Chapter 2 Spicy Crayfish

"Stinking hooligan, go to hell!" Yang Xi got up, gritted her teeth, and spat at Liang Jingxian.

She had wanted to kick him a few more times to vent her anger, but seeing Liang Jingxian's tall and sturdy figure, she felt a pang of fear, worried that he would come after her once he snapped back to his senses. Grabbing the bucket, she didn't look back and ran away in a panic.

"Oh my God!"

"It hurts so much!"

"What the hell is this?"

Liang Jingxian was grinding herbs and applying them to Yang Xi's wounds. He hadn't expected Yang Xi's sudden "Foshan Shadowless Kick," and the pain was so intense that he couldn't even speak. He watched helplessly as Yang Xi ran away, and it took him a full five minutes before he could curse out loud.

He found a rock by the creek to sit on for a while until he could move freely. Only then did Liang Jingxian get up and prepare to go home.

"Hey, there are quite a lot of crayfish here."

The streams near Huang Liang Village were innumerable. The water in this stream wasn't deep—probably only about a meter at its deepest. There were a few crayfish floating among the aquatic plants at the edge.

"Catch a few and take them home to replenish."

Liang Jingxian glanced at the area around his shorts, chuckled at himself, and, being agile, easily caught more than a dozen crayfish to take home.

The crayfish were indeed quite large; these dozen or so almost weighed two jin.

When he got home, he started cleaning the crayfish with an old toothbrush, cutting their whiskers, removing their guts, gills, and viscera...

"Xiao Xian, if you want to eat crayfish, Mom can go buy some from Yang Xi for you," Luo Xiaofen said with a smile as she saw Liang Jingxian processing the crayfish.

"Yang Xi? Who's Yang Xi?" Liang Jingxian casually asked.

"Oh, she's your brother Liu Can's wife. Married four years ago, tsk, she's very charming. Such a pity about Uncle Liu and his family..." Luo Xiaofen said, wiping away tears.

Liu Can was a villager of Huang Liang Village, five years older than Liang Jingxian. He married Yang Xi four years ago, and the next year gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, making the villagers green with envy.

But early last year, Liu Can's family got into a car accident in the city. Liu Can and his parents died instantly; only Yang Xi and the two children, being at home, escaped the tragedy.

The driver responsible for the accident fled the scene and still hasn't been caught. Now Yang Xi struggles to take care of the two children by herself.

Fortunately, the Liu Family had quite a bit of farmland. Although Yang Xi doesn't know how to farm, she rented it all out, which barely allows them to scrape by.

Now that the kids started kindergarten, Yang Xi has found some time and occasionally looks for work to help with family expenses. Lately, she's been catching crayfish by the river to sell.

"Yeah, sure, next time we want crayfish, we'll buy from Yang Xi," Liang Jingxian thought of his brother, who had been quite nice, especially caring for the village kids. He readily agreed.

"What Yang Xi, you should call her 'sister,'" snapped Luo Xiaofen, giving him a look.

Liang Jingxian finished preparing the crayfish and brought out a dish of spicy crayfish. "Dad, Mom, come and try this."

Luo Xiaofen and Liang Bin didn't stand on ceremony, each grabbing one.

"Hmm? Not bad, delicious, really delicious... It's my first time eating such tasty crayfish..." Luo Xiaofen's expression at that moment was as vivid as the female judge in God of Cookery, almost ready to start dancing.

In the Xiuyue Mountain area, people didn't really like crayfish. Even though the rivers were full of them, most were too lazy to catch them.

"Xiao Xian, when did I miss the fact that you cook so well?" Luo Xiaofen said after finishing one, grabbing another in her hand. "I'm saying, you didn't become a chef instead of a security guard, did you? Hehe, actually, being a chef is quite good too. The big hotels in the city are hiring chefs now. The salary can be more than five thousand a month, I heard."

"It really does taste good. Not inferior to the big hotels at all," Liang Bin said as he reached for his second crayfish.

