âReally?â Shu blinked. She didnât know if sharks were cold blooded or not, so Pinliangâs explanation seemed rather believable.
âYeah!â Pinliang said confidently. âShu, Iâll start grilling the shark for you and Yao Yao, okay? I couldnât bring flammable stuff onto the plane, so I specifically brought a solar-powered grill! Iâll show you high-tech cooking in just a bit.â
âOoh, nice! Hurry, then!â Yushu was delighted to hear that sheâd be having barbecued shark meat soon.
Mengyao looked at the shark oddly. âHow come this sharkâs one fin short?â
âWhat?!â Pinliangâs eyes widened as he looked at the shark. It was true, the shark was missing a fin on one side! And it looked like it had been cleanly cut off by someone.
Pinliang was infuriated. That supermarket vendor had cheated him! Selling the shark to him for such an expensive price when heâd cut a fin off?! Pinliang decided that heâd raze the shop to the ground when he got back.
âProbably got taken off by Shu. Yeah, thatâs probably it. She sliced it off with that rock!â Pinliang explained.
âReally? Wow, Iâm good!â Yushu wasnât expecting to have ripped the sharkâs fin off of it like that.
âThis shark, itâs not one of those frozen sharks sold at market, is it?â Mengyao kicked the shark. The body was hard, evidently prefrozen.
âYeah, Yao Yao, why does it look like itâs from a market? Look, is that a price tag in its mouth?â Yushu started inspecting the shark curiously after what Mengyao said. âIs this really the one I killed? Did you get the wrong one, Liangy?â
âItâs the right one, for sure!â Pinliang gritted his teeth as he looked at the damned white price tag in the sharkâs mouth. Was Xiaofu blind?! He didnât see the missing fin, and heâd missed that price tag in the mouth too!
Pinliang held the curses in his mind back and quickly pulled the price tag out of the sharkâs mouth. He stuck it into his own mouth and chewed on it a bit before swallowing it. âItâs not a price tag, come on! Itâs a scallop, a really nice scallop! They say people die for money and birds die for food, so the shark mustâve come here looking for these scallops when Shu killed it with a rock!â
Pinliang changed the subject so the two wouldnât dwell on the shark for too long.
âScallop? And you just ate it raw?â Mengyao was starting to get suspicious.
âThe shark was risking its life for it. Itâs obviously really good. Oh, darn, Iâm sorry, I shouldâve saved something that good for you, Yao Yao!â Pinliang said.
âYou can keep it. And stop calling me Yao Yao. It sounds weird,â Mengyao said.
âDoesnât Shu call you Yao Yao?â Pinliang asked.
âShu calls me Yao Yao sis, not Yao Yao. Do you want to call me that too?â Mengyao glared at him, her tone cold.
âUh, never mind, then.â Pinliang didnât want to turn into Mengyaoâs little brother. Itâd make it even harder for him to chase her! He laughed it off instead. âWell, Iâll go barbecue this shark then. Yo, boys! Come here and help out, letâs split this shark for the class!â
Similar to Mengyao and Yushu, some students were more or less suspicious of the origins of this shark Pinliang dragged up, but hearing that theyâd all get a portion of barbecued shark was enough to stop anyone from doing anything irritable. They started helping Pinliang out, feeling a lot less hostile towards the guy now.
Pinliang set up the solar-powered grill and looked around, waiting for Xiaofu. After looking a while, he finally saw the guy walking over with a shirt wrapped over his head.
âHow do you feel?â Pinliang asked quietly.
âLuckily, it only hit my forehead. Itâs just a flesh wound,â Xiaofu said.
âWhy didnât you hold on a bit longer before sinking? I didnât get to do anything! It was so embarrassing when you went down so fast! I didnât get to be the hero at all.â Pinliang sulked.
âI couldnât do anything about it, Liang Bro! That Chen Yushuâs too much. She shot a rock at me right at the start! If I didnât sink and another rock came, Iâd be dead!â Xiaofu said, still feeling threatened.
âYouâre right. But damn, who wouldâve thought that Chen Yushu would get so excited!â Pinliang shook his head.
âShould I go be a shark again?â Xiaofu asked carefully.
âThat works. Letâs talk about this later.â Pinliang nodded. âRight now we have to get this grill going and start the barbecue!â
Pinliang and Xiaofu set the grill up, but it didnât start heating up. Pinliang started getting worried after waiting a while. âWhatâs wrong with this thing. How come itâs not working?â
âNot enough solar power?â Xiaofu looked at the sun, his tone cautious.
âWhat do we do?â Pinliang looked up as well. Clouds were rolling in.
âItâs okay. Thereâs a manual pump, right? Iâll pump and you blow at the charcoal inside! It should get the heat going,â Xiaofu said.
âAlright!â Pinliang nodded and started blowing into the grill as Xiaofu worked the manual pump for all that he was worth.
They went at it for a long time to no avail. Pinliangâs mouth was swollen from all the blowing while Xiaofuâs arms throbbed with pain.
âHow come the fire hasnât started yet?â Yushu saw that the boys were almost finished cutting the shark up into portions, but Pinliang was still trying to start the grill. âWhat grill is that?â
âItâs a new model. I saw it on TV. Fish Broâs recommendation,â Xiaofu said gleefully.
âYou actually believe the shopping ads on TV?â Yushuâs eyes went wide.
âUhâ¦â Pinliang barely stopped himself from kicking Xiaofu. So this was some unreliable TV ad! He thought it was new technology.
âLiang Bro, donât get mad! Weâll get it started soon. Iâll give a final burst of strength.â With that, Xiaofu increased his pumping speed, drenching himself in sweat from the work.
âXiaofy, whatâs with that wrapping on your head? You look like some Indian chieftain.â Yushu said as she reached for the shirt on Xiaofuâs head..
âDonât! This is a symbol of effort of determination! You see those people with a piece of cloth tied around their heads on TV, right? See, Iâm lighting this grill up with all Iâve got!â Xiaofu quickly explained.
âOh, I see. Hurry up and pump then. Pump harder!â Yushu encouraged. âIâm hungry! Yao Yao said that if itâs still not done, we should get someone else to do the barbecue!â