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Yezhi handed a pencil and a notebook to One Egg. One Egg nervously held Black Treasure close, complaining, "Sister Ye, why did you bring Black Treasure up here to mess around!"
Black Treasure was also stubborn, wiggling its round bottom, wanting to investigate what One Egg was hiding. Yezhi watched as Black Treasure climbed onto One Egg, laughing heartily without any intention of rescuing One Egg.
"One Egg, tomorrow evening you should come study. During the day, we will go fishing with Village Uncle and the villagers."
One Egg pushed away Black Treasure and replied, "I know!"
The next morning at the Team dam, Village Uncle called for the villagers to bring out the tools, which included fine fishing nets, lifting nets, and various sizes of fish scoops. One Egg, Er Zhu, and Dogzi mingled among the fishing team with their fish spears.
They walked through lush rice fields full of life and entered a deep green meadow filled with vibrant flowers that dazzled the eyes—pure white, charming yellow, mysterious purple, and deep blue! A bright white river meandered through the lush green grass, while nameless white water birds danced in the blue sky. Groups of wild ducks and mandarin ducks frolicked in the water... it was truly like a paradise on earth! So beautiful it took one's breath away!
Unexpectedly, there was such a beautiful Wetland in Zhoujiatun. "Yezhi, what are you standing there for?" Aunt Ren Er nudged Yezhi. The villagers rushed towards the water's edge, startling a flock of birds and severely disrupting the tranquil beauty.
Arriving at the clear water's edge, Yezhi saw small fish swimming about the size of her thumb and black-headed tadpoles. She called out to Xiao Fang and activated its identification function.
"Master, master, there are so many fish here! What kind of bird is that?" Xiao Fang pointed to a water bird with red legs, a red beak, and a double-crowned black head hidden in the grass. Looking over, Yezhi thought it looked more like a duck than a water bird. "I don't know; it might be a wild duck."
Xiao Fang greedily stared at the wild ducks as countless ¥ symbols burst forth from its head. Yezhi was speechless; when did Xiao Fang become obsessed with money?
"Sister Ye, look!" One Egg, along with Dogzi using his spear, proudly displayed two large fish he had caught. Before Yezhi could respond, One Gun Brother gave both One Egg and Dogzi a light knock on their heads. "What are you two messing around for? We're here to catch small fish; you've killed all the big ones!"
The villagers' fishing tools, especially the nets, had been urgently improved yesterday. Cart Master threw a specially designed net for catching small fish into the air. After some time, everyone pulled it up together, revealing it filled with lively fish. Seeing everyone so successful should have been joyful; however, Yezhi couldn't smile: as Village Uncle said correctly, in this water-rich area of Zhoujiatun, there really was no need to raise fish. Sighing inwardly, she realized she had made another assumption; the future looked dim.
"Master! Master! Xiao Fang, I found a big black fish surfacing for air in the water ahead!" shouted Xiao Fang, retracting its exploration light. Yezhi also saw the image of the big black fish through the green light. Normally she would have cheered and called everyone to catch it. Now she felt no enthusiasm and called back Xiao Fang. She decided to take the initiative to admit her mistake to Village Uncle.
Approaching where Village Uncle was scooping fish with his net, Yezhi lowered her head and stammered, "Uncle... Village Uncle, I'm here... to admit my mistake."
Village Uncle paused his actions and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
"Village Uncle, with such a large water resource, our village doesn't have to worry about not having fish. If we could buy fish fry, that would be great. But now, having Everyone go through so much trouble to catch small fish and throw them into the rice fields, I feel a bit sorry for Everyone. What if the fish can't be sold?"
Village Uncle looked at Yezhi with sharp eyes, making her feel uncomfortable and afraid to move. "Yezhi, are you backing out? You feel guilty not just because you're worried about tiring Everyone out, but because you're afraid the fish won't sell. Then Everyone will blame you and scold you!"
Yezhi's heart skipped a beat. In fact, she had realized the serious crisis of not being able to sell the fish, which was why she came to admit her mistake. Wasn't she just being wise in recognizing the situation? But why was Village Uncle so agitated?
"Yezhi, I really think what you said about 'Three-Dimensional Planting' is good; it has pointed me in a clear direction. Fish aren't something rare, but I understand one thing: we can't just take without giving back. In the past, we didn't need to go into the mountains; there were plenty of animals in Xiaobinzi. But these past few years, we've depleted everything around us due to our poverty. Now we can't even see rabbits without going into the mountains."
Village Uncle's words left Yezhi stunned. Was Village Uncle really that forward-thinking? She hadn't even promoted the protection of Wetland, and he was already thinking about not just taking from it. As a modern person and a time traveler, Yezhi realized her sense of superiority could be completely discarded!
"Uncle, you said it well: 'we can't just take.' We can raise the fish; even if they don't sell, we can still enjoy them ourselves. I don't want fish to become a rare commodity one day, nor do I want to see the beautiful Wetland in disarray. I can't back down just because the future looks bleak; I want to face challenges head-on." There was no helping it; a surge of passion bubbled up inside Yezhi, and her bold words slipped out naturally.
Village Uncle patted her head and said, "I can't say such eloquent words; those were said by a friend of mine."
