Chapter 222

The clan leader remained half-skeptical of my tall tales, but since he had no better ideas and I was stuck in the village anyway, he eventually gave a reluctant nod to my story. Life continued on in this mundane fashion for another ten days or so. Eventually, however, the supply of eels began to dwindle. After twenty days of frenzied trapping, they were becoming increasingly scarce. People from neighboring villages started trekking to even more distant locations. For us, traveling that far was hardly cost-effective, though those with the stamina would make the day-long trip to catch them and haul them to the county town to sell. Most people had shifted to selling their catch, and thanks to the eel dishes I had introduced, the local restaurants were booming. There was no shortage of buyers, and the village’s standard of living gradually improved. Many began to afford meals of plain white rice. My little wife spent her days playing wildly with the other children. Everyone knew she had "married a husband," and some of the kids would ask her, "Have you slept with him yet?"