357: Encounter with a giant sea turtle

Yang Qi scooped up a few Crabs and Lobsters and headed to the kitchen to start making Seafood Porridge; he still preferred having porridge for breakfast.

The Small Pickles Wang Yan had preserved a few days ago should be ready to eat today. He had heard her bragging about them for so many days and was waiting to taste just how good they actually were.

Adding a stir-fried Large Whelk, a steamed Grouper, and a small stir-fry of beef, it was just about enough to eat.

“Brother Qi, do you want me to steam some Mantou for you?”

Yao Shanshan had gotten up by then. Seeing Yang Qi cooking, she hurried over.

“That would be great! I love eating them, but I don't know how to make Mantou. Thank you, Shanshan!”

Yang Qi was quite happy to hear this, and as a gesture of reciprocity, he asked:

“Then Shanshan, what dish would you like to eat? I'll make one for you.”

“No need, there are already so many dishes; it's enough for everyone.”

Yao Shanshan said while kneading the dough.

While the two were talking, Bai Xue and Wang Yan also came out. After chasing Yang Qi away, the three women quickly finished preparing breakfast.

“Hubby, what are the plans for today? Are we going to continue foraging here?”

Bai Xue asked during the meal.

“The Live Wells are all full, so let's leave this place and wander around! This is a good spot; let's mark it and come back next time.”

Yang Qi said after thinking for a moment.

After eating, the four returned to the island to move the barbecue grill, canopy, beach chairs, and other items back to the setting sail. Of course, they also brought back those two bags of glass waste.

Once the Crab traps were hauled up, Yang Qi was a bit at a loss again.

It wasn't that there was no harvest, but that the harvest was too much—the traps were freaking bursting again.

So Yang Qi made a decision: all Crabs and Lobsters under half a catty were thrown back into the sea. Finally, the two small Live Wells were also filled to capacity, unable to hold any more seafood.

Following Bai Xue's principle of earning as much as possible, two more live fish boxes were filled.

There were also two live fish boxes containing small Ornamental Fish that Bai Xue had specifically caught last night.

Yang Qi knew Bai Xue had caught them for those few young ladies she met last time. He was very supportive of her building connections with those children of official families.

Next, Yang Qi piloted the setting sail and began searching everywhere in the ocean for schools of fish. However, luck was not on their side today.

They encountered many small schools of fish, but Yang Qi didn't find them worth his time.

It wasn't until four in the afternoon that Bai Xue, who was sitting beside him chatting, discovered a grayish-white mass ahead through the binoculars.

“Hubby, look, what's that?”

“Hmm? Let's go take a look!”

Coming closer, they saw it was actually a Giant Sea Turtle floating on the surface, swimming with a somewhat strange posture.

“It looks like it's entangled in a fishing net or something.”

A mass of fishing net was wrapped around the turtle's paddle-like right front limb. It was likely a discarded net from fishermen; the turtle must have gotten entangled while trying to eat fish caught in the net.

“Since we've run into it, we should help it by untangling the net. I'll go down and check.”

“Be careful! Don't let it bite you!”

Bai Xue was a bit worried.

Yang Qi's face darkened, and he gave her a look.

“Ah, bah, bah bah bah! Good things come true, bad things don't!”

Bai Xue reacted immediately, clasping her hands together in prayer.

Yang Qi stripped off his clothes, held a Diving Knife in his mouth, jumped off the fishing boat, and quickly swam to the side of the Giant Sea Turtle.

Up close, he found it was much larger than it appeared from the ship. It was about the size of a small square table, roughly 1.2 meters wide.

“This thing must be a hundred years old! From the same era as my great-grandfather!”

“Come on, big guy, let me help you. Don't be afraid!”

Yang Qi said to the Giant Sea Turtle, holding the Diving Knife.

“You're pointing a shiny little knife at me and telling me not to be afraid?”

The Giant Sea Turtle's dark eyes stared at Yang Qi, its face full of wariness.

“What is this guy trying to do? Is he trying to kill me while I'm too weak to dive? Or maybe he wants to help me remove this thing on my leg that I can't shake off!”

Yang Qi saw that the tough skin on the turtle's limb had been cut through by the fishing net, and some parts were bleeding and festering.

“Big guy, don't be afraid! I'm here to help you. Don't return kindness with enmity and bite me when I'm not looking!”

Yang Qi pointed at the turtle's somewhat festering limb.

The turtle just stared at him, neither nodding nor trying to bite him.

“Since you're not talking, I'll take that as your consent! I'm going to start.”

Yang Qi carefully pulled at the broken net. The Giant Sea Turtle kept staring at him, perhaps understanding that Yang Qi was there to help.

“So smart. Indeed, anything that lives this long isn't a simple character.”

“Be good! Don't bite me, I'm here to save you!”

Regardless of whether the Giant Sea Turtle could understand him, Yang Qi kept talking to it.

On one hand, he wanted to express to the turtle that he had no ill intent; on the other, he hoped to calm himself down and not be nervous.

As Yang Qi applied pressure with the knife, the fishing net was cut away bit by bit. The Giant Sea Turtle was very cooperative, even stopping its previous struggling movements.

Yao Shanshan and Wang Yan, hearing the commotion on the fishing boat, also came out to stand beside Bai Xue, watching this miraculous scene nervously.

Wang Yan had even taken Bai Xue's camera and started filming.

As the outer layers of the fishing net threads were cut, Yang Qi found that some threads had bitten deeply into the turtle's flesh, right where it was festering.

This wound was very difficult to handle in the sea, and Yang Qi was afraid of causing secondary injury to the turtle. Besides, the festering area needed treatment. So, he decided to get the turtle onto the boat first.

“Xiao Xue, prepare the ropes. Let's hoist this big guy up; I can't get it clean down here.”

The Giant Sea Turtle cooperatively let Yang Qi tie it up, and as Bai Xue operated the Crane, it was slowly hoisted onto the deck.

“What the hell, how am I flying?”

And so, this Giant Sea Turtle took its first ever 'flight' in its life.

Lying on the deck, the turtle watched motionlessly as Yang Qi took out scissors and cut away all the fishing net threads that had bitten into its flesh.

The Giant Sea Turtle was extremely cooperative throughout the process, not even moving when Yang Qi sprayed it with Povidone-iodine.

“It's so spiritual!”

Bai Xue and the others marveled in amazement.

“How could it not be? It's from our great-grandfather's generation. I checked just now; it weighs nearly two hundred catties and is probably around 100 years old.”

Yang Qi said as if it were common sense.

“You guys go get some food for the patient to nourish it.”

“Oh oh oh! Okay!”

The three women ran to get some sea fish, chopped them up, and fed them to the Giant Sea Turtle.

“Go get some greens too, to give it some vitamins.”

The turtle wasn't shy at all and accepted everything offered. It was naturally an omnivore, usually feeding on fish and seaweed in the ocean.

“Big guy, are you full? If you're full, we'll send you back.”