Chapter 20

Regarding the disposal of these soft-shelled turtles, the family ultimately followed Xiao Fei's suggestion.

That night, no one slept. The family members all pitched in, using the large iron pot in the kitchen to boil water, adding coarse salt, and then dumping the turtles into the boiling water to scald them to death.

It took seven or eight pots of boiling water and over thirty pounds of coarse salt to finish processing more than four hundred pounds of turtles. By then, it was already past three in the morning.

Fortunately, the iron pot at Xiao Fei's home was large enough to hold fifty to sixty pounds of turtles at a time, which allowed the process to be completed relatively quickly. If the pot had been smaller, it would have taken much longer.

The reason for using salt water to scald the turtles was twofold: first, turtles scalded in concentrated salt water are less likely to spoil.

In such hot weather, if the turtles were not scalded in boiling salt water, they would easily go bad even if they were dried promptly.

Second, the salt water would penetrate the turtles' bodies, adding some weight. A pound of salt costs only a few cents, but a pound of dried turtles can sell for eighteen yuan.

Just like those who sell beef and mutton in the future, why is their meat saltier than pickled vegetables?

Isn't it to sell the salt at the price of beef?

Indeed, no matter the era, the tricks of unscrupulous merchants are always so old-fashioned and yet so effective.

Fortunately, Xiao Fei's family had previously bought a large bag of salt, weighing about a hundred pounds, from a salt peddler and stored it at home.

Yes, at that time, the people in Xili Village still used coarse salt.

It was unprocessed and unpackaged sea salt.

Moreover, most of the salt was bought from private salt peddlers.

After processing the turtles, they cleared a patch of ground in the backyard among the weeds and spread the turtles out to dry under the scorching sun.

If the weather remained clear for the next few days, it would take only two or three days to dry the turtles, after which they could be bagged and sold in the county town.

At that time, the plots of land in Xili Village were quite large. For families like Xiao Fei's, the fenced yard covered more than an acre.

Therefore, the Xiao family had a large, unused backyard, which was mostly overgrown with trees and a compost pile, with nothing else.

This made it perfect for drying the turtles.

Drying them here was also more discreet, making it less likely for neighbors to notice.

That night, Xiao Fei and his brother stayed up to watch over the turtles and managed to sleep for a few hours. The backyard was surrounded by a fence and many trees, including elms, poplars, and sycamores, which provided good shelter from the wind.

However, the lack of ventilation attracted many mosquitoes.

They buzzed around, constantly seeking blood.

But Xiao Fei was so exhausted that he fell into a deep sleep as soon as he lay down. When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky, and his brother was using branches to drive away birds that were trying to eat the turtle carcasses.

"Fei, you're awake?" Xiao Yang greeted him with a smile.

"What time is it?" Xiao Fei asked.

"It's past nine."

"Where are Mom and Dad?"

"They had breakfast and went to work in the fields."

Xiao Fei got up, washed his face, and had some breakfast. Only then did his mind fully clear. He didn't want to waste the time before noon.

So, he sat down at the small table in the yard and wrote a mid-length story for the Story Meeting.

Writing stories was his forte.

It was his foundation.

Catching turtles was just a small means of earning money, a necessity. For example, last night, he and his brother caught over four hundred pounds of turtles. Even if they sold them wet at five yuan per pound, they could earn over two thousand yuan. If they dried them, they would get about 180 pounds of dried turtles, which could sell for 3200 yuan at 36 yuan per kilogram.

It seemed impressive.

But how much sweat and hard work did it take?

Moreover, this method couldn't last long; they could only sustain such a harvest for a few nights.

Writing stories, on the other hand, could be a lifelong pursuit, not only bringing profit but also fame.

For example, the mid-length story Xiao Fei was writing, with over twenty thousand words, could earn him five to six thousand yuan in royalties if published in the Story Meeting, and it would also help him gain recognition in the popular literature circle.

Xiao Fei was confident that the story he was writing would receive high attention from the Story Meeting and be published as a key piece.

His confidence stemmed from the fact that the story he was writing was called "The Legend of the Cleaver."

This story was published in the Story Meeting in 2007.

Its author was An Changhe.

He was considered a genius in the story world, having written many popular legendary stories. "The Legend of the Cleaver" was later regarded as a model of contemporary Chinese legendary stories.

The movie "A Chinese Odyssey: Part One - The Demon's Riddle," adapted from "The Legend of the Cleaver," was released in March 2011 and received good reviews both domestically and internationally.

Xiao Fei was not copying; in July 1996, writing "The Legend of the Cleaver" was original, and no one could deny it.

From around 9:30 in the morning until 12:30, Xiao Fei wrote ten thousand words without much rest. This was an incredibly fast pace.

That day, his parents and sister returned home early from the fields, around 11:00 in the morning.

They saw Xiao Fei sitting under a tree in the yard, writing, and didn't disturb him.

His father caught and killed a rooster they raised at home, saying he wanted to reward Xiao Fei and his brother. It took him half an hour to pluck the feathers, gut the rooster, and cut it into pieces.

His mother went directly to the backyard to turn and dry the turtles.

Around 12:00, the family started eating. They had chicken stewed with potatoes, served with steamed buns.

Xiao Fei's family hadn't eaten meat in a long time. While the chicken was stewing, his brother kept swallowing saliva, staring at the pot.

Xiao Yan, though focused on tending the fire, was seen deeply sniffing.

But during the meal, everyone was polite, none willing to take the best pieces of meat for themselves.

His mother said she didn't like chicken and preferred potatoes.

His father said the essence of the chicken was in the head, and he was content with the head and the feet, which were the most flavorful parts.

Under Xiao Fei's insistence, the family finally distributed the chicken more evenly.

After the meal, his father made a decision: that afternoon, everyone would go to the hill to clear the land, and in the evening, they would all go to collect turtles.

Xiao Fei thought this was a good plan.

For three consecutive days, the Xiao family went to the hill at noon to clear the land with shovels, creating horizontal paths and small flat areas for the roasted wheat bran.

In the evening, they all went to the hill to collect turtles.

On the second night, they harvested over seven hundred pounds of turtles.

On the third night, they collected about seven or eight hundred pounds.

On the fourth night, the harvest was much less, only about two hundred pounds.

This was because the section of the hill they worked on that night was too close to the village, and many children had already dug up the turtles, leaving the surface soil almost completely turned over.

A section of the hill about four hundred meters long yielding two hundred pounds of turtles was already quite good.

By this time, the method the Xiao family used to catch turtles had started to spread in the village. People were not fools; seeing the horizontal paths and the small flat areas with roasted wheat bran, the smart ones quickly figured out the principle.

Thus, others began to try the same method.

However, by then, the hill had already been worked over by the Xiao family, leaving little good harvest. Some clever people started setting traps in the fields, by the roadside, and in the small woods, and they had good results, collecting two to three hundred pounds of turtles in a night.

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**End of Chapter**