PDLP Chapter 11 Catching Fish
Chapter 11 Catching Fish
After confirming that everyone was safe, Jia Dongjin began digging the cellar. He was exhausted, but he managed to dig a simple cellar 1.5 meters deep under his small bed.
After carefully placing the large vat inside, he said proudly, "This vat may not look big, but it can hold several hundred kilograms of grain without any problem. Cover it with oil paper and a wooden lid to keep it dry and prevent rats from getting in."
The excavated soil was disposed of in small amounts by the mother and son in the public toilet. Watching Jia Zhangshi and Jia Dongjin take turns using the toilet, Yan Fugui assumed that the two had eaten something bad and chuckled to himself and his wife Yang Ruihua.
No one in the entire courtyard knew that, quietly, the Jia family had acquired a new cellar.
Qin Huairu lingered outside with Banggeng, picking up two whole bags of vegetable leaves at the market. When the two returned home, Jia Dongjin had already washed his hands and was cooking.
"Dongjin, let Huairu cook. Your hands are shaking from exhaustion."
"Mom, it's alright. There's a trick to cooking pig liver. If you don't do it right, it won't taste good. Sister-in-law, just pick out some edible leaves and wash them clean." Jia Dongjin's hands and feet were sore from exhaustion, but he still insisted on cooking.
He was preparing to make pork liver soup, but he was worried that Qin Huairu would overcook the pork liver, wasting the precious liver.
Qin Huairu quickly prepared the vegetable leaves, and he asked her to take the stalks outside to dig a hole in the chosen open space.
"Uncle, why are you digging a hole to raise earthworms? I'm starving. Will we have meat tonight?" Looking at the bright red pig liver, Banggeng was unwilling to go out to work, afraid that he would come back late and there would be no meat to eat.
"Go away, kid, stop causing trouble here. You'll be raising all the earthworms from now on. If you raise them well, you'll get meat to eat. Are you coming or not?" Jia Dongjin earned 3 cents today, which he spent on pig liver. He had lofty goals and cared more about his family's nutrition, so he didn't care about this little bit of money.
Hearing that her brother-in-law had spent all his hard-earned wages on his gluttonous food, Qin Huairu couldn't help but glance at her mother-in-law. However, Jia Zhangshi remained unmoved, her eyes shining as she focused on Jia Dongjin cutting pig liver.
"Uncle, the pig liver is so delicious, and the soup is so flavorful too. Can we eat it again sometime?" At dinner, Bang Geng found the pig liver so smooth and tender, and the pig liver soup so delicious, that he couldn't resist and gave Jia Dongjin a thumbs up for the first time.
"Eat more if you like it. This is a reward for your hard work. As long as you are obedient, your uncle will buy more in the future." Jia Dongjin reached out and scooped a large spoonful of pig liver for Banggeng. Seeing that Qin Huairu's bowl had more soup than pig liver, he hesitated for a moment and still didn't dare to serve her any more.
There was a generous amount of pork liver. Jia Zhangshi took the soup ladle and ladled a spoonful of pork liver soup for Qin Huairu as well, adding extra pork liver as a special touch. "Huairu, you're pregnant, you should eat more."
"Mmm." Knowing her own situation, Qin Huairu lowered her head and ate with relish.
For the remaining days, Jia Dongjin behaved himself, working with Yan Jiecheng to carry heavy loads at the train station. He used all the money he earned each day to buy pork offal to take home. Qin Huairu was speechless, but Jia Zhangshi and Banggeng ate with beaming smiles.
The people in the courtyard smelled the aroma of meat and looked at the Jia family with strange eyes. Yan Fugui shook his head, convinced that Jia Dongjin had serious street urchin habits and would not allow Yan Jiecheng to get too close to Jia Dongjin.
Jia Dongjin, however, did as he pleased. After confirming that no one knew about the cellar, he went to a scrap metal recycling station on his day off and completed a reassembly.
Song Tao and his father-in-law are indeed professionals. Through their efforts, they have almost completely cleared out all the valuable bicycle debris in Beijing.
