Chapter 54 A great catch of fish
"Uncle Chen, are you ready?"
"I'm coming."
In the yard, Chen Qingjiang sorted out the fishing nets and followed Liang Qu to the pier.
Chen Qingjiang did not forget what Liang Qu said, that he would take him to a place where fish gathered to fish. He has been staying at home since yesterday and has not left the house.
"Uncle Chen, do you still go to town to sell the fish you catch?"
"I went there a couple of days ago, but the weather is getting colder and the fish are thinner than me because they haven't eaten anything. So I decided not to go anymore. It's not worth it."
Liang Qu said: "Then don't go there from today onwards."
My senior brother said that the mountain ghost can kill warriors who have reached the second level. He is very powerful and prefers warriors with strong Qi and blood. Even a warrior like him who has not entered the level is not taken seriously. However, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. If you can avoid taking risks, don't go.
Yixing City is about fifteen or sixteen miles away from Pingyang Town. There is a main road, which is quite wide and has many people traveling back and forth, but there are woods on both sides. There might be mountain ghosts hiding in them, waiting to attack travelers passing by. Especially since Uncle Chen always goes fishing in the early morning, it is even more dangerous for him to travel before daybreak.
Liang Qu came here with the cavalry this morning and did not dare to travel alone.
"What happened? Is it related to that guy called Lu Shaohui?"
Chen Qingjiang is honest but not stupid. When he heard this, he immediately thought of the dead warrior.
Warriors are rare.
As a town, Pingyang Town is able to have so many warriors, all because of Yang Dongxiong who took the lead.
The martial arts school has been open for more than 20 years, and many people from the county have made a special trip here to become Yang's martial arts disciples.
Over time, there were more and more warriors. With more warriors, there were more clinics and more people needed to do work and serve. They all needed to eat and live.
Pingyang Town has developed a population of tens of thousands over the years, which is almost the same as that of a county town, and this is more or less due to this reason.
A large population, in turn, encourages more people to learn martial arts, and the two systems complement each other.
Therefore, if it were somewhere else, the number of warriors would be at least halved, and the sudden death of one of them would definitely not be a trivial matter.
"Well, one of my senior brothers went to check it out and said that he was killed by a monster. The monster hasn't been caught yet, so be careful."
Chen Qingjiang nodded in agreement. He had no plan to go to the town to sell fish anyway, so he might as well not go.
When he arrived at the pier, Liang Qu jumped several times and finally landed on a black-sailed boat, which was no longer the original small sampan.
He slept in the martial arts hall last night, and early in the morning he came to the pier to find Lin Songbao to get his boat back, leaving the tattered sampan to the fishing grounds.
A sampan is a "three-board" sampan with two partitions in the middle, which create two waterproof compartments at the bow and stern, dividing it into three parts. There is nothing else.
This wupeng boat is much bigger than that broken sampan. The sampan is only more than three meters long and less than one meter wide, while the wupeng boat is nearly five meters long and more than one meter wide.
The edge of the boat is higher and is less likely to be hit by waves. The cabin is covered with a layer of red-painted planks, which are covered with mats and pillows made of bamboo and wood.
The boat awning is meters high and has eight panels on both sides, four of which are fixed and the other four can be opened and closed. It is woven with bamboo strips with bamboo leaves sandwiched in the middle. It can provide shade and shelter from rain and is also very sturdy. It is called a black awning because it is painted black with bituminous coal and tung oil.
The transformation of a sampan into a black sail is a major upgrade of equipment, like replacing a musket with a cannon.
There is a black sail to protect Liang Qu from wind and rain. If it is inconvenient for him to go home in the future, he can live directly on the boat.
"Hey, Ah Shui, did you get your own black-sailed boat back?" Chen Qingjiang was surprised, then he realized, "Oh, you are different now. Bald-headed Zhang doesn't dare to do anything to you. By the way, I haven't seen Bald-headed Zhang for a long time. He didn't pay the autumn tax a while ago, and we went to his house to arrest him but failed. He was sentenced to become a refugee by the government. Did you know about this?"
"I don't know. This boat was given to me by Lin Di from the fishing camp. He said that Bald-headed Zhang sold the boat to him. Lin Di wanted to please me, so he returned it to me."
"Oh, that's a good thing." Chen Qingjiang thought, "This bald-headed Zhang has sold his boat. I'm afraid he really took the money and ran away. I don't know what he's doing. Could he become a bandit?"
Liang Qu's expression remained unchanged, and he urged, "Who cares? He's just a local thug. Let's go quickly."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qingjiang untied the boat and followed closely behind Liang Qu's boat.
A wupeng boat is much larger than a sampan, so it should be more difficult to row. However, a wupeng boat moves forward using oars rather than paddles, paddling the water left and right, which is not only faster and more stable, but also requires less effort.
Liang Qu has been practicing martial arts for more than a month and is about to make a breakthrough. His strength is much greater than that of an adult, so he feels easier and more comfortable rowing, and the boat doesn't even shake.
