She turned over a chestnut with one hand, while the other hand was picking up a water chestnut. Then, she would throw it in their boat. The others on the boat were receiving the water chestnuts one by one. Waves of laughter surrounded them.

Not until night came did Long Xi jump back in the boat.

Long Xi and Yan w.a.n.gchuan were both ingenious and made a few simple crab lanterns with bamboo last night.

They lit the crab lanterns and allowed them to float following the current.

Crab lanterns were crab-shaped lanterns. Making crab lanterns was a special kind of colored-lantern-making technique in Yangcheng Lake.

The crab lanterns were seemingly lonely floating on the water.

Right at the moment, a group of rural women and kids were also putting out colorful lanterns, including crab lanterns, lotus lanterns, fish lanterns, and duck lanterns.

The lanterns floated on the lake like the stars in the sky, awakening the lake water.

Yan w.a.n.gchuan knew folk songs from his hometown, so Long Xi pestered Yan w.a.n.gchuan to sing a song to them.

Yan w.a.n.gchuan had to agree and said with a smile, “Since you ask me to sing a song to you every day, I can sing a piece of Liuqin drama to you today.”

Long Xi clapped her hands to agree.

Yan w.a.n.gchuan stood up and sang a piece with local lyrics of a Subei Liuqin drama while facing the lake. “His family brings 2 kg of fried dough twist, 2 kg of sugar, 2 kg of fruit… to visit my family…”

He sang in excitement, while the lyrics were very close to life and witty. Everyone present burst into laughter.

Ai Meiqi was originally sculling the boat and was addicted to his song. She even squatted down, allowing the boat to drift by itself.

Their boat swayed and left circles of ripples, while the crisp voice was like the ripples, scattering sway.

When the breeze pa.s.sed by, the reeds were bowing their bodies. They lowered their heads and were chatting with each other like a group of old women.

Grandma pointed at a straw house on the sh.o.r.e and said, “Yangcheng Lake's water is so clear. Water plants are dense, forming into rich bait for the fish. Besides, the mud is hard under the lake. All of these conditions are suitable for hairy crabs to grow up. Plenty of rivers and harbors are connected with the surroundings. At the change from autumn to winter every year, the mature hairy crabs change their sh.e.l.ls and migrate to the shallow sh.o.r.e. “Learning the characteristics of the crab's reproductive migration, the fishermen built a watergate by the riverway along the sh.o.r.e to catch crabs, called 'Keeping the Crabs'. This is one of the most normal ways to catch crab. Look, those are the houses of fishermen who are keeping crabs. These days, the tourism industry in Suzhou is booming, while the fishermen are coming to join this. If you pay them 20 yuan, you can catch the crabs on your own. Are you interested in giving it a try?”

Ai Meiqi said, “Building a gate to keep crabs is done by using bamboo poles and fis.h.i.+ng nets to build a slanting gate in the small river channel along the direction of the current. At the end of the gate are built plenty of straw houses. A narrow water channel is built in the houses and along the sh.o.r.e. Crabs migrate along with the current. When meeting the slanting gates, they will climb into the water channel inside the straw houses. Late at night, the fishermen will light lanterns in the house, leading the crabs to move inside the houses.”

Hearing this, Long Xi and Yan w.a.n.gchuan wanted to try it out.

They met an old lady charging a fee at the door of a straw house.

After paying the fee, they entered the house.

A middle-aged fisherman was keeping crabs in the house.

He saw a boy and a girl walking inside and put his middle finger in front of his lips, indicating to them not to make out a sound.

He noticed them look toward the water channel. Just now, the old lady had told them that the crabs were very vigilant. They would take note of any movement when they moved from the darkness to the light. Any sound would make them immediately escape.

However, Long Xi was extremely excited when capturing a black shadow and could not help screaming out.

The black shadow was a crab. It escaped away as soon as hearing the voice.

Long Xi stuck out her tongue angrily.

They were patient to wait for another 10 minutes before they saw a black shadow appearing at the entrance.

Everyone took a closer look. It turned out to be two pincers of a crab.

The crab seemed to be more patient than the people, still lurking under the water.

Long Xi and the others were so nervous they couldn't even breathe.

It stayed for about half a minute, confirming that there was no danger, before starting to climb slowly along the waterway.

Right at the moment, the middle-aged fisherman caught the crab with the net and put it into the crab basket.

When he saw Long Xi planning to give it a try, he handed the net to her.

Long Xi nervously waited for the second crab to fall into the net.

It turned out that this work was not as easy as it seemed.

When the second crab came in, Long Xi imitated the fisherman's action to catch the crab. However, because of her lack of experience and being overexcited, a sound burst out when she put the net into the water, which frightened the crab to escape away.

Seeing that the crab escaped away when it had nearly been caught, she felt somewhat upset.

Yan w.a.n.gchuan grinned and said, “Let me have a try.”

Long Xi was not willing to give up and hoped to try it one more time.

