Chapter 11: Small Fish

In the basket were a handful of bok choy, a bunch of chives, two long eggplants, a few green peppers, and ten eggs.

The hens at home were only a little over two months old, so they hadn’t started laying eggs yet.

After giving her instructions, Jiang Cuihua left.

After finishing breakfast and tidying up, Liu Yinyin also grabbed her basket and headed out.

The weather was getting hotter, so she needed to get more work done while it was still relatively cool in the morning.

Liu Yinyin took her basket and went up the mountain to gather wild vegetables. Lately, she had been spending a lot of money from the system to furnish her new home, and her balance had quickly dwindled to just 2,840 yuan.

Since she was still in the early months of pregnancy and could still do most tasks, she wasn’t about to just sit at home and use up her savings.

However, because it hadn’t rained for a long time, the wild vegetables on the mountain were all wilted. After searching for more than an hour, she managed to gather only two pounds of wild greens.

She sold them to the system for 14 yuan and then carried her basket back down the mountain.

Selling wild vegetables to the system was more profitable since the price was higher. If she wanted fresh greens to eat, she could always buy other vegetables from the system instead.

Vegetables from the system only cost 2 yuan per pound, meaning she could buy three or four pounds of vegetables just by selling one pound of wild greens.

As she was heading down the mountain, she saw a few boys fishing in the river.

Patting her pockets, Liu Yinyin walked over to take a closer look. The fish in the river were small, and the boys were mostly catching tiny fish.

These small fish were troublesome to cook, oily, and full of bones. Even if they took them home, their families wouldn’t necessarily cook them—they were mostly catching them just for fun.

Liu Yinyin’s eyes gleamed with an idea. She quickly checked with the system and found out that these pure, naturally grown small fish could sell for 12 yuan per pound.

That was a pretty good price, and she was immediately tempted. She turned to one of the boys she knew and asked, “Xiao Man, are these fish in the bucket yours?”

Liu Xiaoman was Liu Yinyin’s cousin’s son, a ten-year-old boy.

He was quite mischievous. After just two years of schooling, he had thrown a tantrum and refused to continue, spending his days climbing trees to steal bird eggs or catching fish in the river. He had received quite a few beatings from his father because of it.

“Yeah, Auntie. Why?” Liu Xiaoman wiped the sweat off his tanned face with his hand.

“Why are you catching so many small fish? Is your mom going to cook them for you?” Liu Yinyin asked.

Still using his sieve to scoop fish from the riverbank, Liu Xiaoman grinned and said, “Nah, my mom doesn’t know how to cook these. I caught them to feed the chickens.”

Feed the chickens?

Liu Yinyin twitched at the thought. She hesitated before suggesting, “Xiaoman, Auntie also wants some small fish, but I can’t go into the water right now. I see you’ve caught a lot—how about I trade you something for some?”

Liu Xiaoman was surprised at first but then asked curiously, “Auntie, what do you want to trade?”

Liu Yinyin thought for a moment, then held up a finger and said, “I’ll trade you one White Rabbit candy for every pound of small fish. How about that?”

It wasn’t that she was stingy—White Rabbit candies were a luxury item in this era, costing more than 2 yuan per pound. Rural families couldn’t even buy them, let alone afford to.

Giving too much at once would attract too much attention.

“Really?” Liu Xiaoman’s eyes lit up instantly. “Auntie, you’re not joking, right?”

White Rabbit candy!

In his ten years of life, Liu Xiaoman had never tasted White Rabbit candy before. He had only heard that it was delicious.

“I’m serious,” Liu Yinyin said as she pulled a few pieces of candy from her pocket and showed him. “So, do you want to trade?”

Probably because of her pregnancy, she had been craving sweets lately and always kept a handful of White Rabbit candies in her pocket to snack on when she felt like it.

“Deal!” Liu Xiaoman’s eyes stayed fixed on the candies in her hand as he swallowed hard. Then, he scratched his head awkwardly and said, “But… I don’t have a scale.”

Liu Yinyin coughed lightly and said, “I have a scale at home. Come on, let’s go check.”

The other children nearby watched her expectantly, but she didn’t invite them along. If she started buying large quantities of small fish and the rest of the village found out, it might not be a good thing.

Her house wasn’t far from the river, so the two of them arrived after just a short walk.

Liu Yinyin took out her key to unlock the door, led Liu Xiaoman into the kitchen, and said, “Wait here, I’ll go to my room and get the scale.”

Excited about getting his candy soon, Liu Xiaoman behaved well and stayed put in the kitchen without touching anything.

But the truth was—Liu Yinyin didn’t even own a scale!

As soon as she entered her room, she quickly bought an old-fashioned balance scale from the system, the kind commonly used in this era.

The bucket of small fish weighed exactly two and a half pounds. Liu Xiaoman didn’t keep any for himself—he traded them all for candy.

Liu Yinyin gave him two pieces of candy and promised to give him another one later when he reached a full pound owed.

Liu Xiaoman grinned as he carefully tucked the candies into his pocket without eating them. Then, his eyes sparkled with an idea, and he asked, “Auntie, will you still want small fish in the future?”

Trading small fish for White Rabbit candies was such a great deal—he was already thinking of doing it again.

Liu Yinyin had the same thought in mind, so she nodded. “Yes, not just small fish. I’ll also take any little shrimp, loaches, and snails you catch from the river. As for the price… let’s keep it the same—one candy per pound?”

“Deal!” Liu Xiaoman was so thrilled at the thought of eating White Rabbit candies every day that his little face turned red with excitement.

Liu Yinyin was pleased too but reminded him, “Just make sure you don’t go too deep into the water—it’s dangerous.”

“I know,” Liu Xiaoman replied. At ten years old, he was well aware of the risks.

After he left, Liu Yinyin immediately sold two pounds of small fish to the system, earning 24 yuan.

This trade was truly profitable.

Humming a tune, she took half a pound of the small fish to clean and prepare.

Half a pound was a decent portion—enough to make a dish.

For lunch, she made braised small fish. Since she wasn’t short on cooking oil, she deep-fried the fish first.

Crispy and aromatic, even the bones were crunchy—it was delicious.

Along with cold-dressed eggplant and cornmeal steamed buns, Liu Yinyin enjoyed a satisfying meal.

Since it was hot outside, she stayed home after lunch instead of going out.

Only when the sun was about to set did she finally come out of the house, carrying a bucket.

Fetching water was convenient for her—there was a natural spring right next to her plot of land, and she collected all her household water from there.

She filled her bucket halfway, then used a gourd ladle to water the plants, taking breaks in between.

By the time Liu Mingyuan arrived in the evening, she had almost finished watering both plots of land.

“Why are you doing this by yourself?” he asked, taking the ladle from his sister’s hand. “From now on, let me handle watering the field. I’ll come over after work.”

Noticing how tanned he had become from the sun, Liu Yinyin immediately said, “Third Brother, you don’t have to come anymore. It’s not much land—I can manage on my own.”

She didn’t want to keep troubling her family. Besides, this amount of work was nothing—she considered it a bit of exercise.

But Liu Mingyuan wouldn’t agree. He was truly worried about her. “You’re living alone—what if something happens and no one knows? If I come by every day, at least Mom and Dad can feel at ease.”