Ye Qingyun had never been anywhere near the Ghost Creek of Qiling Village before.
Everything she knew came from her master’s descriptions.
When it came to geography and feng shui, however, her master was the absolute authority.
Following the directions he had given her, Ye Qingyun spent over half an hour crossing the shallow upper section before reaching the middle stretch of the creek.
Here, the water was much deeper.
Huge boulders littered the stream, blocking the current in places and forming pools, rapids, and small waterfalls.
The cliffs on both sides no longer showed any traces of human paths, and the hooting of owls echoed from the forest.
Ye Qingyun clamped her flashlight between her teeth, tied the legs of her pants tightly with rope, rolled up her sleeves, and stepped into the pitch-black stream, beginning her search.
Since no one had ventured here for years, the place remained in a pristine, untouched state.
The little creatures hiding among the cracks and caves between the rocks had no guard at all against the sudden appearance of a human.
The flashlight beam swept across a boulder.
A strange gleam reflected back.
The rock was covered with stone frogs.
Large and small, their backs were speckled with irregular black spots as they emerged to forage at night.
There had to be at least twenty or thirty of them.
The corners of Ye Qingyun’s lips curled upward.
She steadied her breathing, gripped the flashlight firmly, kept the beam perfectly still, and slowly moved through the stream.
She opened the lid of the bamboo basket hanging at her waist.
Her hand was swift and steady.
Every grab was a perfect catch.
One stone frog after another disappeared into the basket until it quickly became satisfyingly heavy.
She had caught around twenty before the basket was full.
But how could she possibly bear to leave the countless frogs still in front of her?
This was meat.
Delicious, fragrant meat!
Just imagining how tasty they would be made her swallow unconsciously.
Without hesitation, she took off her shirt, buttoned it completely, tied the hem shut, knotted the sleeves together around the waist, and dropped one plump stone frog after another through the collar, turning the shirt into a makeshift sack.
Only then did the slow-witted stone frogs finally seem to realize how dangerous this human was.
They splashed into the water in every direction, trying to escape.
Ye Qingyun immediately sped up.
With the flashlight clenched between her teeth, both hands worked at once.
How could ordinary stone frogs possibly outrun a sword cultivator whose greatest strength was unmatched speed?
Most were caught the instant they leaped into the water, seized by a hand descending from above before they could even swim away.
Only after her improvised shirt sack could hold no more did she finally stop.
Looking toward the deeper part of the creek, where even more glowing reflections shimmered in the darkness, Ye Qingyun couldn’t help feeling a little regretful.
Next time, I have to bring two more sacks!
Still, looking at the bulging bundle in front of her and the overflowing bamboo basket, she couldn’t help smiling.
She looked up.
The moon had already climbed high into the sky.
Quickly tying the shirt sack securely, she began the journey back with her harvest.
Wang Tiezhu had been waiting beneath a tree for so long that he was nearly asleep.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps.
He sprang to his feet like a carp leaping from the water and excitedly gave the call of a nightingale toward Ghost Creek.
Ye Qingyun switched off the flashlight and answered with a sharp tongue whistle.
After confirming the signal, master and disciple emerged from the darkness.
Grinning proudly, Ye Qingyun lifted the heavy bamboo basket and the bulging shirt bundle.
“I found a whole nest of stone frogs!”
Wang Tiezhu’s eyes widened.
“That many? There must be thirty or forty pounds!”
Ye Qingyun nodded.
Afraid someone might discover them, she urged,
“Let’s get back first.”
Since there were children at home who might accidentally let something slip, the two of them headed directly to Wang Tiezhu’s house.
Looking at the little wooden cabin roofed with Chinese fir bark, Ye Qingyun suddenly felt that the old mud house left behind by her original parents wasn’t so bad after all.
Wang Tiezhu’s home sat at the very edge of the production brigade.
Although there were many nearby neighbors, his terrible reputation and obvious poverty meant everyone deliberately avoided passing by his house.
Keeping the stone frogs here was the perfect hiding place.
Sometimes the safest place was right under everyone’s nose.
Wang Tiezhu lit the kerosene lamp.
After searching the entire house without finding a proper bucket, he finally dragged out the large wooden washbasin he used for bathing from beneath his bed.
Ye Qingyun dumped all the frogs from her shirt into it, then emptied the bamboo basket as well.
The basin was packed with black-spotted frogs piled together.
