Chapter 60: The Internet is Broken

Tang Jiancheng wasn't very skilled at breaking ice to fish in the winter. He had simply heard stories of winter fishing on Chagan Lake in his past life and gained a slight understanding of the techniques for breaking ice and setting nets, but he had never actually performed the operation himself.

Especially when it came to finding fish through the ice, he was completely clueless.

Tonight was his first attempt, a sort of blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse, relying purely on luck.

Finding a spot that felt promising for fish, he said to his father and Jianbin, "Dad, Jianbin, we'll break an ice hole right here, and then radiate outward in a square shape to chisel three more ice holes."

"Alright, Fourth Brother, how should we chisel it?"

Jianbin took out a hoe.

"Just chisel an ice hole about a meter long and half a meter wide, then leave a five-meter gap and chisel one more on each side, left and right."

As he spoke, Tang Jiancheng measured with his paces, and after reaching the approximate location, he made a mark.

Thud!

Immediately, Tang Jianbin began chiseling the ice hole with his hoe.

The ice here wasn't particularly thick, only about twenty to thirty centimeters. With a single strike of the hoe, Tang Jianbin smashed a huge chunk loose and almost slid into the water himself.

Tang Jiancheng and Tang Genshui were both startled and hurriedly rushed over to pull him back. Fortunately, Tang Jianbin was agile enough to leap quickly out of the danger zone.

"Jianbin, are you okay?"

Tang Jiancheng showed his concern, then took the hoe and gently chipped out a rough outline first. "The ice layer isn't particularly thick here, so we can't just smash it directly. Otherwise, once the whole ice sheet shatters, we won't even have a place to stand. We need to chip away at it little by little, and then move the chipped ice aside."

Demonstrating as he spoke, Tang Jiancheng explained the process.

The process wasn't complicated. After trying it twice, Tang Jianbin quickly grasped the trick, and his speed at chiseling ice holes picked up.

Tang Jiancheng and Tang Genshui took out the fishing nets—there were two of them in total, each ten meters long. After sorting out the heads and tails, they set them aside, waiting for Tang Jianbin to finish chiseling the ice holes so they could cast the nets.

To ensure the nets could be spread smoothly underwater, Tang Jiancheng went ashore and cut six sticks that looked to be seven or eight meters long. He trimmed off all the other branches, leaving just one or two twigs at the top to act as hooks, and then carried them back onto the ice.

By this time, Tang Jianbin had already finished chiseling all four ice holes.

To attract more fish, Tang Jiancheng had his father and Jianbin each take a stick and insert it into an ice holes, stirring rapidly while tapping the ice sheet to produce a thudding sound.

Stirring every few minutes, after about half an hour, seeing that the water in the ice holes was about to freeze over again, Tang Jiancheng began setting the net.

He lowered the head of the net first, then let down both sides. As they descended, he used a stick to hook the edges of the fishing net and expand it toward the other ice holes.

Because there were few people and it was their first time operating, Tang Jiancheng only made four ice holes.

Even with just four, the three of them worked busily for nearly half an hour before successfully lowering the fishing net into the water.

"Alright, now it's just a matter of waiting. Let's go a bit further away and set another fishing net."

Tang Jiancheng walked about two to three hundred meters before stopping, then began chiseling ice holes, setting the net, and waiting.

After a flurry of activity, dawn was almost approaching.

Tang Jiancheng hurriedly urged, "Dad, Jianbin, let's go, let's haul in the nets quickly. It wouldn't be good if someone saw us."

Both of them knew very well what Tang Jiancheng was worried about and quickened their pace.

"Fourth Brother, it's so heavy!"

As the fishing net was gradually dragged out of the ice hole, Tang Jianbin felt as though he were dragging a massive iron ball, and laughed, "This weighs at least over two hundred catties!"

"More than that, it definitely exceeds three hundred catties."

Tang Jiancheng also grinned, though he felt a slight pang of worry about whether the fishing net could withstand it.

