Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

Chapter 122 On the Voyage 2

Song Sanniang entered her small room. The bed in the small room was a tatami. There was only one tatami inside the room, and next to the tatami was an aisle for people to walk around.

There were pillows and quilts on the tatami, but they looked dirty. There was also a damp, musty and slightly sour smell in the room.

Fortunately, there was a window in the room. Song Sanniang opened it and the river breeze blew into the room, bringing fresh air.

Song Sanniang rolled up the bedding on the bed and piled the pillows at the foot of the bed.

She spread the bed with the sheets she brought with her. There was no pillow, so she used her own clothes as a pillow at night, and covered herself with clothes when she was cold.

Because of the rush of time, she didn't have time to bring anything to relieve her boredom. Now she could only stare at the river view outside the window in a daze.

The ship not only passed through the bustling town docks, but also sailed across the undulating river surface with majestic mountains on both sides. The ship moved forward along the water flow, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly.

Song Sanniang was quite thankful that she was not seasick, because she heard the sound of someone vomiting in the compartment next to Qin Haodong.

Song Lao Er and Niu Lao San were in the rooms on the left and right of Song San Niang respectively, and Qin Haodong and his brother were directly opposite her.

Just when everyone was bored to death, a boatman shouted from outside, "It's time to go fishing on the river. If you are interested, you can come and try it. All the fish you catch belong to you. Twenty cents for a fishing rod and ten cents for a seat."

Hearing this, people came out of the room one after another. There was a knock on Song Sanniang's door, and Song Laoer's voice rang out.

"Sanniang, do you want to go fishing too? Your uncle and I will go."

When the boatman was shouting, Niu Laosan happened to be chatting with Song Laoer in his room.

Song Sanniang immediately responded, "Okay, I'll go too." Then she got up and went out.

Song Lao Er turned around and knocked on Qin Haodong's door, asking Qin Haodong if they wanted to go together.

Qin Haodong and his companions had already felt that time was unbearable, and they wished they could grow wings and fly to Guangling Mansion to find Qin Yuanyuan. They immediately agreed and came out of the room.

Everyone locked the door together. Everyone had their money on them and there were only clothes in the room, but they still locked it to be on the safe side.

When we got to the deck, some people had already taken out their fishing rods and started fishing.

Song Laoer's group consisted of five people. Qin Haoxi was not tall enough, so they rented four fishing rods and five seats.

He gave the money, and everyone got their fishing rods and baits, and then went to the fishing area on the deck.

These fishing rods are made of bamboo and are polished very smoothly. They are very similar to modern fishing rods. There is a reel in the handle to extend the line, but the fishing line is made of hemp.

Song Sanniang took the bait given by the boatman with great interest. The bait was in a small bamboo tube.

She got goosebumps the moment she saw it. There was a little soil in the bamboo tube, and a bunch of earthworms were wriggling inside.

Song Sanniang had no choice but to ask Song Laoer to help her put on the bait. Then she threw the fishing line and began to look forward to a fish taking the bait.

Qin Haoxi stood beside Qin Haodong pitifully, staring at his fishing rod.

Song Laoer and the other man were very calm. They sat in their seats, holding fishing rods, unlike Song Sanniang who stood and stared at the fishing rod.

Song Sanniang was actually very skeptical. The boat was clearly moving forward, so how could we catch any fish? Why did it feel like everyone was trying to find a sword by carving a mark on the boat? So, she curiously asked Song Laoer,

"Dad, the boat is moving. Can we really catch any fish like this?"

Song Lao Er smiled and said, "Of course you can catch fish. The boat is moving, but the fish will also swim with it.

When they see the bait and smell the bait, they will chase after it to eat it." Song Sanniang nodded in understanding.

Suddenly, there was a commotion a few seats away from them. A middle-aged man was reeling in the line of his fishing rod and shouted, "There's a fish on the hook, there's a fish on the hook."

Maybe the fish was a bit too big and he was having a hard time reeling it in. The person next to him helped him reel in the line and held the fishing rod to pull it back together.

A boatman brought a long net and scooped it into the river. A big carp weighing nearly 20 kilograms was struggling desperately in the net, trying to escape.

Everyone rushed forward and pulled up the net. When the fish reached the deck, it was still swishing its tail and flapping its wings.

The man who caught the fish was grinning from ear to ear. He could sell the fish to the boatman or ask the boatman to cook it for himself.

The man thought that there would be dinner on the boat that night, so he sold the carp. One pound of carp cost six cents, and there were eighteen pounds of fish, so he got one hundred and eight cents.

Everyone fishing on the boat was envious. Everyone could afford to stay in a room. Of course, it was not because of money.

Everyone envied his good luck. He was the first one to catch a fish, and it was a carp, which was a jackpot for everyone.

Maybe there are more fish in this section of the river. Gradually, more and more people caught fish. The largest one weighed nearly 30 kilograms. Even with everyone's help, we could hardly catch it.

Song Sanniang and her friends did not go empty-handed either. Several of them caught fish. Song Sanniang caught a silver carp weighing five or six catties, Song Laoer caught a carp weighing ten catties, a perch weighing five catties, and Niu Laosan caught a crucian carp weighing five catties.

Qin Haodong was luckier than the guy who just won the first prize. He caught the most valuable mandarin fish, and he caught two of them, each weighing seven or eight kilograms.

Now, those who caught fish no longer thought that catching fish was a big deal.

The mandarin fish boatman asked for 38 coins per catty, one catty for 7.6 ounces, and one catty for 8.7 ounces. Qin Haodong got 574 coins.

The money was not a lot for Qin Haodong now, but he felt it was a good omen and he would definitely be able to find his sister.

Everyone enjoyed the river breeze, went fishing, and admired the scenery along the way until the sun set.

Dinner was served on the boat. We had been fishing for an afternoon and had already caught more than one or two fish. We sold the fish to the boatman and then went to get dinner.

Dinner was actually the same as lunch. Complaints from everyone could be heard from time to time. The cook had long since developed a thick skin like a city wall. She could still smile and serve everyone food even when she heard everyone complaining.

After everyone finished dinner, the last ray of light in the sky disappeared. Song Sanniang thought the boat would stop moving when it got dark.

Unexpectedly, lanterns were lit on all sides of the boat, and there were boats sailing in twos and threes on the river with dim candlelight flickering.

At night, everyone returned to their rooms. No one washed up, but the boatman gave each room an oil lamp to make it easier for everyone to go to the toilet at night.

The toilet on the boat is at the end of the aisle. It is not a toilet but a squat toilet, which probably discharges directly into the river.

Under the escort of Song Laoer, Song Sanniang went to the toilet, and then returned to the room to rest. The boat gradually became quiet.