Chapter 051: Harvest

Chen Mingchuan remained silent, his expression impassive as he listened to the two women bickering.

He had never felt any romantic feelings for Zhang Caiyun, and now he even less desired any connection with her.

The children also kept quiet. When Li Xinyue walked down the river embankment, they followed silently.

Zhang Caiyun stood on the embankment, her eyes fixed on them, her face darkening.

“Chen Mingchuan, you are so heartless, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

“One day, you will regret this!”

“Li Xinyue, I won’t let you go with the army!”

But no one paid her any attention.

Soon, the group crossed the riverbed and reached the Qingshitan, located upstream from the village.

The Qingshitan was the deepest part of the river. Due to a sudden dip in the terrain, the water rushed down from upstream, creating a large pool with a significant drop.

It was said that no one knew how deep the bottom of the pool was, so no one dared to swim there.

“Third Brother, can we catch fish in such deep water?”

Looking at the deep pool, Sanhu felt utterly hopeless.

He really wanted to eat fish, the fish soup last night was delicious.

Chen Mingchuan ignored him, grabbed a handful of homemade fish bait from the bucket, and threw it into the pool. “How do we know unless we try?”

Okay.

If Third Brother said they could catch fish, they definitely could.

Sanhu didn’t dare say anything more, because he knew he would get a scolding if he did!

Chen Qiming, however, thought Chen Mingchuan was being unrealistic.

“Third Brother, no one knows how deep this pool is. Someone tried to blast fish here recently, and only got a few small ones.”

“If you want fish, you have to go to the mountain pond, there are a lot of fish there.”

The mountain pond did have many fish. In recent years, the brigade had released a lot of fish fry into it, specifically for the educated youth to raise.

But the fish in that pond belonged to the brigade.

Chen Mingchuan was a man of principle, and he didn’t want people to say he was taking advantage of socialism.

Chen Mingchuan finished throwing the bait and looked at the four of them with a serious expression.

“I’m telling you, using dynamite is not only illegal but also extremely dangerous.”

“None of you have received professional training, don’t risk your lives for a few fish!”

Is that possible?

People have been blasting fish in this area for miles around, how come no one has been killed?

Of course, there were people who had been killed by explosions.

But there were many more who hadn’t.

Chen Qiming didn’t think much of it.

Li Xinyue ignored them, taking the three children to a cluster of rocks at the shallow end of the pool.

The children were catching shrimp, while she focused her mind on the deep pool…

Soon, the water in the pool churned.

“Look! Fish, fish! Big fish! Third Brother, big fish! Quick, cast the net!”

In an instant, Sanhu was overwhelmed with excitement, shouting with joy.

Chen Mingchuan glanced at him, also shocked by the fish wave, and immediately threw his hands…

“Such big fish! Quick, pull hard!”

As the net came up, the bellies of the fish flashed white, and the water splashed.

“One, two, three… seventeen! Oh my God, seventeen! That biggest one must be at least ten pounds!”

“Oh my God, this is a fish nest!”

“Third Brother, your fishing skills are amazing!”

The river was filled with Sanhu’s exclamations and admiration.

Li Xinyue saw it too.

And she noticed that this time, using her mind power, there was only a slight backlash.

Much, much less than that day!

Great!

Instantly, Li Xinyue was overjoyed: From now on, when we really have nothing to eat, we’ll just go to the mountains and get some wild boar and rabbit!

Chen Mingchuan was also excited. He had never imagined catching so many fish.

He came here because he had caught fish here before.

He was much calmer than Sanhu.

Seeing Sanhu waving his hands and shouting, he scolded him: “Alright, stop shouting, don’t let anyone find out.”

“When more people come, they’ll want a share too!”

Of course!

Although the fish in the river didn’t belong to the collective, who could guarantee that others wouldn’t come and snatch them?

Besides, this section of the river didn’t even belong to their production team!

Sanhu immediately lowered his voice: “Third Brother, let me try!”

The other three young men saw this and squeezed forward: “Brother San, I want to try too!”

“Me too!”

“Me too!”

Since they all wanted to try, let them have a go. Chen Mingchuan immediately stepped aside.

Turning his head, he noticed Li Xinyue’s unusual behavior: “What’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell again?”

Don’t you think I’m  Sister Lin ?

There are enough fish!

Li Xinyue immediately retracted her thoughts: “No, I’m just shocked. I didn’t expect there to be so many fish at the bottom of this pool.”

Chen Mingchuan nodded: “I didn’t expect it either. It seems that there really is an underground river at the bottom of this pool. Tell Sanhu not to come here again.”

An underground river is a subterranean river.

No one knows how deep it is, nor does anyone know where its source is.

If someone falls in and gets sucked into the underground river, it would be a sure death.

“Yeah, you have to remind him. He’s young and doesn’t understand.”

Indeed.

As they were talking, Sanhu and the others were casting their nets one after another.

Meanwhile, Chen Yiheng was having fun with Dongzi and Yingzi.

“Mom, look, there’s a crab!”

The little guy stood in the water, the water reaching his calves, holding a small crab the size of a beetle in his hand…

“Baby wants to eat crab?”

Chen Yiheng shook his head: “Mom, this is for the ducks to eat. When I grow up, I’ll catch it for the ducks to eat!”

“Now I will catch it for the ducks at my aunt’s house!”

The little guy still hadn’t forgotten the taste of duck!

Wait!

Little guy, Mom will let you eat all the delicious food in the world!

Li Xinyue jumped off the pile of rocks: “Okay, mom will catch fish with you, and we will let the ducks from my aunt’s house have a meal later!”

Chen Mingchuan rolled up his pants and stood in the water, not moving. He just watched the mother and son interact…

“Third Brother, Third Brother, come and help, there’s a big fish in this net!”

Sanhu shouted, and he immediately went over.

After a few casts, they actually caught at least three hundred pounds of fish!

The four young men were extremely excited. You cast one net, I cast one net, until they couldn’t catch another fish.

“Oh my god, oh my god, I’ve never seen so many fish before!”

Sanhu couldn’t contain his excitement. Although Chen Mingchuan was equally shocked, he didn’t act like a child who couldn’t control himself.

“Alright, stop shouting, hurry back home and get something to carry them!”

Soon, the young men went back and carried four buckets of water.

The four buckets were filled to the brim.

They returned to Uncle Chen’s house from a small, deserted path. Seeing so many fish,my Aunt  was stunned.

“My goodness, did you raid the big fish pond in the production team? Otherwise, where did you get so many fish?”

Sanhu excitedly explained: “Mom, these aren’t the fish from the mountain pond!”

“Third Brother took us fishing in the river, using Dad’s fishing net! Amazing, right?”

My goodness, amazing!

When did the river in front of their house become a fish haven?

Wang Cuimiao exclaimed: “The fish are good, but we need oil.”

“Mingchuan, take these fish to the commune’s purchasing station, just keep two or three at home.”

“They’ll buy fish there, and you can exchange them for some money.”