The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 343 - 332 Fish oh Fish

Chapter 343: Chapter 332 Fish oh Fish

Zhou SiLang obviously had been to this section of the river many times; he knew it well.

There was a narrow wooden bridge connecting both shores, but the bridge was so narrow that only three people could pass through at the same time, and without any railings on either side, it looked like it had been constructed from two planks split from a single tree—quite crude.

Zhou SiLang spread out the fishing net and took it to the opposite bank, asking Zhou Wulang and Datou to follow him and pull the net, while instructing Zhou Liulang and Daya to hold onto the other end.

This stretch of river was deep yet narrow; not only was there enough room for them to pull the net, but there was also extra space.

Bai Dalang and Bai Erlang also pitched in to help, while Zhou SiLang stood with his hands on his hips in charge, commanding them to stop at a spot where he thought there would be fish. Then he took a stick and started hitting the underwater plants to scare the fish out and herd them towards the net.

Half a day later, they began to pull up the net on Zhou SiLang’s command, drawing it in from all sides. Before it was even fully closed, everyone saw the big fish jumping in the middle.

A cluster of children rushed forward to look, but Zhou SiLang’s stick spared no courtesy, slapping on the water in front of them and scolding, "What are you looking at, what are you looking at? Move back a bit, aren’t you afraid of falling in?"

He addressed Zhou Wulang and Datou, who were vigorously pulling the net: "Just keep pulling like that, don’t move."

After saying this, he ran to the bridge and dashed across, then picked up a bucket and another net, and jumped straight into the water to catch fish.

The water was still deep but only reached up to Zhou SiLang’s chest, not over his head.

Manbao and Bai Dalang instinctively looked down, then looked back and realized that they had drifted from the original spot where the net was dropped.

Clearly, the water wasn’t as deep here, something Zhou SiLang had already figured out.

He placed the bucket on the water and supported himself on it to move across, then with the net in hand, started scooping up the fish with one agile movement after another.

After scooping up seven or eight fish, he promptly covered the bucket with a lid he picked up from the side, then returned to the shore, still holding onto it.

He had the Second Sons on shore pull the bucket up.

Manbao helped pull the bucket out of the water, then passed him another bucket.

After two or three trips like this, they had cleaned out all the big fish from the net, and Zhou SiLang walked across to the opposite bank, taking the fishing net from Zhou Wulang’s hands before heading back through the river himself.

He instructed Zhou Liulang to relax the net while Bai Dalang thought for a moment, aligned himself with the river bank, and gave out more net for Zhou SiLang to walk through more smoothly.

Zhou SiLang had a somewhat easier time walking now.

When he slowly approached the river bank, he handed the net over to Zhou Wulang and the others who had come over the bridge and climbed up himself.

Then everyone worked together to pull the net onto the shore.

The net, filled with fish, water, water plants, and various other things, was particularly heavy, and everyone had to strain all their might to pull it up onto the bank.

The fish left in the net were all smaller than a palm; Zhou SiLang had specially adjusted the net’s hole size the night before.

The holes were only the size of a thumb, so there were a lot of small fish inside—now they were jumping chaotically within.

Manbao and the other children shouted in excitement, overjoyed by the scene.

Zhou SiLang sat on the grass, not wanting to move anymore.

Walking in the river wasn’t easy, especially while pulling a net.

Zhou Wulang had already started picking out the fry, pouring the big fish into two buckets, while they used another two buckets for the fry.

The very small ones that were still alive were casually tossed back into the river.

Bai Dalang, who was new to this kind of work, clumsily helped on the side, moving even slower than his brother.

Manbao was quick, though she didn’t do it often, she had seen it done many times.

Manbao was hurriedly picking fish into the bucket, which caught Bai Dalang’s attention. Unable to resist, he watched her and said, "I recognize you, you’re from the Zhou Family. Are you Mr. Zhuang’s disciple?"

Manbao nodded and also looked at Bai Dalang, "I recognize you too, sir mentioned that you’re quite good at studying."

It was for Bai Dalang that Old Master Bai had invited Mr. Zhuang to Qili Village to teach, after which Bai Dalang was recommended by Mr. Zhuang after studying with him for over a year to attend the County School, and then he went on to the prefectural school.

He was the most outstanding student Mr. Zhuang had taught since arriving.

Of course, Manbao thought that was because she and Bai Shanbao were still young.

If counted seriously, the two of them were like senior brother and sister, and more than once Bai Dalang heard his father praise her, so he said amiably, "When I came home this time, Mr. Zhuang had already returned to his house, and I didn’t have the chance to see him. How is the old gentleman’s health?"

Manbao nodded, "Very good, he can eat two bowls of rice in one meal."

The two exchanged some idle talk, and everyone had already cleaned up the fish.

Zhou SiLang wrung out his wet trousers contentedly and finally just rolled them up and left them.

With a grandiose wave of his hand, he declared, "Let’s go, we’re heading home."

Bai Erlang looked at the river with longing, "It’s still early. Shall we net again?"

"No way, this place has too much silt. I was impressive just walking through once; you want me to make a second trip? And can you even eat that much?"

Not to mention the big fish, they’d scooped two buckets of fry; even split in half, the Bai family couldn’t possibly eat that much.

Zhou SiLang considered their situation thoughtfully, "Two buckets of fry, that’s a lot of oil needed to cook them."

Bai Erlang, who wouldn’t know the taste of meat as porridge, said, "My family isn’t short on oil."

Zhou SiLang felt anxious for Old Master Bai, thinking he had a spendthrift son. The young master of the Bai family was even younger than him and already knew to be frugal with money.

Bai Dalang coughed lightly and said, "Erlang, we can fish again after we’ve eaten what we have. There’s no rush."

Zhou SiLang cautioned, "Don’t you come here on your own; this river is deep and overgrown, and the adults in the village are reluctant to fish here. If you want to fish, just have your servants do it at the river mouth of the village."

Bai Erlang complained, "Didn’t you say there were no fish there?"

"Not that there are no fish, just fewer. I don’t care to put in that little bit of effort."

Talking all the while, everyone carried their belongings home. At the entrance to the village, it was time to part ways.

Zhou SiLang glanced at the two buckets of small fish and felt it wouldn’t be fair for their family to benefit too much, so he said, "We’ll give you a bucket of big fish. You can kill one tonight; if you find it too muddy-flavored, then keep them in clean water until tomorrow before killing."

With that, he took two or three big fish from another bucket and filled the other one to the brim.

Then he handed the full bucket to Zhou Wulang and the others, "Take this back home."

He carried the less full one himself and another filled with fry, then turned to the Bai brothers, "Let’s go, I’ll walk you back."

Everyone: ...

Zhou SiLang called Datou to come along.

Datou and Bai Erlang together lifted the other bucket full of fry, and Bai Dalang hurried to help.

When they reached the Bai Manor’s gate, Zhou SiLang handed over all three buckets to the Bai Family’s servants and then pinched Datou’s butt.

Datou immediately shouted to Bai Erlang, "When you’ve fried the fish, remember to call me for some!"

Bai Erlang, amidst his excitement, nodded vigorously, "Don’t worry."

So Zhou SiLang and Datou left relieved, each wearing a smile, then turned around and headed home.

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