Chapter 46: Chapter 46: A Gift from the Killer Whale
The killer whale in the distance was still whining.
Wang Mei looked over. "Is that the killer whale you all saved before? What’s it doing?"
Yun Jiao said, "It’s asking me to come out and play."
Wang Mei and Shen Yunlian were speechless.
"Play? What is there to play? It’s a fish and you’re a human. How can you two possibly play together?"
"Just ignore it! Is that big fish trying to repay our kindness with malice?"
Yun Jiao was speechless.
In the end, with no other choice, she could only play on the shore.
But she still called out a greeting to the killer whale.
The killer whale whimpered in the sea for a long time, drawing a growing crowd of curious onlookers.
They pointed at the killer whale, one after another, their curiosity piqued.
"Hasn’t this big fish left yet?"
"What’s it doing?"
"Its cries are surprisingly pleasant to listen to. Why isn’t it scared of people?"
As for the killer whale in question, seeing that Yun Jiao really wasn’t going to play with it, it turned and dove back into the sea in a huff.
Seeing it leave, Yun Jiao patted the large sea turtle beside her.
"Here, for you."
She opened a clam she had just dug up and fed the meat to the large sea turtle.
’This should make up for the scare it got.’
The large sea turtle had been listless when it first came ashore and was only now starting to recover.
Yun Jiao dug several more clams out of the sand for it to eat. She also found some mantis shrimp, giving one to the turtle before sneakily popping one into her own mouth.
’After all, this turtle found sea urchins for me. It’s my little sidekick, so I should be generous with it.’
With a swift flick of her small shovel, Yun Jiao pried a beautiful little red stone out of the sand.
It was pretty easy to find beautiful, colorful stones on the beach, and Yun Jiao had already collected quite a few.
While they couldn’t compare to the pearls and gems of the deep sea, they had a unique charm of their own.
The stone she pried out this time was a brilliant red, and it was shaped like a chubby little fish.
She picked up the red, chubby-little-fish-shaped stone. It looked even more beautiful after she rinsed the sand off with seawater, revealing a clean, transparent quality in the sunlight.
She loved it.
Yesterday, she’d gotten a pearl shaped like a fishtail, and today, she’d dug up a beautiful stone shaped like a chubby little fish.
’I’ve been so lucky these past two days.’
The chubby little fish stone was only the size of her little finger. Yun Jiao carefully tucked it away for safekeeping.
"WOO WOO WOO~~~"
The familiar sound came again, immediately followed by Yun Xiaowu’s booming voice.
"That killer whale is back!"
"It still hasn’t left. Don’t tell me it’s decided to settle down here."
Yun Jiao was still squatting on the ground. When she looked up, she saw the killer whale wriggling its body as it swam toward the shallows.
It beached more than half of its body on the sand, holding something in its mouth.
’Human... gift... I caught...’
’It’s giving me a gift.’
Yun Jiao was curious. She had to go take a look.
"Mom, I’m going to go see."
With that, Yun Jiao ran toward the killer whale.
Seeing that the water where the killer whale was located wasn’t deep, Shen Yunlian let Yun Xiaowu and the other kids follow her.
’Human... for you.’
When it saw Yun Jiao approach, the killer whale happily wagged its tail and dropped the object from its mouth in front of her.
Yun Xiaowu, who was right behind Yun Jiao, stared with wide eyes. "That’s a huge sea cucumber!"
That’s right. The gift the killer whale had brought was a sea cucumber.
It was as long as a grown man’s palm, and very thick.
"Thank you, I love it."
Yun Jiao patted the killer whale’s head.
The killer whale immediately let out a joyful cry, its tail slapping the surface of the sea and sending up a large splash.
"The killer whale is beached again. How are we going to get it back into the sea?"
But there was no need for anyone to help.
The killer whale group arrived, chattering and scolding as they called for the little one.
The small killer whale gave Yun Jiao a reluctant look, then wriggled its somewhat chubby body back toward the deeper water as everyone watched.
Once the water covered most of its body, it turned, flicked its tail, and disappeared completely into the sea.
"Wow... It’s so smart!"
Indeed, even though it was just a young killer whale, it displayed an intelligence far beyond that of an ordinary fish.
An ordinary fish on the shore would just follow its instincts, flopping around on the spot.
But the killer whale had consciously wriggled its body in the direction of deeper water.
After the killer whale left, everyone’s eyes were on the huge sea cucumber Yun Jiao was holding.
"It actually knows how to show gratitude. It must have recognized us as the ones who saved it. To think it even brought a gift."
Back on the shore, Shen Yunlian and Wang Mei gasped in amazement at the sight of the massive sea cucumber.
They had never seen a sea cucumber this big!
Besides, sea cucumbers were just as expensive as abalone these days.
The sea cucumber Yun Jiao was holding was quite heavy, probably weighing well over half a pound.
"I wonder where that killer whale found such a huge sea cucumber."
Wang Mei’s eyes burned as she stared at the giant sea cucumber. If they could find a whole group of them, wouldn’t they be rich?
Shen Yunlian quickly put the sea cucumber into their bucket.
Thankfully, their family was the only one in this spot.
The beach was vast, so people generally didn’t crowd together while foraging.
"Quick, hide it well."
A lot of people had helped save that killer whale. If the other villagers found out it only gave a gift to Jiaojiao, who knew what they might think.
"Mom, are we going home?"
Having acquired such a huge sea cucumber, Shen Yunlian and Wang Mei lost all interest in digging for more clams. They nodded and started heading back with the children.
The large sea turtle had to be carried back.
Yun Jiao’s attention wasn’t on the sea cucumber. She knew without even having to think about it that the family would never keep such a valuable sea cucumber for themselves to eat.
She took the little red, chubby-fish-shaped stone and went to find her fourth brother.
It was Saturday, so her fourth brother wasn’t at school and was helping around the house.
"Fourth Brother, can you make a bracelet for Jiaojiao?"
Yun Chenbei was very skilled with his hands. Because of his hobby, he had also collected a few handy tools.
Of course, they were all hand-me-downs that others had thrown away. He had found them at the scrap yard, repaired them, and brought them home himself.
He had wood planers, as well as some tools for drilling holes and carving.
Back at home, Yun Chenbei pulled his treasure box out from under his bed and opened it.
An assortment of small tools and materials inside was revealed to Yun Jiao.
There were even several pieces of wood and stone in various shapes.
He had already carved one piece of wood into the shape of a small rabbit, following the natural contours of the wood.
"This stone is beautiful. It doesn’t even need to be carved; it’s already a natural fish shape."
Yun Chenbei turned the small stone over in his hand for a moment, his eyes filled with admiration.
Yun Jiao nodded proudly. "I found it today."
Yun Chenbei searched through his treasure box and pulled out a few beads.
They were wooden beads, but the wood had a faint purple hue and gave off a pleasant scent.
A smile touched Yun Chenbei’s lips. "I found this wood at the scrap yard. It was originally part of a broken wooden box. I brought it back because I liked the color and its faint scent. I took the box apart, and I polished the most damaged pieces into these beads."
"What kind of wood is it?"
Yun Chenbei replied, "It’s rosewood. I got really lucky. The wooden box was covered in a layer of filth when I found it, otherwise, someone else would have snatched it up long before I got there."
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