A courtyard house, equipped with a fishing system, living in an era.

When the sewing machine arrived at Jia's house that morning, Xu Ping'an was extremely busy.

Because there aren't many nighttime activities these days, you have to go to bed early and get up early.

Early Sunday morning, he took his fishing rod, bucket, and small stool and headed straight to Shichahai to start fishing.

Large fish weighing over five pounds have disappeared here, but there are quite a few medium-sized fish weighing one or two pounds.

As soon as Xu Pingan sat down, several people immediately surrounded him.

There were a few acquaintances and two complete strangers I was meeting for the first time.

The one I'm most familiar with is definitely Han Dehou, the head chef of Beixiu Institute.

Speaking of the Northern Repair Institute, Xu Ping'an still doesn't know what kind of institute it is.

Han Dehou himself had also come to fish, but he had been fishing at another spot earlier. When he saw Xu Ping'an, he moved his small stool and fish bucket over.

"Xiao Xu, I need three fish. I have to leave once I have that many."

The speaker was not Han Dehou, but a lean man in his thirties wearing glasses.

This person's name is Shen Weijun, and he is a lecturer in the Chinese Department of Fu Jen Catholic University.

Xu Pingan had never heard of this school, but it was said to be not far from here, only a ten-minute walk away.

However, this is the old city of Beijing, not the small county town in Jiangnan where I lived in my previous life.

In his previous life, Xu Ping'an lived in a county town where there was no such thing as a university.

The only place I saw was a senior citizens' university...

However, after living in Beijing for a while, university doesn't seem so special anymore.

Right on the main street inside Nanluoguxiang, there is a Central Academy of Drama.

It's only a few minutes' walk from Xu Ping'an's house. In the mornings, when the students from the Central Academy of Drama are doing their morning exercises, Xu Ping'an can hear their voices, even when he's lying in bed.

Xu Pingan was quite surprised when he first heard that Shen Weijun was a university teacher.

After all, he hadn't seen a living university professor since graduating from university.

But after spending more time here, I got used to it. After all, it's Beijing, the capital city...

"Is Teacher Shen in a hurry today?"

"Hi, we have guests coming over, and meat is hard to buy these days. The fish at the market isn't as fresh as yours, so I thought I'd just buy a few from you!"

Speaking of this, Shen Weijun was actually quite upset.

A new director was transferred to their department, who was said to be from the same hometown as him.

Shen Weijun was just being polite by inviting him to dinner, but unexpectedly, the man actually took advantage of the situation and agreed.

Now he can't even go fishing and relax on weekends...

"Ping An, you go ahead with your work. I'm going to the market to buy some groceries, and I'll pick up the fish shop on my way back, okay?"

"No problem, I'll save the fish for you, Teacher Shen, you can go without worry!"

……

"Brother Ping An, save two for me too!"

Without even looking at the person, just by listening to their thick Northeastern accent, Xu Ping'an knew who they were.

Xu Pingan turned to look at him. This man was called Sun Changhe, a senior fitter at a nearby motor factory.

Originally from Northeast China, he moved to Beijing with the factory.

He himself didn't care, but Xu Ping'an felt that his descendants would thank him in the future!

After all, if you don't have a Beijing household registration at birth, you'll most likely never have one in your life!

Seeing that the other party had all the necessary equipment—fishing rod, fish bucket, and small stool—Xu Pingan was somewhat puzzled.

"No, Old Sun, aren't you fishing yourself?"

"Don't even mention it! The fish in Beijing look down on us outsiders. Back in the Northeast, if we want to eat fish, we just scoop it up from the water with a basin. The fish here are practically sentient!"

Xu Pingan smiled and said, "Guess whether I believe you or not?"

That's even more outrageous than saying the air in foreign countries is sweeter...

But even if we see through each other, we won't say anything; we can still be good friends!

"Take your time, there's no rush!"

