Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 125 Water Chestnut

"I can't see clearly," Xu Xiaoyan put down the children's binoculars, shaking her head helplessly, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the lens barrel. "The binoculars' magnification is too low; I can only see a rough outline. But," she changed the subject, looking again at the body of water shimmering like broken glass in the twilight, "the plants around that body of water seem particularly lush, a large expanse of green, clearly different from the vegetation on the nearby hillside. Usually, near water sources, especially relatively stable ponds like this, there are often some edible aquatic or moisture-loving plants. Maybe... we'll find something unexpected."

Upon hearing this, Xie Yingtang said, "Then let's go take a look. Stay alert and watch your step." His gaze swept over the downhill path leading to the pond.

The three quickly adjusted their direction and, following a relatively gentle ridgeline, carefully chose a downhill path that appeared to have less vegetation, more exposed rocks, and was relatively easy to walk on, rapidly approaching the pond.

Upon closer inspection, what they noticed first was not the direct shoreline of the pond, but rather the vast expanse of land surrounding the pond that was almost completely swallowed and buried by weeds that were waist-high or even chest-deep, a mixture of withered yellow and dark green.

The upright grass stalks are densely packed, but if you look closely, you can vaguely see the traces of the neat and solid field ridges that were once carefully constructed.

"It seems that there used to be people living and farming around here. This must be the land they cleared," Xie Yingtang said in a low voice as his gaze swept over the outlines of the field ridges hidden under the weeds.

Xu Xiaoyan's attention was completely drawn to the lush, verdant plants growing along the edge of the pond. These were long, straight green-leaved plants, like unsheathed swords, growing in clumps and clusters in the shallow water or damp mud. On a whim, she quickly walked to the water's edge, carefully avoiding the potentially sharp edges of the leaves, and crouched down to examine these distinctive plants closely.

After observing for a moment, she reached out and selected the one that was closest to her and looked the thickest and healthiest. She grasped its root near the bottom of the silt, feeling its tough texture, and then, with a sudden burst of strength from her waist and arms, she snapped it diagonally upwards!

"Snap!" A crisp and clear sound was particularly distinct by the quiet pond. She deftly peeled away the outermost few tough, vertically textured green leaf sheaths, revealing a white, jade-like, tender and plump fleshy stem inside!

She carefully pulled the pure white stem section out of the remaining leaf sheath, held it up to her eyes, and examined it closely in the last bit of daylight. The stem section was pure white, cool and slippery to the touch, and exuded a fresh scent unique to aquatic plants.

An uncontrollable smile of surprise and confirmation spread across her face, her voice trembling with excitement, "It's water bamboo! It really is water bamboo! What a wonderful thing!" She showed the water bamboo in her hand to her companion.

"Water bamboo?" Wang Xiao, who had been cautiously observing his surroundings, curiously approached upon hearing this, bending down to stare at the white, glistening thing in Xu Xiaoyan's hand. His face showed a mixture of unfamiliarity and confusion. "This is water bamboo? So this is what it looks like when it grows in the ground?" He had only ever seen cleaned and sliced ​​water bamboo in supermarkets or farmers' markets in the city before. This was the first time he had ever seen it growing in its original form in the mud and water, and he found it quite novel.

Xie Yingtang also stepped over. He took the section of water bamboo from Xu Xiaoyan's hand, weighed it in his palm, feeling its weight and moisture. He then looked up and glanced at the large patch of thriving water bamboo that covered almost half of the pond's edge. A rare, visible hint of joy flashed across his usually calm and composed face.

"That's right, it's water bamboo." He nodded confidently. "Judging from how well this patch of water bamboo is growing, the plants are dense and the stems are thick. We should be able to harvest quite a lot."

"Let's hurry up and pick them before it gets completely dark!" After Xie Yingtang finished speaking, the three of them immediately got to work. They quickly took off their shoes, which were already covered in mud, rolled up their trousers to above their knees, and then skillfully waded into the ankle-deep shallow water and slippery mud, starting to move through the dense water chestnut bushes.

They tried to pick the tallest plants with the darkest green leaves, the most plump and thick stems, and the ones that felt firm when pinched. The only sounds on the quiet pond were the crisp snapping sounds of the plants breaking, the three of them breathing lightly, and the splashing of water as they moved.

