Chapter 913: Revenge on the Unfamiliar Visitor (3)
"There should be, this net is heavy!"
"Two hundred pounds in one go, and after fishing a dozen more times, wouldn’t that be two thousand pounds?"
"How could this one-acre pond have that much? But the fish do grow fast; in just over a year, they’ve grown to two or three pounds each."
"Hmm, that’s really quick. Probably because the water is good and there’s plenty of food washing down from the mountains and fields, fattening them up."
"..."
Watching the silver fish leap out of the water, the villagers chatted excitedly. Under Old Man Ding’s instructions, they quickened the pace of pulling the nets and soon all six fishing nets were hauled onto the shore.
In the blazing sunshine, one after another plump fish wriggled their tails nonstop, attempting to escape the net and return to the water, but to no avail; the nets were too sturdy, not even their tails could slip through.
The other villagers carried over large wooden tubs full of clean water and started retrieving fish from the nets to throw them in.
Seeing a few fish with very swollen bellies, clearly females ready to spawn, Mo Yan quickly said, "Let the big-bellied fish go. If we leave them, there’s no need to be troubled fishing for hatchlings in the river."
"That makes sense!" Hearing this, the villagers tossed the roe-laden fish back into the water and also released some smaller fish.
When the nets were completely cleared of fish, the big wooden tubs were full. Concerned that the fish might die off in the high temperature, Old Man Ding hurriedly had people carry the fish back and pour them into the nets in the Xiaoqing River.