Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 40_1

Chapter 40: Chapter 40_1

Early the next morning, Nanzhi and Gougou had breakfast and then headed out directly with a small bamboo basket and a fish basket.

Seeing quite a few people already by the river at the end of the village, Nanzhi thought a while before leading Gougou upstream for about fifteen minutes.

Once they arrived, they saw a few scattered people standing in the river. Nanzhi took off Gougou’s shoes and socks and let him play in the water. Seeing that the water level was just above his ankles, she felt at ease and headed toward the middle of the river.

"Nanzhi, are you here to catch fish too? The water here is deeper than at the end of the village, be careful."

Hearing someone call her name, Nanzhi was slightly surprised. She looked up in the direction of the voice and vaguely recognized the woman. She thought about it for a while and recognized her as Ms. Sun, who had come to learn how to make fish soup a few days ago.

She just smiled and replied, "Eh."

After greeting each other, they went back to their own tasks. Even though they had some interaction because of the fish soup, it wasn’t much. Awkwardly chatting was less productive than catching a few more fish.

Nanzhi was simultaneously searching underfoot; indeed, the water upstream was deeper than at the end of the village. Concerned about Gougou, she would occasionally check to see if he was playing obediently. Only after confirming his safety would she continue to focus on her tasks.

"Oh, isn’t this Ms. Wu? How come you’re willing to catch fish in the river?"

"Shouldn’t you be resting at home? Oh right, I forgot, you’ve split your family. Without the second room, you’ll starve if you don’t work, right?"

Hearing laughter not far away, Nanzhi also looked up and saw that indeed it was Ms. Wu and Shi Tou on the shore, which felt odd.

But she didn’t say anything – this river wasn’t hers, and whether or not Ms. Wu came to catch fish or shrimp was none of her business.

As long as she didn’t bring trouble to her, it was fine.

Ms. Wu gave the person who asked the question a disgusted look. "What, is this river yours? Is it any of your business what I do here? Be careful, with a mouth as loose as yours, you might trip and fall one day."

After saying this, she glared at the several women there and instructed Shi Tou to go into the river and catch fish.

She then sat by the riverbank to rest.

Several of the women rolled their eyes secretly when they saw this. Only a mother like Ms. Wu would allow her seven-year-old son to go wading in the river while she rested on the side.

She really wasn’t afraid that something would happen to the child.

Ms. Sun and two younger women looked at each other, understood each other’s thoughts, then laughed, and continued fishing.

Once Shi Tou went into the river, he saw Gougou squatting there and snorted coldly, before heading towards the middle of the river.

His mother had said that he was a fortunate child. Otherwise, how would he have managed to find a bird’s egg, when all the other children in the village couldn’t? That Gougou was just a lowly child. The wild chicken egg was supposed to be his. It was Gougou who had grabbed it.

This time he was sure he could catch a big fish to bring home.

With that thought in mind, he didn’t care that the water level had already reached his knees, but walked further into the river until the water completely passed his waistline before stopping.

Nanzhi watched Shi Tou walk into the river with some hesitation. She looked again at Ms. Wu resting on the riverbank, fanning herself, and in the end, she didn’t say anything.

If his own mother didn’t care, why should she?

To avoid being accused of being nosy later if she meddled.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, Nanzhi felt something moving under her foot. She steadied her nerves, focused, and pressed down with both hands. She felt that thing pressed down and firmly caught it.

Looking closely, it was a river shrimp about half the size of her palm, waving its long pincers, trying to break free.

Seeing this little thing, Nanzhi instantly thought of dry pot shrimp and hot pot shrimp balls. She subconsciously swallowed.

It’s a pity that these river shrimp are rather thin, not as rich and tasty as the farmed shrimp. After putting the wriggling river shrimp in the fish basket, Nanzhi continued to grope for more fish in the river.

The weather is getting hotter by the day, so she wants to get everything packed and bring Gougou back home before the sun fully rises.

Having gathered several things intermittently, Nanzhi straightened up to wipe her sweat and heard Gougou calling her.

"Mommy, I caught the bug!"

Gougou was proudly shouting for mommy while pointing at the thing he had trapped with his little stick, he reported that the insect had just pinched his foot, and he wanted to enlist mommy for a revenge mission.

Upon hearing what Gougou said, Nanzhi hurried over, fearing that Gougou might have caught hold of some insect which could harm him.

But as she looked down, she found that it was a river shrimp, much larger than any she had caught herself, held down by Gougou’s little stick.

"Good job, Gougou! This is a river shrimp, not a bug." Nanzhi rescued the shrimp from under the stick and casually tossed it into her fish basket.

Regarded Nanzhi curiously, Gougou then asked, "Can we eat this bug?"

Nanzhi nodded affirmatively, "Yes, we can. And it’s pretty delicious."

Upon hearing that not only could the shrimp be eaten, but it was also tasty, Gougou’s eyes lit up. He pointed towards the river bed, "Mommy, there are more bugs over there, a lot of ’em!"

Hearing these words, Nanzhi no longer felt inferior that Gougou had managed to catch a larger shrimp, but simply looked in the direction he was pointing.

Since she had already turned over that part of the riverbed earlier, today she had walked a little upstream with Gougou. The riverbank here, still blooming with trees and aquatic plants, indeed seemed like a place where river shrimp would love live.

Nanzhi, not wanting to disturb the shrimp, carefully approached it on tiptoe. Gently moving aside a band of water grass with her hand, she saw what was underneath.

The thin layer of water was teeming with river shrimp—some as large as the one Gougou had just caught, and even the smallest one being about four centimeters long.

With a bunch of river shrimp seemingly fast asleep on the grassy leaves, they all panicked at the rustle of the Nanzhi’s touch but then settled down again once the initial shock wore off.

Nanzhi untied the fish basket tied around her waist and signaled Gougou to pass the small bamboo basket he had behind him. She then took a deep breath and prepared to catch the shrimp.

First, she put the small bamboo basket beside her foot for putting in the shrimp later, then, extending her two open hands on either side of the shrimp, she slowly tried to contain it in her palm and quickly collected it out of the water.

Feeling the struggling motion in her hand, Nanzhi chuckled softly as she put the shrimp carefully into the bamboo basket, then repeated the process.

In less than fifteen minutes, the bottom of the bamboo basket was covered with shrimp, leaving only some of the smaller ones in the grass.

Looking at the hyperactive shrimp constantly bouncing inside the basket, Nanzhi placed a couple of leaves on top and put the basket on the river bed.

The bamboo basket has gaps that allow water to seep in, so the shrimp wouldn’t die of dehydration. The sun is still not up fully, giving her some more time to look around.

"Gougou, you stay here like a good boy, and look after these shrimps for mommy. Mommy will go and look for some River Clams, okay?"

Gougou gave a firm nod, then his childish voice chirped up, "Gougou will be good, mommy can go ahead with her work."

Having received Gougou’s reply, Nanzhi re-tied the fish basket around her waist and then turned to walk towards the middle of the river.

Today, besides the river shrimp, she had also found a Crucian Carp and seven or eight River Clams. If she could find some more, that should be sufficient for the day.

Moreover, given the abundant availability of river shrimp here, she planned to put some "shrimp traps" at night to see if she could catch more.

While being engrossed in fishing, Nanzhi suddenly heard a splashing sound.

Raising her eyes, she noticed that where Shi Tou was standing just a while ago was now empty.