Unlike the turmoil caused by a butterfly flapping its wings, the interconnected events directly impacted the courtyard house's bicycle assembly plan, leaving the Yan family, who hoped to profit from the situation, with little to show for it.
Yan Fugui's scheme failed, and he was so angry that he could only sell the bicycle in tears. The bicycle was dilapidated and tasteless. He had spent 30 yuan to buy it, but it was only worth 20 yuan when he sold it. Old Yan did not get a bicycle, but lost 10 yuan for nothing.
"Brother Liang, we've struck it rich this time, haha!"
"Taozi, this is just the first time, it's a pity it can't last."
This assembly work was the most fruitful one yet. The three of them teamed up and worked hard for two days, assembling a total of eleven bicycles, which was a brilliant achievement.
According to the prior agreement, Jia Dongjin earned 110 yuan, paid off his debts, bought a car for his younger brother Li Guojun at cost price, and finally received 50 yuan in savings.
In fact, Liang Ge and Song Tao can also assemble bicycles independently. This large-scale cooperation is a token of their appreciation to Jia Dongjin, a reward for the initiator, and a testament to the loyalty among the men of Beijing. In the future, they will definitely cooperate with Jia Dongjin sporadically.
"Thank you both for your kindness. Please don't hesitate to ask if you ever need my help."
But that was enough for Jia Dongjin. The source of scrapped bicycle parts was limited, so Jia Dongjin was very content and grateful to Brother Song Tao and Brother Liang.
In any case, fifty yuan was a lot of money for Jia Dongjin at this time, equivalent to earning his first pot of gold in this life.
Having temporarily put an end to the worries of his adoptive parents, the timeline has now reached June 1, 1958.
"Bang Geng, it's Children's Day today! Look what your uncle bought you!" Jia Dongjin took out some candy. Seeing Bang Geng rush over to grab it, he held the candy high and laughed, "Bang Geng, you can ask me for it, but you can't snatch it. Snatching things is bad; you'll have to go stand in the fence, understand?"
With money in his pocket, Jia Dongjin immediately spent one yuan to buy a bunch of pig intestines that didn't require coupons. He was desperately short of oil, as were the rest of the Jia family, and the pig intestines just happened to be full of oil.
He planned to clean and braise the pig intestines so that he could have a meat dish with every meal and eat for a week. When he got home, he still had 8 cents left, and he also bought some Cuban candy for Xiaobanggeng.
Cuban sugar was a type of crudely processed sugarcane sugar imported from Cuba at the time. To support the Cuban economy, 40 tons of Cuban sugar were imported annually.
Although Cuban sugar is called "sugar," it is of poor quality and is mostly eaten directly as hard candy.
Cuban sugar was rationed, with urban residents receiving an average of about ten kilograms per year. In an era of scarcity, it became a "luxury" in the memories of a generation.
Because of her family's financial difficulties, Qin Huairu sold her family's meat and sugar coupons for money and food, and never spent them. She even had to beg and plead to get this sugar coupon from Jia Zhangshi.
Although income was low at this time, money was relatively valuable. Seeing that one yuan could buy so much food, Jia Dongjin was filled with confidence for the first time in overcoming difficulties.
"Squatting on the fence?" Even the little stick knew how scary squatting on the fence was. The fence was something that everyone in the courtyard was afraid of. Even Uncle Shazhu, who was usually very brave, was afraid of it. He quickly stopped fighting and said, "Uncle, I don't dare to do it anymore. Give me some candy. Brother Guangfu gets candy. He's very stingy. Sister Jiedi and I can only watch him eat it."
"Guangfu is right. It's his own stuff. If he's willing to give it away, it's a favor. If he's not, there's nothing wrong with that. Sugar isn't cheap. Many people can't even afford to eat their fill. You need to understand that."
A sapling that's crooked needs to be straightened and carefully nurtured to grow strong. A crooked sapling is no good for Jia Dongjin, so as his uncle, he can only start small and guide this future master thief onto the right path.
After finishing a piece of candy, the stick continued its efforts, persistently chasing after the candy.
"Want some candy? No problem. But how are your earthworms doing? Only if you raise them well and in large quantities will you get candy. Lazy people will only go hungry and won't even get a shower." Jia Dongjin tirelessly guided the little thief saint.
