Chapter Eighty-six Shrimp Fishing

  Ye Lao Yezi had just finished prescribing medicine for the old man from the neighboring village who was suffering from an old illness. As he turned around, he saw Zhen'er struggling to carry a bundle of medicinal herbs towards the clinic, with Hu Zi holding a sickle and following behind her, occasionally reaching out to lift up the herbs that were dragging on the ground.

  In front of the medicine house, the old man saw that Zhen's thin face was red and covered with sweat, while Hu Zi followed behind him carrying a sickle. He said with concern: "Why did you cut so much Angelica? It's such a hot day, look at how sunburned you and Hu Zi are."

  Qizhen'er wiped the sweat, first gave Huzi a handkerchief to wipe his face, then wiped himself, saying: "I remembered yesterday that there were many yimucao at the foot of the mountain on the other side. Dabo said it would take two more days to harvest the wheat ears. Anyway, I had nothing to do, so I went to cut a few sickles." As she spoke, she scattered the straw rope and spread it out in the empty space in front of the door, saying: "Grandpa, look, didn't I cut them correctly?"

  Ye Lao Yezi carefully looked and said, "That's right. Just spread it out in front of the door to dry." Seeing Hu Zi still holding the sickle quietly standing beside him watching, and Zhen Er helping to untie the bundle and spread out the herbs, he pitied them and said, "You two quickly come in and take a rest, drink some cold water."

  They were so thirsty that Zhen and Hu Zi each drank a large bowl of cold water before they felt relieved.

  "How did you collect so many herbs so early?" Old Ye looked up at the sky, it was just past 4 o'clock, and Zhen'er had been working for more than an hour to gather this big bundle.

  Zhen'er took the fan beside him and fanned Hu Zi, saying: "Grandpa, it's not too early to get up. There was a lot of medicinal herbs over there, so I cut them for about an hour." Seeing Hu Zi still drinking water beside him, he thought that as a child, he didn't know how to control his thirst and would suffer if he drank too much, so he stretched out his hand to stop him.

  Ye Lao Yezi watched all of Zhen Er's actions with a warm feeling in his heart, thinking about how the night before, Zhi Yu Tou had come to borrow money, saying she wanted to make some jewelry for Wei Yu Tou's dowry together with Zhen Er. He felt comforted knowing that they were willing to repay the kindness shown to them by the Ye family. Originally, he had taken them in because he pitied their miserable state as siblings and wanted to provide a safe haven for them, even if he himself was no longer around. With Shi Wei's generosity and Mao Shi's fairness, the two siblings would still be able to find refuge in the Ye household. He hadn't expected that his good intentions would be repaid like this; despite having no money, they were thinking of ways to repay the kindness shown by the Ye family. These siblings were truly not bad people. Thinking about how Zhen Er and her brother had little income, Ye Lao Yezi spoke up: "Zhen Er, your hands and feet are so quick, why don't you just harvest this medicinal herb and sell it? Although the price is cheap, it's still some income. There are several large pharmacies in the city that buy medicinal herbs." Pausing for a moment, he continued, "The Ciren Tang in the county town is an old pharmacy; their prices are fair, and their scales are accurate. You can go take a look there."

  Qī Zhēnér's eyes lit up, Ah, why didn't she think of that? But perhaps it wasn't that she hadn't thought of it, but rather she hadn't dared to think about it. She knew how much the old man valued medicinal herbs, and she didn't dare casually bring up this topic to annoy him. Besides, without the old man's explanation, she wouldn't even recognize what kind of herb it was. Now that the old man had mentioned it, it really suited her intentions. There were other things she couldn't do, but cutting medicinal herbs just required some physical effort. For her, it wasn't a big deal at all.

  The old man told Zhen'er about the properties and growth environment of the medicinal herbs, as well as the method of identification. He also asked her to cut some of the herbs first and bring them back for him to check before letting them go.

