Chapter 281 - Going Down The River To Fish, A Villager's Objection
When the village head, Li Yue, heard the villagers' discussion, he had originally wanted the villagers to not say such things about the Guan family. After all, it was Guan Chibei who had saved the entire village when the wild beasts came down the mountain.
However, the discussion in the village was too intense. Some people had already said that since the Guan family had earned money, they wanted others in the village to praise and curry favor with them.
Li Yue, the village head, was about to say something when he heard such words. He shut his mouth and fell silent. The matters in the village could only be left to the Guan family.
After Ye Lulu set up the stall, the fish at home were consumed very quickly. The pond was almost empty. This morning, Guan Chibei could only continue to fish by the river.
He brought the largest basket because if he fished enough at once, he didn't need to go to the river every day.
It was just spring now and it was still cold. Although the river had thawed, the river water was still very cold. There were even some broken pieces of ice floating in it from time to time. One would shiver in the river.
However, Guan Chibei was unaware of this. He moved down the river calmly and stood in the river to fish.
There were many hungry fishes in spring. Guan Chibei placed some fish food at the bottom of the bamboo basket. When the fishes in the river smelled the fragrance of food, they immediately swarmed over.
There were simply too many fish with black backs in the river. In the entire spring, who knew how many fish had grown at the bottom of the river under the ice? The tails were lively and strong, but they were hungry. They rushed into the bamboo basket.
Guan Chibei did not need to do anything. As long as his arm strength and speed were sufficient and he suddenly pulled the bamboo basket out of the water, the fish would not have time to run out before they were trapped inside.
The bamboo basket was handmade. There was a gap, and the river water inside was still flowing out.
In the end, there was only a basket of fish left.
Similarly, there were also grass carps and black fish. There were different kinds of fish, and they were all jumping around in the bamboo basket. Guan Chibei calmly poured the basket of fish into the wooden barrel. On the shore, Damao, who was also leading a large group of children from the Guan family, carried the wooden barrel away so that they could place them in the pond to rear.
Guan Chibei lowered his eyes and started to scoop up a second basket of fish.
It had just been winter and there were too many fish in the river. Guan Chibei stood in the river, surrounded by fish. The bamboo basket in his hand was filled with fish with black backs.
Just as Guan Chibei was fishing, a villager passed by and saw Guan Chibei standing in the river with fish all around him.
That villager was the type who was jealous of the Guan family. He immediately narrowed his eyes and said to Guan Chibei, who was in the river below:
"Guan Chibei? You fished away so many fish in the river? Don't you know that this river belongs to the village? It's shared among the villagers. You took away so many fish. That's equivalent to taking away the fish in the village. That's not appropriate, right?!"
This villager was considered a famous person in the village who was a little shameless. He was not good at other things but was especially good at attracting attention. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Guan Chibei with ill intentions. This villager then said:
"Logically speaking, the river is shared by the village. Everyone in the village naturally has a share of the fish in the river. Now that you've scooped up so many fish by yourself, aren't you taking away everyone's fish?!"
"Guan Chibei, your Guan family has already set up a stall to do business. You've earned a lot of money, so it's not reasonable for you to take the villagers' things for free, right?"
This person raised his voice and shouted, immediately attracting the nearby villagers over. This was because the Guan family had been the focus of attention in the village recently.
Many villagers immediately came over and saw Guan Chibei in the river. The basket in front of him was filled with energetic fish. They were tempted.
Upon hearing that villager's words, a villager echoed, "Guan Chibei, you caught so many fish in the river?"
"Didn't you say that you would go to the city to do business and earn big money? Why would you fish from the river in the village? You don't have the capital to buy them, right? Hehe."
"It's such a big basket and it's filled to the brim. Your Guan family is too much. If you scoop up all the fish in the village river, wouldn't you take up everyone else's share? We won't have any more fish to catch."
"The Guan family is really shameless. You're fishing to use them and make food to sell for money. How heartless! You're selling the fish from the village to earn money for yourself? How is that reasonable?!"
"It's true. I only came back to my senses after you said that. How can the Guan family be like this? They go to the city to earn money and become lawless. Indeed, they don't take the villagers seriously anymore. They even dare to do such a thing!"
"That's right! That's right! We can't allow this!"
"In any case, I don't agree! The river belongs to the village, and we have a share in this fish. I don't agree!"
"Me neither!"
As the villagers spoke, their expressions turned ugly. They stood by the river with a fire burning in their eyes and looked at Guan Chibei like enemies.
Everyone's words turned into protests as they shouted at Guan Chibei. Another person said, "Guan Chibei, there's no such thing as a free meal in the world. Your Guan family fished up so many fish in the river. You should treat it as you're buying the fish from the river and give the villagers money."
Actually, these words were very unreasonable. After all, one had to make use of local resources. All the villagers took the things from the river or the mountain for free. Whoever took more or less depended on their own ability. Otherwise, how could they be calculative?!
What was there to be calculative about? Were people not allowed to pick wild vegetables and mushrooms?
However, the villagers felt that Guan Chibei, or rather, the Guan family, had gone out to do business to earn so much money. Now that they had caught so many fish, they had to pay the price.
"Yes!"
"Otherwise, you can put all the fish back. How can we let you fish so much for nothing? Take them out to do business and your Guan family will take the money earned?"
"That's right. If you must fish, your Guan family can give some of the money earned from the fish to us."
"That's right!"
"Yes!"
The commotion attracted more villagers over. Soon, a large group of villagers gathered by the river.
The villager's eyes lit up and they immediately agreed. A woman's eyes almost flashed as she looked at Guan Chibei, who was still standing in the river.
"Your Guan family went out to earn so much money. It's fine to share some with the villagers, right? You can't be so stingy, right? You can fish from the river in the village and sell them!"
Seeing that the villagers were unhappy and were protesting, they were just short of causing a ruckus to the village head and asking the Guan family to make a serious promise to guarantee that they would use the money to buy 'the village's fish.'
He looked up and met the greedy eyes of the villagers by the river. Guan Chibei was surrounded in the middle.. He did not panic and his expression did not change.