Chapter 897: Taming the Bird (3)
"Yan girl, you’re here!" Old man Ding, who was drinking water on the shore, hurriedly greeted Mo Yan as he saw her.
"Old man Ding, hard work! Here, have some water. It’s pumped from the well and nice and cool!" Mo Yan replied with a smile, carrying the bucket of water over to him.
Old man Ding was not shy and scooped up a bowl of water, gulping it down noisily. After wiping his mouth, he laughed loudly, "The water Yan girl brings is both cool and sweet, with not a hint of a muddy smell."
Mo Yan laughed without responding and quickly beckoned others to come and drink. It was extremely hot that day, and there was no breeze in the hollow; if they didn’t replenish fluids frequently, they were prone to heatstroke.
Hearing this, the others also came ashore, dumping the wild grass in their carrying baskets onto the ridge. The sun would kill the grass, and later, when thrown into the paddy fields, it would serve as a decent fertilizer.
After drinking water to cool off, Mo Yan suggested they take a break before they continued with the clearing. No one refused her kind offer, sitting under the peach tree by the pond to enjoy the shade.
The peach trees by the pond were planted last year, encircling it. Now, the sparse peaches on the trees had grown to the size of a child’s fist and would be ripe for picking in another month.
After sitting for a while, Old man Ding suddenly said, "Yan girl, the other day when it rained heavily, I came over to fix the embankment and saw that the fish in the pond were coming up for air, some as long as a foot! Growing so fast shows the pond is suitable for raising fish, and the other fish should be about the same size by now. I think you should find some time to net the fish. Then restock with new fry, and by next fall, you could harvest them again."
The fry in the pond were also released last spring, brought in from the Xiaoqing River, a variety of types, and having grown to a foot in just over a year was thanks to the Spirit Spring Water.
"A foot long? They’ve grown that big!" Mo Yan exclaimed in surprise. She hadn’t attended to the fish since releasing the fry and didn’t expect them to grow so quickly, "Alright, I’ll buy a fishing net in the next couple of days, and then, Old man Ding, you can get some people to net the fish."
"Sure thing, leave it to me. I’ll make sure it’s done properly," Old man Ding promised readily.