Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 417: Joining the Fun

Yi Chichi was a bit tempted, but it was limited to being tempted.

Action was impossible, her Aunt Mu was still with her.

"No need, I can walk."

Seeing this, Wen Shi didn’t insist anymore, but gently reminded, "If you can’t walk, just say so."

"Okay."

The group moved quickly all the way, but Yi Chichi and Mu Da found it very difficult, yet they never fell behind, sticking closely to the back of the group.

Upon reaching their destination, Yi Chichi saw a large lake covered in ice and snow.

She couldn’t hide her shock and said, "Is this the puddle you were talking about?"

Who would have a puddle as big as thirty or forty acres?

"This is the puddle."

Uncle Yaozi emphasized seriously, "Have you ever seen a lake that’s only this big?"

While speaking, he kept winking at Yi Chichi, hinting her to not push her luck and keep asking questions.

Getting his drift, Yi Chichi realized there was more to it.

She decisively shut her mouth, swallowing back her words.

Instead, she asked, "What are we doing?"

That’s a good question.

A group of men were left dumbfounded. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

They couldn’t dig the ice, and getting them to fish was probably out of the question, as for doing something else...

After scanning Wen Shi and Uncle Yaozi, Dongzi joked, "Why don’t you and Aunt Mu wander around on your own?"

Understood, there was nothing for them to do, letting them kill time on their own.

However, Yi Chichi and Mu Da weren’t familiar with this place, since it was their first time here, they really didn’t dare to wander around aimlessly.

Fortunately, the scenery here was pretty good, with brown reeds waving in the icy wind, surrounded by distant mountains and pure white water, carrying a hint of desolation and vastness.

Mu Da took a deep breath, "The view here is quite open, quite exhilarating."

Yi Chichi gazed into the distance and calmly responded, "Compared to the bareness between winter and spring, I still prefer the revival of everything in spring, the vitality of summer, and the joy of harvest in autumn."

"Don’t like winter?"

"Not at all, it’s too cold, it stops me from fulfilling my wish to take a bath every other day."

Going to the commune bathhouse every day was impractical, distance was one aspect, and on the other hand, going to the bathhouse required bath tickets.

This topic resonated with Mu Da, and she complained, "Winters here are indeed hard to endure."

"My mom said she was going to install pipes to build a bathroom, couldn’t get the pipes, I just hope we can have a bathroom ready this year."

Mu Da was intrigued, "Is it going to be like the one in Yangcheng and island’s guesthouses, with a tap water bathroom?"

"We want to have it, but I don’t know if the remodeling will succeed."

That makes sense.

As someone who had seen the world, Mu Da thought that if it could be remodeled successfully, that would be great, but if not, installing a tap for mixing hot and cold water would be far more convenient than just wiping oneself at home.

Additionally, she offered a very practical suggestion, "If it doesn’t work, make sure to insulate the bathroom well, and soak in a big wooden tub as a bath, it’s quite comfortable too."

"I indeed have this thought, but I’ll wait until the pipes are in place and try to see if it can be remodeled first."

Mu Da agreed and made a reservation in advance, "If the remodeling succeeds, I’ll borrow it for a bath this winter."

Yi Chichi agreed immediately, then puzzled, "But aunt, you work at the commune, so the bathhouse should be convenient."

Besides, the tickets they received from the hospital included bath tickets and haircut tickets.

Mu Da’s mouth twitched slightly, "I was scared the first time I went to the bathhouse."

She really hadn’t seen so many women gathered all in one place, it was something beyond her imagination.

The thought of being one of them made her feel uncomfortable.

"To be honest, I only went to the bathhouse once."

The implication was clear: she bathed at home.

Yi Chichi instantly showed a sympathetic expression, that was quite a struggle.

No wonder she wanted to book her bathroom.

"Don’t worry, Aunt, I’ll figure out the bathroom this year no matter what."

Mu Da was full of expectations, just as she was about to speak, her husband ordered the start of work.

Then Wen Shi and the others got to work.

In an instant, she swallowed her words and changed her tune, "Let’s go, they’ve started, let’s join the fun."

She hadn’t seen people fish in frozen rivers before, so she had to check it out.

Yi Chichi also perked up, eagerly following along.

Ice fishing was a skillful task, with the puddle having a large area and thick ice, it looked like a flatland at a glance, if you weren’t an expert, you wouldn’t even know where the fish were.

Where there weren’t any fish.

The depth of the water had to be clear as well.

Otherwise, if they found spots where the ice was too thin and the water was deep, breaking through could cause people to fall in. Timely rescue could save them from much harm, but untimely acts could be fatal.

Therefore, for the task of ice fishing, an expert was essential to guide.

There were two experts present, one was Uncle Yaozi, and the other was the steward.

Wen Shi and the others were just laborers, under Uncle Yaozi’s orders, immediately taking their positions, shovels, and picks ready for action.

Soon, the snow on the ice surface was cleared, revealing the smooth, shiny ice underneath.

After the ice surface was ready, Wen Shi and the others began to chisel at the spot chosen by Uncle Yaozi.

Yi Chichi wanted to go over, but was stopped by Wen Shi.

"Chichi, don’t come over, the ice chunks fly around when we’re drilling."

It was to prevent her from getting hurt by the ice chunks.

Listening to reason, Yi Chichi stopped moving forward and stood firmly beside Mu Da, watching them pick up the ice chisel to dig through the ice.

Compared to Dongzi and the others who needed a break after just fiddling with the chisel a few times, Wen Shi’s strength and endurance were evidently much stronger.

Yi Chichi watched him grip the chisel and punch through the ice rapidly, sending sparkling ice chips flying, involuntarily twitching a corner of her mouth, he was really putting in effort.

It was good to spend some energy.

To avoid being troubled by him at night.

Suddenly, with a splash, cigarette in mouth, the steward shivered all over, exclaiming in surprise, "It’s done!"

Mu Da asked Yi Chichi, "Are the fish coming up?"

"Probably broke through the ice."

Saying this, she dragged Mu Da towards where Wen Shi was, "Let’s go see the fish."

When they arrived, no fish jumped out, instead, the steward asked Wen Shi to make the hole bigger, and Wen Shi obeyed, prying with the chisel, and the hole visibly grew larger.

Then, Uncle Yaozi brought out a fishing net, "Come on, let’s lay the net, we’ll use this hole as the fish entrance."

This was a task Yi Chichi and Mu Da could handle.

So, the two of them were assigned by Uncle Yaozi.

The fishing net was large, several dozen meters long, with many pieces of wood tied with iron chains and iron blocks, and the mesh was quite large.

This was clearly aimed at big fish.

After more than half an hour, all the preparations were completed.

Uncle Yaozi shouted, "Let go."

With a loud thud, the wood carrying the net was pushed into the water by Wen Shi and the others, floating on the surface.

While the fishing net weighed with thick ropes and tied with iron blocks and wood began to sink beneath the ice, into the water little by little.

Yi Chichi didn’t understand what was happening, asked Mu Da, "Aunt, have you figured it out?"

Mu Da also didn’t understand, with anticipation in her voice, she said, "We’ll know soon enough."