I Alone Am Immortal: My Rebirth and Leisurely Cultivation

Chapter 360: Let's see how powerful it is!
Carrying a small cucumber, Hua Junshu and Mei Mengqian strolled around the vegetable garden. Unlike their previous cursory glance, this time they looked around very carefully.

Look at the delicate pumpkin leaves, the drooping beans, and the lying winter melons. The radishes buried in the ground, with only their large, feathery leaves peeking out, and the potatoes with their small leaves.

Li Yan and Jiang Yingzhu followed behind them.

These can all be found in farmers' markets, and there's even a wider variety available.

However, when they appear in the ground and blend with the soil to become a part of the pastoral landscape, everything changes.

However, the vegetable garden was not large, and even though they looked at it carefully, it only took them less than half an hour.

"Are you still looking? Do you want to go to the cornfield?" Jiang Yingzhu was the last to leave the vegetable garden, and she closed the gate connecting to the fence.

Upon hearing this, Hua Junshu said he didn't care, since he could go tomorrow if he didn't go today.

Mei Mengqian was interested in both, but the cornfield was closer, so she could experience it more thoroughly tomorrow.

Catching crabs is more fun.

"No, let's go tomorrow. Let's go catch crabs first!"

Jiang Yingzhu nodded upon hearing this, like a general commanding an army, and waved her hand, "Let's go!"

"Go on your way? Go back and get the bucket first." Li Yan reached out and pushed her forehead with his finger.

"What, you want to just stuff the crab in your pocket?"

Put it in your pocket?!

Upon hearing Li Yan's description of the scene, Hua Junshu and Mei Mengqian couldn't help but laugh.

It seems like something that Zhuzhu could actually do.

"Oh dear, why didn't you remind me!" Jiang Yingzhu also realized that she hadn't brought the tools for holding the crabs.

Now that she's a grown woman, she still needs to pay attention to her image; there's no way she would put crabs in her pocket.

That wasn't a body covered in water.

So the four of them went back along the path. Jiang Yingzhu walked behind Li Yan, as if in revenge, deliberately stepping on Li Yan's shadow.

Seeing this, Mei Mengqian found it amusing and also went to step on the bamboo's shadow.

Hua Junshu found the two childish kids ahead amusing and quickened his pace, stepping on Mengmeng's shadow.

Li Yan led the three girls back to the rice paddies and was about to get a bucket when his grandfather, Li Daoguo, saw him and asked:
"Where are you going now? I just bought some snacks, why don't you and the others sit down and have some?"

"Grandpa, let's go catch some fat crabs in the back."

"Okay, then you guys go, be careful."

Li Daoguo, who was resting on a stool, nodded when he saw Zhuzhu rush into the kitchen and come out with a bucket.

Then he looked at Li Bao, who was eating snacks with gusto.

"Ah Bao, stop eating. Go help your cousin catch crabs and carry the buckets for them."

Li Bao was helpless. He thought he could relax for a couple of days after returning, but he ended up harvesting corn again and running errands.

Now I have to help Li Yan carry buckets.

He put down the spicy snack in his hand and his gaze fell on the bucket in Jiang Yingzhu's hand.

Judging from his appearance, Jiang Yingzhu guessed that if he brought the bucket over, the crabs would run away.

So he said to Li Daoguo, "Grandpa, no need, the four of us are enough."

"Hehe, okay, okay." Li Daoguo nodded repeatedly. "Give the bucket to Li Yan and let him carry it for you."

Upon receiving the imperial decree, Jiang Yingzhu glanced triumphantly at Li Yan and tossed the bucket to him.

"Did you hear that?"

Li Yan rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

He led the way, continuing straight down the same road as before.

This time they went much further. Mei Mengqian counted the ridges of the fields, and after passing three or four fields, they finally stopped.

There was a river in front of us, nothing surprising, as most towns in the south are located near rivers.

However, the width of this river is unusual, estimated to be over one hundred meters.

But it looked like it was about to dry up; the river was clear because the surface was shallow.

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the leaves of the white cypress trees along the riverbank had all fallen, spreading out over a large area of ​​weeds and wasteland.

Where there is a river, there must be a bridge. Hua Junshu and his companion turned their heads and soon saw a bridge spanning the river in the distance to their left.

Jiang Yingzhu stepped forward and took out four pairs of slippers prepared in the bucket.

"Come on, everyone, put these on. We'll be going into the water later."

"Are there really any crabs in here? They look withered," Mei Mengqian asked.

"Of course! I caught a lot when I was a kid. The water level is because there's a dam upstream, but it's never really dried up in all these years."

“There’s a bridge over there,” Hua Junshu interjected.

“Yes!” Jiang Yingzhu nodded. “That’s the bridge to town.”

"You can't see it from here, but there's actually another old bridge next to that one," Li Yan continued.

"The old bridge is no longer open to traffic and has been converted into a pedestrian walkway."

"Is it pretty?!"

"It's not good-looking, and it costs money." Li Yan shook his head, shattering Mengmeng's fantasy.

Modern bridge architecture combined with antique-style decorations is not even as good as some specially designed artificial ancient tourist towns.

The four of them changed into slippers while talking and walked onto the riverbed, leaving their shoes on the bank.

The cool water just reached their ankles, and the clear ripples seemed to apply a filter to the three girls' fair feet, making them look even whiter and more delicate.

If you don't want to get wet, you can walk on larger, higher stones.

Li Yan and Jiang Yingzhu did not lead them deeper into the riverbed, but instead continued walking in the shallow water.

