Chapter 15: Poisonous Octopus

"It's you, big brother~"

Lian Yue paddled quickly a few times to bring the raft closer, and was relieved to see that Jiang Wan had not encountered any sea urchins.

"Little girl, this thing stings and hurts, it's not fun, don't touch it."

"It's okay, I used a shovel instead of my hands."

Jiang Wan shook the shovel in her hand and smiled sweetly. Lian Yue knew that he had misunderstood, but he still couldn't help but remind her again.

"If you want to play, just use a shovel, but don't touch it with your hands."

"I know. Thank you, big brother. My name is Jiang Wan, what's yours?"

Jiang Wan coveted the elder brother's bamboo raft and was very well behaved in order to make friends with him. Lian Yue was impressed by this and he, who usually ignored children, introduced his name to the little girl he just met.

"My name is Lian Yue. I have something else to do so I'll leave first. Don't play in the water and come to the shore."

“Okay, okay!”

Jiang Wan obediently walked to the beach and watched Lian Yue go farther away before going back into the water.

Just now when the elder brother's bamboo raft approached, she saw a large wooden basin and a pile of fishing nets on the raft. The wooden basin was filled with several large fish that weighed about 6 or 7 kilograms, and it was obvious that they were going to be sold for money.

Jiang Wan coveted his fish selling channels and his bamboo rafts. If she had the chance, she would try her best to build a good relationship with him and repay his kindness.

There is nothing we need at home right now, let alone conchs or crabs. Let's wait a little longer.

Jiang Wan put her thoughts aside and focused on digging out the sea urchins and putting them in the basket. This season is the best time to eat purple sea urchins. She just weighed some with a shovel and it seemed to be at least 100 grams, very plump.

Sea urchins live in groups, so if there is one here, there might be another. She had completely forgotten about the sand crabs and bent over to concentrate on looking for sea urchins in the cracks of the reefs underwater.

One, two, three...

The little girl was having a great time looking for it, and Lian Yue, who was not far away, had an expression on his face that was hard to describe.

He had originally planned to leave, but when he thought of the girl's obedient appearance, his heart softened and he decided to go back and give her a bamboo clip. Anyway, he had made several of these things himself, so it didn't matter if he gave one to the little girl. As a result, when he turned back, he saw that the girl who had just agreed to go to the sea had gone back to the sea, and was picking up sea urchins very enthusiastically.

In order to avoid embarrassing both of them, he thought about it and decided not to send the bamboo clip over. He quietly rowed the bamboo raft away to Dongwan Pier.

Dongwan Pier is one of the largest piers outside Yuanxi City. There are always police patrolling here, and the docking of ships is strictly controlled. Because each person has to pay two cents to enter the city, fishermen almost never enter the city, and they always sell their catches directly at the pier.

Those who came to the wharf to buy their catch included fishmongers from the city, purchasing managers from wealthy families, and purchasing managers from various wine houses.

Lian Yue always brought the biggest fish to the dock and sold them to the owner of Wanyuzhai. Today, when he arrived at the dock and looked around for a while, he found that the uncles who used to wait for money to sell fish to the owner had gone to other places, and all of them looked unhappy.

His intuition told him something was wrong.

"Yue boy, are you still waiting for the money manager? Stop waiting. Wanyuzhai was closed down after a table of people died yesterday."

!!!

"Uncle, you said that Manyosai ate someone to death? What did he eat to death? So suddenly..."

"Who says it's not true? I heard about it this morning and many people didn't believe it. I went to the city and found out it was true. I heard that it was eaten by octopus. Everyone at the table fell down after one stick of incense. They were dead in half an hour."

The uncle who was buying tea sighed a lot, and Lian Yue, who was standing beside him, broke out in a cold sweat.

We have octopus at home, and grandma said she would cook it for lunch today!

Lian Yue instantly lost all interest in selling fish. He picked up the basin and ran towards the bamboo raft, paddling back with all his might.

He was not worried about grandma, because she would always wait for him to come back and eat whenever she cooked something delicious. He was worried about his younger brother, because that kid was a greedy person. Every time grandma cooked, he would hang around in the kitchen and would not leave until he had eaten a bite or two of the food.

If your own octopus is also poisonous...

He didn't even dare to think about the consequences and could only urge himself to go faster.

The village is quite far from the pier, and it took at least an hour to go back and forth. When Lian Yue ran all the way home, he saw the smoke coming out of the house.

"Grandma!"

"A Yue? Why did you come back so early today? Grandma's meal isn't ready yet."

The kind old lady leaned over and spoke, while she stood up to pour water for her eldest grandson. Xiao Yuanzi, who was guarding the kitchen, was very tactful and brought out the water for her eldest brother.

"Brother, you must be tired. Drink some water."

Seeing that the younger brother was fine, Lian Yue's tense heart relaxed a little. He took the bowl of water but did not drink it. Instead, he asked grandma: "Grandma, have you cooked our octopus?"

"No, it was supposed to be done at noon."

Lian Yue had just felt relieved when he heard his grandmother speak again.

"I went up the mountain to collect firewood this morning, and I slipped and fell, and I don't know how my arm got dislocated. I happened to meet the new girl from the Yin family in the village, and she said she knew medical skills and fixed my arm in no time. I gave her money but she refused to take it, so I gave her the octopus you caught yesterday."

With a plop, the bowl of water fell to the ground.

Lian Yue was so anxious that he didn't even have time to talk to grandma and ran to the end of the village.

When the Yin family first came to the village, there was a shortage of food. They will definitely eat the octopus today!

Yesterday, I sold a big octopus to the shopkeeper Qian. Although I don't know if it was the one that killed the man, I still have to be prepared for the worst. My own octopus was caught in the same place as the big octopus. No matter what, I can't take the risk and let the Yin family eat it.

Lian Yue was running to Yin's house in a hurry, but Yin's family was busy eating delicious food.

"Cousin, your grilled octopus smells so good..."

Yin Ning took a deep breath of the aroma and bit another octopus leg viciously. At this moment, the leg no longer had the cold and scary touch, but was soft and chewy, with a texture similar to that of snail meat.

I am no longer afraid of octopuses, because I am the one who eats them!

Jiang Wan smiled and said nothing. Even though her cousin seemed to be enjoying the meal now, she would be trembling with fear again when she got to the reefs. The shadow in her heart could not be easily removed in a short time.

Each family member held a bamboo skewer, on which they stuck the octopus they caught yesterday and the ones given to them by others today, and they ate it with great relish.

When Lian Yue ran over and saw this situation, his legs felt weak.

"Hey! Brother Lianda! Why are you here?"

"I……"

Lian Yue took a deep breath and said honestly, "I just came back from the East Bay Pier. I heard that someone died from an octopus at Wanyuzhai in the city yesterday. When I came back, I heard grandma say that she had sent the octopus to your house..."

When the whole family heard this, the octopus in their mouths no longer tasted good.