Chapter Thirty-Five: Something in the Water

  Since it's already been decided that I'll be going to Xie Wuji's house over the weekend, I can only find someone from my village to take a message back to my family. Although we don't usually talk much, not returning home is definitely something that needs to be mentioned to them, so I have no choice but to ask them.

  After reassuring our families, we all looked forward to the arrival of the weekend with our respective family members.

  Sheng Yanqiu was also happy every day, like a yellow oriole, flying back and forth in front of me, never stopping for a moment, and constantly asking me if I could catch fish after that, and if I could swim.

  Although we can't swim, catching fish is still possible, this is my specialty.

  So I told her what swimming is, figure it out yourself, I won't, but catching fish, I'll think of a way, this should be doable.

  But the best in the wild is to make a pot of fish soup, the flavor is authentic wild fish, fresh and tender meat.

  It can be said that it is a human delicacy, when Dog Egg was alive, we often did this, at that time he caught frogs and I caught fish, and then used fire to cook fish soup and roast frogs.

  Unfortunately, times have changed and people are no longer doing this anymore.

  At that moment, the sadness was also discovered by Sheng Yanqiu, and she asked me what's wrong.

  I just smiled and said it was nothing.

  Then, Sheng Yanqiu continued to tell me what to do and how to do it after we got there, everything was well-planned. But she forgot one sentence, plans can never keep up with changes.

  On weekends, behind every boy sat a girl, either fat or thin, all chatting and laughing, chirping away.

  Xie Wujie, as the inviter, had a sincere smile on his face as he introduced to me how vast the reservoir we were about to visit was and how beautiful the surrounding scenery was.

  The girls in a row were so eager that they almost flew over, urging the boys who were carrying them on bicycles to pedal hard.

  Taking our school as the axis, Xie Wuji's home is on the east side, while my home is on the southwest side. The distance between the two places is at least 14 or 15 miles apart. So when we go there during the day, we have to leave some time to come back in the evening. If it's too late, I can only stay overnight in the dormitory and not return home.

  Xie Wuj's home is about five miles east of the school, roughly this distance, riding a bicycle for less than half an hour, basically you can arrive, but now everyone has one on their back, so it's slower.

  An hour later, we arrived at Xie Wuj's home, not going to the reservoir first, but going to his house first, parking the car, taking out small pots and basins, and then stewing fish soup.

  Rural areas all have their own gardens, where some vegetables are grown, all of which are purely natural and non-polluting, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, the whole garden is full of the fragrance of various vegetables and fruits.

  These wolf-like girls also have no reserve, in the laughter of Xie Wuji's parents, they ran wildly in the garden and ate fiercely.

  Finally, after everything was packed up, the girls had also eaten their fill. One by one, they were all satisfied and wiped their mouths, heading together towards the reservoir. As we left, Xie Wuj's parents smiled and reminded us to be careful, saying that several people had drowned in that river before, so don't go too far in, just play on the shore.

  And every time teachers at school have a holiday, they emphasize safety issues during the holidays. The first issue is water, don't enter deep water easily to prevent accidents.

  I used to sneer at this kind of talk, but after we went there this time, I will never think that what the teacher said was nonsense again. And for a long time afterwards, I still thought about the things that left a deep impression on me.

  The reservoir is just a little over a mile away from Xie Wuji's home, we walked past it, all of us were carefree and laughing with our respective girlfriends.

  After arriving there, the reservoir is indeed large enough, although it doesn't seem to be as vast as the sea, but this book house also has a size of over 10,000 mu. The gentle breeze blows across the water surface, blowing up layer after layer of ripples. Standing on the shore of the reservoir, you can feel that refreshing coolness belonging to the water vapor.

  And these girls were also amazed, while on the other side of the reservoir was a lush green grassland, a winding small river flowing into the distance. At the gate of the reservoir, the sound of water gushing out accompanied by the gentle breeze, blowing water droplets onto our bodies, adding a touch of coolness to this sweltering summer.

  "Wuji, which spot is good for catching fish?" Wang Yu asked with a questioning face, he had never actually gone into the water to catch fish before, so he didn't know.

  Xie Wujie also smiled and said, "Where there is water, there are fish. If you can swim, you can even go to the bottom of the reservoir, where there are four or five jin of carp that are hard to catch."

  After finishing, we all burst into loud laughter.

  Wang Yu was also made to feel a bit embarrassed by Xie Wuj's words, so he walked up to him and grabbed his neck, saying in a fierce tone: "You think you can be as arrogant as me? I propose that we throw Xie Wuj into the water for a bath, how about it?"

  As soon as he said that, we exchanged a glance and saw the deep agreement in each other's eyes. In an instant, they swarmed to Xie Wujis side, lifted him up, some grabbed his legs, some grabbed his hands, all laughing and carrying Xie Wujis to the waters edge, shaking him back and forth before letting go together.

  "Whoosh..."

  Xie Wujie was thrown into the water by us without mercy, and after a few struggles inside, Xie Wujie just poked his head out to look at us on the shore, shouting loudly: "Damn it, I'm going to drown! You guys really threw me in!"

  "This isn't just about seeing if you can swim or not, who knows whether what you said when you came was true or false. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth, it seems what you said was true, we believe you now." Wang Yu said seriously, like a rigorous and practical scholar, to Xie Wujie.

