Chapter 1657
Several Clear Footprints
After saying that, Wang An waved his large hand towards his home, and with a smug look on his face, added:
"Let's go home and stew some hashima. I've been craving this for ages, I'm dying to eat it, hahaha."
As a native of Northeast China, I think no one dislikes eating forest frogs, especially during the season when they are eaten. If I can't have a few meals to satisfy my cravings, I feel like life would be much less fun.
There's no way around it, the taste of the forest frog is simply unbeatable. Compared to other frogs, and even the bullfrogs that appeared in China later on, the forest frog is like heaven and earth, there's no comparison at all.
To put it bluntly, although they are both frogs, they are not even in the same league when it comes to eating.
After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li said with considerable surprise:
"Fourth Brother, shall we leave it here? What if someone else comes along and takes away the frogs we worked so hard to catch?"
To be honest, what Wang Li said made a lot of sense.
Although forest frogs are delicious and not cheap, they are considered a valuable resource in the mountains. If someone picks them up on the mountain, you really can't say anything about it.
The main point is that as long as the frog hasn't entered your bucket, it's considered unclaimed property. And unclaimed property belongs to whoever finds it.
Wang Ankabakab looked around, then decisively said:
“It’s alright. This place isn’t close to the village, it’s about seven or eight miles away. Why would anyone come here for no reason? Let’s go home, have a meal, take a nap, and we’ll come back in time after noon.”
After a pause, Wang An pointed to the large pond more than 20 meters away and said with a smile:
"This big pond is no small place, it must be fifty or sixty acres. There are bound to be plenty of ants in it. I think the two of us can each take at least three or four ants, hahaha. It's so much fun!"
In the area, forest frogs can be found in almost every pond.
However, the number of these frogs is directly proportional to the size of the pond. Larger ponds naturally have more frogs, while smaller ponds may only have a few.
In large ponds like this, covering dozens of acres, there are a great number of forest frogs.
Wang Li didn't respond to Wang An's words, but instead said with considerable concern:
"Fourth Brother, why don't you go back? I'll stay here and keep watch, and you can come pick me up after noon."
Wang An rolled his eyes at Wang Li and said:
"Look at you, so stingy and petty. So what if someone takes a little something? Listen to me, go home."
Wang Li defended himself by saying:
"Fourth Brother, didn't you say that we're afraid people will learn our method? If someone sees it, won't they immediately know what's going on?"
Wang An said with a speechless expression:
"What I mean is to keep it a secret for as long as possible, the later people find out, the better. If I can come up with this method, why can't others? This method will be found out sooner or later."
After a pause, Wang An, really tired of listening to Wang Li's rambling, continued:
"Alright then, if you don't want to go home, you can stay here. I'm leaving anyway."
After saying that, Wang An picked up his axe, turned around, and walked towards the sidecar.
Seeing that Wang An was ignoring him, Wang Li quickly picked up the axe on the ground and scurried after him, then said with a grin:
"Then let's listen to Fourth Brother. Hehehe, I don't want to stay in the mountains either, it's so boring."
Wang An turned his head and glanced at Wang Li, saying:
"You're just a good-for-nothing, nothing at all."
Wang Li chuckled foolishly, not responding to the question, and changed the subject:
"Fourth Brother, we can't possibly eat all this stuff. Should we sell it or what?" Wang An shook his head and said:
"If you want to sell them, then sell them yourself. I'm not selling them. If I can't eat them all, I'll dry them into dried frogs and extract as much frog oil as possible to store for later when I want to eat them."
Wang Li nodded and said:
"Yes, dried hashima is also delicious when stewed, so I won't sell it anymore, I'll just dry it all into dried hashima."
After exchanging a few more useless words, the two walked to a spot not far from the sidecar.
But when their eyes fell on the sidecar and the bucket of frogs next to it, they were immediately stunned.
The two buckets that were originally placed next to the side basket are now overturned on the ground, and all the ants inside have run out and are now jumping around in various places.
After a moment of stunned silence, Wang An and Wang Li's eyes instantly turned red.
Of course, it wasn't from crying that his eyes were red, but from being so angry that his eyeballs were bloodshot.
Because it's obvious that there's excrement in the bucket, it's impossible for the bucket to tip over by itself, and it's also impossible for the frog inside the bucket to knock it over.
Therefore, this is undoubtedly man-made.
Wang Li instinctively cursed:
"Holy shit, who the hell did this? Who? Show yourself, I'll fucking kill you."
Wang An was also furious at this moment, mainly because this kind of behavior that harmed others without benefiting oneself was truly infuriating.
In fact, if someone wanted to eat frogs and saw so many frogs in the bucket, they could just grab some as they passed by, enough for one or two meals. Even if Wang An and his companion discovered this, even if they were caught red-handed, they would definitely not say anything.
Because this is a very normal thing in the countryside. In the mountains of this era, forest frogs are not a particularly rare thing. Taking a few is no big deal.
But to tip over the bucket and let all the frogs escape is really going too far, isn't it?
This is clearly a self-defeating act that harms others!
Wang An's hand gripping the axe tightened unconsciously, while his eyes scanned his surroundings, trying to find some clues.
In the entire Kaoshantun village, only Wang An had such a sidecar truck. When the villagers saw the sidecar truck, they couldn't possibly not know that Wang An was nearby.
Therefore, Wang An felt that someone was deliberately provoking him, and doing so in such a despicable way.
If I don't beat him until his face is covered in peach blossoms, wouldn't I be doing him a huge disservice?
But as the two of them walked to the bucket with grim faces, they immediately realized that something was wrong.
The two men's originally gloomy faces immediately turned pale with shock.
Because on the bare ground next to the bucket, several clear footprints appeared before the two people, and these footprints had no heels, as if a person was walking on tiptoe.
The reason Wang An and his companion were so alarmed was because they knew perfectly well that these were not human footprints, but those of a bear. (End of Chapter)