Li Long led Mingming, Haohao, and Hongqin toward Little Haizi, carrying a laundry detergent bag, the children brimming with excitement.
Li Juan had returned, bringing her younger siblings chocolate she had bought in Yanjing.
Although the heat had softened it inside its wrappers, it hardened a little again at night, and her siblings all loved it.
Li Qiang wanted to get something tasty for his sister, such as crabs.
They were rather troublesome to eat, so after having them a few times, the Li Family Members had lost interest. After all, the meat was inside the shells, and as for how delicious they were, to the Li Family Members, who ate fish regularly, they were nothing special.
Perhaps it was because they rarely ate them, or lacked the patience, or found them troublesome, or for some other reason. In short, they were not particularly fond of them.
After returning, however, Li Juan had mentioned them twice. She also said that when she told her classmates at school that Northern Xinjiang had crabs, they had not believed her. Her classmates from the South had told her how to catch crabs, how to eat them, and so on.
She had spoken casually, but Li Qiang had taken note and decided to find time to catch some for his sister.
He did not really dare go alone at night, much less take Mingming and Haohao along. But since his sister had explained how to catch crabs, the method ought to work.
The Li family's refrigerator had beef, mutton, offal, and all sorts of things. Li Qiang took a piece of something-he could not tell whether it was heart or liver-wrapped it in a washed laundry detergent bag, and set off with his younger siblings.
Of course, he had fishing line, just a spool