Reborn in 1984, fishing and hunting in Jiangnan

Chapter 26 Gold

"Alright." Chen Zheng tossed the hook into the bamboo basket and breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at the turtle's lips; blood was still seeping from the small hole the hook had made.

The injury wasn't serious and didn't affect its appearance.

He emptied the turtle from the net and weighed it in his hand.

It's quite heavy, weighing at least seven or eight pounds.

The turtle's shell gleamed a dark brown in the sunlight, its thick, fleshy edges adding to its appearance.

It feels incredibly bouncy when you press it with your finger.

"Rongzi, this turtle is of good quality. Look at the hem; it's thick, wide, and the color is just right."

If you take this kind of soft-shelled turtle to the county, it can sell for two and a half to three yuan per kilogram.

Seven or eight pounds, that's around twenty yuan.

Chen Rong's eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth turned up in a wide smile.

He squatted down and reached out his finger to touch the turtle's skirt. It was soft and smooth, completely different from what he had imagined.

He thought the turtle's shell was hard, but he didn't expect the edges to be soft.

"Brother, this skirt hem is so soft."

"The skirt is the most valuable part of a turtle."

City dwellers, when making turtle soup, are particular about the soft, tender part of the turtle's skirt. It's stewed until it's completely soft, melts in your mouth, and leaves a sticky residue.

Chen Zheng flipped the turtle over so that its belly was facing up.

The turtle's four legs were kicking wildly in the air, but it couldn't flip over, which was quite comical.

"Brother, why can't the turtle flip itself over?"

"Its shell is too heavy and its legs are too short, so it can't flip itself over."

This is a trick for catching turtles: flip them over, and they can't escape.

As Chen Zheng spoke, he took out a burlap sack from the cabin, put the turtle inside, tied it tightly, and placed it in the cabin.

The turtle struggled in the sack for a while, then gradually calmed down.

"Rongzi, turtles are incredibly resilient."

If you put it in a sack and leave it overnight, it will still be alive the next day.

However, you must be careful not to expose it to direct sunlight for too long, or it will die.

Dead turtles are worthless because after they die, their bodies secrete a substance that causes the meat to taste bad and become inedible.

Chen Rong nodded and kept those words in mind.

Chen Zheng reattached the turtle hook to the pig liver and put it back in its original position.

Then I checked the other hooks. One of the hooks had half of the pig liver on it gnawed off by something, but it didn't bite the hook.

He replaced the remaining pig liver with a new one.

Something moved on this hook, but it wasn't a turtle.

It was probably eaten by a crab or a small fish.

Chen Zheng threw the used pig liver into the water; the pig liver sank.

Before long, a group of small fish gathered around, vying to peck at the food, creating a small ripple on the water's surface.

The two waited on the boat for the better part of an hour.

The sun was getting higher and higher, making my forehead feel hot.

The steam rising from the lake was like a steamer.

Chen Zheng put a straw hat on his head and handed another one to Chen Rong.

"Brother, can we still catch him?" Chen Rong asked.

"It's hard to say. Catching soft-shelled turtles is all about luck. Sometimes you can catch several in a day, and sometimes you can't catch any at all."

As they were talking, the second reed stalk on the right suddenly sank.

This time the commotion was much greater than before; the reeds bent down at a very steep angle, almost breaking.

The nylon thread was stretched like a violin string, making a buzzing sound.

"Got it!" Chen Zheng grabbed the oar and quickly rowed over.

This time, the creature underwater struggled even more fiercely.

When Chen Zheng gripped the nylon thread, he felt it shaking violently, and his hand went numb from the tightness.

At the other end of the line, something was pulling down frantically, thrashing left and right, with more than twice the force of the previous one.

"Rongzi, this one's bigger! Get your net ready!"

Chen Zheng slowly reeled in the line.

This time he pulled even slower because the force of the thing underwater was too great; the line was trembling in his hand and could slip out at any moment.

My hands alternated as I pulled the thread in, leaving two red marks on my palms from the nylon thread, which stung painfully.

After pulling in about three feet of line, the water broke open.

The turtle's head that was exposed was a whole size bigger than the one before, about the size of a child's fist.

His mouth was open, revealing his fine teeth, each one clearly visible.

Its eyes were small, dark and bright, staring at the people on the boat with a fierce look in them.

The turtle's entire body floated to the surface.

The shell is about the size of a small washbasin, dark brown in color, and covered with tiny bumps, like the skin of a toad.

The hem of the skirt was wide and thick, plump and fleshy, and the color was a bit darker than the previous one, a dark red.

This is a characteristic of old turtles; the older they are, the darker the color of their skirts becomes.

"Rongzi! This one must weigh at least ten pounds!"

Chen Rong held the bamboo pole and stretched out the net.

His hands were shaking, the bamboo pole was swaying, and the wire loop was swinging back and forth next to the turtle's head, but he just couldn't get it on.

"Don't shake! Stay steady!" Chen Zheng shouted.

