My Ranch Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Not ordinary

Translated by me, edited by Kai.

“Quickly cut the line!” seeing the ferocious shark, Robins yelled out without thinking. But Jiang Hai ignored him completely and continued to retrieve the line.

Sharks are also fish, but they are cold blooded fish. Cold blooded animals have one advantage and that is they can change their body temperature. Thus it is very easy for them to survive. But this advantage is also a disadvantage because although they have a great burst of strength, it is just too short lived.

If it was an ordinary fishermen then they would let the fish tire itself out by releasing the line. When sharks are running away, they can use this time to recuperate. They will lose strength over time, but it won’t be that quick. Sadly Jiang Hai is not like any ordinary fishermen. He can face these sharks head on in a strength contest.

Sharks tend to lose their strength extremely quickly, it’s just like a normal tug of war. If the two sides have equal strength then it is very hard and very time consuming to determine a winner. But if one side uses all their strength at the very start and crush the opposition then they are pretty much invincible afterwards. As soon as the opposition relaxes a single bit, then the winner is determined in that instant, by pulling the opposition over during their moment of weakness. Currently the shark is like this. Being forcibly pulled over by Jiang Hai, the shark really doesn’t have a lot of strength left.

40 meters is really not that far. After only a minute, Jiang Hai has already pulled it next to the pier. Immediately, you can see Jiang hai with his legs spread apart in a squatting position. With his full strength coming from his arms and a yell, a shark that is almost as long as 2 people combined got pulled onto the pier.

Seeing the struggling shark, Edward quickly ran up with a huge bag in hand and covered its head. Truth to be told, it is much easier to tame a shark in water than on land. Since in water all you have to do is flip them over and they are pretty much stuck, but how do you flip them over on land? They have a dorsal fin you know.

Hence there is only the solution of covering up its head. If it can’t see anything and can’t smell anything then it will somewhat behave itself.

“What the flying fk. Never thought it would be this big!” However Jiang Hai’s reaction to this is completely different than that of Edward or Robins. Because this is the first fish he ever caught and it is this big. It is simply too amazing.

“Boss, you really are something. You even caught this beast.” Seeing the excited Jiang Hai, Robin can only comment bitterly. What the heck is going on!

“Of course, you really think I’m like everyone else?” Jiang Hai replied back in a bragging manner. But seriously, if you can catch this big of a shark then you really have the right to brag.

“This is a sand tiger shark with a body length of about 3.1 meters. So what are we going to do about it?” Seeing the shark stop struggling, Edward can finally relax and ask Jiang Hai for further instructions.

“What plan is there, but to eat it!” Jiang Hai replied back without even thinking.

The fish he catches are clearly to be eaten. There is no way he is going to release it. That is totally against his Chinese nature.

“Huh?” Hearing Jiang Hai’s answer, Edward and Robins are both dumbstruck with a look full of hesitation. Seeing this, Jiang Hai can’t help but feel strange, what are these looks for?

“What, you can’t eat them? It’s against the law or something?” Jiang Hai asked.

“That’s not it. Although sharks are considered endangered animals internationally, but it is still within the law to hunt them in America. However, we have no idea how to eat this thing.” Robins answered with a face full of embarra.s.sment.

“Sharks really aren’t that tasty. Since they have no bladder, when you gut them, all their waste is released into the meat making it very stinky and unappetizing. Adding on the fact that the meat itself is hard to digest and the hard as all h.e.l.l skin, there are only a few chinese restaurants in New York that will want it’s fins. Apart from that no one touches anything else on its body.” Edward muttered. Since he spend most of his youth out at sea, what is there in the sea that he hasn’t tasted?

Hearing this, Jiang Hai is really stuck between a rock and a hard place. This particular problem really needs a solution, but he really isn’t some saint. In his view, those people who promote eating shark fin are cruel and some are rich idiots with nothing better to do (1).

Those who say lives are valuable, promote ending of the consumption of sharks, wild animals, and even dogs. Then why don’t you say stop consuming pork, beef and lamb? What lives matter, that is all subjective horse s.h.i.t. These animals are all lives as well.

Some will argue back that these are all food, it does not matter if it is cruel or what not. In Jiang Hai’s point of view those dogs, sharks, and wild animals can all be considered food. If you really promote equality between all beings then don’t eat.

