Chapter 5: Fishing 2.0

"Everyone come take a look, come see! Fresh fish just caught! You won't lose out and you won't be cheated, big clearance sale!"

Zhang Ping'an really couldn't bear to watch these two clowns anymore, so he had to step in himself, using the street-hawking sales pitches from his past life, only to see Shazhu and the fool staring at him in shock.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing."

"Young man, how are you selling these fish?"

"Three thousand yuan (that is, three mao) per jin. They were all just caught, fresh as can be. My crucian carp here are basically all over half a jin, so we'll just count them as half a jin, and the others are basically around three jin."

"Good, young man, give me four crucian carp."

"Give me two."

"I'll take a Bighead Carp."

"……"

Before long, the fish belonging to Zhang Ping'an and Jia Dongxu were sold out, while Shazhu and the fool were still in a daze.

"What are you standing there for? Aren't you selling?"

"Oh, oh, oh, right, selling."

Twenty minutes later, the two of them had also sold out of fish.

"Whew~ It's the first time I've been tired from making change. Here, Zhang Shu, this is the loose change you gave me earlier."

"Good, how much did you all sell?"

"Hehe, I sold a little over one hundred and twenty thousand," the fool said, then gave Shazhu a provocative look.

"Big brother sold a bit more than you, one hundred and thirty thousand."

"Tch."

"Zhang Shu, how much did you and Dongxu sell?"

"Hmm~ about the same as you all. Alright, it's getting late, time to go home for lunch."

It was about the same; not counting Dongxu's, Zhang Ping'an alone had caught about the same total as the two of them combined.

"Let's go, let's go." The four of them headed back together.

Passing through the Front Courtyard, they happened to see someone moving into the West Wing Room. Zhang Ping'an took a close look, and it was none other than the calculating Yan Bugui and his family of four; the youngest, Yan Jiekuang and Yan Jiedi, hadn't been born yet.

"Zhang Shu, there are new people in our courtyard. That man looks quite refined."

"Hmm, probably a teacher."

"Yo, you little ones live in this courtyard too? Yours truly is Yan Bugui, a teacher. Looking at you, are you fishing? How come your buckets are empty? Did you get skunked?"

"What skunked or navy? We caught plenty and sold them all."

"Hehe, hmm, I believe you." Yan Bugui kept smiling, but he didn't believe for a second that these kids could catch fish, let alone sell them. What a load of nonsense.

"Hey, this old geezer, why do I want to beat him up so much?"

"Me too."

"Me three."

"Master of the house, come over and help tidy up!"

"Alright, alright, coming! Little ones, when you have time, your old uncle will teach you how to fish. Off I go."

"Hey, this old geezer."

"Let's go, time to go home and eat."

"Hehe, Dongxu, I'll pay one thousand yuan to come to your place for a meal. My dad took Yushui away this morning, he definitely won't be back at noon."

"Fine, don't worry about the money. Dongxu will treat you. Damao, what about you?"

"Dongxu, I need to go back and check first."

"Fine, if there's no food at home, you come over too."

"Alrighty."

"Dongxu, Zhang Shu, I'll take my things home first and come right over."

"Good."

Five minutes later, as if they had agreed, both arrived carrying Steamed Buns made of mixed flour, and the fool was leading a four or five-year-old little girl.

"Zhang Shu, this is my younger sister Xiaoling. Xiaoling, call him Zhang Shu."

"Zhang Shu."

"Eh, come here, Zhang Shu will give you... hmm, treat you to some fish." He had wanted to say he'd give her candy, but he checked his pockets and had nothing.

"Okay, thank you Zhang Shu."

"Time to eat, come on in."

"Hello, Auntie."

"Hmm, sit down and eat. Damao, give Xiaoling to me. Be careful of fish bones when you eat fish; you lot are so clumsy, be careful yourselves too."

"Okay."

"Thank you, Auntie."

"Hmm, Xiaoling is so well-behaved." Zhang Xiaohua looked at Xiaoling with great affection; she herself wanted a daughter, but unfortunately, she hadn't conceived since having Jia Dongxu.

After eating their fill, the group of four rested for a while and set off to fish again.

"Yo, little ones, what a coincidence. Come, let your old uncle show you what fishing is."

