The next morning, sunlight, like golden threads, playfully filtered through the leaves, dappling the courtyard of the shelter.
Lu Fan slowly woke up from his sleep, a smile still lingering on his lips.
It turned out he had just had a wonderful dream. In the dream, he was having a feast with his long-lost brother. The table was covered with golden, sizzling fried bee pupae, and there was also a bottle of ice-cold beer next to them.
The lingering taste of that beautiful dream still lingered in my heart, and as soon as I opened my eyes, the tempting image of fried bee pupae was impossible to shake off.
My stomach rumbled right on cue, making me look exactly like a gluttonous cat bewitched by delicious food.
"Anlan, I'm planning to go and remove that hornet's nest from yesterday today," Lu Fan mumbled to Anlan, who was preparing breakfast, while brushing his teeth.
His eyes gleamed with eager anticipation, as if the beehive wasn't a hornet's nest, but a treasure trove brimming with delicious food.
An Lan stopped abruptly, turned around hurriedly, her face full of worry: "Don't do anything reckless, wasp stings hurt terribly, what if you get stung?"
Lu Fan put down his toothbrush, patted his chest confidently, and the pats made a loud "bang bang" sound.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I've prepared extra precautions this time, so everything will be fine."
Besides, the hornet's nest is near where we often go. If we accidentally provoke them one day and they hurt you, that would be a real problem.
I'm doing this as a precaution, for everyone's safety.
Looking at Lu Fan's impatient manner, An Lan couldn't help but shake her head, a slight smile playing on her lips.
She teased, "I remember there's a dish in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan region called fried bee pupae. Are you just craving it? Don't think I don't know what you're thinking."
"How could that be? Am I the kind of person who indulges in gluttony?"
Lu Fan's eyes darted around, and he denied it outright, but a hint of unease flashed across his face.
After saying that, Lu Fan excitedly began to prepare tools. He rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find a large basket and picked up a torch.
As for protective measures, he didn't take them seriously at all, muttering to himself, "I'm lucky, what can wasps do to me?"
"Big Black, come on, let's go pull off a big heist!"
Lu Fan shouted at the big black dog that was frolicking in the yard, his voice filled with a sense of pride, like a general about to go to the battlefield.
When Dahei heard the call, it wagged its tail and ran over happily. Thinking it was going to play some fun games, it skipped and jumped along the way, very excited.
The man and his dog strode confidently toward the hornet's nest.
Along the way, Lu Fan hummed a tune that was completely out of tune; his singing was so bad it was almost deafening.
But he was completely oblivious, as if he could already see the delicious fried bee pupae beckoning to him, and a few drops of saliva occasionally dripped from the corner of his mouth.
Soon, they arrived at the big tree.
Lu Fan saw the hornet's nest hanging on the tree branch from afar; it looked like a giant lotus seedpod.
Wasps buzzed around, like patrolling soldiers guarding their home.
"Big Black, it's your turn. Go and lure those wasps away." Lu Fan patted Big Black's back, signaling it to rush forward, his tone as if he were commanding a vast army.
Big Black seemed to sense the tense atmosphere, and its originally cheerful steps became cautious.
It slowly approached the hornet's nest, and as soon as it got close, several sharp-eyed hornets spotted it and flew towards it like arrows released from a bow.
Big Black let out a howl in fright, turned and ran away as fast as the wind, disappearing from Lu Fan's sight in an instant, leaving Lu Fan standing there stomping his feet in anger.
"Big Black, you stupid dog, you let us down at the crucial moment! Where did all your usual bravado go?" Lu Fan was so angry that he jumped up and down, shouting in the direction where Big Black had disappeared.
Having no other choice, Lu Fan had to do it himself.
He pulled out a dagger, crouched low, and tiptoed closer to the hornet's nest, intending to cut it off.
He was muttering to himself, "Wasps, oh wasps, don't sting me. I'll just borrow a few of you kids to eat, and I'll return them to you when I'm done. We're all friends, we can talk things over."
His heart was pounding so hard, he felt like it was going to burst out of his chest with each beat, and he was as tense as a taut string.
Although Lu Fan tried his best to reduce his "malice" and release animalistic kindness, the wasps still felt his murderous aura.
They were instantly enraged and flew menacingly toward Lu Fan, as if they wanted to devour him alive.
"My God!"
Lu Fan turned pale with fright and turned to run away.
But the wasps were like vengeful spirits, relentlessly pursuing him. Lu Fan dodged left and right, and finally managed to escape their pursuit.
He leaned against a tree, panting heavily: "If you're heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless. Today, I'm going to eat these bee larvae!"
He knew that acting rashly would only lead to repeating the same mistakes, so he decided to use the fumigation method.
He first gathered a large bunch of dried mugwort and hay, which produce thick smoke when burned, making them an excellent material for repelling wasps.
As he searched, he muttered, "Let's see how I deal with you this time, and show you what I'm capable of."
With everything ready, Lu Fan took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the big tree that had caused him so much suffering.
Before we even got close, we could hear the buzzing of wasps' wings, as if they were issuing a final warning.
He piled the hay and wormwood under the big tree and lit it with flint.
Instantly, thick smoke billowed up, and Lu Fan waved a long tree branch, fanning the smoke towards the hornet's nest.
The movement resembled a fierce battle with wasps.
Sensing danger, the wasps instantly scatter from their nest. They, who had been moving in and out in an orderly fashion, became frantic, circling around the hive frantically, trying to find the "enemy."
But the smoke grew thicker and thicker, gradually enveloping the entire wasp nest. The wasps were so disoriented by the smoke that they fled the nest like a swarm of headless flies.
Lu Fan approached cautiously, his eyes fixed on the hornet's nest, ready to respond to any possible attack.
With each step he took, he could feel his heart pounding, but his craving for food kept him from backing down. He thought to himself, "Hang in there, I'll be able to eat delicious bee pupae soon."
Finally reaching the tree, he looked up, seized the opportunity, quickly extended the dagger towards the hornet's nest, and then pulled hard.
"Success!" he shouted excitedly, his voice echoing through the woods as the hornet's nest was safely placed into the basket.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, several fish that had slipped through the net suddenly rushed out of the thick smoke and lunged at his neck.
Lu Fan reacted quickly, raising his dagger and unleashing a terrifying strike. His movements were as fast as lightning, displaying the demeanor of a great swordsman.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com