Transmigrated as My Aunt in the 70s

Chapter 652: Chapter 645: Training Courage

On a weekend in late April, we planned to have dinner at the Shangguan family home tonight. Yang Shu is the head chef. Under the influence of Shangguan and the two children, Yang Shu has long evolved from a kitchen novice into a master chef. He can handle all kinds of dishes, from mountain delicacies to creatures from land and sky, steaming, boiling, frying, and grilling—all are no problem for him.

Sisi brought along some of the family’s little ones—little leopard, Du Du, Mao Dou, Bian Dou, Ya Ya, and En’en—and drove to the Shangguan house in grand procession.

Zhang Jie had already arrived with her son Haiyang, Yang Shu was busy in the kitchen, Shangguan was hosting the guests in the living room, while the little ones gathered and played together.

Shangguan’s second child really was a son. This time, the name Shangguan chose was reliable—Yang Liu. His nickname, however, was chosen by Yang Shu, calling him Xiao Shu, meaning he’s a little tree for now, but when he grows into a big tree, he will protect the family’s two flowers like his dad.

Sisi sneered: The two flowers in your family are both Lady Enforcers; do they still need protection?

Yang Xiaoshu is a living replica of Yang Dashu. He’s a very quiet child, and quite timid; he must sleep between his parents at night, or else he cries. This infuriates Yang Shu.

But according to Mrs. Yang, Yang Shu had the same temperament as a child, and Xiao Shu is a spitting image of his father.

Thus, Yang Shu could only swallow his complaints, wondering why his genes were so strong, causing his son to inherit his cowardice!

If only his son could be like Feifei when she was little!

Feifei dared to catch snakes with her bare hands when she was just three years old!

Yang Shu imagined his son valiantly clutching a writhing long snake and chuckled to himself like an idiot!

The reality, however, is that Mr. Xiao Shu fears all legless creatures, and Yang Dashu is actually the same—even now he doesn’t much enjoy slippery slimy animals like snakes. Feifei handles the snake preparations whenever they make snake soup at home.

One of the key dishes tonight is snake soup, which Sisi brought. The snakes in her Space have multiplied to the extent they could form a braid, so these past few years she often takes some out for relatives and friends to consume, pretending they come from a rural breeding farm.

Tonight, Sisi brought two Black Mountain Snakes weighing four to five pounds each. Sisi still feels uneasy about these legless creatures, and usually sprays them with tranquilizers in her Space, picks them out with a stick, and tosses them into a burlap sack.

She can accept them only when they’re inside the burlap sack.

Shangguan’s eyes lit up when she saw the burlap sack in Du Du’s hands and swiftly grabbed her son Xiao Shu and went outside.

"Xiao Shu, let’s go kill some snakes with mommy."

Xiao Shu, who was initially cheerful, suddenly drooped his head, looking utterly hopeless.

Sisi found this amusing. Shangguan was quite frustrated that her son did not inherit any of her bravery, so after fiercely pounding the instigator, Mr. Yang, on the bed, she commenced her reform campaign.

Every day she trains Xiao Shu to exhaustion, in fiery and watery torment!

Under Shangguan’s seal training, though Xiao Shu wasn’t as fierce as his sister Huahua, he became much stronger than the average boy.

But his innate fear of snakes could never be reformed, despite having killed countless snakes, the fear persisted.

Du Du opened the burlap sack and let it fall into the front yard, and the two groggy snakes wobbled out; the other children exclaimed and giggled, Ya Ya, the mischievous one, even grabbed one snake by its tail trying to swing it in the air like Aunt Feifei, but her height was simply too short—the snake was two to three times longer than her.

In the end, that poor snake could only be dragged around on the ground by Ya Ya!

"Xiao Shu, go catch the other snake like your sister Ya Ya did."

As soon as Shangguan finished speaking, Xiao Shu shivered a little, pitifully widened his eyes and looked at his father. Yang Shu genuinely sympathized with his son, but his wife was the one in charge.

So Yang Dashu resolutely closed his eyes, marched towards the kitchen, leaving the heartbroken and disappointed Xiao Shu behind.

Without relying on his father, Xiao Shu could only turn to Sisi and Zhang Jie, his eyes, like a little deer’s, welled up with crystalline tears, looking so pitiful.

Sisi couldn’t stand it any longer. Forcing someone who naturally fears snakes to catch them was far too cruel!

"Feifei, you’ve overdone it. Xiao Shu is still young, he’ll dare catch snakes once he grows up. You might scare him badly like this," Sisi pleaded.

Xiao Shu nodded repeatedly, tearfully saying, "Mommy, if Xiao Shu gets scared, he’ll become a dead tree, and won’t be able to protect mommy and sister anymore."

The corner of Sisi’s mouth twitched, trying hard not to laugh—his mom and sister are much tougher than him!

"Mommy, I’ll catch it for brother, and I will protect him in the future," Huahua couldn’t bear to see her brother’s distress and volunteered.

Shangguan sighed in frustration; She was able to catch snakes at three, dogs at four, ride horses at five, shoot a gun at six, and had taken a life by fifteen, so why was her son such a coward?

It was all due to Yang Shu’s bad genes!

Shangguan cast a resentful glance at the kitchen, and the cold shiver down Yang Shu’s back made him ramp up his chopping speed; his wife was hungry, and he’d better hurry up.

"Xiao Shu, if you don’t even dare catch a snake, how can you protect your mommy and sister in the future?" Shangguan’s voice softened as she tenderly coaxed her son.

Though Xiao Shu is timid, his desire to protect his mommy and sister is strong. After thinking it over, he resolutely took small steps towards the other snake.

Closing his eyes, Xiao Shu gritted his teeth, grabbed the snake’s icy tail, and tried to ignore its cold, slimy touch. With newfound courage, he swung the long snake up.

At three years old, Xiao Shu was already 1.2 meters tall, so he swung the nearly 2-meter-long snake effortlessly, making it swish loudly.

"Xiao Shu is awesome, so amazing!" Everyone applauded and cheered for Xiao Shu.

Xiao Shu’s vanity exploded; his cheeks turned rosy red, and the snake in his hand didn’t seem so terrifying anymore.

Today Xiao Shu exceeded expectations. Not only did he swing the snake to dizziness, but under Shangguan’s guidance, he used a dagger to decapitate one snake, skinned it, and gutted it, making his little hands all bloody.

Sisi really couldn’t bear to watch anymore and decided to go sit in the living room and watch TV; Shangguan’s bloody education was not something she could handle. It’s a relief that Mr. Yun and Luo Datou educated her children well, saving her much effort.

The two processed snakes were taken by Yang Shu to stew, their stripped snake gallbladders were used to soak wine, and Shangguan took the snake skins for herself, claiming that she’d use them to make leather handbags in Yang Shu’s factory.

After the establishment of a leather factory based on a clothing factory, Yang Shu’s business thrived and expanded greatly.

The snake skins collected over the years have mostly been made into various leather bags by Yang Shu. Shangguan and Zhang Jie each have several, but Sisi doesn’t care for them—in her mind, knowing the leather was stripped from snakes makes her skin crawl.