The carefree life of Yang Shuisheng, the village miracle doctor

Yang Shuisheng smiled meaningfully, not directly answering Yu Qianwei's gossipy questions, but vaguely saying, "Every family has its own problems. Couples quarrel, but they make up before they get out of bed. It's not appropriate for outsiders to say too much."

As he spoke, he placed the plastic bag he was carrying on the stone table and took out the cookies, peanuts, and soda inside.

"Come on, let's not just chat, let's eat something to fill our stomachs."

He was clearly trying to change the subject and didn't want to talk about the village chief's family anymore.

Although Yu Qianwei was incredibly curious, seeing that Yang Shuisheng didn't want to talk about it, she had no choice but to suppress her gossip and take a bite of a cookie.

"By the way, what do you guys want to eat tonight?"

Yang Shuisheng sat down and took a sip of water, then asked, "There are still some dishes at home, but not enough. I'll go get some more later."

Su Xiaoyue immediately replied obediently, "Brother Shuisheng, I'm not picky about food. I'll eat whatever you make, anything is fine with me!"

Yu Qianwei tilted her head and thought for a moment, then her eyes suddenly lit up, and she said with a hint of craving and anticipation, "I want to eat stir-fried eel, just thinking about it makes my mouth water!"

"Sigh, forget it." But then she sighed with some regret, "Those things are hard to catch. They're slippery and hide in mud holes. It takes a lot of effort and you might not be able to catch many."

"No problem! Leave it to me!"

Yang Shuisheng waved his hand dismissively and laughed, "I'll go take a stroll in the rice paddies and catch some eels. I'll show you my skills tonight."

"It's a good opportunity for Xiaoyue to try some of the wild game from our Peach Blossom Valley."

"Eel?"

Su Xiaoyue had never heard of eels before, and blinked curiously, asking, "What are those? Are they tasty?"

"Delicious! So delicious!"

Yu Qianwei quickly answered, "The meat is incredibly tender, even more fragrant than fish, but it's just too difficult to catch." As she spoke, she looked at Yang Shuisheng with some hesitation, "Maybe we should just forget about it, it's too much trouble. Don't tire yourself out just to eat a eel."

"No trouble at all! You guys just wait at home, I'll be right back," Yang Shuisheng said, already standing up.

"Brother Shuisheng, I'll go with you."

Su Xiaoyue, however, couldn't stay still and quickly stood up: "I also want to see how eels are caught."

"I'll go too!"

Seeing this, Yu Qianwei immediately stood up as well: "Anyway, we're just idling around."

"Alright, alright, everyone go."

Looking at the two enthusiastic girls, Yang Shuisheng smiled helplessly and nodded in agreement: "But it's a promise, when we get to the field, you have to listen to my instructions and don't run around or you'll fall into the mud."

The three of them walked towards the lush green rice paddies outside the village, chatting and laughing.

As soon as I arrived at the edge of the paddy field, I saw several village children with their trousers rolled up, wading around in the ditch beside the paddy field, their bodies covered in mud.

These children ranged in age from teenagers to seven or eight, and all of them were tanned dark and shiny.

Seeing Yang Shuisheng approaching with two pretty older girls, a chubby-faced little boy immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "Look! Yang the Fool is here!"

"What are you yelling about!"

A slightly older, more sensible boy standing nearby immediately raised his hand and slapped the little bald boy, correcting him impatiently, "What do you mean, 'Yang the Fool'? You should call him Brother Yang! No respect for elders!"

Then he looked up, grinned at Yang Shuisheng, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Brother Yang, you're here to catch eels too?"

When Yang Shuisheng heard the child blurt out "Yang the Fool," he wasn't angry at all; instead, he grinned.

He was already used to being called by these village children; in the years before he was out of his mind, this name had indeed spread throughout the entire Peach Blossom Village.

"How many eels have you caught?"

He didn't mind, but just yelled at the group of mud-covered monkeys, "Is that enough for an extra meal tonight?"

"Brother Yang, don't mention it!"

The older boy immediately replied with a bitter face, "The eels today are very clever. They burrow deep and are slippery. We brothers have been busy for half a day and only caught three or five small ones. That's not even enough to fill a tooth gap."

"Alright! Watch me!" Yang Shuisheng rolled up his trousers, took off his shoes, took a tattered bamboo basket handed to him by one of the children, and stepped barefoot into the cool, damp rice paddy.

With sharp eyes, he carefully searched along the water plants and mud holes by the field ridges, his movements skillful and steady.

Su Xiaoyue stood on the edge of the field, watching Yang Shuisheng's focused back, and then recalled the child's words about Yang being a fool, her heart filled with doubt.

She tugged at Yu Qianwei's sleeve and asked in a low voice, "Why did that kid call Brother Shuisheng 'Yang the Fool'?"

"Well, it's a long story."

Yu Qianwei's smile faded slightly as she looked at Yang Shuisheng in the rice paddy with a complicated expression. Her voice lowered, carrying a hint of barely perceptible sympathy: "Yang Shuisheng's family had some troubles in the past, which caused him to be mentally unstable for the past few years. He was in a daze all day long, sometimes not even recognizing people, and doing foolish things."

"So some people in the village call him Yang the Fool behind his back."

"It was only recently that he suddenly got better, like a completely different person."

Upon hearing this, Su Xiaoyue's heart clenched, and her gaze towards Yang Shuisheng was filled with deep sympathy.

She could hardly imagine what kind of darkness and pain this confident, composed, and clear-eyed young man had experienced.

She wanted to press for details, but Yu Qianwei gently shook her head and whispered, "It's better if you don't know the specifics..."

"Where do you think you're going!"

Just then, a splashing sound came from the rice paddy. Yang Shuisheng pulled his hands out of the murky water and pulled out a large yellow eel, as thick as two adult fingers and with a bluish-yellow sheen on its back, which was writhing desperately in his hands.

"Wow! It's huge!" The surrounding children immediately exclaimed in a thunderous voice, their eyes wide with amazement. "Brother Yang, you're amazing! You caught such a big one as soon as you went into the water."

Yu Qianwei also let out a delighted cheer: "Wow! You're so lucky!"

Only Su Xiaoyue, upon seeing the long, slippery creature wriggling in the water, instinctively took a half-step back, her face turning pale, and blurted out, "This... isn't this a snake?"

Upon hearing this, the children around her stared at her as if she were a monster, their eyes filled with astonishment you would never expect.

"This isn't a snake! It's called an eel, also known as a yellow eel."

Yu Qianwei quickly explained with a smile, "Although it looks like a snake, it is a real fish that lives in rice paddies and mud burrows. Its meat is very tender."

"We rural folks call it yellow eel, we're used to calling it that."

Su Xiaoyue then realized she had made a blunder, her cheeks flushed slightly, and she stuck out her tongue somewhat embarrassedly.

Yang Shuisheng smiled and put the big yellow eel into the bamboo basket, saying to the group of children, "I'll borrow your basket for a bit, and I'll give you a few after I've caught them all."

In the following time, Yang Shuisheng demonstrated his exceptional skill in catching eels.

He seemed to be able to see through the murky water and pinpoint the burrows where the eels hid. His fingers, like nimble snakes, would probe in and always manage to quickly and accurately pull out the slippery eels.

In just half an hour, the borrowed bamboo basket was already full, with eels wriggling and tangling inside. At a glance, it looked to weigh several kilograms.

Not to mention the group of children who were already dumbfounded, even Yu Qianwei's mouth was agape, her face full of disbelief.

The children looked at each other, and one of them muttered, "We've been busy all afternoon, and we haven't caught as many as you did in the time it takes you to pee, Brother Yang..."