To make bathing easier, Jia Dongjin built a shower room on the south side of the house. He used old city bricks he had collected to build the outer wall and laid bricks on the ground. The ceiling of the shower room was made of a few wooden planks, which were tied together with tree branches to form a door, creating a simple shower room. In one corner of the shower room, there was also a toilet with a wooden cover that had been sawed out and polished smooth, which served as a simple toilet seat.
What amazed everyone in the courtyard even more was that a scrap metal gasoline drum was placed on the roof of the bathroom, along with a rubber hose that Song Tao had brought over, which made up a simple solar water heater. In the hot summer, a hot shower couldn't be more comfortable.
This simplified water heater is completely green and pollution-free, eliminating the need to waste precious firewood and coal. The whole family loves this shower room.
The Jia family members all loved cleanliness. Jia Zhangshi would take a shower every evening after dinner with her son Banggeng. Qin Huairu liked to be the last to shower, and she would take a long time, never stopping until all the hot water was used up.
Zhongyuan Shazhu is a clueless fool who actually asked to use the shower room.
"What an idiot! Yu Shui is a young girl, it's understandable that she comes to take a bath, but what's a guy doing meddling in like that? He doesn't know any manners at all." Jia Dongjin was both amused and exasperated. He could only admit defeat and asked his childhood friend Song Tao to get two more tin buckets to build a bathroom for his adoptive parents' family and Sha Zhu's family, which Yi Zhonghai's family and He Yu Zhu would share.
He really had no choice. Qin Huairu exchanged all the meat coupons and other receipts for money and grain. If her family wanted to eat better food, they would ask He Yuzhu and the neighbors for help. They borrowed from all the courtyard houses and owed a lot of favors, which Jia Dongjin now had to repay.
"It's not a pleasant feeling to have creditors everywhere. This is not a life for humans. I have to pay off my debts as soon as possible, otherwise I won't have the confidence to even have an argument." Looking at Jia Zhangshi chatting and laughing with her neighbor, Jia Dongjin secretly rejoiced that he was not 18 years old when he transmigrated. Otherwise, he would be too embarrassed to look people in the eye.
"Dongjin is a good guy; let's all look out for him if anything happens."
Yi Zhonghai's praise of the shower room silenced the courtyard people who wanted to voice their opinions and cause trouble. Putting aside the three roads, the bicycle and the shower room were the two things that allowed Jia Dongjin to initially gain a foothold in the Jia family, and Qin Huairu no longer treated him as if he were invisible.
Needless to say, Jia Zhangshi had nothing better to do than to boast about her shoe soles outside all day. She even secured five shower room projects for Jia Dongjin. After deducting the cost of materials, Jia Zhangshi earned five yuan in project fees and five packs of Daqianmen cigarettes, which she considered a windfall.
Recently, Jia Zhangshi has been considering becoming a contractor, spending his days wandering around the nearby courtyards with cornbread, hoping to secure more shower room projects. As a result, Jia's family's food standards have risen dramatically, and they can now afford cornbread and steamed buns.
"I think the China Mobile service is a good option."
Smoking his pungent, cheap cigarette, Jia Dongjin inspected the earthworm farming project with a smug look on his face. He was now being suppressed by Jia Zhangshi, who had taken away his Daqianmen cigarettes and replaced them with cheap cigarettes that cost 8 cents a pack.
The earthworm pond is located outside the brick wall of the bathroom. It is one square meter in area and half a meter deep. To prevent the earthworms from escaping, the bottom and sides of the earthworm pond are lined with blue bricks. It is enough to raise thousands or even tens of thousands of earthworms. The person in charge of the earthworm pond project is Bang Geng.
After a brief inspection, although it wasn't entirely satisfactory, Jia Dongjin still praised Bang Geng and pointed out its shortcomings, giving the boy three pieces of Cuban candy as a reward on the spot.
Since Bang Geng is still young, Jia Dongjin decided to focus on rewards and use criticism as a supplement, so as not to let Bang Geng grow into a master thief and bring him endless trouble.
"Hey, see this? This is a fishing rod. You have to heat the tip of the rod over a fire to make it more flexible so the fish won't break it. I don't usually tell this to just anyone."
