“What is it?” Zhao Xiao Wu straightened up, shook the mud off his hands, and looked at his younger brother, who was bent over digging frantically. He walked over.
“Brother, dig a hole and drain the water here,” Zhao Feng said without looking back, directing him. His upper body was pressed to the ground, his clothes already soaked, and his chin was smeared with mud. His right arm was almost entirely inside the hole. “It’s really thick. It’s too slippery—I can’t grab it.”
Zhao Xiao Wu looked at the spot, stepped forward a few paces, and started digging hard in one direction.
“You found an eel?” Zhao Xiao Wu wasn’t stupid. Catching loaches wouldn’t cause this much fuss. Seeing his brother acting like he was about to turn the whole field upside down, he immediately realized it might be something big.
Excited, he pulled Zhao Xi over to dig a drainage pit while he himself knelt beside Zhao Feng and reached into the hole. When his fingers touched something slick, he quickly tried to grab it—but the slippery body twisted violently and escaped.
It was strong!
“Grandma, let me use the hoe. Third Brother found something big.” As Wang Shi walked over, Zhao Xiao Wu reached for the hoe in her hand.
“Be careful. Don’t collapse the field ridge,” Wang Shi said as she picked up the muddy Zhao Xiaobao and handed him the hoe. She had originally planned to clear weeds nearby while watching the playful little girl.
“Got it.”
Zhao Xiao Wu asked Zhao Feng to point out the spot and brought the hoe down hard. Even if he had to break the ridge today, he was going to catch that eel.
Zhao Xiaobao wanted to watch, squirming and refusing to leave. Wang Shi patted her chubby bottom. “Go wash the mud off your legs and put your shoes on.”
“Mom, I want to catch the eel. That’s Xiaobao’s eel!” she protested, kicking her legs.
“Let your nephew catch it for you,” Wang Shi said firmly, carrying her to the riverbank and washing her clean. She rubbed her cold little feet warm before letting her go.
“You are not allowed to go back into the field!” she warned.
“Okay…”
Zhao Xiaobao ran back to their field. By now, a crowd of children—and even some adults—had gathered.
Taking advantage of her seniority, she squeezed through the crowd, pushing aside men nearly as old as her eldest brother. “Move a little, move a little… Sanmang, Tiezhu, step aside…”
In just a short time, part of their field ridge had already been dug apart.
“Xiao Wu, have you caught my loach yet?” she asked.
“Catching a loach wouldn’t be this hard. It’s clearly an eel,” a bearded man nearby teased her. “Little Aunt Xiaobao, don’t you recognize an eel?”
Zhao Xiaobao looked up at him and, copying how her mother spoke to juniors, clasped her hands behind her back and smiled kindly. “Oh, it’s Nephew Ludan. Why are you being lazy here? Why not go help Second Brother carry firewood? His legs aren’t good—you should help him more.”
Zhao Quan’s smile froze.
Ludan? She was calling him that?
Seeing him silent, Xiaobao sighed and shook her head, as if disappointed.
“Wow, it really is an eel!”
A shout came from nearby. Zhao Xiaobao quickly looked over.
“This is an eel? How can it be this thick? Is it a snake?!”
People gasped in surprise. Even many adults had never seen such a large eel. The crowd surged forward, nearly pushing Zhao Xiaobao back into the field.
She grabbed Zhao Quan’s pant leg to steady herself and stretched her neck to watch.
Zhao Xiao Wu was gripping a huge eel as thick as a baby’s arm. Its yellow body had a reddish tint, covered in mud, slippery and soft, writhing wildly as it tried to escape.
Zhao Xiaobao’s eyes widened. She clutched Zhao Quan’s clothes tightly, her small face flushed with excitement—but also a little scared.
She was most afraid of snakes, and this eel looked like one.
Zhao Xiao Wu’s hands trembled with excitement. Feeling it struggle, he quickly shouted, “Third Brother, bring the bucket!”
Zhao Feng was already waiting with it and handed it over immediately. “Brother!”
