Back to my 1980s

Zhao Ru led the two girls back to the Zhao family courtyard first.

After putting down the bucket, the two girls didn't stop. They exchanged a few words with Zhao Ru and then went out together.

They ran into Zhao Hua at the door. The two hesitated for a moment, seemingly feeling that it wasn't right to just leave like this, but they didn't know what to say. They stood at the door, caught in a dilemma.

Zhao Hua noticed their predicament, smiled and nodded in acknowledgment, then walked directly into the courtyard.

Seeing Zhao Hua go straight into the courtyard, the two men looked relieved and quickly covered their heads with their hands as they ran home.

The courtyard was quiet. After finishing her meal, Zhao's mother went out to chat with her old friends and do needlework.

Zhao Ru stood by the water vat in the yard, watching the fish she had just caught swimming around inside, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned around and saw Zhao Hua. He asked, "Where's Dad?"

Zhao Hua approached the water vat, put down the bucket he was carrying, scratched his head, and casually replied, "It's still in the back. It'll be back in a bit."

Seeing him just standing there staring at the water tank without moving, Zhao Ru asked in surprise, "Aren't you going to put the fish into the tank?"

Zhao Hua glanced at the water tank and was about to speak when he suddenly felt that some of the fish were not right. They looked about the same size as crucian carp, but their mouths were much bigger and their barbels were noticeably thicker. Their bodies also seemed rounder than those of crucian carp.

After taking a closer look, he looked at Zhao Ru and couldn't help but burst into laughter, teasing, "What kind of fish did you catch? Is that a carp?!"

Seeing Zhao Hua laugh at her, Zhao Ru remained unperturbed, her heart unmoved. She said calmly, "They're carp! Don't underestimate them just because they're small; they're incredibly strong! You wouldn't believe it! If I hadn't held onto the bamboo pole tightly, it would have been dragged away!"

Zhao Hua shook his head, his laughter subsiding slightly. He raised an eyebrow at the carp, then turned to Zhao Ru, feigning confusion, and asked, "These are only about the size of crucian carp. What are you going to do with them?"

"Then should I release the fish that I worked so hard to catch?" Zhao Ru asked calmly, her small hands slowly hanging down to her hem before clenching into fists.

Seeing her clenched fist, Zhao Hua pursed his lips at her, glanced at her sideways, and laughed, "Most people buy carp to give as gifts. Who would be willing to eat such an expensive carp? Who would buy such a small one to give as a gift?"

"If we can't sell them, we can just eat them ourselves. Why do we have to be able to sell them before we bring them back?" Zhao Ru turned around and leaned over the water tank to look at the carp.

Looking at Zhao Ru's thin figure, Zhao Hua thought for a moment and said with a soft smile, "It's not that we can't sell them. It's okay. I plan to sell these carp tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ru suddenly straightened up, turned to look at Zhao Hua, and asked, "Really?"

"Of course it's true. Let's sort the fish first. All the fish have come to the shore today. There are all kinds of fish, it's a mess. Let's pick them out before we raise them." Zhao Hua softened his tone.

"Okay!" Watching Zhao Hua turn around and go to the corner of the yard to get a bamboo basket, a sly glint flashed in Zhao Ru's eyes, and a charming smile curved her lips.

Zhao Hua took back the bamboo basket, and the two of them braved the drizzle to scoop out the fish caught in the fish trap from the water tank and sort them together. Just as they started sorting, Zhao's father carried a bamboo pole into the house and placed the bucket in front of Zhao Hua.

He glanced at the bamboo baskets placed around the brother and sister, then stared at Zhao Hua, who was concentrating on sorting, for a while. Remembering that his old friend had said on the way that he hadn't seen his youngest son go out and fool around recently, he breathed a silent sigh of relief.

He leaned the bamboo pole he was holding against the wall in the corner of the kitchen, walked over, squatted down, and sorted the food with them.

The three of them worked together to sort the fish, which made the process much faster. Before long, they had sorted the fish into different categories and put them into baskets. Zhao's father looked at the baskets full of fish and the basins full of small shrimp that were scattered all over the ground.

He clicked his tongue and sighed, "Back in the day, only fishing teams would have dared to catch so many fish at once."

Zhao Ru snorted lightly, a smirk playing on her lips, and said, "The fishing teams go in large groups, using seine nets. They can catch hundreds or even thousands of kilograms in one go. How can we compare?"

Mr. Zhao glanced at her, put his hands behind his back, ignored her, and turned to go back into the house to smoke his pipe.

Zhao Hua glanced at her and laughed, "Alright, take the shrimp to the kitchen. I'll go fetch two buckets of water from the ditch and raise these fish first."

"Go ahead, do you want me to come with you?" Zhao Ru picked up the basin from the ground.

"If you were a boy, I wouldn't even need to go; I would have let you go directly."

Zhao Hua picked up the buckets and strode out of the yard. A moment later, he returned to the gate with two buckets of water, veins bulging on his arms.

Zhao Ru had already placed the porcelain basin and was standing in the yard waiting for him to return. Seeing his hurried steps, she quickly made way for him.

He placed a full bucket of water on the ground, and poured the water from the bucket in his other hand directly into the vat. After pouring out half of it, he turned to Zhao Ru and said, "Bring the crucian carp and carp into the vat; there are more of these two types of fish."

Zhao Ru responded, bent down and laboriously carried the basket of crucian carp to Zhao Hua, panting as she said, "It's so heavy! I clearly felt that Dad caught fewer fish than me, so why is it so heavy when we put them together?"

He glanced at Zhao Ru upon hearing this. She had only just learned to fish, yet she was already experiencing all the hallucinations that fishermen often have.

Zhao Hua put down the bucket in his hand and said irritably, "How many fish did you catch? Only thirteen or fourteen pounds in total. Dad caught more than ten pounds of crucian carp alone. I cast over thirty pounds with my net, almost sixty pounds. It would be strange if it wasn't heavy. Fine, just leave it here."

Zhao Ru put the basket on the ground, caught her breath, then turned to get the carp and asked, "Did Dad catch that many?"

Zhao Hua put the basket into the water tank, tilted it to let the fish swim out, and only turned the basket over so that all the fish fell into the water tank.

Hearing Zhao Ru's words, he thought for a moment and said, "About the same. The crucian carp weighed over ten pounds, and the catfish and other fish that could be sold also weighed over ten pounds. Dad's crucian carp alone weighs more than all your fish combined!"

Zhao Ru, unconvinced, walked over carrying the carp and said, "I've never fished before. Catching so many on your first try is already amazing, okay?"

"Mmm mmm mmm mmm..." Zhao Hua didn't want to deal with her. Zhao's father also brought back the carp, which weighed only seven or eight pounds in total, so he let her pour it herself.

Turn around and put the larger fish, like catfish and snakehead, into one bucket, and the smaller fish, like catfish, loach, and mudfish, into another bucket.

The IOUs didn't last long, so he left them all on the side. He planned to give some to his neighbors later.

Although many people openly go to the river to catch fish today, since most families have fish at home, sending some over is still a gesture, and at least some superficial effort should be made.

After finishing everything, Zhao Hua straightened up, clapped his hands, and looked at the fish in front of him. There were more than 50 catties of crucian carp, 7 or 8 catties of carp, and about 30 catties of catfish, blackfish, and other fish, totaling nearly 90 catties.

Today's harvest is very pleasing, but selling them is really worrying.