Fortunately, Qiangzi lived up to his reputation as the person who wove the sturdiest nets in their village. All the way until the entire net was dragged out of the ice hole, no sudden accidents occurred; the fishing net was exceptionally sturdy!

"Fourth Brother, Dad, so many fish! Hahaha, this is definitely way over three hundred catties!"

Seeing the tightly packed fish crowding the net, Tang Jianbin laughed like a child.

Tang Genshui was also deeply moved. His pine-bark-like old face flushed with a wine-red hue from excessive excitement, and the smile at the corners of his mouth refused to be suppressed. "I never expected we'd actually catch fish!"

"Hurry up and put the fish into the bamboo baskets!"

Tang Jiancheng hurriedly brought over the baskets, tilted them, and drove the fish inside.

The weather was bitterly cold. Once out of the water, the fish were quickly frozen to death, though some exceptionally resilient ones hopped about wildly. Several fish even leaped back into the ice hole and escaped to freedom.

Neither Tang Jiancheng, Tang Jianbin, nor Tang Genshui paid them any mind.

Right now, they were troubled by a very sweet dilemma: they had brought too few baskets, so how were they going to transport back so many fish?

A single fishing net held nearly four hundred catties, and with another net that made eight hundred catties, how could just three of them manage it?

Tang Jiancheng found that he constantly underestimated his own luck.

It was like this when hunting wild boars, like this when catching wild oxen, and now it was still like this when fishing...

Sigh, this damned luck!

He had originally only wanted to give it a try, and after mastering the tricks, call all his brothers over. He never expected that the very first attempt would burst the net. Truly, when luck arrives, nothing can stop it!

In truth, this wasn't entirely due to luck. The weather had been extremely cold these past few days, freezing the entire reservoir solid, which caused a severe lack of oxygen underwater. The moment they chiseled open the ice sheets, oxygen rushed in, immediately attracting countless fish.

Of course, the most crucial factor was that there were simply plenty of fish in this reservoir!

"Jianbin, hurry back and call Eldest Brother and Third Brother over," Tang Jiancheng instructed. "Make it fast."

"Got it."

Tang Jianbin turned and sprinted away.

Hearing Tang Jiancheng mention only Eldest Brother and Third Brother while leaving out the other brothers, Tang Genshui said nothing. He knew very well that when there are many siblings, there are always degrees of closeness.

Usually, it might not show, but at crucial moments like this, it bubbled to the surface.

Tang Jiancheng might not even have realized it consciously; it was merely a subconscious reaction.

Actually, Tang Jiancheng did it on purpose. In his past life, when he hit rock bottom, it was only his eldest brother, eldest sister-in-law, third brother, and third sister-in-law who took the best care of him and offered him relief from time to time. The other brothers, sisters-in-law, and younger siblings would also offer help occasionally, but it always felt reluctant, often accompanied by harsh and sarcastic remarks.

All four hundred-odd catties of fish were finally loaded.

The two men then hurriedly rushed to the other ice hole to haul that net.

This net had burst as well!

It was even heavier than the previous one!

Soaked in sweat from exhaustion, as if exerting every ounce of primal strength they possessed, the two finally dragged this haul of fish out of the water. It definitely exceeded five hundred catties!

Packed tightly together, it was a writhing mass of fish!

Every single fish weighed at least over three catties!

Exhausted, the two men slumped onto the ice, looking at the fish and breaking into foolish grins.

Tang Genshui fished a pipe out from his bosom, packed it with shredded tobacco, glanced at Tang Jiancheng, then pulled a pack of Da Qianshan cigarettes from another pocket and offered him one.

Tang Jiancheng smiled and accepted it.

He used to smoke and had only quit after his rebirth, but right now, smoking a cigarette was the only way to release the overflowing excitement in his chest.

Thus, the grandfather and grandson sat facing the fish, puffing away in clouds of smoke.