Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 1319 Forcibly Buying Fish? Meeting Director Liao's Son (Two Chapters Combined)
As the crowd gathered around the two fish, praising them, they suddenly heard footsteps behind them, accompanied by a familiar shout:
"Master! I've finally found you!"

Looking back, I saw Anton running over, carrying an empty fishing tackle bag and sweating profusely. His eyes lit up when he saw the fish basket on the ground.
"Wow, you caught such a big one in such a short time?"

Fang Yan had just moved the fish basket further into the shade of the tree when he looked up and asked:
"Is the car fixed?"

"Ugh, don't even mention it. It's in the compound of a nearby company. Their logistics guy said he wanted to do a deep cleaning. I said it wasn't that dirty to begin with, just clean the areas that needed cleaning. But six of them ended up cleaning the car inside and out, which took up a lot of my time," Anton complained to Fang Yan.

Fang Yan wasn't surprised. The higher-ups had given orders, and those of them working below had to carry them out meticulously. If it was really as An Dong said, just cleaning up the dirty places, then if Fang Yan wasn't satisfied, it would mean that they hadn't done their job properly.

"It's alright, a thorough cleaning is fine."

Having said that, Fang Yan addressed Anton:
"Alright, you should go fish for a while too."

Anton nodded and began adjusting his equipment.

This blond, blue-eyed Russian boy, who could speak fluent Chinese, attracted quite a bit of attention.

Seeing that he knew Fang Yan and was also there to fish, the crowd gathered around to ask him questions:
"Young man, you go fishing too?"

“Yes, we’re together.” Anton nodded, and pointed to Fang Yan and the others.

"Is this your first time fishing too?" the old men asked curiously.

“No, I used to fish too!” Anton demonstrated his skill with deft movements.

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately lost interest.

He's a veteran!

Then let's stop talking.

Anton was completely baffled by the group of fishermen. Old Hu, standing nearby, said to Anton:

"Go Anton! Try to make us veterans proud."

Anton was puzzled. As he spoke, he glanced at Old Hu's empty fish bucket and asked, "Uncle-Master, why didn't you catch anything? Didn't you say you used to be really good at it before we came?"

Old Hu rolled his eyes and was about to remind everyone, "We're all in this together," when someone in the crowd suddenly shouted:

"Young man! Your float has moved again!"

They looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Fang Yan's fishing rod, which he had just cast, suddenly plunged down, the tip almost touching the water's surface, and the fishing line was pulled taut, even more powerfully than when he caught the carp.

"Whoa! Not again?"

Everyone was surprised.

Director Chen quickly dropped his fishing rod, grabbed his landing net, and rushed over, looking even more nervous than Fang Yan.

The surrounding fishermen immediately swarmed around again. The old man who had been smoking a pipe earlier squinted at the movement on the water and clicked his tongue, saying, "That's even stronger than the last one! It's probably a giant!"

"This newbie's luck is off the charts!" The old man in the blue cloth jacket slapped his thigh. "Is what he just caught not enough? Is he going to catch all the bottom fish in the lake?"

Fang Yan lowered his wrist and took a half step back, bending the fishing rod into a taut arc, and the "buzzing" of the fishing line became louder than before.

"This fish is really big." He was secretly surprised, but he didn't dare to slack off. He learned from the previous method, sometimes letting out the line and sometimes reeling in the rod, using the rod's resilience to maneuver with the fish in the water.

The fish in the water were clearly more cunning; instead of darting into the deep water, they circled close to the shore, occasionally darting forward suddenly, eliciting gasps from the crowd.

"Pull to the left! The water's shallower on the left!" "Don't pull too hard! It's exhausting you!" "Hey, don't use brute force, use skillful technique, do you understand skillful technique?" The old men's commands rose and fell, more urgent than their dialect.

When Anton saw his master catch a fish, he stopped fishing and, together with Director Chen, prepared to help net the fish.

After struggling for a full three minutes, the fish finally lost its strength.

Fang Yan led the fish toward the shore, and a dark shadow gradually appeared on the water's surface. It was a full size wider than the carp from before, with silver-gray scales shimmering in the sunlight. With a flick of its tail, it splashed up a large spray of water.

