As soon as the sky dawned, a crisp birdsong streaked across the sky, breaking the silence of the early morning.

Wang Qiang, who was asleep, was woken up by his mother, yawned and shook his head, brushed his teeth and washed his face, and after doing it, he returned to the room and put on his watch.

Breakfast was ready, and it seemed that the mother had been up for a while.

Wang Qiang explained to his mother the precautions for selling fish while eating, "Mom, we weigh others, and the rod scale must be cocked." ”

"Why, isn't that a free portion?" the mother sandwiched a piece of salted melon.

Wang Qiang took a sip of boiling water to soak in rice, swallowed it and said: "That amount is nothing, it mainly makes customers feel that they have taken advantage of it, and they will choose us next time." As soon as he lifted the chopsticks, he followed again, "After weighing the weight, ask the guest if he wants to help kill it, and if so, we will help kill it." ”

My mother sighed, "I used to buy fish, why didn't I see others help me kill it?"

Wang Qiang took a bite of the leftover cabbage from yesterday, "Only with good service can there be repeat customers." ”

"Okay, I see. The mother ate the meal in twos and threes, and looked out the window at the darkness, "I'll go find a flashlight, you eat first." ”

Wang Qiang sighed and finished the meal slowly.

Just as he was about to take the bowl to brush, his mother had already come out of it, holding an old-fashioned tin flashlight.

He couldn't help but look at it twice, such a flashlight was not seen much later, the silver iron sheet was vertically raised with ravines, and there was a red dot under the lamp head, as long as the flashlight was pressed, it would light up, release and extinguish, and the small pimple that pushed up and down below was the real switch.

He still remembered this tin flashlight, which contained two No. 1 batteries.

Sure enough, the mother took out a large battery with blue and white characters and put it in the flashlight, and the countryside people saved it, afraid that the battery would always be charged inside.

The battery is a white elephant brand, and now almost all of them are this kind of battery, as for the "one section is stronger than six sections" Nanfu is not rare.

Finish washing the dishes.

Mother and son each carried a lead bucket out of the house.

……

It's still a bit dark outside.

The mother turned on the flashlight, and an orange light shot straight ahead, illuminating the vision.

Not far away is a small turquoise vegetable field.

Walking in the ridges, the shallots on both sides grow luxuriantly, in front of which is a loofah stand made of reed poles, the green vines are covered with dew, and the loofahs of chopsticks are blown by the wind, swaying from side to side.

"The loofah is ready to eat. Mother said casually.

Wang Qiang belched, "I have time to make a loofah scrambled egg, it's delicious." ”

The ground was still a little wet, and it was slimy to step on, and I chatted casually with my mother.

Come to Xigou Beach.

Mother walked in front and went to push away the reeds, and suddenly countless dewdrops fell, "Ouch." ”

Wang Qiang was also smashed with two drops on his face and wiped it with his arm.

Go down the brick steps.

Because you usually have to come to the river to wash things, people who are close to the river will basically make a small step.

Under the light of the flashlight, the surface of the river is sparkling, and the water waves can be seen from time to time.

He put down the bucket, "Mom, you help me take care of it, and I'll lift the cage." ”

"Good. Mother shone the light through.

Wang Qiang rolled up his trousers and found the nylon rope of the round cage tied to the water pile, which did not get up yesterday, and the harvest should be better today.

Sure enough, this cage was very heavy, and the nylon rope strangled his hand a little painfully, Wang Qiang hey, with the water roaring, the round cage was lifted up, and the scattered water splashed on his slipper-wearing toes, with a fishy smell.

Crack, snap, countless lapping sounds in the cage.

The mother shone a flashlight and said, "Yo, so many fish?"

Hurriedly put it on the shore, Wang Qiang looked over, only to see that there were more than thirty crucian carp in the silver light, not to mention that there were more than thirty crucian carp, after all, two nights and one day, the number was more than the first time, he looked carefully, there seemed to be a big yellow and black fish in it, it seemed to be a mandarin fish.

