"Hey? Jiang Xiaoyu, the fisherman? Isn't that the honey-gathering team?"
Thinking of Jiang Yu's stunning beauty, Xu Xu's mind hadn't made a decision yet, but his fingers had already very honestly clicked on the friend account that Jiang Xiaoman had tagged, and the video directly jumped to Jiang Yu's video account.
Five minutes later...
That's it?
As the last shot blurred, the several-minute video was over in no time.
"Aaaaaah, my happiness is gone!"
At the same time, netizens who had watched the fisherman's first video couldn't help but voice their condemnation in the comments section.
"Ugh, why is there only one video?"
A new interpretation of the idiom "extreme joy begets sorrow": I discovered a treasure of a blogger, he only has one video o(╥﹏╥)o
"The video is too short, I can't watch it enough! Please, Brother Xiaoyu, start a live stream!"
...
The short video, only a few minutes long, was clearly not enough to satisfy the fans who had been piqued by the fishing. Seeing that Jiang Yu would definitely not be updating again today, they couldn't help but look for meal replacements on short video platforms.
LOL! I can't find it at all!
There are indeed quite a few short videos on the platform with tags like "fishing," "fishing," and "angling," but why are they all from middle-aged and elderly men?
Occasionally, a few young people would loudly pretend to catch fish in the rice paddies, but what they actually caught were clearly farmed crucian carp and common carp. How embarrassing!
Most importantly, none of these people are as good-looking as Jiang Yu and Shan Yan!
Not only are they good-looking, they're also adorable...
Chapter 123
Unable to find any videos of meal replacements, fans could only rewatch Jiang Xiaoman's previous videos, barely managing to savor the sweet moments between Jiang Yu and Shan Yan, a couple, from a plethora of videos of them hiking, picking mushrooms, and cooking.
This couple is sweet, but there's just too little sweetness between them, isn't there?
Moreover, Jiang Xiaoman, that blockhead, simply doesn't understand their desire for sweets!
Most of the shots were of individual fish and rocks in the river, with only a few seconds of footage of them together. How could that be enough?
A wildly handsome young man's real-life fishing adventure and his sweet, pure love story unfolds. Jiang Yu unintentionally gathers the three elements most likely to make someone go viral in a mysterious circle, gaining over 100,000 fans overnight!
Jiang Yu only had a few dozen followers before posting this video, but after taking a nap, her inbox exploded and her follower count skyrocketed to over 110,000!
"Ahhhh, Xiaoman, I'm famous! I'm really famous!"
Holding her phone, Jiang Xiaoyu was as excited as Fan Jin after passing the imperial examination. Without even changing her slippers, she rushed straight to the makeshift shack that Jiang Xiaoman had set up at the village entrance.
Jiang Xiaoman was frying pumpkin cakes for the workers when she was startled by his crazy behavior. When she saw the number of fans on Jiang Yu's backstage, she couldn't help but gasp!
The speed at which they gained followers is incredible!
Looking more closely at the video's comment section, Jiang Xiaoman seemed to understand something...
It's not that he lacks ability or isn't as talented at filming as Jiang Yu; it's just that he's not as good-looking as Jiang Yu!
This damn world is all about looks!
"Xiaoman, I'm not talking to you anymore. My fans are urging me to update, I'm going fishing right now!"
Inspired by her 100,000+ followers, Jiang Xiaoyu went out to work without even having breakfast.
Just yesterday, he had set a few shrimp traps in the ditch near the village. In the morning, he took the shrimp traps out, filmed a few minutes of video, and posted it quickly.
Jiang Yu was very lucky. It's also possible that most of the young people in Langshan Village have gone out to work, and fewer people are setting traps to catch small fish and shrimp these past few years. He set up a few shrimp traps and caught more than half a bucket of shrimp in one night!
The freshwater creatures in these small ditches are a mixed bag, including loach, eel, crayfish, snails, small shrimp, and tiny fish the size of a finger, all mixed together.
They don't pick and choose the river fish. First, they empty the contents of the shrimp trap into a plastic bucket, put the trap away, and then wash it clean by the river so that it won't dirty their yard when they take it home.
