Chapter Twenty-One: Loach, Eel, and Turtle

King Serpent

Sha Ler always rose early. In the countryside, one had to be in the fields at dawn; otherwise, people would call you lazy, the crops would suffer, and, worse still, your reputation would be ruined. With a bad name, good luck finding a wife—who would marry a sluggard?

But here, there was no farm work to do. Each morning, he would go and sit at the crossroads in front of Li Ying’s little villa. Li Ying was also an early riser. Unless it rained, she would always jog along the path.

The place was tranquil, rarely disturbed by others. In front of the villa stood two large trees, where birds chirped melodiously, their songs as clear and bright as crystal. Ler mused that Little Gold was just as lazy, still dozing in his bamboo tube; otherwise, those little birds might soon have met their doom.

He hadn’t waited long when Li Ying appeared in her sportswear.

“Ying, good morning.”

“Why are you up so early every day? Don’t you ever sleep in? And you don’t even exercise.”

“With a body like this, do I need to?” Ler was clad in a vest, his muscled contours clearly visible. He struck a pose for Li Ying. “Carrying a two-hundred-pound load is nothing to me.”

Li Ying’s gaze lingered on his well-proportioned body, the sculpted muscles, the radiance of youth. But almost immediately, she forced a stern expression.

“You’re not working out, so why get up so early? Go back to sleep.”

“I’m here to watch you run,” Ler replied with a silly grin, his words sweet as honey.

“What’s so interesting about me running?” Li Ying’s face remained stern, but she couldn’t help smiling.

“It’s just nice to watch you run.” Ler jogged alongside her. “And besides, I’m used to rising early. If I don’t get up, I feel uncomfortable. Back in the countryside, I’d already be in the fields by this time.”

“So you can farm?”

“You’re teasing me, aren’t you? I’m an expert. Since I was a child, I followed my grandpa to the fields. There’s no work in the fields I can’t do,” he said with pride.

As they jogged and talked, Ler grew animated, recounting various mishaps from his rural life—how he bathed in the river at fourteen or fifteen, how he played pranks on the village girls. Li Ying laughed until her voice rang out like silver bells.

“I didn’t expect you to be such a little rascal from the country!”

“Oh, come on, I’m a decent guy. I was just a kid then, didn’t know any better. After I turned sixteen, I always wore my underwear to bathe… Anyway, the girls never dared come near when I was in the river.”

Li Ying laughed so hard she bent over, unable to keep running. Seeing her laugh, Ler grinned along with her.

“So, aside from farming and being a rural rascal, what else can you do?”

“Come on, don’t ruin my reputation—I’ll never find a wife if you keep saying that. I told you, those were childhood antics. Now I’m a good man… Besides, I’m an expert at catching loaches and eels. No one can beat me at that, not even at catching soft-shelled turtles.”

“There you go again, saying crude things. I should give you a smack.”

“What did I say that was crude?” Ler protested. “I’m talking about turtles. I can recognize their tracks. Follow them, and I’ll soon catch one. Turtle soup is supposed to nourish the body, you know—good for both men and women. But I’ve eaten it plenty, and never felt a thing.”

Li Ying blushed, but seeing Ler’s earnest expression, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“So you can catch loaches. Are you sure you’re not just boasting?”

“Why would I need to boast about that?” Ler said, brimming with confidence. “I don’t even need to get in the field—standing right on the bund, I can poke an eel out with a stick.”

“All right, since we’ve nothing to do today, shall we go catch loaches?”

“Where?”

“There’s a stretch of paddy fields beyond the mountain—there must be loaches there.”

“Perfect.”

After breakfast, they set out. Li Ying wore a tracksuit, her long hair tied back, looking even more youthful and pure. Ler wore a T-shirt and shorts, carrying a small bucket.

“You look even better like this, Ying.”

“What do you know about good looks?” Li Ying’s cheeks flushed. “Did you like watching pretty girls when you were back in the village?”

“Of course. I used to hang out with Gang Mengzi, sitting by the roadside, watching people go by, especially the pretty girls and young wives… Heh, Gang Mengzi was a rascal, always staring at… well, he was born mischievous, rotten to the core.”

“And you never got into trouble with him?”

Ler blushed at that. He had to admit to a few misdeeds under Gang Mengzi’s lead, but he pushed all the blame onto his companion. Li Ying, seeing his embarrassment, quietly laughed to herself.

It wasn’t long before they reached the fields beyond the mountain. The rice had already been harvested.

“Hey, look, an eel hole!”

As soon as they reached the edge of the field, Ler spotted an eel’s burrow. He slipped off his shoes and handed them to Li Ying.

“You want me to carry your stinky shoes?”

“Well… let’s just leave them here and pick them up on our way back.”

“They really stink.”

Li Ying wrinkled her nose, but she found a piece of grass rope, tied the shoes together, and carried them for him. Ler waded into the field, reached into the eel hole, and in a flash, a fat eel, as thick as a small snake, shot out of another opening. With one swift movement, Ler caught it.

“Ler, you’re amazing!” Li Ying’s admiration was genuine. “But how did the eel come out of another hole when you poked this one?”

“Heh, eel burrows have two entrances. So if you poke one, of course it comes out the other.”

Li Ying watched the eel wriggle in his hand, her face alight with excitement. She was used to handling snakes and wasn’t afraid of eels. Ler moved through the field, pulling out loach after loach, eel after eel, never missing. Li Ying skipped along the bund, calling and laughing like a little girl.

Soon, they’d caught dozens, wriggling in the bucket.

“Ler, bring the bucket over—let me see.”

Ler hauled the plastic bucket over, grinning. Li Ying giggled at the sight of all the eels and loaches squirming inside. They moved from one paddy to another, until Ler suddenly spotted some tracks.

“Turtle tracks.”

“Turtle tracks?” This time, Li Ying didn’t scold Ler for saying something crude. “Are there really turtles here?”

Still, her cheeks colored as she spoke.

“Just follow me quietly. This is a big one.”

Ler, an old hand at this, slowly followed the tracks to a small puddle, where the prints disappeared into the water.

“Ha, it must be here.”

He set down the bucket and carefully reached into a small crevice between the rocks.

“Come out!”

“A turtle—a huge turtle!” Li Ying, now used to his language, echoed him, jumping up and down, her ponytail bouncing. In her excitement, she hardly noticed she’d used the same crude word herself. The turtle weighed three to four pounds, as big as a small pot lid. Ler, grinning like a fool, put it in the bucket.

“All right, that’s enough. Let’s go home.”

Li Ying tossed the smelly shoes back to Ler but insisted on carrying the bucket herself. Together, they walked back toward the Snake Garden. Just as they reached the entrance, they ran into Boss Hong, who had just driven back. He rolled down his window and asked where they’d been.

“Ler went to catch loaches—look, he even caught a huge soft-shelled turtle!”

“You caught a soft-shelled turtle?” Boss Hong hopped out of the car, beaming with excitement.

“Well done, kid! I didn’t know you had such skills. That’s a wild turtle—can’t buy one like that in the market. Come on, I’ll fetch a good bottle of wine. Let’s go to the restaurant and have the chef make something special. We’ll have a feast!”

Wild turtle, eel, and loach—what a delicacy, and so nourishing. The restaurant chef had never seen such a large wild soft-shelled turtle and immediately set to work making a legendary “Turtle and Chicken Supreme.”