Fields of Gold

“Brother Dahai, the shoal of sharks has scattered! Come on, quickly reel the rod!” Liu Shuanzhu was the first to notice that the sharks had left. Although he was inwardly perplexed about why the shoal of sharks suddenly all went in one direction, he didn’t think too deeply about it.

At this time, the shark, whose mouth was caught by the hook, was struggling desperately. Its 1.5 meter long body was wriggling vigorously in the water. Fortunately, Yu Hai was strong enough to tightly clasp the iron fishing rod in his hands and prevent the shark from breaking free.

While Yu Hai was reeling the rod, Liu Shuanzhu used the steel fork in his hands to pierce the shark. Perhaps he was still stunned or slightly nervous, but he was still unable to subdue the shark after piercing it several times.  

Seeing that blood of the injured shark was slowly dispersing in the seawater, Yu Hai was afraid that it would attract the shoal of sharks from earlier, so he said, “Shuanzhu, come hold the rod and let me try.”

Liu Shuanzhu knew that Yu Hai, who was skilled in hunting, was more accurate than him, so he took the fishing rod in Yu Hai’s hands. At this time, the wounded shark seemed to have sensed its impending death, so it flopped with all its might, nearly pulling Liu Shuanzhu into the sea.

Yu Hai quickly picked up the steel fork and stabbed into the head of the shark that was desperately trying to escape in the sea. He didn’t understand the refraction of seawater, but he knew from his long-term fishing experience that he couldn’t just aim straight at the target. Instead, there needed to be a small deviation. Sure enough, the harpoon had hit the target! The poor shark flopped a few times before it stopped moving.

The two worked together to pull the shark into the boat, and then skillfully cut the fins. The shark meat had a pungent smell, so most people didn’t eat it. However, Yu Hai promised to make a diving suit with the shark skin for his younger daughter. Thus, he prepared to peel off the skin after taking the shark back.

Xiaocao, who had swum far away, told the little divine stone to stop emitting its spiritual power. After the shoal of sharks chasing lost their target, they gradually dispersed. The little dolphin, who quickly fled with Xiaocao on its back, had just swam away desperately with its little life ah. It had actually performed exceedingly well, leaving the sharks far behind them. Of course, there was also the contribution of the little divine stone using its powers to replenish the little dolphin’s energy and accelerating its speed.  

“Xiaobu, let’s go back to that place and take a look!” Xiaocao was still slightly worried and decided to go back for a look to confirm her father’s and Liu Shuanzhu’s safety.  

The little dolphin shook its head desperately, ‘It’s too scary. There’s a lot of sharks ah! My mommy said I have to stay away from dangerous animals. Xiaobu don’t want to go!’

The little dolphin reluctantly agreed after Xiaocao persuaded it for a long time and promised to bring it delicious meat (meat soaked in mystic-stone water) later.

On the way back, they encountered several scattered sharks. However, the little divine stone had sensed it in advance and they were able to avoid them. When Xiaocao saw the Liu Family’s boat again, they had already begun setting the second bait down.

“Little Glutinous Dumpling, can you lure one shark at a time? Do you know that my father almost died because of you just now?” There was a trace of reproach in Xiaocao’s tone. The scene earlier was so alarmingly dangerous that her soul nearly flew away from the fright.

The little divine stone decided to redeem itself with merit, [No problem! But, I need you to get close to the shark. Can you do it?]

“Can you guarantee the safety of me and Xiaobu?” Xiaocao didn’t want to sacrifice her own life for shark fins.

The little divine stone patted its chest and vowed, [Rest assured, this Divine Stone is here ah! How can ordinary sharks break through this Divine Stone’s spiritual barrier? You’re looking down on me ah!]

In light of the fact that the little divine stone was usually pretty reliable and had never messed up at the critical time, Xiaoaco chose to believe it.

Xiaocao urged the little dolphin to swim toward the direction where they had found the sharks just now. Soon, an unknown species of shark, about two meters long, swam in their direction. It seemed to be mealtime for this shark. Seeing a delicious little dolphin and an unknown creature, it rushed over madly.

The little dolphin was stunned by the ferocity of the shark. No matter how Xiaocao urged it, it only stayed in the same place and forgot to run away. The big shark swiftly arrived beside them and opened its large, fierce-looking mouth. Revealing two rows of sharp teeth, it chomped in the direction of Xiaocao and the little dolphin.

The little divine stone broadened its spiritual barrier and firmly wrapped Xiaocao and the little dolphin within it. The big shark bit on the spiritual barrier, but the barrier remained intact. The shark’s mouth was propped open by the barrier. It could neither spit it out, nor could it swallow it. Aiyo, how embarrassing!

The little divine stone suddenly shrunk the barrier and used its spiritual power to help Xiaocao and the little dolphin escape from the shark’s mouth. The little dolphin finally reacted and fled in panic. Although it was carrying Xiaocao on its back, the little dolphin moved in an agile manner. The shark behind them obviously didn’t want to let its prey escape, so it hastily chased after them. With one chasing and the other escaping, the little dolphin and the shark quickly reached Yu Hai’s boat.  

At this time, the little divine stone suddenly helped them speed up. The big shark quickly lost the target in front of its eyes. It didn’t give up and kept searching nearby. Suddenly, it noticed the bait set by Yu Hai and Liu Shuanzhu. It was a small piece of meat, but no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still meat. Hence, it decided to just eat it first!

As proven by facts, greed came at a price. This shark ended up dying due to food!

“Brother Dahai, we’re pretty lucky today. It has only been two hours, but we have already caught two sharks! If it continues like this, we might get four or five sharks before nightfall!” Liu Shuanzhu burst with joy as he looked at the two large sharks on the boat! As the saying goes: ‘an ounce of shark fin is a tael of gold’. The weight of these two shark’s fins must be at least two or three catties. He was going to be rich!!

