Back home, faced with the eager eyes of the little children, Lu Qing wasted no time and immediately began distributing the fish.
He went to the back of the small courtyard, picked two banana leaves, and cut them into several pieces.
He gave each child a handful of fish, not much, probably less than half a pound per person.
Though the fish was not plentiful, the children were ecstatic.
After receiving the fish, each child ran home happily as if they had obtained a treasure.
Seeing Lu Qing finish distributing the fish, villagers approached him.
“Lu Qing, how did you catch so many fish at once?”
“Just luck,” Lu Qing smiled. “Maybe the bait I used was particularly attractive to the fish.”
“What bait did you use?”
“Just the common earthworms from the field.”Lu Qing didn’t hide anything and told the truth.
After all, even if he didn’t say it, the villagers would find out soon enough.
When he was fishing, there was a group of children watching behind him.
Since that was the case, he might as well be generous and avoid being called stingy.
“Earthworms can be used as bait?” the villagers were surprised.
“Of course, and fish quite like them.”
Lu Qing wasn’t surprised that the villagers didn’t know earthworms could be used for fishing.
From the original owner's memory, he roughly deduced that the world he was in resembled ancient China.
In such an ancient and feudal era, transportation was inconvenient, and information was isolated.
People were cautious and conservative about new things and wouldn’t easily try them.
It was normal for common knowledge in one place to become rare in another.
No one in the village was good at fishing, so it was normal for them not to know that fish liked to eat earthworms.
“No wonder we never had much luck fishing before. We were using the wrong bait,” a villager sighed.
“Lu Qing, did your father tell you this method?”
Lu Qing hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “I heard my father mention it before, and I just happened to remember. Today, Xiao Yan kept saying she was hungry, and there was no food at home, so I thought of this method and decided to try it. I didn’t expect to actually catch fish.”
The villager was momentarily stunned and looked at Xiao Yan.
The little girl was squatting by the bucket watching the fish. Feeling the villager’s gaze, she looked up and immediately showed a big smile.
The villager’s heart ached, and he looked at the thin Lu Qing with rising pity.
“What will you do next? You can’t just eat fish, it won’t be good for your stomach.”
“I wanted to discuss something with you uncles,” Lu Qing said sincerely. “You know the situation at my home, there’s almost no grain left. I’d like to borrow some grain and oil from you. When I find work, I will repay you double.”
“What are you saying? We’re all from the same village, helping each other is only right. It’s just some grain. Shanbo will bring some over soon!”
The villager spoke emotionally, raising his voice.
Hearing this, the other villagers naturally couldn’t stand idly by.
“Right, it’s just some grain, I’ll get some for you!”
“I bought too much salt at the last market, I can spare some.”
“We have plenty of oil at home, I’ll get some for you!”
Several villagers patted their chests, looking generous.
Lu Qing was overjoyed. “Thank you, uncles!”
“Wait here, Lu Qing. I’ll go get some grain.”
Shanbo was the first to leave, and the other villagers followed suit.
Not long after, they returned to Lu Qing’s courtyard.
“Here, this half bag of rice should last you and Xiao Yan for a while. If you need more, just ask Shanbo!”
“Lu Qing, this half jar of lard should last you a while, right?”
“Here’s a small bamboo tube of salt for you to use.”
“I have some flatbreads my wife made this morning, they last a long time and are very filling. Is that enough?”
Looking at the items the villagers brought, Lu Qing was deeply moved.
He bowed repeatedly. “This is more than enough. Thank you, uncles!”
Then he took several handfuls of small fish from the bucket and divided them into portions.
In an instant, more than half of the fish in the bucket were gone.
“Please take these fish as a token of my gratitude.”
The villagers waved their hands. “How can we accept? These fish are from your hard work, keep them for you and Xiao Yan.”
“Xiao Yan and I can’t eat so much. The weather is hot, and the fish won’t last long. We don’t have chickens or ducks at home, and the fish will spoil easily. Please take them to avoid waste.”
Without waiting for a response, Lu Qing handed the fish wrapped in leaves to the villagers.
“Well... alright, we won’t refuse then.”
The villagers, who had given away a lot of their surplus grain, felt much better after receiving the fish.
After sending the villagers away, Lu Qing sighed in relief.
He felt fortunate.
Luckily, the villagers were kind-hearted, otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to ask for grain.
Now, with this food, he and Xiao Yan wouldn’t worry about meals for the next ten days or so.
This buffer period would allow him to figure out how to survive in this world.
“Brother, these flatbreads smell so good!”
While Lu Qing was thinking, Xiao Yan’s voice interrupted him.
Looking down, he saw the little girl squatting on the ground, drooling over the flatbread brought by one of the villagers.
He tore off a small piece and handed it to Xiao Yan.
“Be good, Xiao Yan, eat this while I cook.”
“Okay, brother!”
Xiao Yan nodded obediently, happily gnawing on the piece of bread.
After calming the little one, Lu Qing started busying himself in the kitchen.
First, he washed the rice and set it to steam, then he cleaned and gutted about half a pound of the small fish.
When he was ready to fry the fish, he realized a problem.
There was no cooking pot in the kitchen.
Lu Qing recalled that the original owner had sold the iron pot to buy grain some time ago.
Now, there was only a clay pot for steaming rice, no pot for cooking.
Sighing, Lu Qing went outside and found a flat stone slab. After cleaning it, he placed it over the fire to heat.
Once the stone was hot, he carefully took a small spoonful of lard from the jar brought by a villager.
As the lard hit the stone, it melted with a sizzle, releasing a fragrant aroma.