Chapter 1347: Serving

"Sea turtle, sea turtle, back from the sea, can we save it? Why is it rolling its eyes? A sea turtle can roll its eyes?" Ye Yaodong carried his rice bowl, walking and shoveling rice into his mouth as he went.

The fishing boat rocked and swayed as it sailed, but he had already mastered walking and eating at the same time without stumbling.

"There are ropes tangled around its neck, and it doesn't really look like it's rolling its eyes, heh, that's just my own imagination, but it does look about the same, its eyes seem swollen."

"You can tell its eyes are swollen?"

"Uh... the other guys said so... we even saw the sea turtle shedding tears."

Ye Yaodong could already see it — that sea turtle lay motionless on top of the fish hold cover, letting the workers crowd around and touch it as they pleased, clearly looking like it was breathing out more than it was breathing in.

Its eyes really were swollen in a ring, and the area around them was red, and right now tears were still plopping down one after another — everyone found it an absolute marvel.

At this moment one worker was already holding a pair of scissors, picking at the lines on its neck and snipping them one by one — there were quite a lot of them, all nylon line.

And its neck was already chafed raw, some spots scabbed over and then split open again, flesh torn and exposed — it looked painful just to look at.

Two more people were scraping the barnacles off its back.

The workers nearby were all itching to try, scrambling to get a turn, chattering away.

"Can I have a go too? The Turtle Prime Minister will go home and report to the Dragon King of the Sea, and he'll bless me then."

"Cut the crap..."

Ye Yaodong clicked his tongue twice. "If we hadn't hauled it up, in a few more days it would've been strangled to death."

"For sure, it's already chafed through to blood, and the lines have grown into the flesh — just now I gave it a gentle tug and a bunch of blood came out."

"The wound must have healed and then been cut into again — some of the lines have grown into the skin."

"Hiss..."

Ye Yaodong sucked in a breath and casually rubbed his own neck — his neck definitely couldn't take that kind of abuse.

"Can you even do it? Look, its turtle head is swinging side to side, it must be in pain — let me try..."

"Stop arguing..."

Seeing the workers still bickering there, all wanting a turn, with the net not yet hauled in and the previous catch already mostly sorted, and not much left on top of the fish hold cover, Ye Yaodong spoke up.

"If your hands are itching, use a brush to scrub the dirt off its body, or fetch some seawater to pour over it so it doesn't dry out. The rest of you, get back to whatever you're supposed to be doing — crowding around here, what do you expect to see?"

"We're curious — it actually followed our boat."

"That means it's got a spirit, it knows to ask for help."

"With such a big wound on its neck, if we put it back in the sea, won't the saltwater soak it to death?"

"Then I don't know."

"Can we put it in the live well and keep it for a while?"

Ye Yaodong thought it over and figured it could work — keeping it for a few days before releasing it back into the sea wasn't a bad idea; it wouldn't starve, after all.

"Then let's keep it for a few days."

A few workers who had nothing to do and were bored out of their minds actually grabbed brushes and rags and started pampering the sea turtle every which way.

Even the bathhouse scrubbers weren't as dedicated and meticulous as they were — they flipped over all four limbs and scrubbed them again and again, wiped them clean, not even missing the gaps in the shell.

"I wonder if when your own fathers get old, you'll serve them this attentively."

Ye Yaodong watched them being so diligent, carrying his rice bowl and teasing as he ate.

"Definitely not — I've got my mother for that."

"So you came here to be the turtle's son, is that it..."

"Hahahahaha..."

The workers burst out laughing.

"That's this old turtle's good fortune..."

"How long has the net been down? You guys seem pretty free." he asked.

"It's been over four hours, right? Should be time to haul the net soon, yeah? We're waiting for the word."

"Not free at all — we just finished up and then went right back to drying squid, shredded squid, and we even just sliced up the tuna."

Ye Yaodong acknowledged with a sound. "When you have time, dry a bit more. When we get back to shore, I'll bring some home for you to eat too."

"Great, Brother Dong is so generous."

"It's also because you all helped dry them — it's not much, but you can bring some home for your families to try something fresh. Working so hard going out to sea to earn money — isn't it all so your families can have a good life?"

"Hehe, Brother Dong, you really know how to talk — I'm so moved I could just go die for you."

"Bullshit."

Ye Yaodong shoveled the last bite of rice into his mouth, then set the bowl and chopsticks back on the counter, leaving them for the others to clean up.

