River snails

She had also put a basin of river snails here to keep them alive. They hadn't seemed disgusting when she ate them, but keeping them alive really was revolting.

The sieve she had used to cover the basin was completely ruined. It was covered in snail trails, and some snails were clinging to it.

They were much cleaner now, though. Scourgify had already removed the moss and grit from them, and after another two days in clean water, they were ready to be stir-fried today.

But she didn't have time. Cooking something with that much oil, salt, and spice would inevitably leave the smell on her.

She could fly out the toilet window and back in, then somehow explain that she had been in the toilet the whole time. But she couldn't come out smelling of cooking fumes after a trip to the toilet.

She took out her watch and checked the time. She had been out for nearly an hour and should go back to sleep. She was still a student, and school was her main occupation.

The school days flew by. After their earlier discussions about the characters in Harry Potter, someone had brought a book into the classroom. It had been passed around until the homeroom teacher confiscated it.

Shi Meng glanced at Lin Er, who met her gaze calmly. It wasn't hers.

Although she didn't mind using her own class time for all sorts of unrelated things, she wouldn't lead her classmates astray.

She knew better than they did how important studying was. She couldn't bring herself to do that.

When school let out on Friday, Lin Er stopped blasting out the cave. It seemed people from a nearby village had heard her, and she had nearly been discovered the night before.

Flashlights had swept back and forth from across the river, and someone had cursed, thinking she was blasting fish.

The cave was only a little over a meter deep, and the entrance wasn't large either. But she didn't want to give up. After thinking it over, she decided to do the blasting during the day over the break.

If she controlled the spell's power, it would make less noise. Sound didn't carry as far in the daytime as it did at night, either. Even if she blasted away only a palm-sized piece at a time, she could slowly hollow out a cave.

There was no stopping her secret base plan. Besides, she was increasingly convinced it was a good spot. At least after she made spicy river snails, the wind by the river would quickly blow the smell away.

On Saturday, she slipped out again using the excuse of finding someone to do homework with. This time, Lin Huihui had been bribed with spicy strips, because she had discovered that if her sister wouldn't give her something to eat, even Grandma couldn't do anything about it.

Before, her sister would hand it over as soon as Grandma yelled.

Most importantly, she had rummaged through her sister's schoolbag and found nothing.

Lin Er rolled her eyes. Even after two beatings, she still hadn't learned her lesson and refused to break the bad habit. Luckily, Lin Er always put her old schoolbag in the new house as soon as she got home, or she would have been found out long ago.

After leaving home, Lin Er made a loop around the back hill, then headed straight for the river.

The big basin of river snails was spotless. Removing their tails was a bit troublesome, but after using Petrificus Totalus on her gloves, she only had to hold each snail down and chop it with a small hatchet.

Their large size made things convenient.

She had bought the seasonings and oil and set up the big iron wok. Worried there would be too much smoke, she hadn't even used firewood. Instead, she had put coal briquettes beneath the wok.

The stove was made with yellow clay, and its grate had been taken from a broken stove. The coal burned hot, too.

It was nearly noon by the time the wokful of oily, fiery snails was ready. Lin Er filled a small basin, then carried some freshly netted fish home.

Her family no longer lacked fish to eat. At first, Grandma Lin had asked where she set her net, but later she stopped asking.

The place Lin Er wouldn't talk about was very likely a fishpond. An adult setting a net there would be cursed at, but a child simply didn't know any better.

So Grandma Lin pretended not to know. As long as there was fish at home, they ate it.

Besides, after that big silver carp, Lin Er had brought home only mixed small fish, which made them feel less guilty about eating them.

Perhaps that was also why Lin Huihui had been a little better behaved. Her sister really could bring her meat!

When she got home, Grandma Lin was cooking in the kitchen. As soon as she came through the door, Lin Huihui spotted her and came charging over, shouting.

"Grandma, Grandma, my sister brought food home!"

"What's all the shouting for? You're not allowed to eat spicy strips!"

Grandma Lin's roar silenced Lin Huihui. Lin Er set the small basin on the table and popped a river snail into her mouth.

That stopped the words she had still been about to shout.

Grandma Lin came out, took one look, and slapped Lin Er on the back.

"You went to someone else's house and ate their food, then brought some back too! Is that what we taught you?"

Caught off guard, Lin Er staggered from the slap and hurried several steps away.

"Stop, stop, stop! It's just some snails. We caught them together and scrubbed them for ages. There was a whole big basin, and I only took this little bit!"

Grandma Lin slapped her again, her expression no better.

"And you think you're in the right? You said you were going to do homework, but you went into the river to catch snails. Even if you only took a little, do you think their oil and salt cost nothing?"

The basinful smelled wonderful. Never mind the oil and salt, the other seasonings weren't cheap either.

Her kitchen had nothing but oil, salt, and a little soy sauce, which she wouldn't use unless she was cooking meat.

Lin Er fell silent for a moment. She really had thought her grandma would take advantage of a freebie and probably wouldn't ask so many questions. She hadn't expected to get hit.

"Then how about I take her two apples when I go to school?"

Grandma Lin hesitated, then picked through the big jar and took out two medium-sized apples. Lin Huihui looked at the apples, then at the snails, and muttered that two apples were too much. Grandma Lin silenced her with a slap.

"It's not as if our family can't afford food. Don't eat things from other people's homes anymore, understand?"

The sisters nodded repeatedly. Grandma Lin's expression really was grim.

Lin Er suddenly didn't know how to gradually share the things in her schoolbag with her family.

Say she had found some money and bought them herself?

Her grandma would scold her. She'd found money and hadn't thought to bring it home? She'd spent it all on food? Was the family starving her?

Say someone else had given them to her?

Her grandma would scold her. How could she dare eat just anyone's food? Did she know where they had gotten it? She didn't even know how long it had been sitting around. If the person had been a child trafficker from Henan, she would never have made it home!

There were precedents for all of that.

But once the river snails went into her mouth at lunch, Lin Huihui no longer minded that they had cost two apples. Grandpa Lin even poured a glass of loose baijiu to share with Grandma Lin.

As Grandma Lin ate, she lamented that such good oil and seasonings had been used to fry a basin of river snails. How much meat was there on them?

Then she saved what was left at the bottom of the plate, saying she would use it to cook fish that evening.

Lin Er opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing.

After the meal, the two were kept at home to do their homework. So she would have time for her own affairs during the break, Lin Er had already finished everything except the worksheet handed out in the last class.

She sat quietly at home and finished the worksheet in two or three hours. Middle school had only just begun, and the teachers weren't that ruthless yet.

Perhaps because she seemed fairly focused on her work, Grandma Lin grumbled a little when she said she wanted to go out and play, but didn't refuse.

Foreseeing this, Lin Er had made Lin Huihui do her math homework first. Now all she had left was copying characters and words, so she couldn't even use homework she didn't know how to do as an excuse to keep her there.

Lin Huihui pouted, about to cry, but the moment Lin Er took out a small cake, she shut up.

But Lin Er had clearly forgotten that Lin Huihui had been disloyal since she was little!

After two or three bites, Lin Huihui had left only a bit of the cake as evidence. Before Lin Er had even made it out the door, she let out an earth-shattering yell.

"Grandma, my sister has money to buy little cakes!"

Lin Er turned back and gave her two quick slaps, making her cry, then rushed upstairs and escaped through the house of the old man next door.

From a distance, she could still hear Grandma scolding her from the doorway. Lin Huihui had probably been slapped too, because her crying grew even louder.