When we got back to the boat, we counted the silver as usual.
Looking at the pile of broken silver and copper plates, Yang started counting with joy.
"Why so much?" Four taels of silver and four hundred and twenty copper plates?
"Big fish are expensive. They sell for twenty cents per catty, which is the same price as big white meat." Yang Fu said.
"Why is it so expensive?" Is it the same price as meat?
Huo Erhuai smiled: "How can big fish be so easy to catch? We can't catch fish weighing more than six or seven kilograms once a month. We haven't caught fish weighing more than ten kilograms twice in ten years."
"That's right. Rare things are more valuable."
"Do you still understand that rare things are valuable?" Huo Xi teased Yang Fu. Yang Fu scratched his head and chuckled, "When I learn to read with you, I will be able to recognize more."
"Then you have to study hard."
Mrs. Yang told him while counting the silver coins and stringing the copper plates with a grin. She and Huo Erhuai were both illiterate, so they picked up a literate Huo Xi, and their family's life became better. This shows that reading is really useful.
Look at this, I earned more than four taels of silver in one day.
"One or two of these are rewards from others, not money from selling fish." Huo Xi explained.
"Reward? One tael of silver?" Yang's eyes widened, who could be so generous?
Yang Fu explained to her: "Wen Caimai from Huibin Building in the inner city heard Xi'er tell her how to make fish heads and fish tails, so he rewarded Xi'er with it. He also said that if there was a big fish over five kilograms, he would send it over.
He wants both. Twenty-five cents for anything over five kilograms, and thirty cents for anything over ten kilograms."
"real?"
"Really!"
Yang Fu nodded: "If we catch a big fish in the future, we won't have to sell it ourselves. It will save trouble to send it over. But today Xi'er cut the fish into pieces and sold them. It sold well, and everyone came to grab it. It was more than selling the whole fish.
We sold it for a lot of money!"
"Cut it to sell? How to cut it?"
Yang Fu then described it to Mr. Yang, and said that the fish heads and fish tails that no one wanted were all sold by Xi'er at a high price. Many people rushed to buy them, and they complained when they couldn't buy them.
Yang's jaw dropped when she heard this.
She usually goes to sell fish with Huo Erhuai. Where has she seen fish cut into body, head and tail for sale? And there are people who come here to buy fish heads and tails and cook them? The fish meat is no longer fragrant?
"Xi'er, how do you know so much?"
"Sister, Xi'er must have eaten it before."
When Yang thought about Huo Xi's identity, how could a wealthy family eat something rare and eat it like they were the ordinary people? If she hugged Huo Xi with joy, she would be all curious about it.
"Is the fish head and fish tail really delicious?" Yang Fu remembered what Huo Xi said about making fish head and fish tail, and his mouth started to water.
Huo Xi nodded in Yang's arms: "It's delicious! I didn't lie to them. Next time when dad catches a big fish, we will cut off the head and tail of the fish and cook it."
"Mother will do it."
"Okay, I'll tell my mother to do it."
"Then let's do it tomorrow." Yang Fu swallowed.
Yang raised her hand at him, pretending to hit him: "Eat it tomorrow! You'd better worship the river god at night so that your brother-in-law can catch a big fish tomorrow, otherwise you'll eat it! You eat it."
Yang Fu glared at his sister dissatisfied, while Huo Xi covered her mouth and snickered.
Yang looked at the silver coins in front of her and sighed: "It would be great if we could catch more big fish every day. We can also rest more. We don't have to lower the net every day in the wind or rain."
Huo Xi was silent.
As far as the fishing net at home is concerned, catching big fish depends entirely on luck.
After becoming a fisherman, she realized that fishing one day and drying the net three days was not a bad saying. It was actually how most fishermen performed it.
The fishing nets of this era were not as advanced as later generations. They were mostly made of linen, which was perishable and had poor toughness. Therefore, they needed to be dried in the sun after use to extend the service life of the fishing nets.
