Not long after he returned, his two brothers-in-law came back with the children, bringing their plentiful haul.
As soon as Lin Xianghui entered the house, he pulled the two pearls from his pocket to show everyone, leaving them all gaping in surprise.
"Just lucky. I never expected to find two pearls in a random river mussel. Xiangyang and I searched through plenty more afterward, but none of them had any."
His face was wreathed in smiles, his excitement plain to see.
Father Lin, Lin Mother, and Eldest Sister-in-law Lin were overjoyed. Wasn't this good fortune falling right into their laps? They really had found treasure.
Lin Second Sister-in-law showed no disappointment either. Smiling, she looked at the haul in the baskets and buckets surrounded by the children behind her.
"Oh! So many wild ducks? How did you catch them? Those things aren't easy to catch. Who caught all these? Your Little Maternal Uncle?"
Lin Guangyuan said excitedly, "Little Maternal Uncle taught us how and helped us catch the first two. We caught all the rest ourselves."
"You're that good? How many did you catch?"
"Eight."
"Mom, shall we kill a duck and stew it tonight?"
"Stir-fry it! I want it stir-fried!"
"I want it stewed. I want soup..."
"I want duck stir-fried with dried radish slices..."
The children all had different opinions and clamored over one another.
The racket gave Lin Mother a headache, and she quickly scolded them. "Stop arguing, all of you. We'll stew one and stir-fry one tonight."
That silenced them. Every one of them was satisfied.
"There are river shrimp and a dozen or so fish too. Mom, you decide how to prepare those. Stew the mussels with tofu for soup, stir-fry a bowl of river clams, and have the children crack the river snails."
Yesterday