Chapter 27: Not Everyone Has the Skills to Handle the Task

“Someone was here in the last couple of days,” Li Long said, looking at the footprints in the snow. “They were probably here to catch fish too.”

“The Little Sea is public property; if you can fish here, anyone can. It would be great if we could catch a water rat, too,” Li Jianguo said with a smile.

“That won't be easy.” Li Long shook his head. “Those things stay in the grass at the bottom of the water during winter, and some just hibernate altogether. They're hard to catch.”

“Just try your luck.”

Tao Daqiang didn't speak, but his eyes were bright; he, too, was looking forward to catching a water rat. One of those was worth several fish.

When they arrived at the Little Sea, they indeed found several ice holes on the surface.

However, these holes had already refrozen with a thick layer of ice. Because water expands when it freezes, the ice around these holes was actually thicker than in other places.

“Do we need to drill new holes?” Tao Daqiang asked, touching his hat.

“No need. Didn't we fill the old holes with snow? We just need to clear the snow away now.” Li Long found the holes they had previously drilled and began clearing the snow with a shovel.

“Juan, Qiangqiang, go gather those fluffy reeds,” Li Jianguo assigned tasks to the two children.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were dressed in bulky layers; they had only been able to come along after much pleading, so they were now very eager to find the fluffy reeds they had cut earlier but hadn't pulled away.

They soon found a large pile. Li Jianguo told them to divide the reeds into two heaps, placing them not far from each of the two ice holes.

By this time, Li Long and Tao Daqiang had cleared the snow from the holes. A layer of ice had frozen over the bottom, but it wasn't very thick.

Using an ice pick and a pickaxe, they quickly broke through the ice.

Li Long then used a landing net to scoop away the floating ice from the surface and said

“Let's wait. The fish should come around shortly. Since we've broken the ice a few times here, there probably won't be many at first.”

“As long as there are some,” Li Jianguo said, not being greedy at all. “It's better than eating pickles every day.”

“That's true.”

Tao Daqiang remained silent, but his tall frame was hunched over, his eyes fixed intently on the water's surface.

“Daqiang, you won't see anything,” Li Long said with a laugh. “The hole is too small. If you're impatient, just take the net and scoop a few times.”

“Will it affect the fish coming later? Won't scooping now scare them away?” Tao Daqiang hesitated.

“It won't. If there's any movement, the fish will be startled anyway; it's only a matter of time.” Li Long handed him the net. “There are two holes, anyway. We can just try back and forth.”

“Scoop it! Scoop it!” Li Qiang shouted on the ice. Whether it was catching fish or shrimp, from five-year-olds to eighty-year-olds, no man disliked it.

“Stop shouting!” Li Juan slapped her brother. “What if you scare the fish away?”

The biological authority of an older sister immediately silenced Li Qiang; he even held his breath, watching Tao Daqiang's movements.

Li Long didn't pay much mind to it. Feeling that it wasn't particularly cold, he hadn't started a fire.

He thought about going to the fishing grounds in the spring to see if he could get some old nets to make a few more landing nets. When the spring floods came, some water from the Little Sea would rush out from the sides, carrying fish into the reed lakes below—it would be the perfect time to catch them.

As for the saying, "Don't hunt birds in the three springs, and don't catch fish in April"—while crucian carp in April are indeed full of eggs, if the carp washed down from the sea are not caught, they will simply dry up and die.

Crucian carp are incredibly prolific breeders. There was once a period when, during spring farming, as soon as the irrigation stopped, there would be half a pit's worth of palm-sized crucian carp in the puddles where water leaked through the middle sluice gates.

If someone picked them up, they took them home; if no one did, once the water dried up a few days later, they became a feast for the flies.

Tao Daqiang had experience from a previous catch. He waded waist-deep into the ice hole, planting his feet firmly on the specially left ice steps, then leaned over to thrust the net into the hole. He swung it in a vigorous circle, and after the scoop, he quickly leaned back to pull the net out, slapping it hard against the ice.

Li Qiang, with his sharp eyes, immediately shouted

“Fish! Fish! They're alive! And loaches! Wow! A huge fish!”

"Huge" was a bit of an exaggeration; there were some large crucian carp slightly bigger than a palm, and a few loaches that looked very much like worms, flopping vigorously on the ice before slowly freezing.

“Juan, Qiangqiang, pick up the fish and pile them together.”

There weren't many fish in this scoop; the largest was a large crucian carp weighing about three hundred grams.

Twenty years from now, such a fish would cost twenty-five yuan per kilogram; right now, if you wanted to sell this fish, it wouldn't even fetch fifty cents.

Li Juan and Li Qiang gathered all the fish together, not even leaving behind the tiny two or three-centimeter crucian carp.

Seeing there were fish, Tao Daqiang grew excited, yet remained unsatisfied. He immediately leaned down for another scoop.

This time was less successful than the last; the net only held two finger-length loaches and three palm-sized crucian carp.

“Let's try the other hole,” Li Long said. “The fish haven't come to this side yet; they need to catch their breath.”

Tao Daqiang was somewhat reluctant but knew there was no other way. He climbed out and handed the net to Li Long.

Li Long moved to the other ice hole. After finding his footing, he slowly extended the net into the water.

His movements were not as large as Tao Daqiang's. He swung the net underwater, making a slow, large circle before suddenly pulling it back.

“Wow! A big fish! Uncle has a big fish in his net!” Li Qiang began screaming even before the net hit the ice.

Li Long felt the weight in his hand; there was indeed a sizable fish. He dumped the fish from the net onto the ice, and a grass carp, about a foot long, immediately began leaping on the surface.

Li Qiang ran over quickly, wanting to hug the fish, but the grass carp had strong vitality and slapped Li Qiang directly in the face with its tail!

Li Qiang's face turned red from the slap, but he stubbornly refused to let go, clutching the grass carp's gill cover tightly.

“Alright, alright, you caught it.” Li Jianguo rushed over and took the fish from Li Qiang's hands.

“Qiangqiang, well done!” Seeing the tears welling in Li Qiang's eyes, Li Long knew the slap had truly hurt. He hurriedly tried to distract the little guy. “Go pick up the other fish and put them in the bag.”

“Qiangqiang, great job indeed,” Tao Daqiang added. “That grass carp had quite a bit of strength!”

Li Long thought, *Oh no.* It would have been better if they hadn't praised him; if they had just acted like nothing happened, Li Qiang might have moved on.

But after so much praise, the sense of grievance in Li Qiang's heart surged up, and he burst into tears

“It hurts so much! Dad, Uncle, this fish hit me so hard!”

“Don't cry, Qiangqiang!” Li Long said hurriedly. “When we get back, I'll have your mom cook this fish for you to eat to get your revenge! You must remember this fish!”

“Mhm, I'll remember!” Li Qiang wiped his tears and said, casting a deep look at the fish.

Well, this fish would likely end up in his stomach today.

The fishing continued.