Chapter 144: Fish Every Year

  Zhong Gensheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, we have enough firewood. With so many households in this village, which one uses as much firewood as ours? I'll go ask around, even if each household only buys a catty, there will be over 200 catties. Don't worry, you don't need to make a trip into the city. The ground is frozen, and it's true that going into the city might get you frostbite..."

  Zhong Gen Sheng said and then left. In fact, when the villagers had nothing to do, they would go up the mountain to cut firewood, and many families also prepared a lot of firewood at home, but even if they didn't need it, they wouldn't use it. Zhong Gen Sheng went to ask, and the family immediately set aside what they needed at home and sold all the extra to him. Who let the Zhong family be so stingy that they couldn't even afford to buy firewood? After all, this thing is everywhere in the mountain city, except for the people in the city, it's really hard to sell.

  So, Zhong Gensheng asked every household, and almost every household had something to sell. This made things even more lively, with one family after another pulling firewood and coming to the Zhong's house again. After selling pickled vegetables, the Zhong's house was once again bustling with activity.

  Zhong Gensheng brought out the scales with Da Bao's family, and in the end, they actually bought back over 2,000 catties. The front yard had a sauerkraut vat, which was really full, so they all pushed it to the cowshed and pigpen in the backyard. Anyway, their family only collected two pigs at most every day, plus one at home, making three in total, leaving plenty of space in the pigpen, which was also suitable for storing firewood. The thatched shed also had a lot stored, and with the large house, it was really convenient. Adding to the woodshed in the front yard, almost everything was stored away.

  After the villagers dispersed, Shen Sisi smiled and said: "Si Bao, from now on, we don't need you to chop firewood anymore. Our family doesn't need to spend this kind of energy chopping firewood either. We can just buy some instead. Now people are precious, I have other things for you to do..."

  Si Bao stared blankly at her, actually knowing that the family was busy to death now and definitely didn't have time to chop worthless firewood again. In the past, it was because they were poor, but now they could clearly use him in a place where he was more needed. In his heart, he also had a number, only he didn't know why he felt a chill in his heart, as if being remembered by her, and still didn't know what she wanted him to do?!

  Shen Sisi smiled and said: "Actually, it's nothing. Later on, I'll set up a workshop for you to manage..."

  "Workshop? What are you doing?" Si Bao stared at him blankly and asked.

  "Stocks will rise, our business will boom later..." Shen Sisi smiled lightly and said calmly: "As long as you do well, wages... will also be available..."

  Si Bao's eyes widened immediately as he stared at her, his mind filled with suspicion and excitement. On the one hand, he had never seen wages before, although he saw a lot of money being deposited every day, he had touched and counted it but never owned it, which was too evil. Heaven knows how hard it is to count and watch a large sum of money being deposited every day, unable to touch it. On the other hand, Si Bao also suspected that this girl was up to no good, because he was really being oppressed to the point of having paranoid delusions...

  Seeing her staring at herself, Shen Sisi smiled and said: "I'm saying that you're doing well under good circumstances, don't be too expectant, my requirements are very high, just reminding you, after winter is over, this plan will start immediately. You'd better learn to calculate accounts with Da Bao recently..."

  "...the four treasures were bitter and resigned to their fate, they just knew...it wasn't that easy, but in their hearts, they let out a sigh of relief."

  Now he doesn't know how to make him take the money, and he's a bit uneasy. He thinks silently, is this what they call a worthless life? Ah, he has resigned himself to his fate, and for this lifetime, perhaps he can't even surpass that little girl...

  As the lunar month slowly passes, the festive atmosphere of Chinese New Year is getting closer, and every household is busy. The aroma of cured meat and fish wafts over from everywhere. The Zhong family also wants to make some, but they are extremely busy too. Thinking that if they can't finish making them in time, they can just buy some from other families, so they don't rush either.

  On Laba Festival day, Er Bao and San Bao were given a one-day holiday by Mr. Lin. Shen Sisi looked at their happy faces and couldn't help but ask them: "How's your studies going now?"

  "The Four Books," said Er Bao with a smile, "Our progress is already considered fast, the teacher said we are very perceptive..."

  "Hmm." Shenshitou didn't have the heart to test them either, let alone in this era of eight-part essays, she couldn't even come up with questions, and her literary tone was unbearable.

  "Study hard, there will be a big exam next year. I hope you two can try your luck, no matter whether you can pass or not, at least make an effort...” Shen Sisi said seriously: "Our whole family is working hard, and you also have your own direction of effort, don't be biased, when you pass the imperial examination to become a scholar, you can take a break then. Whether to continue taking the exam or not will depend on yourselves, but becoming a scholar is something that you two must achieve, do you understand?!"

  She said it very seriously, and Er Bao and San Bao listened and straightened their bodies, saying: "Yes, we understand, we will study hard..."

  In their minds, Shen Sisi is a more majestic existence than Mr. and Father.

