Chapter 687: Walking the Lobster

Ye Chenghu quickly swung the bucket behind his back, watching his mother warily.

Dad is still the better one!

But just when no one was paying attention, the big red octopus that had just been tossed into the bucket climbed back out again. Its long, thick tentacles crawled especially fast, and before anyone could blink it had scrambled up onto the table corner, shifting nonstop along the crossbar.

Ye Yaodong, seeing Lin Lin Xiuqing had lowered her flag and silenced her guns, was about to sit down and eat when his foot landed on the table's crossbar—and a soft, squishy sensation underfoot made him feel as if he'd stepped in shit…

"What is that?"

He cried out in surprise and quickly lowered his head to look at the table corner.

"Ah! It crawled out again…"

Everyone looked over at the table corner too and spotted the big red octopus had escaped once more.

Lin Lin Xiuqing said hurriedly, "Didn't I tell you we shouldn't keep it? Look, no sooner had we just caught it back than it ran off again. If we leave it overnight, by nightfall it'll probably crawl right into your beds."

She had originally planned to stir-fry that big red octopus for a bowl that evening, but the two children had cried their eyes out, throwing themselves onto the water bucket, the two of them piled on top of each other, pinning it down tight, refusing to let her catch it no matter what.

She had no choice but to give up for now, planning to secretly cook it tomorrow once they went off to school.

Now things were perfect—she could catch it and cook it in broad daylight. Thinking this, Lin Lin Xiuqing sprang into action.

She grabbed the red octopus that had been crawling around under the table and said, "Hurry up and catch it and cook it, or tomorrow you won't even know where to find it. Once it's in your belly, then it's really yours."

Ye Chenghu said, not giving up, "Can we tie it up?"

"Uh…" Ye Yaodong looked at him with amusement. "You can't tie it. Its whole body is soft, it can squeeze through anything. Even if you tie it up, it'll still escape. Just let your mother cook it. Aren't there still six little white octopuses in the bucket? Those can't get away."

It'll only die.

Still, keeping it overnight was no problem. By tomorrow it would probably be tossed into the pot by Ah Qing anyway, or sold. Keeping it as a pet was out of the question—he was just saying it to humor the children.

After all, he was the one meant to play the good guy. Having Ah Qing as the bad guy was enough.

Ye Chenghu's face was full of conflict and heartache, but Ye Ye Chengyang said, "Brother, just cook it and eat it. It's so big, it'd definitely bully the little ones."

As he spoke he smacked his lips twice. "It's so soft and squishy, it must taste really good."

Ye Ye Chenghai and the others also said, "You killed yours and can eat it, but we still can't even get a bite."

"Haven't even seen a single hair on it!"

"Exactly."

"Fine."

Whether he was willing or not, this red octopus was destined for the pot. Without waiting for him to speak, Lin Lin Xiuqing had already ladled a scoop of cold water into the pot, dropped the red octopus in, and put the lid on.

But the moment she turned around to go boil the water, the stubborn thing actually pushed the lid up again, squeezing two tentacles out through the gap.

The children gathered around the stove all shrieked. Ye Ye Chenghai, the tallest, quickly lifted the lid, tossed it back in, and then pressed the lid down tight.

"This octopus is way too good at crawling."

Seeing the older kids had already caught the octopus and put it back, the adults returned to the table, and Lin Lin Xiuqing hurriedly sat down to start the fire.

"See that? If we don't cook it tonight, by tomorrow it'll have crawled up to the ceiling."

"But you can't eat the ones in the bucket," Ye Chenghu bargained.

"Fine. Once it's dead I'll cook it."

Agree for now. Anyway, by the time they got back from school tomorrow, they could go catch more—no time to fuss, no time to cry.

Only then, fully satisfied, did Ye Chenghu carry the bucket into his own room. Out of sight, out of mind—one had to stay on guard! Keeping it in his own room with Little Eight for company was more reassuring.

All the children swarmed back into their room again.

Octopuses weren't anything new to them—they saw them every day—but this one had been caught with their own handmade jars and traps, so it meant something different.

Now that their own was gone, they could only go look at someone else's for a bit of novelty.

Lin Lin Xiuqing quickly called out to them, "There's a bucket of shrimp on the cart. Go bring it down and help me shell them. Don't just play around—get the work done while you still haven't gone to bed."

"Got it."

They went clattering in, and in an instant came scurrying back out again.

Lin Lin Xiuqing reminded them again, "There's a little green dragon inside too. Remember to catch it and bring it to me later."

"Wow, there's a lobster~ Quick, quick, quick~"

"Quick, quick, quick~"

They were actually quite eager when it came to this kind of work. To them, peeling shrimp shells was just play.

