To the east of Hongxing Production Brigade lies a large lake, situated at the border between Hongxing Brigade and the neighboring Liujiawan Brigade.
Usually, villagers from both brigades come here to fetch water for cooking, washing, and irrigation. Because the lake covers an area of over 60 square kilometers and is elongated in shape, the locals call it Tiao Lake (Strip Lake).
Formed by the convergence of two major rivers, Tiao Lake is rich in carp, silver carp, and bighead carp. The fish yield is relatively large compared to other northern counties, and the commune has forbidden villagers from fishing individually. Only in winter, during the agricultural off-season, after meetings between the two brigades and the commune, is organized fishing arranged.
At the Hongxing Brigade meeting ground, representatives sent by each family were discussing how to allocate labor for the fishing.
The brigade captain took a puff from his pipe and said, “All families are here. Today we’re mainly discussing the labor needed for fishing. But before that, you should know that we received a notice from the commune this morning—80% of the fish caught must be handed over to the higher-ups.”
A loud uproar erupted; this news made the villagers want to jump out of their seats. The usually hot-tempered Uncle Dazhu immediately leaped up: “Why? Wasn’t it 30% before? Why so much this year? After handing over that much, how are our two brigades supposed to split the rest?”
“Yeah, why? It’s freezing cold right now. Why should we hand over an extra 50% of the fish we worked so hard to catch?” Li Ergou jumped up alongside his brother, waving his big fists as he spoke, his face red and neck thick with anger.
Other villagers buzzed with discussion. For a moment, the scene was both noisy and chaotic. Wu Jun sat beside his grandfather, watching the agitated villagers. In his heart, he truly understood them. In the dead of winter, if they couldn’t even take home two fish after all that hard work, then there was no point in going out on the lake. If someone caught a cold or developed a fever from the effort, it wouldn’t be worth it at all. He couldn’t remember whether this had happened in his previous life—after all, back then he had been hiding on the kang wallowing in self-pity.
“Brigade Captain, is this true? You’re not trying to swindle us out of the fish, are you?” said Liu Dashan, who usually didn’t see eye to eye with the captain, with resentment.
The brigade captain tapped his pipe a few times against the edge of the kang: “Enough, quiet down, quiet down. Liu Dashan, if you can’t talk properly, shut your mouth. Are you trying to oppose the commune leadership? The neighboring Liuwan Brigade is in the same situation. The commune secretary notified us this morning—the western villages had problems with their quota pigs this year; many got sick and died. The city can’t keep up with the meat supply, so they thought of our upcoming winter fishing and asked us to hand over extra fish to fill the gap.”
“Shengli, if we hand over an extra 50%, the remaining 20% definitely won’t be enough for our brigade and Liujiawan to split. Have you and Tiezai (the captain of Liujiawan Brigade) discussed what plan to come up with?” Grandpa Wu slowly voiced the question that concerned everyone the most.
“Uncle, Tiezai and I have already discussed it. Since 80% of the fish must be handed over this time, we won’t distribute fish per person like before. This time, fishing will be calculated based on work points. Able-bodied men will earn 10 work points per day; others will earn 6 work points per day. As for the remaining 20% of the fish, families can exchange work points for them when the time comes.”
“As for the exchange rate, that will be calculated based on the remaining fish,” said Wu Dali, the brigade’s accountant.
“Consider it settled. Now go back and discuss how many laborers your families will contribute. Let me make this clear—only able-bodied men are allowed on the lake. Elderly and children are strictly prohibited from approaching the lakeshore. Report the names to the accountant tomorrow morning. Fishing starts at 8 a.m. the day after tomorrow. The commune will also send militia to help. If there’s nothing else, you’re dismissed.” With that, the brigade captain stood up, preparing to find Tiezai to discuss the specific fishing details.
“Uncle Aiguo (Grandpa Wu), your family isn’t participating in the fishing again this year, right?” asked Uncle Dazhuang (Chunhua’s husband) as he walked along.
“That’s right, with the old and the young at home.”
