I sold grilled fish in the 70s!

Chapter Two: Rice Paddy is a Paradise for Children

A fall yielded a bowl of snails

Are there bloodsucking insects in the fields? A classmate told me that she was bitten by a bloodsucking insect while working in the fields last summer. It hurt so much!

I couldn't resist patting Jianmei's incredibly hard head again.

Jianlin, why do you keep patting my head? What if you break it?

You silly goose! There are no vampires in the paddy fields, just leeches (a local dialect term for leeches).

Hey! You kids are all out in the fields and not planting rice seedlings! Just standing there bragging? (Jiang Le dialect, meaning to boast)

Haha, we got scolded, so we quickly rolled up our trousers and headed towards the fields.

As soon as you put your feet into the paddy field, you can feel that the water is warm. Moreover, the mud in the paddy field is like an invisible hand, firmly sucking your feet into the mud, making it difficult to move an inch in the field, let alone stand in the field to plant rice seedlings.

I remember when Jianmei first went to the paddy field to plant rice seedlings, she slipped and fell face-first into the mud. Naturally, she got a scolding from her mother when she got home. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but look up at Jianmei.

I saw Zhuzhu wiping the fine sweat from Jianmei's face with a floral towel. The funniest thing was that Jianying, who had just turned four, was crawling around on her knees on the edge of the paddy field. Just as I was watching with great interest, I heard a splash. Little Jianying had accidentally fallen into the paddy field.

Terrified, Jianying burst into tears. Zhuzhu and Jianmei had no choice but to drop what they were doing and rush to her side, pulling her out of the paddy field. Jianying's small body had made a hole in the paddy field, and surprisingly, the hole was teeming with loaches and snails.

Upon seeing the snails and loaches, Zhuzhu smiled and said, "We can have an extra dish tonight!"

Riding my sister like a horse

Jianmei said, "Don't think too much! Let's take our little mud baby home and give him a bath first."

Zhuzhu continued, "If I see Yingying like this, I'll definitely nag her a few more times!"

Jianying, who had stopped crying, burst into tears again when she heard her mother scolding her. Her loud crying drew the attention of everyone busy planting rice seedlings.

One person exclaimed, "Oh my! Why are you bringing a five or six-year-old child with you to do farm work?"

Another person said, "They're obviously here to have fun, or to cause trouble."

She was crying so loudly that even the birds in the sky flew away!

At this moment, an uncle couldn't bear to watch any longer, so he walked over to us and picked up Yingying.

The uncle said sternly, "What are you all still standing here for? Take your sister home and wash her up!"

Just as Zhuzhu was about to hug her, little Yingying said, "Big sister, I want to sit on your shoulders and carry me home!"

Jianmei had no choice but to squat down, and Zhuzhu placed young Yingying on Jianying's shoulders. As soon as Yingying sat on Jianmei's shoulders, she began to desperately grab Jianmei's two pigtails with her little hands.

"Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, big sister, let's go home!"

"Yingying, don't pull my hair! It hurts!"

No! If I don't grab your hair, I'll fall.

I had already grabbed both of your hands, how could you still fall?

Zhuzhu said with a smile, "That must be because Yingying has become a glutton again! She's been eating so many delicious things behind our backs!"

Jianying pouted and didn't say anything, instead resting her head on Jianmei's head.

This mud doll has covered me in mud; I'll have to go home and wash it off later.

fell into the ditch

Hey! With your vanity, isn't it perfectly normal to wash several times a day?

Perhaps the wind was worried that we were too hot, so it blew a strong wind at us, so strong that it even blew up the sand and stones on the roadside.

We arrived home in no time! Just as we were about to call for our mother, we found the front door locked and she was nowhere to be seen.

"Rock, rock, rock, we're back! Yingying fell into the paddy field, mud doll. Please open the door! We need to make water for Yingying to take a bath."

When Yingying heard Jianmei say that, she quickly covered Jianmei's mouth with her muddy little hands.

"Ptooey! Your little hands are covered in mud, and you're covering my mouth!"

Yingying became even more impatient and kept flipping backwards. Jianmei lost her balance and the two of them fell into the ditch in front of their house.

The more the mouth and tongue bite, the closer they become.

Coincidentally, Yiyao returned just then carrying a basket of pig feed. Upon seeing this, Yiyao quickly put down the pig feed and ran to Jianmei and Yingying, pulling them out of the stream.

Yingying was terrified! She immediately grabbed Yiyao's leg and burst into tears.

What happened? How did Yingying get covered in mud?

Zhuzhu said that Yingying accidentally fell into the field! We had no choice but to bring her back to take a bath.

The mother asked, "So you came back without finishing planting the rice seedlings this afternoon?"

Jianmei replied, "It's alright! With my brother here, he'll definitely help us finish the investigation!"

The mother said anxiously, "That field is so big! Are you sure your brother can finish planting all by himself? Go, go, go! Hurry up and change your clothes before going to the field to help your brother."

But Yingying was already soaking wet! She needed to take a bath right away.

The mother impatiently raised her hand and said, "Go away! I'll help Yingying take a bath here. You all hurry up and go to the field to help your brother plant rice seedlings."

Zhu Zhu seemed to remember something and actually ran to the kitchen and got a bucket and a water net.

"Zhuzhu, what are you doing?" Yiyao asked, puzzled.

"Of course we're going to collect snails! Haven't you seen how many snails and loaches are in our field?"

"We don't even know when we'll finish planting rice seedlings! How do you have time to go and collect snails?" The mother paused, then continued, "Besides, none of us in the family really like eating those things! What's the point of collecting them?"

Jianmei thought for a moment and said: We can cook a plate of it first for Dad as a snack with his drinks, and we can take the rest to the market to sell!

Zhuzhu chimed in, "That's a great idea! How about this, whenever we have time, we'll go to the fields to catch loaches and snails to sell."

My mother disagreed, saying, "You have to wash clothes and find pig feed in the morning, and plant rice and do farm work in the afternoon. How can you have time to catch loaches? Let me tell you, I had to find the pig feed myself today."

Upon hearing this, Jianmei launched into an even more enthusiastic explanation: "We use our spare time to catch loaches and snails! And aren't there lots of small fish in the stream in front of our house? We could catch some, fry them up, and sell them—they'd definitely be popular. Snails stir-fried with chili peppers are a true delicacy!"

Zhuzhu licked her lips and said to Jianmei, "You love to eat stir-fried snails, and I love to eat fried loach. We are a perfect pair of sisters who are destined to live in the same field."

The mother chuckled and asked, "Then why do you two always argue? Sometimes you two just bicker?"

Oh dear! You don't understand, do you? This is how we get along: the more we argue, the deeper our feelings for each other become.

After saying this, Jianmei took Zhuzhu's hand and ran towards their own field.