Xu Xiaoyan was engrossed in picking fruit when, not far behind her, Wang Xiao uttered a sound of obvious confusion and curiosity: "Huh?"

She subconsciously turned her head to look, only to see that Wang Xiao was not picking water chestnuts as obediently as she and Xie Yingtang, but had squatted down in an area near the center of the pond, where the water surface was covered with a thick layer of green duckweed.

He was holding a handful of wet, tangled duckweed, which he had just scooped up from the water.

But unlike ordinary duckweed, beneath its tangled, whisker-like roots hang several small, exquisite, oddly shaped objects with tiny spikes along their edges, resembling miniature green ingots!

The moment Xu Xiaoyan saw that unique shape, her eyes lit up, her pupils dilated slightly, and she almost blurted out, her voice rising a few decibels with excitement, "Water chestnut! It's a water chestnut!" She recognized the aquatic fruit that she often saw in the ponds of the countryside during her childhood at a glance.

Wang Xiao was startled by her suddenly raised voice and confident tone, and almost threw what he was holding back into the water.

He held up the string of small, green "ingots" that were still dripping water, brought them close to his eyes, and asked with a puzzled and disgusted look, "Water chestnuts? This thing? It looks weird, and the edges are prickly. Can...can this thing really be eaten?" He had obviously never seen or even heard of water chestnuts before, and was highly skeptical about whether this unassuming, even somewhat "fierce" aquatic fruit was edible.

"You can eat it! Of course you can eat it!" Xu Xiao said with absolute certainty, with the enthusiasm of sharing common knowledge. She quickly waded through the water to Wang Xiao's side, carefully took the string of water chestnuts from his hand, and examined them carefully in her palm. "Not only can you eat them raw, but they taste sweet and crisp. After cooking, they become powdery and soft, with a texture a bit like chestnuts. They taste great too!" She tried to arouse his interest with the most intuitive description.

She looked at Wang Xiao and Xie Yingtang, who also turned to look at her with questioning eyes, and explained, "There are many wild water chestnuts in the small ponds back in my hometown. I've even gone into the water to pick them. It's normal that you've never seen them before, since you've lived in the city all your lives." She pointed to the green, multi-faceted fruit in her palm and continued, "Look, it's almost the end of the water chestnut growing season now. These are still green, with tender edges, and they're not fully mature yet. They're usually still firmly attached to the stems in the water. When water chestnuts are truly mature, their color gradually darkens, turning purplish-black or dark brown, and their shells become harder. They'll also detach from the stems on their own and fall into the mud at the bottom of the water to 'sleep'."

As she spoke, her gaze returned to the pond surface, which was mostly covered by water chestnut leaves and duckweed. "If we're lucky enough, we can reach into the mud at the bottom and maybe find some water chestnuts that have already ripened and fallen off, but haven't had time to rot or been washed away! Those fully ripe water chestnuts are the real good stuff; they're more powdery and starchy, and they keep longer!" Her words were full of encouragement.

After listening to her detailed explanation and seeing the genuine excitement and confidence on her face, Wang Xiao and Xie Yingtang's initial doubts gradually dissipated, and they both showed interest and a willingness to give it a try. Since they were already in the pond, they could pick water chestnuts and also touch these so-called "water caltrops" without much extra effort.

Wang Xiao is always a man of action. He was the first to roll up his sleeves and plunge his entire arm into the cool pool water. He avoided the tangled roots of the water chestnut plants on the surface, spread his fingers, and reached directly into the soft and deep silt at the bottom.

The mud at the bottom of the pool was soft, slippery, and sticky, with a peculiar adsorption sensation. His fingers moved slowly in the mud, exploring and carefully distinguishing the texture. After a few moments of searching, his fingertips suddenly touched something hard, with slightly prickly edges and a regular shape, which contrasted sharply with the soft mud around him.

"Hey! I found one!" he exclaimed excitedly, his voice echoing across the quiet pond. He carefully gripped the edge of the hard object with his fingertips to prevent it from slipping, then slowly and forcefully dug it out of the mud. He pulled his hand out of the water, stirring up a cloud of murky water, and quickly rinsed his palm in the pond water. He then opened his hand—a diamond-shaped fruit, slightly larger than the green water chestnut he had just touched, a deeper, almost blackish-brown color, and with a regular shape, lay quietly in his palm. Its shell was hard, and it felt substantial in his hand.

