Chapter 29: Clams Bully the Second Brother
That afternoon, the people in Feishui Village, Cangchenzhou, Dakang State, and the surrounding area within a hundred miles were all overjoyed.
Today, after three years of severe drought, some rain finally fell in this small area of Cangchen Island.
The villagers of Feishui Village who were working in the fields were all dumbfounded.
In the past three years, in order to grow food for the few acres of land at home, they have been going back and forth to the well at the village entrance to carry water to irrigate the land.
However, the well water is limited after all, and doing this takes a lot of effort, but the wheat harvest in the field is still poor.
The little grain produced each year, after paying taxes, is barely enough for the family to feed.
As the weather gets colder, the ground is dry and cracked. Although the winter wheat has ears, there are not many grains due to lack of water. I don’t know what to do with the winter food.
Yun's eldest, second and third sons stood at the edge of the field, watching the rain getting heavier and heavier, and they were all standing in the rain and laughing happily.
The three of them were wet in the rain for half a day before Dalang slapped his head and told his two younger brothers to go home quickly.
When they got home, the rain was pouring down.
The entire Yun family was crowded in the main room, watching the raindrops as big as beans hitting the yard, splashing high with water. The fragrance of soil filled their noses, and no one wanted to look away.
The adults were happy that the long drought finally brought rain, but watching the rain for too long was boring. The four children watched for a while and then ran to the east wing to see the big river clams.
The river clams were brought back by Baoya, so they were naturally kept in Sanlang and his family's house.
Yun Chenglu, Yun Hua and Yun Yue, along with Bao Ya, squatted beside the large copper basin, watching with great interest the large river clams opening and closing and spitting bubbles in the basin.
Yun Yue curiously reached out and poked the hard clam shell: "Why is it only spitting bubbles and not pearls?"
"Maybe he's tired." Baoya also stretched out her hand, but put her little finger into the clam shell.
Yun Chenglu quickly went to pull her: "Baoya, be careful not to pinch your hand!"
Baoya giggled: "It's okay, I just feel it to see if it has produced pearls again, it won't pinch me."
As she spoke, she actually used her little finger to stir the clam shell and then pulled it out. The clam shell was just open and didn't pinch her at all.
Yun Chenglu and Yun Hua looked at him in amazement. Yun Yue asked, "How is it? Is there anything?"
Baoya shook her head: "Not yet. She just vomited pearls this morning, so it might not be so soon."
"Okay," Yunyue put her hand on her cheek and looked at the clam seriously, thinking, "Then what should we feed it so that it will spit out pearls?"
Baoya was just about to tell her that she had to ask her elder brother about this question.
Yun Chenglu beside him suddenly shouted: "Ah!"
It turned out that out of curiosity, he also followed Baoya's example and put his finger into the clam shell, but ended up being pinched by the clam shell!
"Hiss!" Yun Chenglu's face wrinkled in pain. "This thing pinches me so hard!"
He held the clam with one hand and used the other to pull out his trapped finger.
Yunhua was anxious: "Second brother, what should we do?"
Yun Chenglu grimaced in pain, but he never forgot his brotherly demeanor and tried his best to calmly comfort Yun Hua: "It's okay, I can pull it out with a little more force."
Baoya saw that his fingers were pinched and red, and tears welled up in her eyes. "Second brother is so stupid! He clearly told me to be careful not to pinch my fingers, but he still got pinched!"
Yun Chenglu smiled bitterly and thought to himself, I was just curious because I saw that you were fine. Who knew that river clams were so picky!
"Brother, why don't I go find a donkey? I heard from mom that it seems to let go when it hears a donkey's bray!"
Yunyue stood up and tried to run out, but Yunhua grabbed her and said, "Come back! In our village, only Aunt Sun's family has an ox cart. Who else has animals?"
"Besides, if you open your mouth when you hear a donkey bray, you're not a clam, you're a turtle!"
Yunyue: ...
Baoya: ...
"Then I'll call grandma! You'll definitely have a way!" Yunyue said and ran away.
Yun Chenglu was still trying to pull his fingers out.
Baoya puffed out her cheeks and tapped the clam shell with her little finger.
He said angrily: "You bad clam! Why are you pinching me! Let my second brother go!"
Click!
The clam shell opened.
Yun Chenglu's finger was rescued.
Yunhua opened her mouth in surprise and said after a long while, "So, this river clam only listens to our Baoya."
Yun Chenglu quickly put his swollen finger in his mouth to relieve the pain.
Baoya's eyes were still red. She pulled Yun Chenglu's sleeve and said, "Second brother, it's all my fault!"
Yun Chenglu was amused by her pitiful appearance: "How can I blame you? It was my fault."
"It's all my fault that I didn't teach it well. Bangbang is too naughty." Baoya sniffed.
"Great?" Yunhua looked puzzled.
"It's this big river clam," Baoya pointed to the basin, "I just gave it a name. Since we're going to keep it, it should have a name too."
"Pfft," Yun Chenglu licked his fingers and laughed, "Great, Baoya, your name is so funny."
At this time, Yun Yue came over with Zhao Zhilan. When she saw that Yun Chenglu was fine, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She reached out and flicked him on the head, angrily saying, "You're such a naughty boy! You deserve to be pinched!"
Yun Chenglu looked aggrieved: "Baoya obviously reached out, so she's fine. Grandma, this river clam is bullying me!"
"A river clam can actually bully you? Aren't you ashamed?" Zhao Zhilan scolded with a smile, "How can you compete with our lucky doll? Our Baoya is a little divine beast from heaven. That river clam would be terrified!"
Zhao Zhilan's words made the children burst into laughter.
The rain continued until the evening when it gradually subsided. It was He Chunxiu's turn to cook dinner today.
But on this cloudy and rainy day, her legs, which had been injured in her early years, began to hurt again.
Baoya looked at her mother lying on the bed covered with a thick quilt, her face still pale from the pain, and felt sad.
She climbed onto the kang with her short legs and snuggled up to He Chunxiu. "Mom, what's wrong with your legs? Why do they hurt when it rains?"
He Chunxiu reached out and touched her head lovingly: "Mom is fine, it's just an old illness, go play, Mom will be fine after a while."
Baoya didn't leave. She looked at He Chunxiu and said seriously, "Old illnesses can be cured. Tomorrow, grandma and I will go to town and ask a doctor for mom."
She remembered that the brother Rong she met last time was the young master of Yaoxiantang in Ping'an Town. This time she went to return the favor and ask about her mother's legs.
He Chunxiu was relieved to hug the soft little girl and kissed her: "My precious girl is so sensible. With your words, my legs don't hurt so much anymore."
Soon, smoke rose from the roof of the Yun family's house, and the appetizing aroma of food wafted out.
Zhao Zhilan took a basin of vegetable washing water and poured it under the roots of an old poplar tree at the back door. When she looked up, she saw Liu Lizheng leading a dark and thin little girl to the Chen family opposite their backyard.
Zhao Zhilan frowned. Isn’t this Chen Xiaojuan who ran away from home at noon?
Moreover, Chen Xiaojuan's hands were clenched tightly, and I don't know what she was hiding in her palms?
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