Siheyuan: Why does your brother beat you up every day, Shazhu?

"Luckily we came early! If we were any later, we wouldn't even have soup! Weiguo, hurry up and line up! I'll go check out the goods!"

He Weiguo resigned himself to his fate and squeezed to the end of the team. He had no choice but to follow his brother out, as he was the one who would do this kind of thing.

Zhou Zhenbang, relying on his strong physique, nimbly squeezed to the front stall to look around.

I saw the water splashing in the cement pool, but there were not many fish left.

The people in front were picking and choosing, mostly choosing grass carp and carp weighing two or three pounds. No one wanted the ones that were too big - there were no refrigerators in those days, and if you bought a big fish and couldn't finish it, you would feel bad if it went bad.

When it was He Weiguo's turn, there were only three big grass carps left in the pond. Each of them was fat and strong, and each weighed at least 30 kilograms!

The big tail swung, splashing water high, and it looked full of energy.

The people queuing behind saw this scene and shook their heads and sighed:

"Wow! Wow! These are the only three giants left!"

"Alas, Baiqi is so early! How can anyone eat such a big fish in one meal?"

"I was thinking of buying some to feed my grandson! Wow, these three Big Macs are almost enough for my food expenses for a month!"

"That's right, it would be too much salt to pickle it! Forget it..."

Many people dispersed in disappointment, and the stall became quiet in an instant.

Seeing this, Zhou Zhenbang was so happy that his back teeth almost showed!

He rushed back to He Weiguo and shouted into the stall:

"Comrade! Comrade! We want all three! Buy them all!"

The salesperson who was busy and sweating in the stall looked up and saw two big men. He Weiguo was tall and strong, and Zhou Zhenbang was very imposing.

He was a little undecided for a moment, pointing at the three fish kings in the pond, and said uncertainly:

"All of them? Comrade, these three together weigh nearly a hundred pounds! You...really want them all?"

"No matter how many kilograms it is! I want them all!" Zhou Zhenbang waved his hand proudly.

Chapter 38: Talents Emerge from Compound No. 95

The salesperson at the stall was stunned when he saw Zhou Zhenbang's serious look.

These days, seafood is very expensive. Every household is considered lucky if they can buy one or two kilograms, and the daily supply at the stalls is also limited.

Although fish tickets have not been implemented yet, buying dozens or hundreds of kilograms at a time is considered disrupting the market according to the rules and must be stopped!

However, a batch of fish arrived recently, and there are more fish than usual, especially these three king fish, which have been lying in the pond for several days without anyone paying attention to them - they are too big and ordinary people cannot afford them.

The salesperson was about to ask a few questions:

Why buy so much? Are you trying to speculate?

But when he looked up, he saw these two gentlemen just getting out of a military jeep. They looked very impressive, so he swallowed back the question that was on the tip of his tongue.

"Comrade, grass carp is 20 cents a pound," the salesperson said after calming down.

"I estimate these three together weigh about 100 pounds, so about 20 yuan!"

The salesperson kindly reminded me that twenty dollars is not a small amount of money these days.

"None of this matters!" Zhou Zhenbang said proudly:

"Comrade, please weigh it and tell me what it is."

"We'll just pay whatever the fee is!"

After a pause, he continued:

"Just one thing. Can you store this fish for us? We'll come pick it up around 5 or 6 this afternoon, okay?"

He knew very well that if he took the fish away now, it would be dead and smelly by the afternoon due to the bumpy journey.

The best way is to order it first and pick it up after you come back from fishing.

Aren’t we getting up so early just to occupy this strategic reserve?

If it’s too late and someone buys it, all your efforts will be in vain!

The salesperson nodded:

"Okay! Normally we'll close the stall once we're done selling, but... I'll move you to the stall next door later."

He quickly wrote out the receipt and handed it to Zhou Zhenbang:

"Use this to get fish from next door this afternoon! No waiting after the deadline!"

"Okay! Thank you, comrade!" Zhou Zhenbang took the receipt and put it away carefully, thanking him repeatedly.

The salesperson waved his hand and started weighing the items.

Three big fish thrashed on the scale, splashing water everywhere.

"It's pretty much what I expected!" The salesperson looked at Libra.

"Ninety-nine pounds plus some change! Just twenty dollars!"

Zhou Zhenbang readily took out two brand new big black tens from his pocket and handed them over.

