Chapter 8 The Bandit Does Not Leave Empty-Handed

  Two aunts' struggling and hand-to-mouth days prompted Yu Songyuan and his brothers to take action.

  Yu Songyuan learned the art of fishing, pond management and fish scooping from a young age. The rivers and streams are numerous, but not every place with water has fish, and not all places with fish can be scooped. Where there are fish, where you can scoop them, and where it's worth scooping, all have many subtleties.

  It is said that a thief never walks away empty-handed. Since he was eleven or twelve years old, Yu Songyuan has always caught fish without exception.

  At first, they were all small masters who brought their own farm tools during the slack season. In the third year after Yuexiu and Wang Feng moved in, which was also the hungriest year for the four families, Yu Songyuan and his brothers started working on their own. The first time, he took his three brothers to a branch of Erdaoqu and worked for one night, but only caught a few kilograms of carp (a type of fish).

  Yu Songyuan was puzzled. According to his experience, the ten-meter-long ditch section had lush aquatic plants, relatively good water quality, and sometimes turbulent currents underwater, so there must be big fish here, at least he should be able to catch 20 kilograms of fish. He didn't give up, on the second morning, let Shu Tong send the fish back first, while asking Young Master Yu Xinmin to come over specially.

  After Little Master arrived, he looked around with his hands behind his back and said, "You're not mistaken, there are a lot of fish, all in the muddy water."

  Yu Songyuan suddenly enlightened, immediately brought his brothers to use a basin to scoop up the mud, as a result, from the mud, they scooped out over ten catties of round and lively loach, seven or eight big long fish (Suzhou dialect: Bi Yu), what's more surprising is that they also scooped out three big black fish (Suzhou dialect: Hei Yu), one small one weighed over a catty, two big ones, both weighed four to five catties.

  When catching two big black fish, the four children were not its opponents at all. The young master personally took action and captured it. The five people were busy until after lunch before they had cleared up all the silt in the ditch. Then, they opened up the dams at both ends and unblocked the water flow. This is the rule: the production team and brigade do not object to villagers building dams to catch fish, but you must dismantle the dam after catching the fish and unblock the water flow.

  When they finished, the young master lit a fire by the ditch and roasted mountain yams for them to eat as lunch. Yu Songyuan and the other three washed all the fish clean with water and then washed off the mud on their bodies. As they ate the mountain yams, the young master transmitted his teachings with satisfaction:

  "You're right, the mud here is over a foot deep, with lots of grass and good water, suitable for loach and long fish. The black fish has been here for a while, and you see the surging water and whirlpools, that's the black fish hunting. Oh my, this thing is fierce! The knife fish will be eaten clean in no time, and it won't take long before the other fish are all gone too."

  "Black fish is so fierce, after a long time, won't it eat up all the other fish? Will there be any other fish left?" Chen Lan asked worriedly.

  "No. In nature, the food relationship formed between various organisms due to predation and being preyed upon is called a food chain. For example, big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp, shrimp eat plankton, and plankton eat green algae. In freshwater, carnivorous fish such as blackfish are at the top of the food chain. If they eat all the other fish, they will also starve to death. Therefore, overall, there must be a relative balance between different species of fish and other aquatic organisms."

  After lunch, Yu Xinmin helped them clean up and head home, saying, "I don't quite understand. When we get back, let Professor Nai Nai explain the knowledge about biology, food chains, and ecological balance to you in detail."

  Several people returned home, causing a small stir in the village. Many others also went to other sections of the river and tried their luck, but indeed hardly caught any fish. The first time they took action, they caught nearly thirty kilograms, and Yu Xinhe, who had initially looked down on them, was speechless. Although he still didn't support it out of safety concerns, he no longer openly opposed it.

  Actually, when they were fighting hard in the river ditch at night, Yu Xinhe and Yu Xinmin brothers, under the coercion of She Wenfang and She Wenshu two sisters, had come here twice on purpose to accompany them for a while. Seeing that the water was very small and there was no safety hazard, they went back to tell each family to sleep peacefully.