"Uncle, you're amazing! Do you want to go fishing with Uncle San?" Little Banggeng's mouth watered at the thought of eating fish, and he looked at Jia Dongjin with admiration.
"You'll understand tomorrow. Remember to eat less at noon tomorrow, save room for dinner, hehe!" Jia Dongjin said with disdain when talking about Yan Fugui, the fishing expert in the courtyard. Unfortunately, because of Gou Daofang, he could only stay at home and brag to Xiaobanggeng, feeling regretful.
"The fishing net cost 50 yuan, and the fish sell for 2 mao per jin (500g). With interest, you need 300 jin of fish to break even, not even counting the losses from carrying heavy bags at the train station. Dongjin, I have to give you my faith. If you can't catch any fish, you might want to consider a loan shark."
Having served as a contractor several times, Jia Zhangshi's accounting skills were quite impressive, which made Jia Dongjin lose his desire to show off and could only lament that sparrows cannot understand the ambitions of swans.
"If you cherish yourself, you should rise with the sun and rest with the sunset. Unfortunately, that's too difficult for me!"
In his previous life, Jia Dongjin liked to stay up late because he was bored and empty. In this life, Jia Dongjin has just decided to take care of himself and wants to maintain his kidneys.
But in the blink of an eye, Jia Dongjin had to get up early to make a living. He could only lament that fate was cruel and that life was too bitter, and he was not prepared to come back in the next life.
Just as Jia Dongjin finished sighing, Qin Huairu came out from the inner room.
"Dongjin, here's a water bottle, filled with boiled water. I've also packed two steamed buns and some pickled vegetables in my bag. It's hot, so don't let them spoil. I heard the river is quite deep."
It was too early, and Qin Huairu hadn't even had time to comb her hair. This was the second time the two of them had been alone since Jia Dongjin was injured. Qin Huairu felt a little uneasy since she wasn't holding any weapons. She lowered her head slightly and tried to smooth her hair with her right hand, but as soon as she did, her hair slipped down again, making her even more uncomfortable.
"Sister-in-law, it's alright. I'm a grown man, nothing will happen to me. Save some food for me tonight, so Banggeng can save his stomach for the fish."
Jia Dongjin took out the steamed buns made from the two kinds of flour from his bag and replaced them with three cold, hard cornbread buns. He said with a smile, "I told you long ago that I don't like steamed buns. Cornbread buns are just right. They have a good chew and are satisfying to eat."
With everything in place, Jia Dongjin was ready to go.
As Jia Dongjin was leaving, Qin Huairu called him back and handed him a paper package containing a piece of braised pig intestine.
"Whether it's scorching sun or biting winter, I find joy in it, I find joy in it."
The pale light that appeared at dawn always made Jia Dongjin feel dazed, giving him a sense of boundless imagination, as if his whole heart was slowly rising with the pale light.
Humming his favorite march from his past life, the uplifting melody made Jia Dongjin's blood boil. Fishing and sleeping in were some of Jia Dongjin's few hobbies in his past life. Getting up early to fish made him feel refreshed and he didn't feel the hardship of working like a horse at all. After riding eastward for about an hour, he arrived at the banks of the Chaobai River.
In his past life, he had harmed many fish in this river. He never expected that he would have to continue being a fisherman in this life, and even make a living from it for a short period of time. This made Jia Dongjin feel a lot of emotions.
"Little fish, little fish, don't blame me, you are just a dish for humans." Jia Dongjin did some warm-up exercises to prevent cramps after entering the water, while pretending to mutter a few words. Then, without hesitation, he took off his clothes, went into the river, and put down the net and fish trap.
"The Chaobai River is so clear, I can wash my feet here. Damn, why is it so cold!" Jia Dongjin was too happy too soon. His first time catching fish ended in an accident. His calf cramped up and he could only thrash around in the river with his hands.
"Screw this plot twist! Jia Zhangshi is a human being too! She's my own mother! Why is she destined to be a bloodsucker? I refuse to accept this!"
"My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens!" Jia Dongjin roared and swam vigorously toward the riverbank.