As they walked, they said, "Crabs usually hide under rocks, and some of the bolder ones might lie on the edge of the rocks, so you have to turn over the rocks."

Mei Mengqian and Hua Junshu followed beside them, nodding repeatedly.

"Then why not go a little further in? There should be more crabs in deeper water, right?"

"Maybe, but there are few stones inside, it's mostly mud."

Upon hearing this, the two immediately kept their distance. Jiang Yingzhu, however, bent down and said, "Let me demonstrate for you, watch carefully!"

The two were immediately drawn to what Zhu Zhu was doing: she flipped over a rock the size of an adult's palm with one hand, and quietly raised her other hand.

As the stone was turned over, a figure trying to escape emerged from the churning mud and sand in the water. Jiang Yingzhu immediately reached out her hand.

Grab the little crab by its body on both sides and pull it out of the water.

The bluish-black crabs, no bigger than two pieces of rubber, flailed their pincers in the air, dripping water droplets that carried the fresh scent of river water with a faint hint of moss.

Mei Mengqian finally began to breathe and carefully observed the little thing.

"Amazing!"

"Ah."

Hearing Mengmeng and her senior's consecutive approvals, especially the more authoritative senior, Jiang Yingzhu immediately beamed with joy.

"That's right, our Lao Jiang is known as the Crab Killer. No crab can escape Lao Jiang's palm!"

Jiang Yingzhu hummed and looked up at Li Yan, tossing the little crab into his bucket and gesturing for him not to stand there, but to praise it too.

But then he saw this guy staring at the area below his chin.

Jiang Yingzhu lowered her head, then tugged at the collar of her dress, which had a slightly draped effect today, and rolled her eyes.

"What are you looking at!"

"Look how impressive that is."

Jiang Yingzhu's ears burned, and she abruptly flung her hand away, shouting, "Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers!"

Instantly, the water droplets from her hands fell onto Li Yan's face.

Hua Junshu and Mei Mengqian were smiling with their lips pursed, while Li Yan glanced at their necklines.

Suddenly, I felt that carrying a bucket wasn't so bad.

After Jiang Yingzhu demonstrated it once, Mei Mengqian and Hua Junshu stopped sitting so close to her.

The group rummaged through the stones and drifted downstream toward the bridge.

At first, Hua Junshu and Mei Mengqian were worried that it would hurt a lot if they got pinched by crabs, so they were hesitant to grab them.

But after getting pinched once, I stopped caring.

It doesn't hurt at all.

Crabs were being thrown into the bucket one by one.

Midway through, Mei Mengqian caught something with its abdomen open and covered in white and yellowish objects, which startled her so much that she flung it away.

"ah!"

"what happened?"

Li Yan and the other two looked at Mengmeng, only to see her frantically rinsing her hands.

"There was poop under that crab!" Mei Mengqian said in a tone that sounded like she was about to cry.

"Shit?" Jiang Yingzhu was taken aback, her eyes simultaneously catching sight of the female crab that had been flung away and was quickly escaping into the water.

"Pfft, hahaha, what? That's someone else's baby."

She took two steps forward, caught the crab in one swift motion, and held it up to Mengmeng.

"Look, they're all moving. You just flung away half of someone else's baby."

Mei Mengqian had already seen it. The crab's abdomen was whitish, with a semi-oval abdominal plate that was open, revealing white and yellow objects crawling inside. The tiny crabs, like ants, were translucent and kept falling into the water.

She immediately felt embarrassed.

"I...I didn't mean to."

"Relax." Jiang Yingzhu casually tossed the big crab away, showing no sympathy as she helped the big crab scatter the remaining small crabs, and then the big crab was also thrown away.

"Will they still survive?"

"do not know."

After the farce, the group had walked about a kilometer and arrived at the bridge.

"Let's go back, that's enough."

Li Yan glanced at the bucket and said.

Jiang Yingzhu and the other two also came over to take a look. Seeing that there was already a little over half a bucket full, they felt they could go back now.

So they immediately returned to their home base.

If you don't overturn the rocks on the return trip, it will be very fast.

However, halfway there, Hua Junshu suddenly saw two fish swimming nearby and nudged Li Yan.

"Where are the fish?"

Jiang Yingzhu heard this and looked over. There were two small fish, only the length of a hand.

Two fish were trapped in a depression on the riverbank, with tall rocks blocking their way out.

"I wonder if they got trapped somewhere because of the rising water from the rain. Let's go rescue them!"

Seeing that Mengmeng and her senior were interested, Jiang Yingzhu took the lead and spoke up.

The four men immediately approached, and three pairs of hands scooped up two small fish from the shallow water and put them in the bucket.

"A great haul!" Jiang Yingzhu chuckled, then noticed Li Yan glancing at her sideways.

"What's that look in your eyes?"

"Is this how you save fish?"

Upon hearing this, before Jiang Yingzhu could speak, Mei Mengqian felt a little embarrassed.

"So what!" Jiang Yingzhu wasn't going to be fooled by Li Yan, no matter how well he pretended to be kind.

“These two fish definitely wouldn’t live to see next year without me. By eating them and making them a part of me, I can live for several more decades.”

Jiang Yingzhu was about to continue pulling when she suddenly saw two children sneaking out from where the shoes were on the shore.

She immediately realized something was wrong, "Hey you two, get out of here!!"

However, as soon as the two children realized they had been discovered, they grabbed their shoes and started running.

(End of this chapter)