“Grandpa, I want to participate. I’m already 16. Since I can’t go on the lake anyway, I want to help collect fish on the shore.”
“That’s true, Uncle Aiguo. Yunzi is already 16—he needs to learn to support the family.” He laughed as he patted Wu Jun’s shoulder, making Wu Jun wince.
“He’s still a half-grown boy. Let’s wait and see. Maybe the families will send enough people that they won’t need so much labor. Junzi, let’s talk about it at home.” Wu Jun slumped his shoulders and followed his grandfather home.
“Junzi, what’s wrong with you? Why the long face?” As soon as they entered, Grandma Wu happened to come out of the root cellar with some napa cabbage. At the door, she saw her listless eldest grandson. She immediately walked over and asked loudly.
“Grandpa won’t let me join the fishing.” Wu Jun’s fair, delicate face looked pitifully at Grandma Wu.
Seeing her eldest grandson like this, Grandma Wu’s heart instantly softened. She hugged him and patted her husband’s shoulder: “He’s old enough now. If he wants to go, let him go. Just ask Hongqi to keep an eye on him.” Leaning on Grandma Wu’s shoulder, Wu Jun chimed in: “That’s right, that’s right. I’ll tell Uncle Shengli I don’t want work points—I’ll just watch and help out a bit. He’ll definitely be happy with that.”
“You little rascal. Alright, stop putting on an act. As long as Uncle Shengli and Brother Hongqi agree.” With that, she took the napa cabbage from her husband’s hands and headed to the kitchen, planning to make stir-fried cabbage with pork cracklings for lunch. These cracklings came from the fatty pork her daughter had brought back yesterday, rendered down because the family had just run out of cooking oil.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the fishing arrived.
The commune sent 10 militiamen to help, along with 4 tractors for hauling the fish. Liujiawan Brigade and Hongxing Brigade each began preparations on their respective sides of the lake.
Dozens of sturdy men split up, setting out from different spots along the lake. Working in pairs, they found their designated areas, crouched down, and began drilling holes in the ice. Dozens of men worked in unison, the loud pounding echoes filling the air. Watching from the shore, Wu Jun was awestruck by the scene—it had been years since he last watched village fishing.
“Junzi, don’t stand so close to the shore, or I’ll have to take you back home,” Hongqi said, standing behind Wu Jun and tugging at his arm with a slight frown.
“Brother Hongqi, it’s my first time watching this so up close. Let me look a little longer.”
“No. I promised Grandpa I’d keep an eye on you. Otherwise, I’d be out on the lake myself.” Hongqi looked equally frustrated. He had just turned 18, old enough to be on the lake, but his father had made him watch over Wu Jun instead.
Out on the lake, after a bout of hammering, dozens of ice holes were already visible. The brigade captain had ordered the large-mesh fishing net to be cast. This large-mesh net was specially made to ensure big fish were caught while smaller ones could escape through the large holes to be caught another year. After the net was set, most of the crew returned to shore. Women from the village immediately brought out ginger tea to warm up the men.
“Alright, let’s head back. It’ll be a few hours before we haul in the net.” Hongqi said, tugging Wu Jun to go home. Wu Jun wanted to stay and watch a bit longer. He turned to say something, but then saw Aunt Dazhu walking toward him with an eager look. He quickly grabbed Hongqi’s arm and darted away like a rabbit. Behind him, he could still hear Aunt Dazhu calling his name loudly.
“Brother, that was close! I almost got caught.” Out of breath, pulling Hongqi back home, Wu Jun looked relieved. Aunt Dazhu was terrifying—if she had caught him, she would have definitely grilled him about Li Xue again. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to stay far away from anything to do with her.
“Alright, alright, look at you. So pathetic. I’ll come find you again this afternoon when it’s time to haul in the net.” Hongqi said, preparing to head home. Grandma Wu overheard their conversation and came out of the kitchen with a bowl of egg water. “Hongqi, drink this bowl of egg water first. The chickens laid six eggs today—we’re so happy.”
