Chapter 384: Spearing the Giant Sturgeon

The three of them busied themselves for an hour and a half before they finally managed to chisel out the ice hole.

Wang An and Wang Li were both exhausted, but Niu Niu Dazhuang seemed not to know the meaning of the word "tired." Upon seeing the water surface in the ice hole, he began to roar and jump about in excitement, his energy truly boundless.

To be honest, watching Niu Niu Dazhuang's unbridled joy, Wang An found himself feeling quite cheerful as well.

It must be said that while feelings of sadness are easily contagious, feelings of joy are just the same.

Soon, the ice hole began to yield fish, though they were all small fry.

Seeing the fish, Niu Niu Dazhuang pointed at the small ones in the hole like a child, shouting and laughing.

"Fish! Fish! Look, the fish are coming out! Hahaha!"

Wang An hurriedly tried to soothe him with a smile, "Yes, yes, the fish are coming. Bigger ones will come out in a moment."

Wang An spoke, but Niu Niu Dazhuang acted as if he hadn't heard a word. He didn't even glance at Wang An, remaining immersed in his own world, shouting and laughing heartily.

Wang An then awkwardly fell silent.

The main issue was that they couldn't communicate.

Perhaps because this river near the village was frequently fished, the rate at which fish surfaced was not as fast as in the mountain rivers.

After Wang An scooped out the small fish, they waited for nearly twenty minutes before the larger fish began to gather.

Wang An dipped the large net in a few times, and the fish in the hole were cleared out. On the ice, there were fewer than ten fish in total.

Not only were there few, but they were all common varieties, and the largest one was only three or four jin—just a typical large grass carp.

As for the prized, delicious fish, not a single one was to be seen on the ice.

Wang An looked at the few fish flopping on the ice, then at Niu Niu Dazhuang, who was flopping about just as happily, and gnashed his teeth.

This catch was truly pathetic!

However, ice fishing is entirely a matter of chance; what kind of fish appear in the hole has nothing to do with the person.

Fortunately, along with the fish, over a dozen forest frogs also surfaced.

Seeing the frogs, Wang An finally felt a bit of comfort, feeling that chiseling this hole hadn't been entirely in vain.

Wang Li looked at the fish on the ice and frowned, saying,

"Fourth Brother, did we chisel the hole in the wrong place? What is all this junk?"

Wang An glared at Wang Li and retorted irritably,

"You were the one who said there were plenty of fish in this river near our village. So, where are they?"

Wang Li blinked, scratched his head, and said,

"That's what my dad told me. He said a lot of people have been fishing here these past two days and the harvest was pretty good."

Wang An ignored him, stirred the water in the hole with the large net a few times, then tossed the net aside and stared blankly at the ice hole.

Wang An had a strong intuition that today's catch was likely going to be a total bust.

Wang Li looked at the unproductive hole and suddenly said to Wang An,

"Fourth Brother, this hole is probably a dud. Should we move to another spot and chisel a new one?"

Wang An was stunned at the suggestion. Chiseling just one hole had been exhausting enough.

Chisel another one? Are you kidding me?

So, Wang An asked a crucial question:

"And what if we chisel another one and still don't get any fish?" Wang Li looked at Wang An and immediately fell silent.

Thus, a bizarre scene unfolded on the ice.

Wang An and Wang Li, the two brothers, squatted by the hole staring blankly, while Niu Niu Dazhuang played happily with the few frozen-stiff fish on the ice, occasionally bursting into hearty laughter.

An hour later, after completing the third round of scooping with the large net, Wang An gave up all hope for today's fishing.

The total catch from all three rounds was less than twenty fish over half a jin, and only twenty-some forest frogs.

The worst part was that there wasn't a single tasty fish among them—just carp, grass carp, silver carp, and large crucian carp over half a jin.

It's not even worth mentioning the crucian and silver carp; they are full of bones and are mainly used locally to feed ducks and geese. People eating them is quite unlikely.

In truth, fish meat without oil is really not very tasty, and eating only fish without rice leaves you feeling like you can never get full.

If there is no fat in your stomach and no oil to cook the fish with, eating it is like chewing wax—completely devoid of flavor.

But if you eat greasy food every day and cook the fish with oil, the experience is entirely different.

It's simply delicious!

Wang An was currently pondering whether he could use his share of the fish to fool his little sister, Wang Wang Xiaoli.

Then he looked at Niu Niu Dazhuang and felt that the plan was rather shaky, as Wang Wang Xiaoli's intelligence was clearly superior to Niu Niu Dazhuang's.

Just as Wang An was caught in a dilemma, Wang Li shouted loudly,

"Fish! A big fish! Fourth Brother, a big fish is coming!"

Wang An felt a jolt of energy and grabbed the large net, ready to plunge it into the hole, but upon seeing the giant creature, he was left dumbfounded.

This fish was simply too massive!

In his previous life, aside from seeing such large fish by the southern coast, he had never seen anything like it.

Because the fish in the ice hole was a sturgeon,

And a particularly large one at that.

Just the visible front half of its head took up half the ice hole. If the whole fish were to be pulled out, how big would it be?

To be honest, at first glance, this giant sturgeon looked like a monster from the water!

In this era, although sturgeon were rarer than "third-tier" fish, they could still be caught occasionally.

Whether it was the one Wang Wang Dazhu caught during the New Year or the one Feng Feng Chengmin led everyone to catch in the mountains the night before last, they were all sturgeon.

But a sturgeon of this size was extremely rare; even hearing about one was uncommon.

Rare or not, Wang An wanted to pull it out!

Because anyone who has eaten this knows how incredibly delicious it is.

It can be said that from head to tail, there isn't a single part that isn't delicious, except for the gills, gallbladder, and intestines. The sturgeon roe, in particular, is a delicacy among delicacies.

So, Wang An dropped the large net and grabbed the ice pick.

Just as the giant sturgeon poked its mouth out of the hole again, Wang An thrust the ice pick forward with lightning speed.

It must be said, Wang An's aim was quite accurate.

Because immediately after, he felt a tremendous force coming from the ice pick, so strong he almost couldn't hold onto it.

Then, Wang An began to sway back and forth by the ice hole, gripping the ice pick as if he were dancing.

This giant sturgeon was truly powerful!

(End of Chapter)