Youngsters

Another weekend arrived. The children in the village were riding their bicycles wildly along the road, Zhao Luxing among them. When he saw Zhao Danshi approaching with a hoe over his shoulder, he obediently stopped his bicycle and greeted him.

"Where are you going to play?"

"To Teapot Pool to fish."

Zhao Danshi smiled and asked, "Did you go catch river snails last time? Were they tasty?"

"We did." Zhao Luxing's face wrinkled slightly. "They weren't very tasty."

His family did not know how to cook them properly. The stir-fried river snails had a slightly fishy taste and lacked flavor.

Zhao Danshi smiled. "How about doing Uncle a favor?"

"What favor?"

"Don't you kids have nothing much to do? How about helping Uncle catch a few jin of river snails? Five yuan per jin. It'd be best if you could catch fifteen or sixteen jin."

That was the going price for river snails in town, though people only occasionally came by carrying them to sell. Zhao Danshi had simply thought of it on the spot, putting these half-grown boys to work.

While they were talking, Zhao Luxing's friends also stopped their bicycles and gathered around them at a respectful distance.

The moment they heard the proposal, before Zhao Luxing could speak, one of his friends blurted out, "Uncle, do you really want to buy river snails?"

"Mm, but you have to be honest. Don't pass off other snails as river snails, and don't catch ones that are too small."

"Don't worry, we definitely won't cheat you!" The dark-skinned boy at the head of the group was practically glowing with excitement.

Zhao Luxing nodded as well. "Then we'll go catch them."

Zhao Danshi called out, "Remember to bring them over before tonight."

The group of boys waved their hands and rode away like the wind.

By the time Zhao Danshi returned home, Li Ping had already arrived. Seeing him, Li Ping pumped some water for him to wash his hands and face. "Why are you back so late? Did something hold you up on the way?"

"Mm, I ran into Zhao Luxing and the others. Senior Brother, we won't need to catch river snails tomorrow. I asked them to bring some over, five yuan per jin."

Li Ping raised an eyebrow. "Those kids have that much free time?"

As he washed his face, Zhao Danshi said in a muffled voice, "Mm, they attend middle school in town. Things aren't managed too strictly around here, and they don't have much homework on weekends. Every weekend, they run from village to village playing like crazy."

"Do they have much spending money?"

"Not much, I think. I haven't heard of any parents particularly spoiling their children. They give them enough for meals, maybe five yuan a week at most." Zhao Danshi saw through him. "Senior Brother? What are you thinking?"

"Nothing. Just giving them a chance to earn some money." Li Ping smiled. Once Zhao Danshi had finished washing his face, Li Ping cleaned the towel, poured out the water from the basin, and washed the basin clean. "Let's prepare lunch. I'll help you."

The old man had taken Dou Dou out to play and had not returned yet.

Zhao Danshi had recently been practicing his knife skills. At the moment, he was still striving to cut vegetables into even thicknesses and widths, equal lengths, neat and uniform, without sticking together.

He had quite enjoyed cooking before, especially on weekends. Every so often, he would cook a couple of good dishes himself, carefully store them in the refrigerator, and enjoy delicious food for most of the following week.

Now that he had to be a professional cook, he was finding it a little unbearable.

To achieve mastery in any field, one had to put in arduous effort. It was manageable under normal circumstances, but having to work this hard while farm work was so demanding was truly torturous.

Zhao Danshi sighed. "Senior Brother, how about shredded cold salad, hand-torn cabbage, and stir-fried pork for lunch?"

"Fine."

When they returned from work that afternoon, a large group of boys was already noisily waiting in the courtyard. A big bamboo basket stood in the middle of the yard, filled with thumb-sized river snails that looked plump and meaty.

Seeing Dou Dou, such a tiny little white dumpling, the boys all gathered around his cradle to tease him.

Dou Dou cooperated too, occasionally grinning and letting out bursts of laughter, his eyes curving like an angel's.

The old man was talking with Dou Dou and the boys. When he saw Zhao Danshi and Li Ping return, he called out, "Yun Yun, A Ping, Blackie and the others brought over river snails."

"Got it." Zhao Danshi said to the boys, "Sit for a moment. I'll wash up first."

Zhao Danshi took Li Ping's hoe and put it together with his own in the utility room. Then he came back out and washed his face and hands with the water Li Ping had pumped for him.

Blackie, who had spoken to him that morning, answered loudly, "Okay!" Then he turned back to teasing Dou Dou.

After Zhao Danshi finished washing his face, he went into the living room to bring out the scale. He set a bucket on it, pressed tare, then poured in the river snails. "That's quite a lot. Where did you catch them?"

"We caught them all the way upstream along Teapot Pool."

The electronic scale flickered, quickly displaying a number. Zhao Danshi glanced at it. "Oh, twenty-one jin?"

The dark-skinned boy looked a little nervous. "Mm, we accidentally caught too many. Uncle, if you don't want them, we can take them back."

"It's fine." Zhao Danshi reassured him and went inside to bring out 105 yuan. "You can divide it among yourselves."

The boys crowded into the courtyard immediately grew excited. Blackie said, "Uncle, if you need river snails again next time, you can come to us."

"I won't need any more for a while. Five yuan per jin isn't cheap either." Zhao Danshi smiled at them. "But I have another job. I'm not sure whether you want to do it."

"What job?"

"Watering the vegetable plots, fertilizing, weeding, and putting up a fence around the pond. Fifty yuan a day. But I won't take just anyone. I'll only keep you on if you work well. What do you think? Want to give it a try?"

Li Ping had come up with the idea. Around here, adults only earned eighty yuan a day doing masonry work, so this was a very generous price.