Yu Hai wiped the sweat on his face and was in a good mood. In the past, when he came out to hunt sharks, he was already considered rather lucky if he could catch one shark in a day! Most of the time, he would return empty-handed when hunting for sharks. He also didn’t expect that they were able to catch two sharks so easily. However, he didn’t greedily think that they would continue to be so lucky, “Who knows! But, this is more than enough for today, even if we can’t catch anything else in the afternoon!”

“You’re right… oh, oh! Here comes another one. Quickly look! It’s coming straight at us. Is this considered ‘delivering itself to us on its own accord’?” Liu Shuanzhu couldn’t believe his own eyes. Today, thanks to the heavens, they were getting a big harvest ah!

Yu Hai had already gotten ready. After drinking mystic-stone water for a long period of time, his vision had gotten much better than most people. Seeing that there seemed to be something luring the shark over, he asked in surprise, “Shuanzhu, do you see that? It looks like the shark is chasing something. Let me take a closer look… it seems like a human… no, it kind of looks like a fish…”

Liu Shuanzhu concentrated on staring at the fishing rod in his hands and said, “Brother Dahai, are you sure you didn’t see wrong? How can it be a human? Haha… Brother Dahai, you must have heard too many legends… It’s on the hook. It got hooked!! It’s a big one!! Brother Dahai quickly come help!!”

Yu Hai stopped thinking about what was in the sea and focused on dealing with the big shark. It was really a big one. The two sharks just now didn’t seem any more than two to three hundred catties. This one was huge and was at least four meters long. It definitely weighed over a thousand catties!

He threw the harpoon hard, but it didn’t kill the shark. It wasn’t hard to imagine how strongly the injured shark would struggle. It nearly flipped their fishing boat. Yu Hai quickly picked up the harpoon and used all his strength to throw the harpoon at the vital part of the shark. Fortunately, the life of the large shark was brought to an end during the third jab. Had it taken more time, the two might have been dragged into the sea!

It was such a large shark, nearly bigger than their boat. It was impossible to transport it back. Yu Hai took off his outer garment, jumped into the sea, and swam towards the shark’s corpse. He cut off the shark’s fins with a sharp knife and threw them onto the ship.

When he climbed back onto the fishing boat, he said to Liu Shuanzhu, “Let’s quickly go somewhere else! Sharks have a keen sense of smell. I’m afraid that the blood around here will attract a shoal of sharks to come over!”

Liu Shuanzhu hastily turned the sail and steered towards another direction. At the time, Xiaocao swam over and grabbed the rope at the stern of the boat, letting the fishing boat take her forward. The little dolphin, who was a little tired, followed behind them weakly.

“Oh? Brother Dahai, quickly look! There’s a little dolphin following our boat! The little fellow doesn’t seem very happy. Perhaps it’s hungry!” Liu Shuanzhu saw Xiaobu and teased it with the harpoon.  

It might be due to Xiaocao, but the little dolphin wasn’t afraid of him. Instead, it poked its head out of the water and stared at Liu Shuanzhu with its big, limpid eyes. Liu Shuanzhu sliced a piece of meat from the shark on the boat and threw it at the little dolphin. The little dolphin was slightly hungry, so it swallowed the meat and stretched out its head to ask for more.

Liu Shuanzhu was in a good mood because of the good harvest today. He started talking with the little dolphin, “Little fellow, did you get separated from your group? So pitiful! Here, eat another piece of shark meat! You’re really lucky today. You haven’t tried shark meat before, right?” As he spoke, he tossed another small piece of meat over.

After it ate a few pieces of meat, the little dolphin’s strength had also recovered. At this time, Yu Hai and Liu Shuanzhu settled on another area and laid the fish bait.

“It’s time to work, Xiaobu!! It’s hard to complain about someone who has fed you. Quickly lure a few more sharks over!” Yu Xiaocao reckoned that they should hurry up. After catching three to five more sharks, her father would probably set sail to return home!

In this way, with Xiaocao’s help, Yu Hai felt as if everything was going his way. The sharks were constantly taking their bait. Moreover, on several occasions, he has seen something in the water luring the sharks over. When he told Liu Shuanzhu about it, he got teased by him, “Brother Dahai, have you ever saved the daughter of the Dragon King of the Sea? Maybe she lured all these sharks over to pay the debt of gratitude? Hahahaha!” After saying that, he burst out in laughter as if he had told a very funny joke.

When the sun started setting, they had already caught eight sharks. They had left most of the shark bodies in the sea and only brought back two of them. One shouldn’t be too greedy, so Yu Hai decided to set sail to return home.

Seeing that the boat was preparing to go back, Xiaocao swam back first and waited for them on a reef by the sea. Fortunately, the return trip went very smoothly, and she soon saw the outline of the fishing boat on the shore. Xiaocao jumped back into the sea and swam towards the boat.

“Oh! Isn’t that Xiaocao?! Sure enough, she is Brother Dahai’s daughter. She’s a pretty good swimmer! Xiaocao is such a kind and upright person. She was probably worried about you, and thus waiting for you by the sea!” Liu Shuanzhu saw the agile figure in the sea and couldn’t help but praise.

Yu Hai revealed a proud smile on his face. His daughter was really the best. She had only come to the seaside with Shanhu and the others several times, and she had already learned how to swim. Moreover, she could swim so well. ‘Mhm! She must have inherited it from me!’

He lifted Xiaocao, who had gotten closer to the boat, onto the fishing boat and proudly showed off today’s harvest. Xiaocao pretended to be surprised and voiced a series of praise for her father, which caused Yu Hai to laugh continuously…