The sight alone was enough to make someone’s skin crawl.
Then Wang Tiezhu watched Ye Qingyun casually wring out her shirt and throw it back on as if nothing had happened.
He clicked his tongue twice, his face full of disgust.
Ye Qingyun shot him a sidelong glance.
“We’re about the same now, Master.”
Wang Tiezhu fell silent.
Ye Qingyun licked her lips.
“Master, I’m hungry.”
Dinner hadn’t filled her up in the first place.
After all this running around, she felt like she could eat an entire cow.
Wang Tiezhu was hungry too.
He hadn’t tasted a single bite of meat in two whole months.
Master and disciple exchanged a glance.
No words were needed.
Each of them picked out the two fattest frogs.
Time for a midnight snack.
Wang Tiezhu owned only one cooking pot.
Since it was already late at night, they didn’t bother with anything complicated.
After cleaning the frogs, they tossed them straight into the pot to stew.
A couple of chunks of wild ginger removed the fishy smell.
A handful of wild scallions added fragrance.
With just a pinch of salt for seasoning, they soon had a pot of delicious and nourishing stone frog soup.
Each grabbed a bowl and a spoon.
The two of them devoured the meal like a whirlwind, leaving not even a drop of soup behind.
After eating their fill, master and disciple sat blankly for a minute before climbing back up to continue processing the remaining frogs.
To keep them from escaping, they covered the basin with a wooden board and weighed it down with stones.
Stone frogs were amphibians.
As long as there was water in the basin, they could survive for another couple of days.
Thirty-two frogs remained.
Ye Qingyun had deliberately caught only the larger ones.
Each weighed at least half a pound.
The biggest few looked close to a full pound.
Even if they ate stone frogs at every meal, there was no way they could finish so many anytime soon.
Besides, stone frogs were delicious once in a while, but eating them every day would get tiresome.
Pork was still the best.
“What if we sell a few of the fattest ones?” Ye Qingyun suggested.
Wang Tiezhu frowned.
“What if we get caught?”
“It’s fine.”
“I’ll put them in my storage space.”
Her storage space couldn’t hold living creatures, though.
If she took them to the commune, she’d have to sell them that very day before they lost their freshness.
Wang Tiezhu blinked.
“What did you just say? Storage space?”
Ye Qingyun looked up at him.
“My storage space. Didn’t I tell you before?”
“Did you?”
He looked completely bewildered.
“Didn’t I?”
“No.”
“Well… now you know.”
Ye Qingyun retold her master the story about the tiny one-square-meter storage space she possessed.
When she finished, she discovered him staring at her with unconcealed envy.
“You don’t have one?” she asked curiously.
After all, back in the cultivation world, both her master and senior brothers and sisters had storage rings far larger than hers.
Wang Tiezhu practically ground his teeth to pieces.
“No. I. Don’t.”
Ye Qingyun beamed.
“Then I’m a little luckier than you.”
“Hehe.”
Wang Tiezhu took one deep breath.
Then another.
Only then did he suppress the urge to smack his troublesome disciple with the sole of his shoe.
Still…
Now that she had a storage space, things would be much easier.
“Set aside five frogs for your Master’s wife.”
“Not everyone would be willing to lend out a flashlight.”
Ye Qingyun nodded.
She had no objections.
Satisfied, Wang Tiezhu continued,
“We’ll keep seven for ourselves.”
“As for the remaining twenty, we’ll find a chance to sneak them into the commune and sell them.”
Ye Qingyun agreed.
It was already past midnight.
Worried that the children might wake up looking for their mother, Ye Qingyun picked out three of the larger stone frogs, put them into her bamboo basket, and hurried home.
Wang Tiezhu selected five especially plump frogs, took the flashlight, and stealthily headed toward the central village.
Liu Amei cautiously slipped downstairs from the stilt house, making sure to avoid her son’s room.
Something cold was suddenly shoved into her arms.
She was so startled she nearly screamed.
Wang Tiezhu reacted quickly, covering her mouth before returning the flashlight to her.
Chuckling beside her ear, he whispered,
“They’re stone frogs.”
“Eat them and build up your strength.”
Liu Amei had known he was coming to return the flashlight.
She had never expected that the man who was always boasting would actually bring her meat.
Watching his blurry figure disappear into the night, she stood beneath the stilt house in a daze for a long while.
Only then did she smile and carry the stone frogs back inside.