Carrying a Jurassic on me

Xu Xiaoyan had warned him about pickpockets around the station, and Yan Fei had already formulated a plan.

Once he crossed the road, he darted into the public restroom by the station he'd spotted earlier. Upon entering, he pretended to squat, then quietly disappeared while the previous occupant left. And just like that, the fifty-dollar bill in his pocket had been changed into loose coins amounting to only a few dollars.

He paid the restroom's old caretaker a dime and headed towards the shopping mall just a few steps away.

Sure enough, the first thing he saw were the watches for sale, the shelves behind the counter displayed different types of watches, including electronic watches with long strings attached, in various colors like yellow and green. They were round with tiny button-like ears.

The watch seemed a bit too feminine for his taste.

Yan Fei was not quite satisfied.

However, knowing he would find it uncomfortable to wear a wristwatch, he had to settle for such a design.

When he asked the price, the vendor demanded twelve dollars, without blinking an eye, Yan Fei said, "My brother on the beef shop across the road had sent me. He told me they all cost seven dollars."

Upon hearing this, the salesman curbed himself, "Pick a color then! We'll charge your said price!"

With the new digital watch hanging around his neck, Yan Fei felt he must look silly, but there was nowhere else to put it since his only pocket was on his pant's waistband. And he didn't fancy another visit to the loo, to fork over another dime to the old caretaker.

After a brief look around the small shopping mall, Yan Fei found himself indifferent to the array of colorful products on display, not thinking he needed to buy anything else.

It was only when he prepared to enter the station and saw all the food stands selling cold noodles, rice noodles, and clay pot noodles, did he remember his skipped breakfast! He ate a bowl of rice noodles and ordered a side of cold noodles, only to feel hungrier afterward.

"This city food is just a rip-off!" He muttered angrily to himself, he didn't bother buying anything else and headed straight for the bus towards Sancha River.

As soon as Yan Fei got off the bus back in Sancha River, he looked at the sun, which had significantly leaned towards the west, and began to mutter curses under his breath, "To hell with it! From now on, even if I had to walk, I won't ride that crap again. It took two hours to cover this twenty-ish km distance!"

The bus was indeed slow.

He had waited forever at the station for the bus to leave, and once it did, it moved slower than a pedestrian. The ticket collector kept shouting, asking if anyone needed to board, it took more than half an hour just to cover the few steps out of town. The slow-paced traveling continued outside the city, stopping for any potential passenger aside the road. Along with people getting off the bus everywhere like sheep dung scattered on a field, Yan Fei, with a new watch hanging around his neck, felt each second pass by like a year.

If he'd walked the same path, he could've made it back in time for a meal!

Starving, Yan Fei rushed back home the moment he opened the door he disappeared for a moment. With a blink of an eye, a roasted dinosaur leg appeared in his mouth, and a rabbit in his hand.

He didn't bother to close the door, he gulped down some water then started to skin the rabbit while eating.

The rabbit bore signs of gunshot, so selling it was out of the question lest it brought trouble.

There was no need to hide while skinning the wild rabbit, as he hung it in the courtyard and started right on it— considering he often dined on meat without him buying any, he might as well let everyone knew what he was eating.

"Yan Xiaofei, you caught a rabbit again? I think you went to the city this morning?" The curious girl arrived while he was skinning.

"Yeah, hehe. This would sell for twenty-five bucks in the city, I sold two and kept one to eat." Yan Fei replied.

"So you caught three in total? Didn't expect you to be quite good at it, you should put in a bit more effort since you'll be running up and down. Oh yeah, your police uncle came looking for you this morning but left after seeing no one was home." The girl didn't feel disgusted watching the skinning process and scooted over on a stool. "Oh my, the skinned rabbit looks so dreadful, all bloody and everything! Careful, don't break the skin, it's worth some money."

Yan Fei was very pleased: this was what was good about this girl, she was straightforward. Unlike some women who would debate at length when slaughtering a chicken, lamenting how pitiful the chicken was. If you feel bad for the chicken, you could turn a blind eye, or choose not to eat meat. However, once the dishes were served, their chopsticks would be the first to pick up the meat.

"Wow, Yan Fei, did you buy a new watch? It's nice-looking, did you buy it in the city?" Xu Xiaoyan came in and straight away fixed her gaze on the wild rabbit. She sat and chatted for the longest time before noticing the watch around Yan Fei's neck— how could one possibly not notice it?! He was stripped to the waist and wore a green watch. Somehow, she managed to overlook it for so long.

