The rain was neither too heavy nor too light, which was perfect for catching toads.
Xu Shiyan and Sun Xiaofeng arrived near the Caozi River before half past seven. They didn't have to go far. They just found a river bank and strolled back and forth, catching toads as they jumped up.
They were not the only ones who came out to catch toads. They didn't talk to each other when they met. They each caught their own things without disturbing each other.
This lasted for most of the night, and it wasn't until around two o'clock in the middle of the night, when the rain became lighter and lighter, and the toads were almost gone, that Xu Shiyan and Sun Xiaofeng walked back.
It was almost four o'clock when Xu Shiyan got home. The child happened to urinate and was making noises. Zhou Guilan got up to change the child's diaper.
Hearing some movement in the outhouse, Zhou Guilan hurriedly came out to check.
"Why did you come back just now? Did you catch toads all night? Take off your raincoat quickly, cool down and go back to the house to sleep."
Xu Shiyan first threw the bag in his hand into the corner, and the toad in the bag made a croaking sound.
"This crop of toads is so thick, you didn't see it, they are jumping all over the ground.
We kept grabbing and forgetting the time. When the rain stopped and the little toad stopped coming, we realized that it was already past midnight and hurried back.
We don’t have a big house here, and the rivers are far away.”
“We caught a lot today, and the mother had a lot of babies.
Didn't I just come back from digging a pile of gastrodia two days ago? I made some stewed gastrodia with toads for Yingzi to eat.
I'll leave some mother hugs, and I'll go to Director Guo of the Forestry Bureau during the day. Don't worry about whether they are rare or not, just give me something of interest.
Also, take some away to Lao Liu and give them to her master. Lao Liu is an apprentice there and they teach her very carefully, so it is our wish to give her something."
In a human society, this is necessary communication, especially in the Northeast, nothing can be done without human relations.
Xu Shiyan knows this truth very well, so no matter where he is, he pays special attention to maintaining human relationships. It is really useful at critical times.
"Well, okay, I'll do whatever you want. Anyway, we'll eat it at home. It doesn't matter if it's a female holding a male dog."
How can Zhou Guilan not understand this at such an old age? Her son worked hard all night and did serious things, so she can understand.
As for my family, just eat what you have, and the gifts must be good ones.
The locals call female forest frogs female hugs and male ones male dogs.
In fact, it should be called a female leopard, because the belly of the female forest frog is yellow and speckled, like a leopard.
However, it is difficult to describe the leopard as a leopard. Many people write it as a hug for holding things. When it comes and goes, it becomes a mother's hug.
The mother's eggs have toad oil in their stomachs in the fall and seeds in the spring, and they are relatively large, so most people like to eat the mother's eggs.
The male dog has nothing in his belly and is also small.
If you give it as a gift, it must be a gift. You can eat it at home as you like. It tastes the same anyway.
Xu Shiyan worked hard all night without sleeping, and now he was unbearably sleepy.
After chatting with Zhou Guilan for a few words, the coldness in my body disappeared, and I opened the door and entered the east room.
Su Anying had already fed her son and was burping her son. When she saw Xu Shiyan coming back, she hurriedly pointed to the quilt on the kang and signaled Xu Shiyan to sleep quickly.
Xu Shiyan didn't have the heart to look after the child at the moment, for fear of making the kid cry, so he took off his shoes and got into bed, and fell asleep quickly.
It rained all night, so the ground was soaked and sticky, making it impossible to work.
Xu Shiyan didn't wake up until after eight o'clock. He ate casually, picked out thirty large mother-in-laws, packed them in fine mesh bags, and carried them to Guo Shouye.
As Guo Shouye, he must have given many gifts. He received three portions of toads early this morning.
Even so, Guo Shouye was still very happy to see Xu Shiyan coming.
Sometimes people get along like this. They don't care how valuable things are, but they care about their thoughts. It's interesting to think of each other when they have good things.
"Oh, I must have caught this in the rain last night, right?
Look, you can catch it and keep it for yourself. Isn’t my sister-in-law giving birth? Stew some to replenish her body. You are still thinking about me, how bad is it?"
Guo Shouye had a friendly smile on his chubby face and happily accepted the toad.
"Well, I didn't go to see my nephew during my sister-in-law's confinement period. There are a few tickets here, I think you can use them."
Guo Shouye had nothing else but a lot of tickets, so he casually took a bunch of them and handed them to Xu Shiyan.
"Brother, I didn't come here for that reason. I just came to see Brother Guo.
I've been too busy these days and I really don't have time to come over. It rained and I finally stopped work, so I came to see Brother Guo."
Xu Shiyan hurriedly waved his hand, and he sent some toads over. Why did he have the nerve to ask for tickets?
If you were so worried, wouldn't you think that he was just trying to gain some advantage?
"Look at you, why are you so polite to your brother? I don't have anything else here, am I missing this thing?
Take it, there seems to be some meat tickets or something in it, go buy some meat and give it to your sister-in-law."
Guo Shouye was unhappy when he saw that Xu Shiyan refused to accept it. His face sank and he put the ticket in front of Xu Shiyan.
Yes, it’s not enough if I don’t accept it.
"Then I'd like to thank Brother Guo. I've taken a lot of advantage by following Brother Guo this year." Xu Shiyan put the ticket away with a smile.
Guo Shouye looked better when he saw that Xu Shiyan had accepted the meat ticket.
"That's right, why are we brothers saying those things to outsiders? From now on, if you need anything, come to me.
If I don’t have anything else, I can still get the tickets.”
When the company distributes benefits, everything has to go through Guo Shouye's hands. It's as much as he says, but it's just a few tickets drawn out, so what does it count?
These days, there are more and more ticket sellers. Where do those tickets come from?
If Guo Shouye doesn't sell it for free, it's already good. If he gives it away to others, it doesn't count.
Xu Shiyan chatted with Guo Shouye for a while, then left the bureau and went straight to the grocery store.
He had a meat ticket in his hand, so why not hurry up and buy meat? After queuing for a while, it was his turn and there happened to be a small strip of pork belly left.
"Comrade, give me this piece of pork belly. I also bought those pig trotters and big bones."
Meat requires a ticket, but pig trotters and large bones do not.
At this time, the shaved meat is very clean, and there is not much meat on the big bones, so most people don't like to buy it.
With money, who doesn’t want to buy some meat? Why buy bones?
The same goes for pig trotters. Except during the Chinese New Year or when a woman in the family is giving birth to a baby, not many people buy them at other times.
The meat-buying chef doesn't care about that, as long as you give him the ticket and money, it will be the same for anyone who buys it.
So he sold the strip of pork belly, two pig trotters, and a bunch of big bones to Xu Shiyan.
Xu Shiyan carried his net bag and returned home happily.
Before entering the house, I heard the sound of many people talking in the house.
When I pushed the door open and entered the east room, I saw that it was my father-in-law and mother-in-law. My sister-in-law was here.
"Mom, dad, when did you arrive? Look, I should have known to pick you up at the station."
"Isn't it seven days since Yingzi gave birth? As grandparents, we have to come and see the baby.
You don’t need to pick her up. Today the commune has something to do and we’re going to Fusong, so we took a bus from Fusong.”
Ever since Su Weizhong received the news that Su Anying had given birth to a son, he had been thinking about coming to see Huanxi.
After finally waiting for seven days, I quickly brought my wife and daughter here.