Chapter 710: Picking Snails (Patreon)

Chapter 710: Picking Snails

As they walked, the grandmother noticed that the small basket Shuyu was carrying was filled with snails.

"You picked these?"

While talking, she quickly took the wooden tub from Shu Yu hands.

Shu Yu nodded and rubbed her wrist. The wooden tub was too heavy to carry, so it would be more convenient to use the basket. She followed her grandmother back home. "When I was washing clothes, I saw that the river was full of snails. The water is clean, and the snails are big. I thought it would be nice to pick some and stir-fry them as a snack."

She had originally planned to bring the clothes back first, but she ran into Aunt Fang on the way. Aunt Fang was heading to the village to cook lunch and was carrying a basket to collect pine nuts in the mountains during her free time.

When Aunt Fang saw that Shuyu needed it, she gave her the basket.

Shuyu had wanted to refuse. After all, the basket was used to collect pine nuts, and it would get dirty if used for snails.

But Aunt Fang quickly left without waiting for her to decline.

Shuyu could only put some large leaves at the bottom of the basket and start picking snails.

She didn't go into the water. If she dared to go into the water on a day like this, her grandmother would surely scold her.

Fortunately, there were plenty of snails along the riverbank, and Shuyu easily filled the basket.

As the old lady listened, she frowned. "What's so good about these snails? There's hardly any meat, and they have a muddy and fishy smell."

As villagers, they preferred to eat substantial meat dishes. While it seemed like there were many snails, there was only a small amount of meat, and it took time to eat them.

Shu Yu pushed open the courtyard door and couldn't help but laugh. "That's why I said we could have them as a snack. As for the fishy smell, we can use perilla leaves. Do we have perilla leaves here?"

"Perilla leaves?" The grandmother thought for a moment. "I haven't seen any. I'll ask around."

Shu Yu had seen them outside the mountains, so if there were none nearby, she would ask Fang Xiyue to help pick some when she went down the mountain.

"No need to ask. I'll have someone pick them for me."

Shu Yu poured the snails from the basket into a basin and said to the grandmother, who was drying clothes, "I'll take our water bucket and pick some more later."

"More?"

Shuyu nodded. "Yes, there are plenty in the river. After they expel the sand for a couple of days, we can stir-fry them. I'll bring some to the village to let others taste them. They have been very kind to me."

The old lady remained silent. Although it wasn't the season for eating snails, she didn't know if the people here didn't know how to cook them, didn't have time, or simply didn't like them because of the lack of meat and the fishy smell. As a result, there were snails everywhere.

"Alright, let's have lunch first. After we finish eating, we can go together. I need to keep an eye on you so that you don't go into the water."

Shu Yu had no objections. "Okay."

She soaked the snails in water and wiped her hands. "Why haven't Da Hu and Sanya come back yet?"

"You're right. The Zhang family has already started lunch, so they should be back by now." Both children were well behaved and wouldn't stay at someone else's house during mealtime.

The old lady planned to find them after finishing drying the clothes. Just as she was about to do so, she heard Da Hu's voice outside the door.

"They're back."

She went to open the door and saw Zhang Ping'an leading the two children at the entrance.

The old lady immediately smiled and invited them in. "Both children have been well-behaved, right? They didn't cause you any trouble?"

Zhang Ping'an smiled sincerely. "No, they were fine. Da Hu even taught me a lot of characters."





***Mostly likely it is a aple snail or rabbit snail