  The professors and Teacher Chen's families were even more excited than during the Chinese New Year. Yu Yu and Wang Feng followed Su Wenfang and Su Wenshu's method, cleaning the loaches, salting them, and drying them in the sun. Then they cooked the dried loaches with snow vegetables, eating them as a dish, which was incredibly delicious, and they ate for a very long time.

  Inspired by this success, Yu Songyuan and his family were unstoppable. That year, they caught a total of 400 to 500 kilograms of fish, which helped their family get through the famine and earned them great merit.

  The happiest are the two housewives Yu Yue and Wang Feng. The food brought back by the children from time to time helped them get out of the predicament of having no rice to cook several times. During the Spring Festival, the two women made a new set of clothes for each of the four people with their own hands, in order to encourage them.

  Yu Songyuan and his brothers had the most excessive playtime during the winter break of their fourth year in elementary school. As they entered the twelfth lunar month, the weather was bitterly cold, and all the villagers hid in their homes behind thick reed curtains that hung from the eaves to block out the wind, gathered around the fire pit chatting, knitting socks, mending clothes, and playing cards.

  The winter vacation was released in mid-January. On the day of the winter break, Yu Songyuan took four people to the south of the planned land and carefully looked at the irrigation canal over 1,000 meters long several times.

  In the winter, the water was dry, and the deepest part of the Nan Yi Canal was nearly two meters deep, with a width of three to four meters at its widest point, and only two to three meters at its narrowest point. Yu Songyuan looked back and forth repeatedly, and everyone else didn't dare say much. It's usually like this, Yu Songyuan is the one who makes decisions and gives orders, once he gives the order, his brothers immediately follow without condition. The three of them were eager to try, anxiously waiting for Yu Songyuan to make up his mind.

  Yu Xinhe asked Yu Xinmin, "These little things have been sneaking south for days, are they thinking of taking over the South Canal? Haven't you gone to take a look? My principle is that small games and small disturbances are allowed, we don't oppose them. But big rivers and big canals, cannot be controlled by their nature."

  Yu Xinmin said, "Big brother, don't worry about it, I've got a plan. I secretly went to take a look and there are plenty of fish, but the water is too deep. Originally, I was thinking of going to scoop some up, but as a result, Song Yuan that guy is so cunning, he's also eyeing them."

  "Let them go fishing, just think of it as a survival exercise. Four little rascals in their teens (northern Jiangsu dialect, young boys), such a big project, you keep an eye on them, can't have any accidents."

  "They can't stay idle anyway. Let them do it first, and when they can't do it anymore, we'll all help out. If you intervene now, they'll just get upset and be unhappy." Yu Xinmin said with a smile.

  Yu Songyuan finally made up his mind after thinking for several days. He carefully calculated in his heart that with so much water, it was impossible for the four of them to do such a big job on their own. However, the adults were all busy and neglected this place. Moreover, being at the edge of the planned area, ordinary people did not want to come here, let alone scoop out fish. By the time they scooped out one or two sections, they would probably be exhausted and unable to move, but a large number of fish would have been caught, and the adults would definitely come to help.

  He made up his mind and set off with his brothers. The four brothers each pushed a handcart, loaded with quilts and iron shovels, and quietly set off after digging out some raw sweet potatoes from the cellar to make dry rations. All the adults in the four families knew they were going to take action again, but only reminded them and no one stopped them.

  Yu Yuemonth and Wang Feng rushed over together to ask Yu Xinmin, "What are they doing on such a cold day? They're sneaking around, not even saying anything."

  Yu Xinmin said: "His aunt, you all don't care about them. Well, this time these few things have gone too far. I have a plan in mind, just wait to eat fish."