"I'll give it a try too," Xie Yingtang said. Seeing this, he squatted down and followed suit, reaching his arm into the mud. Relying on his sense of touch and patience, he carefully explored the mud and soon found two dark water chestnuts of similar size with hard shells.

"Looks like there are some real treasures hidden at the bottom of this pond!" she said cheerfully. "Let's hurry while there's still moonlight! When we get back tonight, we can have a better meal! We can stir-fry these fresh water chestnuts, make a soup with water caltrops, or just steam them. It'll be much more delicious than eating those tooth-breaking flatbreads every day!" She couldn't help but start dreaming.

To improve efficiency, the three of them divided the work simply: Xu Xiaoyan continued to be responsible for harvesting water chestnuts on the shore; Wang Xiao was responsible for searching for water caltrops in the mud; and Xie Yingtang used his height and long arms to pick the water caltrops that were still hanging on the plant stems but whose color had turned a little darker.

Amidst this tense yet orderly busyness, Wang Xiao felt his fingertips touch something completely different from the hard shell of the water chestnut—it was slippery, icy cold, and the moment he touched it, it twisted violently, bursting out with a powerful surging force, trying to slip away between his fingers!

Wang Xiao was startled. Almost instinctively, he clenched his fists together, his fingers tightening, forming a cage in the water! A brief, intense struggle came from his palms, splashing water everywhere.

He suddenly pulled his hands out of the mud! In his tightly clenched hands, a palm-sized fish, its scales reflecting a faint silver light in the twilight, was still desperately thrashing its tail and twisting its body in an attempt to escape, exposed to the air!

"Hey! There's a fish! I caught a fish!" Wang Xiao was both surprised and delighted. His voice was trembling with excitement, and his face beamed with joy. Although the fish was not big, at a time when he had almost forgotten what fish tasted like, this was like a delicacy that had fallen from the sky!

Upon hearing the sound, Xu Xiaoyan and Xie Yingtang immediately put down their work and quickly gathered around. Xu Xiaoyan's eyes lit up when they saw the small fish in Wang Xiao's hand, which was still making its last futile struggle and its tail was constantly slapping against his wrist.

She looked up and carefully examined the pond in front of her. Most of the surface was covered by water chestnut leaves and duckweed, making it impossible to see the underwater conditions. However, judging from the depth Wang Xiao had just explored and the depth of the spot where she was standing at the edge of the pond, the water was not too deep overall, probably only reaching the upper thigh of an adult at most.

A bolder, more efficient idea quickly took shape and became clear in her mind.

"Look, this pond doesn't seem very deep overall," Xu Xiaoyan pointed to the water surface covered with plants in front of her. "And there are water chestnuts and water bamboo, so the underwater ecosystem should be good. Since Wang Xiao was able to catch one, it means there must be other fish and shrimp in there. However, catching them one by one by hand is too inefficient, and the fish are agile in the water and hard to catch."

She paused, her gaze shifting to the lower-lying, abandoned field beside the pond, and suggested, "How about... we try to make an opening in the pond, dig a shallow ditch, and slowly drain the water from the pond into that low-lying field? Once the water has mostly drained, the water level will drop, even exposing some of the silt at the bottom of the pond. Then, the fish, loaches, and eels hiding in the muddy water will all be exposed, and we can catch them all!"

Her tone was filled with eager excitement: "Think about it, we've been like this for so many days, and apart from the sausages we got in exchange, we've hardly eaten any meat. We're completely starved. If we could get a few fish, even if they're not big, we could make a fish soup. The taste would be amazing..."

This bold suggestion made Wang Xiao's eyes light up instantly, but amidst his excitement, he still retained a sliver of rationality. He scratched his wind-blown hair and asked with some uncertainty and concern, "Open a canal and release water? Drain the water into the fields? Xiao Yan, this... this sounds like a lot of work. Do you have any experience? Let's not work hard for a long time, only to end up with a mess instead of a properly opened canal and no water released." After all, he lacked practical experience in this area and was somewhat unsure of himself.