Chapter 19 Big fish
Jiang Sanlang hesitated for a while, but finally couldn't resist his daughter, so he had to lead her to the river.
Yingbao squatted down and put the small dough with Wudingzhi in his hand into the water.
"What did you put there?" Jiang Sanlang asked curiously.
"Bait." Yingbao said mysteriously, "The fish may like to eat it."
Jiang Sanlang smiled and said: "I think it's just dough. Of course fish likes to eat it, but..."
Before he finished speaking, Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang were heard screaming at the same time: "Look! Look! Sanlang, look! There is a fish coming!"
Jiang Sanlang looked up and sure enough, two dark fish spines cut two water lines and were heading this way.
"Drink! Big guy!" Jiang Sanlang picked up his daughter and handed it to his nephew who was following him. "Take my sister to the shore quickly."
Then I picked up the net. At first glance, it seemed that the net seemed too small to catch such a big fish.
"Big brother and second brother, we can't catch you." Jiang Sanlang jumped anxiously.
Jiang Dajiang Er had already run over, but he was helpless.
Two big fish, with half of their bodies exposed, swam to the shallow water, ate the bait, flopped around a few times and swam back again.
"Alas! Alas!" Jiang Sanlang couldn't help but sigh.
The fish was too big and the water was too cold. He couldn't risk going into the water, otherwise someone would die.
"If it's summer, I can't let it go no matter what." Jiang Dalang also sighed, "It's almost nine feet long from head to tail, God."
He had only seen such a big fish once in Jianglin County. It was caught by fishermen from the river, dragged to the county town on a cart, and the cut fish meat was sold in pieces like tofu.
A steward from a wealthy family spent two taels of silver to buy two baskets of fish meat, saying that this kind of fish was the best for making fish dumplings.
Ying Bao was also shocked. She didn't expect that she would attract two behemoths with a small ball of Wuding Zhi.
This, this is too outrageous.
Jiang Sanlang stayed by the river for a long time and then asked his daughter in a low voice: "Bao'er, do you have any more bait?"
Ying Bao took out his pocket and took out three pieces of dough the size of bird eggs, "There are three more."
Jiang Sanlang hesitated and asked, "Can I give it to daddy?"
Yingbao nodded and put three fish baits into his father's generous palm, "Here, fish."
Jiang Sanlang chuckled and rubbed his daughter's tiger head hat, "You go home first, I want to discuss it with your uncle and uncle before coming back."
"Yes." Yingbao has verified the magic of Wudingzhi and is satisfied. She can go home to see her brother. "Dad, be careful and don't fall into the river."
"Yeah, Dad knows."
Jiang Sanlang asked his nephew Jiang Quan to send his daughter home. He and his eldest and second brothers also planned to go back and find some tools for fishing.
Fishing nets alone are not enough. This big fish is so ferocious that it might be dragged into the river with people and nets.
Then the only way to catch them is with iron hooks and ropes.
Tie two long ropes to the hook and fork, tie one end to a big tree, use the iron hook to hook the fish, and then use the iron fork to assist. As long as the hook does not come off, you will not worry about catching the big fish.
Not to mention how Jiang Sanlang fished, and when Yingbao returned home, she saw Sister Dani and Sister Erni were there, watching Aniang spinning twine.
The two younger brothers were still sleeping, so Yingbao did not disturb them and moved a stool to sit next to her mother to watch.
Chun Niang looked up at the three of them and said, "Bao'er took my cousin to sit on the kang. It's too cold, so be careful of frostbite on your feet."
"Um."
In fact, Yingbao was not cold at all, but the two little cousins seemed to be stamping their feet from the cold.
So, the three little sisters sat on the hot kang, with quilts wrapped around their legs. Sister Dani was embroidering a handkerchief, and Erni was also sewing with a rag.
Country girls are sensible early. They start learning to spin and embroider at the age of five or six. By the age of nine or ten, they must learn to weave and make clothes.
Ying Bao also wanted to learn more, so she took a piece of rag from A Niang's sewing basket to practice embroidery.
Unconsciously, it was noon, and my mother was about to go to the kitchen to cook something to eat, when she suddenly heard a noise outside.
