Chapter 6 Fish and Shrimp

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  It's nothing when it comes to not eating, even if he had been feeling hungry all along, Li Anran could still bear with it.

  It wasn't until the first bite of meat went down his throat that he discovered the originally tolerable hunger had suddenly flared up like oil on fire, burning wildly.

  Even if Li An was restrained and controlled, his eating appearance was still quite fierce. Fortunately, Zhao Erjia's wife had prepared a lot of staple food this time.

  In addition to the dry rice, they also made thick and solid pancakes, which prevented the familiar dishes on the table from being swept away by Li Anran.

  Even so, by the time Li Anran's stomach finally calmed down, more than half of the pot of millet porridge and the baked flatbread had been devoured.

  If you really calculate it, Li An alone eats more than Zhao Da and Zhao Er combined, and then doubled.

  If he hadn't known that he still had a way to make money in the future, Li Anran would have had to think carefully about his own future with such an appetite.

  As for Li Anran's good appetite, Zhao Er didn't find it abnormal at all, but instead felt that such an amount of food was more suitable for a fairy.

  But in Li Anran's view, his own appetite was really not the right time. If it were before crossing over, even if it were several times bigger, there would be no problem.

  It's in the Great Tang Dynasty, and it's still in the home of Zhao Er, a struggling ordinary people on the verge of poverty, this way of eating can absolutely make the other party go bankrupt.

  Although Zhao didn't say anything on the surface, the heartache in his eyes was evident. So Li Anran decided to find a way to make money the next day.

  In ancient times, there were few entertainment programs. After dinner, Zhao Da and Zhao Er went to the backyard to take care of the sick cow, while their wives cleaned up after dinner.

  Li Anran, having nothing better to do, looked up at the sky and saw that it was still early. To ensure he could eat again next time, he called over Zhao Er's only son, Dog Egg, and said:

  "Dog egg, is there a bamboo dustpan or a broken basket at home that's not being used?"

  After hearing this, Dog Egg tilted his little head and thought for a moment, first nodding, then leading Li Anran to a small shed on the west side of the front yard.

  Inside, there were some old, broken and useless things. Li Anran took a look and saw that they were all sorts of things, such as broken farm tools, wooden barrels, broken baskets, rotten winnows, etc.

  Apart from this, Yu Xi also had a unicycle, but the two wheels of the car couldn't be found. It looked like it was broken and hadn't been replaced in time, so it was thrown here.

  "Dog egg, pick up two rotten bamboo baskets, and also that bamboo dustpan next to it. Hmm, then take those two broken wooden buckets and follow me to the riverbank."

  Li An actually wanted to do it himself, but considering the clothes on his body, if he really got dirty, it would be embarrassing to go back to the county town.

  Gou Dan, who inherited his old man's silly personality, didn't think that much. In the little guy's eyes, he ate so much meat today, all brought by a certain someone.

  Moreover, both Grandpa and Mom reminded me to listen carefully, doing something for someone is nothing. Not to mention, I can still go play by the river.

  The two women washing dishes naturally heard the commotion over here, and as a mother, Zhao Erniang was somewhat worried, wondering if it would be dangerous to go to the river at this time.

  I recall what my husband said before, and the words of advice that came to mind were all on the tip of my tongue, but somehow they changed into reminders not to run around and to behave.

  "Zhao Er's wife, don't worry, with me keeping an eye on things, there won't be any problems."

  Li Anran had never experienced maternal love since childhood, but he was very sensitive to this aspect and saw Zhao Erniang's worries at a glance.

  Fortunately, this time I didn't plan to do anything too difficult, so after making a promise, I took Dog Egg and Zhao Dajia's second child, Er Gouzi, together to rush to the riverbank.

  Soon, the three people carrying tools arrived at a small river that they had passed by when they came out of the mountain, which was obviously an irrigation canal.

  With no outsiders around, Li Anran also stopped putting on any airs, took off his shoes and outer gown and put them in the plastic bag he had brought, then rolled up his pant legs.

  After confirming that the clothes on his body would not hinder him, Li Anran picked up a branch and tested the water depth. When he walked to the water's edge where it didn't exceed his knee, he put the rotten basket into the water source.

  Then he walked for about twenty meters along the direction of the water flow, and threw down another one. Finally, he let Dog Egg throw the dustpan to himself, and the whole set of actions was incredibly familiar.