Yan Bugui had just moved in and wanted to have a housewarming feast, so he planned to go fishing in the afternoon to try his luck.

"Old geezer, let's bet on who catches more this afternoon."

"A bet is a bet, you think your old uncle is afraid of you?"

Before long they reached the fishing spot, dug up some earthworms, and everyone started fishing, spaced three to five meters apart.

"Holy crap, impossible, absolutely impossible."

Yan Bugui looked at the four people's nearly continuous string of fish and couldn't hold it together; although he could occasionally catch a few, that was the biggest harvest of his career.

Yan Bugui's position was right in the middle of the four; they were the ones who let the fish slip through the net, and he was the one picking up the scraps.

Three hours later, Yan Bugui was numb, muttering "impossible" over and over; his fishing spirit was shattered!!

"Hahaha, old man, do you concede?"

"Huh? Young man, this old uncle misjudged; do you have any secret techniques?"

"We do."

"What secret technique?"

"We just won't tell you," said Zhuzi.

"We just won't tell you," said Damao.

"We just won't tell you~" they sang in chorus.

"Hahaha," the two clowns looked at each other and laughed.

"Pfft, these two dead kids," Yan Bugui almost spat out a mouthful of old blood.

"Hahaha, let's go, let's go sell the fish at our usual spot," Zhang Ping'an said, seeing the sky growing dark, and simply reeled in his rod.

"Let's go, let's go."

After they left, Yan Bugui tried their fishing spots one by one; hey, don't say, there really was quite a harvest. Added to the catch from his own spot, he had nearly twenty pounds of fish today.

"So it turns out they just happened to run into a school of fish; I actually thought there was some secret technique, pfft." Afterwards, he also happily went to sell the fish.

By the time the four returned to the Siheyuan, it was already dark. They passed through the Front Courtyard without running into Yan Bugui; otherwise, the two clowns would have definitely roasted him a bit.

In the evening, the men of each household returned from work one after another and all discovered a new family in the Front Courtyard; Yan Bugui also took the initiative to come out and greet them.

"Respected neighbors, I am Yan Bugui, a primary school teacher. I just moved in today; please look after me in the future."

"Good, our courtyard has another cultured person. Teacher Yan, you must take good care of the children in our courtyard from now on."

"Yes, yes."

"Hahaha, easily done, easily done."

"Teacher Yan, it just so happens my family is setting a table tonight; you should come over too so everyone can get to know each other."

"Good, good, I will definitely be there."

Lao Jia only let down his smiling face after returning home.

"What's wrong, Lao Jia?"

"If it weren't for the warning from you and Ping'an today, I really would have been done for at the factory," Lao Jia said with lingering fear.

"What happened? Are you hurt?"

"San Jie Fu, are you okay?"

"Dad..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine. With your warning, I kept an extra eye out. Today, the steel ingots on the cart suddenly fell off; if I hadn't dodged quickly, I would have been crushed. There was a loader who had his leg broken by them, though; I'm afraid his days will be hard from now on."

"The factory should provide compensation, right?"

"There is some, but the person is half-crippled. Money always runs out eventually, sigh."

"Forget it, let's not talk about that. Let's tidy up; they'll be over soon."

"Good, Lao Jia, you sit and rest for a while."

Zhang Ping'an also breathed a sigh of relief. Lao Jia had cleared this hurdle; with this incident, he believed he would be even more careful in the workshop in the future.

When Zhang Xiaohua finished setting all the dishes on the table, there was Braised Fish, salted meat stewed with cabbage, braised wild pheasant chunks, fish head tofu soup, Spicy Rabbit Meat, shredded potatoes, stir-fried eggs with green onions, and peanuts; among them, the salted meat, wild pheasant, and wild rabbit were all game hunted by Zhang Ping'an.

As the big brother of the older generation in the Siheyuan, Zhang Xiaohua had to make sure this banquet was properly arranged.

Before long, the men of the courtyard arrived one after another, all carrying things in their hands—this one with stir-fried eggs, that one with peanuts, another with a cold dish—only He Daqing and Xu Fugui brought the most substantial dishes: braised pig head meat and pig ears.

"Come, come, come, everyone sit, everyone sit. Xiaohua, bring the loose liquor I brewed."

"Coming, coming."