Zhao Xiao Wu threw the eel into the bucket with a heavy thud. It thrashed violently inside, hitting the wooden sides with loud slaps.
Zhao Feng looked happily at the bucket. Inside were a small eel and several loaches he had caught earlier. Compared to this giant, they looked tiny.
“Third Brother, let me see!” Zhao Xi jumped anxiously nearby.
“Feng, pass the bucket over—I’ve never seen something this big!” several men called out.
“This one alone could make a whole pot of stew!”
“Let us see!”
“Here, take a look,” Zhao Feng said, tilting the bucket slightly so they could see. He was not going to hand it over—there were people in the village who couldn’t be trusted.
“Look at you, so stingy,” Li Dashun said, annoyed. “We just want to look, not take it.”
Zhao Feng stood silently, unmoved.
Zhao Xiaobao got upset. She put her hands on her hips and said fiercely, “My Feng is not stingy! That’s my big eel—I won’t let you see it!”
Then she spread her short arms in front of Li Dashun and said to Zhao Feng, “Don’t be afraid. Little Aunt is here.”
Zhao Quan almost laughed. A tiny child acting like an adult was amusing.
But Zhao Feng didn’t find it funny. Seeing his little aunt stand up for him, even though she wasn’t even as tall as Li Dashun’s leg, made him feel warm inside.
He glanced at his elder brother repairing the damaged ridge. They had worked hard to catch this eel. Letting others look was fine, but touching it was not. Even if it made him seem stingy, he didn’t care—what if someone damaged it? He still wanted to sell it in town.
Ignoring Li Dashun, Zhao Feng walked over carefully and handed the bucket to Xiaobao with a smile. “Here, Little Aunt. Your eel—we caught it for you.”
Zhao Xiaobao leaned over the bucket, excited but a little scared, staring at the large yellow-red eel coiled inside. She reached out to touch it, but Zhao Xiao Wu called out, “Little Aunt, don’t put your hand in. That thing is fierce—I almost got bitten earlier.”
Startled, she quickly pulled her hand back. “I won’t touch it.”
“Wow, I’ve never seen such a big eel,” Li Dashun said, trying to reach in.
Zhao Xiaobao immediately covered the bucket with her body, making it clear—look, but don’t touch.
Since she was just a child, no one argued with her. Instead, they just leaned in to take a look, exclaiming in amazement and envying the brothers’ luck.
Rare things sell for a good price. A snake of the same size might not be worth much, but an eel like this? It could fetch a high price.
Maybe two or three taels of silver.
Li Dashun’s eyes flickered. If such a big eel could grow in the Zhao family’s field, then why not in his own?
Thinking this, he grew excited and hurried back to his field.
After the crowd dispersed, Zhao Xiaobao told Zhao Feng to carry the bucket, and the two of them carefully escorted the eel home.
On the way, Xiaobao wanted to show it off around the village, but Zhao Feng pulled her along a different path, avoiding the main road.
The yard gate was half-closed. Chicks chirped inside the bamboo enclosure.
“Third Sister-in-law!”
Zhao Xiaobao ran into the kitchen and threw herself into Sun Shi’s arms. “Third Sister-in-law, there’s a really big eel in our field! I found it! I’m the best! Xiao Wu and Feng are also amazing—they caught it. Xiao Wu even broke the field ridge and is fixing it now. If Mom sees, she’ll scold him!” she said, giggling.
Sun Shi felt dizzy from her rapid speech before Xiaobao added sweetly, “Third Sister-in-law, can we have eel soup for lunch?”
“What? Eat it?!” Zhao Feng panicked, quickly hiding the bucket behind him. “Little Aunt, we can’t eat it—it’s for selling!”
How could they eat it? That would be a waste. There was only one—it wouldn’t even be enough to fill their stomachs.
Better to sell it to wealthy families in town. They eat refined food. Even one eel like this would be valuable. The cooks would prepare it in special ways—good food doesn’t need to be much, just rare.
“Little Aunt, if you really want eel soup…” Zhao Feng quickly reached into the bucket, grabbed the small eel squeezed into the corner, and held it up. “Then eat this one!”