Ge Ranzhou asked, "Should we pour out these two pieces of pork liver?"
"No, leave them there to lure fish."
As Lu Ao spoke, he tossed all the small fish and shrimp from the bucket back into the river. Then he picked up the fish trap again, gathered his strength at the bank, and threw it.
The trap spread open, forming a straight line in the river.
After throwing the trap, Lu Ao tied its tail to a tree by the riverbank and led them to retrieve the other trap.
The other trap had yielded about the same as this one, except there was no Softshell Turtle.
Lu Ao glanced at it and did not mind.
One Softshell Turtle was enough for soup.
The sky gradually darkened, and the group headed home.
By the time they left the river, it was nearly six o'clock. The evening breeze had risen, and so had the mosquitoes.
Ge Ranzhou looked at the buzzing mosquitoes overhead and got goosebumps. Rubbing his arms, he said, "Why are these mosquitoes so fierce?"
"Don't be afraid. Those are all male mosquitoes," Lin Qi Yan comforted him. "They drink tree sap and don't bite."
"Really?"
"Really. The ones that bite are those tiny, completely black things that look like little beetles." As Lin Qi Yan spoke, he casually caught one to show him. "Besides, you keep moving, so the chances of them biting you are low."
There were the most mosquitoes and insects at dusk, especially during this stretch before nightfall. They buzzed over in swarms that seemed to blot out the sky. Anyone unaccustomed to it would get a numb scalp just looking at them.
Ge Ranzhou had been staying at Lu Ao's house these past few days and had barely seen any mosquitoes. At the sight