wavenovel Chapter 39
Chapter 39
Chen Zheng handed over the task of weaving eel cages to Chen Rong, and before dawn, he rode a borrowed bicycle to the town.
Mandarin fish hooks are different from ordinary fish hooks; the hook shank must be thick, the hook point must be hard, and the barb must be deep.
The mandarin fish is the king of Baiyang Lake. Its teeth are like files, and ordinary fishhooks break after just two bites.
Old Li, the head of the town's supply and marketing cooperative, recognized Chen Zheng. When he saw Chen Zheng come in, he pulled out two boxes of large mandarin fish hooks from under the counter.
The metal box had the words "Fisheries Machinery Factory" printed on it, and the paint was worn out.
"Your dad used this brand when he was young."
Old Li placed the hook on the counter. "Two yuan and sixty cents a box, two boxes for five yuan and twoty cents."
As Chen Zheng was taking out his money, Old Li bent down and pulled out a roll of nylon thread from under the counter.
It's about the thickness of a thumb, grayish-white, and covered in dust.
"Here, take this too. It's stock from last year, but nobody bought it, and it's been sitting around for more than half a year."
Your father asked me to find this kind of thread back then, saying that mandarin fish have powerful teeth and can break ordinary cotton thread with a single bite.
Later, when the line arrived, he stopped fishing for mandarin fish.
Chen Zheng took the spool of thread; the nylon thread smelled strongly of machine oil.
He tucked the thread into his pocket, thanked the seller, bought two more pounds of pig liver, and then pedaled his bicycle back home.
When I got home, there was already a row of eel traps in the yard.
Old Chen was quick; he made six in one morning.
Chen Rong tried to weave the bamboo strips himself, ruining two of them in the process.
I cut my fingers several times, but finally managed to make two barely usable stitches.
Adding the eight that Chen Laosan made, there are a total of sixteen eel traps, which is enough.
Chen Zheng and Chen Rong got up at around 4 a.m. the next day.
The courtyard was pitch black, with only the kerosene lamp in the kitchen providing a little light.
As usual, Zhang Cuihua got up early, cooked two bowls of noodle soup, and poached an egg.
Then he wrapped a few more flatbreads in cloth and stuffed them into Chen Zheng's arms.
The two brothers pushed the boat down the lake in the dark.
Turtle hooks and mandarin fish hooks were placed in the deep waters of South Bay.
Turtle hooks are used to bait pig liver, and mandarin fish hooks are used to bait small loaches; both are live bait.
As Chen Zheng cast his line, he explained the techniques to Chen Rong.
The turtle hook should sink to the bottom and follow the silt along the bottom of the water.
The hook for mandarin fish should be suspended in the middle of the water, about two feet above the bottom.
Mandarin fish are mid-to-upper-level fish that like to swim in the middle of the water. When they see live bait, they rush up and bite it.
"Brother, do mandarin fish and soft-shelled turtles fight?"
Chen Rong squatted at the bow of the boat, clutching a nylon line for a mandarin fish hook in his hand.
"We won't run into each other. One is underwater, and the other is halfway up the water; we keep to ourselves."
After setting the hook, the two brothers rowed to the irrigation ditch beside the rice paddy to set eel traps.
The ditch is not wide; you can reach both sides with your arms outstretched.
The aquatic plants grew densely, and duckweed floated on the water, creating a lush green expanse.
These are the places that eels love to stay in: shallow water, soft mud, and lots of earthworms.
Chen Zheng lowered the eel traps one by one into the ditch, with the openings facing downstream.
The bottom of the cage was weighed down with stones to prevent it from being washed away by the water.
Put a few earthworms in each cage.
I dug up the earthworms in the vegetable garden yesterday evening.
Some were as thick as chopsticks, others as thin as cotton thread. They were kept in bamboo tubes and kept warm overnight, yet they were still lively and energetic.
Sixteen eel traps were arranged along the irrigation ditch for twenty or thirty feet.
By the time the last one finished falling, it was already dawn.
The croaking of frogs echoed from the rice paddies, one croak after another.
The fog hadn't dissipated over Baiyang Lake in the distance, leaving it a vast expanse of white.
"Come collect it tomorrow." Chen Zheng straightened up and wiped the mud off his hands on his pants.
When he got home, Zhang Jianguo was already waiting for him in the yard.
He was carrying two baskets of soybean cakes, his brow beaded with sweat.
Soybean cake is made from the residue left over from pressing oil in an oil mill. It is round, about the size of a washbasin, hard, and makes a clanging sound when tapped.
Before feeding the fish, they need to be soaked until soft, then mixed with wheat bran, kneaded into balls, and scattered into the pond.
"Ah Zheng, my dad said we can't feed him too much bean cake. If he eats too much fish, he'll get a bloated stomach and die."
Zhang Jianguo placed the bean cake basket on the stone platform and wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.
"Your dad is right. Soybean cake is a concentrated feed. If you feed it too much, it will become too fertile too quickly and there won't be enough oxygen."
Feeding about two jin of soybean cake a day to one acre of water surface is sufficient; the rest can be fed with grass.
