During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

Although the water flow here is gentle, it is still a deep, dark place that cannot be seen at a glance, and there is not a single fish to be seen in the rushing water.

"Second Girl, why are you acting so impulsively? Coming here to fish in the dead of winter, freezing cold?"

Li Chunyan, shivering and tucking her hands in, muttered, "If you ask me, we should go downstream, drill a hole in the ice, and cast our nets. Maybe we'll catch a few!"

"It's alright, Yan'er. If we can't catch it, we can't catch it. Just consider it a trip to the wild forest with Er Yatou."

Ye Dali glanced at his wife and chuckled sheepishly, "When we first got married, we loved to wander into the woods, didn't we..."

"Hey, you idiot!"

Li Chunyan immediately blushed crimson, and angrily pinched Ye Dali's foot, saying, "Why do you always have to shoot everything out!"

"Ouch! That hurts!"

Ye Dali clutched his arm, wincing in pain, which made Ye Qingqing and Ye Cuicui laugh uproariously.

Even Ye Dazhuang, who had been ignoring everyone, couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips into a smile.

Although he didn't know anything about fishing, he felt that Ye Qingqing's actions were very incongruous and not something an ordinary person would do.

There's a saying among the villagers that's quite true:

In this freezing weather, if we could catch fish in the river, who in our village would still be eating chaff and wild vegetables every day?

But for some reason, he felt that it was not bad for Ye Qingqing to just go and catch fish on a whim.

"If we can get fish, we'll eat it; if not, we'll go home and make sauerkraut and pork dumplings!"

Ye Qingqing casually raised an eyebrow, rolled up her sleeves, and saw that the shallow riverbank was somewhat loosened by the current. She lifted her foot to test it, and when she felt that she could stand on it, she bent down and rolled up the legs of her cotton trousers to prepare to go down.

"Second Girl, what are you doing! How can you, a young lady, be exposed to cold water like that?"

Ye Dali was startled when he saw her rolling up her sleeves and getting ready to go into the river. He quickly stopped her, saying...

"I'll go, I'll go. You and your sister-in-law go to the back, don't get stuck in the mud, it's freezing cold!"

"Er Yatou, Cui'er, you two step back! Dali, tie the rope around your waist."

Before Ye Qingqing could speak, Li Chunyan took the long hemp rope, tied it around his waist, and nervously instructed him,

"If you step on something that breaks the ground, forget about the fishing net, grab the rope quickly, and we'll pull you up!"

"It's alright, nothing's wrong."

Ye Dali took off his cotton shoes, rolled up the cuffs of his cotton trousers, and stepped into the loose mud.

A warm feeling welled up in Ye Qingqing's heart, and she unconsciously smiled and said, "Big brother, be careful."

She was used to doing things herself, so it was really nice to suddenly have an older brother who helped her with everything.

"hiss……"

The icy muddy water made Ye Dali shiver violently. His feet felt like they were being ripped apart by small knives, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

He shook himself, struggled to walk closer to the riverbank, took the fishing net off his shoulder, opened his arms, and threw it out with all his might.

The fishing net spread out in a perfect circle in the air, then with a "splash" it landed on the water's surface and sank to the bottom within seconds.

"Oh, I thought you were joking, but you actually came here to fish!"

A few idle villagers followed, peering into the woods. Seeing Ye Dali casting his net into the water, they immediately started chattering amongst themselves.

"Hey Er Ya, your family's buying rice and meat, and you still think it's not enough to eat? What, you want fish again?"

"Who's the kind person who'd cast a net into the river in the dead of winter? If they manage to catch any fish, I'll twist my head off and use it as a stool for them!"

"That's for sure. Right now, the fish are all hiding at the bottom of the water. At the very least, we'll have to wait until the coldest days of winter when the river freezes solid and the fish can't hold their breath and rise to the surface. We'll have to make a hole in the ice to catch them."

"Dali, hurry up and get on! Don't waste your time and end up freezing if you don't catch any fish!"

……

"Go away, what's so interesting about it!"

Li Chunyan's face flushed red, and she shooed them away impatiently, "We just want to cast a net, so what!"

"Hahaha... your mouth is harder than a tree stump!"

Several people laughed in a sarcastic tone.

Several minutes passed as they spoke, but the river remained completely still. Ye Dali tentatively tugged at the rope, but it didn't feel like there was anything there.

He felt a little discouraged, and with his feet freezing like they were being cut by knives, he could only turn his head and say...

"Second Girl, it doesn't look like there are any fish. Should I haul in the net and try again?"

Ye Qingqing calmly crossed her arms. "No rush, wait another minute."

"Achoo!"

The woods were nestled by the river, and the wind was unusually cool. Li Chunyan sneezed loudly from the cold, feeling a chill run through her body. She hunched her shoulders and said...

"Maybe we should just forget about it, it's freezing cold, don't let your brother catch a cold! Dali, Dali, hurry up and come up, what if you catch a cold..."

"Splash!"

Before the words were finished, a splash suddenly appeared on the water's surface.

The air suddenly went still, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the water's surface, where faint shimmering scales could be seen emerging from beneath.

"Fish! Here they come!"

Ye Dali shouted with surprise, feeling a strong dullness in the rope in his hand.

He quickly grabbed the rope, braced himself with one foot forward and one foot back, and desperately pulled on the fishing net.

But the fishing net seemed to be weighed down by lead, sinking lower and lower. He was pulled forward two steps, almost stepping into the water. Sweat instantly beaded on his forehead in his anxiety.

"Grab the rope! Quick, grab the rope, it's too heavy I can't hold on..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ye Dali moved with lightning speed, darting behind him in a few steps. With quick reflexes, he grabbed the rope and pulled hard, preventing Ye Dali from being dragged into the river by the fishing net.

"Wow! They actually caught a fish!"

Li Chunyan exclaimed in surprise, not caring whether she was cold or not, and ran towards the riverbank, stepping through the loose mud to help.

"Eldest sister-in-law! Second sister..."

Ye Cuicui was flustered and didn't know who to call, so she had no choice but to follow her sister-in-law to pull the rope.

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow and followed.

Several people worked together, pulling the fishing net ropes upwards, one handful at a time.

The fishing net slowly emerged from the river, revealing a dazzling array of white fish scales, with clusters of shimmering fish hanging from the mesh.

Several people strained with all their might, gritting their teeth and desperately pulling the fishing net upwards.

"Pull it...pull it!"

"Sister-in-law, it's too heavy, I can't pull it anymore..."

"Swallow, Greenie, push harder!"

……

When the fishing net was pulled ashore, all the men were sweating profusely, and wisps of steam rose from their hair. They looked at each other, staring blankly at the net, completely dumbfounded.

The huge net was teeming with fish!

They were all lively and energetic, creating a bustling atmosphere like a boiling pot!

This is a cold-water fish with delicate scales. Ye Qingqing didn't recognize it, but they all called it "Ao Hua Zi".

The fish wasn't very big, with a slightly upturned mouth, a yellowish-green body, and a row of sharp, flat, cone-shaped fins on its back. It weighed about two or three pounds.

The largest fish weighed only four or five pounds, and there were also some smaller fish weighing one or two pounds.

However, all things considered, it must weigh at least four or five hundred pounds.

I just overheard some idle people saying this is called "Ao Hua Zi," but no matter how Ye Qingqing looks at it, it looks a bit like a mandarin fish, the kind of mandarin fish in the poem "Peach blossoms float on flowing water, mandarin fish are fat."