"Don't even mention it. If I wander around outside all morning and come home empty-handed, that old woman at home will break my bones..."

"Alright, if you're sure you want them, I'll leave you two when I leave."

"Yes, keep the two big ones, money's no object!"

Xu Ping'an's place was bustling with activity, and not far from him, two young men in their twenties were staring at him.

"I saw it, so what? People are fishing here to make money; they're not breaking any rules!"

"Captain, who told you about the rules? I'm telling you to learn from them. Look at them... Come on, look, they've caught a fish."

"Wow, such a big fish? It must weigh at least three pounds!"

"Is this fish big?"

"You're new here, young man, you don't know, but when they were dredging and netting this Shichahai Lake this spring... the bigger fish were all caught in one go!"

The two watched from a distance for a while longer and realized that this person was really good at fishing.

"Captain Li, do you think someone might be lurking underwater and baiting his hook?"

Captain Li shook his head: "Then why don't you dive down into the water and check?"

"Huh? Captain, you're kidding, right?"

"Didn't you start the joke? Alright, let's go. Everything's fine here; we still have to go on patrol!"

Xu Pingan was no longer surprised by the prying eyes he received from afar.

He abides by the law and has never even been to the black market or the pigeon market, so what is he afraid of?

Since Shichahai Fishing King made his name known, he has always been accompanied by all sorts of scrutinizing eyes!

Then one by one, they were all impressed by his abilities.

Xu Pingan secretly wondered if it was time to start preparing to buy a house.

I don't know if the price of these public housing units has gone up in the past few years, but it's better to take the money and be safe with it...

Around 10 o'clock, Xu Ping'an called for a retreat.

"Is Xiao Xu leaving already?"

"Oh, we have to work overtime at the factory!"

"Wow, you've caught about 20 fish this morning, you must have earned at least ten dollars, right? Why are you still going to work?"

Sun Changhe was disappointed in his son's lack of progress.

"If I had your skill level, I wouldn't be doing this job as a senior fitter anymore..."

"Hey, Old Sun, with your level of awareness, you'll never catch this many fish!"

As he spoke, Xu Pingan picked out two fish from the five fish in the bucket and threw them into Sun Changhe's bucket.

He casually stuffed the handful of small bills the other person handed him into his pocket, picked up his bucket, and left.

They're all seasoned veterans; they can roughly tell how much a fish weighs just by looking at its size. A rough estimate is all they need...

Xu Ping'an wasn't lying; he really did have business at the steel rolling mill.

It's still one day off per week.

Last night, Li Huaide specifically sought out Xu Pingan, looking troubled, and asked if he could come over and work overtime at noon today...

If this were his previous life, he would have gotten angry with anyone who asked him to work overtime.

But the situation is different now!

Don't call Xu Ping'an a snob, always trying to curry favor with this leader...

The people in the current work group, whose positions were created after the public-private partnership, are all big shots that Xu Pingan could never have met in his previous life.

The reason why everyone is speaking kindly to Xu Ping'an now is partly due to the times, and partly due to the results of Xu Ping'an's hard work during this period.

"Ping An, thank you for your hard work this weekend!"

When Xu Pingan arrived at the small canteen, Li Huaide was already waiting there.

"I'm just following the example of my superiors. You guys are working overtime day and night, and you don't even get Sundays off. How can I complain?"

Li Huaide patted Xu Ping'an on the shoulder.

"Hey, none of the kitchen helpers are here at lunchtime. If there's anything you need me to do, just let me know, I'll help you!"

"No, you go and take care of your business. I can handle things in the kitchen."

There aren't many members in the working group, so there's no need to cook for everyone; Xu Pingan alone can't handle it all.

We can only use a few small coal stoves to work.

Li Huaide wasn't lying; he helped him wash and peel the cabbage and potatoes.

"This small kitchen is going to be shut down soon, what are your plans?"

While working, Li Huaide suddenly asked this question!