Chapter 160

It's rare to see such a rich harvest all at once, and Seventh Cousin-Grandpa was still seriously explaining it to Qiaoqiao.

At this moment, what he pulled out of the ground cage was a constantly struggling swamp eel.

A swamp eel has mucus on its body; it's generally slippery and hard to grab with one hand.

But at this moment, Seventh Cousin-Grandpa just pinched it with his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and no matter how it curled and exerted force underneath, it just couldn't break free.

"Are you afraid?"

He looked at Qiaoqiao.

"I've eaten this," Qiaoqiao said with a grin, touching the cold, slippery body of the swamp eel: "Dad said this isn't a water snake, it doesn't bite people, it's a swamp eel."

Seventh Cousin-Grandpa nodded at him approvingly: "Right, but if it's really pushed to the limit, it will bite, but the toxin isn't strong. Just rinse it with water and wipe it with alcohol, and it'll be fine."

There was more than one swamp eel in the ground cage, and Seventh Cousin-Grandpa soon pulled out another one and threw it into the bucket:

"Try catching it with your hand."

Qiaoqiao was extremely happy and reached his hand into the bucket. However, just as he gripped it from the head, the swamp eel twisted and slipped silkily out of his fingers.

After struggling for a long time, using both hands, he still couldn't grip the swamp eel as easily and firmly as Seventh Cousin-Grandpa.

Qiaoqiao stared at his hands blankly, feeling extremely aggrieved:

"It's so slippery."

Seventh Cousin-Grandpa, however, smiled and encouraged him: "Fish are all very slippery; you have to be willing to make a move. See its head? Place your hand at the position where it narrows, and grip it hard! No matter how it twists, your strength must be steady and not loosen..."

The two helping aunts were cleaning the vegetables and meat. Seeing Seventh Cousin-Grandpa seriously teaching Qiaoqiao, they subconsciously softened their breathing.

When the vegetable basin was brought to the stove, the two of them started discussing:

"Look at the child's cousin-grandpa; he really has a way of teaching, coaxing and playing, Qiaoqiao is so happy."

In their view, learning to cook means either chopping away to practice knife skills or holding a large wok and flipping it back and forth. What's the point of catching swamp eels here?

When they first came in, he even poured a basin of loach! After catching loach and then catching swamp eels, a child can play for a whole morning.

The other one laughed: "That's true, but Qiaoqiao is brave. How come they aren't afraid? I feel my heart crawl when I see that swamp eel twisting like a snake."

"What's there to be afraid of!" The aunt opposite laughed:

"When children are small, they aren't afraid of anything. When I was little, I raised silkworms so enthusiastically, but now if you let me see those white, chubby silkworms again, I still feel a bit of a crawl in my heart."

That's true.

The two of them giggled, and the topic drifted off to who knows where.

And by the edge of the pool, Seventh Cousin-Grandpa was dealing with the harvest from the two full ground cages by himself, while Qiaoqiao was competing with the bucket of swamp eels and loach.

At this moment, his left and right hands were like practicing Iron Sand Palm, constantly reaching down to catch them. When his left hand was tired, he switched to his right, and when his right was tired, he switched to his left.

Seventh Grandma handed him his large tea mug and couldn't help but reveal a gentle smile:

"This child is quite serious."

"That's right." Seventh Cousin-Grandpa was also satisfied.

Ever since Qiaoqiao first came to his house, he had seen it: this child may be silly, but if you tell him to do something, he can just bury his head and keep doing it. This level of focus is remarkable.

Precisely because of this, after spending this time together, Seventh Cousin-Grandpa was truly putting his heart into teaching him.

Don't look at catching swamp eels and loach as if it's meaningless; it actually trains one to be fast, accurate, and steady. Once a chef's hand is steady, it proves the heart is also steady, and one can be immersed in whatever they do, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

It's also fate playing tricks on people. Twenty years ago, when he was young and strong and wanted to take on an apprentice, the child's parents sent him to his house, and he knelt down and kowtowed with a thud.

The other party cried and said that there were too many children in the family, only asking for a bite to eat and a craft to make a living.

Even then, he didn't loosen his grip, but arranged for the other party to work back and forth, seriously observing him for a year before agreeing.

In those years, families weren't well-off, but their family had fat chickens and big ducks every day for practice, and he didn't feel bad about it at all.

Seventh Cousin-Grandpa truly passed on his mantle.

He even pushed all his connections for doing large banquets to him. For the years the apprentice followed him, apart from the first three years of building basic skills with no income, he never had to worry about food or clothing.

Later, the apprentice stopped studying culinary arts and instead spent more than half of every month making a lot of money. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the chance to wander around coastal cities and then run away after coming back.

As a master, Seventh Cousin-Grandpa considered himself quite qualified. Even if he counted on the apprentice to support him in his old age, he didn't intend to treat him badly; at that time, the house hadn't been demolished, but he also had his own small courtyard.

But who would have thought that the mantle-inheriting disciple he had set his sights on would pack his things and fly away, and his own parents would bring a whole bunch of brothers to his door to scold him for oppressing a child.

Now that he is old, he has set his eyes on this silly Qiaoqiao.

If he was teaching with a mission before, with the communication during this period, Seventh Cousin-Grandpa has increasingly put his heart into it.

Not for the sake of old-age support, but purely because he likes this child.

Thinking of the past, Seventh Cousin-Grandpa and Seventh Grandma didn't know what to say. It was also because of that incident that the couple fell seriously ill and had lived in the city ever since.

Now, looking at the silly Qiaoqiao in front of him, Seventh Cousin-Grandpa smiled again:

"Qiaoqiao, let me ask you, do you dare to kill a chicken?"

Qiaoqiao looked up blankly: "I've never killed one, I don't know if I dare."

"Then kill Dabai?"

Qiaoqiao shook his head: "Dabai can't be killed, Dabai is a good brother, Dabai helps me watch the mountain."

"What if you have to kill it?"

"That's not allowed!" Qiaoqiao became serious, his eyes wide and round: "Not allowed."

Seventh Cousin-Grandpa:...

Why is this child so stubborn?

He originally wanted to introduce a small teaching topic, but now his own stubborn temper came up:

"Look, this goose isn't raised by your family, and you didn't spend money on it, so why can't it be killed? What if your grandpa and grandma agree?"

Qiaoqiao held back; he didn't know what to say, but at this moment he still emphasized: "No! Just no!"

"I'll take it and run, I'll hide it in the mountains."

Song Tan held back her laughter, also lowered her voice, and also in the posture of a thief, said:

"Director Zhu, you'd better leave quickly, I see that Little Zhou brother in your station, is walking to the fruit stall now."

"Do you count this as sneaking fish at work?"

Who has the energy to argue about sneaking fish!

Director Zhu trembled in his heart, carrying the ten-catty plastic bag, turning left and right, in this vegetable market he is as familiar with as his own door, launched a rigorous anti-tracking drill.

Little Zhou soon also came over sneakily.

"Little Song, weigh three catties for me."

Saying that, handed out a red bill: "There are some animals in the unit!"

"And Director Zhou is too treacherous, he bought it secretly, and made it into red oil bamboo shoot cubes at home, and sealed a small bag for himself when he went to work—I only ate one and it was snatched away!"