Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 136: Chapter 78: The Blackfish of Tiaozi Pond

Juhua whispered to Little Shitou, ”Did you hear that? You should learn from Brother Yangzi. After they’re done with this fishpond, don’t just go running around. You should take the time to read your books. The tutor lives right here in the village, so if there’s anything you don’t understand, just go ask him.”

Little Shitou nodded, looking at Zhang Yang ahead and feeling a great deal of admiration. He and Gou Dan would toss their books aside and play so hard they’d forget their own names, yet Yangzi actually remembered to practice his writing. ’Mhm, I can’t let him outdo me,’ he thought. ’I promised Sister Juhua I’d become an official and protect her in the future!’

In the fields, people began to drift over from the village in twos and threes.

Tiaozi Pond was located even further south of the village, nearly bordering Little Qing Mountain, which ran from northwest to southeast. This area not only had Tiaozi Pond but also a weedy ditch nearby.

Being close to Little Qing Mountain, the area had a wild, untamed feel, completely different from the round pond this morning. Tiaozi Pond was long and narrow, surrounded by overgrown thorns and shrubs. Even the trees refused to grow properly; a few crooked ones leaned over, casting large shadows on the water’s surface. In the direction of Little Qing Mountain, there were also several burial mounds. The environment simply couldn’t compare to the picturesque round pond, and it gave off a somewhat sinister feeling.

The weedy ditch over there was also shaded by trees and overgrown with weeds.

Qingmu saw his sister looking around and told her, ”These two ponds over here have a lot of blackfish. You’ll find very few carp or grass carp, because blackfish love to eat small fish and shrimp, so the other fish can’t grow big.”

’Of course I know that,’ Juhua thought. ’Blackfish are carnivorous, not herbivores. In legends and stories, blackfish spirits are always ugly and nasty. No wonder it feels so gloomy around here. This place doesn’t seem very wholesome—it looks like a place where a blackfish spirit would live. It’s not like the round pond this morning, which produced a giant tortoise. That’s an auspicious creature, the Black Tortoise of legend!’

She looked at the tangled mess of thorns and asked her brother worriedly, ”Is there anything sharp in the pond? This water doesn’t feel right. There’s nothing at the bottom, is there?”

Hearing her, Zhang Huai couldn’t help but laugh. ”What could there be? We dredge the mud from the bottom every year. In these two ponds, there are also more tortoises and soft-shelled turtles. If you’re lucky, you’ll definitely be able to pick some up.”

Meizi quickly added, ”You all better be careful. You can’t eat the huge one from this morning, and you can’t eat the small ones either. It’s really not that easy to just pick them up.”

Juhua figured her reputation for loving to eat tortoises and turtles was here to stay. But she had only eaten one once! She refused to believe that other families in the village had only eaten them once or twice. So she couldn’t help but wonder, how did she get this reputation just from eating a single soft-shelled turtle?

Just as she was thinking this, Village Chief Li Gengtian shouted, ”Everyone, over here! Switch out the men on the waterwheel! The water is still too deep.”

Qingmu and Zhang Huai were already prepared and hurried over.

It turned out the terrain here was rather low-lying, making it difficult to pump the water upward. Four men stood side-by-side on the frame of the giant waterwheel, shouting a rhythmic chant as they pedaled with all their might. After a while, another four men would take their place. The harsh winter cold seemed to have no effect on them, as dense beads of sweat formed on their foreheads.

Despite the thorns all over the pond’s bank, there were even more spectators than in the morning. Apparently, most people were busy with chores at home in the morning, but by the afternoon, they were mostly finished and naturally came to watch the excitement. It wasn’t as crowded as before, however, since Tiaozi Pond was much larger and the area was more spacious.

Juhua saw the old woman from this morning in the crowd. Seeing the old lady’s spirited appearance, she almost laughed. ’How can someone so old still love a spectacle this much?’

Liu Xiaomei noticed her staring at the old woman and took the initiative to say, ”That’s Huang Dagunzi’s mother. She loves watching this kind of commotion more than anyone. But don’t be fooled by her love for watching; she’s a very nice person and not a gossip. She just likes to watch people work.”

Juhua understood. It was the attachment and love that the elderly often have for rural life, something outsiders couldn’t comprehend. In her past life, many elderly people from the countryside were brought to the city by their children, but they could never get used to it. Their health would decline, and all they wanted was to see wheat fields and rice paddies. If you let them farm a small plot of land, their health would improve.

Juhua found the thorns to be a real nuisance and asked, ”Why don’t they just cut this stuff down?”

Meizi said, ”This stuff surrounds the bank, so it helps protect the pond. The village chief won’t let us cut it.”

Juhua was once again taken aback. These people truly surprised her; their systematic ways of doing things always had a remarkable purpose, revealing an uncommon wisdom.