  Zhen'er happily returned home with Hu Zi, took a worn-out and frayed piece of clothing, made a circle with bamboo strips, used thread to tie old cloth around it, and created a simple net bag. Then she found some long strings from the house, picked up a branch from the weeds in front of the door, and tied the string to it.

  The little tiger looked at his sister with curiosity and confusion, he couldn't understand her more and more recently. Not only did she say they were here to find their uncle, but also that she could write and that her name was Qi Huai Gu. However, he had always admired his sister and never thought she was doing anything wrong, just thinking that he himself was too young to understand these things.

  Zhen'er took a wooden bucket, carried five straw ropes on her back, held a sickle and a stick with freshly tied strings, and had two more strings in her pocket. With great enthusiasm, she said to Huzi: "Let's go catch river clams and little frogs, and then we'll fish for small shrimp."

  Hutou was so excited that he jumped up and ran quickly to Zhen'er's side, chattering away in his mouth, asking non-stop how to fish.

  Zhen'er smiled and explained to him, thinking of the time when she was cutting herbs just now, there was a group of children next to her holding fishing rods and laughing loudly as they went to the front river pond to fish for shrimp. Hu Zi's eyes were filled with envy as he looked at them, feeling that his sister was not doing a good job. She thought that when Hu Zi was this big, she was still under the protection of her parents and enjoyed a period of happy childhood, experiencing the fun of childhood, but Hu Zi had never experienced these things.

  They used to be at the mercy of others, but now they can take charge of their own lives. Why aren't they happier?

  The small stream next to Zhen'er's house used to have very little water and was almost dry, but after a rain, it was full of water again. She came to take a look and found some clams inside. As for the frogs, don't worry about them at this time of year, they'll jump out in large groups by the water's edge.

  In the creek, caught a few river clams, on the creek bank picked up a rock and cracked them open, used thread to tie the clams onto the line, looked at Tiger's eager eyes, then broke off another branch nearby, tied the line well, let Tiger try tying the clams himself. Tiger happily took over the line, imitated Zhen's movements and tried tying, but the clams were very slippery, after a few attempts still couldn't tie them well, Zhen patiently guided him, until the clams were tied up, Tiger's smile on his face became even brighter.

  The cub was too small, and Zhen Er wasn't at ease with him playing alone by the riverbank. Fortunately, there was a small pond below the mountain pass, where the water grass was very lush. Zhen Er had passed by there several times, and once she had vaguely seen the shadow of shrimp in the water grass. Anyway, she just wanted the cub to have some fun, so she chose this place.

  Huzi had always believed in his sister, and he grew up with her since childhood. He never thought of complaining about the small pond, and besides, he had never fished before, so as long as he could play, he was happy, and didn't care about anything else.

  Like this, Zhen'er guided Hu Zi to fish for a while. After waiting for half a day and catching only one shrimp, seeing that Hu Zi was more interested, she let him fish by himself and went to the side to cut herbs.

  Zhen'er didn't dare to leave Hu Zi too far, always staying within a range of five or six zhangs around him. She saw Hu Zi, who hadn't grasped the technique yet, scare away the shrimp before he could even eat it steadily, and his anxious expression was so pitiful that she couldn't help but purse her lips to stifle a smile.

  As the sun was getting hot, Tuzi still didn't show any intention of going home. Wearing a straw hat, his little face was still red and swollen from the sun, and his eyes were fixed on the fishing line floating on the water's surface. He was so serious and focused that Zhen'er didn't want to disturb him. But now it was noon, time to go home for lunch. When she told Tuzi they had to go home, he reluctantly looked at the water one last time, picked up his small bucket, and followed Zhen'er home.

  Zhen'er looked at the large bundle of herbs on the ground with some worry, how could she carry so many back.

  Using all her might, she tried several times but still couldn't lift it up. Jing'er gave up after a while and hid the herbs in a dense thicket nearby. Jing'er went home with Hu zi to prepare for borrowing a cart to pull them back later.