CTF 0043

Mother Xu wasn’t the only one who was having regrets right now.

People all over the village were filled with regrets, too.

They had only regretted their decision a little when they were seeing rice fish weighing up to 7 ounces and envying them. However, when they saw Xu Guoshun’s family not only harvest a three-pound fish king but also an mu of rice with heavier, fuller rice grains than anyone else, the regret they felt was overwhelming. They wished they could turn back time to the beginning of the planting season. 

Unfortunately, there is no remedy for regret, and their desire for a bountiful harvest could only be fulfilled in the next season.

“Guoshun, my family also plans to raise rice paddy fish next season. When the time comes, we may not understand everything, so we’ll come to you for advice.”

“Uncle Guoshun, how do you raise the fish? How do you get them to grow so well? Besides fish feed, is there anything else to pay attention to?”

The men gathered around Father Xu, while the women surrounded Geng Jinhua.

“Jinhua, you’re really lucky. Your son is so successful, and your daughter is so clever.”

“Geng Jinhua, does your family need help harvesting rice? I can lend a hand.”

“Yes, yes, we can help.”

“…”

Mother Xu declined their offers. She had already arranged for enough help to harvest the rice, just like last year.

“Then, I’ll come to help with planting rice.”

“I’ll come too. After planting, do you need to release fish fry? Jinhua, have you already ordered the fish fry?”

Mother Xu had been feeling like she’d forgotten something. It was at this moment that she finally remembered what she’d forgotten. Oh no, she hadn’t ordered the fry yet!

“Yinyin!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here!”

Xu Yin was startled by her mother’s roar and thought something serious had happened.

When Xu Yin realised that her mother was just concerned about the fish fry that she hadn’t bought, Xu Yin stifled a laugh. She said, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll take care of it. We’ll buy the fish fry. Just leave it to me!”

It was convenient that she had to go to the farm to see Instructor Yu and could also take on the task of buying the fish fry. 

They had fish and shrimp ponds there, too, but the fish and shrimp were mostly bought by various public canteens. The rest could be bought by employees with their internal purchase vouchers. Only the leftovers would be put on the market. 

If she hadn’t gone to the farm for class that day, Xu Yin would never even know that the farm had fish and shrimp ponds. 

She had been under the impression that the farm’s main focus was on grains, fruits, and vegetables, besides raising some pigs.

With two large carp hanging from the front of her electric bicycle and two huge watermelons in a large bamboo basket strapped to the back, she headed for the farm.

Coincidentally, Instructor Yu was sitting at the farm’s gate, chatting and smoking with the security guard. She greeted him warmly, “Instructor Yu! I’m here to see you.”

Instructor Yu responded with a smile, “You’re surely not here just because. So, what brings you here?”

“You’re making it sound like I’m a stranger. I just wanted to share some freshly harvested fish and watermelons with you.”

Instructor Yu was astonished. “You raised these fish yourself? They’re huge! When did your family start managing a fish pond?”

He hadn’t heard about it before.

“We didn’t raise them in a pond. We raised them in our rice field.”

Xu Yin took the opportunity to promote her paddy fish. 

“It was our first attempt, so we didn’t dare raise too many, just around 200. Not every fish is this big, though. These two are the largest from the batch. Most of them are around 7-8 ounces.”

“That’s not too bad.” Instructor Yu was shocked. “How long has it been since you planted your rice? Your fish look bigger than the ones we’ve raised in the lake for an entire year. What’s your secret?”

Xu Yin smiled but didn’t answer.

Master Yu pointed his finger at her. “Okay, since this is how you make money, I won’t ask about it. Are you here to give these to me today?”

“Yes, but there is indeed something I want to ask you for help with.” Xu Yin was not polite to him and directly stated her intention.

“You want to borrow a tractor? Sure, that’s fine, but you can’t borrow it until we’ve met the farm’s task targets.”

It was a consistent rule of the farm that everyone had to comply with. Without that rule, who would be interested in ploughing the farm’s field? Everyone would just go out to earn extra money.

“How about I help you with the ploughing? All you have to do is complete the targets, right?”

She could plough quickly to save time and also earn some energy points for herself.

Instructor Yu smiled. “It’s the best thing you could’ve offered. Come on, come and sit at my place. Is this watermelon grown by your family too?”

“Yes, my father carefully cultivated it, and it tastes great. I bet that none of the watermelons on the farm can be as good as my own.”

“Yo? Are you that confident?”

“If you don’t believe me, feel free to compare them.”

She let him compare the watermelons naturally to gain a group of loyal customers.

Instructor Yu and his colleagues gathered around, asking if her family’s watermelons were for sale. 

Of course, they were!

Xu Yin asked Instructor Yu for a piece of paper and noted down the number of watermelons they wanted. The tractor operators, collectively, wanted 20 watermelons.

Instructor Yu agreed that after the farm finished harvesting rice in a couple of days, she could come and help the farm with ploughing and borrow a tractor.

“By the way, Instructor Yu, do you have fish fry in your pond? Are you selling any? My family plans to raise another batch of fish for the next season, but we haven’t bought the fish fry yet.”

Instructor Yu, always ready to assist, took her to the farm manager’s office. Since she didn’t want to visit empty-handed, she presented a portion of the fish and watermelons to the director.

She made a mental note to send him some more as soon as possible.

As they entered, the farm manager was on the phone, and his tone was anything but pleasant. 

He was expressing his displeasure, “Superior varieties? What exactly constitutes a superior variety? The watermelons we’ve been cultivating at this farm have always been of this variety. Now you say they don’t meet the criteria. Damn it, why didn’t you raise this issue sooner!?”

He hung up the phone, still clearly irritated, but his mood improved when he saw Instructor Yu. He addressed him, “Mr. Yu, what brings you here?”

Instructor Yu, with a smile, offered him a cigarette and explained the reason for their visit. “My niece here wanted to inquire if the fish fry in our pond was available for sale. I mentioned that we’ve never sold fish fry before, so I thought I’d ask you first.”

“Fish fry? Well, that’s something we’ve never sold. What do you need fish fry for? Is it one of the village collectives planning to start a fish pond?”

“It’s not for the village collective. It’s for her own family,” Instructor Yu explained. He gestured towards Xu Yan to provide more details.

Xu Yin explained how her family was growing rice paddy fish. 

The farm manager suddenly perked up. “You raised fish that are that big in three months? How?”

Xu Yan didn’t keep any secrets this time. She explained the process of using rotten rapeseed cake scraps to create a new type of fish feed to the farm manager.

The farm manager became quite interested. He exclaimed, “Great! We just pressed rapeseed oil and we have a lot of rapeseed cake scraps left. Could you please demonstrate how to prepare it? After that, I’ll personally accompany you to choose the fish fry.”

Xu Yan was more than happy to accompany him to the farm warehouse. Several sacks of rapeseed cake scraps were stored there. They were originally meant for composting and fertilising the fields.

She showed them the process of fermenting the cake scraps and told them the right proportions for mixing it with miller’s bran and rice bran.

“In three days, you can use it to feed the fish. They’ll love it. If you use it as fishing bait, you’ll catch one fish after another.”

“Perfect, perfect,” the farm manager said enthusiastically. He was patting Xu Yan on the shoulder.

He had learned from Master Yu that Xu Yin was the talented young girl who had operated the tractor and ploughed the fields for him during No. 6 High School’s labour class session on the farm. She was also the first student of the school in the past two years to enter Tsinghua University, and with a recommendation at that.