Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Dad! What should we do? Shall we go to the pharmacy for Band-Aids?” Xiao Zhi asked nervously after he saw that the whale was bleeding.
Huang told him in concern, “What good can Band-Aids do? We can’t even see the wound. Let’s wait for the Fishery Administration’s boat. They’ll figure something out.”
“We can push and flip it so that the wound will be visible?” Xiao Zhi proposed again, still unwilling to give up.
Huang shook his head. “Boy, did you forget? We tried it just now. It wouldn’t move at all.”
“This time there are three of us! Besides, we are not pushing it back to the sea, just helping it flip…” Xiao Zhi mumbled in dissatisfaction. Unable to get an answer from his dad, he looked at Zhang Zian.
“I think we can try,” Zhang Zian said without much confidence.
There were three of them, but there were really only two and half––Xiao Zhi was only half a man.
“Dad! Come help us!” After getting Zhang Zian’s support, Xiao Zhi ran to the minke whale’s side in excitement, waving at his dad to hurry up.
Zhang Zian also walked next to Xiao Zhi. He picked a location and stood there.
Huang’s back was hurting a little. He didn’t want to help, but he was too embarrassed to refuse under such circumstances. He had to drop the plastic container and stand next to them.
The three of them posed the same way: They pushed their arms against the minke whale’s body and bent their bodies to about a 45 degree angle with the ground.
“Are you ready?” Zhang Zian asked.
The other two clenched their teeth and nodded.
“One, two, three!”
As “three” was uttered, the three people breathed and shouted at the same time. With a shout in one voice, all their muscles tightened, and their feet sank deep into the sand.
Xiao Zhi’s face was all red. Veins popped on Huang’s forehead.
Under the combined strength of the three of them, the minke whale’s body tilted slightly, but not enough to make it flip.
Their strength drained quickly. The whale’s skin was too slippery, making it hard for them to find an appropriate spot to push.
“Ah!” As Huang yelled, his hands slipped. The two others could not support the whale’s body. It fell back heavily to its old position.
Maybe it fell on the wound. The minke whale screamed sharply in pain; its body quivered vigorously.
Zhang Zian had good reflexes. He grabbed Xiao Zhi and Huang immediately to step back, one in each hand, in case the swinging pectoral fins swept them. The force was as strong as being hit by a hammer.
The three people stepped back to a safe distance, terrified.
The minke whale only struggled a few times before it used up all its strength. Plus, the more it struggled, the higher its body temperature became. It stopped moving, exhausted, and in worse condition than before.
“No! It’s my fault! My hands slipped!” Huang sighed.
“Shall we try again?” Xiao Zhi asked with his head up.
Zhang Zian shook his head and told them, “It’s not your fault. We don’t need to try again. We overestimated our strength. Even if you didn’t slip, we still couldn’t move it.”
He wasn’t saying that for the sake of comforting them––they really were using all their strength. Even if Huang didn’t slip, they could not last more than a few seconds. Three Zhang Zians might do the job, but Huang and Xiao Zhi were not strong enough.
They were all sweaty, scared, and tired, especially Huang. His sweat would not stop; he almost passed out.
It was almost noon. After such a long workout, they were all getting hungry and growing weaker. Xiao Zhi was still growing, so he became hungry faster.
“All we can do is wait?” Xiao Zhi asked, swallowing his saliva.
“Let’s wait. After the tow boat arrives, they can tow it back to the sea and dress the wound. It won’t be too much longer.” Huang kept wiping sweat away from his face.
When the minke whale’s wound was slightly above ground, Zhang Zian paid attention to observe it. He could not see it well, but he could at least be certain that if it was towed into the water with a boat, the wound would rub against the sand so badly, that the pain alone would be enough to kill it. Even if it was towed into the water successfully, it would swim away on its own; they might not get a chance to dress the wound.
“Wait for me. I’ll be right back.” Zhang Zian left, running towards his car.
“Is he running away because he doesn’t want to wait any longer?” Huang asked skeptically, staring at his back.
“He shouldn’t be…” Xiao Zhi was not sure, either.
They waited at the same spot for a while, staring in the direction that Zhang Zian had left. Yet, a little while later, they heard a car honking beside them.
Zhang Zian drove his Wuling Hong Guang carefully, and stopped where the beach met solid ground. If he went any further, the tires might sink into the sand.
He stopped the car, took some spare ropes from the trunk, and tied one end on the hitch. He walked towards the minke whale with the other end in his hand.
One rope was not long enough. He tied two together and it was barely enough. It would be too short if the whale any further away.
“Come. Help me get the rope under its body.” Zhang Zian passed the rope to Huang, while he stood at the other side the whale. Huang tied the rope to the rod, then thrusted it to the other side under the minke whale’s body.
They worked together, tied the minke whale around with the rope, and tied a solid knot.
“I’ll start the engine. When I pull, you two push. This time it will work,” Zhang Zian instructed them.
After understanding his intentions, Huang and Xiao Zhi’s faith was greatly boosted.
As the engine roared, the wheels stirred up a lot of sand underneath, which hit the car’s bottom loudly. The rope straightened immediately.
Zhang Zian felt the car vibrate violently. He cheered on the Wuling Hong Guang in his heart. A good car was known in rough conditions!
In fact, he didn’t really need Huang and Xiao Zhi’s help. The engine alone was able to slowly flip the minke whale’s body. As the father and son added their force, the minke whale flipped 180 degrees with a loud bang.
Zhang Zian turned off the smoking engine, locked the car, untied the rope, and ran to the minke whale.
“This is a bad wound! Did a human do this?” As Huang stared at the wound, he suddenly turned sympathetic and said with concern, “Who did this?”
Xiao Zhi’s mouth was wide open. He felt the pain by looking that the whale’s bloody wound.
There was a glaring wound on one side of its back. It was not big, but it seemed very deep. It might have gotten it a while ago, and it had never healed. The wound’s edge was slightly infected.
A piece of wood pierced deep into the wound. The wood was thicker than a grown man’s thumb, with broken stubble left outside.
No wonder the pain was driving it crazy. A man with such a bad wound might have been dead already.
After examining the wound, Zhang Zian said, “It seems to be a spear gun. The spear broke off inside.”
“How do we deal with it?” Huang and Xiao Zhi asked in one voice.
“The spear must be removed. Otherwise, the wound will never heal and will be infected soon. It will die of sepsis,” Zhang Zian said.
