CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 53: PICKING UP WILD DUCK EGGS

Lin Zhi ignored him, dug the ground twice with a sullen face, and threw down his hoe in anger, "No, I need to ask my eldest brother, why didn’t Lin Qin ask us to help build the house but instead find that outsider Lin Qingxiang!"

"Right! Let’s go now!" Li Lian said quickly, then asked in a hurry, "Where does Lin Qin’s husband live?"

Lin Zhi was stunned.

The couple both looked at Huang Yuzhen shamelessly and asked, "Where does Lin Qin’s husband live?"

Huang Yuzhen rolled her eyes, "I haven’t been there! How could I know?"

"Your husband and son are working for them, how could you not know?" Li Lian pressed on relentlessly.

Huang Yuzhen was too lazy to bother with them.

Lin Zhi and his wife were infuriated, went to the team leader to reason, but were driven away.

They thought about following Lin Qingxiang and Lin Shaojun, but father and son left before dawn, walking so fast that lazybones like Lin Zhi couldn’t keep up.

The couple missed them three days in a row and completely gave up.

At the same time, father and son Lin Qingxiang, who had just arrived in Nanyu to work for Lin Qin, were telling Lin Yi and Lin Qin this as a joke.

"Lin Zhi and his wife looked so ridiculous, it was really laughable!"

Lin Yi shook his head and sighed, "My brother is truly hopeless, they want my land, but how much land do I have anyway?"

At the beginning of this year, the team was notified about land distribution, and according to the household registration, he was the only one in his family and only got two or three mu, it’s not even a fraction of Nanyu, I don’t know why they’re so fixated on his land!

Lin Qingxiang snickered, "To that lazybones, two or three mu of land is a lifetime’s worth of wealth, how can he not keep an eye on it? Not everyone is as diligent as you guys are!"

Lin Qin, hearing this, also shook her head and did not want to continue discussing those unreasonable relatives, so she changed the topic, "Uncle Qingxiang, could you look at the cement I mixed this time, can it be used?"

These days she’s been learning to mix cement, initially, it was either too runny or too dry, and if any ingredient was too much, she couldn’t adjust it.

Fortunately, Lin Qingxiang was a skilled craftsman, patiently teaching her, and she gradually grasped some tricks.

Lin Qingxiang came over, mixed it a few times with a shovel, and nodded incessantly, "This time it’s about right, just a bit too runny, add some more cement and it’ll be fine."

Once the cement was ready, everyone immediately started working.

In three days, the foundation in the pit was already built up, the next step was to raise it.

As the foundation construction progressed, the money also dwindled rapidly like running water.

Lin Qin could only help for a while, then she had to go fishing on the boat, or pick snails by Nanxi river, these could all be sold for money.

When Chen Wenjun came back, Lin Qin happened to be picking snails by the river, he put things on the boat, picked up his fishing net and bucket, and rushed over to work with Lin Qin.

Lin Qin glanced at him and immediately pointed to the pile of golden apple snails by the shore, "I just picked these, smash them up for bait."

Chen Wenjun saw it and was delighted, "So many! Where did you pick them?"

Lin Qin grinned, "I found it strange too, it seems whenever I especially want to catch something, it just appears everywhere. Look, I thought of picking two more baskets of snails to sell this morning, came here and found them scattered like nobody wanted them! And they’re particularly big, definitely good for selling."

Chen Wenjun laughed, "Isn’t it just because no one’s competing with you at this hour?"

Lin Qin nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense! But if wishes could come true, I’d wish for a piece of gold! Then we wouldn’t worry about building the house! Hahaha..."

"Don’t get your hopes too high! I work in Nanxi every day, but haven’t come across such good luck!" Chen Wenjun affectionately looked at the whimsical Lin Qin, put down the bucket, turned and found a suitable spot, smashed the golden apple snails, and scattered them.

This action even attracted the wild ducks hidden in the water plants ten meters away.

Lin Qin’s eyes brightened, "Wow! Wild ducks! There must be duck eggs in the bushes!"

There have always been wild ducks by Nanxi river, but these creatures are as alert as wild birds, always hiding in tricky spots, generally not easy for people to catch.

With warmer weather, ducks definitely lay eggs more frequently.

Chen Wenjun felt that the bush area wasn’t safe, pointed to the rock crevices by the shore and said, "You can check over there, it’s very likely the wild ducks lay eggs in there, don’t go into the bush, let me net the fish while you hit the water plants with a bamboo pole to see if you can catch some fish."

Those piles of big rocks were leftover materials from the initial construction of the embankment, stacked for dozens of meters beside Nanxi river for years, some with wild grass growing on top.

The irregularly stacked stones resulted in many different-sized gaps, especially the underwater parts, which were natural shelters for crabs, small fish, and shrimp.

Lin Qin eagerly moved the two big baskets of snails to the boat, grabbed a bucket, and ran to the pile of stones.

Initially, she didn’t have high hopes, but as soon as she climbed up the stones, she spotted several white objects in some gaps, and upon closer inspection, they were indeed wild duck eggs!

Some gaps held three or five, some seven or eight, the ones with the least still had two.

Apparently, the wild ducks regarded it as a nest.

She was so excited that she forgot to inform Chen Wenjun, squatted down and concentrated on gathering duck eggs.

Having submerged, Chen Wenjun also couldn’t keep an eye on Lin Qin.

When he fished up a netful of "surimi-minnow" fish, looked back and saw Lin Qin had come down, he casually asked, "Did you gain anything?"

Lin Qin carefully climbed down from the stones, ran over to show off her catch, "How about that?"

Chen Wenjun stretched his neck to look, immediately astonished, "Over half a bucket! How come there’s so many?"

Lin Qin shrugged, "I have no idea either, did you catch much over here?"

With that, she walked over to the water bucket, finding at least a dozen surimi-minnow fish inside, immediately delighted, "Looks like we can take another trip to the Guoxing Restaurant this afternoon!"

Chen Wenjun grinned, wading close to the water plants, "Go on! Let’s see if we get anything to decide if we need to make a trip later this afternoon."

Lin Qin immediately put down the bucket, swung her boat-brought bamboo pole energetically as she walked up the embankment.

Seeing Chen Wenjun setting up the fishing net around a clump of water plants.

She lowered the bamboo pole above and began pounding the water plants wildly, startling a flock of hidden wild ducks, even fish leapt from the bushes, making the water surface seem to boil instantly.

Lin Qin exclaimed, "Such big fish! Are they grass carp?"

Chen Wenjun quickly moved to that direction to surround them, and soon noticed the fishing net had some movement, as if some big guy had charged in, he patiently waited a while, only then raised the pole.

Standing higher up, Lin Qin could see the fish bellies occasionally turning up in the fishing net, and realizing that Chen Wenjun couldn’t handle it alone, she quickly yelled, "Don’t move, I’ll bring the bucket over to help!"