“Ahhh—!”
Zhang Laosan let out a heart-wrenching scream, and then there was no more sound.
The villagers’ eyes went wide.
This crazy woman really had a ruthless hand!
Absolutely brutal!
Simply horrifying!
With that one clamp, Zhang Laosan could forget about having anything to do with women for the rest of his life!
When Hu-shi saw that her husband’s manhood had been crushed, her vision went black, and she collapsed onto the ground, wailing like a slaughtered pig.
“Oh, heavens! What are we going to do~~? That crazy woman is killing people!”
“Village Chief, you have to stand up for us~~~~!”
…
The old village chief was cursing internally for a whole kilometer.
Didn’t she have any idea what filthy thing her husband had done?
And she still had the nerve to ask him to stand up for her?
Still, Xiang-shi had been a little too ruthless.
But she was a crazy woman, after all. It was only natural that she had no idea how to control her strength.
“Stop wailing! If you keep crying, your husband is going to die!” The old village chief grew more and more irritated the longer he listened and shouted sternly, “Hurry up and take him home. Get someone to find a doctor for him!”
Hu-shi froze.
The old village chief clearly had no intention of taking her side at all!
Looking at her husband lying on the ground, barely clinging to life, Hu-shi hated Xiang-shi more and more.
Should she save him? Even if he recovered, he would probably be useless.
Should she not save him? Then she would most likely become the third widow in Nan Zhu Village—except her husband would still be alive.
For all these years, the biggest reason she had been able to stand on equal footing with Lü-shi was because she had a man backing her up.
If she became a widow, wouldn’t Lü-shi crush her completely?
So she had better save him.
Even if it meant becoming a living widow, that was still better than being a real one.
As for whether she would seek revenge against that crazy woman?
Of course she would!
This was a blood feud involving the destruction of her husband’s bloodline!
Seeing that Hu-shi had finally stopped wailing, the old village chief hurriedly brought the matter to a perfect conclusion.
“A few of you, go help them. Everyone else, disperse!”
“Village Chief!” Xiang Xi shouted.
“Xiang-shi, what else do you want?”
“You just said you would help me catch eels in the fields!”
The old village chief: “…Did I say that? Why don’t I remember?”
“You did!”
“I didn’t.”
“You did! You definitely did!”
Xiang Xi walked forward several steps, holding the bloodstained clamp.
“Village Chief, you’re lying! Does your word count or not?”
The old village chief’s face turned pale with fright.
The person he had just lied to was still lying there bleeding!
“Xiang-shi, stop! Don’t come any closer!” The old village chief backed away several steps. “I’ll have people help you, all right?”
“Hehehe… Thank you, Village Chief!”
What else could the old village chief do?
If he didn’t help Xiang-shi catch some eels, she would surely haunt him endlessly and give him nightmares even while he slept!
So he coughed lightly and said, “Every household must send someone. Catch all the eels in your own fields and give them to Xiang-shi!”
What?
The villagers were dumbfounded.
They had only come to watch the excitement. How had they ended up being ordered to catch eels for someone?
“Village Chief, why should we?”
The old village chief let out a cold laugh.
Why?
Because he was the village chief!
Every one of them had been incredibly enthusiastic when it came to watching the spectacle. But the moment he asked them to do some work, none of them wanted to cooperate.
Did they think his word as village chief no longer carried any weight?
Or was the eel clamp in Xiang-shi’s hand not fast enough?
“You don’t have to go,” the old village chief said. “But when Xiang-shi comes asking you for eels, don’t come looking for me.”
Everyone: “…”
Damn, this old village chief was shameless!
He was clearly redirecting the disaster toward them!
After witnessing that earth-shattering, soul-crushing clamp just now, who the hell would dare refuse her?
“Ahem, Village Chief, eels are always digging holes and draining the water from our fields. They’re truly troublesome creatures. They should definitely be caught!”
“That’s right, that’s right. If we all work together and catch some, we’re helping ourselves too.”
“But Village Chief, how many are we supposed to catch?”
The old village chief chuckled inwardly.
These people were usually like firecrackers, exploding at the slightest thing.
But today, after encountering this crazy Xiang-shi, why had every one of them turned into cowards?
Pathetic!
“You don’t need to catch too many,” the old village chief said. “Just catch all the eels in your own fields.”
Once they were all caught, Xiang-shi wouldn’t ask him to catch any more in the future.
Then he could finally have some peace and quiet… right?
