Chapter 99 Red-tailed Golden Carp

Chapter 99 Red-tailed Golden Carp

"Brother Shanzi, I... I tried to pull it up, but I felt the force was wrong."

Lang Qiuping stood on the shore, holding the nylon rope used to tie the fish trap, looking uneasy.

Shanzige has no problem setting the fish traps, but he runs into trouble when he tries to fish them out himself.

What should we do?

Brother Shanzi, you don't think you're stupid, do you?

"It's okay, let me take a look."

Zhang Wenshan stepped forward, grasped the rope, and tentatively exerted force, pulling the cage upwards little by little.

Taking into account the possible terrain, this makeshift trap is only a little over one person tall and 25 or 26 centimeters in diameter, making it easy to carry, set up, and retrieve.

The location was chosen by myself, so there shouldn't have been any problems.

"Hmm, there's something there?"

Zhang Wenshan raised an eyebrow and immediately sensed something was wrong. The cage wasn't hanging at the bottom; something inside was struggling desperately downwards.

He immediately increased the force, tensed his arm muscles, and slowly lifted upwards.

Soon, the fish trap surfaced.

Lang Qiuping immediately breathed a sigh of relief. The cage used a lot of wire; what would they do if they couldn't get it back?

However, the next second, he was stunned.

The fish trap was crammed with something that looked somewhat familiar, like rice strips, but not quite.

In my memory, the strips of rice were at most the length of a finger, but these in the cage were all more than a hand's length long, and the thickest one was probably a foot long.

When the sunlight shines on it, its scales are dazzlingly bright, as if it has come to life.

There were also willow roots, each about the size of a palm. If they didn't look similar, he wouldn't have recognized them at all.

Lang Qiuping rubbed his eyes in disbelief, feeling as if he were dreaming. Could this size of rice strips and willow roots really exist?

Everyone agrees that there are no fish in the deep pool, but when Brother Shanzi takes action, he immediately catches a large catch.

He snapped out of his daze and rushed forward to help, when suddenly a red light flashed before his eyes.

"Holy crap, what's that?"

Lang Qiuping was so shocked that he immediately swore.

Deep inside the fish trap, a large red-tailed fish thrashed wildly, its scales shimmering with a faint golden light.

"carp."

Zhang Wenshan, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, didn't even turn his head, his tone indifferent.

Only he knew that his knuckles were trembling as he gripped the rope.

I never expected to see such wild carp; it truly lives up to the reputation of the 1980s.

He had only seen wild red-tailed golden carp once in his previous life, during the river opening festival. A carp weighing more than ten kilograms could sell for two or three thousand yuan.

He looked at the large carp in the fish trap and sighed softly.

Unlike fish, which can survive for a long time after being caught, this thing's value will be greatly reduced if it gets bumped or damaged.

Unless you put it back and wait for next time, you have no choice but to sell it as soon as possible.

After much consideration, giving it to the agricultural machinery factory is still the safest option and will maximize profits.

"Brother Shanzi, did we accidentally bring the river god up?" Lang Qiuping's voice trembled as he looked at the large carp in the fish trap.

"You still believe in this?"

"You don't believe me?" Lang Qiuping turned his head, his eyes wide open. "No normal carp is like this."

He felt that Brother Shanzi was a bit strange.

Their hunting and fishing skills were far superior to those of the villagers, not to mention their ability to find things; they never missed a target.

If the previous events were still within the realm of understanding...

But how do you explain this situation?

"As long as the conditions are met, any carp can grow to this size," Zhang Wenshan explained with a smile. "There's also a high probability that there's something else inside—"

The Golden Scale Red-Tailed Carp is also known as the Oil-Film Carp.

On the one hand, they are born with the genes to grow like this, and on the other hand, they also need factors such as water quality, food, and living environment to cooperate.

All of these conditions apply; as long as the child is old enough, they can be raised successfully.

Beneath the deep pool, there are either springs or underground rivers, with flowing water, high dissolved oxygen, and minerals, plus no one has come to dredge it for many years.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a breeding base for oil-film carp.