"My goodness! This must weigh seven or eight pounds!" someone exclaimed. "I've been fishing here for three years and I've never seen such a big carp!"

"Seven or eight jin? It's at least ten jin!" another person retorted. "This is absolutely the biggest fish in Shichahai this year! Without a doubt!"

Director Chen squatted on the bank, holding up the landing net, ready to go, his eyes fixed on the fish getting closer and closer: "Brother Fang, bring some more over here! I'm about to scoop them up!"

Just as half of the fish's body was above the water and Director Chen was about to extend his landing net, a sharp "snap" rang out, and the fishing line suddenly broke!

Only splashes of water and empty fishing floats remained on the surface. The big carp flicked its tail and disappeared into the water with a "splash."

The shore was silent for two seconds, then erupted in a chorus of sighs of regret.

"Ouch! Almost there!"

"Oops, I was too slow in scooping the fish!"

"It's a problem with the cable!"

"Ugh, ugh! They're practically on the shore!"

Director Chen slammed the net down on the ground in frustration, "Just one more shot!"

Anton looked on, scratching his head.

Old Hu leaned forward, looking at the broken line on the fishing rod, his face contorted with heartache:

"I gave you this cable, how did it break? I should have gotten a thicker one!"

The old man with the pipe in his mouth sighed and shook his head, saying, "What a pity, what a pity! If this fish had been caught, we could have stayed here for half a year! It might have been the biggest one in almost a year!"

"That's right! I even took out a cigarette to celebrate, but it was all for nothing!" The old man in the blue cloth jacket sighed as well. The people around him chimed in with their own words, all expressing regret, as if what had escaped was not a fish, but a rare treasure.

Anton scratched his head regretfully, "Master, this is too unfortunate. If it had been a second later, it would have been copied!"

Fang Yan put away his fishing rod, dusted off his hands, and smiled nonchalantly.
"It's alright, they've run away, so be it."

Everyone was taken aback, and Old Hu couldn't help but ask:

"This is a ten-pound fish! Aren't you worried about it?"

"I don't mind at all." Fang Yan squatted down to pack up his fishing gear and explained, "If the fish is too big, the meat will be tough. It won't be fresh enough for fish soup, and it will be dry when braised. It's not as good as those two fish that weighed two or three pounds. Isn't the point of fishing to eat something fresh? Even if we catch a fish this big, it might not be a good ingredient."

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned, then couldn't help but laugh. The old man in the blue cloth jacket pointed at him and said:

"You're quite the talker, young man! The fish got away, but you've managed to make it sound reasonable."

"This newbie hasn't learned anything else, but he's really stubborn!"

"That's right, if it were us, we'd be heartbroken for days!" someone echoed, but the regret from before was gone, replaced by a hint of amusement.

Old Hu couldn't help but laugh, and patted Fang Yan on the shoulder:

"Alright, alright, you're right! But today's newbie luck is really weird, even if we got away with a big fish, it was worth it!"

Fang Yan smiled and nodded, then changed his line and continued fishing.

The others quickly returned to their positions.

Then, the locals stopped serving fish, but Anton and Director Chen were served several small fish.

My brother-in-law's situation was even more outrageous. I don't know if there was something wrong with his setup, but he kept getting snagged on the bottom and catching a bunch of tree branches and weeds. He's an experienced angler, and he kept saying that the conditions here are different from those in Guangzhou.

Before leaving, Fang Yan changed locations and cast his final shot again.

My brother-in-law followed along, carrying a bucket.

I had just changed the fishing line and cast when I heard a slightly hurried voice behind me:
"Young man, young man!"

Looking back, I saw a middle-aged man in a dark blue Zhongshan suit, carrying a canvas bag. He walked straight to the fish bucket, squatted down, and stared at the two large fish inside, his eyes lighting up.
"Are you selling this fish? I'll give you a higher price, 30% more expensive than at the market!"

Fang Yan stared at the float and replied to him:
"I don't sell them; I catch them myself to eat."

The middle-aged man didn't get up, rubbed his hands together, and continued to persuade:

“Young man, look, if you take this fish home, you’ll have to clean it, which is troublesome, and if you don’t cook it well, you’ll waste such good ingredients. Selling it to me is so much easier, you get cash right away, and you can buy whatever you want later, it’s such a good deal.”

