Chapter 137: Saving the Turtle

Draped over her big brother’s shoulder, Yun Jiao yawned. She was drowsy but still insisted on having her little crossbody bag.

Yun Chenxi had packed her little crossbody bag with a few small steamed buns, two eggs, as well as cookies, fried dough twists, dried shrimp, dried fish, and some canned food.

It was a little heavy, but she held it with ease.

"Let’s go. You can sleep on the boat."

Yun Jiao yawned again and mumbled, "Okay."

But in reality, she had already fallen asleep on her big brother’s shoulder.

She had woken up too early today and hadn’t even eaten breakfast.

After getting on the boat, she was placed in a basket. Curled up inside with a bamboo hat placed over the top, she slept even more soundly.

When Yun Jiao woke up, they were already at sea.

Furthermore, Yun Linhai and the others had already cast a net once.

They had pretty good luck with that cast, catching a net full of silver pomfret.

Silver pomfret sells for a bit more than golden pomfret, about fifty cents a pound.

They saw that Yun Jiao was awake as they were pulling in their second net.

"Jiaojiao’s awake. There’s food in your bag, go ahead and eat some breakfast."

Yun Jiao said, "Oh," and climbed out of the basket. She sat on the deck with her short little legs crossed, watching her dad and the others work.

She glanced at the sea. ’What good luck today. We just got out on the water and already ran into a school of silver pomfret passing by.’

Yun Jiao finished her hard-boiled egg and then nibbled on a steamed bun.

The buns had been steamed at home last night, and they even had milk powder mixed in. They had a milky fragrance and were delicious.

After finishing her breakfast and drinking some water, Yun Jiao perked up.

’Time to get to work. Today, I need to find some rare, edible sea creatures.’

’But Dad and the others definitely won’t be happy if I go into the sea by myself.’

So, she tried to summon the killer whale group.

Yun Jiao sat at the stern of the boat, her short little legs dangling and swinging. Her mouth opened and closed, making a call that sounded like a killer whale’s.

Killer whale groups can communicate over long distances using different audio frequencies, so they could naturally hear Yun Jiao’s voice too.

After waiting a moment, Yun Jiao heard a response from the killer whales.

’Human... wait... eating...’

’Done eating...’

This was a sound that human ears couldn’t detect.

She listened for a moment and roughly understood.

The killer whale group was hunting, and they were still a bit far away. They definitely wouldn’t be able to get here anytime soon.

Yun Jiao propped her chin on her hand. ’I don’t know when the killer whale group will get here. Should I go fishing in the meantime?’

THUMP... THUMP...

Something was slapping against the side of the boat.

Yun Chendong heard it too. Following the sound, he spotted the familiar large sea turtle.

"Jiaojiao, it’s that sea turtle."

Yun Jiao looked over. Gui Yi’s front flippers were slapping against the boat; it had clearly recognized their vessel.

Yun Jiao shouted, "Over here!"

The sea turtle swam in her direction.

’Go... save...’

It took Yun Jiao a moment to understand that it was asking her to help save a friend.

"Dad, I’m going into the sea! I’ll stay nearby with the sea turtle."

Uncle Yun reminded her worriedly, "Don’t go too far."

Yun Jiao replied, "I know."

With that, she eagerly jumped into the sea.

Yun Chendong watched as she and the sea turtle sank into the ocean, gradually disappearing from view.

"Where have you been the past few days?"

Gui Yi conveyed: ’Mating.’

’Oh, so he went off to find a wife,’ Yun Jiao thought.

Yun Jiao swam with Gui Yi for quite a distance.

She suddenly realized they seemed to be a bit far from her family’s boat.

Yun Jiao smacked Gui Yi. "Where is it? Didn’t you say it wasn’t far?"

Gui Yi felt wronged. ’Not... far.’

Yun Jiao took a few seconds to understand, then she got angry. She flipped the large sea turtle completely over and spun it in circles.

"There was a comma in there!"

She was furious.

But since she was already here, Yun Jiao kicked the dizzy sea turtle. "Hurry up."

Gui Yi desperately paddled its flippers. Faster, faster, it was already going as fast as it could!

Finally, after swimming a bit further, Yun Jiao saw what needed help.

It was another sea turtle, tangled in a fishing net and trapped among the rocks on the seabed.

Yun Jiao had brought a small pair of scissors with her, originally thinking she might cut open a few sea urchins to eat, but now they came in handy.

That sea turtle was clearly a different species from her own.

Yun Jiao asked him, "Is this your wife?"

’No,’ Gui Yi conveyed.

Of course not. How could it be his wife when they were different species?

The other sea turtle also had a lot of barnacles on its shell.

After dealing with the fishing net, Yun Jiao also used the scissors to clean the barnacles off its shell.

The freed sea turtle swam in circles around Yun Jiao, conveying its joy and gratitude.

This sea turtle was much smaller than Gui Yi; it was probably still a juvenile.

It was about the size of a basketball.

There were sea urchins nearby, so Yun Jiao went ahead and opened two for it to eat.

Attracted by the scent, the little sea turtle ate with incredible speed.

’Hungry, hungry...’

It kept crying out "hungry" in her mind, so Yun Jiao had no choice but to open two more for it.

The turtle circled Yun Jiao even more joyfully, following her wherever she swam like a little puppy.

Yun Jiao stroked its shell, thinking it was quite pretty. It was mostly brownish-tan with ring-shaped markings of varying shades, along with some small, pale yellow spots. At a glance, it was very colorful.

After eating the sea urchins, Yun Jiao prepared to take some back with her.

Of course, she hadn’t forgotten her real purpose for diving deep into the sea.

"Found it!"

She saw two large antennae.

Yun Jiao swam forward, grabbed the two large antennae, and pulled.

CREAK... CREAK...

When you catch this kind of large lobster, they make a creaking sound as they struggle.

The body of this ornate spiny lobster, not including its antennae, was a bit longer than her small arm.

’I’ll take this with me.’

But she hadn’t brought a net bag, so she couldn’t carry much.

’I’ll head back for now.’

"Okay, I’m heading back."

Naturally, Gui Yi followed behind her.

The smaller one chased after them too, nuzzling Yun Jiao’s face like a puppy.

Yun Jiao was quite fond of the enthusiastic little guy.

She even went out of her way to catch two jellyfish for it to eat.

The little sea turtle wolfed them down, just as it had with the sea urchins earlier.

"How long were you trapped?"

’It eats even more ferociously than I do.’

The little sea turtle had some intelligence, but it was too young to express itself, let alone calculate how many days it had been trapped.

’Hungry...’

That was the only emotion it knew how to express.

Yun Jiao caught it another small jellyfish. Only then did it seem full, slowly following beside her.

By the time she reached the boat, Yun Jiao could already hear her dad and the others calling for her.

She felt a pang of guilt.

She kicked Gui Yi again.

"This is all your fault."

Gui Yi was speechless.

"Dad, I’m over here!"

Seeing Yun Jiao’s head pop out of the water, Yun Linhai and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Didn’t you say you’d stay nearby? What took you so long?"

Yun Linhai leaned over the side of the boat and lifted her up.

Yun Jiao pointed at Gui Yi. "It’s all his fault. He didn’t give me the right information."

Gui Yi stared at the people on the boat, exuding a faint air of dejection.