Chapter 207

Ye Cheng stepped over, picked up the red-shelled big shrimp from the ground, and examined it carefully.

It's really familiar; if you don't eat a few jin each year, you can't get by.

Crayfish, they really are crayfish.

"Are there many crayfish around here?" Ye Cheng turned his head to look at Xiao Hu.

"Brother, this thing is disgusting, it eats dead meat, what do you want it for?"

"I'm just asking you how many there are."

"Our village has few, but several villages nearby that grow crops have many, all in the ditches."

No wonder I haven't seen many crayfish; it turns out Baiyun Village doesn't have any.

Since we've found them, we must have a feast.

"Ah Fu, Ah Long, come help get some crayfish." Ye Cheng shouted at the Chen Brothers.

The two walked over, and upon seeing the big shrimp in Ye Cheng's hand, they showed resistance.

"No way, Brother Cheng, what do you want this for? Nobody wants to buy it."

"Yeah, the shell is hard and dirty, nobody eats it."

Ye Cheng gave them a look, "You don't eat, I do; now, hurry up and catch some for me, at least ten each, about the same size as this one in my hand."

Ten each makes forty, enough for a big basin; thinking of the flavor of mala crayfish, Ye Cheng couldn't help swallowing saliva.

Since Ye Cheng insisted, the three had no choice but to search along the ditch and paddy fields.

This stuff isn't hard to find, just lying out in the open; the four circled the ditch once and found enough.

This is also why nobody eats it now; if future generations start eating it, this wild species would go extinct.

"Then I've put them all in the bucket for you, Brother; I'll say it first, I'm not eating any." Xiao Hu lifted a bucket and handed it to Ye Cheng to fill.

"It's better you don't eat; just don't steal mine later, there's only this little, I myself don't have enough."

Now this wild one, the roe etc definitely can't be eaten; just honestly eat the meat, 40 shrimp is a matter of minutes.

After helping Ye Cheng catch these, the Chen Brothers rode bicycles slowly behind, while Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu rode motorcycles back home first.

Before returning, Ye Cheng called Boss Qian; after arriving home and taking a shower, not long later Boss Qian arrived, and the Chen Brothers also arrived.

"Yo, this isn't the person I met last time, are you with him now?" Old Qian looked at Ye Cheng and teased.

Ye Cheng took out a cigarette and handed it to Boss Qian, "We're from the same village, what's with the 'with or without'."

"Fine, whatever you say is what it is; earth dragon, let me have a look, this is definitely a good thing."

Ye Cheng had Xiao Hu move the water tank out, "Then, they're all here."

Boss Qian opened it and took a look, immediately attracted by that 2-meter-long giant cargo, "Holy shit! There's one this big?"

"Just this one; this one should sell for a higher price, right?" Ye Cheng asked.

"It must be expensive; you know what this is used to tonify, of course the thicker and longer the better the price."

The two exchanged a glance, revealing a smile that men understand.

Also there were Crab Tiger Fish and Jumping Fish; Boss Qian collected them all:

Earth Dragon: total 46 jin, at 300 per jin, total is, plus separately adding that big one, sold separately for 1500, total is money.

Hearing this price, the Chen Brothers felt off, breathing rapid, mouths dry, "over ten thousand, over ten thousand!"

Crab Tiger Fish: total 33 jin, at 100 per jin, total 3300 money.

Jumping Fish: total two and a half buckets, together 54 jin, at 30 per jin, 1620 money.

As for the small miscellaneous fish picked up later, Ye Cheng had the Chen Brothers take them home directly; too little, nothing worth selling.

Calculating, this time digging Earth Dragon sold for money, Ye Cheng gave Xiao Hu 5000, the Chen Brothers got 5000.

Although the Chen Brothers split 5000 between two, they were still extremely excited, "Brother, each has 2500, that's as much as our two months' wages."

Ye Cheng ignored them, instead pulling Boss Qian to the side, then bringing over the crayfish, and asked mysteriously,

"Old Qian, take a look, is there anyone selling this in the city now?"

Boss Qian just glanced, shook his head and walked away, "I know this thing, it's from the stinky ditch, nobody eats it."

After saying that, he still curiously looked at Ye Cheng, "Are you planning to eat this?"

Ye Cheng smiled, noncommittal.

After seeing off Boss Qian and the Chen Brothers, Xiao Hu had an ominous premonition; just as he was about to leave, Ye Cheng grabbed him.

Pulling him along to scrub the shrimp, scrub the crayfish.

Ye Cheng found a big basin, then two broken toothbrushes, he and Xiao Hu sat beside the basin and began scrubbing them one by one.

This wild crayfish differs from farmed ones later; it's too dirty, Ye Cheng took the toothbrush and scrubbed hard, turning the kids upside down, the basin of water turned green.

Even so, Ye Cheng still felt unsafe.

Xiao Hu even more so looked at Ye Cheng with a schadenfreude face, "Brother, a basin of green water, you're going to eat it?"

"Eat! I'll eat, you have to eat too!"

To be safe, Ye Cheng changed the water, then had Xiao Hu scrub the crayfish again, while he went to buy seasonings.

Before there were dedicated mala crayfish seasonings, but now there aren't, so he had to find them himself.

From Li Quezi he bought some star anise, cassia bark, bay leaves; these are regular spices.

Then he bought a bottle of Pixian broad bean paste; Sichuan pepper wasn't for sale, a bit regrettable, so he bought some dried chili peppers to make do.

Crayfish aren't eaten alone; they must have side dishes.

He casually snapped two cucumbers from Xiao Hu's yard; rice cakes were gone, so he used potatoes instead.

When Ye Cheng came back with that big bundle, Xiao Hu had already started playing on the computer.

"Damn, I told you to scrub and you went to play again, have you cleaned them?" Ye Cheng put a bunch of stuff into the kitchen.

Scrubbed, scrubbed, the shells are almost scrubbed off; look, each one is now like a newborn Baobao, pure and flawless.

Ye Cheng went to look at the pure and flawless crayfish; the flawlessness was out of the question, but at least the algae and such on the shell had been cleaned off.

He casually picked up a crayfish, opened its gill shell to look, and it was still a bit black.

Originally the crayfish just needed to be dumped into the wok and stir-fried, but Ye Cheng still boiled a pot of hot water and put them in to cook for a while.

Whether the shrimp meat would turn tough was uncertain, but seeing the bits of black foam rising in the pot, Ye Cheng instantly felt he could eat with much more peace of mind.

Xiao Hu, after playing a game for a while, also felt a bit curious, wanting to see exactly how Ye Cheng would eat this unwanted thing.

After boiling the crayfish, Ye Cheng directly heated the wok and stir-fried them quickly, then set them aside to wait for use.

Looking at the one after another reddish crayfish, still giving off aroma, Xiao Hu suddenly felt his appetite rise.