The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Su Qingyue glanced at him, “As you wish.”

“I won’t shed tears, look at my eyes, they’re dry and tearless. They say that women are made of water, and when they cry, it’s like rain under a pear tree.”

“Rain in pear blossoms.”

“Right, rain in pear blossoms. My wife, you’re amazing, you can even speak idioms.” He laughed with his teeth showing but not his eyes, “Husband won’t cry anymore, when men cry, it’s like cat’s pee. No matter how painful it is, I’ll hold back my tears. Last time, I thought my wife couldn’t speak idioms…”

She had only needled his pain points just now because it was necessary for acupuncture. This time, she deliberately inserted the needle into his pain point, “To wake you up.”

“Hiss…Ouch!” He nearly shed tears from the pain, “Wife, I just wanted to chat with you… look how serious you are…”

“If you keep talking to me, I might miss the needle and turn you into a useless person.”

He showed some spirit, “If my wife wants to make me a useless person, I’ll become one!”

“Hmph!” She snorted coldly and ignored him.

A little while later, after giving acupuncture to the third brother, she packed up her silver needles. She estimated that it was about half past twelve and asked the second brother if they were hungry. They decided to stick to the original plan and cook lunch at two o’clock.

Not wanting to waste an hour and a half, she picked up her back basket and hatchet, said a few words to the men in the family, and left the house.

At the hottest time of the day, she didn’t want to go too far. She walked to the top of a short mountain not far from home, and to the left was Hanging Neck Mountain.

She looked out from Hanging Neck Mountain and saw a stream not far away. She guessed there would be fish and decided to catch some.

She walked fast and straight to her destination, arriving in less than twenty minutes. Along the mountain road, she cut a wooden stick about a meter and a half long and a little thicker than her thumb. The bottom of the stick was a narrow “eight” shaped tree fork, and she sharpened the ends to make a fish fork.

The stream was in the shade, so she wouldn’t get sunburned. The water gurgled and formed a small pool in the recess of the mountain.

In the shallow parts of the water, it rose only to her ankles, and the deepest part was only half a meter. Many palm-sized fish swam in the pool. Perhaps because it was close to Hanging Neck Mountain and few people came here, there were so many fish. Otherwise, the fish in the stream would likely be harder to catch and not as plentiful.

She placed the back basket on the bank, rolled up her pant legs, held the fish fork in her hand, and carefully walked into the stream, barely creating any splashes.

The stream was cold as it flowed through the mountain. As soon as her feet touched the water, a chill spread upward, making her feel much cooler.

The stream barely reached her knees. She bent over slightly, focusing on the swimming fish in the water. When a slightly larger fish swam close to her feet, she thrust the fork down and pulled the wriggling fish out of the water with the fork.

She removed the fish from the fork, tossed it into the back basket, and continued catching fish.

With her speed and skill, she would normally never make a mistake. However, the water was flowing, and the fish were quick; sometimes she missed, catching only two out of the three attempts.

Within just over an hour, her back basket was filled with the fish she had caught.

Perhaps others may think it’s too much, but she thought it was too slow.

Now she didn’t delve into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs, nor did she have money to buy them. If she had the necessary herbs, she could have directly prepared a poison to kill the fish and not harm people when they ate it. Then, she wouldn’t need to catch fish one by one with so much effort..