Lunch was like a war.
A group of children were eating their food quickly. In the past, they would lick the bottom of their bowls clean, but today, the rice was still falling everywhere, so they just put the food down.
"I'm done..."
"I've finished eating too..."
…
As soon as the shouting stopped and I moved my butt a little, the adults around me grabbed me by the collar one by one.
Mrs. Lin scolded, "There are grains of rice all over the table, like chickens pecking at rice. Pick them up and eat them up quickly. There's also rice in the bowl. If you don't eat up the rice in the bowl, you'll find a wife with pockmarks all over her face when you grow up."
Mrs. Lin also added: "You girls are the same. You didn't finish your meal. You will have pockmarks all over your face when you grow up."
"Why do boys get pockmarks on their wives' faces when they don't eat cleanly? But we get pockmarks on our own faces?"
Everyone: “…”
They really don’t know this...
Ye Yaodong felt that his eldest niece was really smart. No wonder she became the first college student in their village.
Mrs. Lin glared at her and said, "Why are you talking so much, kid? Eat your meal quickly."
"At this time, I am a child. People usually say that I am a grown-up girl. I should help wash clothes, wash dishes, and learn to cook..."
Lin Dongxue pursed her lips, lowered her head and muttered a few words, then picked up the rice again and ate all the rice grains in the bowl.
Mrs. Lin was exhausted: "They are all grown up, and they can't stand being talked to. They even talk back when someone says something to them..."
Lin Xiuqing smiled and said, "What's the matter that makes you run away in such a hurry?"
"When we were going down the mountain, we saw a group of wild ducks flying over to the river. We want to go see if there are any wild duck eggs to pick up. Uncle, can you help us catch the ducks?"
"Yes, uncle, can you help us catch the ducks..."
The half-grown children were all shouting and staring at him with eager eyes.
"Hmm?" Ye Yaodong raised his eyebrows, "Shouldn't you ask your father to find a solution?"
"I think my uncle is more capable and knows how to catch it."
My eldest niece is really good at talking!
My uncle was overjoyed to hear this!
Ye Yaodong grinned, "Wait, there is no fishing net, I will bring a basket for you to catch it, use the same method as catching birds, see if you can catch it?"
"Okay, okay~"
The children were instantly happy.
"Then little uncle, please eat quickly! It's been such a long time and your meal is still good."
Mother Lin glared at the group of disrespectful children and waved her hand to drive them away, "Why are you rushing us? Wait at the door after you finish eating..."
So many nephews and nieces were waiting there expectantly, but he didn't let them wait too long. He quickly scooped up half a bowl of rice from his bowl, and as soon as he put the bowl down, he hurried out.
Suddenly, he heard his youngest son's shouting behind him again. Just as he was hesitating whether to bring another troublesome person with him, the voice behind him immediately quieted down. He was coaxed into silence, and only then did he feel at ease to go to the door to find tools.
It's actually quite simple. Just take a basket, a short stick, a long string, and a handful of rice. Although the method is a bit crude, it is effective.
He thought it should be fine, but it was a pity that his father-in-law didn't have a fishing net, otherwise he would be able to catch a lot!
"Are you ready, uncle?"
"By the way, ask your father to bring the hand net and shrimp cage."
By the way, catch some fish and shrimps, river shrimps are also very delicious.
"okay."
Ye Yaodong, surrounded by a group of children, walked towards the river in a heroic and high-spirited manner. Fortunately, today was not the weekend and all the children in the village had gone to school, except for some underage children who were still running around.
When the other children saw them in such large groups, they followed them out of curiosity. However, they were stopped by several children from the Lin family, who told them not to follow and threatened to beat them if they did. This frightened all the children in the village.
Ye Yaodong looked at this with both laughter and tears. He hadn't even gone there yet, but he was already worried that someone would take advantage of him.
With the children running and shouting to urge them, they quickened their pace and soon arrived at the river.
"Ah~ There are more wild ducks~"
"Uncle, catch it, catch it..."
After just a short while of eating, more ducks flew over. It might be because the midday sun was brighter and warmer.
There were many villagers passing by on the way up and down the mountain. When they saw them trying to catch ducks, they didn't take it seriously. Everyone had tried before, and they knew that wild ducks were not easy to catch.
They kindly reminded us, "It's not easy to catch wild ducks. They are in the water and you can easily fall in. Children, please stay away..."
The two brothers-in-law would say hello when they saw acquaintances, but as for the others, they would just pretend they didn't hear anything and just thought they were there anyway.
Ye Yaodong took the tools and reminded them, "Just look around the shore to see if there are any wild duck eggs. I'll set a trap over there and see."
He approached the flock of wild ducks, but scared them so much that they flew everywhere. He tied one end of the rope to a wooden stick and placed it in the grass beside the river. He propped up the bamboo basket and sprinkled some rice from his pocket into the grass. Then he held the other end of the rope and pushed it away.
Lin Guangyuan and Lin Dongxue followed him closely and squatted with him, "Uncle, is this okay?"
"Is it okay? You'll know after you see it."
This is his first time trying too.
After he pushed them away, the wild ducks that had been startled into the air by him flew back again, and some even walked into the cage to peck at the rice below...
"Sister-in-law...sister-in-law..."
"Uncle...two..."
Both children were excited.
Ye Yaodong didn't expect that two wild ducks would come in so easily. These wild ducks were too unvigilant.
