Chapter 35 eel
Li Shengli thought about it and waved to the two little girls. The two looked at each other and walked towards Li Shengli.

"What are your names?" Li Shengli took out two candies from his bag and handed them to the two little girls with a smile.

"Thank you, brother. My name is Zheng Xiaozhu and this is my sister Zheng Xiaoyu." The older girl named Zheng Xiaozhu was bolder and took the candy from Li Shengli's hand and answered.

The younger girl named Zheng Xiaoyu hid behind her sister and looked at Li Shengli timidly.

Zheng Xiaozhu gave a candy to his sister, and they both peeled off the candy wrappers and put them in their mouths.

Looking at the two skinny people with clothes covered with patches on top of patches, Li Shengli felt a little sad.

"Did you run away by yourself? Are your parents here?" Li Shengli looked around but did not see any adults.

"No, my parents are busy with farm work, so my sister and I came to the stream to see if we could catch some fish and shrimp." Zheng Xiaozhu explained while licking the candy. Zheng Xiaoyu nodded while also licking the candy behind her.

"Is that so?" Li Shengli nodded. These days people in the countryside earn work points. City people can have some meat from time to time, but there is not so much food in the countryside. It is okay in the wealthier communes, but the others can only have meat during the Chinese New Year.

"Then you have to be careful. Don't talk to strangers easily, and don't eat their food easily," Li Shengli warned.

"But brother, you are a stranger." Zheng Xiaoyu leaned his head out from behind Zheng Xiaozhu and said this. Wow, this sentence directly silenced Li Shengli.

"Brother is not a bad person." Li Shengli reached out and touched Zheng Xiaoyu's little head.

After the two of them finished eating the candy, Li Shengli took the two kids into the water to catch fish and shrimp. With the harvest, the three of them shouted with joy.

It was getting darker and darker. After a happy time, Li Shengli called the two kids to the shore and looked at their catch. In addition to some river shrimps, they also found a few small fish and two eels.

Li Shengli looked at the two little ones and said, "Xiaozhu, Xiaoyu, our harvest is pretty good. How about this, you can take these small fish back to eat, and the rest will be considered as my purchase from you."

After saying that, Li Shengli took out a few one-cent bills from his pocket and stuffed them into the pockets of the two men. These two were sensible children and would not accept even if they were given too much.

"Brother, this won't do. We didn't do anything, and you even shared the fish with us." Zheng Xiaozhu repeatedly declined.

"You can keep this money. These shrimps and eels belong to me. You can ask your parents to buy you some nice hairbands with this money." Li Shengli deliberately put on a stern face.

These two kids are pretty cute, so you can help them as much as you can. It’s not like they’ll cling to you like the widow Qin’s family.

Seeing that it was almost dark, Li Shengli was ready to go home. It was still quite a distance from the city. He touched his bag and found that the peanuts he brought were still untouched.

"Look how busy I am. I'll give these to you." Li Shengli stuffed the newspaper bag containing peanuts to Zheng Xiaozhu without hesitation.

"Thank you, brother." Zheng Xiaozhu and Zheng Xiaoyu looked at each other and said in unison.

"What are you thanking me for?" Li Shengli touched his head with a silly smile.

"Oh, and here are some more." Li Shengli thought for a moment and stuffed the remaining candies into the two little ones. Listening to the two little sisters' crisp thanks, Li Shengli smiled like an auntie.

After packing his bag, Li Shengli wrapped the shrimps in paper and put them in the bag. He then skewered the eels with rattan. He thought about drying the water on the eels and wrapped them in paper. He would have to carry them like this when taking a bus to avoid rubbing them on others.

After saying goodbye to the two sisters and asking them to go home quickly, Li Shengli took his harvest and walked on the way home. On the way back to the courtyard, Li Shengli took the eel out of his bag. There were too many monsters in the courtyard, so it was better to cook something delicious openly. Li Shengli was walking on the road, and some children on the road were shocked when they saw what Li Shengli was holding in his hand.

"snake!"

"Dad, look, that brother is holding two snakes in his hands." A little kid next to him pointed at Li Shengli's hand and pulled his father's clothes hard.

"Stop pulling, where is it?" The child's father looked in the direction the child pointed, and then he found Li Shengli and the eel in Li Shengli's hand.

"What the hell is that snake? It's an eel." The child's father said unhappily. This naughty child is just scary.

"Eel?" The naughty kid touched his head in confusion.

Li Shengli walked home carrying the eels. These two eels were just enough for him to eat. Fortunately, there were some river shrimps, but these things could not be stored and there was no refrigerator.

Walking into the alley, Banggeng was running and playing with Xiaodang and a group of other children.

Li Shengli glanced at them without paying much attention and walked towards the courtyard. As soon as he entered the courtyard, the third uncle was not watering the flowers in front of the house. It seemed that he had gone out fishing and had not returned yet. However, Yan Jiecheng was there. When he saw Li Shengli and the things in Li Shengli's hands, Yan Jiecheng's eyes almost popped out.

"Shengli, you..." Yan Jiecheng pointed at Li Shengli's hand in surprise.

"Hey, Jiecheng, stop looking. If you want to eat, go find your dad. Uncle San goes fishing every day, and you still can't eat fish." Li Shengli joked with a smile.

Yan Jiecheng was choked for a moment. Everyone in the hospital knew his father's character. He even ate fish himself.

Uncle Yan Bugui usually sells the big fish he catches to supplement his family income. Even if it is a small fish that no one wants, he has to pay extra if he wants to eat it himself.

Yan Jiecheng waved his hand and went into the house, not wanting to be annoyed.

The three aunts were preparing dinner. Seeing Yan Jiecheng like this, they couldn't help but ask, "Jiecheng, what's wrong with you?"

"Mom, when can we eat meat at home?" Yan Jiecheng thought about it and still felt a little angry.

"What's wrong with you? What's our family's financial situation? Why are we eating meat during the New Year or other festivals?" The third aunt was still wondering what Yan Jiecheng was thinking. He didn't even know what his family's financial situation was.

"Li Shengli next door got two eels from somewhere." Yan Jiecheng was sulking.

"Oh, I thought it was something else. How can our family be compared with Li Shengli's? You just started working, and your three younger brothers and sisters are still in school. The whole family relies on your father's salary to live. How can we afford to eat meat?" The third aunt didn't care. She had long been accustomed to this kind of life. Life before liberation was even harder.

"What's going on?" The third uncle Yan Bugui also parked the car and walked in carrying a bucket.

"I heard what you said from a distance, what's going on?"

"Old man, you don't know. Jie Cheng said that Li Shengli, who lives next door, brought back two eels from somewhere." The third aunt said as she reached out to take the things from the third uncle Yan Bugui.

(End of this chapter)