Xiang Xi hadn’t expected that she had only wanted to extort a few eels from the old village chief, yet somehow the entire village had gotten dragged into it.
Sorry, everyone!
If you want to blame someone, blame the old village chief!
Still, she had to give him credit. With that level of leadership and that dedication to serving the people, the old village chief truly deserved to be called a good village chief.
The old village chief was absolutely awesome!
After half a night’s hard work, the eels of Nan Zhu Village suffered a disaster. Every single one of them was caught and neatly packed into bamboo baskets before being delivered to Xiang Xi’s doorstep.
She estimated that there were at least three hundred pounds.
If she could sell all of these, that should be enough to cover her and Liu Ersha’s living expenses for half a month, right?
“Ersha, come here. I’ll teach you how to clean the eels.”
“Yes!”
Cleaning eels was a technical job and required a few simple tools.
First, she needed a wooden board. A long nail was hammered into the board from underneath, leaving the sharp end sticking out.
When cleaning an eel, she would hook its head onto the nail, straighten its body, and then use a sharp little knife to slice it open from one end to the other. After that, she could pull out the innards.
In this world, that was considered enough to finish cleaning an eel. After chopping it into several pieces, it could be thrown straight into the pot to cook.
But Xiang Xi decided to take it one step further—removing the bones.
That was easy enough too. She simply used a small knife to pry out the spine at the eel’s neck, pinched it firmly, and pulled.
With a single rip, the entire eel spine came right out.
“Got it?”
“Yes!”
“Then you try.”
Liu Ersha rubbed his hands together, grabbed an eel, and got to work.
Xiang Xi was surprised to discover that although this fellow looked like a complete fool, his memory was actually pretty good.
He had only watched her do it once, yet he had memorized the entire process.
After doing a few, he had more or less grasped the trick. His hands moved so quickly and efficiently that he seemed even faster than her.
She had often heard people say that fools and lunatics were different from ordinary people, that they were actually geniuses in another sense.
It seemed there really was some truth to that saying.
She picked out the smaller eels, which amounted to roughly seven or eight pounds, planning to cook some first and see how they tasted.
By now, it was already quite late, so she decided not to sleep at all. Instead, she would make breakfast, eat, and then head to the market early.
By the time the rice was steamed, Liu Ersha had finished cleaning all the eels.
When he saw her heat up the wok and pour in oil, he immediately knew she was about to cook eel.
“Wifey, it doesn’t taste good!”
Just wait. Don’t eat a single bite later!
She heated more than half a catty of cooking oil in the wok. Once it was hot, she tossed in a handful of Sichuan peppercorns and fried them until fragrant. Then she added the boneless eel pieces and stir-fried them until all the moisture in the wok had evaporated.
Next came a large spoonful of the seasoning she had prepared that afternoon.
In an instant, an irresistible aroma filled the air.
“Wifey, it smells so good!”
Xiang Xi rolled her eyes.
Were you a chameleon or something?
Couldn’t you have at least a little principle?
Still, it really did smell delicious, and even she couldn’t help swallowing twice.
Once the fragrance had fully developed, she added a handful of finely chopped agastache.
Instantly, another wonderfully unique aroma filled the air.
Finally, she added water and let the eel simmer.
Once the eel had become completely tender, she sprinkled another handful of fresh agastache leaves on top.
It was ready to eat!
The two of them carried their bowls of rice over and began devouring the fragrant eel.
The several pounds of eel meat they had prepared disappeared into their stomachs in no time.
In the end, Liu Ersha still hadn’t had enough. He poured the crispy rice crust into the remaining sauce and ate everything, sauce and crispy rice included.
“Wifey, I’m so full!”
Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, the eastern sky had already begun to brighten.
The dogs had barked, the chickens had crowed.
Time to get up and work, missy!
Bathed in the faint light of dawn, Xiang Xi loaded the seasonings, clay pots, iron wok, small stove, firewood, scale, and more than a dozen large bamboo baskets filled with eels onto the handcart she had borrowed from the old village chief.
She had Liu Ersha pull it as they headed toward the market town, the cart creaking all the way.
“Ersha!”
“Here!”
“Our goal for today is—”
“Sell all the eels!”
“Our next goal is—”
“To become the richest family in Nan Zhu Village!”
“Our ultimate goal is—”
“To reach the stars and the sea!”
It was actually pretty satisfying to train this fool whenever she had nothing better to do.