Chapter 17: Catching a Big One
After sitting in the room and being exposed to the smoke for a while, Chen Fan listened to Captain Yang and the others discuss next year's work arrangements. He could understand the literal meaning, but he didn't understand why they were making these arrangements.
These three were all veterans, they could communicate clearly with just a few words. They naturally wouldn't explain things.
After listening to their confusing conversation, he couldn't sit still anymore.
He stood up and said, "Captain, Accountant, Keeper, Auntie Yang, you guys continue chatting, I'm going now."
Captain Yang looked up at him, "Stay a little longer. You don't have anything to do when you go back. Just stay here and warm yourself by the fire."
Speaking of the fire, he seemed to remember something, "Is it too cold in your room? I'll get you a brazier."
Chen Fan quickly stopped him, "No, no, it's not that, I'm just restless."
Accountant Liu chuckled, "Young people are like this. When the educated youths were here before, weren't they the same? Like spinning tops, they couldn't sit still for two minutes."
Chen Fan grinned, "Yes, yes, I can't sit still."
After some polite conversation, he opened the door and went out, closing the door behind him tightly.
Stepping outside, the air felt fresh and invigorating.
The room was too smoky, and sitting by the fire made him sleepy. He had nothing else to distract him. If he continued to sit, he would definitely fall asleep.
He took two breaths of fresh air, walked forward, and looked at the two pairs of cloth shoes in his hands. These are the legendary thousand-layer sole shoes. Decades later, this kind of shoe is obsolete.
It's not that the craftmanship is lost, but the soles are made of cloth. Not only that, but the bottom is full of needle holes. If they get damp, they get wet. They were naturally replaced by waterproof rubber soles.
But it's still very comfortable to wear them on sunny days. Later, many online stores sell these shoes, and they're not cheap.
Chen Fan separated the two pairs of shoes, putting one pair in each pocket of his padded jacket. He would change into them after washing his feet. The cotton shoes on his feet are terribly dirty, and there are several holes in them. If it weren't cold, he would rather go barefoot than wear them.
The sun might have gone behind the clouds. The sky was gloomy, only the wind was blowing, as he walked down the slope, there was no one outside.
Chen Fan walked along counting the houses. There are eighteen households on the back slope, four on the top of the hill, and twenty-three on the front slope, adding up to forty-five houses. Plus the educated youth dormitory, that makes forty-six houses.
Generally speaking, when a production team was first established, a small team only had twenty or thirty households. Some smaller teams had only ten or twenty households. This team has more than forty households. It was strong and prosperous.
It's possible that there were only twenty or thirty households before, and the increase in the number of households was due to splitting up. After all, the production team has been established for almost twenty years, and an increase of one-and-a-half times the number of households is also normal.
Besides residential houses, Chen Fan also saw two rows of long, rectangular building on the southwest side. Without going there, he could tell from the smell that it was the team's pig farm.
There were faint sounds of donkeys braying, and maybe all the livestock of the whole production team were kept there.
Chen Fan looked left and right and walked to the other side.
To the east was the embankment. He remembered that there were many ponds at the bottom of the slope, so he walked towards them along the ridge of the field.
The ridges in winter were full of withered weeds, the soil was moist, but it didn't stick to the shoes. It was quite comfortable to walk on.
He arrived at the edge of the pond in a short while. He found that the water in the pond had long dried up. There was only a thin layer of shallow water at the bottom of the pond, more than two meters deep. There weren't any fish, it was quite desolate.
Chen Fan hugged his padded jacket and stood there in a daze for a while before continuing to walk forward.
There were a total of five ponds here. Actually, it was only one pond. Because there are four small paths extending from the hillside that divide this long pond into five parts.
But the small paths are blocked by a water ditch more than one meter wide. To get to the embankment from here, you have to cross a wooden bridge made of tree trunks, and then cross a vegetable field before reaching the foot of the embankment.
Chen Fan looked left and right, not sure what he was looking at.
Anyway, he had nothing to do, so he just wandered around.
Just then, he suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on some large soft-shelled turtles by the pond.
How much does a soft-shelled turtle bigger than a washbasin weigh?
This question flashed through Chen Fan's mind, and he was about to go down to catch some.
But looking at the dark mud, he hesitated to step down.
Looking at the soft-shelled turtles lying lazily in the mud, not moving, remembering the skill he had just acquired, Chen Fan silently thought, can soft-shelled turtles speak?
After thinking for a long time, he still didn't know how to communicate with the soft-shelled turtle. It seems that his skill level is too low. He can't call the soft-shelled turtle over, so he can only go there himself.
He found a gentle slope to go down, and tentatively stepped on the mud, finding that the mud was already hard and dry, almost the same as the soil on the ridge, so he went straight over and grabbed the largest soft-shelled turtle from behind.
Chen Fan weighed it, "Wow, this turtle weighs at least 15 jin."
The big soft-shelled turtle was comfortably basking in the sun when it suddenly felt a dizzying turn and was lifted up. It stuck its head out and could only see the sky. It immediately stretched out its four limbs and claws, scratching randomly, and its head also turned around randomly.
Huh? It seems to have seen a monster?
Chen Fan glanced at the other large turtles lying still beside it, walked up the ridge along the path, and then carefully examined the soft-shelled turtle in his hand.
The entire carapace was more than 40 centimeters long, with black spots, black and yellow, like vitiligo, though the color difference was not obvious. Its four claws were very sharp, the tips were yellowish, and the closer to the base, the darker the color became, gradually turning grayish-black. Its sharp claws were scratching wildly, but it could only scratch the air.
Chen Fan didn't turn it over to look at its belly. He carried the large soft-shelled turtle and walked up the path.
He walked through a thicket of trees and passed in front of a house, and reached the main road.
Then he hurried to Captain Yang's house.
During the production team era, caution is paramount!
This big soft-shelled turtle was caught in the pond. He wasn't sure whether or not he should hand it in, so he had to ask Captain Yang first.
He soon arrived at Captain Yang's house. The first to greet him was the big yellow dog.
This time, the big yellow dog didn't bark at him. It obviously recognized him. It just whimpered twice, "You're here."
That's right. This is the first time it's met someone who can talk to it. There's only one, so it's hard to forget.
But Chen Fan ignored it. He pushed open the door with his elbow and said, "Captain, look what I caught."
Then everyone in the room looked at him in astonishment.
Chen Fan blinked, looked around at everyone, and then at the soft-shelled turtle in his hand, "What's wrong?"
Accountant Liu said with a wry smile, "Why did you go and catch this thing?"
Chen Fan had been holding it for so long that his arm was a little sore, so he turned the soft-shelled turtle over and put it on the ground. He stepped on its belly with his foot and asked in puzzlement, "Can't I catch this?"
(End of Chapter)
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