They had wanted to hire adults, but every family was busy with farm work now, and they could not find anyone suitable for the time being.

For a moment, all the boys in the courtyard looked at Blackie, Zhao Luxing included.

Blackie asked, "How long is a workday? What time in the morning to what time at night?"

"From seven-thirty in the morning to five-thirty in the afternoon, with a two-hour break in between, and lunch is included." Zhao Danshi smiled. "Go home and think it over carefully. Discuss it with your parents too. If it works out, come over tomorrow morning. We'll try it for one day first. You're idle at home anyway, so you might as well come earn some spending money."

Blackie and the others nodded. After saying goodbye to Zhao Danshi, the large group of them poured out of the courtyard.

The old man asked, "How did you come up with such an idea?"

Zhao Danshi pointed at Li Ping. "Senior Brother thought of it."

After hearing that, the old man naturally had nothing more to say.

Zhao Danshi went inside and brought out both his and Li Ping's cups. He gulped down more than half a cup of water, wiped his mouth, then said to the old man, "Grandpa, when is Uncle Wende coming over?"

"He said he'd come in a couple of days, after he finishes tending to his family's fields."

Zhao Danshi set his cup aside and went to tease Dou Dou. "Dou Dou, there were so many big brothers playing with you just now. Was it fun?"

Dou Dou understood nothing. Seeing his father poke his cheek, he thought his father was playing with him. Suddenly, he pushed off with his little hands, rolled over, and with an "ah-woo," bit Zhao Danshi's finger into his mouth.

"Ah!" Zhao Danshi jumped, but he did not dare pull his hand out sharply for fear of hurting Dou Dou's mouth.

Dou Dou puffed out his cheeks and looked at him innocently.

"That actually hurts." He gently pinched Dou Dou's mouth. "Dou Dou, hurry and let go. Daddy will make you some formula, okay?"

Dou Dou tilted his little head, but he still clamped down on Zhao Danshi's hand without letting go.

Zhao Danshi slowly pulled his hand out. His wet fingertip had a red mark on it.

Zhao Danshi looked Dou Dou over and asked Li Ping doubtfully, "Senior Brother, is Dou Dou teething?"

"Let me see." Li Ping calmly wiped his hands and came over, gently prying Dou Dou's mouth open.

Dou Dou waved his little hands and feet around and laughed several times. Sure enough, a sliver of white could be seen on his lower gums.

The old man also leaned over. "Oh, our Dou Dou is getting teeth so early."

"Will Dou Dou feel uncomfortable like this?"

The old man was very experienced. "It's fine. Teething babies like biting things more. Just be careful not to let him bite anything dirty."

Li Ping and Zhao Danshi exchanged a look and decided to disinfect the things around Dou Dou more frequently.

Zhao Danshi carried the bucket into the kitchen. After the river snails sat overnight, they could stir-fry them for lunch the next day.

The next day, Zhao Danshi and Li Ping got up after five as usual to pick strawberries. Once they had finished picking the strawberries and watered the fields, they returned home to prepare breakfast.

By then, Blackie and the others had already arrived. One after another, they were seriously using buckets and pliers to clip off the tips of the river snails.

Seeing this, Zhao Danshi greeted them. "You're here?"

"Mm." As the leader, Blackie stepped forward to talk with him. "Uncle Danshi, what are we doing today?"

Five of them had come in total. Besides Blackie and Zhao Luxing, the other three were Chengtou, Maolin, and Zhenglian.

Zhao Danshi gestured for them to sit. "How about weeding today?"

"Sure." Blackie agreed without hesitation.

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

The boys shook their heads sheepishly. They had all heard Zhao Luxing say that Zhao Danshi's family made especially delicious food. They had come early in the morning specifically hoping to mooch a meal.

Zhao Danshi did not mind. "Then sit for a while and help clip the river snails. I'll go make breakfast."

Farm work consumed a lot of energy, so people in the countryside generally ate solid food in the morning. Even if they had porridge, they would steam some buns and stir-fry a few dishes.

Zhao Danshi went into the kitchen to get busy.

Stir-fried carrots with pork, scallion omelets, pickled cabbage stir-fried with pork belly, stir-fried sweet potato leaves, and hand-torn cabbage—Zhao Danshi chopped and sliced away in the kitchen. Following Watcher's guidance, he worked himself into a sweat.

Li Ping sat outside chatting with the boys. Before long, he learned that none of them did particularly well in school. They had nothing much to do at home and spent every weekend cycling around to play. When they heard there was work here, every one of their parents had been happy to let them come.

Blackie tried to sound Li Ping out. "Uncle Li, is there a lot of work here? Will you be hiring people all the time?"

"There is quite a lot. But whether I hire you depends on the quality of your work. If you don't work well, Uncle Danshi and I will do it ourselves."

"Uncle Li, don't worry. We often work at home. We'll definitely do well."

There were not enough pliers at home, so Zhao Luxing had specifically taken Blackie to borrow several pairs from nearby households. With everyone working together, they had clipped more than half of the twenty-odd jin of river snails in one morning.

"Hurry over and eat. We'll deal with the rest after we come back at noon." Zhao Danshi had them wipe the table and carry the dishes. Then he turned around and took out eight bowls and eight pairs of chopsticks from the sterilizing dish cabinet.

Before they could eat, Zhao Danshi still had to make formula for Dou Dou.

Otherwise, Dou Dou would smell the food but have nothing to eat, and he would keep staring at them with wide round eyes without blinking.

"Time to eat." Zhao Danshi called out. Zhao Luxing obediently took their bowls to serve rice, while the other boys each found a place to sit.

The old man beamed. "It's been a long time since the house was this lively."