The pastoral life of the grass tribe chief

This valley used to be called Shiquangou. Later, Lu Yao's family dug a five-mu pond here to raise fish. As more and more people called it Wumutang (Five-Mu Pond), the original name was gradually forgotten.

Lu Yao parked his car on the cement ground in front of the house, put down the swill, and was about to go inside to get a fishing hook when a white shadow darted out from the bushes.

This is a tall, powerful, pure white Teochew dog.

It was his family's Big White.

Da Bai affectionately poked Lu Yao with its head.

Lu Yao noticed several wounds on its body and knew that it had gone to the neighboring village to fight with dogs again.

After gently stroking its head a few times, it ran off contentedly to find grass to eat and heal its wounds.

"Big White, come here."

Seeing that its injuries were quite serious and would not heal for at least a week, Lu Yao called it back, fetched a spoonful of water, and added a drop of spiritual spring water from his spatial storage.

Da Bai immediately smelled the rich spiritual energy contained in the spring and drank the water in big gulps.

Before it had even finished drinking a spoonful of water, its wounds had already healed and scabbed over.

After finishing its water, Da Bai licked Lu Yao's face hard.

"roll."

Lu Yao kicked it away and quickly washed his face with water.

"Woof woof woof."

Big White ran off cursing and swearing, heading in that direction to find a dog to fight in the neighboring village.

Lu Yao used his homemade bamboo pole and fishhook to pour swill into the pond, and the fish rushed to snatch the food.

He cast the fishhook with the sausage on it and waited for the fish to bite.

My family loves to eat fish, so fish is an essential part of our meals.

His mother had major surgery six months ago, and the doctor instructed her to ensure she received adequate nutrition.

Every time the fish and meat at home are used up, Lu Lide will go fishing.

He just finished eating all the fish and meat in the house.

The moment his bottom touched the rocks under the tree, the float moved, then twitched twice before suddenly sinking, and the fishing rod was instantly pulled out.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly and grabbed the fishing rod in time, realizing that a big fish had taken the bait.

Instead of pulling it up immediately, they let it roam along the bank.

It took about a minute of effort to get a large grass carp ashore, weighing at least twenty pounds.

The price of freshwater fish is decreasing year by year, while the price of feed is increasing rapidly year by year.

If you overturn the pond once, the whole year's work will be for nothing.

If fish are overfed, or if the water is polluted, and the weather happens to be bad, the fish will rise to the surface and die due to severe lack of oxygen. This is called "pond overturning" or "pond collapse".

During the years his older brother raised fish, he suffered from drought and flash floods, causing fish prices to plummet and feed prices to soar, leaving him heavily in debt.

The market is bad, and the ponds can't be rented out.

Feeding fish is not cost-effective; in addition to the labor cost of fishing, it also results in a loss. So, I release fewer fish fry and keep them for my own consumption, and give them to relatives and friends during holidays.

They don't feed their fish commercial fish food, only grass and swill. The water quality is good, and the fish meat is delicious. Whenever they catch fish, many big bosses drive over to buy them.

The fishpond hasn't been cleaned for two or three years, and the grass carp are as big as twenty-odd pounds.

At this moment, Lu Lide walked over carrying rotten vegetable leaves.

He threw the rotten vegetable leaves from the manure basket into the pond, weighed them, and found they weighed twenty-one jin (approximately 10.5 kg).

"Give half to your grandparents and sister-in-law."

Lu Lide sought his youngest son's opinion.

My eldest son works in a factory in the county town and only comes home on holidays. Sometimes he even comes home at night when he doesn't work overtime.

The eldest daughter-in-law stays at home doing handicrafts, picking up and dropping off her youngest daughter from school, growing some vegetables and fruits, and raising some chickens and ducks.

My eldest grandson dropped out of vocational school after a year and went to work as an apprentice at a lighting factory owned by a relative in Chancheng with his classmates.

My second grandson is in the second year of junior high school in town. He boards at school and comes home on weekends.

My granddaughter is in the sixth grade at the village primary school.

"Okay, let's keep the fish in the pond for now, I'll kill them this afternoon."

"I'm packing my things here, and I'll go back when it's time to eat."

Lu Yao had no objection; there would be an endless supply of good fish to eat in the future.

Upon hearing this, Lu Lide was naturally delighted. He put the large grass carp into the fishing net, carried it home, and placed it in the artificial pond in his yard.

Lu Yao decided to move here permanently tomorrow, intending to farm and raise fish at home.

My older brother used to live and eat here; the kitchen was fully furnished with all the necessary appliances and utilities.

My parents would rest and drink tea here when they were tired from work, and if they were too lazy to go home, they would simply cook here.

It's just that no one has lived here for years, and there are quite a few weeds around it.

