This frog has a yellowish-green back with irregular dark stripes and horizontal stripes on its limbs, making it look like the stripes on a tiger.
It is much larger than a regular frog, weighing about half a pound.
Feng Ye recognized most of the things in the sea. Even if he didn't know the scientific name of some, he knew their common names and whether they were poisonous or not.
But he was completely clueless about most terrestrial and freshwater creatures.
He had never seen or recognized the frog in front of him before.
He only recognizes the small frogs found in fields and along roadsides.
He wouldn't dare touch anything he didn't recognize.
It's important to know that some frogs are poisonous, and highly poisonous at that, such as the poison dart frog of the Americas and the tree frog of South America...
There are also poisonous frogs in China, including toads, which are listed as one of the "Five Poisons".
But Feng Ye was afraid of missing out on something good, so he quickly called out, "Brother, there's a big frog here, come and take a look!"
He knew that some types of frogs were edible, and the bullfrog, which is often seen in restaurants in later generations, was one of them.
"A big frog?" Ye Chenliang was taken aback for a moment, then immediately realized, "You mean a frog, right?"
"Frog? I don't know what a frog looks like."
Feng Ye had only heard of it, never seen it, let alone eaten it.
Because frogs have become protected animals in later generations and cannot be eaten.
What he didn't know was that the scientific name for the frog is the tiger frog, which was listed as a Class II protected animal in China last year and is protected by national laws.
"Where?"
Ye Chenliang didn't have time to look at the loaches anymore; he waded through the mud, one step at a time.
"There."
Feng Ye shone the flashlight.
He kept watching, his other hand holding the fire tongs, ready to clamp it down the moment it tried to leave.
He didn't dare to use his hands directly, but the fire tongs weren't just for show.
Ye Chenliang took a closer look and laughed, "It's huge, it really is a frog."
"This is a frog?"
"Yes, frogs have stripes on their bodies, making them easy to recognize."
As Ye Chenliang spoke, he moved his feet and slowly approached.
As it got closer, the clamp in his hand swiftly reached out and caught the frog in one go.
He said happily, "We can have one more dish tomorrow."
"Are frogs delicious?"
"Very fresh and sweet, quite delicious."
Ye Chenliang swallowed hard, thinking of the delicious taste of frogs. "This one is a bit too few. We need to catch a few more."
"Then hurry up and look again."
Feng Ye's appetite was whetted.
If you've had too much seafood, it's nice to change things up and try some wild game from land.
In another 10 or 20 years, it will be very difficult to eat even if you want to.
They've become protected animals, or animals protected under certain laws and regulations. Even wild boars and rabbits, which have become rampant, cannot be hunted at will; a permit is required.
"Frogs are generally more excited at night, and their calls are louder and more resonant than those of croaking frogs. If you follow the sound, you can usually find them."
"oh."
"Listen, there's one over there."
Ye Chenliang listened intently for a moment, then looked in a certain direction and shone his headlamp in that direction.
Feng Ye listened carefully for a while, then couldn't help but shake his head: "I can't tell."
The surrounding fields were filled with the croaking of frogs, and he couldn't tell if there were any frogs croaking among them.
Ye Chenliang smiled and said, "It's normal that you can't tell. Come with me."
Led by Ye Chenliang, the two soon arrived at the edge of a pond.
"Did you hear me now?"
"It seems there really is a different cry."
As he got closer, Feng Ye finally heard a louder voice among the chorus of frogs croaking.
"That's the sound of a frog calling, probably from around here."
Ye Chenliang said, lowering his head and carefully searching the pond.
"I'll look for the other side."
Feng Ye excitedly began searching in another direction.
This is a job that requires not only meticulousness but also patience.
After searching for more than ten minutes, the two of them circled the pond and met up again, but still couldn't find where it was hidden.
But the frog's croaking didn't disappear; it still echoed in my ears.
"Could it be in the pond?"
"Possibly."
Two beams of light shone into the pond, and before long, Feng Ye made a discovery.
A frog, even larger than the one before, sat quietly on a log in the middle of the pond.
“There it is… Holy crap, it’s going to run away.”
As soon as the flashlight beam shone on the frog, it leaped into the water.
Fortunately, frogs are amphibians that breathe with lungs. They can only dive for short periods of time and generally do not dive into the water, but only swim on the surface.
So Feng Ye found it again just a short while later and locked onto it with a flashlight.
The frog, unaware of the approaching danger, was leisurely walking towards the shore, walking right into the trap.
He laughed: "This frog is quite sensible; it came to me on its own initiative."
"It has no choice but to take the initiative; throw two stones at it and it will obediently leave the center of the pond."
Ye Chenliang smiled indifferently.
Before long, the frog swam to the shore and brought itself to the two of them.
"I'll do it, I'll do it."
Feng Ye slowly brought the fire tongs closer, and when they were almost there, he quickly stretched them forward and clamped them.
The frogs could only kick their limbs haphazardly and croak in vain.
"This one weighs about seven or eight ounces. If we get another one this big, we can make a whole plateful."
"Don't even think about it, it's very rare."
"A smaller one is fine too, I don't mind."
"It depends on luck. I haven't heard any calls yet, so I don't know if they haven't come out yet."
...
More than an hour later, the two walked one after the other down to the backwater of the lower pond.
The harvest was quite good; we caught two more frogs, but they weren't very big, weighing less than half a pound each.
There were plenty of loaches and eels; more than we could finish in one or two meals. The two of us together had about ten pounds of them.
These days, loaches and eels are worthless; they're just caught for a snack, and nobody really goes out of their way to catch them to sell.
On a summer evening, a gentle breeze blows through the fields, carrying the fresh scent of the earth.
It's quiet and peaceful, with only the sounds of frogs and cicadas, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
There were a lot of mosquitoes, though they didn't bite Feng Ye much, but they kept buzzing in his ears, which was quite annoying.
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