Yang Zhi took a small wooden stick, about the size of a finger, with his other hand and held it to the mouth of the wriggling dragonfly. The dragonfly immediately bit the stick tightly and wouldn't let go.
When it opened its mouth, everyone watching could clearly see the two rows of sharp, white teeth inside the Moon-Gazing Clam's mouth, which was quite terrifying.
Zhou Xuan also saw it, but it was no different from an ordinary crab, with teeth. However, since the Moon Gazing Crab was described as so terrifying, he naturally became somewhat wary.
Yang Zhi then tightly secured the Moon-Gazing Toad, tail and all, to the wooden board with thin iron wire. No matter how much the toad twisted and turned, it couldn't break free. Next, he took a knife with an extremely thin and sharp blade and, pressing his fingers against the toad's back, gently inserted the tip of the knife an inch below its head and neck, then continued to slice along the bone. This action and technique were the same as Zhou Xuan's dissection of the Yellow Cicada.
However, Yang Zhi's incision site was somewhat different; the entry point was one inch below the neck of the Moon-Gazing Scorpion. Zhou Xuan, on the other hand, made the incision directly at the neck of the Yellow Toad.
Then Yang Zhi made another cut from the right side, removing the long, intact clam bone. At this point, the moon-gazing crab was only still moving its tail; its head was no longer moving.
Yang Zhi said, "After the city fish is cut open, its head is already dead, but there is a nerve in its body that is still connected to its tail, so the tail can still move for about ten minutes after it dies. There is a saying that a crab dies but its tail doesn't."
At this point, Yang Zhi carefully turned the fish over again, and then meticulously and slowly pulled up one of the internal organs from the Moon Gazing Cicada's body down to its neck, his movements becoming even more cautious. He then gently cut open the neck area with a knife. At one end of the internal organ was a tiny, round egg, less than half a centimeter in diameter. After carefully removing this small, white egg, Yang Zhi threw the internal organ and the white egg together into a trash bag.
Then, smiling, he said to Zhou Xuan and Wei Haihong, "The deadly poison of Wangyue City is actually inside this small white round egg. It looks somewhat like the gallbladder of a snake, but snake gallbladders are non-toxic, while the gallbladder of this Wangyue crab is highly poisonous. However, as long as you are careful not to break the gallbladder and prevent the venom from leaking out, the Wangyue crab is actually a more delicious dish than ordinary clam."
Li Wei suddenly realized and said, "Oh, I understand. The Moon Gazing Dragonfly's poison is only in this egg. If we remove the egg, then the Moon Gazing Dragonfly will be non-poisonous!"
"That's what they say, but you have to be extra careful," Yang Zhi said with a smile and a shake of his head. "In ancient times, people didn't know about Wangyue City, so when they caught one, they treated it like an ordinary fish and cut it open. They easily broke the gall bladder, which contains deadly poison. As a result, the poison would mix all over the toadfish, and if people or animals ate it, they would be poisoned and die!" So that's how it is!
Zhou Xuan finally understood the reason. But then he thought, how could people in the countryside know about the Moon-Gazing Ant?
Yang Zhi seemed to understand what he was thinking. He smiled and said, "Actually, you don't need to worry about the Moon-Gazing Crab. This thing is extremely rare, and it's not like you imagine, where you can catch it in any paddy field. It lives in remote swamps or rotting mud, and it likes to eat carrion, especially the corpses of poisonous snakes and insects. It absorbs the venom from the snakes and insects into its gallbladder!"
Yang Zhi paused here, then continued, "Moon-gazing insects are very hard to find. I believe they're wild. It would be difficult to find even a hundred now, and even if we did, they wouldn't be in ordinary places. I suspect that historical events, like floods or flash floods, washed the Moon-gazing insects out of remote areas."
"Well..." Li Wei scratched his head. He then asked, "Uncle Yang, this Wangyue City is so difficult to deal with, how can you guarantee that the person who buys it won't ruin their life?"
Yang Zhi chuckled and said, "So all my goods are cut open by myself and then delivered as finished products. Anyway, the quantity can't be too large, so I can manage it, hehe. But if you want more, that's impossible. I've been doing this for ten years and I've only managed to raise a little over three hundred."
"Can't they be bred artificially?" Zhou Xuan had seen a lot of this. In the current artificial breeding farms, the quantity of crabs is huge. Otherwise, the quantity caught from wild fish alone would not be enough to meet the large demand of restaurants and hotels.
Yang Zhi shook his head, and while continuing to dissect the Moon Gazing Dragonfly, he said, "The Moon Gazing Dragonfly is far more difficult to raise than ordinary crabs. It is extremely difficult to raise it when it is young, and it only reproduces one juvenile a year. Moreover, it produces small clams, not eggs or larvae, so it is even more difficult to raise a fully grown Moon Gazing Dragonfly."
"Uncle Yang, these moon scorpions you raise are eight thousand yuan a pound?" Li Wei stared at the moon scorpions in the basin, somewhat astonished. This one probably weighed less than a pound. Eight thousand yuan for just one? That's more expensive than the pangolins they'd eaten!
"These moon cicadas we're catching now weigh about 1.1 jin each, with the larger ones weighing about 1.2 jin. I sell them to hotels for about 9,000 yuan each, and the larger ones for 10,000 yuan each. And that's based on the amount I deliver after cutting them open. After cutting them open, the smaller ones weigh about 1.5 jin each, which is about 7 liang!"
