When Tao Daqiang came over that afternoon to set the nets with Li Long, Li Jianguo and the others still hadn't returned. Li Long left it at that, gave Tao Daqiang five yuan, and headed to Little Haizi with him, bringing the tire, the nets, and the basin.
"Over in Stone City, these ditch fish sell better than crucian carp or common carp," Li Bian said as they walked. "A few of those old workers were so happy to see them..."
"Then should we put out a few more basins tomorrow?" Tao Daqiang's eyes lit up. "It only takes a few handfuls of pork cracklings. We've got some at home too!"
"Sure." Li Long thought it was a sound idea. "That's called adapting to market demand."
Actually, he thought his sales pitch about loaches boosting male potency had helped too. He remembered that most of the buyers had been men.
"Brother Long, do you think we might catch every last fish in Little Haizi one day?" Tao Daqiang suddenly grew worried. "Catching so many every day like this..."
"What are you thinking?" Li Long laughed. "Do you know how many fish there are in Little Haizi?"
"No," Tao Daqiang said honestly, then looked at Li Long, hoping he would give him an exact answer.
"Neither do I." Li Long gave Tao Daqiang an unexpected answer. "But you know that little crucian carp in spring have eggs by autumn, right? Even common carp have eggs after two years. And these ditch fish? They've got eggs in their second year..."
"Yeah, I know that. A lot of the ditch fish I took home yesterday had eggs."
"Then you should know a crucian carp lays at least several thousand eggs at a time, and other fish are much the same. Even if only