He was also a little excited. After finding the right gap, he pulled the rope and the bamboo basket came down directly. The three of them rushed up immediately.
The two ducks below were covered and were flapping their wings in panic. They had just opened the frame a little and were about to escape when they were pressed down again.
"Got it, got it..."
"Uncle..."
"Go away and pull some straw for me. I will pull them out one by one and tie up their wings so they won't fly away."
Lin Guangyuan excitedly ran to the roadside to find straw, grabbed a handful and handed it to him.
Ye Yaodong took out a wild duck that was flapping its wings wildly, grabbed some straw, tied up its wings, tied its feet as well, and then handed it to his eldest nephew.
He followed suit and took out another one from the bundle, then handed it to his eldest niece.
The two of them caught one each and ran excitedly towards their other brothers and sisters who were looking for wild duck eggs.
Ye Yaodong continued to hold up the bamboo basket and took out a handful of rice from his pocket. As soon as he walked a little further and squatted down, he was surrounded by a group of children.
"Uncle, uncle, catch me one too..."
"I want one too, I want one too..."
"Dad, I want wild ducks too..."
Ye Yaodong was immediately overwhelmed by the group of children, and his ears were buzzing...
"Ah... stop, stop, go away, go away... I'm catching... I'm catching..."
"My uncle asked me to come and catch it..." Lin Guangyuan volunteered.
"Then I'll give it to you..."
Ye Yaodong ran away as if he had been pardoned.
Oh my god... Being popular with kids doesn't seem like a good thing
Can't stand it, can't stand it...
He sat on the grass nearby, frowned, and looked at the children huddled together not far away and shouting "I'll do it, I'll do it" with a helpless smile, and couldn't help but remind them.
"Stop pushing each other. If anyone falls into the river, you will all be beaten when you return."
Now they are all a little more obedient.
Lin Xianghui had just put down the shrimp cage, and when he walked over, he actually picked up a wild duck egg from the bushes and said with a smile, "There are actually some to pick up."
"There are so many wild ducks flying around, there must be a few eggs."
Suddenly, there was a cheer from the group of children. They turned around and saw that everyone ran forward to hold down the bamboo basket, and the wild ducks nearby were frightened and flew away.
"Got it, got it..."
"Uncle, do you have any more rice?"
When Ye Yaodong heard the shouting over there, he felt in his pocket, took out all the rice and handed it to the soldier they sent over.
"There aren't many left. If it's not enough later, you can ask your father to use a hand net to catch some small fish and shrimps and use them as bait."
If it weren't for the fact that he was the son-in-law, anyone in the family who dared to take rice out to feed the birds would be scolded to death by Lin's mother.
The group of children, led by Lin Guangyuan, continued to catch fish excitedly.
Soon, Lin Xianghui was pestered by the children, asking him to catch small fish and shrimps for them as bait. They were addicted to catching them, and they had tied up several wild ducks in the bushes.
Wild ducks are not sensitive to catching tools and have relatively poor vigilance, so they are easier to catch on the shore.
At this time, Lin Xiangyang suddenly caught a turtle, and the group of children were so happy that they almost jumped up to the sky.
"It's great that we don't have to study! Dad, can we continue to stay at home and play tomorrow?"
Lin Xiangyang's smile suddenly faltered, and he glared at them, "You've already paid a lot of tuition fees just for playing around. If you don't study hard, I'll beat you to death."
Everyone shrank their necks immediately and quickly moved away from Lin Xiangyang.
Ye Yaodong watched with a smile and started wandering around the river bank, wanting to see if he could pick up some wild duck eggs to take back.
Seeing that there were still many snails attached to the small stones on the river bank, he squatted down to pick them up. The river water was very clear and looked very clean. The women in the village basically washed clothes in the shallows downstream of the river branch.
After picking up all the screws on the surface of the stone, I broke the stone open and saw river clams underneath.
Each one is small in size and has a shiny shell surface. I picked up a few dark brown and yellow ones. They are smaller than the sand clams on the beach. These river clams are shells from the river and are quite delicious when fried.
After seeing this, Ye Yaodong also started to touch these things. He caught them and put them in the grass, separating them from the snails and making piles of them.
Occasionally, I saw a few river clams with the edges of their shells sticking out of the mud. These clams were much larger than river clams.
Ye Yaodong looked at the water with shining eyes, quickly rolled up his sleeves, leaned forward, and dug into the river. Most of the clam was buried in the mud, and the small part that was exposed was probably because the weather was good, so it was exposed to breathe.
He gently pulled out of the soil several river clams within his sight, but he used a little too much force on one and broke the shell.
The flesh of the clam that had just been pulled out was still exposed. When he shook off the water stains, all the flesh instantly shrank back into the shell.
"Did you catch any clams?" Lin Xianghui had just finished dealing with the children and when he walked over, he saw him catching a few clams.
"Yes, I just happened to see a small section of the shell sticking out from the mud below, so I just pulled it out."
"Catch a few more and cook a bowl of clam tofu soup tonight."
Lin Xianghui saw a thin line beside the river bank, so he rolled up his sleeves and followed the line. After a while, he caught a large river clam with exposed white meat. However, he crushed the shell because he used too much force.
After putting it in the water to wash off the mud on it, he threw it directly into the grass, together with the ones caught by Ye Yaodong.
As a result, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a white bead out of the corner of his eye, which was exposed in the collision between the clam shells.
His eyes widened instantly and he reached out to grab it.