As is customary, he checked for water snakes and lobsters inside, and found that there were a lot of red shells, needless to say, there were quite a few lobsters this time.

Untie the cage, throw the lobsters into the lead bucket, since there are a lot of them, then burn them and eat them, and then throw the crucian carp into another lead bucket, two of which are already dead, and Wang Qiang casually threw them back into the river.

"Hey, osmanthus fish?" the mother picked up the big yellow and black fish and looked at it.

Osmanthus is another name for mandarin fish.

Wang Qiang smiled and said: "Luckily, this fish looks like it weighs four or five catties, and it should be able to sell for fifteen or sixteen yuan." The price of mandarin fish is much more expensive than crucian carp, mainly because of the delicious meat of mandarin fish, and he still remembers that the signature dish of Songhelou in Suzhou, which is made of this fish.

"So many?" said the mother's face.

Wang Qiang said: "I don't know if anyone knows the goods." ”

The mother then smiled and said: "It doesn't matter if no one knows the goods, it's a big deal that you bring it to Lu Dahai to eat, although they said that they will provide you with two meals a day, but we can't eat it for nothing, bring a fish over, and don't blame many people." ”

She is a simple and honest person, unlike some rural women who want to take advantage of others everywhere.

"It's not necessary, right?" Wang Qiang said, seeing that his mother was a little unhappy, he quickly added, "That's okay, Mom, the lead bucket is full, you take it back and pour it into the wooden basin first, don't forget to put the water." ”

Mother struggled to pick up the lead bucket, "Remember, remember." ”

She walked up the brick steps and brought the fish home.

Wang Qiang found the second round cage according to his memory, this time there was a water snake inside, so scared that Wang Qiang did not dare to untie the cage for the first time, and then looked, the water snake's stomach was bulging, and there was no movement, and it was obvious that it had been stuffed in the water for a long time and died of lack of oxygen.

Normal water snakes can only survive in the water for eighteen hours, and it is estimated that the cage was put down the afternoon before yesterday and burrowed into it shortly after.

Having disposed of the water snake, the mother had already come over with the bucket again.

In the second cage, except for a large silver carp and seven or eight lobsters, the rest was full of crucian carp.

Wang Qiang picked up four round cages in a row, and was surprised to find that there were already fifty or sixty catties of fish, all of which were about to catch up with the first heaven and the earth's cage, but unfortunately, except for four or five silver carp and the mandarin fish, the rest were all crucian carp.

"Isn't it?" asked the mother, crouching behind.

"There are also two ground cages. Wang Qiang used a flashlight to find the nylon rope of the ground cage.

Soon, both cages were raised.

There were two dead crucian carp in the first cage, and a herring in the second cage, which is a pity.

The reason why the fish die is that there are too many fish in the cage and cause a lack of oxygen.

Wang Qiang believes that if he comes to the cage later, he may die more, and these fish are the seeds of his dreams. Today is really exciting, the first cage has a five or six pounds of silver carp, the second cage has another more than ten pounds of herring, the harvest is really good.

If you add crucian carp, there will be forty or fifty catties of fish in two ground cages.

It was 50% more than the last time, and a total of 100 catties of fish were harvested.

Although the amount has increased, Wang Qiang still secretly regrets that it is only about 100 catties in two days, I am afraid that there are very few fish in this water, and then I have to change places.

I'll talk about it when I come back in the evening.

All in all, today's harvest is satisfactory, more than 100 catties of fish, if you can sell them all, you can make a lot of money.

The family owes 2,500 yuan to the outside, and he gave his mother 600 yuan before, and then he earned 7500 yuan, Wang Qiang took 50 yuan, and now his mother has 1,003 yuan, if he can earn about 100 yuan by selling fish every day this week, plus Lu Dahai promised to train 100 yuan a day, and he will be able to pay off the debt in a week.

Wang Qiang has a feeling of raising his eyebrows, he can finally be debt-free and light, and when he has enough money, he will talk to his mother about not going to school, and then she shouldn't object, right?