Their arrival in the village was naturally very eye-catching.
The nearby villagers all saw them from a distance.
This made all the villagers’ eyes widen.
’What’s going on with Xiaoyou?’
’Did he bring a group of such young, beautiful girls back to the village for his family to pick a daughter-in-law?’
’Now that’s what I call successful!’
’Why would they even need to choose? Any one of them would do!’
’Every single one is gorgeous.’
The villagers clicked their tongues in admiration.
Of course, while they were all sighing in admiration, they also knew the truth probably wasn’t anything like that.
But regardless of the truth, being able to bring so many young, beautiful girls back to the village was a sign of great success, something truly amazing.
’I never thought opening a restaurant could lead to something so incredible.’
’If I’d known, I would have sent my own boy to culinary school back in the day.’
’Forget about bringing back a whole group like Xiaoyou. Even if he just brought back one, he’d have no trouble finding a wife, right?’
Many villagers felt it was a real shame.
’Speaking of which, with so many girls, which one will that kid Xiaoyou choose? He’s probably going to be dazzled by all the options.’
Sigh!
’It’s a classic case of "drought for some, flood for others."’
’Oh right, what did that kid Xiaoyou bring all these girls back here for anyway?’
While clicking their tongues in admiration, the villagers were also extremely curious about this question.
Just then, a villager happened to run into Li You, Xia Xiaoyue, and the others.
The villager looked at the group of girls behind Li You and said, "Xiaoyou, what’s all this?"
Li You smiled. "They’re all customers from my restaurant. They wanted to catch crawfish, so I brought them here to experience it."
’Oh, so that’s what it is!’
The villager was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected a group of girls to be interested in catching crawfish.
"Hello, uncle!"
At that moment, the group of girls all called out in unison.
This took the villager completely by surprise. He hadn’t expected the girls to be so polite. He quickly replied, "Ah... hello, hello. Hello to you all, too. Welcome to the village to catch crawfish."
"Thank you, uncle!"
the girls said again.
"You’re... you’re welcome..." the villager replied, a bit flustered.
After Li You and the girls said their goodbyes and continued on their way, the villager thought to himself, ’What a group of polite and beautiful young ladies.’
Afterward, the news that Li You had brought a group of girls to the village to catch crawfish spread among the nearby villagers.
So it was to catch crawfish.
It was somewhat surprising that so many pretty girls were interested in catching crawfish.
Then, the news spread even wider throughout the village.
A villager ran into Li You’s mother in the village and couldn’t help but say with a chuckle, "Sister-in-law Ning, your Xiaoyou is getting more and more successful. If he’s looking for a wife, he’s going to be spoiled for choice."
His mother was overjoyed inside, but she said, "He’d be lucky if even one was willing to marry him. How could he be picky?"
The villager added, "You haven’t heard? Xiaoyou is out in the village catching crawfish with a group of girls right now. There must be more than twenty of them, and every single one is young and beautiful. For them to be willing to follow Xiaoyou all the way to the village, they must all be willing to be his wife. How could he not be spoiled for choice? Other guys can’t even find one, but he’s choosing from over twenty. He’s really made it!"
After hearing what the villager said, his mother was even more delighted, but she replied, "They must just be his customers. You’re overthinking it."
The villager said, "Even if they’re customers, they’re surely customers who are willing to become your Xiaoyou’s wife."
His mother said, "They’re still just young girls. You shouldn’t talk like that."
The villager said, "We’re just saying it amongst ourselves. We’d never say it to the girls’ faces!"
His mother said, "That’s good. But you’re definitely overthinking it. The girls are from the city and have never caught crawfish before. They’re just simply interested in it."
The villager shook his head. "It’s definitely not just about being interested in catching crawfish."
"..."
...
Li You and the girls had no idea what the villagers were thinking. They were currently standing on the ridge of a paddy field.
Before them was a vast expanse of fields, formed by many smaller plots linked together.
The fields were filled with lush green rice paddies.
They looked vibrant and full of life.
The wind blew, creating waves that rippled across the rice.
It was very beautiful and visually striking.
Mu Qingye raised her camera, and with a press of the shutter, captured a series of beautiful, hopeful images.
As a professional photographer, her camera was always with her.
And scenes like this always excited her.
Besides the verdant rice paddies, there were also people in the pictures.
Many villagers were in the fields.
They weren’t farming; they were catching crawfish.
Xia Xiaoyue said, "Are they all catching crawfish?"
Li You nodded. "Looks like it."
