Chapter 209: Chapter 210 Li Family Village Wants Fish
Chapter 209: Chapter 210 Li Family Village Wants Fish
Mr. Xu led everyone house to house delivering fish.
When they arrived at their own house, a few young men insisted on giving Mr. Xu a few more fish, “Uncle Captain, we all owe you so much, otherwise we couldn’t have such good lives. What’s the harm in you taking a few more fish for working so hard for everyone?”
Mrs. Xu wouldn’t let the men drag her husband down and promptly refused on his behalf, “We dare not take those, your uncle is the Captain, so he should work hard for everyone.
Taking these fish would be misuse of public power. As long as everyone is living well, your uncle is happy, and we don’t want the fish.”
Mr. Xu nodded in satisfaction beside her, “I definitely can’t take these fish. They have all been distributed. If I start doing such things, it would cause chaos in the village.
Since I became the Captain, I should lead by example in teaching everyone, not in taking everyone’s property. I appreciate your kindness, but taking the fish is absolutely out of the question.”
The young men looked up to Mr. Xu with newfound respect. There were other leaders in the village besides the Captain, such as the Deputy Captain and the village chief, but the previous two were no good, always covertly demanding things from everyone due to their positions.
Mr. Xu was the most upright leader they had ever seen.
If all the leaders in the world were as upright as him, the farmers’ lives might be better, everyone’s lives might be better.
“Captain, let’s continue distributing the fish.”
After distributing the fish, when Mr. Xu and the group were heading back, they netted quite a few more, pulling them all out into buckets, filling several buckets full.
“Captain, why are there so many fish this year?”
“Who knows, I guess the fish also realized that Xujia Village is not the same as it used to be, so they all swam over here.” The man said excitedly, feeling pleased as he looked at their less-fortunate neighbors.
Xu Laoer smirked, “It’s all thanks to my little sister’s luck. When she wasn’t here in the past, there weren’t so many fish. This year she came and look, there are more fish.”
Hearing this, Mr. Xu glared at his son, scolding him for daring to voice such feudal thoughts, which could cause trouble if overheard by someone intent on finding faults.
Xu Laoer chuckled and scratched his head, “I spoke quietly, no one heard.”
Shengcai continued, “You’re right, I also think your little sister brings good fortune. If it weren’t for her, our days wouldn’t be so good.
First, the State-owned Restaurant started buying our vegetables, then the food factory built a workshop in our village, all thanks to your little sister.
I think the fish have smelled the fortune on your little sister, so they rushed to our Xujia Village.”
Mr. Xu heard this and humbly smiled, yet he felt it was indeed the case.
“It’s not that serious, my daughter just accidentally brought fortune to our village.
She also cares deeply for our village, knowing everyone has been good to her since she was young.” Mr. Xu also praised his daughter for her kindness and filial piety.
Everyone nodded frequently upon hearing this.
Compared to the joyful atmosphere in Xi Family Village, everyone in Li Family Village was downcast.
They had thought they would catch a few dozen fish in one day, or even if it was worse, distributing two pounds of fish meat to each family wouldn’t be a problem.
But they hadn’t expected this year’s Li Family Village to be so bleak.
Forget two pounds of fish meat per family, now it seemed a challenge even to distribute one pound per family.
Li Jia Village Captain frowned with a pained expression.
He looked over at Xujia Village, thinking of his wife’s words, and finally spoke, “I’ll make a trip over to Xujia Village.”
Upon hearing the Captain from their village speak, the villagers of Li Family Village instantly burst into joy, “Captain, you should have done that sooner. We all share the same river, why should Xujia Village catch so much while our village catches so little.”
“They’ve made a pretty penny this year in Xujia Village, didn’t they lack just this bit of fish!”
Captain Li, upon hearing this, felt even more confident.
He walked towards Xujia Village with a smile, his eyes glued to those big fish, “Mr. Xu, you guys have quite a lot of fish this year.”
“Indeed, our village used to have the least, but this year we finally got a bit more,” Mr. Xu replied with a smile, noticing the smile fade from Captain Li’s face.
“What are you doing here not fishing, Captain Li?” The people of Xujia Village weren’t happy, seeing Captain Li’s eager face, they knew no good was coming.
Captain Li gave an embarrassed smile, rubbing his palms together, “Ah, you see, our Li Family Village really didn’t catch much fish this year.
It’s tough even to distribute one jin per family, could you spare us some?”
As soon as Captain Li said this, the people of Xujia Village protectively moved the fish behind them.
Mr. Xu found this scene strangely familiar; it reminded him of the first time their village had also caught very few fish, and the villagers shamelessly went to Li Jia Village Captain who flatly refused them.
“Captain Li, it was you who said whoever nets however much fish keeps it, don’t forget what you said when we came asking for fish.
Now you have the nerve to come asking us for fish, no way,” the villagers of Xujia Village said fiercely, feeling a satisfying revenge brewing in their hearts.
Seizing the opportunity, Xu Ying spoke up, “Big Brother, Second Brother, we don’t usually throw anything in the river, how come we cleared out so much trash yesterday.
It stank to high heaven, no wonder we always caught so few fish in the past, let’s all be more mindful and stop throwing trash into the river.”
“What? Little sister, we didn’t!” Xu blurted out innocently.
“Shut up,” Xu Ying scolded immediately.
Xu covered his mouth in shock.
“How could this be, we never throw trash in the river.”
“I didn’t either, who would be so despicable as to throw trash in their own village’s river, besides, there are still fish in the river, we’re still hoping to eat fish in the winter.”
The villagers of Xujia Village looked at each other, shaking their heads in denial.
Xu Ying was extremely surprised, “Oh, none of you threw it, then who did, with so much trash, how could we possibly net any fish, the fish must have been scared off by the stench to other places.”
Li Jia Village Captain felt very guilty on hearing this.
He looked left and right, unable to meet anyone’s gaze.
There was nothing left unclear for Xujia Village, with Mr. Xu boiling with anger.
More important than others, the well-being of their own villagers, “Brother Li, our fish are netted by our own skills, can’t just give them away.
You could use this fish-asking time to keep fishing for yourselves, we’re busy here, so we won’t keep you company.”
Originally, Mr. Xu had thought of leaving some fish for people from Li Family Village, but now out of spite; “Keep fishing until there’s not a single big fish left, then head back.”
Thus, the fish of Xujia Village were netted one after another, running back and forth distributing fish.
“Why are there still so many fish, our family has got over a dozen already,” Mrs. Xu’s face was filled with suspicion, wondering what kind of fluke brought this abundance.
“Mom, the harvest is good this year, we caught a lot of fish,” Xu Ying smiled broadly, already planning what to make for the New Year.