! I woke up early this morning and when I saw there was so little water, I quickly added more!" He seemed a little proud.

Zhao Hua glanced at the empty water buckets in the kitchen and then asked, "Well water?"

"Yeah! What's wrong?"

He quickly dropped the towel in his hand, rushed to the water tank in the yard, glanced inside, and thankfully it had just been filled. He then hurriedly picked up the bucket he used to hold the fish and ran to the distant ditch to fill the bucket with water.

When I got home, I poured half of it into another bucket that I used to hold the fish, and then I scooped all the fish out of the tank.

After finishing, he said to Zhao Ru behind him, "Fish in the river cannot be raised in well water. Well water is stagnant, too cold, and has a very low oxygen content. If you raise fish in well water, they will suffocate and die from lack of oxygen. Even if they don't die, their scales will rupture."

"Luckily you didn't bother me before bed last night, and you can't put too much water in, otherwise it'll be easy for the fish to run out of oxygen." Zhao Hua gently stirred the fish in the bucket.

"Oh? Is that so? I thought you were just lazy..." Zhao Ru muttered under her breath, feeling a little guilty.

I didn't originally intend to punish this girl. What's the big deal if the fish died? Just explain it clearly. At worst, we can give it away. It's not like it's inedible.

But she kept saying she was lazy, which I couldn't stand. I glared at her angrily and said, "What are you standing here for? Bring out the blackfish, catfish, and scale from inside! We'll grab something to eat and leave! You're the lazy one!"

Zhao Ru was startled by his sudden increase in volume. She couldn't help but punch his arm to vent her anger before turning around and going inside to get the fish.

Zhao Hua glanced at the whitebait that had been hanging in the yard long ago, went over to examine it, and found it to be damp and fresh to the touch.

"Why are you looking at that? Your hands will smell like fish when we eat." Zhao Ru picked up a carnivorous fish that was stored in the room and looked at Zhao Hua's hands with disgust.

Last night, after dinner, the white-fleshed animals were processed and dried, while the herbivorous ones were kept in the water tank.

The two were eating when the three girls arrived, but they stood together outside the courtyard and didn't come in.

"Hey!" He waved his arm outwards and said, "Why aren't they coming into the yard? They're all standing at the gate!"

Zhao Ru turned her head and glanced at them, saying, "Because I saw you. Wait here, I'll go call them in." She put down her chopsticks, got up, went out and called the three girls in, then moved chairs over for them to sit down.

"Have you eaten?" Zhao Hua picked up the bowl of porridge and took a sip.

"Mmm-hmm-hmm!" Several girls nodded frantically, sitting stiffly on the stools, not saying a word.

Seeing that they were still reserved, Zhao Hua laughed and said, "It's not like we don't know each other, why are you so serious? Zhao Ting, I even saw your father last night."

The other two girls huddled close to Zhao Ting, signaling for her to respond. Zhao Ting turned and glared at them, then smiled and said, "I know, he told me when he went back to dinner last night."

Seeing that they were acting strangely, Zhao Hua simply ate two mouthfuls of porridge from his empty bowl and went out to prepare.

They visibly breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Zhao Hua leave, and then said to Zhao Ru, "You went to catch more yesterday afternoon? My dad said he saw a lot and asked me to ask where they caught them."

Zhao Ru swallowed the cornbread in her mouth and said, "It's very far away, at the end of that desolate continent. It takes my brother and me half an hour to row there."

The girls' eyes shone with hope as they sighed, "It's so far! I've never been that far before. How is it different from here? Does the desolate continent have an end? What does it look like?"

"It's similar to our area. There are a few very old willow trees. My brother and I have been up there. There are wildflowers and weeds on both sides of the bank. Further away, there are many big trees that are very strong. Many willow branches droop into the water."

Wow! Will the willow branches droop into the water? And are there many of them? That must look beautiful.

"I really want to go and see it. I've never even left my village in my entire life."

"Why don't you go and beg her brother? Maybe if you do, he'll take you along."

"Why don't you go? Didn't you want to go see it too? If you beg, maybe they'll take you along!"

When Zhao Hua was here, they were all timid and submissive, but now that she's gone, they've started to let loose. Zhao Ru held her bowl of porridge, her eyes slightly narrowed, looking at her best friends with a half-smile.