After stirring the cornmeal, Wang An squeezed it into a dough ball and headed out the door with it.
By the time Wang An walked back to the carriage, Liu Guilan had already found the burlap sack containing the fishing nets, which Wang Dazhu had tied to the rear beam of the wagon.
Seeing the large dough ball in Wang An's hand, Wang Dazhu asked in surprise
"What are you doing with that thing? What, are you hungry?"
To be honest, Wang Dazhu's words were quite irritating. He knew perfectly well that Wang An was going fishing, yet he insisted on asking such a question.
Besides, even if Wang An were actually hungry, it was impossible that he would just gnaw on raw dough!
Unfortunately, the person speaking was his own father, so Wang An chose to endure it. Mainly, he had no choice; when a father scolds his son, the son just has to take it—he couldn't exactly beat up his own father.
However, while he couldn't do anything to his old man, he still had to say something. So, as Wang An casually placed the dough ball on the manure pile, he replied with a smile, playing along with Wang Dazhu's line of questioning
"Yep. I figured once you and I get hungry and tired later, we can just roast this dough ball and eat it."
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Liu Guilan couldn't help but chime in with a laughing scold
"You little brat, speak properly to your father! Since when is edible food placed on manure?"
It was clear that the couple was doing this on purpose.
While Wang An was being lectured, Wang Dazhu was actually quite pleased. He said with a laugh
"There are plenty of fish in the small creeks; there's absolutely no need for that thing. You're just wasting cornmeal."
It had to be said that Wang Dazhu wasn't wrong. After all, in this region, if one wanted to eat fish and didn't care about the species, it was a very simple matter.
One could just find any small creek and scoop them up with a dip net, or simply cast a net. It was damn easy.
After all, in the Heilongjiang province of this era, water resources were incredibly abundant. There was a saying: "Beat the roe deer with a stick, scoop the fish with a ladle, and the wild pheasant flies right into the rice pot." While the first and last parts were a bit exaggerated, the "scoop the fish with a ladle" part wasn't an exaggeration at all—it was a fact.
Therefore, for someone like Wang An to think about creating a "chum pile" before casting a net was indeed largely unnecessary.
Beyond those reasons, the most important factor was that grain was far more precious than fish. Using grain to trade for fish? What a joke.
However, the reason Wang An did this was that he wanted to cast his net in the big river to catch big fish. He had no interest in the small crucian carp, small carp, grass carp fry, bleak, or the various other trash fish found in the small creeks.
The key was that the fishing window was short; he could only cast the net two or three times before having to go home. Thus, creating a chum pile to gather the fish was very necessary.
Wang An said with a smile
"I'm not going to the small creeks to fish; I'm going to the big river for the big ones. I'm telling you, creating a chum pile to gather the fish before casting the net is way faster. Otherwise, I'd have to throw the net several times along the riverbank, which is too much effort."
Hearing this, Wang Dazhu chuckled and then said to Liu Guilan with "approval"
"I'll give him that; Xiao An's method is actually quite good. We used to use toasted bran for chum, but we've never tried using cornmeal."
Wang Dazhu's words were quite deep. They sounded like praise, but in reality, he was saying that Wang An was wasting food—he just wasn't being overly obvious about it.
Fortunately, Wang An was completely immune to this kind of talk. Basically, you're the father, so you're right; say whatever you want, and I'll just do what I need to do.
Liu Guilan had no interest in how to fish, but she cautioned
"You two be careful; the river water is very deep right now."
Wang Dazhu and Wang An agreed. One took the driver's seat at the front of the wagon, and the other sat at the back as they headed toward the fields.
When they passed the big river, Wang An split the dough ball in two. He found two slow-current areas where it was convenient to stand on the bank and cast the net, and tossed the two pieces of dough in.
The reason he threw the dough now instead of right before casting the net was that "developing the hole" took time. It wasn't as if the fish would arrive the instant the dough hit the water.
Normally, the fastest time for a chum pile to attract fish was at least half an hour.
After all, fish rely on their sense of smell to find food. Only once the scent of the cornmeal had fully dispersed in the water would the fish follow the smell and gather.
As is well known, small fish are food for big fish. Only after a large number of small fish gathered would the big fish be lured in. Once the big fish arrived, it was officially time to cast the net.
Judging whether the big fish had gathered was also very simple; one only needed to observe the surface of the water.
When the bubbles on the surface were small but dense, one must not rush to cast the net, as this only meant the small fish had entered the hole.
When the surface looked like boiling water—with large, very dense bubbles—that meant the big fish had arrived. Only then could casting the net truly achieve a "complete sweep"!
After throwing the dough, Wang Dazhu asked Wang An
"I noticed your dough isn't simple; why does it smell like alcohol?"
Wang An said nonchalantly
"Of course there's alcohol, and half a spoonful of brown sugar too. I'm telling you, Dad, mixing cornmeal with alcohol and brown sugar makes the fish absolutely cra—"
Before Wang An could finish, Wang Dazhu turned around and said exasperatedly
"You spendthrift! It pained me enough that you were wasting cornmeal on fish bait, and now you've mixed in alcohol and brown sugar too? Just how many fish would it take to pay for that alcohol and brown sugar? Are you an idiot?"
As he spoke, Wang Dazhu wanted to swing the driving whip at Wang An, but he suddenly stopped. Perhaps he felt that Wang An was already grown, and whipping him wouldn't be appropriate.
However, it was clear that Wang Dazhu was truly heartbroken over the alcohol and brown sugar used for the bait.
Because in this era, both alcohol and brown sugar were extremely precious commodities.
Many families might only be able to buy half a pound or so of brown sugar during the New Year; normally, they wouldn't even see a shadow of it.
This was a fact.
Seeing this, Wang An truly hadn't expected his father to get so agitated over such a small amount. He began to explain their current financial situation to his father.
He mainly spoke about the value of the gold, the value of the antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and silver dollars, and even gave a brief hint about the countless amount of copper coins they had.
Once Wang An finished, Wang Dazhu became completely calm. He then said thoughtfully
"Putting it that way... the money our family has... you wouldn't be able to spend it all even in your next lifetime."
Wang An nodded again
"Exactly. Forget your grandsons; even your great-grandsons wouldn't be able to spend it all!"
Wang Dazhu blinked and suddenly fell into deep thought.
It had to be said that Wang An's explanation had left Wang Dazhu feeling a bit like he had indigestion.
(End of Chapter)