Chapter 26: 025: Picking Snails, Saving People i
Translator: 549690339
Seeing the empty large iron bucket, Ni Cuihua finally realized that her daughter wasn’t lying. She opened her mouth wide in astonishment, “How much are we going to earn!”
She knew that her daughter’s sour fish was delicious, but she didn’t expect it to be so popular!
Ni Yang was unphased, “It’s only a few dozen yuan, mom. Let’s go inside, I’m so hungry.”
Ni Cuihua took the produce from Ni Yang’s hands, “Let’s go, meal is ready. Hurry and let’s eat.”
Lunch was two dishes and a soup.
One stir-fried green vegetables, one braised pork, and a tomato and egg soup.
Ni Cuihua’s culinary skills were quite good. Ni Yang finished a large bowl of white rice with the soup.
“Yangyang, eat more meat. Eating meat will help you grow taller.” Ni Cuihua kept adding meat to her daughter’s bowl.
“Thank you, mom. You eat too.” Ni Yang also added a piece of meat to Ni Cuihua’s bowl.
After finishing the meal, Ni Yang counted the money she made from selling noodles in the morning. It totaled out to be seventy six yuan and some change, which meant that she had sold almost 256 bowls of noodles.
Ni Cuihua had never knew that you could make so much money in just one morning. She immediately said, “Yangyang, do you need mom’s help tomorrow morning?”
Ni Yang gave the money to Ni Cuihua and smiled, “No need, mom. 1 can handle it on my own. You just need to take good care of little sister at home.”
Ni Cuihua put the money away, feeling a sense of astonishment, “I didn’t know how easy it is to earn money in the city. Your dad and grandma would surely turn green with regret if they knew how good you are at making money now!” The Mu family used to live frugally, and they couldn’t even save a hundred yuan over a year! But Ni Yang earned over seventy yuan in just one morning!
Ni Cuihua, a woman from deep inside the mountains, didn’t know much. She thought that city money was easy to earn, unaware of how much hard work and sweat Ni Yang had put into it.
Ni Yang maintained her composure and immediately corrected her mother’s incorrect notions, “It’s not about city money being easy to earn. It’s about finding the right method. If it was someone else, they might not necessarily make money. Lots of people lose money in business right now.”
Ni Cuihua nodded in confusion.
Ni Yang picked up her purchased fishing gear and continued, “Mom, I’m going to make a round by the river.”
“Alright, your Aunt Ni told me the river is quite deep. I’ll go with you.” Ni Cuihua knew that she was going to fish and was a bit worried.
Ni Yang chuckled, “It’s okay, mom. You don’t need to go. 1 know how to swim. Just stay at home and rest.”
To the east of Jinghua Village, there was a long river. During this era, there weren’t any factories yet so the river water was very clear, and occasionally you could see a few children herding cows by the river bank.
It was the busy farming season, and people were hard at work in the fields everywhere.
“Did you see that? That’s Ni Chengui’s relative. I heard her name is Yangyang.”
“The one who bought the bicycle?”
“Yes, yes, yes, that’s her.”
“My gosh! She even bought a bicycle! I have no idea where the young widow and her daughter got the money from…”
Idle chatter began to increase throughout the fields.
Ni Yang didn’t concern herself with the gossip. She carried on, believing that the rumors would be self-defeating one day. Her most important task right now was to earn money.
To earn a lot of money.
As long as she had money, she could ensure a good life for her mom and sister.
Ni Yang quickened her pace towards the river bank. The river wasn’t very deep and in the shallow parts you could see a lot of snails and river clams. Ni Yang rolled up her trouser legs, put the fishing basket into the deep water, then began to pick up clams and snails from the river bank with a plastic basin.
During this era, people were not fond of clams and snails because they smelled musty if not properly prepared.
Moreover, everyone was busy farming, who had the time to explore new dishes?
Within a short while, Ni Yang had collected a basin full of river clams and snails.