Once the bait is laid out in the evening, it can be thrown into the ditch, and you'll be able to catch something tomorrow.
However, it's too time-consuming to catch and process these small fish and shrimp in the ditches. The elderly in the village have poor eyesight, and the mothers left behind are too busy taking care of their children to even eat, so very few people catch them to eat.
This actually benefits the river fish.
That noon, the new fans who had just followed the blogger "Fishing Brother Jiang Xiaoyu" the night before were happily browsing Jiang Yu's update right at lunchtime.
What a conscientious blogger!
After all, in modern society, who doesn't watch a few short videos while eating?
Those TV variety shows are so long and tedious, short videos are so much better...
In the office, Xu Xu skillfully set up his phone, opened a short video app, and watched the video while unpacking his takeout.
Coincidentally, the second thing she saw on her feed was a guy she had just followed yesterday who was fishing.
"Huh? What's this?" Xu Xu looked closer at the shrimp trap in Jiang Yu's hand and burst out laughing!
This thing looks weird, but I didn't expect it to be a fishing wonder. Just put it in the water and fish and shrimp will actually crawl into it.
"Isn't this a shrimp trap?" The office director appeared behind Xu Xu without him noticing.
"Director?!" Xu Xu was startled and subconsciously glanced at the cartoon clock on his workstation.
It's after get off work hours, isn't it? Why is the supervisor checking up on us at this hour?
"You eat yours, I'll watch this video." The director dragged a chair over from the side and happily leaned closer to watch it.
Jiang Yu truly lived up to his family's fishing skills; after putting away the shrimp traps, he took out the small fishing rods he had just strung together the night before.
This fishing rod is actually just a small bamboo pole about the length of an arm, with a fishing line attached to the end. The end of the fishing line has a hook and bait specifically for catching eels.
He was holding a fishing hook, carefully searching along the riverbank, filming and explaining with his phone as he went.
"These small ditches, covered with aquatic plants and lined with soft mud embankments, are the favorite spots for eels and water snakes!"
"They usually dig holes along the riverbank, but not every hole has eels and water snakes. You have to look at the hole entrance. If the edge of the hole entrance is relatively smooth, there are usually fish. The larger the hole entrance, the bigger the fish."
"If the edges of the hole are pitted and uneven, then it's probably a hole that someone else has dug."
"If the hole is unusually large, it could be a toad's nest or a crab's den, but in those cases, it's all about luck."
"I'm mainly here today to catch eels and water snakes. They're very fat this season, and I can get a good price for them at the market!"
"Last year I caught a nest of water snakes elsewhere and sold them for over 300 yuan, enough for my whole family to eat pork for a month!"
...
As Jiang Yu spoke, he put away all the fishing rods in his hands, and then carried the bucket back home.
The camera then switched to Jiang Yu's courtyard.
This rented farmhouse is now meticulously maintained by the mountain rocks and river fish.
On the east side of the courtyard, there was a shed built with bamboo and sheet metal, with firewood carried back from the mountain piled up neatly inside. Next to the shed, there was an empty space where a chicken coop made of bamboo strips was built, with more than a dozen chickens raised inside, probably brought from the old mountain valley.
On the west side, a long row of trellises was also built with bamboo. Because it was too late for planting, nothing was planted this year. Jiang Yu has already spoken with Shan Yan and said that next spring, they will plant loofah and bottle gourd here. They are edible, beautiful, and can provide shade in the summer.
Next to the shelf on the west side, near the kitchen, there is a sink made of cement and red bricks. Next to the sink is a square table and a washboard, and there is also a large water vat next to it.
The mountain spring water is drawn down from the mountain and slowly flows into the large water tank. When not in use, the spring water is allowed to overflow from the tank and flow into the ditch opposite the pool, and then into the small river in the backyard. It is very convenient to use water when needed.
Back home, Shan Guo was in the yard feeding the chickens and rabbits with vegetable leaves. This child is really well-behaved. She even took her younger sister Shan Hua with her while she was working. With her at home, Jiang Yu really didn't have to worry about her a lot!
