Chapter 7 Facing Reality

  Considering that the fish would live for a long time, Li Anran didn't continue to scoop it up, but instead quickly returned to the shore and stuffed the fish into the bucket.

  The two little guys still wanted to carry the fish away, but unfortunately this green fish was a bit too big and was still struggling constantly. In the end, they could only leave it to Li Anran to deal with.

  In order to ensure the freshness of the fish, Li Anran didn't even have time to put on his clothes. He just managed to get Dog Egg to grab the plastic bag containing his shoes and overcoat before rushing towards Zhao Er's home.

  Li An ran awkwardly into the courtyard, holding a wooden bucket and fish, ignoring Zhao Er's astonished gaze, and shouted: "Zhao Er, quickly bring out a basin!"

  "Alright! I'm going now."

  Zhao Er was stunned for a moment before reacting, and hastily rushed into his own kitchen to fetch a large wooden basin that could be used for both washing vegetables and clothes. Zhao Da, who was standing by, also showed great presence of mind by carrying a bucket of water.

  After the fish slid into the wooden basin filled with water, it swam back and forth several times, presumably finding that it couldn't escape, before finally calming down.

  "What a big fish!!"

  It's not just Zhao Er and Zhao Da who sighed like this, the two women who rushed to hear the news were also shocked by the big fish in the basin.

  At this time, Dog Egg, who was holding a wooden bucket and running back, shouted from afar: "Grandpa! I'm back, look, I caught a lot of fish and shrimp, they're all alive!"

  As for Er Gouzi, he fell behind because he was carrying more things in his hands. However, judging from the expression on his face, he was also overjoyed with this harvest.

  I don't know if it's an illusion, but after Li An explained what just happened, I feel like the gaze of the two Zhao brothers towards me has changed significantly compared to before.

  If the other party's attitude towards him was mainly respectful before, then after talking about catching fish, Li Anran always felt that these two families were much more intimate with him than before.

  Li An actually knew that with the title of a Qi Refiner, going to catch fish and shrimp with Dog Egg was indeed very unbecoming, but status can't be eaten as food.

  Looking at the amount of food I eat now, it's not just one or two meals, if I keep eating like this every day, how can Zhao Er and Zhao Da's families afford it?

  As for making money, although it doesn't seem like a difficult thing. But to really do it, it will involve many aspects, and if you're not careful, nothing will work.

  Li Anran wouldn't be foolish enough to stake his own safety on the plot twists described in those YY stories. To be safer, it's better to keep a low profile.

  Even if you're preparing for something in the future, it will still involve many aspects, but having a good foundation is better than recklessly jumping out and doing this and that.

  Specifically what to do, Li Anran still felt that he should wait until tonight when there were no outsiders disturbing him and then think carefully about the plans for later.

  After raising fish in water, Li Anran asked Zhao Er to take a basin and soak the big river clams he had caught together in the water to spit out dirt.

  This thing needs at least a day and night to spit out the accumulated mud, sand and other dirty things in the body, and it can't be eaten for a while.

  As for those few yellow eels, they were still thrown into the wooden bucket with a little water, this thing is more durable than fish and shrimp, just dig some earthworms to raise them for a long time.

  As for those caught fish and shrimp, except for the palm-sized fish that can temporarily coexist with the green fish, the remaining small fish and shrimp cannot be released for long.

  Fortunately, this was not a problem for Li Anran, who picked up some twigs from Zhao Erjia's firewood pile and smoked all the slaughtered small fish into dried fish.

  Those lively river shrimps, Li Anran had originally wanted to keep them to make drunken shrimp. But thinking that there wasn't any high-proof liquor on hand to kill the bacteria, he could only give up.

  While Li Anran was directing the crowd to be busy, the little guys led by Gou Dan and Er Gouzi, after confirming that these river clams were a concept with meat, naturally had a very pleasant mood.

  Four adults and Zhao's eldest daughter, when they saw the smoked fish, as well as the fish, shrimp, and eel raised in the basin, thought only of how much grain these things could be exchanged for.

  Although Zhao Dazhao and Zhao Erzhao are both hunters, apart from taking care of those few acres of land, they can also go into the mountains to hunt some wild game to supplement their family expenses, but life is just barely warm and full.

  Especially Zhao's family, getting married early and having many children, the little ones are not just raised, but also need to take care of marriage matters, there are too many places where money is needed.

  Originally, no one paid much attention to these small fish and shrimp. After all, those shrimp were worth two cents, but the small fish caught could hardly be sold at a price that people would eat.

  Unexpectedly, after Li Anran's cooking, especially when adding some simple seasonings during the smoking process, the originally unappetizing small things immediately became delicious.

