Chapter Fourteen: The Ferocious Fish

  After lunch, take a short rest.

  Song Wen wanted to go to the backyard and plant the vegetable seeds and seedlings that his father had brought back in the morning.

  His father saw that the backyard was a waste of land, so he went to get some vegetable seeds and seedlings, including mustard greens, lettuce, coriander, winter melon, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. The garlic was a whole head, similar to a chestnut in shape, tender and soft when eaten, comparable to chestnuts.

  But to be honest, he didn't want to grow those ordinary vegetables that can be seen in the market every day. He wanted to go up the mountain and dig some wild vegetables to plant, the wild herbs on the mountain taste good when stir-fried, but unfortunately, those wild vegetables are seasonal, most of them sprout in spring or autumn and taste best during these two seasons.

  After some thought, Song Wen still thinks it's better to go up the mountain and dig up some wild vegetables to bring back and plant. By spring, these wild vegetables will have sprouts that can be picked and eaten. The only problem is that the weather has been getting colder lately, so it's unclear whether they'll survive being transplanted. Oh well, I'll just go dig some up tomorrow and try planting them. It seems like tomorrow won't work, since I need to help someone boil sugar, so maybe the day after tomorrow. While I'm at it, I can also catch some bamboo rats and wild boars - they're wreaking havoc on our family's bamboo forest.

  But now the most important thing is to go and plant the seeds and seedlings that my father brought back, otherwise my mother will know and nag again, it's said that these were chosen by my mother.

  Then he came to the backyard and planted vegetable seeds and seedlings on the already flat and tidy vegetable field.

  Suddenly, he remembered that there was also a piece of land in the Ruyi fan. Although the land wasn't very big, it was fertile and the soil was dark and rich, if something could be planted, it would definitely grow well.

  What to plant is good? Planting vegetables, obviously not, too wasteful of effort. Need to water, need to fertilize, need to remove insects, a lot of things. Song Wen is a lazy person, the best thing to plant is something that can grow well on its own without care after planting, so he can just sit and wait for the harvest. The idea was good, but the result often didn't turn out as expected.

  He thought for a moment, and it seemed that there was nothing on the market that could be planted and then just waited to be harvested. Planting fruit was possible, but the space inside the fruit was too small, so not much could be planted. After thinking for half a day, he finally thought of what he wanted to plant, and the easiest thing to plant was sweet potatoes. Once they were planted, they didn't need to be taken care of at all, just wait for the harvest.

  I've thought it over and I'd like to plant sweet potatoes in that piece of land in Ruyi Shan. It's not the right season for planting sweet potatoes now, but I don't know if it will work or not. However, since Ruyi Shan is so warm, I think planting sweet potatoes should be fine.

  After thinking for a while, he called Song Hu and asked him to come over, bringing some sweet potatoes, purple yams and yellow yams along the way.

  Song Hu's family has a pig farm, so they specifically planted a large amount of sweet potatoes to raise pigs, which is said to be cheaper than buying feed. Moreover, his family raises many fat pigs, using the manure from the pigs to fertilize the sweet potatoes, and then uses the sweet potatoes to raise more pigs, forming a virtuous cycle. It has to be said that Song Hu's dad, also known as his second uncle, is very clever.

  Their family grew many varieties of sweet potatoes, including red, white, purple, yellow, pink, and purple-and-white striped ones. There were a lot of them, strange and unusual, and I don't know where they got the seeds from.

  Generally speaking, the sweet potato and yellow yam taste the best and are the sweetest; the purple yam is just average, relatively loose, and tastes similar to the white yam, but it's said to be rich in nutrients. The yellow yam actually can't be called a yellow yam, but rather a color between yellow and light red, slightly redder than flesh tone.

  Planted the vegetable seedlings, watered them, and Song Hu suddenly felt like there was nothing to do. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the fishing net he had bought two days ago, grabbed a bucket of water, and headed out.

  The sunlight outside is bright and beautiful, shining on the small lake in front of the house, and the ripples of the lake sparkle with brilliant scales as they sway in the wind.

  Living under the bamboo forest, by the lake, the air is fresh and clean. Looking up at the green bamboo swaying gently, listening to the birds chirping, it's truly a joyful life like that of an immortal.

  Getting up early and taking a deep breath of fresh air, the refreshing feeling that lingers in your chest and lungs will make you feel invigorated for the whole day.

  The small waterfall on the corner of the mountain wall continuously pours water into the lake, producing a crisp and clear sound.

  The water flowing into the lake overflowed from the lake, and a short distance in front of Song Wen's house rushed out of a gap, converging into a small stream, surging outward. In the distance, there was also a stream flowing out of the mountains, and the two streams merged into one, following the stream course, rushing straight to the outside of Songjia Village New Village.