“Young lady, why are you collecting so many snails?” A woman in her fifties or sixties said, coming up to the river bank. She was wearing a towel on her head and holding a little child by her hand, a bright child with large, round eyes, staring curiously at Ni Yang.
Ni Yang laughed and said, “I’ll pick them up and stir-fry, adding some green onion, ginger, garlic, and chili, it’ll be fragrant. Auntie, would you like to pick some with me?”
The aunt frowned deeply, “You’re a big girl from out of town, aren’t you? These things are fishy and hard to eat. We usually use them to feed ducks.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than the child she was leading by the hand started to convulse all over, foam at the mouth and fell to the ground in less than ten seconds.
It was as if he was possessed.
All of this happened so fast, the aunt obviously had never seen anything like this before and was scared to her knees, not knowing what to do.
“Guobao! Guobao! What’s wrong with you! Guobao!” She said, about to pick up the child and run home.
Ni Yang immediately dropped the basin in her hand and ran to the shore to stop the aunt’s actions, “Auntie, my family’s been practicing traditional Chinese medicine for generations, quickly hand the child over to me.”
You…” The aunt looked at Ni Yang with some hesitation, her eyes red.
In the aunt’s eyes, Ni Yang was nothing more than a young girl. The aunt didn’t believe her.
Nor dared to trust her.
The child in her arms was the lifeblood of her daughter’s entire family. If something were to happen to him, she wouldn’t be able to live either!
“Auntie, you can trust me with the child. If we delay any longer, he might not make it.” Ni Yang said seriously, with no intention of joking.
The aunt was still very hesitant and shouted loudly, “Help! Someone help quickly! Help save a life…”
There were many people working in the fields, when they heard the aunt’s call, many people came.
“What’s going on here?”
“Isn’t this child from Meifeng’s family?”
“Is he possessed?”
The crowd was buzzing, guessing the cause of the child’s illness.
Ni Yang couldn’t care less at that moment, she snatched the child from the aunt’s arms, laid him on his side on the ground, pried open his mouth, and then without hesitation, put her hand into the child’s mouth. The child immediately bit down hard on Ni Yang’s hand, she squeezed her brows and broke out in a thin layer of sweat on her forehead.
The onlookers watched Ni Yang, pointing fingers, “What does this little girl know, what if she causes someone’s death!”
“Auntie Chen, stop her quickly! Don’t you want Guobao to live!”
“This little girl really doesn’t know her place!”
Just as the crowd was about to step forward and interfere, an experienced old man immediately stepped forward and said loudly, “If you don’t know, then don’t talk nonsense. Guobao is having an epileptic seizure, this girl is trying to save him, if not handled well this disease could be fatal! You people need to back off, don’t get in the way of her trying to save someone!”
When the crowd heard this, they immediately retreated a bit, fearing trouble might find them, whispering among themselves.
Ni Yang looked up and gratefully glanced at the old man who had spoken.
The old man was wearing reading glasses and a white vest, exuding a scholarly aura, not like an ordinary farmer at all, but more like someone who had retired to the countryside.
The child was still convulsing non-stop, and the aunt started to cry in a low voice, “Guobao, you cannot let anything happen to you…what will I do if you are gone?”
Ni Yang, while performing emergency measures, said, “Auntie, quickly unbutton Guobao’s shirt.”
“Alright, alright!” The aunt then snapped back to reality, her hands trembling as she undid the child’s buttons.
During that time, the child’s eyes were tightly shut, his face looked deathly pale, he slowly stopped convulsing, his breathing became slower and slower, there was almost no sign of life in him.
The whispering on the side started up again,
“Can this girl really do it?”
“It’s been so long and still no response, could it be that Guobao is… gone?”
As soon as the aunt heard this, she panicked immediately, her hands went around Ni Yang’s neck, shaking Ni Yang, she said in an emotional tone, “If anything happens to my Guobao today, 1 will fight you to the death with my own life!”