Zhou Xuan couldn't help but wonder if Yang Zhi was just a simple dragonfly breeder. The eleven moon-gazing ants he caught for them today were worth over 100,000 yuan. If they were taken to a hotel, they would at least double in price. And don't forget, this was just the price Yang Zhi offered them.
After gutting the crabs, Yao Lin went to the kitchen to cook. Yang Zhi stayed in the hall with everyone; the fire was burning brightly, and the doors and windows were closed tightly, so the room wasn't cold at all.
Only then did the old man formally introduce Zhou Xuan to Yang Zhi: "Yang Zhi, this is a close friend of mine and Old Li's, despite our age difference. This little girl is Zhou Xuan's fiancée, named Fu Ying. Just like you, Zhou Xuan also saved our lives!"
Then the old man continued, "Young Zhou, Yang Zhi used to be my bodyguard. Fifteen years ago, while protecting me, he was shot in his left hand and is now somewhat disabled. He's technically a decorated soldier. But he's too proud by nature. Feeling he couldn't fully commit to his work, he was determined to retire. I couldn't persuade him to stay. After retiring, he stayed home raising fish, and he's living a pretty comfortable life, so I'm at ease!"
Yang Zhi immediately shook hands with Zhou Xuan and said, "Little Zhou, hello, hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard the old man mention you before; he's been talking about this for a long time, just waiting for this first snowfall!"
"Brother Yang, it's a pleasure to meet you too!" Zhou Xuan finally understood why they had to wait for the heavy snow. Mainly, the poison of the moon-gazing crab would be at its strongest when the snow came, and the meat would be at its most delicious.
Little Yangyang pouted and said, "Uncle, why are you only happy to know my dad? Don't you want to know me?"
Everyone in the room burst into laughter; Yang Yang's innocence and cuteness were truly endearing.
Zhou Xuan hugged Xiao Yangyang tightly, gave her a big kiss on her rosy cheek, and said, "I'm so happy! I'm so happy to have met Xiao Yangyang!" Then, his eyes darted around, and he added, "Xiao Yangyang, Uncle likes you so much, how about I show you a magic trick?"
"Okay, okay!" Yang Yang clapped her hands and said, "I love listening to stories and watching magic tricks the most. What magic trick is Uncle Zhou going to show me?"
Don't let Yang Yang's age of only four fool you; she's incredibly clever and quick-witted. It's not easy to fool her.
When the topic of magic tricks came up, Li Wei got excited, but he couldn't understand Zhou Xuan's techniques and couldn't find any flaws. Magic, after all, is about techniques, but he just couldn't find any. He was incredibly frustrated, and Zhou Xuan just wouldn't teach him.
Zhou Xuan pinched Yang Yang's cheek and asked with a smile, "Yang Yang, what kind of magic tricks do you like?"
"Hmm," Yang Yang tilted her head and thought for a moment, biting her lip before saying, "I can choose myself, so I'll choose this one." As she spoke, she saw Li Wei lean close to her face and whisper, "Change something, change something."
Yang Yang frowned, and said with a cute expression, "What did you say? I can't hear you!"
Li Wei was immediately embarrassed by her, but of course, his expression was fake; he pretended to pout and get angry.
"Uncle, you should transform yourself. I don't know what to choose!" Yang Yang couldn't think of anything. She felt that Zhou Xuan should transform himself into something, and then she could see if she thought it was a good choice.
Although Zhou Xuan said he would let Yang Yang choose for himself, he was honestly worried that Yang Yang would choose something he couldn't do and embarrass himself in front of the child. But in the end, Yang Yang let him play by himself, and Zhou Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. "What should we play?" Zhou Xuan looked around, looking for any props he could find. He spotted a pebble about the size of an egg on the windowsill, the kind of smooth, round pebble that has been washed by water in a ditch.
With a smile, Zhou Xuan said to Li Wei, "Li Wei, bring that pebble over here."
"
Li Wei stood up, picked up the pebble from the windowsill, and felt its weight in his hand. He tossed it into the air, then held it in his hand and asked, "How do you want to change it? Do you want to make it disappear again?"
Zhou Xuan tested it with ice energy and confirmed it was just an ordinary pebble he'd collected from a ditch. However, he still asked Yang Zhi, "Brother Yang, is this pebble important? Does it have any special significance?"
Yang Zhi paused for a moment, then shook his head and said softly, "It's not important. It's just a stone I picked up randomly for my daughter to play with."
"Hehe, okay, Yang Yang, do you have a pen?" Zhou Xuan asked again.
"Yes!" Yang Yang immediately wriggled off him and ran to a table. She opened her little schoolbag, took out a large box of colored pencils from her pencil case, and then ran over to him, asking, "Uncle, which color pencil do you want?"
Zhou Xuan thought for a moment and then smiled, "Little Yangyang, go over to Brother Li Wei and write a number on this stone with colored pens. Have you learned how to do that?"
Yang Yang jumped up happily and said, "I've learned it! I can write one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. I can also draw kittens and puppies! I can also..."
"You know so much? Great! Little Yangyang, you stay with Brother Li Wei and don't let me see. Secretly write numbers on it and let me guess. I know what Little Yangyang secretly wrote!" Zhou Xuan interrupted Little Yangyang and then told her how to do it.
Li Wei was taken aback. He had seen Zhou Xuan drink and play the disappearing game before, but he had never seen him play the guessing game. Could this be another of his new special skills?
Li Wei was serious, so Yang Zhi naturally assumed Zhou Xuan was just teasing his daughter, Xiao Yangyang. Everyone else was also smiling as they watched him.