"I'm really not selling." Fang Yan's tone remained calm, his gaze never leaving the water.

Undeterred, the middle-aged man leaned closer and lowered his voice, saying:

"Let me tell you, my old man is celebrating his birthday today and he wants to eat some fresh lake fish. These two carp of yours are of good quality, and it would be impressive to send them over. I'll increase the price by 10%, how about that?"

The old men fishing around all looked over, and the old man with the pipe couldn't help but say, "Comrade, if they don't want to sell, don't force them. Fishermen all know that you can't just sell the fish you caught."

The middle-aged man ignored him and stared at Fang Yan: "What's wrong with you, young man? You're not taking the money? My price is more than half higher than the market price. You'd be a fool not to sell!"

Fang Yan then turned around, looked at him with a smile, and said, "Comrade, I don't lack money. I just wanted to keep the fish for myself to try today. How about this, you can buy it from someone else. If you pay more, someone will definitely sell it to you."

The first fish that Fang Yan caught, he had to save it for his family to try, right?

Selling fish?

Unless it's right after I came back from the countryside, when I didn't have any money in my pocket.

"You..." The middle-aged man choked for a moment, his face turning a little ugly. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Fang Yan suddenly raise his hand, flick his wrist, and the fishing rod bent up again, causing the float to sink again!

"More fish are here!" someone shouted.

Fang Yan ignored the middle-aged man and focused on reeling in the line. A grass carp weighing over a pound was pulled ashore with a splash.

The middle-aged man's face darkened further as he watched this scene. He let out a cold laugh and muttered to himself:

"They're ungrateful for money to pass up such an opportunity!" With that, he turned and left.

Fang Yan put the crucian carp into the fish bucket, then glanced at his watch and said to the others:
"That's enough, it's time to go back."

Old Hu didn't catch any big fish, only some small ones. He had already packed up his fishing gear and immediately responded upon hearing this:

"Let's go back and eat fish!"

Director Chen and his brother-in-law also got up. Anton had only been fishing for a short time and had only caught some small fish, so he looked disappointed.

The group carried their things toward the parking lot. Just as they turned past the willow grove by the lake, they bumped into the middle-aged man who had bought fish earlier, standing by the roadside smoking.

He glanced at the fish bucket in Fang Yan's hand and wanted to speak again, but he held back.

His gaze followed Fang Yan to the cars parked by the roadside, where he was immediately drawn to them. Three Mercedes-Benzes were parked side by side under the shade of trees, with one silver-gray sports car standing out particularly. Fang Yan opened the gull-wing door, and the car, like outstretched wings, gleamed with a cold luster in the sunlight. Fang Yan got in and gently pulled the door handle, and the gull-wing door slowly closed.

The others walked toward the other two Mercedes-Benzes.

The middle-aged man dropped his cigarette with a "thud" to the ground, his mouth agape wide enough to fit an egg. His earlier arrogance had vanished, replaced by utter astonishment.

He stared at the cars, then looked at Fang Yan and the others, and finally realized that people who could afford such cars would not be short of money from selling fish.

My earlier attempt to "appease them with emotion and reason" was utterly laughable.

"So...so that's how it is...no wonder it looked familiar..." he muttered to himself, his face turning red and white in turns.

He suddenly remembered that in Beijing, only that young doctor from Peking Union Medical College Hospital drove this car. Thinking of Fang Yan's identity, his face flushed even more. He had actually mistaken him for an ordinary young man.

They were already being quite polite to him.

The engines started, and a deep roar echoed along the quiet roadside. Three Mercedes-Benzes slowly drove away, leaving the middle-aged man standing there, stunned, staring at the direction where the cars disappeared, unable to come to his senses for a long time.

Sigh, as expected, the capital city is a place where hidden talents abound. If you try to show off, you might just run into someone's gun.

He was lucky this time; they didn't bother with him.

Be careful next time.

……

Fang Yan had no idea that the people buying fish had so much on their minds. As soon as they drove home, they immediately started getting things ready.

