CHAPTER 353: CHAPTER 78: TAIHU CRAB SEEDLING (PART 2)

"Okay," Yezi rolled up his pant legs and walked directly into the water, creating ripples on the surface, which went unnoticed by the people on the shore. A humble silver ring on Yezi’s hand emitted a daunting glow.

"Little brother, tastes good, right?" Ni Qiu, with some red medicine sloppily applied to his foot, had already become as close as brothers with Yezi.

After the recent commotion, the spectators in the roadside stall still occasionally looked over at their table.

The round table, originally for five or six people, now included an extra person, Yezi, and was moved from inside to outside of the stall. The owner hung a light bulb at the entrance, brightly illuminating both the riverbank and the dining table.

"Tastes good," Yezi replied vaguely, his table already piled up with crab shells and legs.

Aside from Ni Qiu, no one at the table spoke to Ye Jinzi anymore; everyone was still immersed in the scene of Yezi catching crabs.

It was just too impressive: without a flashlight or any tools, the young man, who looked inexperienced and unsophisticated, captured nearly a hundred hairy crabs. Yet he had a surprising cleverness, for example...

"Stop just watching me eat, Elder brother Ni Qiu, you just talked about the origin of crabs and got hurt, eat more," Yezi said, deftly picking out a female crab with a round belly.

With a slight opening, he lifted the crab’s shell. It is said that crabs are fat when the chrysanthemums are yellow. It’s a bit early for eating crabs now, but the hairy crabs in this river grow year-round because no one eats them, so they are well-fed and tasty even now.

Yezi, who had never eaten crabs, initially didn’t know how to eat them. After a brief demonstration by Ni Qiu, he quickly got the hang of it and even adeptly selected crabs by gender and fatness, outdoing Ni Qiu, who had eaten seafood for decades.

"Let the little brother eat first; Elder brother Ni Qiu has a wound on his foot, he needs to avoid river and seafood," said the oldest in Ni Qiu’s group, with a thick Henan accent.

"Oh, in that case, you go ahead and eat," Yezi replied, having just listened to Ni Qiu talk about the history of the hairy crab.

But he had learned quite a lot; Ye Xin was an eager learner, gaining more knowledge from this trip out than from staying in school.

In China, crabs are of several types: field crabs, river crabs, and sea crabs; normally, field is near river, river near sea, those in fields and rivers belong to one family, those in seas and rivers belong to another.

Xiao Xian ate river and sea crabs at Zeng Xuerou’s home; these crabs are larger and their meat somewhat differs from river crabs.

The hairy crab Yezi was now eating is a type of river crab named Chinese Mitten Crab, the eloquent name referring to those two large pincers covered in fur that Yezi saw.

China’s most famous hairy crabs come from Yangcheng Lake in the Yangtze River system. Every year in September and October, when the crabs are fattest, food enthusiasts from all over the country gather at Yangcheng Lake to enjoy crab legs and crab roe, which also creates a scenic event.

However, apart from Yangcheng Lake, ordinary large lakes also have crabs. The hairy crabs from this river near Tai Lake, because of low fishing pressure and after growing from larvae near the Yangtze River estuary to juvenile crabs returning upstream to Yangtze, taste exceptionally delicious.

Yezi only knew that, compared to the wild game and rice paddy fish he had, crab meat was far more delicious.

Seeing Yezi was almost done eating, Ni Qiu, worried he might leave right after finishing, eagerly asked, "Little brother, I didn’t get to ask your name. Judging by your attire, you’re from one of the ethnic minorities in Southwest, right?"

Yezi hummed in agreement, "I’m from Dongnan Miao Village in Black Mountain, Guizhou; call me...," he hesitated slightly, "just call me Ah Ye." After spending some time in Fiji, he also listened to some old monster complaining about a lot of malicious human behaviors, so he became more cautious.

You can’t have the intent to harm, but you must also guard against others.

As Yezi spoke, he secretly glanced at those around him. Seeing that everyone had a normal expression and nothing seemed amiss, he then relaxed.

"I just said, how could a Han person have such good skills? It’s often said that ethnic minorities have many capable people, and it turns out to be true today," hearing Yezi openly giving his hometown name, Ni Qiu and his group also breathed a sigh of relief.

Actually, they were also worried about Yezi’s background, encountering such a young man skilled in swimming and fishing out of the blue, they naturally stayed cautious.