  For Li Anran, who grew up in the countryside since childhood, whether it's climbing trees to dig out bird nests or diving into water to catch fish and shrimp are all basic skills.

  Even after growing up, I still often went to the river outside the village to cause trouble during my free time, let alone the small ditches inside the village.

  When Li An was young, he would often idle around and do these kinds of things. Not only could he indulge in play, but also satisfy his cravings, killing two birds with one stone!

  Unlike the mechanical excavation canals of later generations, this manually excavated and compacted canal has grass leaves on both sides of the ditch, and is close to the water inlet. Not only are there small fish and shrimp, but sometimes large fish also come in to forage.

  Li Anran held a bamboo dustpan and slowly walked back and forth between the two broken baskets. As for Dog Egg and Second Dog, they were holding buckets and waiting eagerly by the riverbank.

  Li An had no choice but to admit that the environment in ancient times was indeed much better than later generations. Just strolling around, he unexpectedly discovered many good things.

  What surprised Li Anran even more was that his skills in catching fish and shrimp had not weakened with age, but instead became much sharper than before.

  After finding the target, with a gentle sweep of the bamboo dustpan in both hands, the small fish and shrimp under the wandering large leaves also fell into his hands.

  Almost every time I scoop up, there will be a lot of gains. The dog egg is laughing and jumping on the shore, shouting that there are fish to eat tomorrow.

  It's just that Er Gouzi is about to turn two years older, and he's obviously much more stable than Gou Dan. However, the red glow on his little face also reveals this little guy's excited mood.

  Before long, a small bucket was filled with a handful of small fish and shrimp. They may not be big in size, but they were full of energy and jumping around.

  Because the factory was opened in the town, Li Anran had already found it difficult to enjoy this purely natural and unpolluted wild fish and shrimp, seeing these also couldn't help but salivate.

  The dog on the shore felt more and more itchy in his heart as he looked, finally unable to bear it, took the remaining bamboo basket, quickly stripped himself clean, and then jumped into the water ditch.

  Li An was initially worried that the little guy would cause trouble, but soon discovered that he was actually imitating his own movements and getting busy.

  After Li Anran and Dog Dan coordinated to rush from two directions, not to mention the small fish and shrimp with long fingers, but also caught a lot of palm-sized crucian carp, carp, grass carp and silver carp.

  With his exceptional skills, Li Anran not only caught a lot of big loaches but also grabbed a few wild eels from the holes along the shore.

  Among them, two are almost as thick as two fingers and a bit longer than a small forearm. With just these two, paired with some sliced cured meat, you can make a pot of savory and fragrant braised yellow eel with plenty of ingredients.

  Such a harvest did not stop Li Anran's movements, after throwing the dustpan ashore, he began to dig down and search in the muddy water at the bottom.

  As Li Anran continued to get up and throw the things he found in his hand onto the shore, after a short while, Er Gouzi, who was guarding the shore, had piled up more than a dozen large river clams.

  Nor did he know if his luck had arrived, just as Li Anran had touched at least thirty large river clams and was about to stop, he heard Dog Egg excitedly shouting: "There's a big one running over there!!"

  Li Anran turned his head to take a look, and oh boy, under the clear water surface, a long black shadow was being chased by Dog Egg towards him at an incredible speed.

  Facing this situation, Li Anran, who had already thrown away the dustpan, didn't panic at all. He narrowed his eyes and stared tightly at the black shadow, then suddenly made a scooping motion with both hands.

  As the splashing water burst into bloom in mid-air, a black shadow was seen struggling and drawing an arc in the air before landing on the shore with a thud.

  "What a big grass carp!!"

  When he saw that the fish he had just caught was nearly as long as an adult's arm, with a dark green body and black fins, Li An felt both excited and disappointed at the same time, but also somewhat relieved.

  Delighted that this big carp is quite large, just right for making a fish into three dishes. Regrettable that it's only a carp, if it were a mandarin fish or a black fish, it would be even better.

  As for why I feel lucky, it's simple. The black fish is also called the "black bream" or "fire head", a very ferocious carnivorous freshwater fish.

  If it were a black fish with this body shape, Dog Egg would have been in danger just now. According to the legend of the older generation, this thing even dares to attack humans.

  That kind of water ghost legend about dragging people underwater, after verification, there are two possible ones, except for the big-headed otter, it is this large black fish.

  Facing such a harvest, the dog egg who didn't know danger at all was so happy that he couldn't catch fish again, and slipped to the shore with Er Gouzi to press the fish together.