  Just simple processing can make worthless things valuable. Although the four adults in Zhao's family don't understand business, they still have common sense.

  As for Zhao's family thoughts, Li Anran didn't immediately feel it. However, even if the Zhao family didn't think so, they already had corresponding plans.

  But it's not time to talk about this yet, so Li Anran didn't say much either. He just intentionally told the little guys how delicious clams and eel fish are.

  With the previous fishing and shrimp catching incident, Li Anran's relationship with the Zhao family had become somewhat closer. Taking advantage of the opportunity to smoke fish, both parties chatted for a few sentences.

  It wasn't until they started talking that Li Anran realized the impact of the war at the end of Sui on the entire Tang Dynasty, fortunately, Emperor Gaozu of Tang was a decent emperor.

  In the years since he took office, the people of Datang finally had a chance to rest and recover. Although the common people were still very poor and prices were high, at least they had hope.

  In ancient times, there was also a lot of nightlife, but those were only for the wealthy and powerful groups. If you didn't have money or power, it was not even worth thinking about.

  Especially for ordinary people like Zhao brothers, they can't even afford to light the oil lamp. At night, except for the exercise of human reproduction, there is only sleep.

  After chatting for a while, Zhao Dazhong and his family stood up to bid farewell. The sick cow was left at Zhao Erjia's house, which was convenient for Li Anran to conduct the next step of diagnosis and treatment nearby.

  Judging from the current situation, the diarrhea of this sick cow has been greatly relieved. In Li Anran's view, it will take at most two or three more days to recover.

  Such a result naturally made both the Zhao family and the Zhao Er family extremely happy, and even Zhao Da's pace when he returned home was much lighter than when he came.

  His gaze still made Zhao Er and his family somewhat embarrassed, Li Anran didn't continue to drag the conversation with him either, politely said a few words before returning to her own room.

  Although this room was originally used for storing miscellaneous items, the main structure is still not bad. Moreover, it's summer now and a bit of breeze can be refreshing.

  In the countryside of Datang, the night was even quieter than in modern rural areas. Li Anran, who had gone to bed, stared blankly at the simple roof above him, but couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

  Don't look at how quickly Li Anran seemed to adapt after meeting Zhao Er, in fact, he still had some illusions about the fact of crossing over.

  Fantasizing that all of this is just a dream of one's own, perhaps someday the dream will wake up. But after experiencing so much, this idea has already been self-evident.

  "Crossed over... really crossed over..."

  "Unexpectedly traveled through time and space to the first year of the Zhenguan era of the Tang Dynasty."

  "Never mind, as the saying goes, 'make yourself at home wherever you are.' Since we're already here, instead of complaining about things, it's better to think carefully about our future path."

  After being confused by his own thoughts for a while, Li Anran finally calmed down and faced reality, thinking about his future.

  "The identity of that Qi cultivator I told Zhao Er before, now thinking about it, is still not quite suitable. This thing first appeared in 'The Investiture of the Gods'."

  "However, the book 'Fengshen Yanyi' tells stories of myths from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, but its author is actually from the Ming dynasty. Now we are in the Tang Dynasty, it's strange if someone knows about it."

  "It's a good thing that this identity can be distinguished from the profession of Taoist, so when the time comes, I can explain it however I want, and avoid any trouble."

  "I understand some of the tricks those charlatans use, but they're ultimately deceiving people. Hmm... rather than using these tricks to deceive others, it's more valuable to expose them."

  "Standing from a Taoist's point of view to expose these deceptive tricks, I believe it should be more welcomed by the vast number of victims. However, it is still better to be cautious."

  Moreover, in this era, even if being a Taoist has certain benefits in some aspects, it seems that one also needs to have a legitimate identity to do so.

  "Whatever, anyway no one can find out about my background. The three-wheeled bike and mobile phone that crossed over with me can temporarily pretend to be a magical artifact."

  "As for identity issues, it shouldn't be a big deal for the time being. However, the safest approach would be to directly cling onto Li Shimin's thick legs."

  "But I'm just a small Qi cultivator, wanting to get Li Er's attention and smoothly hug his big thick leg, it looks easy but actually..."

  Thinking of this, Li Anran picked up the fake mobile phone placed beside his pillow. This counterfeit product may look ugly in appearance, but its quality and functionality are not bad.

  Especially in standby time, under the current fully charged situation, if you don't listen to music, play games or receive calls, of course, there are no calls to receive at the moment.

  If no functions are used and it remains in standby state all the time, conservatively estimated, it should still be usable for half a month, and with good luck, it's not impossible to last a whole month.