I ran out and saw a large group of villagers carrying a big fish to Uncle Jiang's house.
"Oh my god, such a big fish, it must have become a sperm." Second Aunt Wang stood in front of her house and exclaimed. She turned around and saw Chun Niang, "Chun Niang, Sanlang and the others caught a big fish in the river. Go and have a look."
Chun Niang was also shocked and hurriedly ran to her uncle's house to have a look and drink! There is another one in the yard.
Even the patriarch Chen Fu and his family came over and marveled at the big fish.
Old Man Jiang smiled from ear to ear and said loudly: "Brother Chen, stay for dinner today, and let's try some raw fish and shrimps too."
Patriarch Chen smiled and nodded. "Being respectful is worse than obeying your orders. Let us two brothers have a cup." He turned around and told his grandson: "Go back and get the pot of green ants from home."
The grandson agreed and ran away quickly.
So, the Jiang family started to entertain guests again in the afternoon, and invited the patriarch Muramasa and the master of the school, as well as several village elders.
Mrs. Zhou and her sisters-in-law were cooking in the kitchen, stewing fish with soybeans, grilling fish over charcoal, fresh fish meat, and braised shark's fin.
Several large basins were brought to the table, and everyone's mouths were full of oil.
After eating, several people each carried a square piece of fish home.
After clearing the table, Old Man Jiang sat down and discussed with his three sons how to distribute the remaining fish.
"Give some to those who help, keep some for the family, and sell the rest in the town."
Jiang Sanlang said: "We don't need to sell it too expensively. It just needs to be a little higher than the ordinary fish price. Let's set the price at nine cents per catty."
"Nine coins per pound, isn't that expensive?" Jiang Dalang hesitated, "What if we can't sell it?"
The average price of fish is five or six cents per catty, but during the New Year the price does not exceed eight cents, because the pork in the town only costs twelve cents, and mutton is the most expensive, at seventeen or eight cents per catty.
"If we can't sell it, we'll bring it back to eat during the Chinese New Year." Jiang Sanlang said, "We haven't seen this fish for decades. If we sell it for nine cents per catty, it's a loss."
Jiang Erlang said: "Listen to Sanlang, it's only nine cents per catty. Big fish are rare, and the meat is of such good quality. Rare things are more expensive. I don't believe it can't be sold."
"Okay, there's a market tomorrow, so you can go to town early in the morning." Old Man Jiang finally made the decision.
There was no talking all night, and the snow stopped early the next morning. The three brothers borrowed a cart and took the remaining big fish to the town.
It was difficult to travel in the snow. It was already late when the cart arrived in the town, but there were not many people in the market.
Maybe because of the cold weather, deep snow and slippery roads, many people didn’t come.
After finding a suitable location and parking the trolley, Jiang Sanlang began to shout, "Come on, come on! A century-old fish is rare to see. Eat it and you will live longer, and you will be immune to all diseases."
Jiang Dalang felt embarrassed when he saw his third brother acting like this, so he poked him, "Sanlang, stop shouting."
But Jiang Erlang smiled and said: "Brother, you don't understand, how can you do business without shouting? Look, isn't there someone here?"
Jiang Dalang took a look and saw that there were indeed several people walking this way.
"How do you sell this fish?" The man asked was in his forties, wearing a fox fur hat, a thick cotton robe, and deerskin boots. He looked like a wealthy man.
Jiang Sanlang responded immediately: "Ten coins and a catty."
Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang: "." He immediately shrank his neck and turned his face, pretending not to recognize his third brother.
"Ten cents per catty? It's almost catching up with the price of pork." The fox-skin hat stretched out his hand to touch the fish and tsked, "It's a bit expensive."
When Jiang Dalang heard this, he became more and more ashamed, and his head almost dropped to his chest.
Jiang Sanlang chuckled and said: "Your Majesty, my fish is a century-old fish. It is said that it can be refined after a hundred years of refinement. It only happens once in a thousand years. If you sell it for ten cents per catty, it is still too expensive for you. Isn't the price of ginseng in those ten years just like cabbage?"
The fox-skin hat glanced at him and smiled, "Your absurd reasoning is unique. Please weigh me twenty pounds."