Free Web NovelChapter 882: Chapter 588: Fish Traded for Sheep_2
Just as Zhang finished cleaning up, Old Zheng’s friend, whom he had called for help, arrived on a motorized tricycle.
The motorized tricycle’s bed was fitted with a modified fish pouch, already partially filled with water, and it had a battery-powered oxygen pump attached to its side, making it very convenient for transporting small batches of live fish.
"Where are the fish we caught? Let’s pull up the fish protector! Weigh them on the spot!"
Old Zheng, holding a mid-sized electronic scale in one hand, found a flat area and called out.
Although Old Zheng knew that Zhang Yang and the others had caught fish today and had quite a haul, he didn’t know the exact number. Based on his usual understanding, he assumed that three people, each catching a dozen fish was quite a lot. After all, from his past experiences of fishing for silver carp at the reservoir, that was typically the level of catch for a whole day.
However, when Zhang Yang pulled out Xiao Wei’s fish protector from the water, Old Zhao’s eyelid twitched instinctively.
Wow, inside the reinforced round competition protector with a 45 cm diameter, there was nearly a full compartment of catch. Because of the weight, Zhang Yang could only partially lift the protector out of the water and couldn’t raise the fish entirely.
There were plenty of silver carp about half a meter long, with many of them head-down and tail-up, resembling inverted onions, providing a strong visual impact.
"Give me a hand; I can’t lift it alone!" Zhang Yang called out.
Old Zheng quickly moved forward, grabbing the handle on the other side of the protector, allowing them both to finally lift the first fish protector onto the shore.
"Wow, these pros caught quite a lot! Old Zheng!! Had I known, I would have brought a bigger vehicle!"
The young fellow hired to transport the fish looked at the fish inside the protector, his eyes brightening.
Usually, the fish pouch in the tricycle’s bed could transport ten or twenty fish, but looking at things now, the first raised fish protector alone contained over several dozen pounds of fish.
Zhang Yang chuckled and laughed, saying: "Just luck, just lucky timing! And there are two more protectors!"
"Let’s do it one by one; big-headed fish are prone to tangling when they come out of the water. Let’s weigh and settle this one before moving to the second protector!" proposed the young fish transporter.
"Alright!"
...
Quickly, everyone pitched in, unloading the fish and weighing them.
The net weight of the first protector, after descaling, was 91.2 pounds, just shy of a hundred.
Next was the second protector. Feeling competitive after being teased in the morning by Big Ice, YOYO managed to catch more fish, with a total weight of 104.7 pounds.
After finishing with those two protectors, it was Zhang Yang’s turn.
However, upon lifting his fish protector, the catch wasn’t greater than those of the two ladies.
"Tsk tsk, the ladies didn’t let down the gentlemen; buddy, your catch isn’t as good as the two beauties! 83.3 pounds!" the young fish transporter joked kindly.
"Hmph, this was the fish he caught in the afternoon till evening! Before two, he mostly was waiting for big fish, and today he managed to catch a forty-pound big Chinese carp, which was bought by that guy Xu who drives a BMW!"
Old Zheng couldn’t help himself and explained it to the transporter.
"Forty-pound big Chinese carp? It’s been a long time since such big fish were seen at the East Lake Reservoir! Old Zheng, are you kidding me?"
"Do you think I’d make money from fooling you? I’ve taken photos — take a look for yourself!" freewēbnoveℓ.com
Seeing the photos of the big fish, the young fish transporter felt they arrived too late; such a large, wild Chinese carp could fetch a high price at the market if it was presented in perfect condition.
"Just luck, just lucky timing! Mainly due to Boss Zheng’s fish-rich reservoir!" Zhang Yang repeatedly waved his hand, humbly and modestly.
"Total catch weight is 279 pounds, not many over ten pounds, about a dozen. At four bucks a pound is fine, right?"
The young fish transporter pressed buttons on the calculator and asked transparently.
Zhang Yang nodded: "Fine!"
"1116 bucks, let me round it up to 1120!" the young fish transporter quoted a number again.
"Great, you can give the money directly to Boss Zheng!" Zhang Yang gestured for the young man to hand the money to Old Zheng instead.
Since they’d talked about this beforehand, Old Zheng unceremoniously accepted the cash.