However, these words clearly had no effect; Lang Qiuping's gaze remained fixed.

"Pack your things, let's go to the farm machinery factory."

Zhang Wenshan shook his head.

It's understandable that a deep, deserted pond would be rich in aquatic life, but it's really difficult for ordinary people in this era to accept that red-tailed golden carp can be raised.

The two men carried their bicycles and left the wilderness back onto the road.

Just as I was about to pedal my bike towards the town, two young men suddenly darted out from both sides of the road, one in front and one behind.

Judging from their clothing, they were probably villagers from the neighborhood, carrying sticks as they slowly approached.

"Brothers, you came to our village to steal something, and you think you can just leave like that?"

We've run into highway robbers.

Zhang Wenshan slowly stretched his neck, a cold smile appearing on his lips.

"What, bro? Want to have a go?" A young man smacked his palm with a stick. "You'd better hand over the cargo and bicycle you snatched—ouch—"

Before he could finish speaking...

Screams erupted.

Without a word, Lang Qiuping suddenly lunged forward, heading straight for the man behind him, and with a whoosh, he drew the axe from his waist.

The other person instinctively used a stick to block.

Click!

A deep groove appeared in the center of the stick, spreading outwards to both sides.

Before the other party could react, Lang Qiuping swung his axe again.

The stick snapped in two.

The man lost his balance under the immense force and stumbled backward.

Lang Qiuping pressed his advantage, stepping forward and kicking him hard in the groin. The man was instantly rendered incapacitated by the pain, clutching his crotch and howling in agony on the ground.

He turned around quickly.

In my mind, I can quickly solve one problem myself. Judging from Shanzi's skill in beating up those purchasing agents, they should be able to hold out until I get help.

However, when Lang Qiuping turned his head, he was dumbfounded.

The other person knelt on the ground, clutching his arm and sweating profusely.

Zhang Wenshan shook his arm, looked at the fishing rod broken in two on the ground, and sighed: "Let's go!"

No matter what, we have to get Zhou Daguo to make us a good fishing rod.

It was almost noon.

The purchasing department staff at the agricultural machinery factory showed no intention of going to the canteen for meals.

There were many things on the office desk.

Two dried snakes, a rabbit, three pickled pheasants, and half a prisoner.

A half-dead black fish was soaking in the bucket.

Then there are some mountain products like wood ear mushrooms, hazel mushrooms, and pine nuts, which are of average quality.

"After working for several days, this is all?" Zhou Daguo looked at what his men had gotten and felt a headache coming on.

It's useless; it can't be relied on at all.

Can't you come up with anything new?

The venison and grouse I have aren't enough!

The inspection team consisted of about ten people and would probably stay for six or seven days, along with accompanying leaders. Although these supplies were more or less sufficient, they didn't really showcase their abilities.

If the agricultural machinery factory is indeed as suspected, he might want to maintain his position as head of the purchasing department.

Enough is not enough.

"Master, everyone is busy farming right now, who has the time to rummage around?"

Chen Youfu, Zhou Daguo's eldest disciple, spoke first, and the others echoed his sentiments.

"We originally planned to go to the distant place tomorrow, but the inspection team arrived a day early, so there's no time to make it."

"During the fishing ban, fishing teams don't go to the big rivers to work; there's nothing good to find in the small rivers."

"It's just that we received the news too late. Others started collecting their belongings ten days ago, and we only managed to pick up what was left over."

Zhou Daguo grew increasingly frustrated as he listened, inwardly cursing factory director Yang Zhigang to the bone.

If I had known the news earlier, I wouldn't have told anyone.

I had to ask around in my industry to find out if I could get some supplies. When I went to ask, they asked me what I needed to notify them about, since the purchasing department always had stock.

"Master, how about we hold out for one more day? I'll head to another county right away," Chen Youfu suggested after a moment's thought.

Zhou Daguo frowned, just about to agree.

Suddenly, someone barged in.

He was about to get angry when he heard the other person say, "Shanzi has brought people over to deliver something."