Chapter 172: Chapter 172: Fish Found

The others naturally had no objections, agreeing verbally while starting to move again.

Now that there’s a water pit, everyone is curious to know how big it is.

Once the weather warms up, the exact size will be clear, but since this is their own land, everyone wants to understand the situation as soon as possible.

Qi Quanjin raised his hoe to continue working, but suddenly they heard an “ah” and everyone immediately stopped and looked towards the source of the sound.

Qi Dalang was standing with empty hands, staring in bewilderment at the ground in front of him.

“Dalang, what’s wrong?”

Qi Dafu thought his son might be hurt and quickly stepped forward to ask.

Qi Dalang looked up at everyone in confusion, stammering, “I, I dropped my hoe.”

“Dropped?”

Everyone was taken aback and quickly looked at the ground.

The surface originally covered with snow now revealed a hole in the ice, with white mist visibly drifting out of it.

“Mother, stand back quickly, stand back!”

Qi Dafu, frightened, grabbed his eldest son’s arm and pulled him backwards.

With their movements, everyone heard a cracking sound, and the hole expanded visibly.

If Qi Dafu hadn’t been quick enough to yank Qi Dalang back a few steps, Dalang might have fallen into the newly formed ice hole.

Not just Qi Dafu and his son, but everyone else was visibly startled and retreated.

The sound of ice cracking lasted for about ten breaths before stopping.

The ground in front of them was now completely transformed.

The snow that hadn’t been cleared yet was rapidly sinking and melting into the water.

“This, this…”

Qi Ercai was at a loss for words, finally turning his eyes to Qi Quanjin, swallowing nervously, “Old Four, what do we do?”

“I…”

Qi Quanjin didn’t expect this, adjusting his hat while shivering slightly from the cold.

Just a bit more, and all the brothers, along with Dalang, might have fallen into the water.

“There are fish!”

Qi Quanli yelled excitedly, drawing everyone’s attention.

A fish jumped out of the uncovered water surface.

They couldn’t see the type, but it was clearly over a foot long.

“My goodness, that fish is huge!”

Qi Sangui shouted in astonishment.

Qi Quanjin snapped back to reality and quickly said, “Quick, bring over all the hemp ropes on the cart!”

“I’ll go!”

Qi Quanyin turned and ran toward the roadside.

Qi Quanli said, “I’ll go too,” following his fifth brother.

They had chopped a lot of wood, and the road wasn’t smooth, so to prevent the wood from scattering, they had brought all the hemp ropes.

The brothers struggled to carry over two large bundles of hemp ropes, and Qi Quanjin started organizing the brothers to fashion a net.

It’s called a net, but the hole is not ordinarily large.

Small fish would slip through, but the foot-long ones would be no problem.

The brothers quickly made a rough net.

“Big Brother, Third Brother, Fifth Brother, you hold that side!”

“Second Brother, Sixth Brother, we hold this side.”

Qi Quanjin directed, and everyone got busy: “Dalang, grab this end. Just hold it, and if you feel you can’t hold it, release it, don’t force it, understand?”

Qi Quanjin looked at Qi Dalang.

By now, Qi Dalang had recovered from the initial shock and hurried to help with the net.

“Everyone, watch your step. If it doesn’t feel right, let go and run for the ground. On my command, move inward gradually!”

Qi Quanjin guided them, first easing the net into the water, then pushing with hoes or similar tools.

When most of the net was in the water, Qi Quanjin had them hold still and grabbed his dry provisions from his coat.

Two dry biscuits.

The biscuits were broken apart and tossed where the net was. Then they quietly waited.

The biscuits didn’t sink but floated on the surface.

Qi Quanjin wanted to push the biscuits underwater when he noticed changes in the water.

In their old village by the river, they grew up near water, so they knew from the ripples that something was approaching quickly.

Soon they saw the biscuits being tugged down and then re-emerging.

Before they could breathe, more biscuits were pulled down and rose again.

As the frequency increased, the ripples tightened.

“Haul!”

With Qi Quanjin’s shout, everyone tugged at the hemp net.

As the net emerged, ten large fish came into view.

The startled fish jumped and thrashed, with some escaping past the net’s edges.

“Quick, haul the net!”

Qi Dafu wasn’t sure if it was nerves or excitement, his face flushed, shouting intensively, unusually leading the brothers.

The others were in a similar state.

After some chaos, they finally dragged the net, along with the remaining ten fish, onto the ground.

Sitting in the snow, ignoring its thickness, they glanced at each other, then at the fish, bursting into laughter.

“Alright, tidy up quickly, or the ropes will freeze solid and be hard to handle.”

Qi Quanjin clapped his hands after the success.

They got busy again.

Though the ice wasn’t completely solid, it was convenient for freezing the fish.

The fish, once settled in the snow, thrashed briefly before freezing, placed onto the cart, the ropes quickly coiled before freezing, also loaded, and the seven headed home.

Near the roadside woods, they disembarked to chop more wood.

They entered the city as the gates were closing, the wood on the cart minimal, but their spirits unusually high.

Especially during inspection, when the soldiers were about to poke the cart bottom with spears, Qi Ercai hurriedly dropped two bundles beside the gate.

Guarding soldiers did not stand outside always, resting shifts near the wall with a fire.

The government provided wood, but in such cold, more was always welcome.

Qi Ercai’s actions led to a less stringent inspection.

“Your family is so diligent, chopping wood again, though not as much as yesterday!”

The lead soldier joked with Qi Ercai.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep