Lie Still, Wife—Let Me Feed You

Mother Lin picked up the badly frightened little foodie Sanbao and gently patted his back.

"There, there. Don't be afraid, sweet grandson. The River Critters are stuck in the fish basket. They can't get out and bite my sweet grandson."

Little foodie Sanbao pressed his face tightly against his grandmother and pointed outside. "Grandma, there are so many River Critters."

Mother Lin carried Sanbao outside. "Come on, Grandma will take you to see exactly how many River Critters there are to scare my little sweet grandson like this."

When Mother Lin saw the fish basket packed thick with River Critters, she was startled too, nearly tossing Sanbao from her arms right into the basket.

Mother Lin said tremblingly, "Xiao Feng, didn't you go catch fish? How did you catch so many River Critters?"

Lin Feng said with a smile, "These River Critters taste much better than fish."

"What nonsense are you talking? That thing looks disgusting. Nobody eats it."

"Wait until I cook them, then you'll know whether they taste good or not."

Mother Lin carried Sanbao back inside to continue cooking.

Lin Feng, meanwhile, lit a fire at the stove in the yard and boiled the shrimp.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Is anyone home?"

The moment Lin Feng heard the voice, he knew it was another one of his neighbors.

The man was an honest farmer named Zhang Xiaoyu, a few years older than him.

His wife seemed to be pregnant.

The young couple liked children very much.

Lin Feng opened the door and saw his next-door neighbor Zhang Xiaoyu standing outside with a small bag in hand.

"Brother Zhang, what is it?"

"My wife said your yard was awfully noisy just now.

It sounded like those Feng Family thugs had come to steal your grain.

She was afraid the children in your family would go hungry, so she had me bring over some grain."

Not everyone in Xiaohe Village was like the village bullies or Widow Wang.

There were also simple, kindhearted people like Zhang Xiaoyu next door.

Lin Feng politely declined. "Thank you, Brother Zhang, and thank my sister-in-law too. Those Feng thugs really did come to steal grain today, but I beat them off."

Zhang Xiaoyu still tried to stuff the grain into Lin Feng's arms.

"Xiao Feng, don't be embarrassed.

Your skills—I know them well enough. How could you possibly beat those thugs?

If they robbed you, then they robbed you. There's nothing shameful about it.

How many households in Xiaohe Village haven't been robbed by them?

Take it. If there's no grain to eat, it's the children who'll go hungry."

Well, it seemed the original owner's words carried no credibility at all.

Lin Feng waved Lin Hu over.

Lin Hu vividly recounted how Lin Feng had driven off the four thugs.

Zhang Xiaoyu was left utterly dumbfounded.

Lin Feng added, "Brother Zhang, why don't you eat here?

My second uncle and aunt are here too. The meal is almost ready."

"It's good enough that you weren't robbed. I won't eat here—I need to go back and look after your sister-in-law."

Zhang Xiaoyu patted Lin Feng on the shoulder. "Xiao Feng has grown into a real man. Now Brother Zhang can rest easy.

When your father was alive, he looked after our family a great deal.

Your Brother Zhang has no great ability and can't help your family much.

But I do have a little surplus grain.

If you run out of food, come tell your brother."

Lin Feng said, "Brother Zhang, don't worry about my family. Just take good care of my pregnant sister-in-law."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Zhang Xiaoyu finally headed home.

Once the shrimp had cooked, Lin Feng began peeling them, removing the heads, tails, shells, and veins.

After peeling them, he sprinkled on some salt.

Soon, he had piled up a whole plate.

Lin Feng tasted two.

"Mmm. Boiled shrimp is even softer and more tender. It has a completely different texture from roasted shrimp, and the flavor is incredibly fragrant too."

Lin Feng handed one to Lin Hu.

Lin Hu did not dare take it and felt a wave of nausea.

"Brother, nobody in our village eats this stuff."

"Just because nobody eats it doesn't mean it isn't good. We have to be the first to eat crabs."

Lin Feng ate a few more.

Little foodie Sanbao lay at the doorway, watching Lin Feng eat so deliciously that drool unconsciously trickled from his mouth.

Lin Feng beckoned Sanbao over.

Sanbao slowly walked over, and Lin Feng handed him a shrimp.

Sanbao hesitantly reached out and took it.

Lin Feng tossed one into his own mouth, setting an example for Sanbao.

"Good son, eat it. This stuff is delicious."

Sanbao took a small bite, and his eyes immediately lit up.

No longer afraid or disgusted, he began eating with noisy little smacks.

