Reborn in 1984, fishing and hunting in Jiangnan

Chapter 54

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the sky was just before dawn.

Zhang Jianguo squatted on the stone mill with his neck hunched, holding a steaming enamel mug in his hands.

A new bundle of hemp rope lay at his feet, thinner than the one used when the ship sank in the summer, but more resilient.

Chen Zheng pushed open the courtyard gate, revealing a blouse that Zhang Cuihua had made from an old cloth shirt, worn over his cotton-padded coat.

The cuffs were tied tightly with thin hemp rope.

He had a canvas bag slung over his shoulder, which contained iron hooks, hemp rope, a glass bottle of pig's blood, and several cloth bags.

There was also a piece of pig liver wrapped tightly in oil paper, and the fishy smell could be smelled through the oil paper.

"Let's go," Chen Zheng said.

The water level in Nanwan has receded to its lowest point, revealing a ring of mudflats in the deep waters where the ship sank in the summer.

The mudflats were cracked, about the width of a thumb, and felt soft and spongy underfoot, leaving a dent with every step.

Chen Zheng squatted down on the edge of the mudflat and used a bamboo pole to probe the water depth.

The location of the shipwreck is still there, but the hull is buried even deeper in silt.

Only the highest section of the ship's hull was visible, covered with a layer of dried seaweed.

The two walked along the mudflats westward toward the reed marshes.

Chen Zheng remembered the texture of the silt he touched underwater last time; the silt was thicker and stickier near the rocks.

The silt thins out as you walk outwards.

This indicates that there is a vortex in the water near that rock.

Sediment easily deposits there.

In winter, turtles like to burrow into areas with thick mud and slow-moving water because the water temperature is stable there and they are less likely to be washed away.

He told Zhang Jianguo to guard the retreat route on the mudflats, while he changed into high-top rain boots and waded through the mud into the shallow water.

In winter, the water is highly transparent, and the muddy surface at the bottom can be vaguely seen in water that is 70 or 80 centimeters deep.

He bent over, his eyes pressed against the water's surface, searching little by little for any trace of the turtle hiding beneath the surface.

In winter, turtles lie on the mud at the bottom of the water, only their noses showing as they breathe.

There will be a tiny pit on the mud surface, which is almost invisible unless you look closely.

If it's summer and it's sunbathing on the shore, it's much easier; just find a shallow spot near the reeds.

But it's the twelfth lunar month now, and the turtles are very lazy, hardly moving at all. We can only rely on this clumsy method of finding traces on the bottom of the water.

They searched for about half an hour.

He found several tiny pits in the silt on the back of a rock that was half-submerged in water.

There were also a few shallow claw marks next to the pit, which were left by crawling.

The claw marks were fresh; the mud hadn't been smoothed out by the water flow yet, and they were at most traces from the last two days.

He held his breath and slowly moved in the direction of the claw marks.

In a shady depression at the base of the rock, a dark brown shell could be vaguely seen.

It was covered with a thin layer of mud.

The edge of the shell is a soft, plump skirt, which shrank slightly in the cold water.

Chen Zheng slowly retreated, walked to the mudflat, and took out the piece of pig liver from his canvas bag.

The pig liver smelled even stronger after soaking in cold water for a while.

He cut the pig liver into small pieces and tied them to the iron hook with thin hemp rope.

They then tied a long rope to the hook shank and slowly sank the iron hook to a spot about a foot in front of where the turtle was lying.

Soft-shelled turtles don't like to move around much in winter, but they can't resist the temptation of the smell of pork liver.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes, there was movement underwater.

A thin hemp rope was tugged once, and then stopped moving.

After a while, the rope moved again, a tentative, light bite.

Chen Zheng continued to wait.

The third pull came suddenly, the rope tightened abruptly, and a cloud of murky mud rose from the water.

The turtle took the bait.

He slowly reeled in the line, not in a hurry to fight it. Although turtles are not as fierce as they are in summer in winter, their bite force is still there.

Pulling too hard can actually make it easier for the hook to come off.

The line was pulled in inch by inch, and the muddy mist at the bottom of the water grew thicker and thicker.

Then a dark brown head emerged from the mud, its mouth still gripping the piece of pig liver.

"Build the nation, net!"

Zhang Jianguo had been waiting nearby with a net in hand.

The net is inserted into the water, scooped up the turtle's belly, and lifted upwards.

The turtle thrashed about with its four legs, its claws flailing in the air, and its tail slapping loudly.

This is an old turtle with dense and deep bumps on its shell, thick skirt, and dark red color. It weighs at least seven or eight pounds.

"That's enough to cover Rongzi and Fengzi's textbook fees for a whole semester."

Zhang Jianguo packed the turtle into a burlap sack, tied it tightly, weighed it, and grinned.

Chen Zheng smiled, but his eyes were still searching the mudflats.

He noticed that after the muddy mist dissipated, several fine pits appeared on the silt at the base of the stone.

The commotion had disturbed the turtles' nest at the bottom of the water.

There is more than one under this rock.

He hung the pig liver back up and sank the iron hook to another position.

Over the next hour or so, Chen Zheng and Zhang Jianguo caught three turtles in this area.

In winter, due to the cold weather, the range of activity of soft-shelled turtles is reduced by more than half compared to summer.

They are all concentrated under the rocks in a few shady spots where the water temperature is most stable and the silt is thickest.

Once you find the right spot, the harvest can be better than in the summer.

There were four turtles in total, the larger one weighed seven or eight pounds, and the smaller one weighed three or four pounds.

It was packed in a burlap sack, which would occasionally bulge out and then deflate again.

On the way back, Zhang Jianguo asked Chen Zheng why he specifically chose a place with many rocks to cast his line.