It is said that a skilled fisherman can place a dish of fennel beans on the side of his boat and eat them while rowing without spilling a single bean.
Two black-winged boats were moving quickly across the water, one after the other.
Liang Qu was immersed in the thrill of speeding on the water. Chen Qingjiang behind him could hardly keep up and shouted to wait for him.
But Liang Qu would stop even without being shouted at, because they had arrived.
"Ah Shui, you are really strong." Chen Qingjiang was a little out of breath, "Are you there yet?"
"Yes, that's it. There are a lot of fish in this area."
"Then I'll try going online."
"Wait a minute, I'll scatter something." Liang Qu pretended to take out a small box, dug out a ball of mud from it, squeezed it, and threw it into the water.
"what is this?"
"The bait I asked Master for is very attractive to the fish."
"Is there such a good thing?"
It was just ordinary yellow mud. Liang Qu used it as a means of concealing his whereabouts in order to reduce the possibility of being exposed, and also as a signal to give the two animals time to drive the fish away.
After spreading the "bait", Liang Qu immediately notified the two beasts under the water through the mental link and drove the gathered fish over.
After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Liang Qu asked Chen Qingjiang to catch fish.
Chen Qingjiang grabbed the fishing net and swung it, and the fishing net spread perfectly on the water.
"Hahaha, so many fish, really so many fish!"
Chen Qingjiang dragged up the fishing net with great effort. There were more than twenty big fish in it, which were estimated to be worth about forty cents.
In winter, a net worth!
Liang Qu compared it in his mind and thought that it was faster than the fat catfish catching fish alone.
In a quarter of an hour, more than twenty big fish were caught. Ah Fei had to go back and forth seven or eight times to spit out all the fish, which took him nearly an hour.
"Ah Shui, come on, give me some more of your bait."
"it is good."
There were clumps of yellow mud and nets of big fish.
Chen Qingjiang was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. Even though he was so tired and sweating, he didn't want to take a break.
What they caught was not fish, but silver, pure white silver!
"Uncle Chen, it's almost done."
"No, there are still so many fish," Chen Qingjiang was so tired that his hands and feet were numb, but he still wanted to continue fishing.
"We didn't bring any fish baskets, and the compartments are full. There's no room for more."
"Full?"
Chen Qingjiang was confused. How could both ships be full in just three or four hours?
He came back to his senses and said, "For so many fish, I think it should cost 500 to 600 coins."
"I just saw two small trout, that's enough, Uncle Chen, wipe your sweat and be careful not to catch a cold." Liang Qu threw a cloth over, "It's the same tomorrow, there's plenty of bait, if it's not enough, we can get more, go back first."
Five or six hundred coins, divided equally between each person, about three hundred coins, which would be seven taels of silver a month.
The most important thing is that Liang Qu can free up more time to do other things in the future, such as fishing and making money, and he no longer needs to go out on the boat in disguise.
In the future, there will be opportunities to bring in more people to form a "fleet", and the income can be doubled, but the selection of candidates needs to be cautious.
Liang Qu felt emotional when he thought about the meal last night.
Unconsciously, he has been separated from labor and joined the rentier class. He can earn money every day without doing anything. The source of income is stable, and many businessmen are not as good as him.
Living in a mansion and keeping beautiful maids is not just a dream; it is just around the corner.
Chen Qingjiang looked at the cabin with regret in his eyes.
He had lived for thirty years in vain and had never had such a good time catching fish. The fish were like crazy and were actively diving into the net. If this happened a few times, he would have to take them to mend the net.
When I thought about leaving now, I felt empty inside.
He was really worried that today was just a dream, and when he woke up, the net bag would still be empty.
Or maybe today is the last day the fish will stay here, and if I come again tomorrow, I will still find those skinny winter fish, and the eight cents of silver I owe to the clinic will be nowhere in sight.
Chen Qingjiang was worried: "Ah Shui, come back tomorrow, will there still be so many fish?"
Liang Qu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Yes, of course. In fact, there are just a little more fish here. The real key is my bait. It was prepared by my master. It is absolutely effective and cheap. Even if it is not here, I can throw it somewhere else and there will be no less fish."
Chen Qingjiang suddenly realized.
If it is bait, then you don’t have to worry so much. The fish will change their position, but the bait will always be useful.
Thinking of this, the disappointment in his heart was slightly alleviated, and he finally agreed to go back without hesitation.
Liang Qu heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this. He was really afraid that Uncle Chen would spend the whole night fishing here, and when he returned home, he would be questioned by Sister-in-law A Di about where her husband had been.
The two wupeng boats came ashore and anchored one after another.
As soon as he tied the boat rope, Liang Qu heard someone calling him from the dock.
"Ah Shui, you're finally back. Go back and take a look. Someone is looking for trouble at your doorstep!"
(End of this chapter)
