Chapter 284: Sea Turtle Eggs

Gui Yi and Turtle Two had come looking for her. They needed her for something.

Yun Jiao followed them to an island and discovered... a ton of sea turtles!

"Wait, did you two just bring me to your nesting grounds?!"

That was right—all these sea turtles were in their nesting season.

She even saw a sea turtle in the distance diligently digging a large pit, straining to lay its eggs.

In other spots, as soon as one turtle finished laying its eggs and burying them, another mother turtle would come right along and dig up the nest to lay her own.

’Such treachery!’

Countless seabirds circled overhead. Some feasted on the unearthed turtle eggs, while others squatted right behind the turtles, snatching the eggs as they were laid.

It was quite the spectacle.

’So, why did Gui Yi and Turtle Two bring me here? For a free meal?’

’Speaking of which, I could take some turtle eggs home. They’re edible, and apparently very nutritious.’

Yun Jiao was just thinking that it might be a bit cruel to dig up the freshly laid eggs, especially since the mother turtle might not have even left yet.

’Then... then it should be fine to just take the ones that have already been dug up, right?’

’If the seabirds can eat them, why can’t I?’

As Yun Jiao thought this, her eyes were already fixed on the turtle eggs lying exposed on the sand.

She had just taken a step to go pick them up when Gui Yi stretched out its neck and grabbed her pant leg in its beak.

Yun Jiao: ...

"What are you doing?"

’He’s holding me up from my egg hunt.’

’Come. With me. Come.’

’Alright, he is my friend, after all. We’ve known each other for a while.’ She decided to put her egg-collecting plans on hold for now.

Following Gui Yi and Turtle Two, she stepped over obvious mounds in the sand and around turtles still basking on the beach, until she reached a large, burdened sea turtle.

The burden wasn’t its own shell, but the barnacles covering it.

A lot of them.

Yun Jiao blinked. "You brought me here to take care of these barnacles?"

Gui Yi nodded in a very human-like manner.

Yun Jiao thought, ’Fair enough. I didn’t realize Gui Yi had such a strong sense of kinship.’

Yun Jiao took out her small knife and set to work.

There were even several barnacles growing on the sea turtle’s head.

’Prying off barnacles is surprisingly satisfying, though.’

Huffing and puffing, Yun Jiao spent nearly twenty minutes finally getting all the barnacles off the turtle. When she looked up—good heavens!

A long line had formed behind it!

On closer inspection, they were all sea turtles covered in barnacles. Well, not all of them—one had a fishing net stuck in its mouth.

Yun Jiao was at a loss for words. ’First an undersea chef, and now I’m an undersea doctor, is that it?’

Yun Jiao shot a dark look at Gui Yi and Turtle Two.

The two turtles stared back at her, their beady eyes betraying no emotion whatsoever.

Yun Jiao: ...

Yun Jiao gave each of them a flick on the head.

But the work still needed to be done.

Yun Jiao rolled up her sleeves and got to it, prying off barnacles and freeing the foolish turtle’s mouth from the fishing net.

Who knows how long the net had been stuck. The poor thing’s shell was dull, and it looked terribly thin.

By the time she had tended to the last sea turtle, it was already getting late.

The sun was about to sink below the horizon.

"There, I’m done. My knife even broke."

Yun Jiao pouted, looking at her knife, now broken in two.

"I’m taking some turtle eggs home. Call it my compensation."

’Hmph. Now I have a perfectly good reason to take some turtle eggs.’

She began gathering the eggs that were exposed on the sand, the ones the seabirds hadn’t gotten to yet.

Even without digging up any nests, she collected seventy-three eggs.

A few straggling seabirds still circled in the sky, clearly late to the party.

They had missed out on the hot meal.

During the nesting and hatching seasons, these seabirds would feast until their bellies were full to bursting.

But survival in nature is cruel. It’s survival of the fittest; only the lucky and the strong make it to adulthood.

"I’m exhausted today."

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she carefully placed the turtle eggs into a burlap sack. She even added some sand to cushion them, afraid they might crack from bumping against each other.

Finally, she hung the sack on the killer whale’s back, said goodbye to the sea turtles, and left the island.

’But I’ll remember this place,’ she thought. ’I’ll have to come back next time and see if there are any other treasures on this island.’

’It’s a whole new map to explore.’

The killer whale dropped her off at Bailong Village. As she reached the shore and started for home, she realized she was carrying quite a lot today.

Besides the edible fish, shrimp, large sea snails, and crabs she had caught, she also had a large net full of sea urchins, the turtle eggs, and half of a large giant clam shell.

"Jiaojiao’s over there!"

Hearing someone call her name, Yun Jiao looked up just in time for a figure to rush over and pull her into a tight hug.

If she hadn’t been so sturdy and strong, she might have been knocked right over.

"Jiaojiao, where have you been? Why are you only coming back now!"

"Fifth Brother?"

"I guess it is a little late, huh."

Wang Hongfei was so worried he could have spanked her. For a little kid to be gone so long, especially out in the ocean—didn’t she know how worried he’d been?

"I’m sorry. I made you worry again."

Her sweet apology was enough to quell most of Wang Hongfei’s anger.

"As long as she’s back, it’s fine. I told you Jiaojiao would be okay, didn’t I?"

Yun Linhe patted Wang Hongfei’s shoulder. "Our Jiaojiao can hold her breath for twenty-some minutes in the ocean. Besides, with the killer whale there, she’s not going to have any trouble."

Wang Hongfei said, "Knowing that is one thing, but you still can’t help but worry."

That was true.

In the beginning, even though they knew Yun Jiao could breathe underwater, they couldn’t help but worry whenever she was gone for a long time.

"Jiaojiao, what did you bring back this time? Whoa, what’s that huge thing?"

Like excited puppies, Yun Jiao’s brothers quickly gathered around her and the things she’d brought back, circling them with glee.

They were stunned when they saw the half of a giant clam shell.

"It’s even bigger than our foot-washing basin."

Yun Xiaojiu gestured with his hands. "I could sit inside it!"

Yun Linhe stammered, "This... isn’t this one of those... giant clams? I thought it was illegal to harvest them! Quick, quick... throw it back."

"This one was already dead," Yun Jiao said.

"But other people wouldn’t know that! If someone finds out we have a giant clam shell, are they really going to believe you when you try to explain you just brought it back after it died?"

Yun Jiao rubbed her chin. He had a point.

"But I don’t want to throw it away."

The giant clam’s exterior might look gray, grimy, and completely unappealing now, but Yun Jiao had wiped a small spot clean. She knew that once it was cleaned up and polished, it would be a beautiful white.

Yun Jiao looked at her dad and uncle with pleading eyes. "Can we please find a way to keep it?"

The adults couldn’t stand that look. She was like a beautiful, pitiful kitten looking at them with a woeful expression.

"Your Third Brother is coming back tomorrow. Why don’t we ask him?"

Lao San, Yun Chen Nan, was the smartest in the family and always had the most ideas.

Most importantly, he was reliable.

"Let’s take it home for now. But we can’t let anyone else find out about this."

That meant they would have to take a more secluded route, and someone would have to go on ahead to scout the path.