At noon, Everyone set up a fire by the rice field's horse rack to grill fish. Cart Master, One Gun Brother, and One Egg quickly scraped off the scales with knives and split the fish in half, putting all the innards into a small bowl.
Yezhi was especially excited around the fire. "Grilled fish! I haven't had it in ages! Every summer evening, I love to gather with friends and visit grilled fish stalls in narrow alleys—spicy flavors, pickled pepper flavors, fermented black bean flavors... Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!"
Village Uncle and Wednesday Brother pulled out iron skewers as Everyone strung the fish onto them and gathered around the fire to grill slowly. Yezhi squeezed into the middle, trying to learn how Everyone flipped the fish while Er Zhu kindly sprinkled salt on hers. Grilling fish is a slow process; feeling uncomfortable squatting down, Yezhi sat down on the muddy ground and reached for an iron skewer but couldn't reach the fire due to her short arms, causing Everyone to burst into laughter. It was One Egg who thought of his newly appointed teacher and took the initiative to help Yezhi grill.
The aroma of fish wafted through the rice fields as Yezhi took a deep breath; it was a primitive freshness. One Egg handed over a grilled fish that was golden on both sides. Unable to wait any longer, she took a bite—it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, hot and fresh with no fishy taste at all; instead, it had a sweet aftertaste. Yezhi quickly finished one fish; her dog eagerly offered another one. Unable to resist temptation, she accepted it and started munching.
After Everyone finished eating fish, they began the tedious work of identifying and sorting them out. Yezhi activated her Glasses' identification function and joined in on identifying fish. Throughout a long afternoon, they sorted through tens of thousands of small fish caught by villagers and identified over ten thousand crucian carp while returning other species like carp, silver carp, catfish, and bighead carp back to the small river for safety since Yezhi wasn't sure if they could be raised in rice fields.
After distributing over ten thousand crucian carp in their ten acres of rice fields, Yezhi returned to the village with the villagers as night fell. She turned to One Egg and said, "No studying today; come early tomorrow for lessons."
Back home, Black Treasure jumped into Yezhi's arms first, wrapping its two big paws around her neck while grunting happily. As they walked into the house, Aunt Zhou served up some cooked cornmeal porridge at the table and pulled Black Treasure away so that Yezhi could eat properly. It was Yezhi's first time trying porridge; it tasted cool and refreshing as it entered her mouth. The porridge was paired with scallions and green vegetables for dipping sauce—a combination that tasted exceptionally delicious after a long day of hard work and eating too much fish.
After sleeping soundly for a while, yawning as she stepped out of her room, she found One Egg already playing with Black Treasure in the yard. After finishing breakfast, Yezhi led One Egg inside to study while Aunt Zhou sat outside mending clothes.
"Attention, everyone! I am the village chief, a comrade of the Commune leadership, here to visit you all!"
Yezhi listened to the message coming from the loudspeaker, feeling both amused and exasperated. When disaster struck, they were nowhere to be found, but now they suddenly remembered Zhoujiatun.
Curiosity piqued, Yezhi and Aunt Zhou made their way to the Team dam, where villagers were gathered. Yezhi squeezed through the crowd. Among the five people sitting there were two young men, two middle-aged individuals, and an older man wearing glasses and a Zhongshan suit with a pen tucked into his breast pocket. It was clear that this bespectacled man in a Zhongshan suit was the leader of the group.
The Village Uncle was pouring cool water from a thermos for the five seated individuals. The man with glasses took a sip of water and spoke up: "Dear villagers, I represent the Commune leadership here to see you. You have suffered!"
The sincerity in his words made Yezhi bite her lip to suppress a laugh; it felt surreal, like watching a television drama.
"Villagers, if you have any difficulties, please speak up. The Commune will do everything possible to help everyone solve their practical problems." Seeing that everyone remained silent, the bespectacled leader sensed that this was not a good sign and might lead to trouble. He cleared his throat: "The Party teaches us that 'When the east wind blows and drums beat, who is afraid of whom in this world?' Villagers, do not feel like the sky is falling just because you encounter some difficulties."
The Village Uncle was about to step forward to explain Zhoujiatun's situation to Director Zhang when he was interrupted by the leader raising his hand, insisting on going to see the fields.
So a large group of people headed towards the Field. Upon arriving at the Field, the five Commune officials were astonished at the sight of lush green vegetable seedlings, moving from surprise to disbelief.
"Zhou Village Head, do you remember what you said when reporting to the Commune?" Director Zhang exclaimed angrily. The Village Uncle nodded. "You reported false difficulties; do you know what kind of mistake that is?"
Yezhi was speechless; who had reported falsely? Anyone could see that these seedlings were planted only after the disaster. The Village Uncle patiently explained the situation to Director Zhang, but what he said next infuriated Yezhi. "It's great that villagers can help themselves, but you can't just think of yourselves. You cannot take the national relief grain for yourselves. I think half of these radish and cabbage seedlings in this Field should be given to neighboring villages; mutual assistance is a fine tradition promoted by the Party and state—we must uphold it!" Director Zhang was overjoyed; he had been worried about how to solve the shortage of grain and vegetable seeds, and now Zhoujiatun seemed like a perfect solution.
Yezhi was angry but still held some hope for the state officials and public servants of the 1980s. She expected justice from the other four Commune officials but ultimately felt disappointed.
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