Lin Feng pulled Sanbao into his arms, and father and son ate shrimp as though no one else existed.

The other children were somewhat afraid. They stood to the side, watching without daring to reach for the River Critters on the plate.

Dabao nudged Sanbao. "Third Brother, are River Critters really that delicious?"

"They're deli..."

The moment the word left his mouth, Sanbao changed his tune.

"They're not delicious at all. Not even a little. None of you should eat them."

Lin Feng smiled. This little fellow was quite the food hog.

The other children were no fools. Sanbao claimed they were not tasty, yet he kept stuffing them into his mouth without stopping.

Clearly, he did not want to share something so good with his brothers and sisters.

Dabao grabbed one, squeezed his eyes shut, and stuffed it into his mouth. His mouth instantly filled with fresh, savory flavor.

He hurriedly called for the brothers and sisters beside him to eat too.

"Everyone, hurry and eat! River Critters are edible, and they're especially delicious!"

Seeing that Dabao had eaten one, the other little ones followed suit.

Lin Feng rubbed Sanbao's little head.

"When there's something good to eat, remember to share it with your brothers and sisters. That way, delicious food will taste even better."

Sanbao nodded as he ate. "Mm-hmm."

The plate of shrimp Lin Feng had peeled was quickly devoured by the little ones.

Lin Feng then taught them how to peel shrimp themselves.

Seeing that even the children had eaten them, Lin Hu tried one as well, and immediately took a liking to them.

He joined the army of River Critter eaters.

Mother Lin, Lin Feng's second uncle and aunt, and Lin Feng's wife were all unwilling to eat River Critters.

Lin Feng did not force them. Such delicious food—sooner or later, they would eat it.

By the time the meal began, Lin Feng, Lin Hu, and the five little ones were already full from eating shrimp, so they only drank some rice porridge.

Little foodie Sanbao's mouth did not rest even after he finished eating. He told his mother and grandmother all about how delicious the River Critters were.

Zhou Chunlan wiped Sanbao's mouth.

"Next time, Mother will definitely taste just how delicious those River Critters are."

Lin Feng had not intended to let Zhou Chunlan eat shrimp, because she was taking medicine, and shrimp could easily clash with its effects.

There were still quite a few shrimp and crabs left in the fish basket.

Lin Feng planned to keep the crabs and shrimp in the water vat in the yard and eat them tomorrow.

Crabs and shrimp were cooling foods, so eating too much at once was not good.

After Lin Hu's family finished eating, they helped clear the dishes and left.

Before it got dark, Mother Lin busied herself again, using the cloth Lin Feng had bought to make shoes for the children.

After brewing medicine for his wife, Lin Feng carried it into the bedroom and prepared to feed it to her.

Zhou Chunlan was a little embarrassed. "I'm much better now. I can even get out of bed to eat. I can take the medicine myself."

"Lie still, wife. Let me feed you.

You're not fully recovered yet. You're still a patient and need someone to take care of you."

Zhou Chunlan lay in Lin Feng's arms.

Lin Feng spooned up some medicine, blew on it, then tasted a little himself. Only after making sure it was no longer hot did he feed it to Zhou Chunlan.

There was something rather intimate about this bowl of medicine.

After finishing it, Zhou Chunlan said softly, "Husband, why don't you sleep in this room tonight?"

Lin Feng played with the lovely hair at his wife's temple. His wife was still rather young; in his previous life, she would have been just a little girl.

He truly did not know how she had given birth to five children at once. He had heard from his mother that it had been terribly dangerous then, that six lives had nearly been lost in one corpse.

"No. I'm afraid your body won't be able to bear it. Let's wait until you're well before we talk about that."

Hearing this, Zhou Chunlan became so bashful that her face burned red. She raised her little fist and pounded Lin Feng's chest, laughing as she scolded, "You shameless man, what are you thinking about? Get out, quickly."

Lin Feng held her for a while before leaving the bedroom and putting the shrimp and crabs into the water vat in the yard.

That night, everyone in the family had fallen asleep, but Lin Feng could not.

The venomous looks in Feng Laoda's and Feng Laosan's eyes when they left kept flashing through his mind.

Without disturbing his family, Lin Feng got up and went into the yard, standing alone in the cold wind.

There are a thousand days to be a thief, but never a thousand days to guard against one. I might as well do as the locals do.

Lin Feng looked up at the sky. The moon had just slipped behind the clouds, and all around him was pitch-black.

"A night of black wind and high moon—a time for murder and arson. Heaven's timing has arrived; better to strike today than choose another day."