Right now, the eldest sister, the younger sister, and the sister-in-law Ye Yun are already busy in the kitchen. The weekend rule is that they are in charge of preparing the ingredients, while Fang Yan is in charge of cooking.

When they saw Fang Yan and the others return with buckets, the people in the kitchen immediately gathered around.

"Wow!" The eldest sister looked in surprise at the bucket her brother-in-law was carrying, which was already nearly stuffed with at least three fish.

"My brother and I caught it," the brother-in-law said with a smile.

The eldest sister said:

"Wow, that's impressive! I never knew you two could fish."

He said in dialect:

"We were just lucky; it was our first time fishing."

Sister-in-law Zhu Xian said:
"There are many people at home today, so these three items are enough."

At this point, the brother-in-law Zhu Lang said:

"We still have some here!"

He pointed to Anton and Lao Hu's buckets:

"They're all crucian carp, though not as good as theirs, but they're big enough to make soup."

Ye Yun smiled and encouraged him:
"Okay, not bad! Not bad!"

At this moment, the people in the main hall of the house also heard the commotion outside. Several of them came out and came to the yard to look at the fish caught in Fang Yan's several buckets.

Fang Zhenhua, the father, and Zhu Guangnan, the father-in-law, were immediately surprised when they saw Fang Yan's bucket of fish:

"Bought at the farmers market?"

“What are you talking about? My brother-in-law and I caught it ourselves, and everyone else can testify to that!” Fang Yan said.

The others nodded repeatedly, bearing witness for them.

Director Chen also said:

"You wouldn't believe it, we caught an even bigger one back then. I was only a second or two late, and that guy snapped the line. If I had caught it, it would have broken their fishing record!"

As soon as Director Chen finished speaking, Lao Hu immediately chimed in, slapping his thigh with a look of utter frustration:
"That's right! That fish weighed at least ten pounds, its silvery-gray scales were dazzlingly shiny, and it had already half its body above the water, just waiting for the final net to be used!" He said, gesturing as he spoke, "It's all because the fishing line was too thin. I should have known to replace it with a thicker one for Fang Yan. I still feel bad thinking about it now!"

Anton nodded in agreement: "Master spent several minutes playing with it before it was exhausted. That fish was so strong it could pull a person along. We were all so nervous. Then, 'snap,' the line broke, and the fish disappeared with a flick of its tail!"

His tone was full of resentment, as if what had escaped was not a fish, but a rare treasure.

Zhu Lang, the brother-in-law, put down the bucket of crucian carp he was holding and came over to sigh, "I was watching from the side at the time. The water was splashing so high. The fishermen over there said that it looked like an old man in the lake. What a pity! If I had tried to catch it, I would have definitely been able to catch it!" He said this with an air of "missing a good opportunity".

Fang Zhenhua and Zhu Guangnan stared wide-eyed. Zhu Guangnan, the father-in-law, leaned forward, staring at the fish in Fang Yan's bucket before looking at everyone: "A ten-pound carp? Can there be such a big one in Shichahai?" After receiving repeated nods of agreement from Lao Hu and the others, he couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement, "That's really rare! If someone caught one, hanging it in the yard would be a hot topic for half a month!"

Older father Fang Zhenhua frowned and sighed, pointing his finger at the ground: "Why didn't you... take a sturdy line? Such a big fish, you might never encounter it again in your life!" The regret in his tone was more genuine than if he had lost something himself.

A group of people gathered around, all expressing their regret over the big fish that had escaped. The yard was instantly filled with sighs of "If only the line hadn't broken" and "I should have helped catch it."

Fang Yan was speechless. She didn't even realize it was a big deal, but they were heartbroken.

In other words, even if the system wasn't activated today, there will be enough time to activate it later, and you'll definitely be able to catch something big.

"Don't regret it. That fish is too big, the meat will definitely be tough, it won't bring out the flavor in fish soup, and it will be too dry when braised. It's not as good as a two or three-pound carp."

He picked up a plump carp from the bucket, pointed to its scales, and explained, "Look at this fish, it's only recently reached adulthood, and its flesh is tender. When it's braised later, even the bones will be soft, so the elderly and children in the family can eat it with peace of mind. Those big fish look intimidating, but when it comes to eating, these little guys are better."