  "Alright, let's take a break today and go with Mother to cook Laba porridge..."

  The two of them made a face and excitedly ran off in a flash.

  La Ba is extremely lively, and at home, we rarely had a chance to eat the expensive glutinous rice porridge made from fine grains, which was indeed fragrant.

  On the ninth day of the lunar month, Li Zheng gathered all the able-bodied men from every household in the village to go fishing together in the river at the head of the village.

  From early morning, the riverbank has been bustling with excitement. Women holding children in their arms are watching the commotion by the river, chatting and laughing. Older kids are chasing each other around, or excitedly shouting as they watch fish nets being pulled up from the water...

  The fish net is big-eyed, with the intention of letting go of small fish and only catching big fish, without the idea of draining the pond to catch all the fish. After carefully laying out twenty nets, they were pulled back in, not missing a single fish in the river. When they were pulled back in, everyone was overjoyed. This is because it's been done this way for a long time, dividing the catch not by household but by headcount, as some families have too many people and others too few, which wouldn't be fair. It's been done this way since very early on...

  As long as they are registered in the household, even newborn babies are included. There was a year when people almost fought over whether to allocate fish for a baby or not, so the village head set this rule. This year it's been relatively quiet, the village head organized several men to weigh and count the fish, then divide them by the number of people, calculating how much each person gets...

  The process of dividing the fish was extremely slow and almost took a whole day, but only one member of the Zhong family went, as they were really busy at home and it wasn't possible for everyone to go just to divide the fish.

  Si Bao carried a basket of fish back, saying: "The village head said that this year's fish harvest is average. Our family has so many people and only got about 20 fish, but the weight is over 60 catties..."

  "...This is a good thing, this winter's sour fish will rely on it..."

  Shen Sisi saw that more than 20 fish were still alive, and hastily said: "Get a jar, pour some clear water, and raise the fish inside to eat slowly..."

  "Hey Tuni, can this fish be kept alive?" asked Dabao while moving the vat.

  "This day is relatively cold, it should be fine, even if he's dead, he won't stink, just take a look every day..."

  Dabao finally responded, washed the jar, filled it with well water, and raised all the fish inside.

  While they were not paying attention, she secretly poured some water from the space pond into it. This fish should not die now, she had experimented with it before, and the water quality of the space pond was much better than that of the outside world. Although it did not reach the realm of holy water, it had the clarity and sweetness of mountain spring water. Raising fish in this tank would make them grow faster than usual, and using this tank might even make these fish grow some more...

  He Axiu smiled and said: "Tuni, does our family want to dry salted fish this year?!"

  "Mother, too much salted fish isn't good to eat either. Let's just have fresh ones instead..." When they were poor, they wanted to make the fish salty so it could be preserved and eaten for a longer time. But now that they didn't lack food at home, they weren't particular about having salted fish anymore. Shen Sisi thought for a moment before saying: "Why don't we ask Da Bao to take a look in town tomorrow if there are any smaller fish with chopstick-length bodies being sold? Let him buy some back and make them into salted fish. Only then will the salted fish be delicious... but it's not necessary to buy too much, eating too much salted fish isn't good either..."

  "Okay..." Da Bao responded with a sound, saying: "I'll go take a look tomorrow, if there are any, I'll buy some back..."

  He Axiu smiled and said, "It's settled then. Every year at home we're used to salting fish and drying fish, this year if we don't dry fish, I won't feel at ease. Having fish every year is a good omen, it's the rules set by our ancestors, we can't forget..."

  In the past, when fish was divided at home, it was always pickled, but this year Shen Sisi raised them, and He Axiu felt empty in her heart.

  Customs are things these people abide by most.

  Shen Sisi understood her thoughts and naturally agreed. So, the next day, Dabao bought back 50 fish, and He Axiu happily pickled them, but didn't make salted meat. Shen Sisi only bought some pickled bacon from someone else's house to try something new and that was it.

  It's okay to eat some salted goods occasionally, but eating too much is not good. Besides, Shen Sisi still likes to eat fresh ones.

  The twelfth lunar month passed quickly, and soon the Zhong family would be busy celebrating the New Year... Three days before the New Year, it started snowing, and Shen Sisi stopped her braised meat business. Although Er Gouzi and others were not happy about it, they agreed, after all, the snowy road was indeed difficult to walk on, and the early morning was extremely cold.

  As soon as the snow fell, the Zhong family was overjoyed. The second and third treasures, who were on winter break, even built a snowman in the courtyard. This year, everyone in the house had new cotton-padded jackets, so they weren't afraid of the cold anymore. Moreover, the kitchen was always warm with a constant fire burning. Eldest Treasure sat around the temporary kang (heated bed) set up in the kitchen, laughing and saying: "This kang is really great, Didi (younger sister) is really clever, I almost wish I could sleep here every night..."

  Shen Sisi smiled lightly and said, "The kitchen won't be cooking tonight."