Transmigrated as a Peasant Baby Who is Pampered by All

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Xiangma Town

When heading home, Jiang Hu heard the sound of his second wife comforting the children inside the house. He called out and quickly went to the kitchen.

He directly put the largest fish into the water tank. Today’s catch was not bad. Besides the big silver carp that was as long as his forearm, there were also two carp slightly bigger than a palm, and a group of finger-sized small fish.

He put the big silver carp and carp into the water tank and poured the remaining small fish into the stone tank outside.

The stone tank was filled with small fish, with the largest being only as big as a woman’s palm. The bigger ones were all kept in the water tank in the kitchen.

Jiang Hu first looked in the courtyard to see if Dawa and Erni were back. Seeing the siblings walking home, he then went into the house.

”Second Wife, I caught a big fish!” Jiang Hu excitedly showed the size of the silver carp to his second wife: ”This big! I’ll take it to the town tomorrow, surely I can sell it for a good price!”

”That big!” the second wife exclaimed in surprise, while little Mi waved her hands and shouted a few times, and the second wife freed her hand to pat her.

Jiang Hu nodded: ”Yes, I’m just letting you know. I’ll go fetch water first and will be back soon to cook. Please wait a little longer.”

The second wife quickly said: ”Take it slow, Brother Hu; it’s dark.”

Jiang Hu had already gone out, replying with an ’okay’ from outside.

The water tank was filled with fish, and they used water fetched freshly from the village for cooking. Fuan Village only had three wells, and every household had to draw water from there for meals.

In the past, Jiang Hu would fill up a tank with water directly, even if he needed to wash the diapers, it could last for two or three days. Now, he only fetched water when needed, after all, the family only had these two water buckets.

One bucket of water was for cooking meals; today, it was still fish soup. Though they also cooked wild vegetable porridge, it was all watery, but at least there was some meaty flavor, so they wouldn’t feel hungry so quickly.

After eating, Dawa went to wash the dishes, and Jiang Hu washed the diapers saved from today and hung them on the little bed behind the stove.

The cooking charcoal fire wasn’t entirely extinguished yet, so it was warm there and would be completely dry by tomorrow morning. It could be used again, just like when it rained earlier, which was more convenient.

When going to bed at night, Dawa and Erni kept talking to the second wife about the big fish. The two little ones were very excited, imagining they could catch more and even bigger fish in the future.

Little Mi also listened with great interest, wishing she could get up immediately and go fishing with her older brother and sister.

This excited feeling continued until sleep, and even in their dreams, they dreamt of enjoying fish soup.

Being able to have fish soup every day was just like living a celestial life!

Early the next morning, even before dawn, Jiang Hu got up to cook. He put the meal on and washed the changed diapers from last night.

This time he poured the water on a spot where no vegetables were planted.

With time to spare, he replanted the seedlings he had pulled up yesterday back into the vegetable garden.

Strangely enough, the seedlings pulled up yesterday morning didn’t wilt at all.

After breakfast, he instructed Dawa not to go anywhere today, to stay home and take care of his siblings and mother. Then Jiang Hu strapped on his wooden bucket filled with fish and headed to the town.

The nearest town to Fuan Village took over an hour to walk to; carrying things, he had to rest, which took even longer.

At this time, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

From the end of the village to the entrance, he met many people on the road. Everyone saw the big fish Jiang Hu was carrying and expressed envious exclamations.

Jiang Hu was eager to get to town to sell the fish; he had no time to chat, only exchanging greetings before hurrying on his way.

However, seeing Jiang Hu’s experience, everyone else became more enthusiastic and motivated to catch fish and birds.

Anyway, there was not much to do during this period; why not take this opportunity to seize some food? Even if it couldn’t be sold for money, it could be dried into fish jerky for future consumption, couldn’t it?

And so, a fishing craze swiftly arose in Fuan Village. They didn’t have such good bait, but who says one needs bait to catch fish?

Solutions are always thought up by people. Someone found that there were many small fish under the cracks in the river’s stones, but those small fish swam very fast and would quickly escape with just a touch of water.

But this didn’t bother those who wanted to eat fish; they simply found a stone, stood a bit further away, and threw it forcefully towards a big stone by the river.

Booming sounds, and the fish in the cracks were stunned. Then they lifted the big stone and could directly pick up the small fish.

This method, not to mention adult men, even slightly stronger children could catch quite a few fish in a day.

However, catching fish this way had a downside: the small fish wouldn’t survive for long, turning belly-up in less than half an hour.

But no one minded. Once home, they’d slightly squeeze the guts out of the fish with two fingers, string them up, and directly roast them into fish jerky by the fire.

Such fish jerky, if stored well and kept dry, could last for several months!

However, Jiang Hu didn’t know about these things right now. After leaving Fuan Village, he relied on memory to find the way to the town.

They had fled to the county from another direction and were assigned to this village by the County Magistrate. The road from the town to Fuan Village, he had only taken once.

Luckily, it wasn’t long ago, and the traces on the road were still obvious, so he didn’t get lost.

Xiangma Town, the nearest small town to Fuan Village.

Seeing the town from afar, Jiang Hu breathed a sigh of relief; he finally made it.

After resting, Jiang Hu walked in with large strides, noticing knife and sword marks on the nearby walls, showing that this place had also suffered from recent tumult.

Fortunately, those days were over. The town was bustling again with people.

Jiang Hu didn’t rush to sell the fish but first took a walk around the town to confirm there were only three restaurants before heading to one of them.

”Hello, do you need any fish here? I caught a big fish yesterday, and it’s still alive.”

”Go away, you country bumpkin! Don’t you know that all the dishes at our restaurant are specially delivered? Go back to where you came from.”

Before he could even get in, he was shooed away like a fly by the attendant.

Jiang Hu blushed, feeling somewhat discouraged.

But remembering the hopeful eyes of his family when he left, Jiang Hu regained his spirits and turned to the second restaurant.

It was even worse; he hadn’t even finished speaking when he was driven away by the attendant.

Only the last restaurant was left. If they didn’t take it, he could only go to the market, where the chances of selling it were slimmer.

Jiang Hu took a deep breath outside the door, then put on the biggest smile he could muster and walked into the last restaurant.

”Hello, Shopkeeper. I have a very big fish here; would your restaurant like it?”

The shopkeeper was tabulating accounts and seemed slightly annoyed at being interrupted but still looked up at Jiang Hu, then at the large water bucket he carried.

”How big is the fish? Put it down and let me see.”

Jiang Hu, sensing a chance, quickly put down the basket and took out the water bucket.