Return to the small mountain village in 1981

Chapter 79 80: Photo of eel
"Brother, are you going to take care of the eels?" Zhou Huaian's voice came first before anyone arrived.

Zhou Huaian usually feels a little uncomfortable and just stays on the bed without moving. Today, not only did he help carry the wood back, he also wanted to take photos of the eels. Strange!
Zhou Huaijun glanced at Zhou's father and whispered: "Old man, I think something has been wrong with the youngest these two days!"

Zhou's father said angrily: "I wish he would be like this every day!"

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Huaian ran over. Zhou Huairong smiled and said, "Aren't you dozing off?"

Zhou Huaian asked back: "When I go to the city the day after tomorrow, why don't you go and sell the eels for money?"

Zhou Huairong glanced at Zhou Huaijun, nodded and said: "Go, you go get the lantern and basket, I'll wash my face and then leave."

"Okay!" Zhou Huaian walked towards the latrine.

Just as he took down the lantern and basket, Zhou Jiaming ran over again, "Yaoba, I'll go with you to take care of the eels." Before he finished speaking, Zhou Jialiang also ran over, "Yaoba, I'm going too!"

"You old men are going too, go find him and take you!" Zhou Huaian didn't even raise his head, just looking at the eel clips in the basket.

"Yaoba~" Zhou Jialiang tugged on his clothes and acted coquettishly, "My old man won't agree. Yaoda, we have a good relationship, will you take us there?"

"Speak nicely, what are you doing with such a coquettish voice like a girl?" Zhou Huaian took out his clothes and looked at the two of them, "Aren't you going to study tomorrow?"

"Yes!" the brothers responded dejectedly.

Zhou Huaian kicked him, "You want to study and take photos of eels, so go to bed!"

"Take us there on Sunday!" The two of them looked at him eagerly, "Ya dad~ Yao dad~"

Zhou Huaian felt that his pores were standing up, "I'll help grandma with the work these days, and I'll take you there on Sunday!"

"Long live~" The two of them jumped three feet high.

Zhou Huaian smiled and shook his head, and asked the two of them to help carry the lantern and basket to the front yard, waiting for the three older people.

In the hall, Zhou's mother showed the old man and Zhou's father the yellow rubber shoes, boots and fabrics that Yang Chunyan bought for the father and son.

The old man looked at those things with tears in his eyes, "When the old lady was here, she said that the youngest was a filial man, but he had a bad temper, so he had to be coaxed and smoothed over!"

Zhou's father still felt a little uncomfortable when he thought of his mother who doted on Zhou Huaian. "He is not a three-year-old boy, he is in his 20s, and his wife even asked for permission to come in, and he still had to be coaxed. Why were we different from him before?"

Zhou's mother turned him around and said, "The youngest has been feeling much better these days. He pushed such heavy things to Ning'an to sell. When he came back, he went up the mountain to find herbs and wild honeycombs. His face was swollen and he still helped to carry the wood."

The old man nodded, "That's right, he's already married. Don't scold him or hit him at every turn. For Chunyan's sake, you have to save some face for the youngest."

"When I see him, I get angry!"

The old man glared, "I got angry when I saw you. Do you think you were like this when you were young?"

Father Zhou wiped the spit from his face and said, "I understand, I will try my best not to beat or scold him in the future!"

The old man picked up his yellow rubber shoes and boots and said, "Guilan, I'll worry about your clothes."

Mother Zhou nodded repeatedly, "I understand, old man!"

In the courtyard, the four brothers Zhou Huaian went out carrying lanterns and baskets on their backs.

Xu Erchun and He Dakuan were already waiting outside with lanterns.

Several people said hello, and Xu Erchun said: "Brother, they said that the eels in the fields by the pond are thick, fat, and plentiful. How about we go there and take a look?"

Zhou Huairong remembered that there was a mountain temple over there, and turned to look at Zhou Huaian, "Young man, where do you want to go?" He Dakuan smiled and said: "Young man, there are so many men, all of them full of yang energy, what are you afraid of?"