The salesperson took the money, lowered his head and quickly wrote the receipt and handed it over:

"Old comrade, just take this to the stall next door this afternoon."

Zhou Zhenbang nodded: "Okay!" After that, he pulled He Weiguo, turned around, squeezed out of the crowd, and got back into the jeep.

As soon as the car started, He Weiguo couldn't help asking:

"Brother, where are we going now? To Shichahai?"

He had some impression of this place name because Yan Bugui used to fish there in the TV series.

"Shichahai?" Zhou Zhenbang sneered:

"There are more people than fish in that place! Fishing is useless! Drive outside the city! Try your luck in the moat! If that doesn't work, we can just go to Liuli Bridge! We have a car anyway, so what's there to be afraid of?"

He Weiguo said nothing and turned the steering wheel:

"Yes, sir! But I'm not familiar with Liuli Bridge. You'll have to show me the way."

"Don't worry! Leave it to me!" Zhou Zhenbang waved his hand.

He Weiguo stepped on the accelerator and the jeep rushed out, rolling up a cloud of dust.

After nearly an hour of bumpy ride, the jeep stopped beside a desolate moat.

The river was muddy and the banks were overgrown with weeds. After walking along the river for a while, one foot deep and one foot shallow, they finally found a place that looked relatively flat.

"That's it!" Zhou Zhenbang put down his equipment and waved his hand imposingly.

He Weiguo naturally had no objection, as he was here to accompany the prince to study today.

He looked at what Zhou Zhenbang took out - a shiny, genuine fishing rod, a heavy lead weight, and a complete line set - wow!

This is far superior to Yan Bugui's broken bamboo pole!

The equipment is quite hardcore, but He Weiguo is worried:

I hope the old battalion commander is not really an equipment party, right?

If you don't catch any fish at that time, it will be too much fun.

He didn't rush to check the fishing gear, but asked the key question first:

"Brother, what are we going to use to fish? Where's the bait?"

"Here!" Zhou Zhenbang picked up a heavy cloth bag at his feet and weighed it proudly.

"Wine lees! Several kilograms! This stuff should be pretty good for fishing carp!"

He Weiguo took the bag and opened it. The rich aroma of fermented wine mixed with the sweetness of grains rushed into his nose. Inside was golden corn distiller's grains.

Without saying a word, he reached out, grabbed a handful, swung his arm, and with a "splash", threw it directly into the center of the river to make a nest.

"Wow!" Zhou Zhenbang laughed: "Not bad, kid! You even know how to make a nest? That's quite a trick!"

He Weiguo chuckled:

"Even if you've never eaten pork, you've never seen a pig run. Isn't there a saying that goes like this? If you want to catch more fish, you must make a deep nest!"

"You brat!" Zhou Zhenbang scolded with a smile:

"You've got no fishing skills, but you're full of witty jokes! Just pray to God for mercy! If you fail, we'll both be utterly humiliated!"

"What are you afraid of?" He Weiguo winked.

"Don't we have a guaranteed catch? Those three big grass carps at the market are waiting for us! How can we go empty-handed?"

"Go away!" Zhou Zhenbang glared at him and said in feigned anger:

"How can that be the same? Catching it yourself is a skill! That sense of accomplishment! Do you understand?"

"I understand! You're right!" He Weiguo quickly surrendered and changed the subject:

"Hey, speaking of fishing, I think of a strange man in our yard!"

"Oh? Who is it?" Zhou Zhenbang became interested while hanging wine lees on the hook.

"The one who lives in the front yard of our courtyard is Mr. Yan from Red Star Primary School, Yan Bugui!"

He Weiguo lowered his voice, with a hint of sarcasm:

"People nicknamed him Yan Lao Xier. His calculating nature is incredible!"

"It's fine if he's just scheming against others, but he's also ripping himself off! I heard the wine he drinks is diluted with water!"

Zhou Zhenbang chuckled: "Really? There are people like this in your courtyard?"

"Absolutely true!" He Weiguo said seriously, "What's the most amazing thing? Guess what bait he uses for fishing?"

"What to use? You can't use stones, right?"

"Hey! Almost there!" He Weiguo slapped his thigh:

"He can't bear to buy earthworms, let alone our wine lees!"

"You know what he does? He just picks up a tiny bit of dough, the size of a grain of rice! He puts it on the tip of the hook! He fishes all day and still gets to take it home intact!"