  At the outlet where the water rushes out, there is a flat surface of a hundred-meter giant stone. The stone surface is horizontal and is washed by lake water day and night, becoming extremely smooth. Standing on the giant stone, the creek water just reaches half of the calf. In summer, if you can walk barefoot on it, let the creek water wash over your feet, feel the coolness under your feet, it's a great enjoyment.

  Song Wen arrived at the lake with a fishing net, and by the lake was a bamboo raft he had made from the bamboo he cut down over the past few days, all for the purpose of catching fish on the lake.

  He carried the fishing net and bucket onto the bamboo raft, which sank slightly but then floated back up. He placed the fishing net and bucket steadily on the bamboo raft, picked up a nearby bamboo pole, and gently poked it into the water, pushing the raft away from the shore.

  Xixi was originally playing with the little dog in the yard, saw Uncle carrying a fishing net and bucket going out, immediately followed behind, saw him jump onto the bamboo raft, also wanted to follow up, unfortunately was caught by Chen Xiuhui's quick hands, didn't make it. The little dog following beside him ran to the lake side, barking loudly calling out to Song Wen.

  Chen Xiuhui and Lin Qinglan saw Song Wen catching fish, and they also came to watch. Even Song Yuanshui walked over to join in the fun. He saw Song Wen rowing the boat into the lake, squinting his eyes and smiling slightly.

  Before, he would often buy some when he saw others selling small fish and release them, but in these few years, no matter how many he released, he never caught any.

  The lake water is dark green, and it's usually impossible to tell if there are any fish in it. Occasionally, the water churns up, revealing that there are big fish inside. In the past, people have come here to catch fish, but unfortunately, they've never caught a large one. The ones they did catch were only as big as a thumb and not even enough to feed a cat. It's unknown whether Ah Wen will be able to catch any today.

  Song Wen paddled the bamboo raft to the middle of the lake, then stopped it and inserted the bamboo pole into the side of the raft. He picked up the fishing net, shook it slightly, and threw it out. The net instantly transformed into a web-like mesh that shot straight into the lake.

  The net fell into the lake, and a large pile of bubbles burst out of the lake at once. Then the waves surged, and the turbid lake water kept bubbling up in layers.

  Seeing the swirling muddy lake water, Song Wen's eyes lit up, there are fish.

  Hurry to grab the only net rope left in hand, neither too fast nor too slow, gently pull the fishing net back and forth, while gently swinging it, so as not to get mud stuck in the net or fish too lively stuck in the net.

  Suddenly, a strong pulling force came from the fishing net, and that force pulled the net straight down.

  He was caught off guard, and Song Wen's body plunged forward. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and swiftly hugged the bamboo pole inserted next to the bamboo raft, stabilizing himself. His forehead was sweating profusely, fortunately, nothing happened, otherwise, he would have ended up taking a bath in the water.

  Just then, another tug came from the water, as if there was a big fish in the net that was desperately struggling to get out of the net.

  Song Wen tightly grasped the fishing net in his hands, not daring to let go. After finally catching a big fish, how could he easily give up? Because of using too much force, one hand had already been lashed out with a red mark, and the other hand tightly grasping the bamboo pole was gradually unable to withstand the pulling force of the big fish in the water, slowly being pulled out from the lake.

  Song Wenhui's moral character is not good.

  At this time, another force came, and the bamboo pole was pulled up. Without the support of the bamboo pole, the raft was pulled out and moved on the lake. Song Wen saw that something was wrong, sank his energy into his abdomen, stood firm like a green pine, rooted himself to the raft, his toes grasped tightly on the raft, and his hands held the fishing net steadily, not daring to relax in the slightest.

  His parents and older sister saw Song Wen's current situation, panicked in their hearts, and loudly called out: "A'Wen, A'Wen, are you okay?! Be careful, we'll immediately find someone to come over and help!"

  As she spoke, Chen Xiuhui urged Song Yuanshui to call someone in the village.

  Although the bamboo raft was being pulled by a big fish in the net, Song Wen felt nothing and hurriedly said after hearing Chen Xiu Hui's words: "Mom, don't call anyone, I'm fine."

  Chen Xiuhui saw that Song Wen was fine, and only then did she put her mind at ease. However, she didn't dare to be careless, so she still asked Song Yuanshui to call for someone to come over and help.

  Xi Xi didn't know what was happening, but seeing her uncle standing on the bamboo raft, floating in the lake, felt great. She clapped her hands and shouted loudly: "Uncle, go for it! Uncle, go for it!"

  The little dog beside him felt something was wrong in the lake and barked "wang wang" towards the water.