For the second time, her movement was not fast enough and the third crab was about to escape. The fisherman was well-prepared and loosened the rope in his hand. The bamboo gate over the water entrance at the other side of the rope fell down at once and locked the crab in the waterway. It could not escape anymore.

Yan w.a.n.gchuan laughed in a low voice. “Fortunately, crabs cannot speak. If they could contact each other through antennae like ants, the escaped crab would have informed this one. Or they could hold a meet and they'd never come here.”

Long Xi grinned silently and covered her mouth when hearing this.

She tried a few times and finally mastered the key points. She even caught two crabs on her own.

She grinned to say, “We can buy some curry paste and cook curry crabs. It will be more delicious to cook the crabs we caught!”

Yan w.a.n.gchuan and Ai Meiqi also caught two crabs, respectively. Everyone returned with a full load…

On the stage, the orchestra team and a chorus of 100 boys and girls were well prepared. Yan w.a.n.gchuan moved to the podium.

Those in the audience could not help exclaiming, “He is so versatile!”

Before he conducted, Yan w.a.n.gchuan smiled and closed his eyes. His right hand holding a baton stopped in the air.

In an instant, Long Xi suddenly felt the air suddenly solidify.

At this moment, the world seemed to be held in Yan w.a.n.gchuan's hands.

He opened his eyes and moved his hand. The air seemed to melt and the earth began to turn around. All the members in the choir were mobilized.

The prelude sounded, which was the chorus version of “The City of the Sky”, and the finale of tonight's show.

Under the command of Yan w.a.n.gchuan, who was full of spiritual intent and the understanding of music, elegant melodies, lyrics, music, and voice combined together and were presented to the audience in harmony.

For the audience, this was really a feast of the auditory sense.

At the end of the song, the audience burst into thunderous applause in silence.

Yan w.a.n.gchuan stood up and walked to the center of the stage to acknowledge the applause.

His words and deeds were elegant. He wore a faint smile with hint of shyness.

Mo Kun stood up and walked over to the exit.

His figure was so tall and straight. He behaved unrestrainedly but showed a hint of indescribable desolation.

At the moment he was about to step out of the exit, he stopped but did not turn around. His back was still. Cold words without any emotion spat out of his two thin lips, “Why are you following me?”

The beauty behind him walked closer to him and wore a smile tenderly. “Brother Mo Kun, do you still remember Man Shahua by Daming Lake?”

Mo Kun turned back and found that the woman who was making eyes at him was Man Shahua, whom he had not seen for a long time. She wore a blue-green tube-top dress with lace.

He remembered that he took part in a charity party with Long Xi. Long Xi wore the same dress, but she looked like a fairy and s.e.xy due to her elegance.

That night, the photos of their dances were taken by the entertainment journalists in secret. Then, they became the headline in entertainment news.

Mo Kun curved his mouth. Was it a sneer or a smile? It seemed to be the former. Man Shahua was a scheming girl. She was obviously imitating the dress of Long Xi and deliberately trying to show a figure of a G.o.ddess.

He said coldly, “I don't remember.”

Man Shahua looked at his fascinating way of talking with her waterful eyes, flipping back her hair.

This was a strong suggestion. Plenty of men would fall in love with her because of this movement.

Mo Kun's expression was gloomy and he said in a cold tone, “My car is outside. Follow me.”

Man Shahua was overjoyed.

She walked closely next to him and wanted to hold his arm.

He did not give her this opportunity and walked forward. She licked her mouth and followed him.

Mo Kun's personal driver Apen had already driven his white streamlined car to the entrance of the concert hall.

This was the latest solar-powered amphibious car invented by Mo Kun, branded as “Mermaid”, whose car logo was also an abstract mermaid pattern.

It was powered by half-gasoline and half-solar energy. It could pa.s.s over the mountains as if moving on the ground, and also could activate the modes of “shallow water” and “deep water”. It was suitable for crossing the stagnant water areas on the street or the low-lying areas in the wild.

It could also “transform” into a s.h.i.+p or submarine, sailing on top of or under the water.

Because of the high price, less than 100 people owned this new type of car in this country now.

Apen saw Man Shahua behind his boss and his eyes lit up.

This was a normal reaction when seeing a pretty woman. At the same time, he also felt familiar with this woman and that he might have met her somewhere before. Oh, he might have seen her on TV or somewhere else.

As a driver, he was very professional and immediately got out of the car, respectfully opening the door for the two.

Mo Kun did not show his manner as a gentleman or any politeness to her. He got in the car first and sat in the corner of the back seat, closing his cold eyes with a little tiredness.

Man Shahua followed him to sit next to him.

Mo Kun intentionally drew back a distance from her. Even a fat guy could sit between them.

A small doll made of cloth was hanging on the car window, which was made by Long Xi according to her own cartoon image.

Looking at that little doll, Mo Kun took a deep breath with a heavy heart.