The search for mud eel holes continued. Wei Donglai could only blame his own lack of skill for the one that had gotten away.
He went back to the routine of finding mud eel holes, putting in tobacco, and catching the mud eels.
Seeing that nearly twenty minutes had passed since he had stuffed tobacco into one of the holes, Wei Donglai headed back.
When he got there and saw the mud eel lying on the mud at the entrance, he couldn't help blurting out a curse. "Fuck, that's thick."
Just the part sticking out of the mud looked barely small enough for Wei Donglai to wrap one hand around.
He reckoned that one mud eel alone would be worth two or three of the ones he had caught.
Wei Donglai approached slowly with his mud eel fork. If he let this one get away, it wouldn't just hurt-it would make his heart bleed.
He slowed his steps, afraid of startling it, so nervous that his palms were almost sweating.
Once he was close enough, Wei Donglai thrust out the fork. He felt as though the thrust had reached the realm of piercing the air.
He got it.
Feeling the enormous twisting force at the tip of the fork, Wei Donglai didn't dare waste a moment. He twisted it with both hands, hooking the mud eel with the fork's loop.
He yanked hard, pulling the fork out of the mud, but perhaps because the mud eel was so big, Wei Donglai saw that only its rear half had come out, and the part caught in the loop was slipping loose.
This was bad!
Wei Donglai knew that for every second he delayed, the mud eel might burrow back into the mud.
The mud here was so soft that, once it got in, digging it back out would probably be as hard as climbing to heaven.
He let go of the mud eel fork and launched himself at it in a sprawling dive. As its tail slipped free of the fork, he clamped down on its rear half.
Get out here!
Wei Donglai used both hands, pulling and gripping as he wrestled with the mud eel.
But the mud eel was huge, and its body was slick with slime. Whenever he pulled it out a little, it took advantage of the moment he switched hands to burrow a little farther into the mud.
It was as though it were playing tug-of-war with Wei Donglai.
Damn it, I'm going all out.
Seeing that this wasn't going to work, Wei Donglai suddenly put all his strength into it. His hands crossed over each other so fast they almost left afterimages.
As his hands moved faster and faster, he gradually gained the upper hand in his tug-of-war with the mud eel.
Under the force of his hands, the mud eel was pulled out of the mud bit by bit.
The moment he saw its head, Wei Donglai hooked two fingers of each hand into claws, clamping one hand on its weak spot just behind the head and the other firmly around its body a third of the way from the tail.
Then he quickly got up and stuffed the mud eel into the bucket nearby.
Once the mud eel was completely inside, Wei Donglai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
If this one had gotten away, he probably would have slapped his thighs swollen with regret.
Wei Donglai reckoned that even if it didn't weigh three jin, it had to weigh at least two jin and seven or eight liang.
At that moment, the joy on his face was plain to see.
He looked down at himself. To wrestle with the mud eel just now, he had practically sat in the mud, and his back was probably the only part of him that was even a little clean.
With this mud eel caught, Wei Donglai continued feeling his way toward the next hole. Every extra one he caught now meant a little more money.
In his eyes, these mud eels were no longer live seafood, but walking coins.
Every time he caught another one, he could almost hear the heavenly sound of coins clinking together in his pocket.
After an unknown amount of time, water began trickling through the tidal channel beneath his feet. Wei Donglai knew the tide was coming in.
He quickened his pace toward the last mud eel hole.
Seeing no movement, Wei Donglai went no farther. He turned around and walked out of the mangroves.
In the distance, Li Changfeng and He Dongliang were riding their mud sleds over to meet him. Both were covered in mud, just like Wei Donglai.
Mud men riding mud sleds-they made quite a fitting pair.
When the three met and saw how one another looked like mud monkeys, they all burst out laughing.
With their muddy faces and white teeth, who could still tell which was which?
As the three were laughing merrily, Li Guowang also came out of the mangroves.
Seeing what they looked like, he couldn't help snickering.
"Were you catching mud eels, or learning to burrow in the mud like them?"
Li Changfeng proudly raised his head. "Second Uncle, as the saying goes, if you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch its cubs? We threw ourselves into the mud to catch mud eels too. It doesn't matter how we look, as long as we caught something."
"Oh? Then let me see how you boys did."
Li Changfeng moved his bucket behind his back and gestured toward Li Guowang with his chin. "Second Uncle, let's see yours first."
The three were quite curious about how many Li Guowang had caught. When he lifted the lid, they peered into his bucket.
Seeing that mud eels nearly covered the bottom of the bucket, He Dongliang exclaimed, "So many mud eels, and three big mud crabs too."
Li Changfeng eagerly pushed the mud crabs aside and counted. "One, two, three...five. Second Uncle, your treasured blade is as sharp as ever. The moment you make a move, you're a cut above the rest."
"Stop kissing my ass. Where are yours?"
"A Liang, let's see yours first?"
"Mine definitely can't compare with Uncle Guowang's. I only have two."
He Dongliang lifted the lid and held out his bucket. The others leaned over and saw that there were indeed two mud eels inside, both a decent size. One weighed over a jin, and the smaller one weighed seven or eight liang.
"A Feng, your turn now, right? You said you were going to catch seven or eight. Did you?"
Li Changfeng's eyes shifted away. Clearly, his mud eel hunt hadn't gone as smoothly as he had imagined.
"An ugly daughter-in-law has to meet her in-laws sooner or later. Don't worry, even if you only caught one, A Lai and I won't laugh at you. That's what I expected anyway."
Li Changfeng was a little annoyed. "Two of mine got away just now."
"Three of mine got away too. Just tell us how many are in your bucket."
"One!"
"Hahaha...just as I expected!"
Li Changfeng kept up his stubborn front. "What the hell are you laughing at? This one of mine weighs at least two jin, doesn't it? Did either of you catch one bigger than this?"
"There's no way that weighs two jin. A jin and a half at most."
"What kind of eyes do you have? It's this thick. How could it only weigh a jin and a half?"
"You're a dead duck with a stubborn beak."
"You're the one who can't judge."
As he spoke, Li Changfeng turned to look at Li Guowang beside him.
"Second Uncle, how much do you think it weighs?"
Li Guowang took a look. "A jin and seven or eight liang, I'd say."
Hearing that, Li Changfeng's head shot up. "Hear that? More than half a jin."
He Dongliang curled his lip. "But it still isn't two jin."
"At least mine's the biggest."
He Dongliang grinned. "Did you forget about A Lai? I'm certain he caught more than you."
"If he caught more, I'll admit I lost the bet. But at least mine's the biggest."
Seeing Li Changfeng stubbornly sticking to his claim, Wei Donglai didn't indulge him. "I'll give you a chance to rethink what you just said."
"No way. Did you catch one even bigger than mine?"
"Want to bet again?"
He Dongliang immediately chimed in, egging him on. "You might turn things around in one go."