335: Chapter 324: Childlike Innocence 335: Chapter 324: Childlike Innocence Junior Ms.Qian gathered the last two pans of fried little fish and decided that tomorrow she would give them to Zhou ErLang to try, while the first basin was also saved for eating later in the evening.
After eating five or six little fish in a row, Manbao was also shooed away by Junior Ms.Qian.
Feeling sowhat heartbroken, Third Son looked at Manbao and said, “Little aunt, we have no more fish to eat.”
He wanted to eat fish too, so why, even though the little aunt clearly had mother keep all the little fish, did they have none to eat?
Feeling a bit guilty, Manbao promised, “Wait until we eat dinner, I’ll give you an extra one.”
Her words didn’t cheer up Third Son, who sighed heavily and plopped down on the threshold.
Third Daughter and Fourth Son had always played with Third Son, and seeing their brother like this, they too let out a sigh and sat on the threshold with their chins in their hands, sharing a look of lancholy.
Manbao sat down as well, savoring the taste of the little fish she had just eaten.
She smacked her lips and said, “The little fish at Shanbao’s house taste better.”
“Of course, they do,” Third Son responded without a second thought.
“They deep-fry their little fish with lots of oil, and they add salt when it cos out of the pan.
Mother only uses a little bit of oil, and they are pan-fried without salt.”
But they were still very tasty.
Third Son sighed sorrowfully once more.
The other three let out a collective sigh.
Villagers returning ho from the fields with hoes on their shoulders couldn’t help but laugh when they saw them, even stopping to ask, “Manbao, what are you and your nieces and nephews up to?”
Four children, two under the age of seven and the other two just about four or five, were all lined up on the threshold, effectively blocking the door, amusing passersby.
Before Manbao could speak, Third Son interjected, “We’re talking about eating little fish.
Uncle Di, do you have any little fish at your house?”
“Oh, aren’t those for feeding chickens?” Zhou Di laughed.
“Even if you want to eat them, you should be eating big fish.
By the way, aren’t your dad and the others catching fish in the river?”
Third Son nodded regretfully, convinced that little fish were tastier than big ones.
“Then tell your dad to save two big fish if he catches any.
Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival, and we should have sothing nice to eat at ho.
Later, I’ll trade you so beans from our house.”
Just as Third Son was about to agree, Manbao said, “We don’t want beans, we want rice.”
“Aiyo, there’s only a few catties of rice at my house, but the beans are good.
Isn’t your sister-in-law making tofu?
She uses quite a bit of beans, right?”
Third Son fell silent.
Manbao spoke up, “We have lots of beans at ho.
My dad said that in addition to making tofu, we can’t trade anything else for beans anymore.
Otherwise, we’ll have to take them to the county town to sell.”
“How about wheat, then?”
Flour tasted better than bean rice.
Manbao nodded.
“Alright, just rember to remind your older brother to save two fish.”
Manbao nodded, “As long as my older brother can catch so big fish.”
Zhou Di left, and the four children continued to sit idly on the threshold.
Eventually, the youngest, Fourth Son, grew restless.
He looked around and then tugged at Manbao’s hand.
“Little aunt, let’s go play, go play.”
Manbao stood up, taking his small hand.
“Alright, let’s go find your dad by the river.”
Third Son and Third Daughter imdiately sprang up to follow.
They were the youngest in the family and had strict orders not to play by the river; otherwise, if soone from the family saw them, they would be beaten each ti they were caught—and Third Son had been beaten many tis.
But following their little aunt, it was clear they wouldn’t be on the receiving end of a beating.
The Zhou family’s rules were clear: if an older one led a younger one into mischief, the older one would be punished.
If Manbao went to the river with Second Son and the others, those who would get punished would definitely be Second Son and his group.
However, if Manbao took Third Son and the others to the river, those who would get punished would definitely not be Third Daughter or Fourth Son.
Instead, it would be Third Son who was of similar age to Manbao.
Third Son was certain that if his little aunt got punished, it wouldn’t be unjust for him to be punished too, but if his little aunt didn’t get spanked, generally speaking, he also wouldn’t get spanked.
He happily followed Manbao towards the river.
There were quite a few people by the river at the village entrance.
This year’s fall harvest had ended especially early, and now each household was just busy drying rice, not overly occupied.
Moreover, with Mid-Autumn Festival the next day, nobody felt like doing farm work today.
So many had co to the river to catch fish.
Zhou Dalang and Zhou Sanlang had taken their brothers and sons to the river early to secure a good spot.
In addition to fishing baskets, they had also set up fishing nets.
Zhou Wulang had just co down from the mountains with privet branches and rushed to the river to help.
He was now rolling up his trouser legs and playing in the water, much to Zhou Sanlang’s annoyance, who wanted to thrash him for scaring the fish away.
“All the fish are being scared away by you rascals.”
When he looked up and saw Manbao and Third Son leading the two little ones over, Zhou Sanlang hastily waved them off.
“What are you doing here?
Go ho quickly.”
Zhou Wulang, just chased up the bank by Zhou Dalang, simply sat in the grass and said, “What’s the big deal?
I’ll watch them; you and big brother, Third Brother, go catch fish.”
Zhou Dalang stood still and said, “Wait a bit longer; this net might catch so big fish.”
Zhou Liulang also climbed onto the bank, crouched next to Fifth Brother, and shook his head.
“I doubt it, we’ve already pulled in three nets today, and didn’t see many big fish.”
Manbao, with Third Son and the others, crouched next to Zhou Wulang, peered down, then looked around and asked, “Fifth Brother, we didn’t catch a single big fish?”
“We did, they’re in the barrel.”
Manbao leaned over to look and saw that the barrel was cramd with four or five fish—not very big, only as wide as an adult palm and just slightly longer.
As she pondered, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Sanlang began to pull in the net, and many little fish raced through the holes to escape.
Zhou Dalang didn’t mind; he had adjusted the size of the holes at lunchti.
A bucketful of little fish had already been sent back ho, and the rest were ant to be released.
Otherwise, where would they find fish to eat next year?
The net tightened more with each pull, the brothers worked steadily, only giving a sharp tug at the very end to reveal seven or eight big fish wriggling within, two of which, grass carps, were as thick as Zhou Dalang’s arm and half as long.
He was thrilled and, together with Zhou Sanlang, quickly pulled the net to shore.
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang grabbed the barrel to start put the fish in.
Any fish larger than a palm were put into the barrel, while the rest were taken back to the river and released.
Zhou Dalang was very pleased with today’s catch, but Manbao regretfully turned her head to look upstream, wishing the dam would break once again.
Zhou Dalang nearly tripped over his own feet, Zhou Sanlang choked on his saliva, but Third Son and the two little ones all nodded in earnest agreent.
Especially his son, who nodded most earnestly.
Despite Fourth Son being over four and not yet articulate, he had an excellent mory and still rembered last year’s fishing activities.
Even Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, who now understood right from wrong, couldn’t help but look around and then whispered, “I also think it would be good if the dam broke again…”
Zhou Dalang’s face darkened.
“So it’s not you guys going to serve the labor duty, is it?”
The two brothers imdiately retracted their necks and hid behind Manbao.
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