"Okay, is there anything I should watch out for when hauling these up?"
"No. Just be careful not to break too many glass jars. They're all pretty heavy, and if you really can't pull one up, it may have snagged on something below. Don't force it."
"Got it."
Lu Ao looked around and quickly found the jars Lin Man Zhang had mentioned.
He steered the boat over and carefully reached for one of the jars.
Song Zhou moved over. "I'll do it."
Song Zhou had long legs and great strength. With a light hook, he pulled up the buoy.
With one tug, he immediately drew up a whole string of bottles and jars from below.
Lu Ao quickly secured the boat and opened the livewell. "Come on, let's see if there are any octopuses inside."
"The first one doesn't have one. The second does." Song Zhou could see it clearly at a glance. "The third and fourth both have them too."
Lu Ao leaned closer. "There really are some. These octopuses are so small, much smaller than I imagined."
Lin Man Zhang heard them talking from afar and called over, "It's not the season yet. They'll mostly be bigger in winter. Winter octopuses are fat and large, and those are satisfying to catch. But these can be harvested now too—they're fresh and tender, and they taste very good."
"Oh." Lu Ao looked at the octopus curled into a ball inside the jar and asked, "How do we get it out? Dig it out with our fingers?"
"How could you dig it out with your fingers? Didn't I give you bamboo strips? Use those to scoop the octopus out. If you really don't want to, leave the glass jar on the boat, and after a while, the octopus will crawl out