Chapter 38: The Fish Market by the River

  The baby rushed downstairs and arrived at the bottom, looked around at the floor where he was, gestured roughly in the direction that the white jade snail might have fallen, and began to search in the garden.

  The sparrow followed closely behind and saw the baby searching with his head down, so he quickly joined in the search as well.

  Left, right, left, right, front, back, searched everywhere, but still can't find Xia Ai's shadow. The baby angrily shouted at the sparrow beside him who was carelessly searching for white snails: "It's all you, it's all you! I told you to watch Xia Ai, but you only know how to watch that soap opera. Look, Xia Ai is gone! Gone! I'm going to fight with you!"

  As he spoke, he pounced on the sparrow with his teeth and claws exposed.

  "No!"

  The sparrow let out a loud chirp and ran away, hiding behind a small tree.

  "It's not my fault, that thing was all sticky and looked disgusting, I just put it in the bucket, who knew it would be so uncooperative, if you want to blame someone, blame it itself, don't blame me."

  "You're not disgusted, you drool in your sleep!" The baby almost burst with anger when she heard her words.

  "Alright, baby, if all else fails, I'll just buy another one. As the Chinese saying goes, 'the old doesn't go, the new doesn't come'"

  The sparrow knew it was in the wrong and hastily apologized, making promises.

  "You think it's easy to buy such a big white jade snail? I had to beg my grandfather and grandmother to get this one, and it cost me several hundred. And there's only one left. You try, go ahead and buy one."

  "Alright, alright, I'll buy you one, just you wait and see, money can't buy everything." said the sparrow in a huff.

  "Fine, I'll be waiting for your white jade snail. If not, I will definitely carve the five words 'Return my little Ai Ai' on your face." Baby said viciously to Sparrow.

  "No! Baby!" The sparrow cried out loudly.

  The baby ignored her, turned around with his small hands behind him, and swung her ponytail as he walked upstairs.

  .......................

  The gentle breeze on the river blows, making people suddenly feel refreshed and clear-headed.

  Along the riverbank, a thick layer of cobblestones is laid out, with some flowers, grasses and trees planted alongside. Several small pavilions and kiosks are scattered about, creating a picturesque scene that is delightful to behold.

  Song Wen walked with the old man on the cobblestone beach, the river wind blew, his clothes fluttering, elegant and ethereal.

  Nanzhou has developed rapidly in recent years, with high-rise buildings sprouting up one after another and various constructions emerging endlessly. Although there are many drawbacks, it cannot be denied that the government has indeed worked hard on environmental construction, especially this 10-kilometer-long left bank of Longjiang River under our feet, which is a major highlight of the current administration.

  For people living in the city of Nanzhou, walking along the riverbank morning and evening, feeling the breeze, breathing in some fresh air, and chatting with a few like-minded friends is already one of the most delightful things to do in a day.

  Song Wen and the old man walked together, chatting occasionally, and found that they had a lot in common and hit it off.

  "Coming to the riverbank, there's another place that can't be missed, and that's the fish market by the river. At this time every day, it's when fishermen come ashore, and in the market, there's a pile of fresh river fish brought up by the fishermen. Let's go, I'll take you to take a look."

  After finishing speaking, Song Wen took the old man and walked towards the fish market.

  The fish market is close to the riverbank, and after the fishermen dock their boats, they can directly take them to the market for sale, which is very convenient.

  Nanzhou is a city that mainly develops agriculture, so some good agricultural practices have been preserved. For example, fishing villages, nowadays in some places the rivers are estimated to be unable to catch fish, let alone fishing villages. However, along the river in Nanzhou, there are still many fishermen who live and die by the water.

  It's not yet closing time, and the after-work crowd hasn't arrived yet, so there aren't many people at the fish market.

  Song Wen and the old man strolled through the fish market, where most of the seafood on sale was fish, shrimp, clams, and crabs, with nothing else available.

  Song Wen walked while looking around, after a while, he saw an old man selling river clams by the side, so he went over and squatted down.

  There are no fixed stalls in the fish market, and they are all temporarily placed on the ground. The fish market has no rules, just pay a few dollars to the person managing the fish market for cleaning, so the fishing families like to sell fish here, and over time, this fish market was formed.

  In front of the old man's stall were laid out freshwater snails, river clams and a few small yellow croakers.