Chen Rong took a deep breath, gripped the bamboo pole tightly with both hands, and the muscles in his arms were taut.

The wire loop slowly approached the turtle's head, slipped onto it, and then he suddenly pulled it up.

The net caught half of the turtle's body.

But the turtle was too big; the net only caught half of it, leaving the hindquarters exposed.

The turtle kicked its four legs desperately, and its tail lashed out like a whip, slapping against the boat deck.

Its mouth gripped the nylon rope of the net, its teeth rubbing against the rope, making a harsh squeaking sound.

"We can't hold this in any longer!"

Chen Rong's face turned bright red, and the bamboo pole was being pulled downwards by the turtle, about to slip from his grasp.

Chen Zheng held the nylon thread in one hand and picked up the shovel from the boat with the other.

He reached under the turtle's body with the shovel and scooped it up with a sudden scoop.

The turtle flipped over in the air and crashed heavily into the cabin.

"Bang!"

The sound of the turtle hitting the ship's deck was like a stone falling down.

It crawled around the cabin, its four legs flailing about, its claws gripping the deck and making squeaking noises.

Its mouth was open, biting everywhere, biting the side of the boat, its teeth embedded in the wood, impossible to pull out.

"Good heavens, that's fierce!"

Chen Zheng grabbed a sack and put the turtle inside.

The turtle struggled frantically inside the sack, which swelled up and then deflated repeatedly.

It's like there's an active volcano inside.

Chen Zheng gripped the sack tightly with both hands, and only when the turtle was tired from struggling did he slowly tie the opening.

He put the sack in the cabin and stepped on it to keep it from rolling around.

Then he squatted down and took a breath.

Sweat beaded on his forehead, trickling down his cheeks and dripping onto the deck.

Two red marks on my palm, burning painfully, one of which had broken open and was bleeding.

"Brother, your hand is cut." Chen Rong pointed to his hand.

"fine."

Chen Zheng glanced at the wound on his palm, shook it off nonchalantly, took out a strip of cloth from his pocket, wrapped it around his hand twice, and tied a knot.

"This turtle weighs at least eleven or twelve pounds."

Chen Rong squatted down next to the sack and touched the turtle's shell through the sack.

The turtle in the sack moved slightly, and he quickly withdrew his hand, then reached out again and carefully touched it.

"Brother, how much can you sell this for?"

"Eleven or twelve jin, at three yuan per jin, that's over thirty yuan."

Chen Rong gasped, his eyes widening in shock.

Thirty-odd yuan. My dad sometimes doesn't earn that much even after fishing for a month.

Chen Zheng re-examined the turtle hook and tried different pig livers from different places.

But for the next half hour, no more turtles took the bait.

The sun was high overhead, shining so brightly that the water reflected light so intensely it hurt the eyes.

Steam rose from the lake, and the reeds in the distance twisted and deformed in the heat.

"That's about enough. The turtles aren't very active at midday; they've all gone to the deeper water. Let's come back this afternoon."

Chen Zheng collected the turtle hooks one by one and put them into a bamboo basket.

The pig liver has turned white from soaking and the fishy smell has faded, so it can no longer be used.

He threw the remaining pig liver into the water, and small fish swarmed over, vying to peck at it, causing the water to churn.

The two people rowed back.

There were two burlap sacks in the cabin, one containing small turtles and the other containing large turtles.

The giant turtle would occasionally move, causing the burlap sack to bulge out and then deflate again.

Chen Rong sat at the bow of the boat, glancing back at the sack every now and then, a smirk playing on his lips.

The boat docked, and Chen Zheng carried the sack ashore.

The giant turtle struggled again inside the sack. He held it with both hands and could still feel it thrashing about inside.

"Rongzi, tie the boat up first. I'll take the turtle back and keep it in the water tank."

Chen Rong nodded and squatted down to tie the boat.

He tied it very carefully, wrapping the rope around the stake three times and making a sailor's knot. He tugged at it, but it didn't budge.

Chen Zheng carried two burlap sacks home. When he reached the old locust tree at the village entrance, several old men were still enjoying the shade there.

Old Wang, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, saw Chen Zheng approaching carrying a burlap sack and his eyes lit up: "Zheng boy, what's in the sack?"

"Soft-shelled turtle."

"A soft-shelled turtle?" Old Wang Liu stood up, leaned closer to look, and asked, "How big is it?"

Chen Zheng placed the sack on the ground, opened it, and revealed the shell of the large turtle.

The turtle moved slightly inside the sack, its plump, dark red skirt peeking out from the opening.

Wang Laoliu gasped, squatted down, and reached out a finger to touch the edge of the turtle's skirt:

"Good heavens! This one must weigh at least ten pounds! Zhengwa, where did you catch it?"

"Over in South Bay."

"Nanwan..." Wang Laoliu's eyes darted around, as if he wanted to say something, but then he swallowed his words back.

He stood up, patted the dirt off his hands,

"Zhengwa, your luck is unbelievable. I've been fishing my whole life and I've never caught such a big turtle."

