The Zhao family was enjoying the cool air in the main room when they heard a series of loud footsteps. Looking up, they saw two little ones running towards them, covered in sweat. They quickly got up and pulled them inside, saying, "It's the middle of the day, and there's no ghost chasing us, why are you running so fast!"
After saying that, he suddenly noticed the wooden bucket in Su Erlang's hand.
I was startled. "How come there are so many clams! Did you go fishing in the river?"
Su Hua looked up and saw half a bucket of palm-sized river clams in front of her. On the clams, there was a shallow layer of small fish and shrimp, and even a few small crucian carp.
"We didn't go into the river, we just felt around on the riverbank downstream!" Su Erlang chuckled, put down the wooden bucket, and quickly gestured to his knee with his hand.
"The water downstream is only knee-deep now, and many of the older boys in the village are already fishing. Our half-bucket of river clams is considered small; many of them have full buckets. Brother Mao went early and caught two big buckets by himself..."
"The water downstream has dried up to this shallow?" Zhao frowned slightly. Seeing that the two were still standing, she waved her hand and said, "Alright, you two should sit down and rest. It's one thing that the river is shallow, but the midday sun is strong. Wouldn't it be too hot to catch fish?"
Ah Zheng was eating a crabapple when she heard this and laughed out loud, "Sister-in-law is right. If those two little dumplings that were originally plump and round continue to be exposed to the sun like this, they'll probably become even darker than Xiao Hei!"
Little Black's ears perked up.
He glanced silently at the two brothers, then at his own dark, grimy paws, and then moved closer to the ice basin, resting his head directly on it.
Su Dalang scratched his head sheepishly, "Mother, my second brother and I were planning to go to the village chief's house to take a look. We heard that a princess has come to the village chief's house, and all the villagers have gone to see what's going on..."
"What did you say? A princess?" Zhao exclaimed in surprise. "Shouldn't this princess be the prince's daughter? Shouldn't she live in the capital or her fiefdom? What is she doing coming all the way to our Shanghe Village?"
Su Hua raised an eyebrow. "We're thousands of miles from the capital. It would take at least ten days to get here from there. Could you have misheard?"
“I didn’t mishear. Mudskipper’s story is very detailed. He said the princess’s name is something like…Pig Princess.” Su Erlang shook his head like a rattle drum.
"And she's incredibly beautiful. We're just thinking of going to see just how beautiful this so-called Princess Pig is, and whether she's prettier than the bunch of pigs we raise in Zaozhuang!"
Su Hua's lips twitched. This "humph" was referring to the piglets Su Baishi raised in Zaozhuang. There were probably few people like Da Yu who dared to compare a princess to a pig.
Qingdai's expression was somewhat strange.
Princess Zhu... Princess Zhu, could Young Master Sun and the others be referring to Princess Mingzhu?
Su Erlang turned around and glanced at Mudfish peeking out from outside the courtyard. "Mother, Brother Mudfish is still waiting for us. We'll go now!"
Madam Zhao nodded and instructed, "These royals are high-class and have many rules. If you want to watch the excitement, just take a look from afar with Mudfish. Do not get too close, lest you cause unnecessary trouble, understand?"
"Yes, Mother, Dalang and Erlang know." The two little ones responded in unison, and then ran out like a gust of wind.
Madam Zhao shook her head, her gaze then falling on the wooden bucket by the door. "Do Hua'er and A-Zheng like river clam meat? We happen to have some dried cuttlefish that Yu Cheng sent earlier left over. How about we make a river clam and cuttlefish soup tonight?"
Su Hua couldn't help but chuckle. "Sister-in-law, there's no rush. It's hot right now. Let's do it when it gets darker."
Zhao waved her hand and smiled, "I took a nap at noon, so I'm full of energy. I'd be bored if I didn't do something."
Ah Zheng stuffed the remaining half of the apple into her mouth and followed Zhao Shi with a smile, saying, "These small fish and shrimp are best eaten fried. Add some red chili peppers and a handful of scallions, and they'll be a perfect dish to accompany your drinks."
While they were talking, the two had already gone into the kitchen and brought the wooden basin and kitchen knife to the door.
One person was gutting river clams, while another was picking out small fish and shrimp.
Su Hua looked at the scorching sun outside, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes. She didn't know what was wrong with the weather; it was getting hotter every day, and it hadn't rained for a month and a half.
We've been using ice basins at home for the past few days.
Especially during the day, it gets hot as soon as it gets warmer. Five or six ice basins are placed in the main room, and two ice basins are placed in each room of the house to cool off.
The impact on Shanghe Village is not too great for the time being due to the river flowing from Fuhu Mountain, but if the heat continues, the situation may not be optimistic.
The rice won't be ready for harvest for another two months.
Her sweet potatoes in Zaozhuang will take about a month and a half to grow. It's time to take some time to visit Zaozhuang. After all, there are no rivers in Wangjia Village, and although there is a small lake in Zaozhuang, lakes are more likely to dry up than mountain streams.
Besides Zaozhuang, you should also check out the sweet potato valley in these mountains.
Just as her thoughts were churning, she suddenly heard a delighted voice, "Oh my, this little round bead, is it a pearl?"
Su Hua snapped out of her daze and peeked over, only to see Zhao Shi pulling a tiny pearl, no bigger than a peppercorn, from the clam meat. She couldn't help but smile, "Sister-in-law, you're really lucky! To find a pearl in a wild clam is one in a thousand..."
Before she could finish speaking, Ah Zheng suddenly chuckled, "Hey, there seems to be a pearl in this clam I'm holding, and it looks like there's more than one."
As he spoke, he broke open the clam shell, revealing two round beads in his palm, which were even larger than the ones in Zhao's hand.
The two were overjoyed and quickly cleaned out all the clams.
The bucket was almost full of river mussels, and the ground was covered with mussel shells. Almost half of the mussel meat contained pearls, some with one, some with two, and some even with three.
Although the pearls are not particularly round, their color is quite nice, mostly white with a few pink ones, which shimmer in the sunlight and are very pleasing to the eye.
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