As the saying goes, it's cold before frost and colder after snow.
The weather was so cold that your breath turned into ice, but it couldn't stop the villagers from dreaming of getting rich.
The riverside of Chuan River has been particularly lively recently.
Ever since the three brothers of the Jiang family caught two big fish in the river, many villagers have been wandering around the river with iron forks, iron hooks and scoop nets, hoping that they can also have such good luck.
As a result, after waiting for more than ten days, I didn't see a single shrimp.
"Hey, tell me, why are the Jiang brothers so lucky?"
Some villagers were puzzled.
"First, we encountered a herd of deer and hunted three deer. Now we caught a sturgeon. It's so big. It only appears in big rivers. How did it end up in our weird little river?"
"Hehe, isn't it because the Jiang family has a little fairy child? Of course they are lucky." A villager said sarcastically.
"Hey, don't tell me, it's really like this."
Another villager echoed, repeating the old story: "Look, Jiang San, that woman, hadn't gotten pregnant for ten years, but she got pregnant just a few months after she found Ying Bao, and she got pregnant with two boys in one pregnancy. Now she's getting rich one after another, wow, it's hard not to believe in superstition."
"Yeah, I can't help but accept it." A villager shook his head and said, "The Jiang family has become rich. Oh, when will the fairy girl show some favor to us? After all, we are from the same village. Every time she releases the deer, she passes by our field ridge."
"Hehe, that's right. The fairy boy should also help others. As the saying goes, rain and dew should be shared equally. We can't always limit the blessings to one family."
“That’s right!”
"Oh, you all should save your energy."
One villager said angrily: "Did the fairy child eat your food? Drink your water? Or wear your clothes? Tsk! Stop dreaming."
Some people were provoked by this and immediately thought of something wrong. They slapped their heads and said, "Oh, you are so right. Hahaha, you guys keep chatting. I'm going home now."
After saying that, he ran away.
Everyone was confused and looked at each other, wondering what was wrong with this guy.
So, one day when Yingbao was taking Youyou out, they met two children about six or seven years old. They each gave her a boiled egg and ran away.
Sakura: …
The egg in my hand was still warm, as if it had just been cooked.
Two days later, Yingbao, Dani and Erni went out to play. Not long after they walked out of the door, they were surrounded by three or four children.
Without saying a word, each of them stuffed a piece of food into her hand, including a bread, a hard-boiled egg, and pecans.
Another child stuffed two red and soft persimmons into her hands, but because she was too nervous, she squeezed the persimmons and broke them. The juice flowed all over Yingbao's hands and stained the collar of her new cotton coat.
The little boy, about seven or eight years old, burst into tears when he saw that he had gotten into trouble, and sobbed and apologized: "Xiao...Xiaoyingbao, you, you must not be angry, wuwuwu, I, I didn't mean it."
Yingbao was speechless and asked curiously: "I'm not angry, but can you tell me why you gave me something?"
She believes that she is not a popular person. Even if she has Yoyo, the killer, by her side, it is impossible for all the children in the village to come and give her gifts, and the gifts they give her are very precious eggs and pancakes.
You know, there are less than three wealthy families in the village, and only four or five families can have enough food to eat. The rest are mostly half-hungry and barely get by.
How could they give the most valuable thing in their home to outsiders
"My...my...parents asked me to give it to you." The little boy sobbed, "They said...they said that as long as you eat our food, you will be able to bring good fortune to our family in the future..."
Yingbao: ...
She probably understood what it meant.
After returning home, Yingbao put the things on the table, washed her hands, wiped her clothes with a towel, and then sat down and sighed.
She had never encountered such a situation in her previous life, and she really didn't know how to deal with it.
She didn't know who these things came from, because there were so many children that she couldn't tell which family these things belonged to.
Forget it, let’s wait until Dad comes back.
...
At this moment, Jiang Sanlang had already gone to another place along the river with his two brothers, trying to find the best spot for fishing.
Because there were too many villagers gathered on both sides of the river section in Xiaochen Village, they were unable to take action at all.
If people found out that he had something that attracted big fish, they would eat him alive.
"Sanlang, is this okay?" Jiang Erlang asked.
The place they chose was several miles away from the village. The road was rugged and full of rocks, making it difficult to walk on.
The only advantage is that the river is wide and the water is not flowing fast, so there should be fish hiding under the river.
Jiang Dalang stroked his short beard and said, "I'm afraid it's not easy to transport fish in this place."
His mind was still on the big fish he caught last time, and he thought he could catch that big sturgeon this time as well.
Jiang Sanlang said, "We all brought large backpacks, so we should be able to carry them back."
"Okay then." Jiang Dalang always puts his third brother first in everything, and all he has to do is cooperate.
The three brothers went down to the water's edge. Jiang Sanlang took out an oil-paper bag from his arms and took out a small white dough from it.
Jiang Erlang stretched his neck to look over, but didn't see anything strange about it.
"Was it really this thing that lured the fish last time?" Why didn't he believe it at all.
"I guess so." Jiang Sanlang kneaded the dough into crumbs and sprinkled just a little bit on the water.
After waiting for a long time, there was no movement in the river.
Jiang Dalang was dissatisfied with his third brother's stinginess: "Is it really okay to put in just this little? Isn't it too little?"
Jiang Sanlang put his hands behind his back and said, "Let's wait and see."
After waiting for a while, the river water began to move.
Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang held their breath, opened their eyes wide, and stared at the ripples on the water without blinking.
"This... this... is really coming." Jiang Er's cheeks flushed with excitement, "Quick, quick, Sanlang, bring the harpoon!"
Jiang Sanlang looked at the water ripples and said, "The fish isn't big this time. We need to catch it alive so we can sell it for a good price."
"Okay! If it's still alive, we can use a big scoop net."
After his last fishing trip, Jiang Dalang bought materials from the town and made a large scoop net that could catch dozens of kilograms of fish at a time.
It came in handy this time.
Several green fish spines floated up and down, and soon came to the bait, opening their mouths to eat the broken bait.
Jiang Dalang and his brothers attacked together, each aiming at one fish, and using two large scoop nets to scoop up the big fish.
“Wahaha! I’ve reached the rim! Sanlang, come and help me! I can’t hold on any longer!”
Jiang Sanlang first helped his second brother to drag the fish up, and then helped his eldest brother to hold the scoop net tightly to prevent the struggling big fish from breaking free.
After a while, the three brothers caught two big fish in sweat, looked at each other and laughed.
"This fish is good, more than five feet long, just right for the rich families to use for ancestor worship." Jiang Dalang smiled and said, "It's a pity that two of them ran away."
Jiang Sanlang said calmly, "It doesn't matter if they run away. Let's put these two away first and catch more."
The fish for ancestor worship had to be alive, so he had to put the two fish in a puddle nearby to prevent them from suffocating.
After placing the fish, the three brothers, despite being soaked all over, went to the river with the scoop net and continued waiting.
Jiang Sanlang still pinched some crumbs and sprinkled them on the water...
In this way, they worked all day and caught eight big fish about five feet long and several smaller ones.
As it was getting late, the three brothers carried all the fish back home.