Chapter 140 The fish has fallen out, but it is still rolling
"Ah? There are some here? Aren't they protected animals?"
Xiang Yuanyuan looked curious. Although the clothes she was wearing didn't fit her well, her plump figure and pretty face made the slightly loose girls' shirt look natural to her.
"It is a protected animal. We protect it, too. We have been releasing it into the wild over the years. Now there is a place near our village where we often see pig dragons. Children will feed them snacks if they have nothing to do."
My mother-in-law spoke with a nonchalant look on her face, but while she was speaking, her hands were holding a very old-fashioned mobile phone, and she would look down at it from time to time.
"Mother-in-law, can you take us to have a look? We just came from Crocodile Lake. The crocodiles there are too big and look fierce. They are not pretty at all."
Xiang Yuanyuan was still struggling with this matter, but when she heard this she wanted to see what it was like, so she walked over to her mother-in-law and started talking.
"Yuanyuan, we will leave after we have dinner, and it is getting dark now. We probably won't be able to see anything even if we go, so we won't bother grandma."
In fact, Du Ruo had long noticed that her mother-in-law and the old man were a little absent-minded. She thought they were still worried about their grandson, but Yuanyuan always had a broad mind and didn't notice these details.
So he stopped Xiang Yuanyuan from speaking any further. He decided that maybe he could find a hotel to stay in tonight and take a walk around the area tomorrow morning to look for the pig dragon that his mother-in-law mentioned. It would be a surprise if he found it, but it didn't matter if he didn't.
"Yeah, that's right. I won't be able to see anything at night, so I won't bother Grandma."
Xiang Yuanyuan is just a little bit nervous, not stupid. She understood what Du Ruo said and quickly changed her words.
"It's okay, grandma will take you..."
“I’m looking up!!!”
The mother-in-law was about to get up, but before she could finish her words, her cell phone rang. She immediately interrupted the topic, picked up the phone and answered it without even looking at it.
"Hey! Are you okay? Thank God, Xiuying, you're with me in the hospital. I'll bring you some food later. Thank God for your ancestors' blessing."
My mother-in-law answered the phone and said a few words. After hanging up, she quickly clasped her hands together and kept whispering to the tablet in the hall.
The microphone was quite loud, and Du Ruo could hear what was being said even without turning on the speaker.
Something like that: the child was fine, but had to stay in the hospital for observation, and the two elderly people were told not to worry.
"My daughter, come on, I'll take you to see Zhu Polong. Old man, my grandson is fine. Please prepare some food. We will send him to the hospital later. It should be light!"
After my mother-in-law finished everything, she remembered what she wanted to do just now. She excitedly took the photo of Yuanyuan and was about to walk out, not forgetting to turn around and shout towards the kitchen.
"Let's go and take a look."
Du Ruo smiled and listened to the noise from the kitchen, which had been relatively quiet, becoming louder. Then she smiled and said something to Xiang Yuanyuan.
"My daughter-in-law loves to eat river shrimps, so I put some fish kites down by the river. Every time I go to fetch the fish kites, those pig dragons will come around. My daughter-in-law only likes to eat river shrimps and doesn't like to eat fish, so I feed the fish to the pig dragons. Over time, every time I go to fetch fish, there will always be one or two pig dragons around."
The mother-in-law took a bamboo pole from behind the gate and led the two of them towards the river while explaining.
It was just past six o'clock and the sky wasn't completely dark yet, so one could see clearly. Du Ruo and Xiang Yuanyuan followed behind.
"Yu Zheng? Grandma, I have never seen one before. Can you let me try to play it later?"
Xiang Yuanyuan went over and took the bucket and bamboo pole from her mother-in-law, her face full of excitement and curiosity.
"Okay, I'll teach you how to catch the fish later. There's one in front..."
The mother-in-law brought the two of them to the river. This was not where the accident happened in the afternoon, but a little further up the river, where the water flow was slower and there were more aquatic plants.
"This is it. You use a bamboo pole to hook the floating foam, and then slowly pull it up."
The mother-in-law walked on the small path by the river, teaching Xiang Yuanyuan how to play the zither step by step.
"Wow... It's so heavy. Wow wow wow, there are fish in it, they are jumping. There are so many fish."
Xiang Yuanyuan pulled up the fish kite. It was a closed type of fish kite with a few holes on the sides for fish to enter. Xiang Yuanyuan pulled up the fish kite, and the moment it came out of the water, the crackling sound of fish and shrimps jumping could be heard from inside.
Xiang Yuanyuan's happiness was visible to the naked eye, she almost jumped up and down.
"Let's put all the fish and shrimp in the bucket first, and then feed the pig dragon when it comes. There are many fish kites ahead. As we raise them, the pig dragon will come soon."
As the mother-in-law spoke, she taught Xiang Yuanyuan how to take out the fish.
It’s true, a fish kite is not big, but the fish and shrimps inside are quite big, including three or four finger-long river shrimps, two whitebait, and a few snails. The mother-in-law was very satisfied with the harvest, and poured them all into the bucket, then led the two of them forward to find the next fish kite.
He collected four or five fishing kites in succession. The sun had completely set and the sky began to grow dark. Du Ruo vaguely sensed some movement on the water surface, but it was so faint that it would be easily overlooked amid the chirping of insects around.