Yan Fei extended his neck, "Read on your own, my hands are dirty!"

Xu Xiaoyan took the pocket watch from his neck and started to sigh again, "I'm only equipped with an electronic watch on my hand now! This looks really nice. I thought this type of watch was suitable for a girl when I first bought mine, but it cost a few dollars more, so I only bought the one I wear."

Yan Fei was very generous: "If you like it, I'll give it to you and buy another one some other day."

Xu Xiaoyan rolled her eyes at him, "Enough! You clearly know what my parents are like, they'd yell at me if I go back with this. I get scolded even when I just come here to grab some food."

That's why Yan Fei, despite living next door, never visits Xu Xiaoyan's house.

Being the third daughter of the Xu Family, Xu Xiaoyan is seen as no better than a criminal in the eyes of parents wishing for a boy. She's even less popular than Yan Fei throughout childhood - no matter how foolish Yan Fei could be, he is a boy after all.

Being "unpopular" is putting it lightly. She was practically abhorred. In a few years times, it'd be unfathomable to think that one's own child would be so despised, less even than a dog at home?

Being such an unwelcome child, she could do nothing right. As a child, she had no one to play with, and she would be beaten and scolded for sneaking over to play with Yan Fei. Yan Fei, living just next door, could often hear things like "loss-making goods also found an idiot" and "go be the idiot's concubine" through the walls. Yan Fei, who had secrets from an early age and was fairly sensible, would naturally feel uncomfortable hearing such words.

Even his grandfather, several times, couldn't eat properly out of anger when hearing such words. The old man swallowed his anger for his grandson's sake, otherwise a fight would have inevitably ensued.

It's only in recent years, as attitudes have begun to change, that Xu Xiaoyan's situation has improved a little. Her good performance in school, and her two older sisters both making it to university, have helped to gradually ease her life and allow her to continue high school. But the habits formed over more than a decade don't just change overnight.

Moreover, a student like Xu Xiaoyan, who would be pampered in any other family, is just a punch-bag in this one – it wasn't until she started high school that Yan Fei saw her wear new clothes.

While they were talking, the wild hare from last night had become braised rabbit meat. Both of them feasted until they were content.

Just after eating, Xu Xiaoyan helped clean up the dishes when Yang Qian and Jiao Bing arrived. The two of them each had a thin bamboo pole. Upon closer inspection, each one was fitted with fishing line and hook, they were homemade fishing rods.

When Xu Xiaoyan saw people had come, she returned home. As soon as she left, the two of them started to insinuate: "Yan Fei, this is your house's girl, isn't it? She's really pretty."

Yan Fei had always been told this from an early age, he wasn't embarrassed in the slightest, he even appeared quite proud: "Of course, she's a good student, she'll be going to college in the future."

These two felt nothing but envy. They didn't see the custom of concubinage as a "bad habit" at all.

It wasn't until they'd been envious for half an hour that they remembered why they'd come today: "Yan Fei, are you coming fishing with us at the river?"

Fishing was just an excuse; Yan Fei knew that without them even saying anything. They actually wanted to play in the river and catch crabs. Before bringing out the fishing rod, they'd definitely have promised their families: I'm only going fishing, I swear I won't go in the water.

That was just something for the parents to console themselves with, not something anyone really believed.

Yan Fei had "big plans" for today, so he regretfully declined, "I can't, I have things to do this afternoon. Anyway, I don't have any fishing gear. I'll just steal a couple of bamboo poles from the bamboo forest one day, get ready, and then go!"

Hearing his refusal, the disappointment on their faces was akin to losing money: "Ahh... you'd better hurry. If you don't come, we wouldn't dare go catch crab ourselves."

Yan Fei waved his hand, "I'll go steal the bamboo rods tonight, you guys can go first!"

As he was leaving, Yang Qian didn't forget to remind him, "Remember to hurry up! We're nearly going back to school. Once we start junior high, our playtime won't be quite so leisurely!"

If he hadn't mentioned going back to school, Yan Fei would have probably forgotten that he needed to attend junior high school. If he wanted to go to school, he had to find someone to plead his case. This person certainly had to be either Uncle Baoguo or Uncle Ming and arrangements had to be made in advance to avoid his parents sending him to the county school when they return in a few days. Thinking about his poor test scores, Yan Fei felt such a headache.

However, Yan Fei did have "big plans" at this time. Didn't he unexpectedly get a gun yesterday? He was all set to see what this gun could do. After eating Compsognathus meat, he had transformed into a Compsognathus; what about a Pterosaur?