Moreover, it is not easy to remove the water weeds entangled in the fishing net. If you pull hard, the fishing net will be easily broken. Once it is dried in the sun, it will be easy to remove. In addition to drying, the net must be mended.
Once a fish gets into the net, it will struggle. Once it struggles, it will become tightly entangled, and it will easily break the fishing net when it is removed. Some fish will break out of the net, so the fishing net must be repaired every time it is used.
Even modern fishing nets are so tough that they need to be repaired every time. As long as there are fish drilling through the net, it is rare that it will not break.
Of course, it is not necessarily necessary to dry the net for three days after catching fish for one day. However, it is more common to dry the net for one day and one day for fishing. Unless there are two or three nets at home that are used alternately. But in general, it still costs a lot of time to dry and mend the net manually.
In addition to drying and mending the nets, the nets are often emptied, so fish are not caught every day.
Yang and Huo Erhuai wanted to save money and live ashore because fishing was not only hard work but also risky.
Farmers go home to rest when it's cloudy and rainy, but fishermen wear raincoats and are busy lowering their nets in the wind and rain because the fish will float up to breathe and are easier to catch.
Huo Erhuai now uses two fishing nets alternately, as well as a crab and shrimp trap, so he never has a serious day off. With Huo Xi and Huo Nian raising them, the couple is even more diligent in lowering the nets.
Huo Xi felt grateful in his heart.
So I have been thinking about the way out for my family.
Yang counted the silver and gave Huo Xi one tael: "Since this tael of silver was given to Xi'er by others, Xi'er can keep it for herself. She can buy whatever she wants. If she doesn't have enough money, she can go to her parents.
want."
Huo Xi declined several times, but when she and Huo Erhuai refused to take it back, she had no choice but to put it away.
"Thank you, mother."
"Hey, we are a family, and you are being polite to Mom. You earned all the money in this family, and Mom keeps it for you. You can spend it how you want, and neither Mom nor your father have any objections."
Huo Xi nodded. Yang Fu looked at it and stretched out his hand towards Yang: "Sister, I want it too."
"What do you want?"
"silver."
"What the hell, you want it! You don't even have the money to pay back the money. Your brother-in-law doesn't have a private house yet, you want it! What are you thinking about every day? Why don't you go to heaven?"
Huo Xi covered her mouth and snickered. Yang Fu pouted. His sister now has a son and a daughter, so she is treating him like a fool. Humph.
Huo Erhuai couldn't bear it: "Mom, why don't you give Fu'er some money, thanks to him these days. He's grown up and goes to the city every day, so it's always more convenient to have some money with you."
Yang glanced at Yang Fu and felt a little soft-hearted. Seeing that Yang Fu stretched out his hand, she was so angry that she slapped his hand away: "What do you want? I can't help you save money to buy a house for me in the future?"
As he spoke, he quickly put away the silver and copper plates.
Yang Fu wailed: "I'm only ten years old! What are you talking about?"
"You can't save it slowly since childhood? That money was blown by the strong wind all at once?"
Hum, that's unreasonable. If you don't give it, you won't give it. When Xi'er goes to a tea shop to drink tea, can I just watch?
Yang Fu finally figured it out and heard his sister ask Xi'er: "Xi'er, how about Mom give you some more money? Keep it for yourself?" He glared at his sister angrily.
"No mom, I need to spend money to tell my parents."
"That's okay. I must tell my mother."
"Yeah." Huo Xi hugged her arm and rubbed it. She and Nian'er were both bad and good.
The next day, because his family only had a few taels of silver, Huo Erhuai was not in a hurry to row the boat into the river. He only looked for the place with abundant water and grass in the river, preparing to catch some shrimps and crabs.
The weather is getting colder, the water is getting colder, and there will be fewer and fewer shrimps and crabs. Before winter, catch more and save them, or make a few more jars of butter to sell.
The net could no longer be lowered, so I only found a place to lower the shrimp and crab pots.
Huo Xi hugged Huo Nian and watched Yang drying and mending the fishing nets.
After lunch, a boat rowed towards them in the distance.