  Yu Songyuan has made up his mind to make a big move this time. Last year during the Spring Festival, the four members of his family were very frugal, and they could only afford to buy one or two kilograms of meat. They couldn't even scrape together enough money for next year's tuition fees. If he can succeed in diverting the water from the Nan Yi canal, this New Year will be a prosperous one.

  The Nan Yi Canal is located on the edge of the planned land, and the south bank is lined with countless graves. Few people dare to come here for a stroll. This canal is about 4-5 kilometers long, and this section along the planned land is almost over 1 kilometer long, never having been dredged before. The surface of the canal has already frozen over, but beneath the ice, the water flows, with aquatic plants swaying back and forth, and from time to time, surging currents under the ice create waves. Yu Song Yuan dares to be certain that there is something fishy going on here, and it's big.

  He first took his brothers to the upstream, where the canal surface was wider, about three or four meters, but the water was not deep, less than one meter. They made a great effort, digging open the frozen soil on both banks of the river embankment, and started pushing the soil in with a handcart, working for two whole days before completing the dam.

  At night, they dug a hole in the leeward side of the river embankment, covered it with grass, and set up a small thatched hut. When hungry, they roasted mountain yams to eat; when thirsty, they drank icy river water; when tired, they squeezed into the hut to sleep for a while; when cold, they lit a bonfire in the center of the hut to warm themselves.

  That night, Shu Tong lit a bonfire, and the four of them had just washed their feet and sat down in the thatched hut, preparing to roast sweet potatoes over the fire for dinner. The four of them almost simultaneously saw a man in his thirties standing three or four meters outside the thatched hut, wearing a blue Zhongshan suit and a blue hat, staring at them expressionlessly.

  In just a few seconds, the man suddenly disappeared.

  Yu Songyuan was shocked, he rushed out of the thatched cottage barefoot. The fields were quiet, with only the north wind blowing. Both sides of the Nanqu River were salt-alkali land, without a single tree, and the reeds by the river had long since withered, low and flat against the riverbank, a vast expanse of desolation, where was there any sign of human presence?

  The three people in the room were already frightened out of their wits, and when Yu Song came in, Shu Tong said with a sobbing tone, "Brother, let's just forget it, I want to go home!"

  "What's the point of crying? It's just a hallucination, let's continue to roast and eat sweet potatoes. After eating, hurry up and sleep for a while, wake up and continue working!" Yu Songyuan mustered up his courage and said nonchalantly.

  Yu Songquan put the mountain yam into the fire and burned it. "I also think it's an illusion, there's nothing to be afraid of."

  "Boss, I know there's no ghost, it must be just an illusion, but I'm still a bit scared." Shu was the youngest among them, seven or eight months younger than the others. Listening to the howling wind outside the hut, he squeezed himself in between the three of them, his heart still racing with fear.

  Yu Songyuan sat at the outermost edge of the thatched hut, "Are you guys scared too?" Chen Lan and Song Quan also honestly said they were indeed scared. After all, they were just 13 or 14-year-old kids. In fact, Yu Songyuan's own heart was racing with fear.

  The sweet potatoes were cooked, everyone finished eating, and they covered themselves with dry grass, squeezed together to sleep. Yu Songyuan was the eldest, he could only lean against the small shed door to sleep, blocking the cold wind for his three younger brothers. "You say, are ghosts more formidable or are Japanese people more formidable?"

  "It's not that the Japanese are inherently evil, but they were able to start a global war. The bogeyman is something people scare themselves with, but Japan actually brought disaster to half of the earth, especially Asia, and China was the most damaged," Shu Tong said.

  "That year, my grandparents and uncle were burned to death by the Japanese. My two uncles, my mother, and aunt became orphans, just 13-14 years old kids, yet they could kill countless Japanese people, scaring them so much that not a single Japanese soldier, puppet army member, or traitor dared to walk at night or go out in the evening. We were their children, shouldn't we be scared sleeping next to the graves?"

  Yu Songyuan seems to be asking everyone, but more like questioning himself.