Back to my 1980s

Shuanghuai Village.

As Zhao Huagang approached the village entrance, he saw villagers walking out of the village in twos and threes.

Seeing that it was about to rain, most people stopped what they were doing and gathered at the dock.

Knowing that the plum rain season is approaching, they went to the riverbank to see if the upstream sluice gates had been opened in advance to empty the reservoir in preparation for the upcoming plum rain season.

However, the villagers were just watching out of boredom; they had long been quite experienced from being washed away by the floods every year.

No one goes to plant crops on the land above the river embankment anymore. The river embankment used to be planted with willow trees for flood control, but now it has been replaced with rows of poplar trees.

Zhao Hua greeted the villagers casually, then went home to get a bucket and hurried to the river.

When the villagers who went to the dock saw Zhao's father and Zhao Ru fishing, they turned around and went to watch the excitement instead of heading towards the dock.

Zhao Hua glanced at the villagers on the shore, slowed his pace, and walked over. They were all villagers; if he had known he was making money by fishing, he wouldn't have needed to hide. He might as well have been more open.

The wind was stronger on the riverbank than in the village. The river was wide and unobstructed, and the wind rushed straight in along the river, causing Zhao Hua's clothes to flutter slightly backward.

As soon as he bent down to get the fishing net from the shore, someone came over and laughed, "Your family really knows how to make money! The whole family is here to catch fish."

Zhao Hua smiled and looked up, picked up the fishing net and slung it over his shoulder, saying, "We were just idling around at home anyway, and since it's a cloudy day, the fish tend to swim towards the shore, so we came over to have some fun and try our luck."

"Yeah, fish like to come ashore on cloudy days, but who would think to come over and try to catch some fish? You guys are really quick-witted," another person chimed in.

"Let's go back and get the fishing nets now. The rain hasn't started yet, so we still have time." Zhao Hua knew that no one dared to fish openly right now.

Living right by the river, how could they not sneak around doing something sneaky, even just to have a little treat?

Zhao Hua alone knows that many families have fishing gear; it's estimated that only the truly honest ones don't.

When those people heard Zhao Hua say this, they exchanged glances and thought to themselves, Zhao Hua can catch fish and sell them without any problems, so there's no need for them to be so careful.

Moreover, I heard that some people were trying to learn from him by rowing small boats and preparing to go fishing in the river. So far, no one has paid any attention to it. A moment later, sure enough, a few people gritted their teeth and turned around to walk back into the village.

Zhao Hua glanced at the riverbank and was speechless. He should have known better than to be so talkative. He should have cast the net once and then moved to another spot. With so many people going back, there wasn't enough room for everyone along the riverbank near the village.

He didn't have time to exchange pleasantries with the rest of the people; he quickly shouldered the fishing net, picked up the bucket, and walked away.

After walking about fifty or sixty steps to the east, they put down the bucket, took off their shoes, stepped into the water, and began casting their nets. After retrieving the nets, they moved a few more steps to the east and then cast their nets again, slowly advancing eastward.

A moment later, the men retrieved their fishing nets and, seeing that Zhao Hua had gone so far, assumed that Zhao Hua had indeed cast his nets along the entire coastline from Zhao Ru to Zhao Hua.

Two people stopped coming this way. One started moving westward from next to Zhao's father's house, while the other changed direction and ran to the dock to fish this way.

Seeing this, the remaining people ran to the other side of the dock. Those who chased after them saw that the riverbank had been almost completely divided up, so they had no choice but to run to a place a little east of Zhao Hua to retrieve the loot.

Seeing that everyone who was going back had arrived, Zhao Hua chuckled, picked up his shoes and bucket, turned around and ran back to Zhao Ru's side, casting the net back along the riverbank.

In fact, if they took a closer look, they would have discovered that a large section of the riverbed between Zhao Ru and Zhao Hua was still dry and exposed, without a trace of water left after the nets were brought ashore.

"Brother, how was the harvest?" Zhao Ru handed the bamboo pole in her hand to Zhao Ting beside her and caught up with her.

Zhao Hua twisted her neck without saying anything, but just smiled and gestured with her chin toward the bucket so that she could see for herself.

She bent down, shook the bucket handle, and exclaimed in surprise at the fish in it, "How can there be so many? It's almost full!"

Zhao Hua smiled and said, "A lot, right? How's it going on your end?"

Zhao Ru stood up and laughed, "I caught quite a lot too, probably more than ten pounds. Half of them were whitebait, and Dad dug up some earthworms for me. I thought I would catch more fish than you netted."

Fishermen naturally possess this kind of inexplicable self-confidence. He ignored it, rubbed his aching arms, and looked into the distance to relax. Suddenly, he saw several people walking towards him in his line of sight.

They vaguely look like the group from the west side of the road; it's been a long time since I've seen them.

Inside Shuanghuai Village, there is a dirt road that leads directly to the dock. This dirt road runs from one end of the village to the other, dividing the village into east and west halves. This group of people lived on the west side of the road.

Just like when you grow up, you can easily step over a drainage ditch, but when you're young, you need to gather your strength to jump over it.

So when Zhao Hua and the others were young, this dirt road seemed exceptionally large to them, so large that they would not easily cross it.

The children on both sides of the road naturally huddled together according to their assigned areas, forming two groups. What started as minor disagreements or frictions between two children would eventually escalate into conflicts between the two groups.

Childhood conflicts aren't a big deal, but holding grudges and remembering those childhood animosities makes it hard to break them as adults. A nod is enough to be polite when you meet someone, and sometimes you even feel that you're not as close to people from other villages as you are to them.

Seeing this group of people approaching, Zhao Hua became somewhat wary. They didn't get along well to begin with, and it seemed that Wang Gang, who had previously harassed Third Sister, was also among them.

Previously, Wang Gang had tried every means to harass his third sister without success, so on the day of her wedding, he took a risk and tried to forcibly take her away.

According to traditional rural beliefs, if a bride is abducted during her marriage, outsiders will only gossip behind her back, saying that the girl is immoral, that she doesn't respect the bride's family and can trample on them at will, or that it is a major taboo that disrupts the family's fortune. At best, it will cause discord between the couple; at worst, it will bring misfortune to the children.

"Zhao Ru, go to Dad's side first." He narrowed his eyes and waved Zhao Ru aside.

Zhao Ru didn't pay much attention to those people at first. They were already seeing each other all the time in the village, and it was normal for them to come over since so many people were catching fish today.

She sensed something was wrong when she heard the seriousness in Zhao Hua's tone. She took another closer look and saw that Wang Gang was also in the crowd. No matter how mischievous she was, she was still just a girl.

Seeing her brother's solemn expression, she felt a little flustered, her tongue went numb, and she was too embarrassed to speak.

Seeing Zhao Ru standing there nervously, Zhao Hua frowned slightly, then suddenly laughed and said, "What are you standing there for? Go fishing, or go to your father's place."

Seeing her brother smiling, Zhao Ru's tension eased considerably. She composed herself and asked, "Brother, what are they doing here?"

"I don't know, they probably came over because there were a lot of people catching fish here. Don't worry about them, you go do your thing." Zhao Hua smiled, but secretly tensed his muscles.

"Okay, I'll go back to fishing then." Perhaps realizing that Zhao Hua wanted to get rid of her, she didn't ask any more questions and obediently walked back to Zhao Ting and Zhao Xiaoran.