Since, even if you become a vegetarian, the vegetables can also be argued have lives. People who wish to eat what they want and die because of it, is completely their own fault.

Since you chose to live, then don’t think about what you can or cannot have. The laws of nature have existed for eons, it doesn’t matter if you are man or animal, you cannot deny the inevitable.

He hasn’t tried shark fin his whole life, so saying he isn’t interested is a complete understatement. Hence right now he can say with complete confidence that he wants to eat it. However another question arises, he has no clue how to make it.

Thinking up to here, he can’t help but be perplexed. If he were to release it then he really don’t want to, but he also has no idea how to cook the shark fins. This is really a hard question with no answers.

“Well we could keep it for now.” Edward said, as if giving Jiang Hai a valuable life line to escape the hole he dug for himself.

These cowboys and fishermen are the same as Jiang Hai, they have no feelings towards those so called protectors of nature. Their hesitation to make a decision right now is because they have no idea how to eat this thing. If Jiang Hai says he knows how to prepare this, then they’ll butcher it and be done with it. But since Jiang Hai has no clue how to prepare as well, how can they waste the effort they put into catching this beast.

“Keep it? Where though?” Here this, Jiang Hai is even more perplexed. The shark is 3.1 meters long, where is heck can they find that big of a place to keep it?

“Boss, if I remember correctly there should be a large swimming pool behind your mansion. It was built by the previous owner, but since the mansion is really close to the sea thus it was left abandoned. It also has a gate facing the sea so keeping it there definitely fine.” Robins stated.

“Alright then let’s keep it for now. We should hurry up and head back. Once I find a competent chef then we can get rid of it.” Jiang Hai stated matter-of-factly.

Under the shocked looks of the two, Jiang Hai single handedly picked up the shark and secured it to the back of his ATV. After the three quickly returned back to the mansion. In the area between the forest and the mansion, is an abandoned swimming pool. This swimming pool covers 250 square meters, with a deep end of 3.5 meters and a shallow end of 1.8 meters. Even after all these years of lack of maintenance, the tiles that covered the pool still remained. You can clearly tell how much importance the previous owner put into this pool. But sadly, this became Jiang Hai’s extremely large fish tank.

Currently the pool is full of loose leaves and bird p.o.o.p. As soon as they reached the pool, Edward and Robins jumped in and began to clear away the leaves in the pool. They also opened up the water gate and used the incoming sea water to give the pool a good scrubbing. At least now the pool isn’t completely covered in bird p.o.o.p. After a basic cleaning, the three threw in shark into the tank. Since a shark has a very short lifespan once it leaves the water.

Fortunately, they were quick enough such that it only took 15 minutes before this sand tiger shark entered the water. He can’t help but move around with excitement to show off his vigour (2).

“Alright, this should do.” Robins closed the gate as the pool slowly filled to the brim. Seeing the shark settle into this new home, Jiang Hai somehow felt disappointed. Not being able to eat this shark this time truly is a waste. But sadly no one here knows how to cook shark properly. What can they do?

Just as his was pitying himself, Robins called. Glancing quickly at the time, it somehow is almost 5 and Burke and the others have already arrived.

Quickly, Jiang Hai went to the entrance to let these people in. From the very start, Jiang Hai clearly stated that they can move in with their family members. However, there is only two people in the group who has a family. Harman is obviously single. Bell just left the forces so obviously still single. Burke had a wife but like Edward’s, she had left him. Currently he is living here, while his wife and daughter are in New York. This year she is 26, after finding work and because of her new family, she pretty much lost all connections with him.

As such, out of the 4 people here, only Philemon is not alone. However he only brought his wife, since his two kids are both in living in New York. The eldest one is working as an a.s.sistant manager on a high school basketball team. Although his position is that of an a.s.sistant manager, but his workload generally consist of booking bus tickets and hotels for the team. The youngest one is currently attending university thus he only comes back during the holidays. As such for the majority of the time, there is only him and his wife here.

Seeing Jiang Hai come to let them in, the four happily exchanged greetings. Jiang Hai returned led them inside to the parking lot. On the other hand, Robins and Edward had pretty much finished the preparations for the feast.

Notes

1. This is all some philosophy shenanigans, so plz don’t get made and what not at me!
2. Pet #1 confirmed. It’s a freaking shark.

Kai: The chapter t.i.tle is prob referring to Jiang Hai’s strength, or his new pet ^.^