A Huge Haul

Ye Huan held up a softshell turtle bigger than a washbasin for the camera. "Look at this fellow. Pretty big, huh?"

The viewers in the livestream were already crying with envy, their tears streaming from the corners of their mouths.

"Hehe... huh? There seems to be a character on its back?" Ye Huan turned the turtle around, facing its shell toward the camera so everyone could see. "Does that look like the character for longevity?"

One of the viewers recognized it and spoke up.

"Doesn't it look like the character for longevity?" Ye Huan said to the camera.

"Looks like we can't eat it after all. Let's take it home and keep it. There's nothing in the little courtyard pond yet, anyway."

After putting the turtle away, he baited his hook again, cast his line, and sat down. As he waited for a bite, he chatted with Jingjing. "Jingjing, which tastes better: fish, shrimp, or pork?"

"Uncle, chicken drumsticks taste good." Jingjing's answer left Ye Huan at a loss. Well, wasn't that the truth? How many children could resist a big chicken drumstick?

The viewers burst out laughing too. That had caught them all off guard.

"Got one, got one!" While chatting, Ye Huan felt something through the rod in his hands and suddenly called out. More than ten minutes had passed since his last catch.

The viewers grew excited again. Although they weren't all fishing fanatics, plenty of them still enjoyed watching someone land a catch.

Watching Ye Huan struggle to play the fish had the viewers on tenterhooks. Ye Huan could feel it too: this one was even bigger. If he hadn't trained, he might not have been able to land it.

"Whoa, look at this fellow." After a battle lasting more than ten minutes, Ye Huan was stunned at the huge fish he had hauled ashore.

He didn't bother holding it up. He went straight over, took down his phone, and pointed it at the ground. "Whoa!" The entire livestream reacted in unison.

It was a bighead carp even bigger than the one Ye Dacai had just caught. Experienced viewers were already estimating its weight. "At least thirty jin."

"Too low. I'd say thirty-three or thirty-four jin."

Ye Huan was speechless too. What was going on with this pond today? He really hadn't cheated today or used any Spirit Spring Water.

Villagers often fished here, but they rarely saw anything like this. A bighead carp weighing over ten jin was one thing, but now there was a washbasin-sized softshell turtle and another bighead carp weighing at least thirty-odd jin?

By Ye Huan's own estimate, this bighead carp weighed at least thirty jin. It was enormous.

Still, he wasn't about to carry the bighead carp on his back and parade around town. He briskly packed up his gear and called Xiaobai. "Xiaobai, go home and get someone. I can't haul this back."

Xiaobai nodded and shot off. Holding Jingjing, Ye Huan sat there and waited for someone to come.

Before long, he saw Grandpa arriving on the electric tricycle with Saihu and Xiaobai.

"Whoa, that's a big fellow." Grandpa smiled at the sight of the bighead carp.

"Yeah, no idea what's going on today. Eleventh Uncle caught one just now that weighed at least fifteen or sixteen jin. I thought I'd try my luck too, and sure enough, there really was another one." Smiling, Ye Huan picked up the fish and tossed it into the back of the tricycle.

Then he took out the softshell turtle. "Look, Grandpa, there's this one too."

"This turtle..."

"Doesn't that look like the character for longevity on its back? Grandpa, let's keep it in the pond back home." Ye Huan smiled. Then he loaded his things onto the tricycle. Grandpa drove, while he carried Jingjing and followed behind, heading home.

He had already ended the livestream on his phone. Once he got home, it would be time to slaughter the fish. Regardless of how many people were watching, he had said, "That's it for today's livestream," and gone offline.

He hadn't seen the private messages from all the business owners wanting to buy the turtle and bighead carp, so he knew nothing about them.

The viewers were helpless in the face of such a blockhead streamer, but they just loved watching him. There was no helping it. While grumbling about the streamer, they obediently hit follow so they wouldn't lose their way back.

Once home, he first carried the big softshell turtle over and set it in the courtyard pond. Apart from a few tiny freshwater shrimp and river snails, there was nothing else in it.

Looking down at it, the character on the turtle's back looked even more distinct. To Ye Huan, it was clearly a big character for longevity.

He hauled the bighead carp down. "Grandpa, fish head and tofu tonight? We can't finish this fish in one meal."

"Sure, fish head stewed with tofu. I'll go buy some tofu." Grandpa wandered off again. Someone in the village made tofu, and whenever the villagers wanted some, they would go buy a block or two.

There were plenty of elderly people and children in the village, and, as it happened, tofu sold quite well every day.

Ye Huan began slaughtering the fish. As mentioned before, he had known how to do these chores since childhood, including slaughtering chickens and rabbits, and even sheep and pigs.

He chopped the fish's head straight off, then split it open. He had checked: this head alone would fill the big pot on the stove to the brim when stewed.

Then he began filleting the body. After removing the bones, he chopped them into small pieces. Along with the tail, he would fry them in oil later. They would keep for a few days, and he could take them out tomorrow and red-braise them.

He sliced the flesh into pieces, which could be stir-fried or made into fish with pickled mustard greens. There was far too much to finish today, though, so he cut off about two jin of fish and packed it in a bag.

"Xiaobai, take this to Little Tangyuan's house." He hung the bag around Xiaobai's neck. Luckily, it wasn't too much.

Xiaobai ran out and came back while Ye Huan was still washing things.

By the time Ye Huan had washed the fish head and bones, his mother and the others had returned from work and were getting ready to make dinner.

"Where did such a big fish head come from?" His father set down his hoe and asked, looking at the fish head in the basin.

"I caught it in the pond at the village entrance. Grandpa said we'd have fish head stewed with tofu tonight. Mom, you handle this," Ye Huan said.

"I'll do it," Bai Jie said, taking over. Ye Huan nodded. "Sure, Sister-in-law. You're a good cook. You do it."

"Let's save the bones and tail for tomorrow and fry them first. How about a quick stir-fry with pickled chilies for the fish slices?" Bai Jie said.

"Sure, Sister-in-law, cook it however you think best. Also, are we having chicken tonight? Jingjing wants a drumstick," Ye Huan asked.

"There's still half a chicken we haven't cooked. Let's stew it with mushrooms today. This girl is getting picky," Bai Jie said.

"No, I was the one who asked her. Hehe." Ye Huan told everyone about his conversation with Jingjing, making them all laugh. Embarrassed, Jingjing buried her face in her uncle's arms.

"Jingjing's coming to stay in the mountain cabin with me tonight," Ye Huan added.

"Won't she catch a chill?" Ye Huan's mother asked.

"No. I slept there yesterday. The temperature was just right. A thin quilt is plenty."

"All right, then. After dinner, I'll get her washed up, and you can take her along when you go. She's a fairly quiet sleeper." Bai Jie nodded.

"Okay!"

When Grandpa returned with two blocks of firm tofu, Bai Jie began cooking, with his mother helping out.

Ye Huan, his father, and his grandfather chatted in the courtyard. Mostly, his father talked about things like the shelving and greenhouses they had recently ordered, and what the other party had said to him when he delivered the vegetables.

Ye Huan didn't mind. "Dad, just make the decisions yourself. I don't understand these little things anyway. I only have one thing to say: the quality has to be good. Make sure they account for heavy winter snow so it won't crush the greenhouses."