Chen Zheng explained that turtles love to come ashore to bask in the sun in the summer, and you can spot them by sight.

In winter, they are too lazy to move, so they rely on mud marks to locate themselves.

In addition, the stone can absorb heat during the day and release it slowly.

The water temperature near the rocks is half a degree to one degree higher than elsewhere.

In winter, turtles take advantage of the half-degree temperature difference and burrow under rocks.

Zhang Jianguo said he would go back and tell his father that he would also try the rocky area of ​​Nanwan next winter.

Back home, Chen Zheng poured the four turtles into the water tank.

A layer of sand was laid at the bottom of the water tank. The turtle sank to the bottom of the tank, first rooting around in the sand a few times, and then quickly calmed down.

Only the tip of its nose was visible above the water.

He pressed the edge of the largest turtle's skirt with his finger; it was very elastic. In winter, the turtles had accumulated enough fat, and their quality was even better than those in summer.

He decided to keep the largest one for Zhang Cuihua to make soup to nourish her body, and send the remaining three to Dongfeng Hotel.

It was already afternoon when I took the bus from Baiyang Town to the county seat.

Steam was billowing out of the half-open window of the Dongfeng Hotel's kitchen, carrying the aroma of braised ingredients and red sauce.

Master Qian was squatting on the steps behind the door peeling garlic, with a basket of white garlic cloves at his feet.

Seeing Chen Zheng coming over with a sack, he stopped peeling the garlic, stood up, and patted the garlic skin off his hands.

"Soft-shelled turtle? You can still get soft-shelled turtles in the dead of winter?"

"I caught them in Nanwan. Turtles don't move much in winter, so it's easier to catch them in the right spot than in summer."

Chen Zheng put the sack on the ground and untied the opening.

Master Qian squatted down and reached out to press the turtle's skirt.

He turned them over to look at their bellies, and after checking all three, he stood up and said, "They all look good, even fatter than the last few."

After weighing them, the three weighed a total of nineteen pounds and four ounces, with the largest weighing over eight pounds.

Master Qian calculated the price at the highest winter price of 3.5 yuan per jin and gave him exactly 68 yuan.

He then took out another ten yuan from his pocket.

They said that the snails and clams they used last time were used to try a new dish, and the guests responded well.

I want this dish to be on the menu permanently, so I ask Chen Zheng to send him two baskets every month.

After receiving the money, Chen Zheng mentioned that he was looking for clues about wild ginseng in the mountains.

If we can collect some after the New Year, we can send some over to Chef Qian's kitchen to try making Codonopsis pilosula stewed turtle.

Master Qian's eyes lit up: "Codonopsis pilosula stewed with soft-shelled turtle? This is a highly nourishing medicinal dish!"

If you can really get your hands on wild ginseng, I'll be happy to recommend this dish to guests from the provincial capital.

The price has more than doubled.

After leaving the Dongfeng Hotel, Chen Zheng went to the county agricultural supplies company and picked up the aerator he had his eye on last time.

The sales clerk recognized him, took his order form from the shelf, checked the number, and had him pay the remaining 100 yuan.

When he was loading the aerator onto the cart, he remembered that he had to carefully budget the little money he had when he paid the deposit.

With this investment in turtles, the final payment was secured, and the entire process seamlessly connected, resulting in a brilliant cash flow arrangement.

On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, the surface of the fishpond finally froze over.

A thin layer of ice spreads from the shore toward the middle of the pond.

The ice wasn't thick; it broke easily when tapped with a bamboo pole.

However, if left unattended, the ice will freeze and thicken, completely sealing off the water surface, causing the fish at the bottom to lack oxygen.

Following Ma Yuanchao's instructions, Chen Zheng chiseled five ice holes in the deep water area, each a little over a foot in diameter and spaced two zhang apart.

After chiseling open the ice holes, he inserted a bamboo pole next to each hole, laid bundles of straw on the ice, and secured them with the bamboo poles.

Straw can insulate against heat and prevent ice holes from freezing solid.

After finishing these tasks, he took a thermometer and probed it into the ice hole to measure the water temperature.

Fourth degree.

Water at four degrees has the highest density and sinks to the bottom, where fish congregate.

He recorded the data in his notebook: On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, the water surface froze, the ice was about half an inch thick, the water temperature in the deep water area was four degrees Celsius, and there were five ice holes.

The temperature dropped a bit more in the following days.

The ice layer thickens at night and melts a little when the sun comes out during the day, repeating this process several times.

Chen Zheng patrols the pond twice a day, morning and evening, to check whether the ice holes are frozen solid and whether the straw has been blown away by the wind.

Fine cracks began to appear around the edge of the ice hole.

Those are traces of breathing on the ice.

Air that dissolves into the water during the day condenses into tiny bubbles at night and emerges from the ice holes.

During a break from patrolling the pond, he went into the mountains again.

In the wild forest where I was harvesting oak mushrooms last time, I found a patch of half-rotten oak trees with wood ear mushrooms growing all over the trunk.

He cut a whole basketful and took it back to dry in a well-ventilated place.

Although his mother's health has improved, she still needs to go to the county hospital in a few days to get the last prescription for consolidation.

I figured I could sell this batch of dried black fungus on the way. Dried black fungus sells for more than four yuan a pound at the supply and marketing cooperative.

This basket, once dried, will weigh at least three or four pounds.

He recalled the old shopkeeper's expression when he last visited the county pharmacy, examining his few pieces of acorn with a magnifying glass.

The deposit from the provincial capital is still in his pocket, and he's becoming more and more familiar with the roads leading into the mountains.

Before the snow settles down, he plans to venture deeper into the mountains one last time to finalize the matter of the Codonopsis pilosula.