Chapter 327: The Human Shield of Tools
Still curious, Ning Xiyue followed the group out of the canteen and headed toward the youth hostel.
As they neared the hostel, Liu Yao pointed toward some people crouching in the drainage ditch ahead and asked, curious, “Could those four be the new youth arrivals?”
“Where? Let me see,” Wang Mengmeng stood next to Liu Yao and looked in the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, not far away, in the drainage ditches along both sides of the road, were four people.
Two boys were each in a separate ditch—one upstream, one downstream.
The two girls were together: one moving in the ditch, the other standing at the roadside watching below.
Those in the water were all bent over or half-squatting, heads down, focused on the water, occasionally moving about, with their hands hanging vertically as if searching underwater.
But because of the obstructed view, anything below the elbows was hidden, so it was impossible to tell exactly what they were doing—only that they were half-squatting in the water.
From the way they moved about in the ditch, though, they seemed quite excited.
Ning Xiyue looked closely. The person standing by the roadside was Sun Meimei, and together with the three in the ditch, it really was the four youth she had brought back to the hostel that morning.
These four were skipping lunch to hang out in a drainage ditch—didn’t they feel hungry at all?
“They’re the new youth.”
Ning Xiyue, the only one who had met the newcomers, nodded, confirming Liu Yao’s guess.
“Really?” Liu Yao exclaimed in surprise, not expecting her first encounter with the new arrivals to be here.
“What are they doing in there, playing in the water?” Wang Mengmeng asked, smiling in confusion. She thought these newcomers seemed kind of silly—first day in the countryside and they’re already splashing in a ditch?
“Definitely not playing in the water. Let’s go check,” Ning Xiyue shook her head in disbelief. Their movements didn’t seem like mere play, and they wouldn’t skip meals just to play in water.
Besides, the ditch reminded her of what she had heard from the aunts yesterday. Perhaps the newcomers had spotted something keenly in the ditch—otherwise, she couldn’t figure out what could be more important than eating. She decided to go see for herself.
“Could they be catching fish?” Ning Qingyuan muttered, noticing something. He pulled Yu Zhiyu and Wang Jiandong toward a side path.
Only Ning Xiyue, Wang Mengmeng, and Liu Yao remained walking ahead. Ning Xiyue noticed her second brother’s movement but didn’t bother with them. Her focus was on the newcomers. Since the captain had handed them to her that morning, she felt somewhat responsible until Wu Guifang and Zhao Jianshe returned.
The three girls quickened their pace. The closer they got, the more they could feel the newcomers’ joy—their loud, happy laughter was impossible to ignore.
Ning Xiyue heard Tang Xiaohu’s excited voice: “Ah, I caught another one! Wow, this one’s huge!”
They really were catching fish?
From what she knew, this ditch connected to the reservoir. The recent rains had raised the reservoir’s water level above the connected ditch, letting water flow down through the gap.
This ditch was the main waterway of the brigade, with many branches connected to it, reaching almost every part of the farmland, even linking to the river outside the brigade. It essentially connected most of the brigade’s land.
At this crucial spring planting season, the ditch water served as irrigation, helping members water crops after sowing.
To ensure sufficient water, the captain had widened and deepened the reservoir gap for proper irrigation.
Just yesterday, Ning Xiyue had heard some aunts mention that someone had even caught a large crucian carp while scooping water. Many people had set up fish baskets or nets in the ditches outside their homes, hoping for a bit of fish or shrimp to supplement meals.
Liu Yao approached and asked, “What are you catching in the ditch?”
Her sudden voice startled the focused youth, but upon seeing Ning Xiyue, they steadied themselves.
“Xiyue, look!” Tang Xiaohu happily held up a freshly caught eel.
“Ah! A snake!” Wang Mengmeng screamed, stepping back and hiding behind Ning Xiyue.
Liu Yao, who had been bitten by a snake before, also recoiled at the long, thin creature in Tang Xiaohu’s hand, and, along with Wang Mengmeng, ducked behind Ning Xiyue.
“…”
Who isn’t afraid of eels? Well, she wasn’t, apparently.
Ning Xiyue looked at the two clinging to her shoulders and smiled helplessly. “It’s not a snake, it’s an eel.”
“Yes, yes, an eel! See its color? It’s yellow,” Tang Xiaohu hurried to explain, lowering it and showing everyone before placing it into a burlap sack by the ditch.
Sun Meimei ran over, thumping the sack on the ground, opened it, and showed Ning Xiyue the catch.
The two girls leaning on Ning Xiyue peeked in and exclaimed, “Ah! Oh my gosh, that’s terrifying!”
They quickly drew back, pressing against Ning Xiyue’s back, covering their eyes with their clothes, unable to look again.
Ning Xiyue felt like a human shield—on either side, two trembling girls huddled behind her. She looked down at the sack.
Inside were many eels and loaches crowded together, tangled with numerous crucian carp of various sizes—visually a bit intimidating.
She noticed how fearless the two new girls were, handling so many slippery creatures so boldly.
“Don’t be afraid. They can’t get out, and even if they do, they won’t bite,” Sun Meimei spoke softly.
“I still feel scared,” Liu Yao said, gripping Ning Xiyue’s sleeve, trembling, and taking a small step back.
“We can stir-fry these tonight and eat together,” Tang Xiaohu said, standing in the water holding a torn net, smiling at the girls.
Wang Mengmeng vigorously shook her head, frowning. “No thanks! I’ll eat at the canteen today.”
“You’re still thinking about tonight. Did you have lunch? If you don’t go to the canteen soon, the food might be gone,” Ning Xiyue kindly reminded them.
“Ah, I forgot. I got too excited catching fish and eels. I’ll go now, I’m starving,” Tang Xiaohu said. He tossed the net onto the road and picked a grass stem by the ditch to wash his hands and feet.
Ning Xiyue moved to the other two boys having fun catching eels and repeated the reminder.
Their reactions were the same—so absorbed in catching eels and fish, they had completely forgotten about lunch.
Ning Xiyue admired these four—others might get so absorbed in reading they forget to eat, but these guys forgot to eat because of fishing. She couldn’t do that herself.
Glancing at the time, she looked at the four newcomers, carrying shoes and their catch, pant-rolled and shyly smiling:
“Hurry up, carry these back, clean up, and I’ll take you to the canteen. Don’t get lost along the way or you’ll miss lunch—then you’ll have to go hungry.”
“Thanks, Xiyue!” Li Dadan said, grinning, mud still smeared on his face.
“Go on, don’t dawdle.”
The four ran quickly toward the hostel. Ning Xiyue stood watching, then turned to Liu Yao and Wang Mengmeng, still clinging to her sleeve behind her. “You two aren’t going back?”
She hadn’t realized these two were afraid of eels.
“No, we’ll go with you,” they shook their heads vigorously.
“I want to help the new youth as an older youth too,” Wang Mengmeng said loudly, determined.
She imagined that if those four left their catch in the hostel unsupervised, only she and Liu Yao would remain. Both being scared, what if the eels got out?
Wang Mengmeng’s mind pictured eels and loaches crawling all over the hostel floor. The image sent goosebumps across her body. She crossed her arms, unable to calm down.
Liu Yao thought the same, shaking off the memory of being bitten by a snake, and raised her hand: “We might as well go pick up Yechu too—more walking will help digest.”
But inside, she wondered why the two new girls weren’t scared. These things looked just like snakes! Pointed heads, long bodies, slippery and slimy—only the color was different.
The more Liu Yao thought about it, the more frightened she became, shivering all over.
