Chapter 365: A Great Harvest

The old Party secretary saw that everyone was still standing around watching the excitement and quickly said, “What are you all standing there for? Go get the donkey!”

Cattle were considered more valuable, and the old secretary was reluctant to use them.

Everyone hurried to fetch the donkey as soon as they heard him speak.

If the donkey could talk, it would probably be swearing by now.

People always say “work like an ox or a horse,” but no one says “work like a donkey,” even though donkeys end up working more than both oxen and horses.

Is this how production team donkeys are supposed to be used?

“Xumin, you have to keep up with the times. That’s the only way to pass on your skills effectively,” the old Party secretary advised.

Nowadays, times were different from the old days. What worked in the past might not necessarily apply now.

Zhou Xumin thought that made a lot of sense and couldn’t help but sigh. As expected, the younger generation really did think faster.

“Yimin, are you interested in learning from me? I believe with your intelligence, you’ll pick it up quickly—maybe even surpass the master.”

Zhou Daping was instantly displeased. “You said the same thing to me just now.”

“I’m not learning it. Better to leave that to someone actually interested,” Zhou Yimin rejected flatly.

Zhou Xumin looked a little disappointed. He hadn’t expected that others wouldn’t be interested in his signature skill. But then again, compared to Zhou Yimin’s capabilities, his own skills were rather unimpressive—just child’s play.

“Well, alright then. I won’t force it.”

Zhou Yimin quietly dumped a bag of fish bait into the ice hole where the net was set.

Zhou Xumin was curious. “Yimin, what’s that you just poured in?”

“This is fish bait. It’s specially made for fishing. I figured if we dumped it here, we could attract more fish,” Zhou Yimin explained.

Zhou Xumin understood right away. Normally, they’d scatter some corn here to attract fish, but with the current grain shortage, they couldn’t afford to use food.

Chumming wasn’t a recent invention—it had existed long ago.

He hadn’t expected technology to have developed to this point—even fish had specialized feed now.

Soon, Zhou Daming and the others arrived, leading three donkeys.

They tied the rope to the oxen’s yoke and began driving the donkeys forward.

As expected, with the donkeys helping, the net hauling process sped up significantly.

The villagers of Zhoujiazhuang didn’t slack off either. They helped pull on the side.

What normally would’ve taken an hour to haul now took less than half an hour thanks to the donkeys.

Many villagers came to realize just how important thinking smart was. Even in farming, you had to use your brain.

Just like Zhou Yimin often said: farming scientifically was the key to growing more food.

The fish had now all been dragged together by the net. Since the top was covered with ice, the fish had no way to leap out—they could only be caught without resistance.

The villagers of Zhoujiazhuang were overjoyed at the sight. Just at a glance, there had to be at least a thousand jin of fish. That meant they’d all be eating fish soon.

The moment that thought hit them, everyone felt a surge of energy. Their strength seemed limitless, and the net hauling sped up even more.

No one had expected the dark river to have fish—much less whole schools of them.

Truthfully, unearthing that dark river had been a huge blessing for Zhoujiazhuang.

With it, they could not only store water and generate electricity, but also irrigate their fields—and maybe even start some fish farming later.

And so, more and more fish were hauled up onto the shore.

The fish that had been lively in the water were now flopping less and less in the cold wind. Before long, they stopped moving entirely.

Zhou Daping asked curiously, “Sixteenth Uncle, how come the fish died so fast?”

Normally, the fish would still be wriggling around, not dying so quickly after just hitting land.

“Once the water freezes over, it actually protects the water temperature below. But when the fish are suddenly exposed to freezing air, they die very quickly,” Zhou Yimin explained.

Zhou Daping exclaimed in amazement, “So that’s why! Learned something new again.”

Zhou Xumin rolled his eyes.

Typical bootlicking. Didn’t know the reason? What an idiot.

Others pretend not to know when they actually do. You, on the other hand, pretend to not know even though you do.

Before long, all the fish in the net had been pulled ashore, and only then did everyone stop.

Their hands were all bright red from the cold, but none of them felt it—they were too excited. There was so much fish that, if divided among the village, each family would get a good share.

Just thinking about it made everyone even more excited and less sensitive to the cold.

The old Party secretary quickly called out, “Why are you all still standing around? Start weighing them!”

He wanted to know right away how much this haul had yielded!

At a glance, there was no doubt it would be a lot.

Only now did everyone snap out of their daze and quickly get to work, each with clear tasks: some people carried the fish, some packed them into burlap sacks.

Zhou Zhiming stood by the scale, recording the weight of each sack.

Thanks to the clear division of labor, progress moved quickly.

In less than half an hour, they had weighed all the fish.

Zhou Zhiming placed the final sack on the scale and began tallying the total weight.

There were no calculators back then, so the math had to be done by hand. But they had abacuses.

Zhou Zhiming’s fingers flew across the abacus beads until he finally came up with the total.

“We caught a total of 2,153 jin of fish.”

Everyone present was stunned. No one had expected to catch that much.

Even Zhou Xumin was shocked. He’d thought the maximum might be around 1,700 or 1,800 jin. He hadn’t expected it to exceed that by three or four hundred.

It must’ve been thanks to the fish feed Zhou Yimin had dumped in. Who knew it would be so effective?

As the others came to their senses, a wave of jubilant cheers erupted across the icy surface.

“Amazing! I can’t believe we caught so much fish! Suddenly this cold doesn’t feel like anything!”

“You weren’t saying that earlier! Now look at you changing your tune!”

The old Party secretary’s excitement was plain as day. Ever since he heard the final count, he hadn’t stopped smiling.

“What are you still standing around for, grinning like fools? Get the fish home already!”

Everyone jumped into action again. They didn’t even bother with donkey carts—everyone scrambled to carry the fish back themselves, eager to personally experience the joy of such a harvest. Those who reacted slower missed their chance.

More than a hundred people, in a mighty procession, marched back toward the village. Many of them had burlap sacks full of fish slung over their shoulders. It was an impressive sight.

In truth, the reservoir definitely still held more fish. And since it was connected to the dark river, even if they emptied it out, more fish might still come in.

Wasn’t this a gift straight from Heaven to Zhoujiazhuang?

(End of chapter)