Chapter 23 023 That's not a snake!
Starting the day after returning home, Song Xiaoli spent a rare period of "unattended" life at her maternal grandfather's house, as her mother had to go to work at the town's primary school during the day.
In any case, raising children in the countryside is not very meticulous. After entering June, the work arranged by the commune gradually became busy. My maternal grandparents and my eldest uncle and aunt all had to go to work, so they really didn't have time to keep an eye on the children at home all day long.
Before, there was only Song Shiyi, who was always out causing trouble. Now that there's Song Xiaoli, his aunt has decided to put Song Shiyi under the care of his younger sister, Song Xiaoli. Even the candies and cookies that their mother specially brought back from town are all left to Song Xiaoli, to be distributed by her.
"Xiao Li, although you are younger, you are more sensible. Things are busy at home these days, so please help your aunt keep an eye on your older brother, okay?"
Song Xiaoli didn't mind at all. Besides, after their experience of taking her older brother to the hospital together, her younger cousin was basically obedient to her and not difficult to manage. However, she didn't want to suppress her younger cousin's playful nature, so she would ask him every day, "Little brother, are you going out to play today?"
Song Shiyi had been worried about his brother and hadn't gone out to play with his friends for a long time. He was actually a little itchy to go out and play. "Little Carp, how about I take you down there to play?"
There were very few children up there, so Song Shiyi used to go down to the countryside to play with people or go to other communes.
In her previous life, Song Xiaoli was rather solitary and a homebody, so she didn't really want to play with a group of children. But when she was alone at home, there was nothing to pass the time.
She hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Okay..."
"Let's go to the river and collect some wild duck eggs first. You girls like to build pots and pans, so if you bring some eggs, they'll definitely be willing to take you."
To help his younger sister integrate into the children's group in Songshan Commune, Song Shiyi didn't plan to do anything crazy today. Instead, he took his sister to visit their cousins and play house together.
As is customary, the girls would bring pots, salt, some side dishes, firewood, and other such items from their homes, then gather together to set up a temporary earthen or stone stove, assign roles to each person, and then cook and share the food.
In the past, people would bring vegetables and wild greens; meat was absolutely unthinkable. If Song Shiyi had his sister bring a few wild duck eggs, they would certainly be welcomed.
Song Xiaoli had never played house in her previous life, so she was a little curious. She listened to her cousin, locked the door, took a small bamboo basket that her grandfather had woven for her, and went to the stream behind the mountain.
"Little Carp, I'm going into the water to look for eggs. You wait here for me." Song Shiyi greeted him, took off his shoes, pulled up his shorts, and waded into the water to look for the wild duck eggs that the adults had overlooked.
Every morning, the adults in the family would search the stream thoroughly, collecting wild duck eggs and soaking them in a ceramic jar of stream water. Song Wanxia would then take the eggs to school and resell them at a low price to familiar teachers and friends. As a result, no one else in the village had discovered the wild duck eggs yet.
However, it's become much more difficult for my child to find wild duck eggs. Unlike before, when we could just walk along the shore and look for them, now we have to go into the water and feel around in hidden spots.
Song Xiaoli hadn't been here for a while and didn't know how the creatures from the small worlds she had released were adapting. Seeing that her cousin had gone a little further away, she decided to sense the current situation of those creatures.
She had just closed her eyes and hadn't even had time to perceive anything when her little cousin suddenly cried out in alarm, "Ouch!" which startled her.
"Hey bro, what's wrong?" she hurriedly chased after him.
"Little Carp, don't come any closer! I think I touched a snake. I just flung it aside, and I don't know if it's still there. Don't come any closer!" Song Shiyi himself was also afraid of snakes, but his desire to protect his sister was stronger. He forced his fear aside and waded back through the water, telling his sister to be careful as he went.
At first, Song Xiaoli really thought it was a snake. However, after hearing her cousin shout, she subconsciously ran a distance in that direction and realized what had frightened him.
"Hey bro, that doesn't look like a snake, it looks like a fish. Look, it's still thrashing around."
Snakes can swim in water and on land. If a snake is thrown onto the shore and continues to thrash around like a fish without leaving, it is most likely either an eel or some kind of long fish.
What startled my little cousin this time was a long fish from the small world. Long fish are similar to ribbonfish, but their fins are less prominent, their scales are a light silver color, and their bodies are rounder. At first glance, they do look very much like snakes.
"Really? I felt like I caught a snake, and without thinking, I threw it far away in fright." Song Shiyi went ashore, shielded his sister behind him, and then followed the direction of her finger to see the long fish struggling desperately after leaving the water.
If it were an aggressive snake, it would have bitten someone by now; if it were a snake that was afraid of people, it would have run away long ago.
After observing for a while, Song Shiyi finally felt relieved. "It really isn't a snake, and it doesn't seem to be an eel either. I've never seen this kind of fish before..."
"Is it edible?" Song Xiaoli asked suggestively, her eyes darting around.
Song Shiyi thought of the taste of fish soup, and his mouth watered involuntarily, making it hard for him to speak clearly. "I don't know either."
Although Song Shiyi was particularly mischievous, his family had repeatedly warned him not to try eating anything he had never seen before. Unsure if the fish was safe to eat, he naturally wouldn't take the risk.
Song Xiaoli was certain that the eel was non-toxic and tasted quite good. She thought that the adults in her family had probably gotten tired of eating all kinds of eggs lately, and it was time to add some other meat dishes to change things up.
