Gateway to Happiness - Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Fishing In The Streams

Lu Xiao Shu promised to watch out before quickly pulling her trousers up and excitedly rushing to a spot that she had her eyes on. Lu Qi chuckled as he put his palm out, “Give me your torch. I’ll shine the way for you while you catch.”

“Okay!” Lu Xiao Shu passed her torch to her brother.

One by one, stone frogs of a fist’s size hopped out from their damp holes and hiding spots in the summer night to hunt for food. Unfortunately, they were being watched by humans. Those frogs were unique as they would freeze in confusion when they see light. Their round pair of eyes would stare at the flame without blinking as if they were a village boy who had never entered a city and it was their first time seeing a firework.

“Lu Qi, there! Shine the light over there and don’t move!” Lu Xiao Shu easily spotted a frog sitting on a boulder in front of her, staring at their light source.

“Oh,” Lu Qi mumbled as he held the torch up to light up the direction she pointed at.

She effortlessly got over the boulder and bent down while extending her hand towards the frog. She pinched it lightly with her fingers and successfully got hold of the frog, simultaneously giving it the fright of its life as it croaked loudly.

“I got it! I got it!” Lu Xiao Shu happily cheered, but in the midst of her excitement, she forgot to watch her steps and her foot landed on a slippery rock. “Ah!” She yelled as she splashed into the water after a few wobbles.

“Careful!” Watching her slip, Lu Qi hurried forward to give her a hand. He could not help but chuckle, “You’re such an idiot.”

“How dare you!” Lu Xiao Shu was furious, “I was fine on my own! Look now! You scared the frog away!”

Lu Qi glanced towards her hand. Just as she said, her hand was empty. He thought to himself: What nonsense is she saying? It’s obviously her who let go of the frog when she fell. How is it my fault again? He forced a smile, “It’s your fault for not watching where you step!”

Miao Chu He raised his head and chuckled, “Xiao Shu, did you fall down?”

Mr Wu responded, “Of course she didn’t. Even if she did, she would never admit it!”

“Well, I didn’t fall!” Lu Xiao Shu complained, “Lu Qi, come on and help me find more of them. I want more of them!”

“Over there! Do you see it?” Lu Qi glanced in another direction and saw a huge frog sitting and croaking loudly.

Lu Xiao Shu “shh” him and whispered, “Shine the light properly, I’ll go catch it!”

She took light steps towards it and slowly reached out to grab the confused and dumb frog. Suddenly, the calm water beside them splashed loudly, and the two yelped when their gaze landed on a scaly creature. It turned out to be a medium-sized water snake that was hunting the frog, and it was swimming right towards them!

“Snake! It’s a snake!” Lu Xiao Shu might not be afraid of snakes but it was dark and she did not dare to catch it. Catching a snake was no joke. If her hand did not grab the snake’s head properly, she might get bitten. It did not matter if the snake was venomous or not, it would still hurt badly.

However, that snake had the guts to steal her frog! She bent down and picked up a rock that was the size of two fists and threw it at the snake with full force. The snake suddenly got frightened and it hurriedly made a hundred and eighty degrees turn, rushing back to the ground before burrowing itself in the thick dark bushes. In that instant, the snake had fled and was gone from their sights.

“Snake? Where is it? Are you okay?” Her scream gave Lu Zhong a shock as he rushed over to examine her hands.

“I’m fine, father. It ran after I tried to hit it!” She was kind of proud of herself.

“You’re such a troublemaker! Just be careful next time. Lu Qi, watch over your sister properly!” Lu Zhong let go of the breath he was holding and turned around to glare at his son.

Lu Xiao Shu yelped and turned around, only to find that there was nothing on the rock. The frog must have gotten frightened in the midst of the chaos just now and escaped in fear.

She was very upset about it while Lu Qi was laughing hysterically at her demise, “Xiao Shu, you and the frogs must be ill-matched! All of them ran from you when you set eyes on them.”

“Don’t you dare underestimate me! Those were just accidents. Don’t you know that good things come last? I just need more practice first and you’ll see! If I catch one later, you have to take back your words, or would you rather eat them alive?” Lu Xiao Shu pouted sourly.

“Nonsense!” Lu Qi laughed.

Eventually, when they were trying to catch the third frog, the frog initially was already in her grasp. However, when Lu Xiao Shu saw a huge snakehead fish slowly swimming towards her, she was shocked and she flung the frog away without a second thought. With her hands free, she bent down to catch the snakehead fish.

The fish was as long as a foot and as wide as three fingers. It was considered a big fish. This type of fish would make a delicious meal and since it was so rare, Lu Xiao Shu was determined to never let it go.

“I caught it! I caught it!” Lu Xiao Shu happily cheered as her hands held the snakehead fish up. Even though the fish was struggling with all its might in her hands, it had no chance of escaping at all.

