CHAPTER 97: CHAPTER 97: SO BIG

Xiaomi hurriedly ran towards her big brother, who was sleeping on the grass with his legs crossed.

Lately, she had been joining father at night to catch eels, and the harvest was quite good. However, as a child, she needed more sleep. Not sleeping well at night meant catching up during the day.

So now, although he was supposed to accompany Xiaomi to catch eels, he was actually just playing with her while getting some shut-eye.

Earlier, he used to help poke around eel holes, but now he didn’t even do that, just found a place to nap.

Thankfully, the paddy field was quite a distance from the riverbank, and since Xiaomi was smarter than the average child and wouldn’t run around recklessly, the shallow water in the field wasn’t much of a concern.

"Big brother, big brother, hurry, we need to go over there," Xiaomi quickly shook her big brother awake.

Big brother squinted at the direction Xiaomi was pointing: "Isn’t that Liu Hai’s family’s field?"

"Yes, Aunt Wang Xiang said that if we really catch something, she’d invite us to eat. She also mentioned that Uncle Liu caught a really big eel last night, over two pounds!"

Big brother rolled over and got up: "Really? A two-pound eel?"

He hadn’t seen one before but was quite shocked!

In recent days, he’d caught plenty with his father, the largest being over half a meter long and more than a pound. But if it was over two pounds...

"It’s over two pounds!" Xiaomi corrected.

Big brother grabbed the eel clamp nearby: "Let’s go and have a look."

But as soon as he took a step, he quickly stopped and turned his head to ask: "Xiaomi, that’s Uncle Liu’s field."

Xiaomi pushed him: "Don’t worry, I asked. Aunt Wang Xiang said if we catch something, we’ll call Liu Hai to eat with us, so we won’t get into trouble."

Although Aunt Wang Xiang was only a daughter-in-law of the Liu family, given her current level of importance, if they did catch something, the Liu family surely wouldn’t mind.

Big brother felt immediately relieved, waved his hand to pull Xiaomi along: "Alright, let’s go."

Taking advantage of the time before lunch, the siblings jogged to the edge of Liu Yang’s family’s field.

The field had been intentionally raised a little above the water level. There was a hint of green on the top — the rice was sprouting.

Big brother circled the field once and then stood fixed at one spot, quickly waving at Xiaomi: "Xiaomi, come here. It’s right here, what a big hole. There are even their footprints here."

Xiaomi hurried to catch up, and sure enough, in the spot her big brother was pointing at, there was a big hole as thick as a grown-up’s wrist.

On the field ridge, there were also many fresh muddy footprints, definitely left last night. Judging from the footprints, they had left this spot directly.

Big brother pointed at the footprints: "Uncle Liu must have caught a big eel here last night and then went straight home. No wonder Liu Hai didn’t come looking for me today."

Liu Hai was half a year younger than him and sometimes went down to the fields at night with his father, sometimes not.

Xiaomi marveled at her big brother’s sharpness, nodding: "Big brother, let’s search around to see if there are any more big holes like this."

In these ancient paddy fields, with no pesticides or fertilizers, it’s not just eels one can find. With a bit of luck, you could even stumble upon softshell turtles.

Of course, there were quite a few leeches too.

These were treasures. Even leeches could be sold to the pharmacy, right!

Someone in the village had already caught a softshell turtle, which is just an old turtle, but not from the Jiang family.

The siblings wandered along the paddy field. The sun was particularly warm today, and Xiaomi saw several leeches wriggling happily in the water.

These things are money!

Xiaomi quickly called her big brother. Besides the leech clamp, big brother also carried a long bamboo pole for moments like this.

Using the bamboo pole to maneuver the leeches, the clamp quickly picked them up and put them into a small bamboo basket hanging from his waist.

They hadn’t gone far when Xiaomi stopped, her eyes sparkling: "Big brother, look, there’s another hole like the one before."

"Really?" Big brother quickly told Xiaomi to move aside, then lay directly on the field ridge: "Xiaomi watch closely, I’m teaching you how to lure eels out."

He extended one hand, positioning it near the hole, dipping half his fingers into the water, then flicked lightly, producing a crisp bubbling sound.

Flicking water?

The sound was like someone blowing bubbles underwater and was quite distinct.

Can this really lure the eels?

Seriously?

Xiaomi instantly felt indignant, glaring at her brother’s head: "Big brother, you’ve never told me this before!"

Thinking back to the past few days, where her big brother would lead her to the field, barely point to a few water holes claiming they were eel holes, then going off to nap by the roadside!

Big brother’s hand suddenly paused — oops, the secret’s out!

"Xiaomi, actually... ah!" Big brother suddenly jumped, realizing: "An eel! It’s a big eel!"

Snatching the eel clamp from Xiaomi’s hand, his hands flew out rapidly. Because he moved so quickly and bent down too sharply, he ended up plunging into the water field.

Despite this, his hands still held firmly, clamping a wrist-sized eel!

Eels are slippery and hard to grab by hand, not to mention such a big one!

Big brother’s head went into the water first, coming up with a face full of mud, almost standing up with eyes shut tight, his whole body now covered in mud.

"Spit, spit, Xiaomi, quickly, help wipe my eyes." Big brother spit out the mud, keeping his eyes shut.

Xiaomi finally snapped out of her shock, quickly taking out a small handkerchief: "Big brother, come a bit this way."

She couldn’t help but glance at the big eel, almost as thick as a teacup!

Big brother was careful not to loosen his grip but still followed Xiaomi’s voice, taking two steps forward, eventually sitting on the field ridge, carefully angling the clamped eel away so as not to frighten his sister.

Xiaomi quickly wiped the mud from her brother’s eyes with the handkerchief, as for the other places, they’d have to wait until getting home.

Big brother seemed to think the same: "Xiaomi, let’s go home first, show mother this big eel!"

Saying this, he first lifted a leg, kneeling on the field ridge, preparing to climb up carefully. Xiaomi quickly helped but ended up getting mud all over herself too.

"Big brother, your shoes are still in the field, you go first, I’ll get them for you."

Big brother, anxious to get home and not daring to loosen his grip for fear the eel would escape: "Alright, be careful not to fall in."

Saying so, he nearly jogged home.

Big brother indeed left his cloth shoes in the paddy field. Using the eel clamp he left behind, Xiaomi gently lifted them out.

But before leaving, Xiaomi suddenly lay on the ground, dipping her fingers into the water field.

Of course, she wasn’t trying to lure out another eel. She just thought that she and big brother caught such a big eel in Uncle Liu’s field. If they sold it, it would be worth quite a bit.

So, she planned to give something back. How about the unused dishwater from her space?