Shen Cong released Pei Yao's clothes, nodded seriously at Pei Yao, then glanced at his mother and asked somewhat uncertainly, "Is it alright?"
Qiaohui naturally hoped that her son could go out and play with other children more often.
Qiaohui was never a talkative person, and her husband, Shen Jing, was also a quiet person.
As a result, she gave birth to two sons. Yu'er and Cong'er both inherited their husbands' personalities. They not only liked to bury themselves in books but also disliked playing with other children. Most importantly, they both had a cold expression at a young age.
I don't know who he took after...
Qiaohui was very troubled by this. Every time she saw other children arguing and making noise around their parents, she couldn't help but feel envious.
Pei Yao couldn't stand these adorable little kids the most, so she looked up at Qiao Hui.
After all, they are someone else's child. Taking someone else's child out to play requires the parents' permission: "Aunt Hui, is it alright?"
Shen Cong also looked up at his mother, and Qiao Hui smiled and nodded.
"Cong'er, you can go with Yao'er, but you have to listen to your sister Yao, okay?"
"Okay!" A smile that couldn't be hidden appeared on Shen Cong's small face.
Pei Yao rubbed his head. This child was so cute, especially when he smiled.
She's so good-looking at such a young age, what will she be like when she grows up? Pei Yao remembered that her mother had mentioned that Shen Cong had an older brother who looked almost exactly like Shen Cong when he was little, and his name was Shen... Yu?
I think so. Pei Yao can't quite remember either. It's a pity that Shen Yu was forced to work at the salt field. Otherwise, the two brothers looked very similar when they were young, and they would probably look similar when they grew up.
Pei Yao thought to herself what a pity, having missed a chance to see an enlarged version of Shen Cong.
...
After saying goodbye to Yunniang and the others, Pei Yao and the others walked upstream along the riverbank.
When they reached a small pond, Liu Yu exclaimed excitedly, "We're here! This pond isn't deep, and there are lots of fish!"
Pei Yao looked in the direction he pointed, and the small pond was indeed quite nice. It was full of aquatic plants, and there were many leaves and branches hanging down into the water on both sides of the river.
Such places are indeed prone to having many small fish and shrimp hiding in the aquatic plants, especially under the plants on both sides, where there are probably quite a few small shrimp hiding.
Pei Yao tested the water; it only reached her knees before she felt comfortable letting the two younger children, Shen Cong and Pei Xuan, come down to play with her.
However, although the two of them could come down to play, Pei Yao fixed them in a spot where the water was very shallow.
"You two can only play in this small area, okay? You can't run around on your own. If you need anything, just call your older sister or anyone else, okay?" Pei Yao put her hands on her knees, bent down to look them in the eye, and gave them instructions.
The two children immediately nodded, and Xiao Xuan'er said in her childish voice, "Big sister, I won't run around."
Pei Yao affectionately rubbed the little girl's head, then glanced at Shen Cong, who was quiet but very cute: "Okay, you guys have fun, I'll go ahead first."
After Pei Yao finished speaking, she took her things and walked away. Liu Yu and Liu Yan started looking for small fish in the water. They had been coming here often to catch small fish recently, so they had some experience. They caught their first small fish in no time.
Pei Yao didn't try to catch the small fish. These small fish in the stream swam very fast. Although they tasted good, they were hard to catch and a waste of time.
Her main purpose today was to catch shrimp, collect snails, and turn over crabs, which are easier to find.
There were plenty of snails in the river; you could step on them every few steps. Pei Yao had no choice but to pick them up as she walked. Pei Yichen saw his cousin picking up snails and asked curiously, "Cousin, can you eat these snails?"
Pei Yao nodded: "These snails are delicious when stir-fried with chili peppers; they go very well with rice."
Liu Yan, who was standing next to her, looked over after hearing this and was a little confused when she saw the small snails that Pei Yao had picked up: "Sister Yao, the snails in this river are so small, not as big as the snails in the sea, and the meat is not as big as that of sea snails... Otherwise, I'll teach you how to catch small fish."
She thought that instead of wasting time picking up these small snails, she might as well take Pei Yao to catch some small fish to eat.
Pei Yao naturally knew that Liu Yan meant well: "Sister Yan, don't underestimate the small size of snails. They taste just as good as sea snails."
Pei Yao, who grew up inland, always remembers the stir-fried snails and spicy crayfish from the night market stall.
That's a must-have on the tables of summer night market stalls.
Seeing that Liu Yan still had that "maybe I should teach you how to catch fish" look on her face, Pei Yao explained, "Sister Yan, these snails are also good to stir-fry, it's just a bit of a hassle to eat them."
"Okay then..." Liu Yan saw that Pei Yao was still picking snails in the river and didn't intend to say anything more.
She was thinking that she and her brother would collect more small fish later, and then bring some back for the Pei siblings to eat.
Pei Yao picked along the way and soon arrived at the riverbank. The banks of the river were covered with all kinds of wild grass and water hyacinths, with branches hanging down to the water.
Pei Yao straightened up and stretched her back, which had been bent over for a long time. It was very sore. Who said that children don't have backs? It's not like bending over for too long is uncomfortable.
Pei Yao took out the winnowing basket she had brought earlier, submerged it in the water, and then slowly and carefully placed it under the grass.
Only after the entire winnowing basket was submerged under the grass did Pei Yao begin to lift it up, raising it until it touched the drooping branches above. Then she shook the basket to make all the small shrimp clinging to the tree fall onto it.
The grass hanging down on both sides of the riverbank is a favorite hiding place for small shrimp and fish, because the grass provides shelter from the sun and the water flow is not as rapid as in other places.
Many small shrimp like to cling to these branches hanging in the water, seeking shelter.
Under the sunlight, a girl dressed in coarse linen clothes, with a small bamboo basket slung across her shoulder, quickly lifted a winnowing basket from the water's surface, sending a trail of tiny water droplets flying as she did so.
The shrimp and fish in the winnowing basket suddenly erupted as soon as they were removed from the water.
The girl burst into laughter at the sight of the frolicking fish and shrimp; her bright and sunny smile was so dazzling it almost blinded anyone who saw it.
Pei Yao picked through the leaves in the winnowing basket. The river shrimp and snails here weren't caught by many people. After all, sea shrimp were much bigger than river shrimp, and who would want to catch these small river shrimp when there were sea shrimp available?
Pei Yichen also ran over, splashing through the water. It was the first time he had ever seen river shrimp, and he stared wide-eyed at Pei Yao's bag full of them.
"Cousin, there are so many! There are even a few small fish, but... are these fish too small to eat?"
Pei Yao smiled and nodded: "Yes, they're edible. These little fish can only grow this big. We'll fry them and stir-fry them with shrimp later."
She used to catch these small, striped fish when she was little, but they could only grow this big at most; it was unlikely they would grow any bigger.
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