Zhu Guangnan was taken aback for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh: "You certainly know how to save face."

Fang Zhenhua, the father standing to the side, said:
"But then again, catching three fish on your first fishing trip is already quite impressive."

The father-in-law, a self-proclaimed gourmand, said:
"You said this is delicious, we'll be waiting to try your cooking at lunchtime!"

"Don't worry, Dad, I guarantee it'll be so fresh it'll make your eyebrows fall off!" Fang Yan replied with a smile.

So, the eldest sister couldn't be left to handle the fish alone, so Fang Yan and the others came to help, and in no time all the fish they had caught were processed.

Zhu Lin and Huang Huijie were watching from the doorway when they smelled a fishy odor, which made them feel nauseous. Being in their late pregnancy, they were quite sensitive to smells. However, before fleeing, Zhu Lin reminded Fang Yan that when they finished cooking, they should either send a portion of the food to Director Liao's house or call Director Liao over.

We used to be far apart, but now that we're so close, I still have to go and call out to them.

Fang Yan immediately agreed. His wife's consideration was quite thoughtful. After all, Director Liao was his benefactor, and the old man seemed to live alone most of the time. It would be quite appropriate for him to invite him over for dinner on the weekend.

He went out to find Director Liao across the street. At that moment, Director Liao's housekeeper, Sister Wu, was preparing dinner. Fang Yan had been coming over every day for the past few days, and she'd lost to him. She greeted Fang Yan warmly:
"Director Fang? Are you having lunch here today?"

After hearing this, Fang Yan said to her:
"Oh, Sister Wu, I've come to invite Director Liao to dinner."

"Oh? You're going to eat at your place?" Sister Wu was a little surprised.

Fang Yan nodded and said:

"I caught two fish at noon."

At this moment, Secretary Gao Han heard the noise downstairs and rushed over to see what was going on. Upon seeing that it was Fang Yan, he quickly reported it to Director Liao above.

Director Liao had already heard the commotion downstairs and responded with a smile from upstairs:

"Sister Wu, don't cook for me today. I'm going to Fang Yan's house for a meal."

As they were talking, Director Liao came downstairs, accompanied by a middle-aged man in military uniform who looked seven or eight parts similar to him. This man was probably the son he had mentioned earlier.

"Come, come, let me introduce you." Director Liao came downstairs and pointed to Fang Yan, the middle-aged man:

"This is a dialect."

Then he pointed to the dialect:
"This is Liao Hui."

Upon hearing this, the dialect was confirmed to be that of Director Liao's son.

Liao Hui stepped forward and shook hands with Fang Yan:

"Director Fang, we've met before."

Fang Yan was taken aback, then quickly realized what was happening and said:
"At the August 1st meeting?"

"Yes, I am a staff officer from the Air Force Command," Liao Hui confirmed.

Fang Yan nodded and said:
"Hello, Staff Officer Liao!"

Director Liao said from the side:
"Alright, you two, stop being so polite. Didn't we just say we were going to eat?"

He said in dialect:

"Oh right, but I just cleaned the fish and haven't cooked it yet."

Director Liao asked Liao Hui:

"Shall we go together?"

Liao Hui thought for a moment and said:
"Row."

Fang Yan found the father and son to be quite interesting, and they respected each other's opinions quite a bit.

Then Director Liao said to Sister Wu:

"Sister Wu, you can eat lunch by yourself. We're heading over."

Sister Wu agreed and was happy to be relieved.

Then Fang Yan led Director Liao, Liao Hui, and his secretary Gao Han to his home.

I originally invited them to have tea in the main hall, but they all ended up in the kitchen because of the dialect.

The conversation also revolved around the August 1st gift that Fang Yan had presented to the General Logistics Department.

The conversation drifted to the south, and in the local dialect, Liao Hui also mentioned that he had invented several new emergency medical devices.

They chatted while cooking, and soon everyone became familiar with each other.

Considering that everyone in the family has different tastes, Fangyan prepared several different flavors of fish for lunch.

Braised fish, pickled fish, crucian carp soup, crispy fish pieces, and various other dishes—Fang Yan prepared two large tables of food.

P.S.: While on a business trip, the 6000-word basic chapter has been updated.

(End of this chapter)