Zhou Yiding looked at the puddle next to him, walked over and turned over a stone, fumbled his hands in the water for a few times, put his hands together and caught a stone clam, pinched the stone clam to reveal its spotted white belly, and waved his hands at him, "Youngest, I caught a big one."
The stone frog, scientifically known as the two-headed spiny-breasted frog, likes to hide in clear streams in the mountains. It has a big head and round eyes, a brown body, rough skin, and round warts on its back arranged in vertical rows, with small black thorns on the warts.
At first glance, it looks very similar to a toad, but upon closer inspection, there are many differences. The skin of the stone cicada is smoother than that of the toad, and its color is also lighter.
The meat of stone snapper is tender and as plump as chicken. It has always been regarded as a rare game. It also has the effects of clearing heat, improving eyesight and nourishing the body.
Zhou Huaian started searching in the ditch. "It's better to wait until dark to catch this thing. When I shine the flashlight on it, it won't move."
"It's pitch black. Stepping on a rock would scare people to death." Zhou Yiding said as he turned over a stone and quickly grabbed a rock that was trying to escape.
Zhou Huaian also started searching in the ditch and soon caught one in the grass and stuffed it into the basket.
The two continued to walk upwards, and when they came to a pool of water as big as a bathtub, there were already twenty or thirty stones in the basket.
The pool of water may have been formed by alluvial deposits over the years. There are many stones on the edge. Although the water is a bit deep, it is so clear that you can see the bottom of the water if you look carefully. There are thick layers of moss growing on the stones by the water.
The stone was sticky and had a fishy smell. After catching it for a while, Zhou Huaian felt his palms were slippery and uncomfortable. He rubbed the moss on the stone with his feet, stood on it and squatted down to wash the stickiness off his palms in the cold pool of water. Suddenly, he remembered something.
He turned his head and looked at Zhou Yiding with a smile: "Do you still remember that year when you were bathing here, a water snake came out from the cracks in the rocks and bit He Dakuan on the butt?"
Zhou Yiding recalled the situation at that time and laughed, "How could I not remember? The kid was howling in pain. We killed the snake with sticks, roasted it, and gave it a large piece to eat. Only then did he stop crying."
"A few days ago, He Dakuan and his wife came to my house to sell red mushrooms. I suddenly realized that in just over a year, he seemed to have aged a lot."
"He probably knew that I was unhappy with him about the wild boar hunting, so he avoided me as far as he could see."
"It's better to know that I'm sorry and embarrassed to see you than to be shameless." Zhou Huaian suddenly heard a noise behind him and turned his head to look at the puddle below the pool. "Hurry up, Ding Ding cat, there's a big fish down there."
Zhou Yiding hurried over after hearing this, "It's not just one, it's a pair, how shameless! Why don't you hide when someone is watching you? And you're riding on the mother and won't get off! Damn! It looks like it weighs about 8 or 9 kilograms."
"You are shameless!" Zhou Huaian went over to take a closer look and saw that there was indeed a couple in the puddle. He smiled and nagged him, "You know they are in the same room and you are still standing there. Go find a stick quickly."
"Tsk~ I didn't see enough when I was a kid!" Zhou Yiding said, "What should we do? We didn't bring a scoop net, not even a shrimp basket. Such a big pair, they are different from the small ones we caught before, their claws are as sharp as knives, and they are very strong, it hurts a lot if they bite or scratch you."
"Hold the shell from the side with both hands and lift it up, leaving its four legs hanging in the air, stuff it into the basket and cover it..." Zhou Huaian said as he looked at the basket, "The opening is so small, I can't even stuff it in. Forget it, it's not easy for them to grow this big, let's just give them a chance to live."
"If I don't let them go, I can't get them back. Wait until they lay more eggs, and then I can catch them later!"
"You haven't done your preparations well. Bring a landing net with you next time."
Zhou Huaian said as he walked towards a round stone cave under the rock, squatted down to take a look, took out a yellow eel hook with a hook embedded in the wood, reached in and slowly fiddled with it, and soon he could feel the stuff inside.
After a while, a stone was hooked out, then another, and in a short while, several were hooked, and they were all big ones.
He waved the eel hook at Zhou Yiding, "Dingding cat, it's easier to catch them by looking for holes in rocks than by moving rocks."
Zhou Yiding turned his head and took a look, "I forgot to take this thing."
"I came out to catch stone clam. I just took a bamboo basket and a ground trap and came out."
"Bullshit is better than culture. I'll still catch some stone shrimps even if I don't take them. Look, this is another big one." Zhou Yiding said as he caught one and showed it off to him before stuffing it into the basket.
"I caught six in a short time, and any one of them is bigger than yours." Zhou Huaian walked across the pool proudly and headed forward.
There were quite a lot of rocks on the way up. He vaguely remembered seeing olive trees here before. When he got there, the olive trees were still there. There were also some large-leaf mosses growing on the edge of the ditch, and a stone clam hiding in the grass, looking at him vigilantly with its big eyes bulging.
Zhou Huaian didn't pay any attention to it. He walked excitedly towards the golden thread vine growing on the rock in front of him with small white flowers. He carefully picked one and put it to his nose to smell it. The fragrance was strong and very peculiar. It made him feel clear-headed when he smelled it.
"Ding Ding Cat, come here quickly, I found something good."