Lu Yao took out a sickle and saw from the storage room and began clearing away the thatch and miscellaneous trees behind the house.

He hadn't done any heavy work for years, and he was out of breath in less than half an hour, with blisters and blood blisters on his palms.

He took out a mouthful of spiritual spring water from the grass ring space and drank it. Immediately, he became energetic again, and the blisters and blood blisters on his palms disappeared.

So he spent most of the day cleaning the room and surrounding area, found broken pots and jars, and planted herbs such as eucommia and galangal.

These are not grown solely for medicinal purposes, but rather as ingredients.

Stir-fried clams and snails with basil, deep-fried eggplant, braised wild beans, etc., paired with beer, are simply amazing.

If you experience indigestion, nausea, or vomiting, slice galangal and mix it with honey or lemon juice to make ginger tea. It is very effective.

Lu Yao estimated that it was about time, so he locked the door and rode his motorcycle home.

Lu Lide and his two uncles were drinking tea in the living room on the first floor. Each of them had a mobile phone in their hand and were chatting about international news. They were arguing so hard that they were almost about to get into a fight.

Lu Yao went upstairs to the kitchen to get a fish-killing knife, scissors, and bowls and plates, and then went to the artificial pond in the yard.

Remove the wooden cutting board from the wall and clean it with tap water.

With practiced skill, he caught the large grass carp, pressed it onto the wooden chopping board, and with a pair of scissors in hand, his movements were fluid and pleasing to the eye.

He started working at his cousin's restaurant during summer vacations when he was in junior high school, where he learned excellent cooking skills.

I rarely eat out during the week; I usually cook for myself in my rented apartment.

Lu Yao cleaned the fish, gave a large piece to his sister-in-law, and then took another large piece to his uncle's house.

Lu Yao's grandparents are already ninety years old, but they are still sharp of hearing and sight and go to the neighboring village to play cards every day.

In their area, there is an unwritten rule that after the brothers divide the family property, the parents live and eat with the youngest son.

Lu Yao's uncle used to run a grain and oil store in Pengcheng. He made money and bought a piece of land, built a five-story building. A few years later, an industrial park was built nearby, making it a prime location. He rented out the first floor to others to do business, lived on the second floor, and converted the remaining three floors into rental rooms, becoming a landlord.

Although my grandparents live and eat with my uncle, he is rarely home. When the two elderly people are sick and hospitalized, Lu Lide and his wife take care of them. My uncle and his wife only visit the hospital, leave the medical expenses, and then go home.

Despite this, the two elderly people always spoke highly of their other sons in front of outsiders, but almost never mentioned their third son.

In the past, Lu Yao's family would serve the two elderly people with the delicious food they cooked, but they would always complain that the porridge and meat were too hard or that the taste was not right. So from now on, they would give the meat to them and let them make it themselves.

Lu Yao arrived at his uncle's house. In the yard, a big yellow dog was sleeping in its doghouse in the corner, with a white cat lying on its belly.

The cat and dog heard the door open, opened their eyes to see that it was someone they knew, then closed their eyes again and went back to sleep.

Their eye contact and movements were exactly the same.

As soon as Lu Yao entered the courtyard, he heard the roar of gunfire coming from the living room.

Needless to say, the old man was watching another anti-Japanese war drama.

Grandma, wearing glasses, was watching short dramas on her phone with the volume turned up very high.

The two elderly people were so engrossed in watching that they didn't even notice their grandson opening the door and coming in.

"Grandpa and Grandma, you didn't even know a thief broke into our house."

Lu Yao placed the fish on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa chair next to the old man.

"With Big Yellow and Little White here, no thief can get in."

Grandma glanced at her grandson, then continued watching short dramas.

When do you plan to start looking for a job?

The old man remained in the same position.

"Finding a job isn't easy these days, and there's no rushing it."

Lu Yaodao.

The old man didn't say anything more and continued watching his TV series.

The two elderly people also care about their grandson, but not much.

Things are rare.

People are the same.

Only children are surrounded by six adults—parents, grandparents, and maternal grandparents—while those with many siblings are no longer considered special and are left to grow and die like weeds.

Lu Yao sat at his uncle's house for a while before going back to cook crispy fish porridge.

"The fish tastes so good tonight!"

Wang Xiurong couldn't stop eating after just one bite.

"The meat is indeed of better quality and taste."

Lu Lide nodded repeatedly.

They love fish, and they can tell whether the fish are fed with feed or just grass, and how old they are just by tasting them.

I've eaten plenty of grass carp over the past two or three years, but this is the first time I've tasted this delicious.

Lu Yao just smiled and didn't say anything.

He soaked the fish in the sacred spring water, and it tasted delicious.