Koharu called and said he was catching hairy crabs by the river and asked me if I wanted to go? It was already 7:40 p.m., and there was no nightlife in the countryside, so I hurried to his house.
His family lives on the banks of the Fuchun River, Mei Rong, who is the husband of his girlfriend Emperor Fu and a friend I have known for many years.
I once joked that living in his house was simply a fairy life: living in a large villa with a first-line river view, in March and April you can pedal a two-wheeled bicycle in the ocean of rape flowers, and in June you can come to pick a flock of non-beech willows, green and immortal arbutus." "Mei Rong Yangmei, in July and August to see the artist's ten mile rice field, in September and October to catch hairy crabs by the river, night fishing, relive childhood memories."
You can see the picturesque scenery under the century-old Metasequoia trees in spring, go around the well-preserved Luo family compound in the village, or chase the refreshing rice fragrance to the field to see this poetic picture in the autumn days, the days are not too beautiful.
"No, you have to leave me a room so I can come and stay at any time." Emperor Fu and Xiaochun smiled and promised, saying, I am not afraid of you living, I am afraid that you will not come to live, and my heart is warm.
At night, Mei Rong was exceptionally quiet, and the rice in the field was one after another, black and pressed, and I couldn't see if it had turned golden. The trees by the river are like sentries standing guard in the dark night, and the grasshoppers in the grass beside the road are desperately "grasshoppers" calling, which is particularly clear in the empty night.
I took off my shoes and walked down the long steps, And Xiao Chun had already caught half a bucket, about three or four pounds. The hairy crab in the river is different from the crab in the wet market, it is a square back, a pair of crab eyes like two searchlight-like pestles on the left and right sides of the forehead, 360 degrees without dead angles to warn of everything around, small, pliers are short and thick but the hole is strong, like a steel scissors, the crab feet have long hairs, which is the characteristic of hairy crabs.
"How do you eat this?" I asked.
"Peel the shell, clean it up, cut it in half, put the seasoning in the flour, throw the hairy crab inside and roll it twice, then throw it in the frying pan and fry it, except for a slight bitter taste, the taste is still good!" 」 He replied to me.
In fact, I don't care about eating, but the pleasure of catching. In the midst of the emperor's uneasy chatter about letting me take this and that, I took the flashlight, took the bucket, and went into the water.
Hairy crabs are much more so much bigger! Xiao Chun's eyes are pointed, he found it, where will I shout? where? My eyes seem to be a decoration.
The silt at the water's edge was so deep that I fell into it as soon as I stepped on it, making people "unable to pull out", so that only my loud cries and cries from time to time were left on the riverside.
"Can you swim?" he asked.
"No, that's fine, I'll take care of the flashlight, take pictures, and you'll catch it." I laughed.
"Slap you on the head! Don't figure it out, you woman! Don't fall into the water and I'll have to come and save you!" He muttered.
I smiled facelessly and didn't say a word.
"I walk in the water, you go up, it's hard to catch in the water, I drive the hairy crab to the shore, you better catch some." Look at the prison, five fingers together, the hand on the hairy crab press down, hold it down in its entirety, the action should be fast, the fingers again pinch its two pliers, it can not run. "He turned on the flashlight while teaching me his hair-catching crab catching technique.
"You see, you see, I'm holding the flashlight, there's a big one!" He said.
"Where? where? My eyeballs searched desperately in the direction of his fingers.
"I'm in the light, it's lying there and it's not moving, you haven't seen it yet?" He glanced at me.
It was a big hairy crab, two or three times larger than I had caught before, and I felt that it was a "grandmaster" level hairy crab. The two eyes were dripping and turning, the dark yellow pliers were raised high, and when it heard the noise, it suddenly flew up its horizontal steps, and at once it burrowed into the water and grass, leaving a long row of footprints above the mud.
The grass was moving, I fixed my mind, and when I finally saw it, I hid in the water weeds. "Hey! I really can't believe I can't catch you!" ", I swooped over with an arrow step, kneeling in the mud on my left leg, holding the mobile phone in my left hand, and by the light of the mobile phone, the fingers of my right hand were together in a semi-grip shape, and I covered it with a lightning speed.
"Oops! Not good, Koharu, fast, fast, it caught my fingers! I yelled.
Don't look at the size of this hairy crab is not as big as a crab, but the strength of the clamp is really not small! Stimulated by the pain, I quickly threw the "grandmaster" into the bucket. Presumably it wanted to lose both, and even the broken arm wanted to hurt me--its weapon was firmly on the finger of my thumb, and it couldn't shake it off.
"You man! I didn't teach you! Oh, speechless! He gave me a blank look and sighed.
I removed my pliers and continued to follow him. The hairy crabs by the river said that there were really too many, and the light of the flashlight shone brightly, and a large area in front of it, densely packed, all came out to hang out, and I thought it was specially run out to meet me. Xiao Chun told me that it was because of the high tide of the Fuchun River today, because there were not many hairy crabs yesterday.
"Do you want to continue?" It tastes good, right? People who live in the city don't feel this feeling, right? ”
"Mm-hmm, indeed! Yes, go ahead! Go on! ”
So I continued to be bitten by hairy crabs, and the silent river continued to sound a piercing scream or two from time to time. I chased the hairy crab one foot deep and one foot shallow under the light of Koharu's flashlight, or was caught by me, or ran, and I was happy to do it, as if I had returned to my youth. Xiao Chun was one by one, and the hairy crabs he caught were generally larger than mine.
However, his connoisseur also has a time when the horse loses its front hoof, which is not, he did not pay attention at once, and a foot that did not pay attention also fell into the mud in the water. And I, too, didn't stand still at once, a toe, in a panic, I pulled his clothes by the hand, this is good, the smoke in his pocket was soaked in water, the phone was also wet, not to mention the mud of our two bodies, so I laughed out loud without being rude.
Unconsciously, I caught it for an hour, the barrel was heavy, about four or five pounds, and I was sweating, which was much more tiring than I usually walked five or six kilometers.
"You battery car go first, take both barrels, and I'll walk back." I said.
"Don't take the middle of the village road, there are dogs, take the Metasequoia Road", I "um" a little swing, it is back to him.
I haven't walked barefoot for a long time, so long that I seem to have only memories of my childhood, running around the village barefoot.
Walking barefoot with a body of mud on the asphalt road back to their house, the soles of the feet are numb and very comfortable. Under the mid-autumn night sky, a full moon hung overhead, and the moonlight sprinkled on me, soft. The long Metasequoia Road is very empty, and the street lamps make the shadows of the trees very long and long.
I was the only pedestrian on the road under the silent night sky. The dots of light on the other side of the river imprinted on my body through the gaps in the trees, the slight river breeze came, a faint fishy smell, the shadows of the branches floated, and also sent a faint sweetness of rice, completely sweeping away my exhaustion.
I suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling of comfort.
Such a day can not be found in the bustling city, it seems that when we were young, we always lived such a day, but when we grew up, we were gradually lost, so that we always felt tired and hard. Everyone is trying to move forward and want to give themselves and their families a good and comfortable life. After searching for so long, I found that the best was always there—the place where I had abandoned it.
By the time I got home it was nearly twelve o'clock in the morning. The moon is like water, the car has not yet driven out of Mei Rong, I can't help but start to linger. Nostalgic for this vast moonlight sitting quietly on the riverside, like a boudoir woman quiet and delicate Mei Rong, nostalgic for the stars and dots of light passing through the tall buildings on the other side, we go to catch the hairy crabs on the river that take advantage of the mid-autumn moon and come out of the water to walk.
2021.9.19