Chapter 310: Poking the Sore Spot – Daily Melon Eating in the Courtyard of the Sickly Young Lady

Chapter 310: Touching a Nerve – The Daily Life of the Delicate Aunt in the Compound

The group started tossing around ideas, or rather, directly describing their imagined fish traps.

Lin’s father: "I think the fish trap should be long and narrow, wide in the middle, with an opening at the top. There should also be holes along the body, but not too big, to prevent the fish from escaping."

Lin Qing: "It should be similar to a chicken cage, right? Just without the handle." She’d only ever seen chicken and duck cages before—they should be about the same!

Cen Xi: "I think it’s more like the pickling crock you use for vegetables, Mom. Like Dad said, the fish trap should have holes, and an opening at the top. Yeah, that should do it."

After the three shared their opinions, they stared expectantly at Lin’s mother, waiting for her to make the final decision.

After all, she was the one weaving the fish trap—they could only offer suggestions, not decide.

Lin’s mother listened and then thought, "... What kind of nonsense is this?"

Long and narrow? Chicken cage? Pickling crock?

You’ve got *such* great ideas!

In the end, Lin’s mother decided to weave a round fish trap—with a large opening as they suggested, holes around the body to let water flow through, and a handle for easy carrying.

When the finished product was presented:

Lin’s father: "Well, ain’t bad. Kinda like I pictured, just stubby."

Lin Qing nodded in agreement. "Adding the handle makes it look more like a chicken cage now."

Cen Xi, seeing the round, pot-bellied shape, also nodded—it really did resemble a pickling crock, just as he had said.

"How does this look?"

"Good, very good," Lin’s father quickly replied.

Lin Qing and Cen Xi also nodded. None of them knew the first thing about weaving, so getting one made at all was a win—what was there to criticize?

Lin’s mother felt it was decent too. "Alright then, I’ll make a few more. Try it out—see if it’s any good?"

"Great!" Lin’s father grabbed eagerly took the newly woven fish trap to the lakeside, found a spot to set it up, secured it, and then walked away.

"Did it work? All set?"

"Yep, we’ll see how it goes!"

"Perfect!"

"Oh, by the way, where are the fish you caught earlier?" Lin’s mother paused her weaving to ask.

"Here, here!" Lin’s father pointed at the dripping basket nearby.

Lin Qing hurried over. "How many did you catch?" She peered inside. Her face lit up.

"One, two, three, four—Four whole fish! No way! You guys *rocked* it!"

Lin’s father and Cen Xi soaked up the praise, feeling quite proud. "Eh, Cen Xi here did most of the work—that’s why we caught so many."

"Right, Dad was really good at directing the fish. They just swam straight into the basket—piece of cake!"

Lin Qing’s head spun listening to it, thinking how easy catching fish seemed!

"Incredible!" Lin Qing could only manage these two words in the end.

"Not bad. For just half an hour, this is a great catch," Mother Lin also praised.

"If we had a fishing net, we definitely wouldn’t have just this much," Father Lin said.

"We don’t have a fishing net at home. How about we get one tomorrow?" Mother Lin eyed the small lake, eager to clear out the whole lake before anyone else found them.

Lin Qing was tempted too, but—"Mom, even if we get one, we can’t come tomorrow. We all have work."

"Oh, I’d nearly forgotten. You all have work tomorrow. What should we do then?"

Father Lin pondered for a moment. "What if I take tomorrow off? I’ll come with you."

Lin Qing’s eyes lit up. "Right! We could call in! What if we all call in tomorrow?"

Hearing this, Mother Lin quickly shook her head. "No, no. If all of you call in, wouldn’t that be too obvious? Folks would smell a rat."

Cen Xi, being more rational, nodded in agreement. "Ma’s got a point. We can’t all call in."

"Then what should we do?" Lin Qing said worriedly.

"Let’s see what we bag today first," Cen Xi reassured her, patting her arm.

"Alright!" They’d cross that bridge later.

...

Meanwhile, over in the compound, Mother Li and Mother Sui joined the others for a chat when Mother Jiang brought up the Lin family’s outing.

"Oh! Mother Li, Mother Sui, the Lin family rode off on their bikes with baskets. Did they ditch y’all for the countryside?"

Mother Li scoffed. "The countryside isn’t ours. They can go if they want. You can go too!"

Hit a nerve, Mother Jiang’s smile stiffened.

"What’s so great about the countryside? Why waste the cash? I can’t be bothered spending money!" Mother Jiang retorted stubbornly.

"Pfft—" Mother Sui barked a laugh. "True, you don’t have a bike. Going to the countryside would indeed cost you."

Mother Jiang felt mocked—because she was. Even Mother Gu, Mother Su, and Auntie Zhou took collateral shade.

"What’s so special about a bike? Just wait—my son will soon buy one too!" Mother Gu declared proudly.

This caught everyone’s attention. Bikes didn’t come cheap. The Gu family claimed they’d get one soon—must be nice!

Mother Li was more curious. "Mother Gu, do you have the coupon? Where’d you get it?"

Mother Gu naturally wouldn’t reveal such a secret. "Why do you care where we got it? Just know our family will have a bike soon."

Mother Li’s smile dropped. Suit yourself—as if she couldn’t guess.

Mother Jiang was more direct. "That ration ticket… you didn’t *acquire* it…?" Though she didn’t say the words, everyone knew what she meant.

Mother Gu’s gaze shifty. "What nonsense! We traded kin for this ticket. We’ve waited our turn fair and square."

"Oh?" Mother Jiang drawled, oozing doubt—she wasn’t buying it.

"Hmph! Whether you believe it or not, our family's ticket was obtained through proper channels."

"Sure, sure. Your ticket is perfectly legitimate. And just as your daughter-in-law sold off her job position, isn’t the money conveniently used to buy a bicycle?" Mother Jiang deliberately poked at her sore spot, not wanting her to feel too pleased.

Mother Gu’s face instantly darkened. "Why bring up that cursed matter?" In Mother Gu’s words, Jiang Li wasn’t even human anymore.

"Did I say anything wrong? Didn’t you extract over two hundred yuan from your in-laws? Since the job can’t be recovered, isn’t that money just payment for the job position?" Mother Jiang avoided saying 'the Jiang family,' as if mentioning it would reflect badly on her.

"You—" Mother Gu trembled with rage.

...