After a while, Yingbao heard everyone's exclamations.
My father and his men caught two big fish that were five or six feet long at once, which made everyone scream in surprise.
"Is this fish possessed? Why is it rushing towards us?" a villager shouted.
Chen Yin spat, "You idiot! Didn't you see that Third Brother had spread the bait?"
Everyone: "That's right! You are such a bad mouth. It's almost New Year. Stop talking nonsense. Can't you see the fairy boy is standing by to keep the peace?"
The man touched the back of his head with an embarrassed look and said with a wry smile, "I just spoke too quickly. Don't mind it, brothers."
Then he bowed towards Yingbao and said, "Xiaoxian... Yingbao, don't be angry. It's all because of uncle's bad mouth."
Yingbao pretended not to see it and urged Youyou to stand on a higher place.
Standing high and looking far, you can have a clear view of the surrounding river surface.
Then, Jiang Sanlang scattered another handful of bait along the water's edge, at least two meters away.
Then he said to everyone, "Hurry up and get your scoop nets and wait by the water to catch the fish, otherwise they will eat the bait and swim back."
"Okay!" Upon hearing this, more than a dozen villagers immediately dispersed, each holding a scoop net and a bamboo basket and standing beside the bait. Two of them even held the iron fork tightly in their hands.
After a while, ripples appeared on the water surface, and several big fish swam over to eat the bait.
Everyone was screaming and catching fish in the chaos.
The Jiang family members methodically caught two more big fish.
These two are not as big as the previous ones, but they still weigh about ten pounds.
The villagers also had their own harvests, and one person even caught an old turtle as big as a straw hat.
"Hahaha! I caught one!"
"I copied one too."
"Alas, mine is just a little bit short..."
Some were happy and some were annoyed. They didn't care at all that their clothes and pants were soaked, and even their shoes were soaked in cold water.
Two hours later, everyone had a good harvest, catching two or three fish of varying sizes.
The Jiang family caught the most, a total of sixteen large fish about four or five feet long, and several blue carps weighing more than ten pounds.
"Okay, let's go back."
It was getting late, and if they didn't go back now, the mule would lose sight of the road.
Jiang Sanlang and his companions loaded the fish onto the mule cart, and then took out the dry cotton clothes and shoes they had prepared in advance and put them on.
Last time, they were freezing all the way in wet clothes and got sick when they got back, so this time they all brought spare cotton clothes and shoes.
The other villagers didn't take anything, but still carried the fish back to the village with a smile on their faces.
Along the way, this group of people received countless envious looks.
A passerby even asked: "Are you going to clean the fish pond?"
"Why clean the fish pond? We caught it in the river." said the villager proudly.
Passersby were surprised: "Can you catch fish on this day? Hey, are you selling these fish?"
Brother Li Dayong refused loudly: "No, no! We are preparing this for the New Year."
The passerby didn't give up and asked other people.
A few villagers decided to sell one each and keep one for themselves.
It is not their turn to grow golden ears yet, so they are not well off. However, with the income of several hundred coins, this year's New Year will be much better. At least they can go to the market to buy two pounds of pork and mutton.
And there was a big fish as well. In previous years they would not have been willing to buy such a big fish to eat.
On the way, we met a few villagers from Xicun, and they were all very envious.
After Jiang Sanlang and his team left with the big fish, some villagers from West Village began to complain: "Look at East Village, their lives are getting better and better, and then you look at our village, I really want to beat up Chen Changsheng."
"What does it have to do with Chen Changsheng?" Someone argued, "The East Village is doing well now because they have a little fairy boy protecting them. What does our village have?"
There is always a disaster like Chen Ergou. Even gods cannot stop him from seeking death and bringing trouble to others.
"That's right." Someone agreed, "The Jiang family is finally prosperous. They were lucky enough to pick up a lucky little fairy boy. If I had picked him up, maybe our West Village would have become rich too."
"Tsk! Stop talking nonsense. What lucky little fairy boy? I think you are just suffering from delusions." One person said disdainfully.
"What nonsense? You didn't see what Jiang Sanlang was like before. Look at him now. Not only has he built a big tiled house on the south slope, but he also grows golden ears and sells them for a lot of money. The whole East Village has benefited from it."
"That's right! It is said that the Jiang family also planted some cotton on the south slope. Oh, that's a good thing. It is light and warm when put under a cotton-padded jacket. The most important thing is that it doesn't hurt people. Do you know who gave the cotton seeds? It was the fairy boy who gave them to me."
Everyone was silent.
Yes, if you are not a blessed fairy child, who can come up with such seeds
One of them suddenly asked, "Hey, tell me, whose family did the little fairy child fall from?"
"Who knows, maybe she slipped down from the Fairy Palace by herself..."
"Go away, the Third Holy Mother has a mortal mother, and the fairy child must have crawled out of a mortal's belly."
"Then who do you think her real mother is? Why did she throw away such an auspicious little fairy child?"
"Her mother is blind."
"Then what do you think? Could her biological mother really be the second daughter-in-law of Chen Laoshuan's family?"
"Come on, how could it be her? That woman is so sinister and vicious. Last time, she beat her eldest daughter so hard that she jumped into the river."
"That's right! Is that kind of woman worthy of giving birth to a fairy boy?"
"Hey, I heard that a while ago, Chen Laoshuan's second daughter-in-law was taken away by the yamen runners for questioning. They said that she hired Chen Ergou to steal the child, but somehow she was released again."
"Oh, she is really a thief who is not willing to give up. Let's just think about it. That woman is really brave."
"That's right."
"So, that child is not from Chen Changping's family at all. You all should stop worrying about it."
A few people were chatting with their sleeves rolled up, when they suddenly saw Chen Laoshuan coming over and started poking each other.
"Keep your voices down, Chen Laoshuan is here."
"Okay, let's go."
The villagers of West Village were talking excitedly when they saw Chen Laoshuan staggering over, so they scattered in a swarm.
…
Jiang Sanlang and his companions returned home and divided the fish they caught. Each of the three brothers received five big fish.
The rest of the smaller ones were given to Jiang Cheng to give to his wife's parents as gifts.
Of course, leave two for the Zhang family as well.
Since Jiang Cheng and the Chu family are engaged, they have to exchange gifts during the New Year. Sending a few fish will also be a good way to save face.
On Dani's side, when the man comes to give gifts, Uncle Jiang's family also has to give a gift in return.
Chunniang sighed as she scraped the fish scales: "In previous years, my family was poor and we couldn't afford the gift. Now that we have more money, we still can't afford it."
Jiang Sanlang: "What do you mean?"
"You do the math. We need to send gifts to Ershilipu, my mother's family, my uncle's family, and your uncle's family."
Chunniang sighed, "In previous years, we saved as much as we could and shamelessly got by. Now look at it again."
Jiang Sanlang smiled and said, "Just do your best. Why should we pretend to be that fat guy?"
"That's what we say, but it's hard to do." Chunniang got a headache whenever she thought about it.
There are several elders on her mother's side alone, and each elder needs to prepare a gift. Adding the gifts for the younger generations in the family, even a mule cart cannot hold them all.
Besides, everyone in her mother's family knew that their lives were better now, so they were all very cautious. If she brought back any gifts that were a little ordinary, they would hear a lot of open and secret ridicule, saying that she had become arrogant after becoming rich and looked down on her poor relatives from her mother's family, and why she brought back such gifts when she was so rich.
Alas, it’s not as good as before. At least they won’t say anything if I bring something back.
No expectations, no resentment.