Er Ya followed Jiang Ermin excitedly to the riverbank. There were enough snails at home to eat, so she planned to look for something else. She thought she had seen something fleeting before, but she wasn't sure if it was real, which was why she was so eager to come and take another look.
Squatting down, it carefully searched in the murky river water.
Seeing Er Ya searching so diligently, Er Min asked curiously, "What are you looking for? Aren't you going to collect snails anymore?"
After searching for a while without finding anything, Er Ya asked Jiang Ermin, "Have you seen anything like this in here? It has a pair of long pincers that pinch people and hurt a lot. It's red."
It turned out that she had been searching for crayfish all day. Both snails and crayfish like to hide in the mud. Er Ya thought to herself, if she could find so many snails here, could she also find crayfish?
After listening to Er Ya's description, Er Min had a better idea of what was going on. He stared at the muddy water for a while, then picked up something and asked Er Ya, "Is this the mantis shrimp?"
"Be careful, it pinches and hurts a lot."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Jiang Ermin cried out in pain, "Ah~ it hurts so much, Er Ya, come here and take it away!"
Er Ya waded through the water, pinched its back, and with a little force, removed the crayfish. Two deep, bloody holes were visible on Er Min's hand.
Crayfish (scientific name: procambarus clarkii) is an aquatic animal belonging to the class Crustacea, order Decapoda, and family Ceratopsidae.
Also known as red swamp crayfish, red swamp crayfish, and freshwater crayfish.
It resembles a shrimp but has a hard shell. Adults are about 5.6-11.9 cm long, dark red, with the shell part being almost black, and a wedge-shaped stripe on the dorsal side of the abdomen.
Juvenile shrimp are uniformly gray, sometimes with black wavy stripes, with narrow and long claws. The middle of the carapace is not separated by mesh-like gaps, and there are obvious granules on the carapace. The rostrum has lateral spines or notches at the tip.
"Er Ya, is this what you're looking for? This thing is fierce, hard to catch, and doesn't taste good either."
Er Ya happily carried the crayfish: "This is it! How can it not taste good? It's because you guys don't know how to cook it. Second cousin, do you know how to find it?"
Ermin pinched his nose and said embarrassedly, "I rarely touch these things. I just happened to see it and thought that someone had been caught in it before, so I dared to grab it. My brother should know about these things."
"Really? My cousin knows this too? He really knows a lot!"
Ermin nodded: "It's true. Actually, apart from not being good at studying, my brother is quite clever in other areas. Last time I saw him catch half a bucket of these and exchange them for two steamed buns."
That's incredibly naive. Crayfish are quite expensive these days, and he only traded them for two steamed buns. I'm truly amazed by my cousin's innocence.
Catching only one is not enough for Er Ya. It seems that asking Jiang Ermin won't get any answers. They've been here for a while now. I wonder if Jiang Damin has finished grading the homework yet?
Thinking of this, Er Ya put the bucket in her hand on the riverbank and said to Jiang Ermin, "Second cousin, I'm going home for a bit, I'll be back in a little while, you can fish here for now."
"There's nothing to gain, so let's go back together."
"Your brother wants to eat fish, right? Let's catch a big fish and take it home. That way, your brother will eat fish and won't argue with your aunt."
Jiang Ermin pointed to the water where the bottom of the river could be seen at a glance and said, "Where can you find big fish in this place? Even small fish are hard to catch."
He had just seen several fish that were about the size of his palm, but he couldn't catch them no matter what he tried, which made him extremely angry.
Er Ya smiled mysteriously: "Why aren't there any big fish? I think there are."
"You're kidding, there's no way... Wow~." Her mouth was so wide open it could fit an egg.
Suddenly, a carp weighing about ten pounds leaped out of the river. It seemed to have been startled by something, as it jumped onto the riverbank and kept thrashing about, trying to get back into the water.
"Hahaha, isn't this the fish? Little fish, don't resist, just obediently offer yourself to my stomach."
I'm not sure if this one piece will be enough, since there are many people in my family.
Just as this thought crossed her mind, another carp, even bigger than the first one, jumped out and plunged headfirst into the bucket next to Er Ya, looking quite fresh.
He doesn't look sick at all, so why would he be so stupid as to jump into her bucket?
Seeing that Er Ya was not paying attention to him, Jiang Ermin silently shut his mouth.
He jogged across the river and rushed over. Seeing the fish in the bucket still jumping around and about to tip over, he quickly grabbed something to hold it down, lifted the bucket, and picked up the other fish that was still hopping on the bank to share with its companion.
He urged Er Ya to hurry back: "Let's go quickly. The book says that fish can sense the weather. When they sense that it's about to rain, the water will feel stuffy, and they will jump onto the shore uncontrollably to try to breathe air. Look, these two fish are doing the same thing, which means it's going to rain heavily soon. We have to hurry home."
Well... if that's what he thinks, then there's nothing I can do. I'll just let him believe his deduction.
Er Ya pretended to be anxious and said, "Then let's hurry up and go. I don't want the rain to get my new clothes wet."
"Okay, I'll carry the stuff. Just watch the road and stay close to me."
When they got home, the sun was still high in the sky, and there was no sign of rain.
Jiang Ermin fell into self-doubt. Could it be that he remembered it wrong? No, his memory has always been excellent, and he never remembers things wrong. So what happened?
Er Ya didn't care about him at all. She ran into the yard and started shouting, "Mom, Grandma, Aunt, look! We caught some fish!"
What? A fish? Jiang Damin, who had been waiting in the house rather than writing, dashed out like an arrow: "Let me see how big the fish is, I hope it's not as thick as my little finger."
He had already gone out to use the restroom twice and drink water three times after pleading with her. Now, seeing that Wang Meili was getting impatient again, he stayed inside and didn't come out again.
But upon hearing that there was fish, he couldn't hold back any longer. Seeing Wang Meili's eyes glaring at him like daggers, he quickly raised his hand and said, "Mom, I'll just take a look, I'll go back and write right away."
The family came out and were amazed to see the huge fish in the bucket; they hadn't seen such a big fish in years.
“Our Er Ya is so capable! She caught such a big fish after just one trip. Tonight, your aunt will reward you with a couple more pieces of fish.”
To be continued!
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