The early bird catches the worm

"It's here!!" Xiao Yu said and stopped, they were walking for a while and they had just arrived at a large clearing covered with all types of grass and plants. You could hear the sound of the birds and the river not very far.

"Will we really have to capture earthworms? Usually you already have them with you." said Mei Ling disgusted.

"Where do you think they came from? I often catch a lot from this place and I keep them for later but currently I have none left, so we have to harvest some of them if we want to fish. Do you know how to do it?" asked Xiao Yu.

"Of course, I have always dreamed to become the best earthworms huntress of the world." answered Mei Ling with a serious tone, Xiao Yu could not help himself to laugh, Mei Ling was obviously making fun of him again. Then he started to explain to her the catching method:

"At first we must find special leaves which grow on small thorny bushes, there should be some around and you can not miss them because the leaves are also much more greener that the other plants. These leaves have the particularity to release a strange pheromone when you scratch the surface, worms are very sensible to this scent, they can sense it from a distance of several meters and will be frantically attracted." said Xiao Yu.

"When you have some leaves, you just need to scratch the surface a little with a small wooden stick, sink it in the ground, wait that a worm takes the hook and pull it out to harvest it. It is just like fishing in fact." said Xiao Yu with a smile.

"Yes, sir! " answered Mei Ling, mocking the commanding tone of the young boy.

Xiao Yu ignored her and said: "We must find at least ten worms each."

They split up to start harvesting, one hour later Xiao Yu picked up his tenth worm and wrapped it with the others in the big leaf he was holding, then he rejoined Mei Ling.

When he get closer he saw something unexpected, the hole dug by the girl was large enough to fit a children, besides it was filled with a lot of green leaves, they all had been scratched on their surface and an important amount of green powder was mixed with them, releasing a strong scent.

"I used more leaves, I though it will be more efficient." said Mei Ling, looking proudly at her finished trap.

Suddenly the ground started to shake lightly, then heavier and heavier as if something huge was getting closer.

"What's happening?!!" shouted Mei Ling panicked.

Xiao Yu didn't have the time to answer that a huge worm as tall and large as a tree jumped out from the hole, its mouth full of sharpened teeth swallowed the leaves all at once.

The two young people did not dare to move an inch, the big worm digested what he just ate accompanied by a disgusting noise, then he moved his head in their direction.

Even though it did not have eyes you could easily guess where it was looking from the position of its head, at this moment it was on Xiao Yu then the worm looked at his hand, the young boy followed the worm's gaze and see the little earthworms he caught sooner, they were moving restlessly like if they were asking for help. Xiao Yu looked again slowly at the huge worm, which uttered a shrill cry. It was at this moment Xiao Yu knew he fucked up. He started running away as fast as he could, weeping about his misfortune:

"Shit, why always me? My luck is so bad!!" lamented Xiao Yu pursued by the huge worm, which was moving as fast as him, swallowing and destroying everything on its way.

Mei Ling was laughing out loud in front of this scene, but she quickly started worrying when she lost sight of Xiao Yu, she followed after them.

Meanwhile Xiao Yu was attempting to appease the worm:

"I am sorry, so sorryyyy, please don't eat me mighty king of worms!!" he said throwing the earthworms he was still holding in his hand: "Look I will release them, there."

One of the worm released by Xiao Yu driven by the speed of the boy ended up crashing lamentably on a tree. The huge worm ended up even angrier, it was totally mad at Xiao Yu and let out an awful shriek before soaring toward him its mouth wide open. Seeing the worm's attack coming, Xiao Yu dodged by jumping on the side, the worm's head landed where he was just an instant before. Xiao Yu quickly got up and kept running in this new direction until he heard a comforting sound, it was the sound of the water flowing, the river was close. He gave everything and did not hesitate to jump in the river as soon as he was within reach.

The worm was closely following Xiao Yu and stopped brutally in front of the river, it wanted to chew to death the young boy, but the ten meters width of the river was sufficient to make it give up his pursuit. It let out a last furious shout and turned back in the forest venting his anger on the plants and trees on its way.

Xiao Yu took out his head from the water, a toad was leisurely resting on his head, totally ignored by the young boy who breathed a sigh of relief:

"Finally safe, pfff I could have lost my poor life, eaten by a worm, it would have been such a pitiful death."

He barely had the time to rejoice, that he heard a charming voice coming from the riverside:

"I see you turned out fine, and you even made a new friend." said Mei Ling who had already rejoined him and didn't lost this chance to make fun of him again, with a smile on her beautiful face.

"You can laugh, but now we don't have any fish baits left, I had to let go of my earthworms, we will have to get back to the village." said Xiao Yu, he put the toad on his head back in the water and began to swim to the riverside.

"Are you speaking about all these worms?" said Mei Ling, showing a dozen of earthworms in her hands. "I picked them up on my way here." Both knew very well these worms were the ones Xiao Yu threw away during his race with the worm's king, but Xiao Yu didn't mind and just nodded.

Mei Ling continued: "Besides we have to set a campfire, you are all wet and you should take off your clothes to dry them, if you don't want to catch a cold." said Mei Ling with an innocent tone.

Xiao Yu embarrassed knew she was again having fun by teasing him, he answered with a shocked tone: "A lady should not ask a young boy to take off his clothes, miss Ling, people could misunderstand her intentions."

Falling out in her own trap, Mei Ling's cheeks became red:

"Pervert!! I was only talking for your care. I will leave the time you dry yourself, I will try to find some fruits around." she turned and disappeared under the forest's trees, not letting Xiao Yu the time to answer.

"Such a temperament!" said Xiao Yu to himself.

Xiao Yu lighted a fire on a rocky place close to the river, he put his fishing rod on the floor and took off his clothes laying them alongside. Recovering from his adventures he then waited patiently for the fire to play its part.