12dz Chapter 309 The Innocent and Pure Jasmine Flower
Chapter 309 The Innocent and Pure Jasmine Flower
Gao Mengli was explaining to the village chief about increasing rice paddy crab production at home when she suddenly felt a commotion outside.
She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt the ground tremble slightly.
"Huh? What's going on outside?"
Upon hearing the sound, the village chief looked at Gao Mengli with some confusion.
The two exchanged a glance and quickly walked towards the courtyard gate.
Upon opening the courtyard gate, Gao Mengli was shocked to see a group of "white bone level" and "ash level" old relics almost all coming out, followed by a group of children.
Some were carrying wooden buckets, others were holding water ladles, and still others were carrying washbasins; everyone's hands were full.
"What are you going to do?"
The second uncle had already walked past the village chief without looking to the side, but upon hearing his muttered question, he quickly took a few steps back and stopped in front of him.
Second Uncle was beaming with joy and excitement: "Little Zhao, didn't Lin Xi tell everyone to go catch crabs? So, I'm leading everyone to work by the river!"
"Oh, right, I have to go now. Remember to tell my husband, Wang Gougou, that I'll be home late for dinner."
Upon hearing this, the village chief slapped his forehead: "Oh right, there's also the crab catching! I almost forgot!"
Watching the villagers disappear into the dark mass at the end of the road, the village chief turned to Gao Mengli: "By the way, Lin family, where are you going to raise the crabs you brought in?"
Gao Mengli was speechless.
It's true that we're harvesting crabs, but the ponds haven't even been dug yet.
Her daughter, Xixi, didn't even tell the villagers when the work would start...
Gao Mengli took a deep breath, looked around, and found a low-lying area.
She pointed to the location and then instructed, "Uncle Village Chief, could you temporarily fence off a place in that low-lying area of the river for me? The villagers will bring over crabs, and we can temporarily place them there."
The village chief looked at the location and nodded: "Okay, then I'll go find your father-in-law and make some fences to fence off the area first."
Gao Mengli shook her head, considering that crabs walk sideways, run very fast, and vary in size, a fence probably wouldn't work; an iron net would be necessary.
"Uncle Village Chief, I'll have to trouble you to make a trip to the back mountain and arrange for someone to make some wire to weave a wire mesh fence around the area."
Crabs need running water, so the water inlet and outlet must be secured with iron bars to prevent the crabs from escaping.
After hearing Gao Mengli's words, the village chief secretly admired her for her meticulous thinking and thorough consideration of everything.
He immediately agreed: "Okay, I'll arrange it right away, don't worry."
After saying that, he hurriedly headed towards the back of the mountain.
Gao Mengli watched the village chief's departing figure, then turned to look at the group of eager villagers, and then at Lin Xi leisurely walking home on the village road. Gao Mengli's face turned ashen.
Lin Xi thought that she had finished explaining things and had nothing else to do, so she prepared to go home and cook.
On the way, he saw Mengli standing by the willow tree outside his own yard, staring at him with a half-smile.
His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly ran over: "Mengli, why are you standing outside?"
Gao Mengli crossed her arms and looked at Lin Xi, who was making a mess of the village with her reckless commands, with a chilly expression.
A spring breeze caressed her face, causing the willow branches behind Lin Xi to sway.
Lin Xi blinked her innocent eyes at Gao Mengli, looking pitiful, like a jasmine flower unaware of the world's ways, making Gao Mengli look like a villain in comparison.
For a moment, the words of accusation stuck in Gao Mengli's throat, and she couldn't utter a single word.
After a moment of silence, Gao Mengli gave up, sighed helplessly, and turned to walk into the courtyard: "Xixi, I'm hungry."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xi beamed and hurriedly followed him into the courtyard: "I knew you were hungry, so I came back especially to cook for you!"
Watching Lin Xi happily start washing rice and cooking, Gao Mengli, sitting in the yard, smiled to herself.
That's it, that's it.
He picked up his pen again, sat down at the stone table, and continued drawing the blueprints for the cultivation room.
While Lin Xi was cooking, she would occasionally peek through the kitchen window at Gao Mengli, who was sitting in the yard.
Although he doesn't have a sixth sense, he has intuition.
He had a feeling that Mengli was going to make things difficult for him, but seeing that Mengli didn't say anything, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
In a good mood, Lin Xi hummed a little tune.
Hey, I almost scared myself!
Gao Mengli's hands continued moving, while the curve of her lips grew higher and higher.
The two were eating when they heard people arriving in the courtyard one after another.
"Mengli, you eat, I'll go see. It must be the uncles and aunts from the village who brought over some crabs."
Lin Xi quickly put down her bowl and chopsticks, hurriedly went back into the house, grabbed a basket of copper coins, and rushed out.
Lin Xi ran to the courtyard gate and, sure enough, saw several uncles and aunts standing there with smiles on their faces, carrying wooden buckets full of crabs.
"Oh dear, Lin Xi, we've brought the crabs, but look at them, they're a bit small..."
Second Uncle frowned slightly, his smile tinged with worry.
As he spoke, he placed the wooden bucket on the ground, startling the crabs inside, which waved their pincers and made a rustling sound.
I was hoping to catch some big ones, but unfortunately, I couldn't find many big crabs in the river.
Most of them were small crabs, and some small shrimp.
He was a little worried for a moment, wondering if the Lin family's eldest branch still wanted to exist. It was all his fault; he should have asked Lin Xi how big the crabs should be back then.
At this moment, Gao Mengli came out of the courtyard, squatted down next to Lin Xi, reached into the wooden bucket and grabbed a crab, looking it over.
Then he looked up at the worried-looking group of people and said, "Uncle, Aunt, these crabs are the right size. We bought them so they can be raised in the paddy fields and sold in the fall."
As for the other, larger crabs, you can put them in a separate place; I'll use them for breeding crab larvae.
The crabs in the river weren't very big to begin with, so this was in line with Gao Mengli's original expectations.
Upon hearing this, the second uncle's eyes lit up, and the worry on his face instantly dissipated: "Really? These little crabs can come in handy too, that's great! I was worried that after all this effort, the crabs we caught wouldn't meet your expectations."
After all, the Lin family made their fortune in the food industry, so they probably bought these crabs to cook. They had previously worried that the crabs were too small and the Lin family wouldn't want them.
Now that they had received Gao Mengli's confirmation, the worries on everyone's faces eased considerably.
The other uncles and aunts also gathered around, their faces breaking into smiles again, and they discussed the matter amongst themselves.
"Yes, when we were fishing by the river, we noticed that there weren't many big ones, and we were quite worried."
"That's great, Mengli. Now that you have a plan, we don't have to worry anymore."
"Yes, yes, don't worry, I'll weigh them for you right away."
Lin Xi hurried to the old house, brought over a scale, and together with Gao Mengli, settled the bill for the crabs that had been delivered.
After weighing the crabs, Lin Xi noticed a small half-basin of dried shrimp next to her and couldn't help but feel a little tempted by the prawns.
But these river shrimp were too small, barely enough to fill a tooth gap. I guess my uncle took them back to stir-fry as a snack with his drinks.