Xia Xiaoyue said, "Let’s go see what they’ve caught. What do you think?"
The other girls were also very interested.
Li You smiled. "Alright!"
The closest villager to them was Li Chi.
Li You led the girls toward Li Chi’s location. "Let’s go check out Uncle Chi’s haul first."
Li Chi looked up and saw Li You walking toward him, along with a large group of girls.
He was very surprised.
He couldn’t understand why Li You would bring so many girls here.
But soon enough, he found out why.
As Li You got closer, he smiled and said, "Uncle Chi, how many have you caught? We came to see your haul. They’re my customers and wanted to experience catching crawfish, so I brought them over."
’So that’s what’s going on.’
Li Chi felt an inexplicable surge of excitement. He never imagined that so many young, beautiful girls would come to see how many crawfish he’d caught.
Luckily, his haul for the day was pretty good. By now, he already had a few pounds.
Carrying his bucket of crawfish, Li Chi walked to the edge of the field ridge, placed the bucket on it, and said with a smile, "Take a look. I just came out after lunch, so I haven’t been at it for long."
Li You and the girls all looked into the bucket.
Upon seeing the crawfish in the bucket, the girls were all inexplicably delighted.
These crawfish had just been pulled from the field. They were probably the freshest crawfish they had ever seen.
And he’d only come out after lunch and already had this many. That was a pretty good haul!
The crawfish population in these fields must be quite abundant.
This made the girls feel excited.
Xia Xiaoyue said, "You only came out after lunch, so you’ve only been catching for about two hours, right? And you’ve already caught so many. That’s amazing!"
Hearing a beautiful girl say that, Li Chi became even more excited. He laughed heartily and said, "About two hours, yeah. It’s just alright, just alright."
Mu Qingye added, "Uncle, please keep catching. We’d like to see you catch one. Is that okay?"
Li Chi smiled again. "Of course. I’ll catch one for you all to see right now."
Catching crawfish in front of so many pretty girls for the first time, Li Chi decided to put on a good show.
He had to find a crawfish hole quickly.
It was the first time Li Chi had ever been so eager for a crawfish hole to appear.
Finally, he spotted one.
"Everyone, look here. This is a crawfish hole."
Li Chi didn’t rush to stick his hand in. Instead, he let the girls look at the crawfish hole first.
All the girls saw it.
There was a hole just below the field ridge. The entrance was covered by a mound of fresh mud.
It was impossible to tell how big the opening was.
’Is that a crawfish hole?’
Including Xia Xiaoyue, Yu Wei, and Ling Xiaoru, it was the first time any of the girls had seen a crawfish hole.
They were both curious and quite excited.
After waiting for the girls to get a good look, Li Chi reached out and cleared away the fresh mud from the entrance.
With the mud cleared, the size of the opening was now visible.
It was about three inches in diameter.
"That’s not a small hole. The crawfish inside should be a good size," Li You said.
"Really?" The girls were full of anticipation.
Li Chi smiled. "It should be pretty big, indeed."
With that, he stuck his hand into the hole.
After a brief struggle, a crawfish was pulled out.
It was covered in silt, its true form hidden.
There was water in the field.
Li Chi held the crawfish and rinsed it in the water, revealing its true appearance.
It was indeed a large crawfish.
Seeing it clearly, the girls became excited all over again.
This was the first time they had seen a crawfish being pulled out of a hole.
They found it fascinating.
And it really didn’t seem dangerous at all.
The things Li You had said earlier had sent shivers down their spines, but now, standing by the field and seeing someone pull a crawfish from a hole with their own eyes, it didn’t seem so scary anymore.
’It really seems impossible for a snake to be in a hole like that.’
’As for leeches... well, we haven’t seen any, so no need to be too scared.’
Some of the girls, including Mu Qingye, were once again eager to try catching crawfish in the field themselves.
Of course, if they were on their own, they still definitely wouldn’t dare to do it.
The reason they were eager to try now was because Li You was there.
With Li You there to tell them if a hole was 100% a crawfish hole, they would feel safe.
Just then, Li Chi tossed the crawfish into his bucket and once again stuck his hand into the same hole.
At the same time, he said, "Generally, there’s a pair of crawfish in one hole, a male and a female."
And sure enough, he pulled another crawfish out of the hole.
The girls looked, and there really were two.
’It’s like sending the happy couple off to their doom together!’
’Not that there’s anything wrong with that.’
With that, the girls had now witnessed the complete process of catching crawfish from a hole.
It was very interesting.
Those girls who had been eager to try before were now even more so.
...