“Quick, Lu Qi, get me the basket!” Lu Xiao Shu hurriedly walked towards Lu Qi and placed the huge fish in the bamboo basket tied to Lu Qi’s waist. She excitedly called out, “Father, I caught a large snakehead fish!”

Lu Zhong smiled and complimented, “My daughter is truly amazing!” Yet, Miao Chu He laughed, “Xiao Shu, what about your frog?”

Lu Xiao Shu acted like she did not hear that as she added, “My fish is huge! It’s probably bigger than all of yours!”

Lu Qi grinned as he pointed, “Xiao Shu, look quick! There are frogs there! Oh, there are two of them!”

Lu Xiao Shu followed his gaze. Just as he said, there were two frogs sitting on a boulder. They were not doing anything as they sat there. However, Lu Xiao Shu felt like she had no chance with the frogs so she was hesitant. After some thinking, why bother… right?

“Lu Qi! There are so many fishes! We could rear some of them once we brought them home.” Lu Xiao Shu purposely ignored the frogs and turned to look for fish in the water.

Night was the time when a lot of fish would be out looking for food. Since the environment was more untouched by humans, there were so many fishes that when Lu Xiao Shu bent down to look at them closely, she would be dazzled by the amount. Schools of fish swam past her legs at a leisure pace but before she could decide which hand she should use to grab them, they were gone from her sight and hidden away in the darkness. She was put at a loss.

Lu Qi laughed at her, “Idiot!” Then he got closer to her and whispered softly, “I thought you’ve always had great accuracy. Did your martial arts worsen?”

“Oh! That’s right!” Lu Xiao Shu just realized that she knew martial arts only after he mentioned it. It should be the same as if she was playing darts but she could use stones instead. Thus, she bent down again to grab a handful of smooth, small pebbles. After she picked out the suitable ones, she spotted a fish as her target. With a “whoosh” the pebble flew from her hand and landed sharply on the fish’s head. The school of fish scattered from the impact but that one fish which got hit floated up to the surface as it probably got knocked out.

Lu Xiao Shu grinned enthusiastically as she picked up the fish. Soon, she continuously caught a lot of fish with her technique.

Watching her work, Lu Qi got envious and could not help but pick up a pebble too. He flung the pebble at his target but he missed by an inch. The fish was frightened by them but it was completely fine, swimming away from danger immediately. Lu Qi froze in surprise, not believing that he just hurt his pride. He thought that he had a proper aim and he knew that he was almost as good as Xiao Shu. How could the fish escape him?

Lu Qi tried again and again, but he failed every time. Meanwhile, Lu Xiao Shu was giggling at his failure.

It annoyed him and he snapped, “Why is this happening? Did I really fall back on my skills?”

Lu Xiao Shu laughed, “You’re such an idiot! Your skills are fine, and you’ve aimed too accurately! Don’t throw the pebble exactly at the fish’s head. You should throw it a little in front of the fish’s head, got it?”

He was confused, “Why should I do that? Is it because the fish swims faster than the pebbles that I throw?” Must he aim the spot in front of its head to land a hit?

Lu Xiao Shu thought to herself, How should I explain this to you? It’s the theory of refraction. You won’t understand it even if I explained and I’m sure you’ll disagree with me. So she ended up saying, “It doesn’t matter why since I’ve been doing it that way. Why don’t you try it for yourself to see if it really works?”

Lu Qi was kind of doubtful of her words but he did what she said anyway. Sure enough, the fish froze and wiggled a little before floating to the surface.

“I told you so! Cool right?” Lu Xiao Shu proudly stepped forwards and picked up the fish.

He scratched his head in disbelief, “This is sorcery! Sorcery!”

“Who cares if it’s sorcery? As long as it gets us the fish!”

“You’re right!”

The siblings laughed as they happily caught a number of fishes. Then, Lu Qi cut a small fish up using a sharp stone. He tied the fish head with long aquatic plants and let it float on the water surface. The smell of blood soon traveled through the water and attracted a lot of fish of various sizes. They sat at the side and waited for the fish to take their bait. Not long later, they filled half of the basket with fishes.

Seeing their capture, Lu Qi laughed, “There’s so many of them! Let’s go look for oilfish now!”

“Oh, okay!” Lu Xiao Shu agreed to change what they were hunting since this seemed like no challenge for her.

The oilfish was a wild fish native to the mountain streams here. They were not big in size and the biggest they could get was no longer than a middle finger, but a little fatter than a thumb. Their color was roughly the same as loaches and they also had no scales, making them very shiny and slippery. Besides that, they loved lingering under rocks. They were called the oilfish because when frying them, you would only need very little oil. Cook them at low fire and their bodies will produce oil and fat. The delicious aroma spread very fast and not to mention that their bones become crunchy upon frying. You could chew the entire fish without wasting any part of it. In summary, they taste really amazing.

Lu Qi left the basket of fish on the river shore, and they both set out further to look for the oilfish. They carefully flipped a mossy rock over and started looking for delicacies inhabiting the mountain stream.