Cannon Fodder Group Ch.182

Chapter 182 – Filled with fish!

“Mmm.” Xu Jinning responded obediently.

“Ningning.” Xu Xiangbei leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “It’s okay if you can’t catch fish. I’ll catch them. You can follow behind me, and when I catch one, I’ll throw it into your basket. That way, it’ll be yours.”

Xu Jinning: …

Xu Jinning was at a loss between laughter and tears.

Brother, you don’t have to do this.

However, Xu Xiangbei had made up his mind. If Xu Jinning really couldn’t catch any fish later, he would do just that.

He couldn’t let his little sister cry because she couldn’t catch any fish.

“I caught one.” At this moment, a surprised cry came from not far away. It turned out that someone who had gone into the river had caught a fish, and it wasn’t small.

Every year, they released many fish fry, such as black carp fry, crucian carp fry, grass carp fry, and so on.

“Big brother, second brother, let’s not delay any longer. Let’s catch fish quickly.” Xu Jinning urged, fearing that the two brothers would only focus on her side later, affecting their own performance.

“Alright, just be careful on your own.”

Xu Xiangdong and Xu Xiangbei didn’t delay any further, immediately bending down to catch fish with their buckets.

Xu Jinning began to act.

She picked up the basket and was about to scoop into the water.

At this moment, someone approached.

It was an aunt from the village, known as Aunt Hua. She wasn’t particularly good or bad, but she loved to talk, gossip, and give advice. Somehow, she had walked over to Xu Jinning’s side as if it were intentional.

Seeing Xu Jinning wearing rain boots and holding another basket, Aunt Hua couldn’t help shaking her head.

“Little girl, you won’t catch even half a fish like this.”

“The fish in this river are smart. If you lower that basket, even if the fish are there, they’ll have already swum away.”

“Plus, your basket is too shallow. Even if a fish gets in, it might jump out soon.”

“For catching fish, you need to use your hands.”

Xu Jinning looked at her basket without saying a word, as if there was some truth to what was said. But using her hands to catch fish would be even more difficult. The fish might slip away just as she touched them.

“Sigh, how could a little girl like you be tasked with catching fish? This is just nonsense.”

“Aunt Hua, my family is willing to let Ninging try. Even if she can’t catch any, it’s fine.” Xu Xiangdong, hearing Aunt Hua’s last words, felt a bit unhappy and retorted lightly.

Although his words weren’t harsh, Aunt Hua felt a bit embarrassed by the younger generation’s rebuttal.

“Well then, I’ll wait and see if this basket and little girl can catch any fish. If she can, I’ll drink this river water.”

After saying this, Aunt Hua stopped fishing herself and just wanted to see if Xu Jinning could catch any fish with her basket.

Xu Jinning: … Is she being this childish?

Well, since you’re not in a hurry to catch fish yourself and instead want to watch me, then I’ll catch some.

Because of the encouragement from her family earlier, even with Aunt Hua waiting for a joke nearby, Xu Jinning didn’t feel much pressure.

So, she bent down slightly and scooped the basket into the river with one hand.

The water of the usual Qinghe River was relatively clear.

However, after the water level dropped during the Spring Festival every day, the river water started to become somewhat turbid, only clearing up again when the water level rose once more.

Today, with so many people going into the river together, the already somewhat murky river water became even murkier.

It could be said that with the naked eye, it was impossible to see if there were any fish swimming in the river.

So, when the basket went down, Xu Jinning didn’t intend to immediately pull it up. Instead, she let it sit quietly for a while.

Perhaps, a fish might just swim in.

However, Xu Jinning didn’t let it sit for too long and planned to pull it up to check.

Aunt Hua beside her was still watching.

Xu Jinning intended to lift the basket and thought to herself, ‘May heaven bless me, at least give me one, even if it’s a small fish.’

Even if there were no small fish, shrimp, loach, or something similar would also be acceptable.

If possible, Xu Jinning didn’t want to become a laughingstock.

Just as she finished this thought, Xu Jinning suddenly felt some movement around her feet, somewhat resembling the movements of swimming fish.

However, through her rain boots, Xu Jinning wasn’t sure if she had misperceived.

Fish, oh fish, just swim into big sister’s basket, please.

After silently saying this, Xu Jinning planned to lift the basket, but…

Xu Jinning found that the basket seemed a bit heavy; she couldn’t lift it with one hand.

Seeing Xu Jinning like this, Aunt Hua thought she was too afraid to look inside the basket, fearing there might be nothing in it.

Unable to lift it with one hand, Xu Jinning tried with both hands.

However, she found it frustratingly laughable that even with both hands, she couldn’t seem to lift it with her strength.

The basket was very heavy, and there seemed to be quite a few things inside, moving as if alive.

Could there really be fish in there?

But fish wouldn’t be this heavy.

Could there be stones?

Did she catch some stones, so she couldn’t lift it?

“Ningning, what’s wrong?” Xu Xiangdong noticed Xu Jinning’s expression and asked.

“Big brother, there seems to be something heavy in my basket. I can’t lift it,” Xu Jinning replied truthfully.

Aunt Hua nearby scoffed at this and muttered under her breath, “Just pretending.”

Xu Jinning furrowed her brows slightly. Initially, she thought Aunt Hua was just talkative and liked to meddle, but now she felt like Aunt Hua was targeting her deliberately, and her words were getting more and more unpleasant.

Although Aunt Hua spoke softly, Xu Xiangdong was close enough to Xu Jinning to hear it too.

His face immediately darkened.

“Big brother, my hands can’t hold on anymore. Please help me lift it,” Xu Jinning called out to Xu Xiangdong, signaling with her eyes not to engage with someone like Aunt Hua.

Xu Xiangdong gave a slight hum but agreed that helping his sister was important. So, he quickly reached down, grabbed the basket, and lifted it up.

Xu Xiangdong initially thought the basket shouldn’t be heavy, even if there were things inside. If the little girl found it heavy, it might be because she was weaker.

But as he lifted it suddenly, Xu Xiangdong realized that the basket did have some weight to it.

Huh, what’s inside this basket?

Could it be a lot of fish?

Xu Xiangdong thought to reach in and touch but before he could, the movement of his hand had already lifted the basket.

And the contents of the basket were now exposed to everyone’s eyes.

“I told you, how could one basket possibly… How, how is it possible to have so many fish, a basket full of fish…” Aunt Hua’s mocking words were cut short as her eyes widened, looking at everything in front of her, utterly astonished!

At that moment, it was a little past nine in the morning, and the sunlight was just right, cascading down.

It also fell upon the basket that Xu Xiangdong had lifted.

Everyone could see that the basket was filled to the brim with fish!

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