The people in the pond got busy again. Li Gengtian periodically shouted out orders, directing the work.
"Sishun, I told you not to co down here, but you just had to. You don’t even know how to catch fish! What are you doing grabbing one that small? Put it over there, not in this bucket! If everyone was like you and we cleaned out the whole pond, what crap would we eat next year!" he yelled at the teenage boy.
When Juhua saw the boy’s chubby fra and heard Li Gengtian call him "Sishun," she couldn’t help but glance at Liu Xiaoi. ’This can’t be another one of your brothers, can he?’ she thought.
Sure enough, Liu Xiaoi piped up again. "Oh my! When did Fourth Brother get in there? I didn’t even see him. He’s just fooling around, getting himself all covered in mud and water."
Juhua saw him holding a struggling grass carp that was over half a foot long and asked izi, "How big do the fish have to be before you can keep them?"
izi replied, "Grass carp, common carp, and silver carp can’t be kept unless they’re over two pounds. Even if you pull one out, you have to throw it back."
Juhua asked in disbelief, "Then why is it that when people normally fish, they net such small ones? Little Shitou even gave ten pounds of dried fish!" The mont the words left her mouth, she regretted them—she rembered why. ’My brain must be getting rusty to have forgotten that.’
Little Shitou looked up at her and said, "Sister Juhua, those little fish don’t get any bigger—the largest they grow is about this long—" He held his hands apart to show her. "The ones I gave you last ti were all little dappled fish. They only have one main spine and are plump with at, really tasty. There were also sand gourds, which don’t grow big either. They do get a little larger than the dappled fish, though."
Juhua smiled and nodded—she rembered now.
Liu Xiaoi added, "And the little sharpbellies don’t grow very big either."
izi said, "I actually prefer eating these small miscellaneous fish. They’re so fragrant when you pan-fry them."
Juhua asked, "Doesn’t that get complicated? You have to keep so small fish but release others. How do you manage that? The carp you have to throw back are much bigger than the sharpbellies and dappled fish."
izi pointed. "See Li Changxing over there with the dip net? After they’re done catching the big fish, they use the net for the small ones. They scoop them all up, put the ones they have to release in a separate holding pool, and then sort out the small miscellaneous ones to keep."
Juhua looked over and saw that Li Changxing was indeed scooping up fish with a large dip net. ’No wonder there are so many big fish,’ she thought. ’They release all the ones that are around a pound, so by next year they’ll have grown to be several pounds. The big fish they’re catching this year must be the ones they threw back last year.’
They had already caught two buckets of large fish from this one section of the pond, and they hadn’t even started sorting the smaller ones.
Just then, Big Mouth Zhao saw Ma Huzi holding a turtle. He quickly took it and shouted toward Juhua on the bank, "Juhua, we found a turtle! It’s for you!" With that, he started walking over.
Juhua saw that everyone, both in the pond and on the bank, was looking at her with a smile. She couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, thinking that her reputation for eating "exotic" food must have really spread. ’Honestly, Big Mouth Zhao,’ she thought, ’why did he have to shout so loud?’
She saw that the turtle wasn’t very big, only about a pound, and quickly said to Big Mouth Zhao, "Big Mouth, it’s still small. Let it go and let it grow for another couple of years."
izi agreed, "It is a little too small. After you take off the shell, there wouldn’t be much left."
Big Mouth Zhao chuckled. His legs were caked in mud, and his body was splattered with it. Standing at the foot of the bank, he looked up at Juhua. Seeing that she found it too small, he said, "Alright, I’ll let it go then. If I find a bigger one later, I’ll catch it for you."
Li Gengtian said with a broad smile, "See? Even Juhua knows to leave the small ones for next year, yet I always have to remind you boys. Everyone, have a good look around! If you find any big turtles or soft-shelled turtles, give them to Juhua."
He was extrely pleased with the Zheng Family. They had shared everything with the villagers, from how to process acorns for pig feed to how to make acorn tofu, without being the least bit stingy or secretive. How many people would be that generous? As a result, he was especially kind and amiable toward Juhua.
The villagers were naturally grateful to the Zheng Family as well. A wave of enthusiastic agreent went through the crowd. Soone called out, "I released two soft-shelled turtles and a turtle last year! If we look, I’m sure they’re still in here."
Another person said, "Turtles grow slow. How much bigger could it get in a year? Maybe the one Big Mouth was just holding was the one you released last year."
The first man imdiately shot back, "Nonsense! The one I released last year was already bigger than that one."
Zheng Changhe, standing in the crowd on the opposite bank, couldn’t help but smile happily as he saw everyone trying to help his daughter find a turtle.
An old man shouted, "We’ve only been at this for a short while! If they’re not on this side, they must be on that side. It’s not like they can sprout wings and fly away, right?" At that, everyone laughed.
Seeing this, a warm feeling spread through Juhua’s heart.
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