Chapter 550: Fish Catching
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Chunyu and Xiazhi were a little nervous at the beginning, but gradually, they relaxed and started helping out happily.
Qiao Xuan could see fish and shrimps swimming between the water grass, some of which were really big. But she was not that skilled, so she asked Qi to help.
She gave him seven out of ten correct directions.
Before lunchtime, they already had three buckets filled with shrimps and all kinds of fish, most of which were wild crucian carps.
They rented the bull cart and headed towards the Zhang Village together. They poured the three buckets of fish as well as water grass inside the pond.
Ding Erzhu was very good at fixing the fish pond. He had cut a lot of thick pine branches from the mountain, sunk them into the pond and piled them up together, which could shade the fish and provide them a hiding place.
On the surface of the water, bamboo poles were used to form a square frame of medium size, and pillars were inserted into the bottom of the pond to fix the square frame. The fish would be fed in the four-square frame in the future.
Qiao Xuan did not intend to raise the fish for sale, and didn’t provide them any feed. The tender grass, aquatic plants, and vegetable leaves, which were needed to feed them every fifth or sixth day were going to be available. With the basket framed, the vegetable leaves and grass leaves would not float around. Some terrier fish did not eat the rest, and they could be easily salvaged in one place.
Three buckets of fish were still too few. There was a river close to the Zhang Village, so they all headed there, seeing it was still early in the day. They wanted to try their luck to see what more they could get.
Ding Erzhu smiled as he asked Qiao Xuan. “Landlady, do you need eels, loaches and mussels?”
Qiao Xuan’s eyes were sparkling, as she nodded. “Yes, all of them.”
Those were wonderful and delicious things.
Ding Erzhu smiled. “Great, I will fetch them for you!’
In the ditch beside the rice field, there were a lot of eels and loaches. There were also mussels in there. When they went down to the pond, they could step on them with their feet.
Qiao Xuan smiled and thanked him. “This is great. Uncle Erzhu, fetch more when you have time!”
In this way, they made lipsticks one day and caught fish the next day. The process lasted for five or six days, and the pond was almost done.
The fish were also enough.
Those were for them to store. They could just scoop the fish whenever they needed. The good ones could be kept in the pond for later use.
The apricot flowers were blooming, and they could be picked after five or six days. Later, the peach flowers would be in bloom for eleven or twelve days.
It was getting very warm, and the grass was thriving and so were the flowers. The bees started to get really busy again after a silent winter.
Bees could be seen on almost every flower. When they stood under the tree, they could hear the buzzing sound.
Qiao Xuan was thinking about getting more bee boxes to raise more bees and fetch the wax.
The paddy field was watered, and soon, it was time for them to have the spring plow.
At this time, spring bamboos, mushrooms and all kinds of vegetables were growing, which was very appealing for everyone around.
The fresh and tender spring bamboo shoots were extremely sweet, whether they were fried with meat or fried, or used as stuffing for dumplings. It would all turn out to be delicious.
All kinds of mushrooms were picked, including the tenderest ones that had just emerged from the soil, and they had a fresh mountain flavor. They could be stir-fried with the meat and served on a plate, and the aroma would waft all over the kitchen after a short time..