Chapter 226: Seeing the Sea Turtle Again

After eating and drinking.

Lao Mai couldn't sit still; after calling out to everyone, Wu An and A Qing said they needed to rest, as they had to haul the crab pots and longlines in the afternoon—this was quite a laborious task.

Mai Hangyu hesitated for a while, then also decided to rest a bit.

Lao Mai shook his head and went off to fish by himself.

After resting over an hour, Wu An was awakened by the alarm he had set; he pulled his phone from his pocket, turned off the alarm, and A Qing and Mai Hangyu also woke up.

A Qing asked, "Brother, shall we haul in the longline?"

Wu An nodded.

After a few hours, the longline was ready to be hauled in.

Just as they were speaking.

Lao Mai walked in, and Wu An asked, "Lao Mai, how's the fishing?"

"Not great." Lao Mai shook his head and said, "It's strange—without you two around, there's hardly any bite."

A Qing comforted, "That's fine; it saves us the effort of steering the boat."

Lao Mai snapped, "Are you comforting me or provoking me?"

They headed straight for the longline area.

This time Lao Mai was steering the boat, while A Qing and Mai Hangyu had Wu An haul the floats; the first hook already had a catch.

"There's a catch, there's a catch."

"It's out of the water—damn, it's a tiger grouper!"

"Brother, it's got to be you—the first hook is already a good catch."

"If the rest are all groupers, we'll strike it rich!"

Hearing A Qing and Mai Hangyu shout, Lao Mai, who was steering, couldn't help but marvel at Wu An's good luck—he was practically the sea's darling.

Wu An was also pleased; catching a tiger grouper on the first hook was definitely an auspicious start.

After bringing it up, A Qing took over, holding a syringe in one hand and covering the fish's eyes with the other, then using the syringe to puncture and deflate the fish.

Mai Hangyu watched curiously and said, "Just like when I got shots as a kid, my mom would cover my eyes like that."

A Mai explained, "It's roughly the same principle."

"Covering their eyes like that makes them struggle less."

"You could also knock them out, but I'm afraid I might accidentally hurt the fish—such a valuable catch is worth more alive."

The next few hooks also caught fish, but they were sea bass, yellow-legged fish, black bream, and two stone nine public—common sea fish.

No sea eels showed up, which Wu An thought was fine.

With no sea eels to disturb things, the longline was hauled in smoothly, needing no extra tidying before being cast back into the sea.

Wu An was slightly out of breath.

Hauling the longline really is tiring.

"Brother, you're tired, huh?"

"It really is exhausting—we've hauled up too much catch."

"Yeah, why did we catch so many fish? Want me to take over?"

"No need, I can keep going a bit longer; we'll switch later."

Lao Mai listened to Wu An and A Qing's brotherly banter, his lips twitching; these two brothers complaining about hauling too much—if anyone else heard, they'd probably curse them for showing off.

Even if the caught fish aren't valuable, they're still money.

Anyone would be willing to drop dead from exhaustion for that.

As he muttered to himself, he heard his beloved grandson say, "Brother, this yellow-legged fish is a bit small; should we keep it?"

"Better not."

"Fine, I'll toss it so the live fish tank doesn't run out of space."

Lao Mai's mouth twitched, and he couldn't be bothered to think further.

The next moment, his heart leapt again when he heard A Qing shout, "Brother, it looks like a large yellow fish—bright yellow!"

"Hangyu, do you see it?"

"I think it looks like one too."

Lao Mai's hand trembled—could it be real?

Had the longline snagged a large yellow fish?

If he weren't still needed at the helm, he'd rush over to see for himself.

Wu An naturally saw it too; he said nothing but handled the line more carefully, slowing his pull, afraid to yank too hard—he could see the bright yellow fish still moving, and if it came off the hook, he'd surely lose sleep for days.

Soon they pulled the fish to the surface; A Qing and Mai Hangyu leaned in to look, and they all let out a sigh in unison, while Wu An's brow furrowed involuntarily.

"It's not a large yellow fish."

"I don't think it looks like one either."

"It must be a spring fish, yes, yes."

Wu An hauled the spring fish aboard; A Qing and Mai Hangyu watched and chatted, their tones a bit low. Seeing their disappointment, Wu An chuckled and said, "You're not even satisfied with a spring fish?"

"It still weighs over ten catties."

"This one probably weighs two or three catties; at the very least it'll sell for over a hundred bucks."

Hearing that, A Qing suddenly understood and took the spring fish to put it in the live fish tank.

Wu An kept hauling in the line; after about a third, exhausted, he handed it to A Qing, and thereafter his luck value ran out, resulting in empty hooks.

But it wasn't bad either.

A Qing also hauled in a red-spotted fish, which made him overjoyed.

Wu An was also pleased; if nothing unexpected happened, this red-spotted fish should be the most valuable catch from this longline fishing.

The fact shows that his seemingly better luck is just an illusion; it mainly depends on his Luck Value.

In that case.

Actually, that's also good; as long as he boosts his Luck Value, even if he doesn't do the work himself, his income won't be affected.

Once he expands and grows in the future, he won't be able to do everything himself.

It's not that he wants to be lazy.

Rather, once he gets a fleet going, he won't be able to go out to sea with them.

Just imagining it made Wu An's heart race with excitement.

While he was daydreaming, he heard Mai Hangyu shout: "Brother, look quick, look quick, looks like a sea turtle."

Wu An followed the direction of Mai Hangyu's finger and saw turtle shells bobbing up and down on the sea surface; he nodded and said, "Yes, they're green sea turtles, the same kind as the sea turtles we helped clean barnacles off before."

Back in the village, he searched on his phone.

The rescued sea turtles are just the most ordinary green sea turtles, the most numerous sea turtles in the ocean, not a special species.

Ordinary sea turtles happen to be quite spirited, making him feel amazed.

Mai Hangyu said, "This group of green sea turtles is coming toward us."

"Look quick."

"They're swimming pretty fast."

"Uh-oh, the longline fishing isn't finished yet; they might collide with the longline."

Wu An looked at A Qing.

A Qing shook his head: "Brother, there's still a third left; we definitely won't finish in time."

Mai Hangyu was a bit anxious: "That's troublesome."

"Never mind if they destroy the longline; if they get tangled or hooked, that's also a problem."

A Qing curled his lip: "That's them asking for death; can't blame us."

Mai Hangyu sighed: "That's how it is..."

Wu An stood up, walked to the boat's edge, then raised his hand and waved vigorously, shouting loudly: "Hey, sea turtles!"

"You guys hurry up and stop!"

"Don't come any closer; we're working here and might hurt you!"

He repeated the shout on both sides.

He also didn't know if the sea turtles could understand, hoping that the spirited sea turtle could comprehend.

"Don't come over!"

"Hurry back!"

A Qing and Mai Hangyu stared dumbfounded, not understanding what game the brother was playing, wondering if this group of sea turtles could even understand human speech.

Lao Mai also found it laughable, thinking Wu An was being too fanciful.

He also heard from A Qing and Mai Hangyu that they had rescued a spirited sea turtle, but no matter how spirited, it couldn't possibly understand human speech.

As expected.

The sea turtle group still kept to their rhythm, constantly bobbing up and down in the rolling waves, each surfacing bringing them closer to the fishing boat.

In the water, sea turtles actually aren't slow.