After giving her instructions, Lin Lin Xiuqing held the lid down and waited. Once the octopus water had come to a boil, she fished it out again to clean it, then snipped off all its tentacles, cutting them into little sections, before going to the yard to pull up a few garlic leaves and a couple of chili peppers to stir-fry together.

This stir-fried red octopus was a little spicy and went well with rice. Although the locals generally ate lightly and liked to add sugar for a slightly sweet flavor, they did eat something spicy once in a while.

Just as Ye Yaodong and Ye Fu were still eating there, each with a cup of sea-snake wine poured for them, her stir-fried red octopus came out of the wok just in time to go with their drinks.

But after quite a while, the children still hadn't brought the green dragon in.

Having just finished cooking, she had her hands free now and could go out and have a look.

"Where are they?"

She stood at the doorway, dumbfounded. The yard was empty—apart from Ye Mu, there was only the dog.

She'd told them to shell the shrimp and bring the little green dragon in—where had they run off to?

Ye Mu said without even looking up, "Those little monkeys tied up the lobster and took it out for a walk."

Lin Lin Xiuqing: "…"

"Those brats."

Other people walk their cats and dogs, but they walk a lobster?

"Ye Chenghu~ Ye Chenghu~ Where the hell did you run off to?"

"Ye Chenghu, get your butt back here right now…"

She stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips, shouting in every direction.

"Coming, coming…"

Before long, the whole group came running back.

"Where's the lobster? If you let it get away, I'll beat you to death."

"It's here, it's here, still here. I just took it out to show the other kids."

Ye Chenghu hurriedly ran over and handed the rope in his hand to Lin Lin Xiuqing. "Just took it out for a little stroll, came right back."

Lin Lin Xiuqing gave him five knuckles, smashing hard against his head. "Told you to bring it in for me, where did you take it? Half a day… and you even used a rope to take it out for a stroll, asking for a beating… go peel that bucket of shrimp meat for me, otherwise I'll stew those little Xiao Bai Zhangs in a bit."

"Ah! No way! I'll peel them right now."

Ye Chenghu covered his forehead and immediately ran off energetically to peel the shrimp meat, and the others followed along too.

Lin Lin Xiuqing, caught between laughter and tears, carried the rope into the house and deliberately held it up for Ye Yaodong to see.

"Look at the fine mess Ye Chenghu made!"

"A little mischief is still better than being born a blockhead." Ye Yaodong picked up an octopus tentacle and ate it to his heart's content.

She shook her head helplessly, untied the rope first, grabbed a random bowl, and covered the little green lobster with it to keep it from escaping.

She hadn't even had time to scrub the wok yet, only thinking about stir-frying the octopus out of the pan quickly so she could go out and see why they hadn't brought the lobster in for so long.

"Just right, cook it up, chop it into pieces, and make noodles for Xiao Jiu as a late-night snack."

"Ahhhh~"

Ye Ye Xiaoxi was already very familiar with her own nickname; hearing her mother call her, she also cried out "ah ah ah."

"Haven't changed her clothes yet."

"What does it matter if a little kid is a bit dirty? After we feed her the noodles later, she'll probably get dirty all over again, we can just change her all at once then."

Fine, the mother has more say in the matter.

Ye Fu said: "In a few days it's the baby's one-year birthday, remember to go to the city and pick up her maternal grandparents. Closing the shop for two days is fine, it's been so long, the two elders haven't had a rest, bring them back to stay for a few days."

Ye Yaodong nodded. "I know. I'll see if I'm free in the next couple of days. If I'm free, I'll go pick them up myself. If not, I'll give them a call and have Zhou Shu pick them up a day early, so they can take the chance to rest for a few days."

"That's the way. While they're resting, settle their wages in advance. That way when they go back to their hometown, they'll have something to say, so people won't say you're making them work for free."

"Got it."

"If they have any melons, fruits, or vegetables they want to sell, let them bring them along and put them in the shop to sell. It's open anyway."

"There probably aren't any melons, fruits, or vegetables this season, right?"

Ye Fu shot him a look. "Whether there are or not, you should still say it nicely. Whether they have melons, fruits, or vegetables to sell or not, as long as they don't mind the trouble, picking a few sacks of sweet potatoes and potatoes to sell over there is fine."

Ye Yaodong replied helplessly, "Alright."

Lin Lin Xiuqing, listening on the side, was all smiles; nothing made her happier than her maiden family being respected by her husband's family.

"When the time comes, we can let my parents stay one night, eat a birthday meal together the next day, and then send them back to stay for a couple more days."

"Mm, that's easy enough."

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