Hongqi felt a bit shy about accepting, but upon hearing there were six eggs, he took the bowl and sat down. “Thank you, Grandaunt. I won’t stand on ceremony, then.”
Wu Jun watched from the side, smiling mysteriously. Yes, he was the one who had put those six eggs there. His refrigerator had 20 eggs inside. Noticing that the family’s three chickens hadn’t laid much lately, he gritted his teeth and placed six eggs in the nest—pretending it was as if each chicken had laid two eggs.
Even though he was afraid of being found out, he had to bring out some ingredients to improve their lives. As for the meat, he hadn’t yet figured out how to handle it.
“Junzi, go drink your bowl in the kitchen before it gets cold.” Wu Jun headed to the kitchen. After finishing his drink, Hongqi called out, “Junzi, I’m going home. I’ll find you again this afternoon when it’s time to haul in the net!” And with that, he went home.
Past three in the afternoon, Tiao Lake was bustling with noise. Children stood far back from the shore, gazing toward the lake. Many village women had brought basins from home, hoping to exchange work points for some fish to eat during the New Year—at least it would count as a meat dish. Wu Jun had also brought his family’s basin, planning to exchange money with the brigade directly.
A team of ten men began hauling in the net. They grabbed the thick hemp ropes attached to the net and started chanting: “One, two, three—pull! One, two, three—pull!” In rhythm, they pulled hard while stepping backward. Before long, the large net slowly emerged from the fish outlet. Another group carefully opened the net, taking out the fish one by one and placing them into prepared woven bags. One after another, big fish weighing eight or nine jin were pulled out, mostly carp and bighead, with occasional smaller fish of four or five jin. Once the bags were full, they were carried ashore.
On the shore, the brigade accountant was already weighing each bag. After weighing, the fish were dumped into the tractor beds.
“Accountant Wu, these fish are really fat,” said the militia captain, watching the scene.
“Yes, the village relies on these fish all year long to have something meaty during the New Year. But this year, there’s no help for it—so many fish have to be handed over. What’s left might not be enough. We’ll see how much each family wants to exchange for. If you have time, I’ll send a few fish home with you later—it’s the least we can do since you’ve come all this way to help.” The accountant looked over his ledger, mentally calculating the approximate yield. Fortunately, this year’s fish harvest was plentiful—it looked like about a quarter more than last year. Once all the fish were collected, they would coordinate with Liujiawan Brigade, hoping every family could get at least one fish.
With enough hands, the nets were soon fully retrieved. The woven bags the commune had brought were all filled with fish. The remaining fish were weighed and dumped directly onto the snow. Wu Jun followed Hongqi to where the accountant stood, watching as the two village accountants tallied the totals. In the end, after handing over 80% of the fish, each family could barely get one fish.
After sending off the commune’s militiamen and tractors, the brigade captain announced loudly, “Now, families wanting to exchange for fish, line up at the accountant’s spot. A big fish costs 10 work points, a small fish costs 5 work points. Each family may exchange for one fish first. If there are leftovers, you can exchange for more. The so-called ‘small fish’ are still five or six jin.” Immediately, families buzzed with discussion, debating whether to exchange for big or small ones. Because the Wu family didn’t have many work points, they planned to wait until after the other villagers had exchanged theirs before trading with the brigade.
“Give me a big fish—a carp,” Aunt Xinghua said to the accountant while trying to pick out a large one herself. Since even big fish varied in weight.
The women behind her immediately objected. “No way! If you take all the big ones, the rest of us at the back will lose out. No, no…”
In an instant, the line erupted in chaos. The brigade captain took two deep breaths and shouted, “If you keep squabbling, no one gets any fish! Whoever argues goes last.” No one dared to argue anymore, terrified of ending up with a small fish. “No one is allowed to pick their fish. Whatever fish you get is what you get,” the brigade captain added. He knew that without this rule, the arguing would never end.
Amid the noisy exchanging, some who got particularly large fish went home overjoyed, while those whose fish were a bit smaller left unhappy. In the end, Wu Jun saw the few small fish that no one wanted and exchanged half a yuan for them to take home.