And he went back up to ask his cousin when they'd haul in the net.

His cousin was still grinning foolishly. "Wasn't it because I saw you were awake — figured I'd wait for your word?"

"Alright then, they said the net's been down for over four hours. Did you detect any big schools of fish during that time?"

"Yeah, we hit several dense red clusters a few times, and there were green and yellow dots the whole time — none of that empty situation you mentioned. There should be a decent haul, right?"

"Then haul the net."

Empty waters where nothing can be detected, needing to search — that's for later. Right now resources are abundant, the sea is teeming with life.

"Then I'll go notify them. Do you still need me here?"

"You take over. I haven't slept enough — I just got up to check because I wasn't at ease. I'll catch a little more shut-eye after."

"Okay."

His heart wasn't that big either; he worried something might go wrong, and if he couldn't sleep peacefully he'd get up to check. Now that he'd just eaten, he needed to move around a bit, and later he'd lie back down for an afternoon nap.

He'd also take this chance to check how they'd been pampering that sea turtle.

As soon as they heard they were about to haul the net, everyone got moving.

Ye Yaodong went back down to the deck to watch them each busy at their tasks.

They had only been out one day, and they had already split themselves into two groups with clear division of labor and all tasks assigned.

That sea turtle had been cleaned up neatly by them, as if it had come alive again, looking bright and clear-eyed, no longer the dusty, dirt-covered thing it had been.

And the wound on its neck had been treated too. They had somehow torn off a strip of red cloth from somewhere and actually tied a bow on its neck, making it look like it was wearing a tie — they really had a knack for it.

He reached out and tugged the bow, and the sea turtle immediately turned its head to look at him. "So idle you've started playing tricks?"

"Dong-ge, let's carry it up to the deck together, otherwise once the fish bag is opened, a whole pile of cargo will fall out."

"Mm."

The sea turtle crawled all over the place as soon as it reached the deck, and no one had time to mind it — everyone was busy, the real work came first.

Ye Yaodong didn't go look either, figuring it couldn't crawl far, no need to bother.

But when he picked up a basket of goods that everyone had sorted through and deemed useless, ready to dump into the sea, he suddenly saw that sea turtle trying to escape.

It swept away its earlier listless look, its four flippers scraping away on the deck nonstop, mimicking a swimming posture, shifting its chubby limbs, sneaking toward the aft deck — and it didn't look slow at all.

He was still hesitating whether to stop it, to wait until the wound healed a bit before letting it go, but the sea turtle had already crawled impatiently to the edge of the aft deck.

It even turned back to glance at him, nodding its head as if saying goodbye, then kept shifting its limbs — "Splash!" — and dropped itself into the sea.

"Quite the spirit — knows how to sneak off."

These past few years, Ye Yaodong had run into sea turtles every year, and at close range too — just different ways of meeting them, many times now. He felt this creature really did have a spirit.

And meeting a sea turtle every year felt like a good omen too — it meant he could go out to sea and come back safely every year.

Let it go back if it wants — maybe it overheard them saying they'd keep it and snuck off first.

He lifted the basket of sundries in his hands and kept dumping them into the sea.

But just as he finished dumping and was about to go back and keep loading, he saw beneath the water that big sea turtle eating the goods he'd just dumped back into the sea.

The red strip of cloth on its neck was especially eye-catching — he recognized it at a glance as the one that had snuck off.

After eating, it floated back up to the surface and drifted along slowly, as if leisurely following along and catching some sun at the same time.

The workers never noticed the sea turtle had gone — it was only after Ye Yaodong watched it disappear that he turned back to tell everyone.

Everyone even felt a bit of regret.

"Heartless bastard... I just cleaned it up all nice and neat for it, and even my old man never got that kind of treatment."

"Go back and tell your old man — your old man isn't even as good as a sea turtle."

"Shows you're a dutiful turtle son."

"You're the damn turtle son..."

"Doesn't matter, as long as you're not a turtle gigolo..."

"Hahaha, damn... you bastard."

"A bastard is a turtle son, you know..."

Ye Yaodong laughed at their teasing too — the Chinese language was truly vast and profound.

He listened to everyone's mutual teasing without falling behind on the work. His cousin's side had no mishaps either, everyone cooperating well. He said goodbye to the group and, feeling reassured, went back to the cabin to catch up on sleep.

Certain nothing had gone wrong, this trip he could feel much more at ease — he could actually get a good sleep.