Su Wen lived an early retirement life in his hometown. There was no work to do in the cold fields. The most he could do was cut some firewood during the day. Su Wen's house had already prepared dry firewood for the winter. The rest of the time was spent sunbathing in the open space in front of the village committee compound with the old and young men in the village. Telling stories about the steel rolling mill with the villagers, and listening to the old man telling stories about the war years. The sun gradually sets, and the clouds in the sky are dyed golden yellow. Su Wen stood up, stretched his muscles, and then walked slowly home for dinner.
On the third day after returning home, chicks began to hatch from the wild eggs placed in the space. Su Wen was filled with surprise and expectation when he saw this scene. He remembered that it took a lot of effort to get these wild eggs, and now he could finally see them hatching into chicks.
He observed these chicks carefully and found that they were all very healthy and full of vitality. Su Wen thought that these chicks would become a valuable asset in his future life. More than 150 pheasant eggs hatched into 82 baby pheasants. Su Wen mixed a pot of cornmeal with water and put it in the space for the chicken to eat. Then he and his father went to the village head to bask in the sun.
Su Wen and his father were leisurely basking in the sun at the edge of the village, enjoying the warmth of winter. Su Wen and his father chatted while basking in the sun. They talked about the harvest, the changes in the village, and the work in the steel rolling mill. The conversation between Su Wen and his father gradually turned to their youth. Dad recalled how he worked so hard in those days. In order to support his family, he went to Tianjin Port to carry big bags after heavy snow closed the mountains in winter.
In the afternoon, the village chief of Dawangzhuang next door brought a few people to Sujiazhuang and found Su Weiguo with a gift wrapped in straw paper. "Brother Weiguo, our village has run out of food. Our village would like to ask you to be our guide into the mountains.
"Village Chief Wang can't do it. He can't enter the mountain. Now the frost and dew in the mountain have turned into ice. I won't go into the mountain and die." Su Weiguo rejected Village Chief Wang. It's not that he doesn't want to help the villagers, but he knows the danger of entering the mountains now, and he doesn't want to die because of one action.
Village Chief Wang nodded and left with the people. Not long after, Mrs. Su, the elder of the clan, sent someone to call Su Weiguo and Su Wen over. The old man is the most senior person in the village and has great prestige in the village. The old man's approval is required for a newborn in Sujia Village to be added to the family tree.
When we arrived at the old man's house, the village chief of Dawangzhuang was also sitting in the house, and the village chief of Sujiazhuang was also drinking tea with him.
Su Weiguo: "Grandpa, second uncle, why do you want to see me?"
Su Wen followed behind and said hello to the two elders, "Great Grandpa, Second Grandpa."
"Weiguo, I called you here this time because of the incident at Dawang Village. Our Su family still owes them a huge favor to the Wang family. Do you know why Wang Daquan became the head of Dawang Village? It's because of him Grandpa saved people in several villages near us. We have to repay this favor. Now Dawang Village is encountering difficulties, and their village has begun to run out of food. The relief food from above has not come down, and I don’t know if there is still any."
"It's best not to have too many expectations for this year's relief food. There are more and more people fleeing the famine in Sijiu City. But now when we go into the mountains, if it's just me and my dad, we won't be able to get back much prey, and we won't be able to help Dawangzhuang." We are busy. If many people go in, there will definitely be a lot of casualties. I saw it at the foot of the mountain yesterday. The dead leaves are already frozen. It is better to have a thick layer of snow like in the Northeast. I am afraid we are afraid. The situation here is that there is only a thin layer of ice, and if you step on it it is extremely slippery and you could lose your life if you are not careful." Su Wen opened his mouth to tell what he knew.
Mr. Su sighed. He didn't expect the matter to be so serious. He pondered for a while, then raised his head and looked at Su Weiguo, and said: "Weiguo, I know you are worried about the danger of going into the mountain. However, we must find a way to help Dawangzhuang now. I want you to lead a team into the mountain. .”
"I object, old man. It's too dangerous to enter the mountain now. It's very possible that you may lose your life if you fail to save people." Su Wen objected.
"Then do you have any good ideas?"
"No."
"Weiguo, what do you think?"
"Grandpa, if you go into the mountains now, you will die, and you won't be able to catch prey. There is no point in me going into the mountains by myself. Taking the villagers of Dawangzhuang into the mountains on a large scale means taking them to death. They don't have enough to eat. Now if I go into the mountains, at night If you can’t bear it, you will die from the cold.”
"Grandpa, do you still have the old fishing gear that you exchanged for the three robe skins and the foreigners? I'm going to the Chaobai River to try to see if I can catch the big guy."
"It's still here, Dongzi, take out my fishing gear." Mr. Su's eldest son handed the fishing gear to Su Wen.
At the end of the discussion, there was no result. In the end, Sujiazhuang collected 200 kilograms of cornmeal and lent it to Dawangzhuang for emergency use.
In this era, no one eats loaches. The fishy smell is too strong to be swallowed, so they can be caught casually in the puddles by the river. Su Wen caught some loaches in a muddy area and rode his bicycle to the Chaobai River. As a later generation, he knew the power of fishing with loaches. As long as there were carnivorous fish nearby, he would catch them almost casually.
Su Wen came to the Chaobai River. The sun had already risen high, and the river surface was reflecting golden light. A thin layer of ice had formed on the surface of the water. Su Wen threw two stones and broke the ice. He found a spacious place and got busy. He took out the loaches, made a wound on their back with a sharp knife, and then hung them on the fishing hook. He knew that the fishy smell of loaches would attract fish.
Su Wen held the fishing rod and quietly waited for the fish to arrive. He felt a little nervous and a little expectant.
As time passed, Su Wen gradually felt a little impatient. He tightened the fishing rod in his hand and continued to wait. Finally, he felt a big fish was hooked. He fished patiently. After ten minutes, he felt that the big fish had lost its strength. He pulled up the fishing rod and a big fish jumped out of the water. It was a black fish, weighing about seven or eight kilograms. .
Su Wen continued fishing until it got dark. He carefully counted the fish he caught. There were more than thirty fish in total. The big ones include catfish weighing thirteen to fourteen kilograms, the small ones include mandarin fish weighing two to three kilograms, and fish weighing almost two hundred kilograms. Fish that are too small cannot eat bait made from live loaches. A snakeskin bag was filled, and the rest that couldn't be filled had to be thrown into the space. They were all frozen and couldn't be put into the pond to raise.
Su Wen was happy that the day's northwest wind was not in vain. He packed up his fishing gear and rode home. Return to the village and deliver a snakeskin bag of catch to my great-grandfather’s house.
"Grandpa, this is my harvest today. I'm lucky. I found the fish nest."
"So many fish?" How many kilograms of fish are there? I'll ask Xiao Wang to give you an IOU tomorrow. "
"Your fishing rod." Su Wen put the fishing rod in front of the old man.
"I gave you the fishing rod. It's a waste to put it in my hands."
"Thank you, Grandpa. I will trade these fish with you for fishing rods. I don't care what you and Village Chief Wang do with these fish."
Su Wen took out two mandarin fish from the space and returned home. He told his parents about today's harvest and they were very happy. "What bait did you use to catch so many fish?"
"Dad, this is my secret. We have separated and I can't tell you."
"Okay, be careful to keep your secrets."