After finishing the exchange, the young fish transporter rode away on his tricycle.
"Xiao Zhao left, shall we head to the yard for the remaining shots? It’s getting dark!" Old Zheng glanced at the time and spoke to Zhang Yang.
"Sure!"
Soon, everyone looked around Old Zheng’s small compound. They had already seen the front yard during lunch at noon, but they hadn’t checked out the backyard.
As Old Zheng led Zhang Yang inside to explore, Zhang Yang spotted something rare.
A row of shelves were built closer to the east wall of the backyard, featuring six or seven standing frame structures about seventy centimeters tall. On those structures perched a row of strange birds with black plumage and hooked beaks.
"Whoa, there are still cormorants in the backyard!"
Scienfitically called cormorants, these birds were traditionally used in some areas for fishing, much like hunting dogs aiding hunters, and Zhang Yang had seen them by the Wei River as a child but hadn’t seen them in ages.
"I liked raising them back in the day, but with electrical fishing machines there isn’t much use for cormorants anymore. These were gifted by a friend last year as nest chicks, and now they’re molting! I catch small fish and shrimp in nets to raise them for fun!! These aren’t on the list for casual catches!" Old Zheng narrated enthusiastically.
"Hehe, I won’t catch; I don’t know how to keep these, so I won’t make trouble for your prized ones! Besides cormorants, can I catch the others in the yard? If the fish charges are insufficient, I can pay extra!"
"Sure! Catch whichever you fancy!"
Seeing Zhang Yang uninterested in the cormorants, the ones he was most protective of, Old Zheng relaxed considerably.
"Originally, I thought our roaming chickens and big geese in the front yard were nice enough, but I didn’t expect the backyard to hold some magnificent beasts! This sheep is good!"
Laughing and waving hands, Zhang Yan glanced around the environment, and his eyes settled on the sheep tethered at the corner of the backyard sheep pen.
As someone from the countryside, Zhang Yang wasn’t unfamiliar with sheep, but what really caught his interest was that beside this ewe were two lambs appearing several months old.
Curiosity may arise upon seeing this, as to what Zhang Yang plans to do. Is he aiming to eat roasted lamb?
Not really — simply put, Zhang Yang set his sight on the ewe.
Seeing half-grown lambs signifies the ewe is still in lactation period, and Zhang Yang had sneakily checked the ewe’s udders a few times, noticing from their shape and size that the lamb’s dining standards were high, hinting at a decent milk yield.
As his elderly parents were starting to focus on health and wellness, Zhang Yang didn’t trust all the additives in commercial milk, feeling it’d be nice to bring this ewe home to achieve short-term freedom of milk.
"This ewe has kids, so no, no! I can’t give you the sheep!" Seeing Zhang Yang target the ewe, Old Zheng grew a bit reluctant.
Zhang Yang smirked: "Boss Zheng, that’s not fair; I’m rural too. This old ewe indeed has lambs, but the lambs are probably weaned months ago. You think I don’t know such things?"
"Hehe, I didn’t mean that! The main thing is I’m a bit attached; this ewe produces both thick and ample milk, yielding up to eleven pounds a day!"
Having boasted, Old Zheng couldn’t take it back; noticing Zhang Yang recognized its worth, he hyped his sheep to secure a good sale.
"1300!!"
Zhang Yang cut to the chase by quoting an approximately local market price.
"No, no, it’s too low; village’s Old Liu sold his sheep, which yields only eight pounds, for 1200!" Old Zheng shook his head repeatedly.
Directly, Zhang Yang raised the offer: "1500!!"
"It’s a bit cheap still — had I wanted to sell it for that, I would have done so earlier. Last week my friend offered 1500, and I didn’t sell!"
"Add one hundred more, 1600! Sound good, right?" Zhang Yang upped it by another hundred.
"Ugh, I’ll sell it to you! I already promised you guys!" Old Zheng feigned hesitation but ultimately agreed.
"Alright, let’s wrap it up! Xiaoyi, check the equipment; Boss Zheng, untether the sheep. Start filming and catch the sheep!!"
With a call-out from Zhang Yang, everyone got into action mode.
The next moment, a sheep-chasing battle kicked off.
Zhang Yang ran around the yard chasing the goat like a bear, ensuing chaos of hens flying and dogs barking.
