CHAPTER 131: CHAPTER 131: CLEVER BROTHER ZE

On the other side, Xiaomi ran along the path and encountered her mother who had just finished washing clothes. She just shouted at her once and kept running.

Others also called out to her, but she just responded briefly and ran off.

Although it looked close, by the time she ran all the way to the field, she was already panting heavily.

When she reached the spot, she slapped her forehead.

"Oh no, I forgot to bring something."

She looked around but couldn’t find any substitute.

Never mind, let’s see if there are any turtle eggs.

She then carefully began searching in the field.

The water that had been muddied before was now clear again, and there were marks in the field from the old turtle’s dragging.

In the area where she found the old turtle, she indeed saw a small pit, which was likely dug by the turtle.

Upon closer inspection, she saw some white traces in the pit.

Xiaomi’s eyes lit up: "They’re really here!"

She then took off her cloth shoes, rolled up her pant legs, and stepped directly into the field, diving into the paddy field.

Due to the rice roots gripping the mud tightly, and Xiaomi being small and light, she didn’t sink in too deep.

The paddy field was a bit sultry, with rice leaves scraping across her face and body, causing stinging and itching, which was especially uncomfortable.

Yet Xiaomi didn’t mind and swiftly dove in, with the mud unable to obstruct her.

In front of the small pit, Xiaomi reached in with her hands and indeed felt something round and slippery.

"So many here!"

She lifted a corner of her jacket and counted each one, placing them in her arms.

Suddenly her calf hurt, and Xiaomi looked down. Damn, there was a leech biting her leg, and it was quite sizable.

But Xiaomi just glanced at it and continued counting the turtle eggs.

After counting, she exclaimed joyfully: "Twenty-five eggs, that’s quite a lot!"

She quickly put twelve into her space, planning to find time during her midday nap to enter the space and set them down properly.

Then she gathered the remaining thirteen and walked towards the field edge, with a leech dragging on her calf.

When she got ashore, Xiaomi clapped the spot bitten by the leech forcefully, but it didn’t come off!

Ha, it’s biting quite tightly!

Then she took a small pinch of salt from her space and sprinkled it on her calf.

After a few breaths, the leech simply fell off.

"Ha, you want to fight me!"

She then placed the turtle eggs aside and washed the mud off her legs with water from the field, putting on her shoes.

Seeing the big leech, she thought it could be money too, and grabbed a blade of grass, tying up the leech which was almost dried out.

Thirteen turtle eggs and one big leech, not a bad harvest!

When she got home, everyone was already eating sugar, twisting it with chopsticks and stirring it like syrup.

"Xiaomi is back, want some sugar?"

Auntie also had chopsticks and tasted a bit. She saw Xiaomi holding the corner of her jacket and asked in surprise: "You found turtle eggs, huh."

Others had already told her while she was drying clothes before.

"I found a lot of them."

Xiaomi quickened her pace, and Auntie hurriedly put down the chopsticks, reaching out to grab the leech Xiaomi was holding.

"How did you catch such a big leech?"

She casually put it aside and took out the turtle eggs Xiaomi was holding.

There were indeed quite a few.

"Dry them out and sell them, this one is big."

Auntie had already counted the turtle eggs and exclaimed: "Thirteen of them, that’s a lot! We could have a meal tonight, right?"

Earlier, Xiao Ze mentioned that turtle eggs could be eaten, and they were more expensive than chicken eggs.

Xiaomi blinked: "Mother, aren’t we hatching baby turtles?"

Why are we eating them then?

Jiang Hu laughed: "Xiaomi, do you know how to hatch baby turtles?"

While speaking, he had already taken out a pair of clean chopsticks wrapped in sugar.

Because of the high summer temperatures, the sugar was soft and almost fell off directly. Jiang Hu had to keep rolling it with two chopsticks.

"Here, try this. We made it together with Uncle Liu and the others earlier. See if it tastes good."

Xiaomi tried it yesterday but forgot to tell the others.

She didn’t refuse when her father handed it to her, happily eating away.

"It’s so sweet, so delicious."

Even Liu Ze was eating with chopsticks.

Probably for the first time eating something so ’improperly’, he seemed a bit embarrassed.

But evidently, this little shyness wasn’t enough to resist the temptation of delicious food. He still ate with relish.

Liu Yang also nodded repeatedly.

"Xiaomi is right, it’s indeed tasty, better than the store-bought sugar. Brother Jiang, shall we keep more for ourselves then?"

Jiang Hu: "Two pounds, keep it well, and store in a cool place, it’ll last until New Year."

"Alright, I’ll go get a jar and pack some."

"No need for trouble, I have one here."

Then the two went off to pack the syrup.

Xiaomi finished her share and pondered about a book on animal introductions in her space, perhaps it had conditions for hatching turtle eggs.

But suddenly saying it might be inappropriate, especially since there were other people at home now.

She turned her eyes on Liu Ze, blinking her big eyes.

"Brother Ze, you’re so smart, do you know how turtle eggs hatch baby turtles?"

Liu Ze paused, thought for a moment.

"Turtle eggs hatch in moist and soft places, turtle eggs should be similar, right?"

Xiaomi immediately looked at her mother expectantly.

Auntie smiled helplessly: "Alright then, let’s keep them to hatch. These small eggs, boiled all together, won’t be much, might as well boil one for each person."

"Yay, thank you, mom!"

Xiaomi instantly became excited.

Then Xiaomi found an old bamboo basket.

"Mom, I will go to the river to collect some sand, which is very moist and soft."

"Little Snow, you go too, be careful and don’t go near the water, okay?"

The river was not far, and the two children were obedient, so she wasn’t very worried.

"Okay, don’t worry, mom." Xiaomi ran off again, and Little Snow hurriedly followed.

Iron Egg also wanted to go, but Auntie called him back.

The sisters Little Snow and Xiaomi, wherever they went, wouldn’t do dangerous things, but Iron Egg couldn’t guarantee that.

There’s a lot of fine sand by the river, even in the hot weather, the top layer is dry, but the bottom layer is moist.

The water retention effect is really good.

Xiaomi set her target and quickly filled a small basket, intending to carry it back.

"Oh, no!" She stumbled and almost fell over: "Why is this so heavy!"

"River sand is like rocks, it’s heavy by nature, let me help you." Little Snow said, taking the bamboo basket over. Although a bit struggling, it was better than Xiaomi’s attempt; at least she could lift it.

Seeing her second sister struggling with it, Xiaomi quickly grabbed the other side: "Second sister, let’s do it together then."

Even so, the sisters would walk a few steps and need to rest.

In the end, it was Seven Joy who saw them and came over to help take it back.