"It's probably because we collected the fish a little late today. In the past, I would have collected the fish before cooking. But it's okay. They should come if I call them." Seeing that the fish were almost collected, the mother-in-law hurriedly comforted Xiang Yuanyuan. After that, she squatted by the water and began to squeeze out the entrails of the fish she had just collected, making a sound of calling:
"Oh~ giggle~~Oh~ giggle~~"
"Grandma, here I come."
At this time, Xiang Yuanyuan could clearly see a small head floating silently on the water in the river in front of her. At the call of her mother-in-law, the head swam gently towards her mother-in-law. Seeing this scene, Xiang Yuanyuan could not help but remind her mother-in-law in a low voice.
"Oh~ Cluck, cluck, cluck~ Come, girl, you feed them. Just throw them in front. Don't worry, these pig dragons won't bite."
The mother-in-law stood up and handed the fish in her hand to Xiang Yuanyuan. The internal organs of these fish had been squeezed out, so there was no need to worry about the alligators not being able to eat them.
"Okay~oh... come and eat~"
Xiang Yuanyuan imitated her mother-in-law and threw a white strip of fish in front of her. Then, regardless of the fishy smell on her hands, she picked up her phone and started filming.
"Haha, this alligator is really stupid. The fish was swimming on its back, but it still had to bite so many times before it could eat it."
Xiang Yuanyuan looked at the clumsy appearance of the alligator and couldn't help laughing quietly, for fear that the noise would be too loud and would disturb the alligator in the water.
"I'll feed you and you take the photo."
Du Ruo walked to Xiang Yuanyuan and threw the fish in the bucket one by one in front of the alligator in the water, while carefully observing the alligator's state of pounce on its food.
That clumsy look made Xiang Yuanyuan laugh softly.
The Chinese alligator in the water here is slimmer and more natural in appearance than the crocodiles in the Crocodile Lake. In addition, its body size is not that big, so it looks quite stupid. Moreover, when observing closely, it can be clearly found that this Chinese alligator is more energetic and more cautious than the ones in the Crocodile Lake.
However, as Du Ruo continued to feed the alligator, it became a little more relaxed and was less than one meter away from the two of them.
Du Ruo has been observing and has gained some insights, but he has never comprehended the charm and true meaning.
Du Ruo simply took out the largest fish that he had kept from the bucket. It was a crucian carp, quite fat and about half the size of a palm. Du Ruo had kept it specially for him. After feeding this one, there would be no more fish.
This time, Du Ruo did not throw the fish away. Instead, he grabbed the fish's tail and gently shook it in the water to create the illusion that it was a live fish.
Xiang Yuanyuan noticed Du Ruo's actions at this time and quickly closed her mouth. Although she didn't understand why Du Ruo did this, she knew that Du Ruo must have a reason for doing so, so she quickly adjusted her mobile phone and zoomed in the lens, wanting to take more pictures, hoping to help Du Ruo.
It’s true, although the Yangtze alligator looks quite big, about one meter long, it is actually very timid.
He observed for half a minute before he dared to slowly approach the fish in Du Ruo's hand.
"Wow~"
The alligator's head was at least twenty centimeters away from the crucian carp in Du Ruo's hand. Then it suddenly raised its head from the water, opened its mouth full of blunt teeth, and bit the still swinging crucian carp.
"Fuck!!"
Du Ruo was shocked when he saw the alligator's wide-open mouth, because he found that although the alligator's mouth was wide open, the direction of its bite seemed to be wrong. If the alligator bit down, it would definitely bite a mouthful of air while brushing against the crucian carp's body.
Du Ruo was quick-witted and quick-handed. He moved the crucian carp in his hand sideways five centimeters without making a sound, so that he could bite the crucian carp before the alligator closed its mouth.
"!!!"
The Yangtze alligator floated on the water with its eyes wide open and bit its prey lightly with its mouth, as if it couldn't believe that it had bitten its prey in such a snap.
Immediately afterwards, the Yangtze alligator began paddling with its limbs in the water, and did a "death roll" in the water with a "splash".
Seeing this scene, Du Ruo let go of the crucian carp's tail, then stretched out his palm to carefully feel the waves in the water.
Seriously, if you cover the silly eyes of the Yangtze alligator and ignore the fact that it can't bite anything in its mouth, the whole hunting process is actually quite intimidating.
The swift attack, the fierce death roll after biting, and the fact that the fangs had degenerated into blunt teeth, but it also increased the bite force. It is said that the bite force of the Yangtze alligator is as high as 800 kilograms. After biting, coupled with the death roll, in fact...
Du Ruo was still looking for a place for the alligator. At the same time, he blocked out the alligator's shortcomings in his mind and magnified its advantages, hoping to understand the true meaning of the alligator's prey and activities.
"Eh? The fish has already fallen out, why is the alligator still rolling?"
Just when Du Ruo had some feelings, and although he did not have much understanding of the crocodile shape, but when Du Ruo sensed the true meaning of the waves in the water caused by the death roll of the Yangtze alligator, he heard Xiang Yuanyuan's exclamation in his ears.
(End of this chapter)
