80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches

Chapter 410 - 408: Sheep Commander

Captain Wan and his sons carried Wan Jiao away.

Lin Lan rubbed her sore shoulders. Li Xiangyang put his arm around her and sat her down on a nearby rock. "Let me rub them for you."

Lin Lan smiled and shook her head. "There are people coming and going on the mountain path. We’ll be a laughingstock if someone sees us." Then she looked at him. "You must be tired too, right?"

Li Xiangyang nodded, rubbing his sore wrists. "I didn’t expect her to be so heavy."

Lin Lan laughed. "You don’t feel it at first, but she gets heavier the longer you walk." She turned to look into the woods and saw Wu Shufen leading Little Douzi toward them. "My mom and the others are coming out."

The two waited for Wu Shufen and the others, then led Little Douzi down the mountain.

A gust of wind blew by, and Lin Lan felt a chill. She sneezed a few times in a row. "Oh no, am I catching a cold?"

Wu Shufen laughed. "You’re not that delicate."

Lin Jun nodded and said with disdain, "Grandma, Wan Jiao from the captain’s family is the delicate one. When we found her, she was just sitting at the bottom of the pit, crying nonstop. We couldn’t get her to stop no matter how much we shouted. When Auntie and Uncle pulled her up, she was a dead weight on the vine rope. She didn’t use any strength at all."

Wu Shufen gave him a light, reproachful tap. "Honestly, you notice every little thing."

Lin Jun pouted. "If you don’t believe me, ask the others."

Wu Shufen rolled her eyes at him. "If you used this talent for observing things on your studies, you wouldn’t have to worry about not getting a perfect score."

Lin Jun put his hand to his forehead. "Ugh! Here we go again, here we go again. You bring up my studies every single day. I get scared just hearing about it!"

Li Xiangyang and Lin Lan laughed. "Little Jun, what if we bought a hundred lambs and let you be the ’Lamb Commander’?"

Lin Jun shook his head repeatedly. "If I became the Lamb Commander, my parents would definitely kick me out and disown me."

Lin Lan looked at him. "Don’t worry, I’ll talk to your parents and make sure they don’t kick you out."

Lin Jun shook his head. "Forget it. I’d rather go back to studying."

The group walked back, talking and laughing. It was already past two in the afternoon when they got home, but surprisingly, Lin Changyou and Old Li weren’t there either.

Wu Shufen looked at the padlock on the courtyard gate and said worriedly, "Look at your father. A grown man, and still so thoughtless."

Lin Lan said quickly, "Mom, let’s open the gate and check. If they came back for lunch, they definitely would have brought the fish with them."

Wu Shufen nodded and unlocked the gate. As soon as she opened it, she saw a large wooden basin under the eaves, and Lin Lan breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Jun and the other children ran over to look. Inside the basin were more than a dozen fish: yellowhead catfish with their large heads and long bodies, looking like giant, mutated tadpoles; there were also northern snakeheads, yellow catfish, and grass carp.

"Grandpa brought the fish back and then left again."

The children finally pulled over some stools and plopped down. "We’re dead tired! That wasn’t fun at all. We’re never going again."

Wu Shufen brought a chair for Li Xiangyang, then turned and shot the children a look. "Weren’t you the ones clamoring every day to come back to pick mushrooms and play in the mountains?"

Hearing this, the children fell silent and sulked.

Little Douzi pulled a small stool over to Li Xiangyang’s side and rested their head on his lap. "I want to sleep!"

Lin Lan looked at them with amusement. "Look at all of you. After just one leg of the journey, you look like a defeated army."

Lin Jun rubbed his stomach. "Auntie, Grandma, we’re so hungry!"

Li Xiangyang also smiled and nodded. "The pastries didn’t do a thing. Let’s get something to eat first."

Wu Shufen nodded. "How about I make noodles with a mushroom and ground meat sauce?"

Everyone nodded eagerly. "Yes!"

Lin Lan washed her hands, grabbed a basket, and picked out some of the mushrooms that were air-drying on a tray. She tore them into thin strips. Wu Shufen had already minced the pork belly.

Wu Shufen stir-fried the sauce while Lin Lan washed some pea shoots. Half an hour later, everyone was eating fragrant noodles with mushroom sauce.

Everyone agreed the noodles were especially savory today, and they drank every last drop of the broth.

The children sat for a while with their full bellies sticking out. Wu Shufen shooed them into the courtyard to walk a few laps, and then they all went to their rooms to sleep.

Lin Lan and Wu Shufen sorted through the mushrooms they had gathered, separating the assorted wild ones from the shiitake before taking out bamboo slivers and scissors to start cleaning them.

Seeing Li Xiangyang dozing off in his chair, Lin Lan smiled. "Go inside and get some sleep."

Li Xiangyang opened his eyes, looked at her, and shook his head with a smile. "I’m fine, just needed to rest my eyes a bit. I’m going to check by the river."

Lin Lan nodded. "Okay! If you don’t see them at the lower embankment, check behind the big rock past the slope."

"I know. Your brother showed me last time." Li Xiangyang got up and headed out toward the river.

When he got to the river, he saw no one at the lower embankment. He walked behind the big rock and found Old Li and Lin Changyou sitting on small stools, holding fishing rods, their fish basket in the water. "Dad, how many have you caught?"

Old Li smiled and pointed to the fish basket in the water. "They’re all in there. See for yourself."

Lin Changyou said cheerfully, "We caught two yellowhead catfish, one a little over a pound and the other nearly two pounds, plus more than a dozen yellow catfish. We threw all the small crucian carp back in the river."

Li Xiangyang lifted the fish basket to take a look. "How do you catch yellowhead catfish?"

Lin Changyou took out a bamboo tube and pointed at the brown things inside. "Using ’oil-thieves’—cockroaches—is the absolute best for bait."

Li Xiangyang looked at him in surprise. "You can fish with cockroaches?"

Old Li rolled his eyes at his son, then said to Lin Changyou, "My dear in-law, he’s never fished before in his life. You’re wasting your breath talking to him."

Li Xiangyang laughed. "Old man, just wait. Once I’ve fished with you guys for a few days, I’ll get the hang of it."

"I’ll teach you!" Lin Changyou brought over a fishing rod, pinching a cockroach by its wings to pull it out. "Cockroaches have a special smell that yellowhead catfish love. We just cut off their wings and thread them onto the hook."

Li Xiangyang watched him and nodded repeatedly. "Got it."

After Lin Changyou baited the hook, he led him to the riverbank. He surveyed the water, cast the line, and after waiting for the hook to sink, he handed the rod to Li Xiangyang. "Now wait for a bite."

Li Xiangyang took the rod and sat on a large rock by the river. He waited for two minutes. The float bobbed once and then went still. Just then, Old Li hooked another yellowhead catfish.

Old Li lifted the thrashing catfish and gloated at his son, "That’s the fourth one today! More than we can possibly eat."

"The old man’s amazing, huh!"

Li Xiangyang waited patiently for a few more minutes, but he couldn’t resist pulling up the hook to check. He saw the cockroach was gone and said, frustrated, "Dad, the bait is gone."

Lin Changyou pointed to the bamboo tube. "There are more in there. Bait the hook yourself, just like I showed you."

Li Xiangyang nodded. He pinched a cockroach by its wings, pulled it out, cut off its wings, and hung it on the hook. Then he cast the line to the same spot as before.

He craned his neck to watch the surface of the water, his focus absolute. After waiting no more than five minutes, he felt the hook begin to sink and raised his eyebrows in pleasant surprise. "Dad, I’ve got a bite!"

Old Li and Lin Changyou shouted in unison, "Pull it up!"