Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 150 - 26 Artistic Girl_1

Chapter 150: Chapter 26 Artistic Girl_1

"Hey, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve told you, I’m better at fish in the water and I can stay submerged for a really long time." Yan Fei didn’t know what to respond to the barrage of questions. He wanted to refute a few but seeing the sweat-soaked girl, he just didn’t have the heart to. He simply tossed her the fish he had in hand. "Catch! Here’s a big fish for you, keep it by the shore while I go catch another one."

"Don’t you dare!" Xu Xiaoyan hollered at him, not even bothering to look at the fish. "You’re not allowed to dive anymore. What will you do if you run into danger down there?"

"What danger could possibly be present in this river? There’s nothing to worry about. How about I catch a few more crabs for you, and we can have fried crab for dinner tonight?" Yan Fei replied nonchalantly.

Indeed, in a small river like this, the most dangerous thing could probably be the half-meter Sarcosuchus. Besides that, there is nothing that poses a significant threat.

When you think about it, besides the polluted one, this river flows past countless villages, with people splashing about in almost every stretch of it. It would be odd if there were any danger!

Xu Xiaoyan was just a tad too anxious earlier and reacting out of concern. After giving it some more thought, she realized she had been overly worried and agreed: "Okay, you can catch them by the shore then! But stay where I can see you."

Luckily, the nearby banks all have steep and high slopes. Even the water near the riverbank is deep enough for Yan Fei, who wouldn’t want to embarrass himself by catching crabs with an audience.

For Yan Fei, catching crabs is even faster than picking stuff up.

Picking up stuff still requires bending over, but for catching crabs, all he needs is to swim along the water and carefully inspect the caves near the surface. It’s a sure thing.

He just caught two crabs and was about to toss them up to Xu Xiaoyan when he noticed her engrossed in a "battle" with the fish on the ground!

The four dogs by her side were howling in encouragement. Their reaction suggested they might’ve rushed in to assist with a bite or two, if they weren’t scared by past beatings from Yan Fei.

"Are you managing it or not? Turn around if you can’t, I’ll come up."

"No need, watch me." Xu Xiaoyan continued her "fight" against the fish.

Even though Yan Fei intentionally picked a large fish, it still only weighed around five or six catties. But as the fish had been wriggling on the ground for a while, its body was slippery and covered in dirt and leaves, making it hard to capture.

She didn’t need to struggle anymore—how long could the fish possibly flop about without water? By now, it had exhausted itself.

Yan Fei was laughing so hard his belly hurt. He dared not toss her any more crabs, and called out to her: "Okay, the fish is dried to death, no need to put it in the bucket. Pass me the bucket instead, I’ll put the crabs into it myself."

Xu Xiaoyan grimaced and threw him the bucket.

In no time, he had filled up half the bucket with crabs.

Yan Fei didn’t usually catch crabs here before, and not many others came to play in this area. The water was too deep and it’s relatively far from the small town—naughty children were too lazy to run all this way, leaving these crabs undisturbed.

"That’s enough!" Xu Xiaoyan started shouting from the bank.

From the moment he started catching crabs, the girl kept cheering—the dogs joined in with excited barking. She was tireless, and every time Yan Fei caught a crab, she’d let out a couple of whoops. Yan Fei didn’t really understand what excited her so much.

Given Yan Fei’s efficiency at catching crabs, anyone else would have lost their enthusiasm after a little while.

The excitement of crabbing lies not in the crab itself but in the "hunt". First, you have to find a cave, and before you feel around in it, you have no idea what is inside. You only find out once you cautiously stick your hand in.

Inside, you might find a crab—that’s a surprise. If it’s empty, that’s disappointment. Finding a toad causes a wave of pranking thrill. If a snake, it’s downright terrifying. And if the cave is above the waterline and there’s a mouse, that’s not so unusual either...

The thrill of crab catching lies in all the surprises, disappointments and frights it brings. Actually, as soon as the person reaches into the nook to grab a crab, the onlookers can’t help but feel the same tension. Whether it’s the joy of discovering a crab, the fright from a snake, or the disgust from a toad, these all contribute to the pleasure of the experience.

So, shouldn’t crab-catching be like Yan Fei’s approach, where you just pick them up without any suspense? Does that make any sense?

But this girl enjoyed it from start to end, counting as they went. She messed up the count halfway through, but it didn’t get in the way of her fun.

Yan Fei was puzzled. As he put on his clothes, collected his buckets and hooked the fish before heading back, he asked her, "Just for catching a crab, do you need to make such a fuss?"

Xu Xiaoyan swung her ponytail back and said, raising her head, "What do you know? I’m entering your world, sharing everything with you, feeling all that you feel..."

Yan Fei fell silent...

This is the world of a poetic-minded young lady. He didn’t understand it now, and possibly might never... understand in the future. Anyway, let her say what she wants, and he will just listen.

The pair frolicked on their way back, transforming their afternoon bounty into dinner.

Of course, they couldn’t eat it all, and the majority of it was shared with the others at the factory. The two of them didn’t need to prepare much.

Yan Fei could certainly eat a lot, but he didn’t want to scare the girl, did he?

The other people at the factory were very considerate, leaving the two of them alone without interruption, except for a few dogs who shamelessly followed them.

At night, Xu Xiaoyan naturally claimed Yan Fei’s room for herself, relegating Yan Fei to his beloved rattan chair.

But it wasn’t long before she came running to him, "Yan Xiaofei, how do you live like this? Don’t you have any mosquito coils? Mosquitoes are eating me alive!"

"I do! I lit one for you last night, didn’t you see?" Yan Fei was perplexed.

Well, he did have one, but it was tossed under the bed. Who could find it there?

Most of the time, he never used it. In summer nights, he sometimes didn’t sleep at all, or slept in the cave on Vegetable Garden Island.

Even if he did sleep in his room, it was usually during the latter half of the night when it was cool enough to sleep wrapped in a quilt. His tough skin and flesh didn’t really feel mosquito bites anyway.

After lighting the mosquito coil, the girl didn’t sleep either. Seeing Yan Fei about to leave, she called out, "Yan Xiaofei, bring your rattan chair over here. I can’t sleep alone. I need you to talk to me until I can fall asleep."

Okay then!

Yan Fei, resigned, dragged his rattan chair over.

Murmuring, she didn’t really have much to say. Most of the time, it was her who did the talking, and, after a while, it was her who dozed off first.

Yan Fei was always an early riser and late sleeper. He got up early to feed the dogs and make breakfast. When everything was ready, the girl just barely woke up, stretching and yawning, "Had a great sleep. I thought that sleeping by the roadside would disrupt your sleep! But it doesn’t seem to have a big impact!"

There aren’t that many cars on the road at night in our small town, so the noise is negligible and doesn’t affect sleep at all.

After breakfast, they were ready to go to the county seat. In the morning, they had to prepare a bit for the afternoon when they’d pick up the admission card and take a look at the exam site. The nerve-racking college entrance examination that haunted countless families was going to begin tomorrow!