"Labour and management are not afraid!" Zhou Huaian rolled his eyes at him, "Just go to the pond."

After agreeing, the few of them walked toward the ravine while holding lanterns and chatting away, accompanied by the chirping of insects and frogs in the fields along the way, and they could also see a few dots of lights moving slowly on the field ridges.

He Dakuan walked a few steps quickly to catch up with Zhou Huairong, "Brother, have you ever caught the eel in the moon?"

Zhou Huairong shook his head, "I've never seen it before. I heard from my father that the skeleton eel has the arms of a child, and its head is a bit like a dragon's head with a big bulge."

Legend has it that this kind of eel looks up at the moon on a full moon night.

Farmers are very particular about it. If they catch an eel with two bulging sacs on both sides of its head, they will call it a moon eel. They say that this kind of eel is poisonous and should not be eaten. Some people say that after eating this kind of eel, a person will be turned into a pool of blood. !
Xu Erchun stepped forward and said, "My sister used to like to eat eels the most, but she didn't even dare to eat eels after my grandma told her about the deboned eels."

Zhou Huaishan laughed and said, "I think it's a trick. I've been catching eels since I was seven or eight years old. In 20 years, I have never caught an eel with a long head."

"I haven't caught it either!"

A few grown men chatted and laughed as they walked up the road to the foot of the ridge and walked along the field ridge towards the Xinhe River.

After crossing a ditch more than one meter wide, you can see the big field down there. Walking up the ditch for a few dozen meters is the village's water storage pond.

The pond was dug during large-scale production and was used specifically to irrigate the rice fields during droughts. This ditch was also dug at that time, leading directly to the rice fields below.

Going up from the reservoir, there is a mountain temple that is quite old. Further on, you will reach deep mountains and old forests.

Zhou Huaian followed Zhou Huairong to a large field. The two brothers were bent over, eyes wide open, walking like a cat, and patrolling the edge of the field.

Under the night, the croaking of frogs in the rice fields could be heard one after another.

After walking a few steps, Zhou Huaian found an eel that looked really thick and fat. He illuminated the eel with a lantern and said softly: "Brother, this eel is thick!"

Zhou Huairong took a look and said, "Yes, you clip this one, and I'll go to the field next to it to have a look." He took two steps and came back worriedly, "Look carefully, don't catch a snake!"

"Akatsuki's!"

Zhou Huaian held the eel clip tightly, and the open eel clip was like the mouth of a crocodile. He held his breath and carefully stretched the eel clip into the water, aimed at the eel, closed his hands with both hands, quickly closed the eel clip, and lifted it out of the water.

He looked proudly at the eel struggling and twisting on the eel clip, "You can escape, Ma Laoke!"

I happily put it into the basket and loosened the eel clip. Listening to the sound of the eels scurrying around in the basket, I looked at the big brother in the field next to me and continued to patrol.

After walking a few steps, I saw several small eels lying in the rice field. I shook my head and said, "Don't use them if they are too young. Hide them well and I will catch you when they grow up."

People who catch eels these days will keep the young eels when they see them and let them continue to grow. But now people don't even let the eels as thick as chopsticks go. After catching them, they take away all the eels, no matter how big or small.

After a few steps, he saw another eel. He approached gently and used a lantern to shine on the eel, which was lying in the rice field having a sweet dream. With lightning speed, he caught it and put it into the basket.

"Oh, there's another one ahead." Zhou Huaian took off his flip-flops, tiptoed gently into the field, and quickly picked up an orange eel that weighed about four ounces.

There were indeed more eels in the big field than in the small field. When the two brothers met after walking a field, there were already ten or twenty eels in Zhou Huaian's basket.

"Mom, I caught a water snake~"

Suddenly, from the big field opposite, He Dakuan's horrifying shouts were heard, accompanied by the flickering light of the lantern and the sound of his running.

　Cats loved eating eels when they were young. Ever since they heard the old man tell the story of the eel that turned into bones (Moon Moon Eel), they suddenly felt a little scared to eat the eel again, for fear of being melted by it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)