The western suburb of Lianhai City, Hetang Village.

In the early summer season, the lotus pond in the lotus pond village is a piece, the lotus leaves are in the sky, and the tender green lotus leaves are dotted with lotus flowers of different colors that are about to bloom.

Hetang Village is a low-lying village with abundant water, and the villagers have been raising fish and growing lotus roots for generations.

More than 100 families live scattered in the middle of the lotus ponds.

Uncle Zhang's family, who live in the east of the village, contracted a few acres of lotus ponds, and like other villagers, raised fish and planted lotus roots in the lotus ponds.

Uncle Zhang, formerly known as Zhang Youfa, is just 60 years old this year, and lives with his wife in a self-built house in the countryside in the east of the village.

The 5 large tiled houses with white walls and gray tiles sit north to south, with their own small courtyard in front of the house and a lotus pond outside the courtyard.

Uncle Zhang likes to raise fish, not only to make a living, but also to watch.

Several acres of lotus ponds outside the yard have been contracted by Uncle Zhang, lotus roots are planted in the river pond to raise grass carp, and a few large tanks are also placed in their own small yard, raising all kinds of ornamental fish.

There are a variety of freshwater fish, as well as colorful small tropical fish, which are kept in several large tanks in the yard.

There are also several transparent glass fish tanks with inflatable pumps that deliver oxygen to the water and heating rods that maintain the temperature of the water to provide the temperature needed for the growth of small tropical fish.

Uncle Zhang's hobby is to feed these small fish every day, change the water, and clean the fish tank.

Aunt Zhang sometimes helps to change the water in her free time after doing housework.

The water in the fish tank is not tap water, but clean water from the lotus pond in front of the yard.

The water in the lotus pond is carried into the yard with buckets, dried in the sun, and then replaced into the fish tank after a few hours of precipitation.

As usual, Uncle Zhang began to clean the fish tank again, and when he cleaned up one of them, he found that there were many small tropical fish in it that had died, and the small fish that were fine yesterday had died several today, and the aquatic plants in the fish tank were gnawed by something, and the broken branches and leaves were floating in the water.

Uncle Zhang stared at the dead tropical fish, very distressed, "Why is this fish so difficult to raise?" This is a son of filial piety brought back to me from abroad, and he died after a few days, alas, where did I not serve well? ”

Uncle Zhang said to himself in distress, and Aunt Zhang comforted him when she saw this, "Isn't it just a few fish?" The son said that there are a lot of this kind of fish on his side, and it is not worth much, so let the son ask someone to bring you a few back, and now you can pack up and throw it away, and free up the fish tank to raise the next batch. ”

Uncle Zhang began to clean up the fish tank, moved the remaining few live tropical fish to another fish tank, and moved the fish tank with dead fish directly to the lotus pond outside the yard to be cleaned, and the dead fish were thrown into the garbage heap, and the aquatic plants and small stones in the fish tank were poured into the lotus pond together.

The fish tank was cleaned and brought back to the yard, Uncle Zhang felt some back pain and couldn't help but beat his back.

Aunt Zhang asked worriedly, "Old man, you are not feeling well again, have you taken the medicine in the morning?" ”

A few days ago, Uncle Zhang was a little uncomfortable, at first it was a fever, I thought it was a cold, I took some cold medicine, and then I always felt urgency, frequency, and painful urination, and went to the health center in the town to see a doctor, and the doctor said that it was a urinary tract stone, and prescribed medicine for Uncle Zhang to take home to eat.

"I ate it, I felt better yesterday, but today I started to hurt again, how can I get better so quickly, let's eat it for a few more days, if it doesn't work, I will go to the big hospital in the city."

"Old man, you go back to the house to rest for a while, and I'll help you sort out the rest of the fish tank."

"No, I've sorted out the fish tank, and I should exercise more for this disease, since it's a stone, maybe the stone will be discharged with the urine after exercising, and I've been lying in bed all day, and I'm not sick and I'm sick, I'm going to see in the lotus pond now, and there are always some bear children playing in the lotus pond recently."

"Isn't it just a few fish? How many can the children in the neighborhood catch? Leave them alone. ”

"Old woman, am I sorry for those fish? I'm worried that they will have an accident in the lotus pond, because every year there is always an accident because of playing in the lotus pond. ”

"That's right, then you go for a walk, today is the weekend, the children are on vacation, maybe someone will go to the lotus pond to play, but as long as someone wanders around the lotus pond, the group of unlucky children will not dare to go down."

——

Early in the morning on weekends.

Several twelve or thirteen-year-old boys in Hetang Village got together as agreed before and prepared to go down to the river pond to catch fish.

Before preparing to leave, a tall fat boy counted the number of people, and after counting them, his brows furrowed slightly, "There is one less, who else hasn't come?" ”

"It's my brother, he got up this morning and said he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go, so let me go with you."

"How can your brother not go? He has the best skills in catching fish, and the last time we went to Zhang's old man's house to catch fish in the lotus pond, he caught the most fish, so we must go this time. ”

A small voice in the crowd, "We all have lotus ponds at home, and there are fish in the lotus ponds, why go to the lotus pond in Old Man Zhang's house to catch them?" When he was discovered, he was going to our parents to complain. ”

"You stupid, what's the point of going to your own lotus pond to catch fish? Besides, Old Man Zhang's house has the most lotus ponds and the deepest water, and there are many snails in addition to fish. Roast it again, it tastes amazing, you ate a lot last time.

Besides, Old Man Zhang can't run away from us, there are so many of us, can he still go door to door to complain? ”

The faint voice just now no longer raised any objections, and the tall fat boy clapped his hands, "Okay, according to our previous decision, go to the lotus pond of Old Man Zhang's house, and call the big cow on the way before going, he was fine yesterday, I don't believe he will be sick today." ”

The home of the big cow.

Instead of calling from the main entrance, a group of little boys went around to the back window of Da Niu's house.

The window was open, and the tall fat boy picked up a stone and threw it into the window.

The stone hit the bed right on.

A boy named Da Niu got up from his bed, and in a drowsy mood, he heard someone outside the window calling his nickname.

"Big Bull...... Da Niu get up quickly, don't pretend to be sick, and go with us to the lotus pond of Old Man Zhang's house to catch fish. ”

Da Niu got out of bed, came to the back window and looked out, and found a group of friends gathered under the window.

"Why are you all here?"

"Wait for you, didn't you say yesterday that you would go to the lotus pond of Old Man Zhang's house to catch fish? Why did you hold back? ”

"I'm not feeling well, I have a little fever, diarrhea, my stomach is very bloated and I can't eat, I haven't eaten this morning."

When the tall fat boy heard this, he didn't care, "It should be a little cold, how can you be so squeamish as a big boy?" Come with us to the lotus pond, I will grill fish and snails for you to eat, just for you to make breakfast. ”

Da Niu struggled inwardly, and finally wanted to go out to play to overcome the physical discomfort, so he nodded, "Okay, you wait for me, I'll change my shoes and go out." ”