Zhou Yiding walked over with a smile, "What treasure, Ganoderma lucidum or Coriolus versicolor?"
"The rocks are covered with blooming golden thread lilies. They are all good stuff. Today's trip is worth it." Zhou Huaian handed the flower in his hand to him, "Smell it. The fragrance is a bit strange, but it is as refreshing as applying wind oil!"
Zhou Yiding took it and sniffed it. "Hmm! It's a bit like the fragrance of an orchid I smelled in the mountains, but a little different." Then he said, "I have to take this back. I'll go cut some grass and make a net bag to hold the golden thread vine."
"Dangdangdang!" Zhou Huaian shook his hand towards him proudly, "Fortunately, I had foresight and prepared the net bag a long time ago."
"You are really smart!" Zhou Yiding took one and said, "Go ahead, why are you still standing there?"
Zhou Huaian took a look and felt that the golden thread vine on the rock had been growing for who knows how many years. The roots were tangled and if they were pulled randomly, they would all be short.
After thinking about it, I still reminded him: "You kid straightened them out and pried them one by one. Don't grab them or they will talk nonsense!"
"Stop talking nonsense! This isn't the first time I've picked golden thread lotus. Do you think I'm kidding? Why are you talking nonsense?" Zhou Yiding took out a dagger and shook it at him, "I'm armed!"
"Good boy, work hard and I will buy you some candy tomorrow!"
Zhou Huaian took out a dagger with a smile, holding the dagger in one hand and carefully straightening the stem of a golden thread vine with the other hand. He found the root, inserted the dagger slightly at an angle, cut off the roots, and then pried it out, and a golden thread vine was dug out intact.
"Tsk, I've never seen this before. Are you going to get rid of me with just a few fruit candies? At least it has to be white..." Zhou Yiding looked at the five-step snake hanging on the bush and swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
Zhou Huaian also noticed that something was wrong with him. Just as he was about to turn his head, he heard him shout, "Youngest, don't move!" He quickly threw the dagger in his hand towards the bushes in front of him.
A five-step snake with a diamond-shaped pattern was stuck on a bush, hissing and twisting its body wildly.
Zhou Huaian's hair stood on end, "Brother, your swordsmanship is top-notch!"
Zhou Yiding wiped off his cold sweat and touched his thumping heart. "I'm so scared. I need a pack of Da Chong Jiu to calm myself down. One pack is not enough. I need one pack!"
"Come on, come on!" Zhou Huaian hurriedly took out a cigarette, took out two and lit them together, and put one to his mouth, "Just smoke it for now, there will be Da Chongjiu when we get home, one for one, no discount at all."
Zhou Yiding took a deep puff of smoke and blew a large puff of smoke at the five-step snake on the bush. He then held the cigarette and gave him a cold look, "You are such a stingy person. You make so much money and still smoke during the spring plowing season!"
"Spring plowing is good, spring plowing brings wealth!" Zhou Huaian also took a deep breath, "It's not dead yet, find a stick to beat it to death, just take it back to stew dragon and phoenix soup."
"Be careful!" Zhou Yiding rubbed the goose bumps on his arms. "This thing is very poisonous. A colleague at the forest farm was bitten a few days ago and stayed in the hospital for a long time. The skin and flesh on his legs were rotten and he almost had to have his leg amputated."
He had heard people say that it was very scary when a five-step snake bit someone, but in fact he was not afraid at all. After all, he grew up in the mountains and had seen a lot of these things. Except for the highly venomous snakes such as cobras and ironheads, he thought the others were similar to eels and crickets, just a little bigger and longer.
Ever since I saw my colleague's legs, I have had a new understanding of the five-step snake. When I suddenly saw one today, I was so scared that I broke out in a cold sweat.
"I've heard before that you can't run after being bitten, because five steps will kill you, but I've never heard of the skin and flesh being rotten."
Zhou Huaian used a dagger to cut a long wooden stick, climbed onto a stone beside the rock, and hit the snake's head several times in succession. Only then did the five-step snake stop twisting and hang limply on the bushes.
He stepped forward and pulled out the dagger, then used a stick to pick up the five-step snake and jumped back into the ditch, "Finally, it's dead and can't die any more."
"It's so ugly, it's disgusting just looking at it!" Zhou Yiding took the dagger, squatted down to clean it, and then looked at the snake corpse that Zhou Huaian had placed on the stone, "Youngest, there's nowhere to put it, so let's just throw it in the woods."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian picked it up with a stick and threw it into the woods. "Keep working. Once we finish picking all these golden thread vines, we'll go home."
Zhou Yiding nodded and said, "I have about thirty stone jumpers in my basket. How many did you catch?"
"It should be more than you!" Zhou Huaian thought of his mother-in-law coming, "I cut a big piece of pork belly today, go to my place and cut another piece to make stone cakes later."
"We cut some meat when we picked up my mother-in-law. They like big fat cuts of meat, so the lower part is just right for braising." Zhou Yiding sighed, "My mother-in-law is very frugal. At lunch, she always complains that we waste oil. She says that the oil we use to cook one dish is enough for them to eat for several meals."
"They don't have any mountain products to sell, and the whole family relies on selling food for the whole year. They must be more economical than us." Zhou Huaian said with a smile, "When they are both old and live on their own, you can take them to live with you, so that your home will be more lively." (End of this chapter)
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