Chapter 284: The Window Paper Got Thinner Again
Ning Xiyue saw it too. The area of reeds they’d come to had shallow water, just reaching the tops of their rain boots. The reed roots were covered with tiny snails. While she was still trying to decide whether those snails were edible, Chen Ye Chu had already crouched down and started collecting them.
“These snails barely have any meat. How do you even eat them? They don’t look appetizing at all,” Liu Yao said with a disgusted expression.
“These are field snails! Stir-fry them with chili and they’re delicious. Come on, help me collect some—I’ll cook them later and let you taste for yourself.”
Chen Ye Chu enthusiastically gathered the little snails, but soon realized she had nowhere to put them. Spotting Ning Xiyue’s empty basket, she suddenly had an idea.
“Xiyue, let me put the ducklings in your basket for a while. I’ll use mine for the snails.”
“Don’t use your basket—it’ll leak and get you all wet. I’ll weave you a basket real quick. You keep picking snails.”
Ning Xiyue efficiently cut a handful of reeds with her sickle and began weaving.
The basket was the very first thing she’d learned to weave, and her skill and speed were top-notch. After practicing at double learning speed, she’d already reached true mastery—able to weave a basket in the shortest possible time.
Her weaving speed was dizzying to watch.
In less than ten minutes, a medium-sized reed basket appeared in front of Chen Ye Chu and Liu Yao.
“All done—go ahead and use it.” Ning Xiyue handed the basket over.
“Xiyue, your speed’s gotten even faster! Amazing,” Liu Yao said, clapping her hands in admiration.
Then she looked down at the barely finished basket bottom in her own hands and sighed. “Why am I so slow? My hands are useless.”
“You’ve barely started learning,” Chen Ye Chu said with a smile. “You need to practice more. Xiyue’s been weaving for ages—she’s made a lot of things. Most of the kitchen containers are her handiwork now. I watched her get faster and faster—from awkward and clumsy to finishing one easily. That took more than half a year of practice.”
As she filled the new basket with snails, Chen Ye Chu added,
“I remember Xiyue started back when we first arrived at the educated youth commune. At first she traded baskets from Aunt Qiuju’s house, but later she made everything herself. I’ve always admired that. I even learned from her—I can make a basket now too, but still really slowly.”
“There’s no need to chase speed. As long as it works, it’s fine,” Ning Xiyue said calmly. “This one’s quick but low quality—the gaps are big and it’s rough. It’s a one-time use basket at best.”
She had deliberately made it rough. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for something so quickly woven to be so sturdy.
“That’s still amazing! Perfect for holding snails. Come on, help me pick enough for us all to eat tonight—I’ll cook you something delicious,” said Chen Ye Chu, scooping up the pile of snails resting on the reeds into the basket.
After an hour, the three of them headed back. They hadn’t found duck eggs or caught any ducks, but they cheerfully carried two baskets full of snails.
When they returned to their starting point, Ning Qingyuan and Yu Zhiyu were already waiting for them, waving and smiling.
“Come quick—we caught something!”
Ning Qingyuan held up a wild duck, its legs and wings tied together, shaking it triumphantly in the air.
Yu Zhiyu was holding a fish.
“Brother, you caught a duck!”
Ning Xiyue put her basket down and ran over. She held the duck—it was heavy—and her eyes crinkled with delight.
“It’s quite big, at least four catties!”
Dinner was settled. Definitely enough for all five of them.
“Let me hold it!” Liu Yao said eagerly.
Chen Ye Chu touched the duck’s feathers and laughed. “How did you catch it? It’s so fat—bigger than the two we saw yesterday.”
Yu Zhiyu pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, clearly pleased.
“We found a spot with lots of duck feathers and droppings, set up a trap there, and hid nearby. We got lucky—after a short while, a duck came flapping over, pecked at the cornmeal bait we set, and fainted right into the trap.”
Chen Ye Chu’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him. “You two really picked the right place. It’s not just luck—you chose well.”
Ning Qingyuan saw the subtle exchange of glances between them and smiled knowingly.
“Zhiyu picked the spot—he knows a lot about this stuff. He knew what kind of terrain ducks like, so we followed his knowledge to find that place.”
“Zhiyu, you’re amazing. You know so much,” Chen Ye Chu said sincerely, her gaze full of admiration.
“It’s nothing much,” Yu Zhiyu replied modestly, smiling warmly. “I just read it in a book once.”
But his eyes were so soft as he looked at her that they seemed ready to overflow.
Ning Qingyuan thought to himself: As expected, these two really like each other.
Ning Xiyue secretly gave her brother a thumbs-up. Nice assist, Second Brother.
Because in her previous life, Yechu had spent every day dealing with housework instead of studying, she especially admired people with knowledge and wide horizons in this life.
With her brother’s subtle help, the two of them were now looking at each other with such tenderness that it was practically tangible.
Tsk, the paper on that window just got thinner again.
Meanwhile, Liu Yao was still lost in her food fantasies. She grinned at the duck, then reached over and grabbed the fish from her cousin’s hand—one hand holding a fish, the other holding a duck—grinning so wide you could see her tonsils.
