A small plot of land in a mountain village

Chapter 45 The Vacation Ends

On the third day, Zhang Niu took the girls to fish among the rocks by the stream. The water was shallow there, and many fish lurked under the rocks. Groupers, barbels, and yellowtail were commonly caught; what kind of fish you caught depended on your skill. At this time, quite a few village children were also fishing, and their laughter could be heard frequently.

The girls caught quite a few crabs and river shrimp that morning, and even a few groupers weighing three or four ounces each. In the countryside, these groupers are considered quite large; they could easily fetch tens of yuan per pound in a restaurant. And they were caught in a stream. Authentic, local flavor.

At noon, the girls made steamed river shrimp and crab, braised grouper, and some green vegetables. The colorful dishes looked quite appealing. The girls kept praising how delicious it was. It was all freshly cooked, so the focus was on enjoying the aroma.

On the fourth day, the girls packed their bags to return to the county town. Before leaving, Zhang Niu asked them to take a lot of the mountain wine that had already been brewed, saying they could enjoy it after a while. Besides that, he also gave them the beauty-enhancing lake water from the valley. He filled three large Coke bottles, just enough for one person. It was still a bit of a hassle for Zhang Niu to make the trip to the valley.

They were taken to the village entrance in a tricycle. A taxi they had hailed was already waiting there.

"I really had a lot of fun here this time, and the few days have flown by. I feel like I haven't had enough fun yet," Zhang Ting said, sounding a little downcast.

"Anyway, you live close by, so you can come over whenever you're free. I'll keep the bamboo house rooms empty for you, okay?"

"That would be great. I hate it when someone sleeps in my bed," Fang MM said.

The round-faced girl next to him gave Zhang Niu a big hug, making his face turn bright red. This drew laughter from the girls.

Watching Zhang Ting and her group gradually disappear into the distance, Zhang Niu took the remaining bottles of mountain wine from the tricycle home for his family to try.

After Zhang Ting and the others left, Zhang Niu continued with his chores, changing the old water in the pond whenever he had time. With that big turtle around, the little turtles seemed much more docile, no longer crawling around everywhere. They quietly gathered around the big turtle every day, or climbed onto its back. It seems all animals are afraid of their parents. He remembered the day he brought them back. The little turtles, who had been peacefully swimming in the pond, all crawled ashore. All eighteen of them were neatly lined up on the sand dune.

As another night fell, while Zhang Niu was still feeding the pigs, the village chief strolled over to him, saying he had something to discuss.

After they were seated, the village chief, puffing on his pipe, started talking. "Well, I wanted to ask you about this duck from a while back."

"Duck? What duck?" Zhang Niu asked, somewhat confused.

"That magical duck."

"Oh. So that's what you meant. You don't mean you want the village to raise ducks, do you?" Zhang Niu replied.

After returning home, the village chief asked his son, who ran a shop in the city, about the "Immortal Duck." After some inquiries, he learned that the duck had now cost over 400 yuan per duck. There was no supply, and only a few were available each day. Everyone who had tried it raved about how delicious it was.

After learning about this, the village chief pondered the matter on his own. "It's just raising white ducks, right? Everyone knows how to raise them." So, he used the duck-related issue to talk to Zhang Niu.

After exhaling a puff of smoke, the village chief said, "You know our village isn't very wealthy. I heard your white ducks are selling well, so I came to inquire, hoping our village could raise some too."

Hearing this question, Zhang Niu's heart skipped a beat. It seemed it really was about the ducks. He thought for a moment, then decided, "I don't have much else to do, so why not raise ducks? It can even help develop the village." He said, "Raising ducks seems like a good idea; our village has plenty of space. But whether we can sell them for a high price is another matter. However, the big, clumsy ducks we raise should sell well. Ten or so yuan a month shouldn't be a problem."

The village chief immediately perked up. "Really? You're not kidding, are you?"

"Really. I can help you connect with buyers. The price will depend on them... I'll just act as a go-between, how about that?"

"Alright. Now that I know, I'll go back and talk to the village head to see who wants to try raising some first." With that, he got up and left.

"How about I take you down? It's a bit dark on the mountain path."

"No need. I'm not that old yet, haha." He disappeared into the night, puffing on his pipe.

Back in his room, Zhang Niu lay on the bed. Raising ducks in the village was a good thing. Although the price wasn't as high as his own, the village ducks were far superior to those raised on commercial feed. It was like comparing a large, clumsy pig to a pig raised on garbage—they were not even in the same league.

The next morning, many villagers came up to inquire whether raising these large white ducks fetched such a good price. After some explanation, everyone went home satisfied and busyed with their duck-raising plans. If all goes well, they can sell a large batch before the end of the year.

After the villagers left, Zhang Niu rode his bicycle to Wangjia Village to buy some shrimp traps. He planned to put them in the eel pond, release some eels in, and see how big they had grown.

There are many types of shrimp traps. Some are large enough to catch flatfish and grass carp, while others are small enough to catch only river shrimp, crabs, and small fish—truly shrimp traps. Zhang Niu is planning to buy larger ones specifically for catching eels and loaches.

Not many people bought them. After describing them, I bought five shrimp traps made of green mesh, each over a meter long. On the way back, I also bought a lot of fatty meat from the village meat stall to give the little turtles extra nutrition.

Take down all five shrimp traps from the pond. Each trap is one meter long and has three sections. The last one is a net bag with a small tail extending from the back, connected by a knot. Fish are poured out through this tail. At night, this can be tied to a stick and inserted into the water. This way, if fish go in, they can float to the surface to breathe through the small tail.

Place five sticks along the edge of the pond. Place one at intervals, so that when you stand on the edge of the pond, you can only see five sticks stuck in the water and the little tail sticking out.

The shrimp traps were set, and they were just waiting for dawn to retrieve them. Zhang Niu was eagerly anticipating how many eels and loaches he would catch.

After finishing this, seeing that the weather was nice, Zhang Niu wondered if he should take advantage of the good weather to make some sweet potato chips. The huge pile of sweet potatoes in his storage space was a headache for him. Feeding them to the pigs was wasteful, and humans couldn't finish them all at once. He could only take them out to make sweet potato chips, sweet potato flakes, and other common sweet potato dishes. That way, he could have something to eat in winter. Especially making sweet potato flakes in winter—crispy and delicious.

He took two large sacks of sweet potatoes out of the space, washed them by the pond, and steamed them in a large pot in the kitchen. He then cut them into strips and laid them out to dry in the scorching sun for two or three days. When eating them, he would sprinkle sugar on top and steam them again. They would become soft and fluffy. Even these sweet potato strips took Zhang Niu several hours to prepare. "It seems you can't eat without putting in the effort," Zhang Niu sighed.

The sweet potato fries, baked in the scorching sun, were also stolen and eaten by the thief "Little One".

First update. Please don't hold back your votes and favorites, they're getting moldy.