The two men carried the bean cakes into the kitchen, smashed them with an axe, and soaked them in a wooden tub.
Soybean cakes absorb water quickly, soaking up in no time, turning a lighter color, and crumbling easily when squeezed.
Chen Zheng took out the soaked soybean cake, mixed it with wheat bran, added water and kneaded it into fist-sized balls, then put them into a bamboo basket.
Walk towards the fishpond.
The water in the fishpond was even greener than it had been a few days ago, turning from light green to dark green.
A fine layer of algae floats on the water's surface, and when the wind blows, the algae clump together.
Chen Zheng broke the soybean cake dough into pieces and sprinkled it into the water.
The debris landed on the water's surface, initially floating before slowly sinking.
The fish fry flocked in from all directions and were much bigger than they had been a few days ago.
Its body grew from one inch to more than two inches, and its tail swung more powerfully when it swam.
The water splashes when they were fighting for food were also much bigger.
"These fish fry are growing fast."
Zhang Jianguo squatted on the bank of the pond, his hands supporting his knees, his eyes fixed on the water.
"It's much faster than the crucian carp my dad used to raise."
Silver carp naturally grow quickly.
Your dad raises crucian carp. Crucian carp don't grow that big, but their flesh is tender and they're not cheap.
Chen Zheng finished scattering the last handful of soybean cake crumbs, clapped his hands, and...
"Once these fish are harvested, we'll also raise some crucian carp. They'll be in a different water layer, so they won't compete for food."
As the two were talking, Chen Rong came running from the village road, panting heavily.
He was clutching a letter in his hand, the envelope bearing the red characters "Qingshui County Aquatic Products Company".
"Brother, the postman just delivered it. It said it's a notice from the seafood company about a training course."
Chen Zheng took the letter and tore open the seal.
Inside was a mimeographed notice; the handwriting was somewhat blurry, but the content was still legible.
The county aquatic products company is scheduled to hold its first freshwater fish farming technology training course on the 10th of next month, which will last for five days.
The location is the conference room of the county aquatic products company.
The training content covers fishpond water quality management, fish disease prevention and control, feed formulation, and fish fry breeding.
The notice ended by stating that each farmer should bring their household registration booklet to register, and the training fee was five yuan.
Five days. The 10th.
It happened right after the trade fair.
"Brother, are you going?" Chen Rong asked.
"Go." Chen Zheng folded the notice neatly and put it in his pocket. "Five days isn't long, and the tuition is cheap."
Besides, the county aquatic products company's training courses definitely have experts lecturing, which is much better than us trying to learn from books on our own.
He carefully put the letter away, already planning the training course in his mind.
The trade fair runs from the 8th to the 10th of the lunar month, and the training course starts on the 10th, so the timing is perfect.
As soon as the exchange meeting ended, he stayed in the county and didn't have to travel back and forth.
Just then, I heard hurried footsteps behind me.
Liu Jiawang ran from the other end of the village road, panting heavily.
He was wearing that blue shirt, with a book tucked under his arm, and his glasses were askew.
"Ah Zheng! Something's happened!"
Chen Zheng stood up, brushing the dirt off his hands: "What is it?"
"Your land deed... People from the town's land management office came and said they want to check the property rights of the land east of Lutang Village."
Wang Laoliu started cursing at the village entrance early in the morning, saying you stole his land deed and he was going to settle accounts with you!
Chen Zheng's heart skipped a beat.
He asked Teacher Zhao to help check the land title, and Teacher Zhao must have used his connections at the Land Administration Bureau.
But the land management office sent people down to investigate, and the commotion was much bigger than he had expected.
More importantly, how did Wang Laoliu know about the land deed?
"Jiawang, speak slowly. How many people from the land management office came? Where are they now?"
"Two people, a man and a woman, wearing gray uniforms."
They had been standing in that field at the east end of the village for almost an hour, measuring the land, checking the boundary markers, and gesturing with the blueprints.
Wang Laoliu followed behind them, his face turning green.
Later, Wang Laoliu heard from somewhere that you had a land deed, so he ran back to the village entrance and started cursing.
They say you fished something out of the lake and stole their land deed, and they want you to hand it over.
Chen Zheng took a deep breath.
He knew this day would come sooner or later when he asked Teacher Zhao to check the land title, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly.
He knew Wang Laoliu well; he had lived in Lutang Village for decades.
He started taking advantage of people when he was a work recorder in the production team; every household in the village has suffered at his hands.
But Wang Laoliu has a weakness.
He's greedy, but cowardly.
When faced with a tough opponent, he backs down faster than anyone else.
"Let's go back to the village." Chen Zheng handed the fish basket to Zhang Jianguo.
"Jianguo, help me scatter the rest of the feed. Rongzi, Jiawang, come back with me."
Chen Rong picked up the thin bamboo pole leaning against the edge of the pond and followed behind Chen Zheng.
The bamboo pole tip is sharpened to a point.
Ever since he explored the shipwreck at Nanwan, he has had the habit of carrying a bamboo pole with him.
He carried it everywhere he went, just like his father always had a pipe in his mouth.
A group of people gathered under the old locust tree at the village entrance.
Wang Laoliu stood on the stone mill, spitting as he spoke, his face flushed red.
He was wearing a grayish-white undershirt, the collar of which was soaked with sweat and stuck to his neck.
His trousers were rolled up above his knees, revealing a section of his thin calves with bulging veins.
"I, Wang Laoliu, have lived in Lutang Village for fifty-eight years! My family's land was bought from the Zhou family by my father!"
It's all in black and white, and there's a record in town!
That kid Chen Zheng fished a few scraps of paper out of the lake and claimed the land as his?
"This is utterly absurd!"
The villagers watching whispered among themselves.
Some nodded, some shook their heads, and some watched the spectacle with their arms crossed.
Chen Laosan was also in the crowd, squatting under the locust tree, a pipe in his mouth, taking puffs.
His face showed no expression.
Liu the Bald squatted down next to him, holding a palm-leaf fan and idly waving it.
His eyes were squinted into slits, as if he were watching a play.
"Wang Laoliu, you said Chen Zheng stole your land deed. Where is your land deed? Show it to everyone!"
Someone in the crowd shouted.
Wang Laoliu was stunned for a moment, then his face turned even redder:
"My land deed is registered in town! If you don't believe me, go check it out in town!"
"So that means you don't have a land deed? Chen Zheng does have a land deed!" someone else shouted.
Wang Laoliu got anxious, jumped off the stone mill, and pointed at the person who had spoken:
"Stop being sarcastic! Everyone in the village knows about my Wang Laoliu's land."
My father farmed for thirty years, and I farmed for twenty years after that. Fifty years of land belonging to two generations—how could that be fake?
The man squatted against the wall, picking his teeth with a foxtail grass in his hand, and said slowly:
"It's true that you've been farming there for fifty years, but it's also true that the land originally belonged to the Zhou family."
How did the Zhou family's land end up in your father's hands? Well... who in the village doesn't know what happened back then?"
Wang Laoliu's face turned pale instantly.
Chen Zheng stood outside the crowd, listening to all of this.
He was waiting for the land management office staff to finish measuring the land before he could make his appearance.
Chen Rong stood beside him, the bamboo pole planted on the ground, his hands gripping it.
He asked in a low voice, "Brother, shall we go out?"
"Wait a little longer. Wait for the land management office to arrive."
As soon as he finished speaking, two people walked over from the other end of the village road.
A man and a woman, dressed in gray uniforms, were holding folders and measuring tapes.
The man was about forty years old, with a round face, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and his forehead was covered in sweat.
The woman was younger, in her early twenties, with a ponytail, and was holding a file folder in her hand.
The two walked to the village entrance and saw a crowd gathered around them. The man frowned.
"Who is Wang Laoliu?" The man pulled out his work ID and held it up in his hand.
"I'm from the Qingshui County Land Administration Bureau. My surname is Fang, and this is Xiao Lin."
We're here to verify the property rights of the land east of Lutang Village.
The crowd automatically parted to make way. Wang Laoliu's expression changed from anger to panic, and then to grievance.
He rushed over to Director Fang and grabbed Director Fang's arms with both hands:
"Comrade Fang! You have to stand up for me!"
"We've been farming this land for fifty years, and suddenly this Chen Zheng pops up claiming it's his!"
Director Fang pulled his hand out, opened the folder, took out a drawing, and spread it on the stone mill.
The drawing was a topographic map, which marked the distribution of land plots in Lutang Village, with each plot numbered in red pen.
The landmark on the east side of the village is marked 007, and next to it is written in small print "Disputed Land".
"Wang Laoliu, according to the archives we consulted, this piece of land east of Lutang Village is plot number 007."
It was first registered under Zhou Dehou's name.
Zhou Dehou was a prominent figure in Baiyang Town during the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, as recorded in the county annals.
After the land reform in 1951, the property rights records for this land became incomplete.
You obtained a land deed in 1974 that stated that your father, Wang Mancang, purchased the land from the Zhou family in 1948.
but,"
Director Fang pulled a yellowed piece of paper from the file folder.
Chen Zheng saw from afar that it was one of the seven land deeds he had given to Teacher Zhao.
"However, according to the land deed provided by Chen Zheng, this land is the ancestral property of the Zhou family and has always been registered under the name of the Zhou family. There has never been a record of buying or selling it."
This land deed was issued by the Qingshui County government during the Guangxu era and bears the official seal.
This is the earliest and most complete property ownership certificate we have found for this land.
"He fished that piece of paper out of the lake! Can you really trust things from the lake?"
The Zhou family's boat sank fifty years ago, and that tattered piece of paper has been soaking in water for fifty years. Can it still be effective?
This is a lie!
Director Fang pushed up his glasses and said unhurriedly, "A land deed is a land deed."
Whether it was fished out of the lake or found at the bottom of a box, as long as it has an official seal and a corresponding record in the archives, it is valid.
Wang Laoliu, you said your father bought this land from the Zhou family.
When your father bought the land, did the Zhou family give him a written agreement?
"It's written! My dad has a written agreement!"
"Where's the written agreement?"
Wang Laoliu choked up.
He opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a long time. Finally, he managed to stammer, "It's lost. It's been lost for a long time."