"You don't know how lucky you are. Your aunt is only doing this for your own good."

Jiang Damin covered his ears: "Even you want to lecture me? I won't listen, I won't listen."

Er Ya wanted to slap this little brat to death. What's with the cute act?

Ignoring him, I walked quietly along the road. The villages here are all similarly laid out, with groups of two or three people gathered together, chatting and laughing occasionally.

After walking for a short while, we arrived at the riverbank. There wasn't much water in the river, but it was covered with a lot of green algae, like greasy, long, narrow, dark green ribbons that emitted a slightly fishy, ​​damp smell.

Er Ya looked excitedly towards the riverbank, where there were countless snails: "Wow, there are so many snails! We can eat our fill now!"

Jiang Damin said dismissively, "Who would normally eat this stuff? There's just too much of it. If you like it, I'll scoop out a whole bucket for you to take home when you leave."

Er Ya rolled up her sleeves and said excitedly, "Let's start then, and see who can catch the most."

People often say, "Snails during Qingming Festival are better than geese." That snails during Qingming Festival can indeed outperform geese!

Snails are very cute, but they are also very timid.

Some of them are big, and some are small. The big ones are as big as a thumb, and the small ones are only half the size of a little finger.

They all wore a bluish-gray coat. Their bodies were cone-shaped, like a miniature torch or a miniature pagoda;

Their bodies are covered with rings of brown spirals, resembling bricks; their shells are exceptionally hard, like armor, generally impervious to swords and spears.

Snails also have two tentacles on their heads, which they use to sense danger in the outside world and protect themselves!

When it is quiet, it will stick its head out of its shell.

The meat of the snail is yellowish-brown and has patterns on it.

When it extends its black antennae, it's as if it's greeting us.

It's very timid! Because it will retract its head into its shell at the slightest noise, we think it's very timid.

Er Ya didn't care whether it was afraid or not, since it would all end up in her stomach anyway. She used both hands to catch snails and throw them into the bucket. In no time, she had caught almost half a bucketful.

Don't let their timid appearance fool you; they're masters of disguise. If you hold them in your hand for too long, a layer of mud will cake onto their shells, making them unrecognizable as snails unless you look closely. All you'll see are the little bumps.

"Cousin, hurry up and do it! Look how many I have already!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Damin exerted all his strength and moved even faster. He couldn't let himself be defeated by a child who was only a few years old.

A passerby saw this and asked them curiously, "Damin, why are you scooping up so many of these round lids? Even a chicken can't eat that many."

"Auntie, my sister and I are just playing around, we're keeping the baby company."

The man smiled and went to work.

Er Ya gave him a thumbs up: "Great job, you're pretty clever."

"That's right. Don't you know who I am? I can't just go around telling the whole world that this thing is edible. I don't even know whether I should believe you or not. Is this thing edible or not?"

Er Ya patted her chest and said, "Don't worry, I guarantee you'll want to come back for more after you've tried it once."

The two laughed and joked, scooping away with their hands. Soon the two buckets were full, and they couldn't hold any more.

Jiang Damin looked at the bucket: "Er Ya, let's go. I still have to go to school. This is enough to eat, right?"

Er Ya looked down at the bottom of the river, which was still completely dark. Although they had already scooped out two buckets, the amount of water had not decreased at all.

Thinking about leaving made her a little reluctant, but she couldn't keep up the act any longer, so she could only reluctantly go home with Jiang Damin.

Why are there no snails in the stream near my home?

Or were they all picked clean by the children?

It has to be said that Er Ya was absolutely right. There were originally many in their area, but with so many children, everyone took some, so there weren't many left.

Moreover, this thing is uncomfortable to walk on, and sometimes it gets in the way when fishing, so people will scoop it out with a net and throw it on the riverbank, so Er Ya has hardly ever seen it.

Although Jiang Damin seems unreliable, he's incredibly strong. Look at him carrying this bucket of snails, walking leisurely without changing his expression, occasionally turning his head to urge Er Ya to hurry up. Why is he moving as slowly as a tortoise?

Er Ya looked at Jiang Damin, who kept urging her forward, and muttered as she walked with her small bucket: "You don't know how to care about girls at all. If you keep acting like this, you'll have a hard time finding a wife when you grow up."

"What is a wife? Why would I need one? I hate girls the most. They're always saying they can't do this or that. They're not as carefree as us boys. I don't want a wife."

Er Ya stared at him speechlessly: "You're saying all this now, but you'll regret it when you grow up."

"I want to get married, and I want a man who can play with me. That would be great."

“You, you…”

"Alright, hurry up, or I'll be late. If I don't wait for you and go home by myself, my mom will definitely start nagging me again."

By the time Er Ya arrived at her maternal grandmother's house, she was exhausted. She never wanted to go out with Jiang Damin again; he was more nagging than a woman, constantly urging her on.

She called out weakly, "Mom, please get me some water, I'm exhausted."

.

She was mainly exhausted; she never wanted to chat with those immature teenagers again.

Jiang's mother hugged Er Ya with heartache: "You just went to the riverbank, how did you get like this? Come inside and rest."

Wang Meili slapped Jiang Damin: "Did you bully your sister? What did I tell you when I left? Are you a pig-brain?"

"Why are you blaming me again? She was greedy and kept catching snails until she was too tired to walk. What does it have to do with me? Besides, I would have come back long ago if I hadn't been waiting for her."

When Wang Meili saw that he was still arguing, she slapped him again: "You still won't admit that you're a pig brain? Why didn't you come back and call for help? Er Ya is so young, and you let her carry such heavy things."

Jiang Damin muttered, "It's all my fault. I forgot she's still young. She carried it so easily."

"Alright, hurry up and go to school. Come back early after school, and stop running around playing around."

Carrying the schoolbag that Wang Meili made for him, he and Jiang Ermin jogged to school.

After resting for a while, Er Ya recovered and changed the water in the bucket of snails. Looking at so many snails, she smiled and said:

"I need to eat more snails today to make up for all the energy I had to scoop them up."

To be continued!