Chapter 20: Dragon-Phoenix Soup

After struggling for quite a while, Ye Yaodong finally plucked all the chicken feathers clean and washed the chicken properly.

“Alright, the chicken’s all handled. Who’s cooking? Little Little? Fatty?”

Without even lifting his head, Little Little said, “Let Fatty do it. He cooks better than me. My luck’s on fire right now. After we eat, I’ll clean up!”

“Fine then! Dongzi, take my spot!”

Ye Yaodong shook his head.

“Don’t feel like playing. Boring. I’d rather play cards.”

“How are six people supposed to play cards? Wanna play Crab Fishing instead?” Guang suggested.

“No fun. That game’s all luck and zero skill. You guys play. I’ll just watch.”

“Huh? Changed personality or something? Not playing Pai Gow, not even Crab Fishing anymore?”

“Someone’s gotta do the work, otherwise what are we eating later? You guys keep playing. I’ll go help Fatty cook.”

“Did you take the wrong medicine today? You’re actually hardworking?”

Everyone chimed in one after another. Even becoming diligent got him questioned. Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes and said irritably,

“I’m just in a good mood today. Had a sudden attack of conscience, alright?”

“Then hurry up! Call us when it’s ready!”

Inside the kitchen, Fatty was already chopping the chicken loudly with his cleaver. Seeing Ye Yaodong enter, he said,

“Good thing Azheng brought a chicken. Otherwise that little one-pound snake wouldn’t even be enough to fill the gaps between our teeth. Earlier I even went home and grabbed two pork ribs. Figured we could stew them together with the snake.”

“Let’s cook the other dishes first before stewing the dragon-phoenix soup. Make more broth too. Scoop Azheng an extra bowl to bring home.”

“No problem.”

A five- or six-pound rooster, plus the one-pound snake, plus two pork ribs—together they made an enormous pot.

The fragrance had barely started drifting out when the others could no longer sit still. They finished one round of cards, tossed the cards aside, and all crowded around the stove.

“Is it ready yet?”

“Smells amazing!”

“Been a long time since I ate snake meat. Makes me miss it!”

“Can we eat already? I’m starving flat. Three bowls of porridge a day and two pisses later it’s all gone.”

Ye Yaodong grabbed a soup bowl.

“Hold on. First let’s scoop out a bowl for Azheng so he can bring it home to his parents while it’s hot.”

“Right right right, give Azheng’s family a bowl first.”

Azheng looked embarrassed.

“A small bowl is enough. There are so many of us here.”

“There’s a huge pot. Enough for everyone. Plus there are other dishes too. We deliberately made extra broth—the essence is all in the soup.”

Only after scooping out Azheng’s share did everyone fill their own bowls and sit around the table to eat.

They hadn’t added any medicinal herbs to the dragon-phoenix soup. Just ginger and rice wine, simmered plainly.

After everyone finished a bowl, they finally started attacking the seafood spread across the table.

Guang fiddled with the sea melon seeds on the plate and picked one up.

“These sea melon seeds and clams were dug up today? So Dongzi really went digging today? No wonder Little Little couldn’t find you this morning. They’re small, but pretty meaty.”

“I dug them all morning long. Damn near roasted to death. Tomorrow the tide’s gonna retreat even farther. You guys wanna go? Digging around at the beach once in a while is actually pretty fun.”

Guang immediately agreed.

“Sure. We’re free anyway.”

“I’m too full. Going to the beach to roast under the sun in this heat? No thanks!”

Fatty rejected the idea immediately. His family never lacked food or drink. There was no way he was going to bake himself on the beach.

“I can’t go. My wife wants me to visit her parents tomorrow. Her mother’s health isn’t very good.”

Mouse, who had barely spoken all day, finally said something.

Chen Wei, however, looked eager.

“I’m in. Haven’t been to the beach in a while. The tides are good these days too. I’ll bring a hook and see if we can find anything.”

“Definitely. Today while I was scraping oysters and picking snails off the rocks, I got lucky and found two mud crabs weighing five or six liang each. Tomorrow the tide’ll go out even farther. Let’s head over the moment it recedes.”

“Damn, even found mud crabs? That’s worth over a yuan already. A laborer’s full day wage. Nice luck.”

Azheng and Little Little also agreed to go to the beach tomorrow.

This group spent more time with each other than with their wives. Most of the time, they preferred hanging out together.

“How much were these mantis shrimp today? These little ones are pretty fat. They even have roe!”

As he cracked shells apart, Ye Yaodong asked Guang.

“Thirty-five cents a jin.”

“Huh?!”

He thought about it for a moment. Yeah, prices around this era really were like that.

Last September—no wait, September 2021—these little five-to-seven centimeter mantis shrimp were only bought at three yuan a jin at the docks, while the large ones sold for thirty. But markets never sold them at that price. There was always a huge gap between wholesale and retail prices.

Thinking about it now, this price actually seemed reasonable.

“If you picked them out one by one, they were thirty-five cents. If you just scooped randomly, thirty cents. I picked out all the roe-filled ones.”

The others casually grabbed a shrimp and snapped off the necks. Sure enough, every single one had roe.

“Pretty sharp eyes you got there!”

Guang shrugged.

“What’s so hard about that? I originally wanted to pick more, but Ah Cai at the dock noticed how accurate I was and immediately regretted letting me choose. He said I could only buy random scoops now or not buy at all. Fine by me. This looked like enough anyway.”

“They’re perfect drinking snacks. Too bad there’s no alcohol.”

Fatty peeled shells regretfully.

“Didn’t you drink enough yesterday? My wife scolded me to death when I got home. She pinched my arm so hard I still have bruises. Nearly didn’t let me sleep on the bed.”

“If your wife won’t let you on the bed, just find a mistress and sleep at her place. Let’s see who ends up crying then.”

“Tch~ Mistress my ass. I barely managed to get a wife in the first place. Hanging around with you guys ruined my reputation. Good thing I already have a wife and kids now.”

Azheng deliberately acted dramatic.

“Holy crap, no wonder Guang and I still can’t find wives. So it’s all your fault! Damn it, hurry and compensate us with two wives!”

Guang also played along.

“Exactly. You guys sleep soundly hugging your wives every night while Azheng and I suffer through lonely empty pillows~”

“Then you two can just hug each other. Once the lights are off and the blanket’s over your heads, there’s not much difference in the dark anyway…”

“Bullshit, there’s a huge difference!”

Azheng shamelessly slapped his own backside.

“What’s there to compare? Front or back, I’m bigger everywhere. No doubt about it!”

“Watch your mouths! My sisters are still here!”

Seeing his two younger sisters blushing while carrying their bowls back into the room, Guang hurriedly stopped them before they got even filthier.

“Eat, eat, eat. Save the dirty talk for your wives back home!”

“Dongzi, I heard your dad caught a whole net of yellow croaker yesterday and sold it for over a thousand yuan. Got rich, huh? So are you going out to sea with your dad now?”

Chen Wei asked curiously.

“Do I look like someone who’d go out to sea?”

“Nope!”

“You look like some pampered pretty boy living off women!”

Fatty burst out laughing.

“Mm… honestly, kept man pretty good. Very fragrant too.”

(End of Chapter)