At 3:30 pm, everyone else got up and was happy to hear that there would be watermelon to eat.
"Third brother, where did you get this watermelon? It's quite sweet." Qin Hai squatted on the doorstep, took a big bite, juice dripping down his face, and asked hurriedly without bothering to wipe it off.
Qin Chuan: "Mingda gave it to me."
"Why is this kid back?" Qin Hai asked, puzzled.
The Qian family has two daughters and two sons. The youngest son, Qian Mingda, married a woman from the city. His father-in-law found him a job in the city, and his workplace even provided him with an apartment. He rarely comes back home throughout the year. People in the village say that Qian Mingda has become a son-in-law who lives with the city.
Qin Chuan didn't say anything. When he woke up at noon, he remembered that the Schisandra berries in the valley should be ripe. The children in the family all love to eat them, so he went to pick some.
Not far along, Qin Chuan saw Qian Mingda looking dejected, carrying two watermelons. When he saw Qin Chuan, his eyes lit up, and he asked him to find a medicinal herb on the mountain. Qin Chuan knew where the herb grew, so he nodded in agreement.
When Qian Mingda was in a good mood, he gave him a big watermelon.
Qin Chuan felt he deserved the offer, so he accepted it. When he returned and saw Yun Ling looking listless, he simply cut the watermelon in half.
Unable to get the answer, Qin Hai muttered a couple of things, touched his sticky chin, filled a basin with water, and beckoned, "Wife, come here and pour me some water."
Wang Xiuxiu was not surprised. She carried a half-basin of water and a towel and placed it in front of him.
Qin Hai grinned and said, "Thank you, wife."
Qin Tiantian yawned, saw this scene, and said with a smile, "Second brother, second sister-in-law is so good to you."
Qin Hai stretched and said, "Of course, it's all because I had good taste and picked your second sister-in-law at first glance."
Qin Tiantian was speechless: "You're really shameless."
After the group finished eating the melon and tidied up, they went to work together. It was quite hot, so Qin Yan suggested going to the river to gather pig feed.
Qin Tao and Qin Yan looked at Yun Ling.
Yunling frowned slightly and asked, "Is there plenty of pig feed by the river?"
Qin Yan nodded: "There's a lot, we can finish it quickly, and then we can play in the water and have a water fight."
"I think you just want to play around!" Yunling said with a smile.
Qin Yan smiled shyly.
Yunling: "Then let's go!"
Qin Yan happily slung the basket over her shoulder, grabbed Qin Tao's hand, and skipped and hopped forward.
Yunling followed them at a distance, and when they reached the riverbank, she surveyed the surroundings. The riverbank was covered with dense weeds, so she had the two girls tap on it with sticks.
Qin Yan asked, puzzled, "Third Aunt, why are you hitting it? Won't the snakes all run away?"
Yunling raised an eyebrow: "Didn't the adults in your family teach you to stay away from snakes? You're still young. If you get bitten by a snake, you'll lose your life and won't be able to eat delicious food."
Yunling wasn't trying to scare her on purpose; it was just that this girl was too bold. Children her age would be lucky if they didn't cry loudly when they saw a snake, unlike Qin Yan, who caught the snake right away. If she developed this habit, she would catch snakes whenever she saw one, which could easily lead to trouble, especially in the countryside where vegetation is lush and snakes are plentiful.
Qin Yan lowered her head, remembering what her grandmother had said: if she caught a snake again, she wouldn't be allowed to eat meat. She replied in a muffled voice, "Third Aunt, I remember."
Looking at their well-behaved appearance, Yunling took out two White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket and handed them to them.
"Here, have some! One for you and one for Xiaotao."
Qin Yan's eyes lit up. She had never eaten White Rabbit milk candy before. She quickly grabbed one, then handed one to Qin Tao, and exclaimed, "Third Aunt, you're so kind!"
Yunling couldn't help but chuckle: "Didn't you say at noon that your aunt was the best...?"
Qin Yan avoided eye contact, unwrapped the candy, popped it into her mouth, and said with a satisfied look, "Sweet and delicious."
Seeing this, Qin Tao swallowed hard, glanced at the candy in her hand, and carefully put it in her pocket.
Yunling assumed she would eat it later and didn't pay much attention. She found a spot where the pig feed was relatively dense, squatted down, and started cutting pig feed with a sickle. The child used a small sickle, and the basket on his back was smaller than that of an adult.
After quickly cutting a basketful, the group rested for a while. Under Yunling's guidance, the two children didn't work as hard as before.
"Third Aunt, I'm going to play in the water for a while," Qin Yan asked eagerly.
Yunling waved her hand: "Go! But don't go to the middle of the river."
She had checked the water when she arrived; it wasn't deep, only about knee-deep, and there were many stones in the river, so nothing bad would happen.
After a while, Qin Yan ran up to her, her round eyes looking at her as she asked, "Third Aunt, do you want to eat roasted frog?"
Yunling saw through her thoughts immediately and said coldly, "I don't want to."
Qin Yan slumped her shoulders, pouted, and tugged at Yun Ling's sleeve. "Roasted frog is delicious. It's all meat, just as delicious as... the snake meat at noon."
Yunling firmly refused, saying that not only are frogs beneficial to the environment, but they also carry a large number of bacteria. Simply roasting them by the river would not kill all the bacteria. Considering the various consequences that would occur in later generations due to eating frogs, she resolutely disagreed.
Looking at Qin Yan's stubborn expression, it's clear that this child is thinking about food all the time.
Just then, Qin Tao arrived, took Qin Yan's hand, and said, "Grandma won't let us eat frogs either."
Seeing that no one supported her, Qin Yan became a little disheartened. "Fine! I won't eat it," she said reluctantly. "Although frogs are delicious."
Yunling chuckled: "Didn't we have snake meat for lunch?"
"I've almost forgotten what it tastes like." Qin Yan licked her lips, glancing longingly at the frog hopping around on the ground.
“This thing has too many bacteria on it, eating it will easily make you sick. This afternoon we’ll catch some small fish and grill them by the river,” Yunling said.
The Qin family ate very bland food, and always felt that their mouths were tasteless, so they would sneak a couple of pieces of beef every now and then.
Qin Yan was overjoyed, her lips curling into a wide grin.
The group quickly finished cutting the second basket of pig feed, and Yunling chopped it up before finding a shallow riverbank to catch fish.
This time, they used a fishing net, which Qin Yan found in a corner of the house. After some repairs, it was still usable.
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