Chapter 425 - 366: Caught 2 Wild Softshell Turtles and Want to Sell Them

Chapter 425: Chapter 366: Caught 2 Wild Softshell Turtles and Want to Sell Them

So that was what it was about.

However, Li You was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected Liu Haibo to still be able to catch soft-shelled turtles.

After all, Liu Haibo wasn’t young anymore; it seemed he was already over sixty.

Being able to catch soft-shelled turtles after turning sixty was truly impressive.

That was because catching soft-shelled turtles demanded excellent eyesight, arm strength, technique, and experience.

The so-called "turtle catching" involves using a Turtle Spear to directly strike and retrieve soft-shelled turtles that surface in rivers, reservoirs, fish ponds, or other bodies of water.

A Turtle Spear is somewhat similar to a fishing rod, only much shorter.

A Turtle Spear is typically just over a meter long, with a reel near the base and a relatively thick shaft. The line used is also quite thick, with high tensile strength and no elasticity.

The end of the line has a row of hooks and a heavy lead sinker.

When hunting, the turtle catcher stands by the water’s edge, rests the Turtle Spear on their shoulder, and carefully watches the surface.

As soon as a turtle surfaces, they aim and swiftly cast the sinker. The sinker powerfully pulls the hooked line out with it, causing the reel to spin rapidly.

Ultimately, the sinker lands precisely where the turtle surfaced, allowing the hooks to snag it.

Then, they just need to turn the reel to pull the turtle in.

The distance is often quite far, usually over twenty meters.

At such a distance, without excellent eyesight, it would be impossible to spot a turtle surfacing.

Furthermore, without great arm strength, one couldn’t cast the sinker that far.

Thus, catching soft-shelled turtles has high demands for both eyesight and arm strength. And those are just the basic requirements.

Once those two requirements are met, one must also possess the technique for a precision strike on the target.

Otherwise, even if the sinker lands right next to the turtle, you’ll likely come up empty.

Therefore, catching soft-shelled turtles is absolutely a skilled task, something the average person can’t accomplish.

Moreover, it requires immense patience and composure, as one often has to wait one or two hours, or even several hours, just for a single chance to strike.

After all, moments when a soft-shelled turtle surfaces are rare.

Especially since they are usually hunting wild turtles in their natural habitats.

As for whether a turtle will stay underwater indefinitely without surfacing?

That won’t happen.

Soft-shelled turtles are amphibious and breathe with lungs. They need to come to the surface for air.

Additionally, they love the sun and will also surface to bask when the sun is strong at noon or in the afternoon.

Of course, if you’re lucky, it’s also possible to get several chances to strike in a short period.

But no matter what, successfully catching a soft-shelled turtle is very difficult, especially for someone of a certain age.

That’s why Li You was a bit surprised when Liu Haibo said he’d caught two.

’Looks like Liu Haibo is as vigorous as ever!’

Li You smiled and said, "Uncle Haibo, that’s amazing! Sounds like you’re still in your prime. When did you catch them?"

Over the phone, Liu Haibo chuckled. "Just this afternoon. I caught one a little after one o’clock, and then another one just now. It was good luck, really."

Li You said, "You’re being too modest, Uncle Haibo. It takes more than just good luck to catch those things. Uncle Haibo, you can come over anytime. But there’s no guarantee they’ll sell."

’Of course there’s no problem with Liu Haibo wanting to set up a stall here. But soft-shelled turtles aren’t corn, after all; not everyone will buy them. Even here, there’s no guarantee they’ll sell. Still, they’re wild soft-shelled turtles, which are quite rare and hard to come by. There should be some interested people, so there’s a chance they could sell. It all comes down to luck.’

"Of course, of course. I know they might not sell. I just want to give it a try. Well then, Xiaoyou, I’ll head over now."

"Alright, see you in a bit, Uncle Haibo."

"Okay, see you in a bit."

After hanging up, Li You’s thoughts returned to the soft-shelled turtles.

Oh, right. He suddenly remembered he had a wild soft-shelled turtle in his Spatial Fish Pond.

He’d caught it by accident last time he went to the gorge to fish for mandarin fish with Chu Yiwei.

’I’d almost forgotten about that.’

He opened the Spatial Fish Pond to take a look and quickly spotted the turtle. It was swimming sluggishly in the water.

’I should take it back for Mom and Dad to make soup with sometime.’

...

「Changle Village.」

Putting away his phone, Liu Haibo was overjoyed.

Although it wasn’t certain he could sell them, there was definitely a chance.

They were wild soft-shelled turtles, after all.

And these two turtles were not small, each weighing between four and five jin. Even if he sold them for 200 yuan a jin, that would be around 2,000 yuan.

That would be a nice little windfall.

He hurried home, got on his electric tricycle, and headed for Xiaoyou’s restaurant.

Liu Haibo also owned an electric tricycle.

The reason he’d gotten the idea to set up a stall in front of Li You Restaurant was that Li Donghai had recently had great success selling sweet corn there.

He had sold out of over a thousand ears of sweet corn in just a few days.

This had made Li Donghai extremely happy. Even now, he still brought up the corn-selling incident from time to time in the village.

He said it was all thanks to Xiaoyou.

Otherwise, he’d have been lucky to sell even half of his thousand-odd ears of corn.

The other villagers were also very moved by this. Everyone was saying that Li You opening a restaurant at Jiulong Gorge was a true blessing for their entire village.

Liu Haibo, of course, thought so too.