Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 124: Chapter 72: Harvesting the Fish Pond (Part 1)

With Yang Family no longer selling vegetables, Juhua’s workload lightened considerably, and she actually found herself with free time during the day. But her leisure didn’t last more than a few days before she was swept up in the flurry of New Year’s preparations: butchering pigs and curing meat, making puffed rice candy, pressing tofu, spring cleaning, washing the quilts, and so on. The hustle and bustle continued right up until the New Year’s Eve feast.

But this kind of busyness was a joyous and welcome thing. In previous years, they weren’t this busy. And why was that? They were so poor they had nothing to prepare, so of course, they weren’t busy. Therefore, Juhua didn’t mind this kind of work at all. ’Busyness means a bountiful harvest!’

It would be impossible to recount every trivial little task, so we will only record a couple of the more interesting events.

One day, Meizi and Liu Xiaomei came looking for Juhua, bursting with excitement.

”Juhua, hurry and get ready! We’re going to watch them drain the fish pond soon. The whole village is going!” Meizi’s eyes shone with excitement as she charged straight into the courtyard, her long braid swinging in an arc behind her.

Liu Xiaomei’s face was also flushed from running.

Since she was about the same age as Juhua, she had felt they got along very well after coming over to play last time. With four older brothers and no one else to play with, she often came to find Juhua to do needlework and chat. In just a few days, she had already run over to Juhua’s house several times, and even gave her many dried Ni Qiu. So, as soon as she heard they were draining the fish pond, she immediately ran to find Juhua to watch the excitement, bumping into Meizi on the way.

Seeing how happy they were, Juhua grew excited too—she had long wanted to see them drain the fish pond. She loved these kinds of countryside activities the most. In her past life, after leaving the village, she would go fishing and netting shrimp every time she returned home on vacation. In the spring, she would go up the mountain to pick ferns or gather wild vegetables from the ridges between fields, enjoying every busy moment. ’How could I possibly miss an event like catching fish?’

Draining the fish pond was an annual event before the New Year. The village would dry out the ponds, catch the biggest fish to add a dish to the holiday feasts, and clear out the silt from the bottom—this kept the pond water clear, and the dredged-up silt could be used to fertilize the fields.

The farmers had their own ways of coexisting with nature. They didn’t understand concepts like ”environmental protection”; they simply acted based on years of experience.

Of course, a body of water as large as Jing Lake could never be drained, unless it was during a severe drought when its water was pumped out to irrigate the fields. Only then would they take the opportunity to clean it.

Yang Family was in the kitchen cooking glutinous rice—to be dried into hard grains for making puffed rice candy. Hearing Meizi’s excited shouting, she hurried out of the kitchen, her face wreathed in smiles, and said to Juhua, ”Go on, go have a look—draining the pond is a lively event! I’ll take care of things at home. Change into some old shoes, and put on straw sandals over them—the bank of the pond is sure to be covered in mud. And wear more layers, the wind is strong. Your brother has to go help with the work, too.”

She couldn’t have been happier for her daughter to go out and play. Juhua’s life was returning to normal, and she was daring to go out and see people again. This filled her heart with nothing but joy.

Qingmu came out with a smile—school was out for the holidays starting today—and said to Juhua, ”Let’s go together. Bring a basket; they’ll be dividing up the fish afterward.”

In previous years, his sister had wanted to go but was always too timid. She could only wait for him to come home carrying a basket of fish and listen, wide-eyed and without blinking, as he recounted his fish-catching adventures.

Seeing their happy faces, Juhua was finally swept up in the excitement. She hurriedly changed her shoes, wrapped a scarf around her neck, put on a hat, and picked up the basket. Just as she was about to leave, Zhang Huai appeared at the courtyard gate.

He had come to get Qingmu for the work—draining the pond was an event that required all the men of the village, young and old, to pitch in. Zheng Changhe had already gone over early.

He glanced at Juhua and, seeing she was only wearing a pair of old, thin-soled shoes, said, ”Catching the fish will take a while; you’ll be standing around watching for a long time. Your feet will be frozen solid in those thin shoes!”

Hearing this, Yang Family and Qingmu were startled into agreement. Yang Family said repeatedly, ”Quick, change into your cotton-padded shoes. What was I thinking, telling you to change your shoes? Dirty shoes can be washed, but what if you catch a bad cold right before the New Year?”

Qingmu added, ”Go change them. It doesn’t matter if they get muddy. Once they’re dry, you can just scrub them with a stiff brush and the dirt will come right off.”

Juhua realized they were right. Although the sun was bright today, the ponds were on the outskirts of the village where the wind was strong, so it was bound to be very cold. So, she changed back into her other shoes, putting the straw sandal covers on over them just as before.

Meizi laughed and said, ”Go on, wear them hard! It doesn’t matter if you ruin them—Lanzi is making you a new pair of cotton-padded shoes anyway!”

Laughing and talking, the group set off.

On the way, Juhua asked them the question that was on her mind: how did they get all the water out of the ponds?