Luo Xiaofen gave him a scornful look and said, "Even the big hotels don't make it as tasty as my son."

"It was my comrades in the army who taught me to cook," Liang Jingxian said with a smile. "I'm not really interested in being a chef. Let's just forget it."

He also took a bite of the crayfish and added, "These crayfish are a little undercooked. If you could add a few herbs, they would taste even better and have the effects of strengthening the body and beautifying the skin."

The family of three, taking turns with each other, quickly polished off a plate of crayfish. Even Liang Bin, who didn't talk much, couldn't stop praising the spicy crayfish.

After cleaning up the dishes, Liang Jingxian took a cold shower and was ready to go to bed when his mother suddenly knocked on the door.

"Xiao Xian, Yang Xi called me. Her Xiao Long and Xiao Feng have a high fever. She wants you to come over and have a look," she said.

"Okay, I'll be right there." Liang Jingxian put on a T-shirt, denim shorts, flip-flops, and brought along a set of Silver Needle.

"Xiao Xian, the Yang family is having a hard time. Don't charge them the consultation fee," Luo Xiaofen specifically instructed before he left.

"I know."

...

Yang Xi, as usual, finished tidying up the house, took a bath, changed into her pajamas, and was ready to sleep with the children when she suddenly found both kids burning up with fever.

She took out the thermometer and checked—the temperature was 38.5 degrees. Terrified, she knew that getting medical help in Huang Liang Village, especially late at night, was no easy feat. With the inconvenient transportation, taking two children to the town was a particularly difficult task.

But she soon remembered that Luo Xiaofen had informed her in the evening that her son had returned to work as the village doctor. Yang Xi had also heard from Liu Can and other women in the village about the old village doctor, Old Man Yan. Since Liang Jingxian was Old Man Yan's apprentice, he should be able to handle minor illnesses like a cold. So, she immediately called Luo Xiaofen.

Then she started to wipe Xiao Long and Xiao Feng's foreheads with a towel.

The two little ones had severe fevers and were now groggy and whimpering. Yang Xi watched with a heavy heart.

Thud thud thud.

After a while, someone knocked on the door.

"Is the village doctor here so soon?" Yang Xi's heart leaped with joy as she hurriedly ran to open the door.

"Yang Xi, I've come for the crayfish. What do you say, it's been four days, right? How many jin of crayfish have you saved up?"

The visitor wasn't the village doctor but Old Xu, who came to collect the crayfish.

Old Xu, over fifty years old, was from Jinghong Village. The road was too difficult to navigate, and only Old Xu would come to collect every three days.

"About sixteen jin," Yang Xi frowned slightly. She was somewhat dissatisfied that Old Xu had come so late to collect the crayfish. Previously, he always came around four or five in the afternoon.

"Oh, that's quite a lot," Old Xu chuckled and entered Yang Xi's house. "Yang Xi, from now on, I'll pay you ten yuan per jin for your crayfish."

Yang Xi had previously sold her crayfish to him for five yuan per jin, which was indeed a very low price. However, if Old Xu chose not to buy them, she would have had to eat the crayfish herself.

She could catch two or three jin a day, and if she was lucky, four or five jin, meaning she could sell them for around ten to twenty yuan a day. It was manageable.

Now that Old Xu wanted to raise the price, it should have been good news – her income was about to double. However, just by looking at Old Xu's eyes, she had a good guess of what was on his mind.

"Cough cough, Old Xu, my two kids are sick right now. I've called the village doctor and he is on his way. Take these crayfish and net them, and we can settle the payment next time you come," she proposed.

Old Xu immediately scoffed, "Old Yan is dead, what village doctor does Huang Liang Village have? Don't try to fool me!" Saying this, he even grabbed Yang Xi's hand.

"Let go, get away from me!" Yang Xi hadn't expected Old Xu to be so bold. Angered, her face turned pale, and her eyes blazed with fury.