  After finishing speaking, his serious face immediately turned into a smiling face, laughing haha.

  Xie Wuji also shook his head helplessly

  Swam up and reached the shore, took off all outerwear, leaving only a small swimsuit on.

  "Alright, since we're here, why don't everyone get in the water and soak for a bit before we start catching fish?"

  "Alright."

  "But I don't know how to swim..."

  "You're stupid, who told you to go inside? You could have just stayed outside."

  ……

  For a moment, everyone was busy taking off their jackets and preparing to get in the water. The girls, after all, were still young ladies, and when they saw us boys stripping off our clothes, they turned bright red and turned their heads away, shouting "Perverts!"

  We also don't care about them, they all quickly walked into the water like dumplings in a pot.

  The sun shines on it, and the water is warm and cozy, just like a natural hot spring.

  The water is exceptionally clear, and you can see the stone slabs laid at the bottom of the shore.

  Xie Wujie, being a good swimmer, boldly swam further in, while we followed him step by step, although we couldn't swim, but we all splashed around, commonly known as "dog paddling", that's it.

  Wang Yu is the tallest among all of us here, and relying on his height, he stepped forward with more courage.

  And some of us were too short to be outside, not daring to go inside, and in the water, our bodies would involuntarily produce a dizzy feeling, and at the same time, there was also a fear of being choked by the water.

  Just as Wang Yu walked in for a while, he suddenly heard Wang Yu's extremely frightened cry.

  "Ah, there's something in the water, it's...it's grabbing my foot!" Wang Yu looked at me with a terrified expression, standing still and not knowing what to do.

  And we were also afraid and hastily shouted: "Don't move, it can't be a water ghost!"

  "What about Xie Wujie? Where is he?" I asked hastily as I suddenly noticed that Xie Wujie's figure was gone.

  But after scanning around, I didn't see his figure. At this time, I hurriedly shouted towards Wang Yu's direction: "Xie Wujie, come out quickly, don't scare Wang Yu."

  I'm sure it was Xie Wujin who was teasing Wang Yu, because for people who can swim, diving is not a difficult task, and grabbing Wang Yu's foot underwater is also normal.

  But I shouted for over ten times and there was no response, he's just a kid, he can't hold on in the water for so long, won't it be like Wang Yu? My heart skipped a beat for no reason, thinking: "Won't something bad happen?"

  Without thinking much, I said to the people around me: "You quickly go ashore and find Xie Wujie's father." After finishing speaking, I turned my head and asked Wang Yu: "Wang Yu, is there anything holding you back now? Take a look and see if you can move slowly towards me, don't rush."

  Quickly calm yourself down, if you're in a hurry at this time, something might really happen, this is in the water, it's not fooling around.

  There's a saying that water and fire are ruthless, killing people in an invisible way is the most terrifying. And I've seen Dog Egg enter the water without coming out, so I have a very clear understanding of how scary water can be.

  Wang Yu was brave enough, but under the unknown mysterious and unclear danger, he was still a little scared to cry.

  Trembling voice replied, slowly turned his body, little by little, moved towards the shore.

  Just as he was running to Xie Wuji's house to find his father, a big splash suddenly appeared beside Wang Yu, accompanied by a refreshing and pleasant laugh.

  "Haha... I'm dying of laughter, you're too timid, there's no such thing as ghosts in this world, haha..."

  Looking up, it was Xie Wujie who had dived into the water, poking his head out a meter away from Wang Yu, loudly mocking him.

  Wang Yu felt ashamed, fearful and embarrassed. A pair of big eyes suddenly blazed with anger, staring at Xie Wujie who was laughing there. Without a word, he quickly walked towards the shore.

  Xie Wujie took a glance at Wang Yu who was leaving, then looked at me and unconsciously curled up the corners of his mouth, also following to go ashore.

  Just as he stepped onto the shore, Wang Yu, who had arrived earlier, kicked Xie Wujie without saying a word. It was a ruthless move, and Xie Wujie flew into the water like he had been thrown.

  "Son of a bitch, I'll see you scare me again. If I don't beat you to death today, my name's not Wang Yu." Looking at Xie Wujie struggling in the water, we're also getting angry. You were doing fine, and then you scared us half to death.

  Xie Wujie fell into the water and splashed around a few times, then got up and walked to the shore, saying to Wang Yu: "Brother Wang, I was just joking with you, did it have to be like this?"

  Wang Yu didn't say another word and was kicked in again.

  We've also had enough by this point, and continuing on would be getting out of hand. So I pulled Wang Yu along and said, "Alright, we've vented enough."

  A few people held Wang Yu back, and I turned around to face Xie Wujie who was not coming up from the water and said: "Grass, you little bastard also owes a beating, why scare people for no reason. Hurry up and come on, we'll catch fish later and leave after eating."

  Xie Wujie reluctantly came up, wiping the water that was flowing down from his hair, and stood in front of Wang Yu with a smile: "Wang Ge, sorry about that, I shouldn't have scared you. If you're still angry, go ahead and beat me up again."

  Seeing Xie Wujie like this, Wang Yu, who was originally going to continue, also didn't dare say anything and just let the anger dissipate for a while. But it wasn't necessary to continue fighting, so he went to find Xie Wujie's dad's classmate who had been called back too.

  Everyone started preparing to catch fish...