  Nowadays, most young people go out to work, and only some old people still come out to fish and earn some money. Perhaps after the older generation passes away, later generations will no longer go fishing.

  In fact, this is also a kind of inheritance, once it's cut off, it will disappear.

  In front of the old man's stall, there were river clams on display. The big ones were as large as a palm, and the small ones were only as long as a finger. There were about ten or more.

  Song Wen has been wanting to raise something since the ditch in the backyard was dug. Now seeing the river clams, he wants to buy some back to raise and see if they can survive. If they can live, then there will be river clams to eat in the future.

  The flesh of the river clams is tender and delicious, especially when stir-fried with scallions and green chili peppers, the flavor is exceptionally good.

  Song Wen asked the old man, "Uncle, how much does this clam cost?"

  In the south, people generally refer to elderly men as "Ah Pek", while younger men are not addressed in this way and instead receive a nod of acknowledgement. Elderly women are called "Ah Po" and slightly younger ones are referred to as "Auntie".

  "Two dollars and fifty cents." The old man said with a smile.

  Unexpectedly cheap, Song Wen bought all the Jiang Bao.

  After buying river clams, Song Wen and the old man continued strolling.

  The old man saw Song Wen buying river clams and felt a little itchy in his heart. Seeing that there was a seller of eel fish next to him, he thought the size was quite big and not bad, so he wanted to buy some.

  Song Wen hastily pulled him back and gave him a signal with his eyes.

  The old man lived so long and was a cunning person. Seeing Song Wen like this, he knew that the eel must be problematic, and he quickly followed Song Wen to leave.

  "What's going on?" The old man finally spoke up in a puzzled tone after walking to one side.

  "Fake."

  "What's going on? What did you say?" The old man was puzzled.

  "That's not a wild eel, it's raised." Song Wen explained patiently.

  Some people think that wild eel and farmed eel are indistinguishable, but this is a big mistake. Upon closer inspection, there are still differences. Farmed eel has a slightly duller color and looks less lively; wild eel has a bright yellow color with a hint of red, and likes to burrow everywhere, which is the most basic difference between farmed and wild eel. Moreover, the taste of farmed eel and wild eel is also worlds apart. Wild eel generally tastes clearer and sweeter, with a better broth and tighter flesh; farmed eel is looser, not as sweet, and sometimes has an unpleasant flavor.

  Needless to say, people are the same. A woman who is pampered and a woman who is rough around the edges can be told apart at a glance. It's similar with wild things and domesticated things.

  It wasn't until I grew older that I suddenly realized and couldn't help but look up to Song Wen a bit more. If it were someone else, who would treat a stranger with such kindness?

  After walking a few more stalls, Song Wen saw a vendor selling loaches and squatted down.

  The old man selling loaches used a plastic basin to hold them, and the loaches were crawling around in it. There weren't many of them, but they were all wild-caught, which was something that Song Wen could still tell. There were quite a few loaches in the nearby stream, but since the weather was cold, the loaches had burrowed into the mud and were hard to catch. It would be better to spend some money to buy some back home, he thought of raising them in the water ditch and eating them slowly when they grew bigger.

  He bought loach and saw eel in the basin, then said to the old man beside him: "You didn't want to buy eel? These are not bad."

  The old man selling loach heard this and burst out laughing: "Just caught, very fresh, of course it's good. Who doesn't know that the things I sell are all freshly caught?"

  The old man listened, then squatted down, took a look, and didn't even ask the price, just bought them all.

  After buying things, the two of them strolled around again. Song Wen then took the old man to a small eatery by the river, where there was a special service for processing and handling the freshly bought fish at a very reasonable price.

  He went in and told the owner of the snack shop, fearing that the boss would cheat the customer, Song Wenshun paid for the old man, and then bid farewell to the old man.

  "I have to go, otherwise it will be dark when I get back home, wish you a happy play."

  "Thank you." The old man said sincerely. It's unclear whether he was thanking Song Wen for selling him the book or for taking him out for a stroll.

  Song Wen hailed a taxi and left with a wave of his hand.

  It was then that the old man realized he didn't even know his own name, let alone his phone number or home address.

  Stunned for half a day, shaking his head with a bitter smile, he said "Why must we have met before" and walked towards the snack shop.