"Hey bro, how about we take this fish back, chop it up, and feed it to the chickens and ducks? If the chickens and ducks are fine after eating it, then we can eat it, right?"
“You’re right.” Song Shiyi’s thoughts were completely led by his sister. He immediately ran over, grabbed the long fish, shook it to remove the water, and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t sense any aggressive intent from the fish.
If the fish were aggressive, Song Shiyi wouldn't dare go into the water to collect the duck eggs anymore.
"Let's go back and fish." Song Shiyi wasn't thinking about taking his sister to play house anymore.
The two returned home, closed the front door, and went straight to the kitchen.
"Little Carp, stay away," Song Shiyi said, stepping on a stool, taking the cutting board and knife off and placing them on the ground. He even put on an apron, looking like he was about to do something important. "Otherwise, blood will splatter on you."
Watching her little cousin place the eel on the cutting board and squat down to chop it, Song Xiaoli's eyelids twitched. She felt it was inappropriate for such a young child to handle a knife, and immediately regretted her quick tongue. "Little brother, why don't we wait for Grandma to come back..."
But Song Shiyi was an impatient man and was unwilling to wait. He chopped the long fish in two with a single stroke, making it look truly pitiful.
After the first cut, the eel, which had been struggling, gradually became still. Song Shiyi gripped the knife handle with both hands and hacked wildly at it. The flesh on the eel's back was relatively firm, while the flesh in its abdominal cavity was relatively soft. This wild hacking caused some of the flesh to turn into mush, while some remained in relatively large chunks.
Song Xiaoli hid behind the kitchen door, watching her cousin with even more nervousness than he was. Seeing the mess on the cutting board and the floor, she quickly called out, "Brother, I think chopping it like this is fine."
"Sigh, I think that's about right too." Song Shiyi wiped his face with his apron, looking exhausted.
He put the chopped fish meat into a large soup bowl, took it to the side yard, thought for a moment, and then dumped it directly onto the ground instead of pouring it into the broken earthenware jars used to feed the chickens and ducks.
There were quite a few chickens and ducks at home. After Song Shiyi left with the empty soup bowl, the chickens and ducks gathered together and quickly devoured most of the fish. Some of the larger ones pecked at the fish for a while but couldn't finish it, so the ducks, with their big beaks, rushed over and scrambled to swallow it, leaving only a pool of bloody, fishy-smelling liquid on the ground.
After the chickens and ducks finished eating, Song Shiyi suddenly had a sudden thought and asked with some fear, "Xiao Li, what if this fish is poisonous? Wouldn't we have poisoned all the chickens and ducks in the house?"
That's a good question. If Song Xiaoli hadn't been certain that eels were edible, she wouldn't have suggested doing it. However, it's good that her cousin thought of this himself. Song Xiaoli thought for a moment, "Then we should think about the consequences before we do anything in the future. If we kill the chickens and ducks at home this time, I'll go to the back mountain to catch wild pheasants to sell, and then buy more chicks and ducklings for Grandma to raise."
“We did this together. If my dad wants to hit someone, I won’t let you get hit. After all, I’m a boy, and I’m thick-skinned. If all the chickens and ducks die, I’ll make money with you.” Song Shiyi was like this in his past life: he wasn’t good at studying and didn’t have a good relationship with his family, but he was extremely loyal and always kept his word.
With such a good older brother, Song Xiaoli must make sure he walks the right path.
"Yeah, with you here, I'm not afraid!"
Hearing his sister's words, Song Shiyi couldn't help but feel happy and proud, even though he was afraid that something might happen to the chickens and ducks.
"Brother, let's take a bamboo basket and go look around the back mountain again. If we see any more of those fish, we'll catch them and put them in the basket. If the fish is poisonous, we'll show it to Grandpa and the others so everyone knows." Song Xiaoli was actually thinking that since the chickens and ducks had already eaten the eel, when the adults came home and saw them still lively, they would naturally know that the fish was edible. The sooner they caught a few, the sooner they could eat fish.
“Okay, I’ll go wash my hands in the river.” Song Shiyi had just finished slicing fish and was covered in the smell of fish, especially his hands. “Xiao Li, you take the basket, I need to grab some ash to wash my hands.”
The fishy smell is not easy to wash off. The soap at home is for washing clothes. If Song Shiyi dared to leave a strong fishy smell on it, he would definitely get a beating. Generally, after cleaning fish, people in the family would not wash their hands directly with soap. Instead, they would grab a handful of wood ash from the stove and rub it on their hands, which also had the effect of removing the fishy smell. If they were really clean, they would wash their hands with soap one last time.
Song Xiaoli went to the side yard to get the small basket she had used before. When she went outside, her little cousin was already waiting for her with a handful of dust in his hands.
Since her little cousin was like that, there was no way to lock the door. Song Xiaoli took out a small stool from home, stood on it, locked the door, put the key in her little pocket, and then slowly followed her little cousin to the back mountain.
The door to the house next door was open. Song Dianbao, who hadn't returned to work at the textile factory in town, lazily carried out a kettle of water. When he saw Song Xiaoli and her two children and then saw the locked door, he cursed and spat, "What a piece of trash! They picked up a money-losing child and raised her so fat, and then they lock the door when they go out."
Cursing, he went over and pushed the door to make sure it was really locked. He couldn't find the key either, which made Song Dianbao even angrier. He stared at it for a long time before reluctantly leaving.
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