Jiang Yu first took out a large plastic basin and poured all the fish, shrimp, loach and other things from the bucket into it. Hearing the noise, Shan Guo ran over happily, grabbing Shan Hua's baby walker as she ran. The bamboo wheels of the baby walker rattled, making the quiet courtyard even more warm and lively.
"Guoguo, take it and play with it! Be careful not to pinch your hand." Seeing Shanguo squatting beside him, itching to touch it but not daring to, Jiangyu couldn't help but laugh. He took a fishing rod that hadn't been used yet, grabbed a dead little fish and tied it to the fishing line, and then took out the crayfish that were crawling around in the big basin and put them in a separate basin, so that Shanguo could take her little sister to play with it.
He then went to the kitchen and took a few small basins, sorting the miscellaneous fish and shrimp in the large basin bit by bit.
This stuff takes a lot of time and effort to make, but it's really delicious.
After a busy morning, I got a small bowl of white shrimp, a plate of loach, a bowl of snails, two small eels, about ten yellow catfish, and the rest of the small fish and river fish. I was too lazy to pick them out, so I dumped them all into the chicken coop's feeding trough for the chickens to eat.
"Oh dear! What a waste! These little fish are so good! We could make a roasted fish, stir-fry them with green and red peppers, and we could easily down half a pound of strong liquor!" Seeing this, the office director was so angry that he slapped his thigh.
"Alright, that's all for this morning's video. I'm going to ask Brother Xiaoman to help me cook now. I'll show you all something delicious tonight!" With that, Jiang Yu waved to the camera, and the "bonus video" for noon was over.
"That's it?" The office director sighed in frustration as he asked Xu Xu for Jiang Yu's video account.
It seems like they plan to follow and keep up with the updates.
However, Jiang Yu's short videos were indeed very addictive. Before Xu Xu knew it, he had finished a terrible half-finished meal delivery while watching the video.
After thinking about it, Xu Xu realized that the director hadn't had enough of watching the show earlier, so he couldn't help but switch back and watch it again.
After watching it a second time, she quietly opened a shopping app and searched for shrimp traps, a fishing tool used by river fish...
Although shrimp traps are prohibited in the city, it's not impossible to drive to the suburbs for a weekend getaway...
The glamorous urban white-collar workers have plunged headfirst into the fishing pit that is exclusively for middle-aged and elderly people!
Once you've bought shrimp traps, all sorts of fishing gear won't be far behind.
...
Jiang Xiaoman was quite happy to see that he had caught so many fish and shrimp in one morning.
"Looking at the sky, it might rain heavily this evening. I'll tell the workers to go home early this afternoon, and I'll cook you something delicious tonight!" Jiang Xiaoman said, turning off the phone camera on the tripod.
Around 3 p.m., the sky indeed darkened.
Jiang Yu quickly called Shan Yan and was relieved to hear that he was almost at the foot of the mountain.
Today, Shanyan hired more than a dozen porters to go into the mountains to carry down the old beehives that were cut down earlier. These things can't get damp; if they get wet from the rain, they can't be sold.
He only recently learned that the old honeycomb they had previously discarded could actually sell for 20 yuan per kilogram online!
Although they resold Xiaoman's hives at wholesale prices, there are plenty of old hives in the mountains!
Shan Yan and his apprentices made several trips and collected over a thousand catties. Although the money they earned was not much, it was practically free.
With just one trip, he can earn enough to cover the cost of milk and snacks for his three kids for a year. Brother Shanyan says he'll do this kind of good deed every year from now on!
Perhaps God was willing to bless a good man like Shanyan. The sky was overcast, and it looked like a downpour was about to begin, but the rain only slowly fell after Shanyan and his men had carried the old beehive back, put it in the warehouse, settled the porters' wages, and sent them away.
"I should have let them stay the night," Jiang Yu said regretfully, looking at the rain starting to fall.
On rainy days, people don't turn away guests. Even if it's a beggar who happens to be passing by, they are expected to come in and take shelter from the rain, according to custom. This is an old custom among the mountain people.