Chen Zheng smiled, tied up the sack, and continued walking home.

When he got home, Chen Laosan was squatting in the yard mending a net.

He saw Chen Zheng come in carrying a sack, put down the net needles in his hand, and stood up: "You caught him?"

"We caught them. Two, one weighs seven or eight pounds, and the other weighs eleven or twelve pounds."

Chen Laosan walked over, took the sack, opened it, and looked inside.

He saw the hem of the large turtle's skirt, and his eyes lit up. He closed the sack and handed it to Chen Zheng:

"Keep it in a water tank. Don't put too much water in it, just enough to cover the shell."

Turtles can't suffocate; water that's too deep is actually bad for them.

Chen Zheng scooped out half the water from the water tank and put the two turtles in.

The little turtle sank to the bottom of the tank and lay there motionless, with only its nose sticking out of the water.

The large turtle crawled around the tank twice, found a corner of the tank wall, and lay down, retracting its four legs into its shell.

Only its head was visible, its eyes half-open and half-closed, as if it were surveying its new environment.

Chen Laosan squatted beside the water vat and watched it for a long time.

He took out a pipe from his pocket, lit it, took a puff, and the smoke came out of his nostrils and was blown away by the wind.

"Zhengwa, come here." He suddenly spoke.

Chen Zheng walked over and squatted down next to his father.

Old Chen took a puff of his cigarette, looked at the turtle in the water tank, remained silent for a while, and then said:

"This turtle reminds me of something."

"What's up?"

"About your grandfather."

Old Chen tapped the tobacco pipe on the sole of his shoe to knock out the ash, then filled it with a new bowl of tobacco.

I lit it, took a puff,

"When your grandfather was alive, he told me something. He said there was a sunken ship at the bottom of Baiyang Lake."

Chen Zheng was taken aback: "A shipwreck?"

"Yes. He said the ship sank decades ago, and it was carrying grain and cloth, which were being transported from the county town to the provincial capital."

When we reached the middle of Baiyang Lake, we encountered a huge storm, the boat capsized, and sank.

Chen Laosan took a drag of his cigarette; the smoke drifted in front of his face, obscuring his expression.

"Your grandfather said that besides food and cloth, there was one more thing on that ship."

"What is it?"

"Gold."

Chen Zheng was startled.

"Your grandfather said that the ship owner was a businessman who brought gold back from the provincial capital and wanted to buy land in his hometown."

The gold was stored in an iron box, which was locked securely.

After the ship sank, the owner's family hired people to go into the water to salvage it. They searched for several days, but only managed to retrieve some grain and cloth. The iron box was nowhere to be found.

They searched several more times, but still couldn't find it, so they gave up.

Old Chen took the pipe out of his mouth, looked at the turtle in the water tank, and his gaze drifted into the distance.

"Your grandfather said that the shipwreck was located in the waters of South Bay."

Chen Zheng's heart raced.

South Bay.

The place where they are catching turtles today is Nanwan.

"Dad, how did Grandpa find out about this?"

"When your grandfather was young, he rowed a boat on Baiyang Lake, loading and unloading cargo for passing cargo ships."

He knew the owner of the sunken ship.

After the ship sank, the owner contacted him and asked him to help with the salvage operation.

Your grandfather is a good swimmer and can hold his breath underwater for more than two minutes.

He went into the water to retrieve it, but couldn't find the metal box.

Chen Laosan took a puff of his cigarette. "Later, your grandfather told me that he had actually found the location of that sunken ship, but he didn't tell the ship owner."

He believed that the box of gold had been submerged at the bottom of the lake for decades, buried in silt, making it difficult to retrieve.

Chen Zheng's mind raced.

Shipwreck, gold, South Bay.

These pieces of information were pieced together in his mind, forming a vague outline.

"Dad, did Grandpa say exactly where that shipwreck is?"

Chen Laosan glanced at him, and the corner of his mouth twitched:

"Your grandfather told me about it. He said the shipwreck was located in the deepest part of Nanwan Bay, near the west side of the reeds. There was a large rock underwater, and the shipwreck was right next to the rock."

He also said that there was a mark carved on the stone.

"What mark?"

"A cross. Your grandfather carved it himself. He said it was a mark he left for his family."

Chen Zheng squatted beside the water tank, watching the turtle slowly crawl in the water, his heart filled with indescribable emotions.

His father never told him any of this in his past life.

Perhaps they didn't have time to say it, or perhaps they felt it would be pointless to say it.

In this lifetime, because of two turtles, his father suddenly brought up these old stories.

"Father, you're telling me all this because you want to..."

"I wasn't thinking about anything." Old Chen stood up, patted the dirt off his knees, "It just reminded me of your grandfather when I saw this turtle. If he were still here, he would be so happy to see you catch such a big turtle."

He turned and went into the kitchen. Reaching the doorway, he stopped, turned back, and said, "The waters around South Bay are deep and have many hidden channels. Be careful when you go in."