Chapter 101 Chartering a Boat to Go Out to Sea

Chapter 101 Chartering a Boat to Go Out to Sea

Chapter 101 Chartering a Boat to Go Out to Sea
Chen Yongwei followed him to the top of the mountain, looked back at Achun and the others walking towards the beach, looked around, and said, "Brother, what about the Buddha's hand snails that Uncle Kun wants?"

"Those guys just now were just like Wang Laobian, trying to take advantage of my good fortune. If they knew about the cave, do you think we could still keep those things?"

"No! These people are like hungry wolves. Even two more of them won't be enough to cause them harm!"

"That's it!" Li Changle thought for a moment, "How about we rent a small boat and go to the island you mentioned to see those Buddha's hand snails you mentioned?"

He felt that it was a pity to sell the Buddha's hand snails in the cave at two yuan per pound, so he might as well go to the island to get some and wait until they raised the price to three yuan per pound before selling them.

"Okay, although the Buddha's hand snails on the island can't catch up with those in the cave, they are much fatter than those in other places. It's just the right time to go there now."

"Do you know which boat is for rent?"

"My cousin's boat and A-chan's boat. A-chan's boat charges two dollars for rent and 10% of the catch. My cousin's boat doesn't charge and charges six dollars a trip. Both families buy their own diesel."

"Two dollars a trip may seem cheap, but if we get good stuff, the 10% commission won't be worth it." Li Changle stopped and said to him, "Just rent your cousin's boat. You can rent a boat at the dock. Do you have money to buy diesel?"

"Yes!" Chen Yongwei happily put down the backpack and put it on his back. "Diesel costs more than 70 cents a liter. It only takes half an hour to get to the island from the pier. You can buy a pot of oil and have some left over after the round trip."

"Then buy a pot. We'll need it when our ship comes back."

"Yeah!" Chen Yongwei thought about it and said, "Brother, the bucket is full of tide-eaters, more than fifty of them. We will get more if we go there the next day."

"Then I'll go there every other day. I'll send the octopus home and then find you at the dock." Li Changle picked up the bucket and was about to leave.

"Brother," Chen Yongwei called him and reminded him, "Remember to bring a large kettle, some dry food, and a chisel and hammer."

"Got it!" Li Changle waved his hand and walked towards the mountain.

Thinking that the ship would be back in a few days, I had to buy a stove, a wok and a steel pot, and also some ginger, garlic, chili peppers, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.

It saves me from having to steam, blanch, or boil seafood every day like before when I went out to sea. I ate so much that I felt like vomiting when I saw the blanched or steamed seafood...

Thinking of this, he recalled the first time he went out on the ocean with a big ship. The waves on the desolate sea were higher than the mountains. When a few waves came, he was lying on the side of the ship and vomiting jaundice water. He only thought about making money to treat Anan.

Later, I got used to vomiting. I no longer felt dizzy when standing on the deck on a windy day. From the lowest-ranking sailor to the first mate, earning more than 10,000 yuan a month, I still couldn't keep An Nan...

Zhou Ruonan was thinking about all sorts of things and before he knew it he had reached the foot of the mountain. He was washing the net bag and the rubber bucket.

"Anan, take a rubber bucket back with you." Li Changle said as he walked to the well.

"You're back!" Zhou Ruonan raised her head, tucked the scattered hair on her temples behind her ears, and walked forward to take the bucket he was carrying.

"My sister-in-law and I spent a long time picking out 300 jars. Lao Zhang said that if we wanted more, we could go back in a couple of days and he would keep some for us."

"Okay." Li Changle picked up the rubber bucket, "Go back and make me some rice balls. I'll ask Awei to rent a boat. We're going to the island to fish for Buddha's hand snails."

"Oh, I'll go right away." Zhou Ruonan quickened her pace and went home. After washing her hands, she started to get busy.

Li Changle poured Wangchao and Octopus into the rubber bucket and found several black seals. "Anan, pick out the black seals later and send some to An Niang and the eldest and second sisters-in-law."

"Mother said to eat with us so that both families don't have to light the fire." Zhou Ruonan came out of the kitchen. "The leftover rice can only be used to wrap two rice balls. I'll pack some small cakes and candies for you, so you can fill your stomach when you're hungry."

"It's up to you! We want all the Octopus and Wangchao Restaurant this time. Once you're done packing, go to sleep and stop weaving the net."

"I'm fine!" Zhou Ruonan responded.

Li Changle went to get the chisel, hammer, net bag, sack, large and small scoop nets, bent pliers, and a small shovel and put them in the backpack. He picked up the kettle filled with water and put it on his back, ready to go out.

Zhou Ruonan handed him a rice basket filled with rice balls and candies. "I put two melons in it. You have dark circles under your eyes. You and Awei didn't sleep last night, and we are rushing to the island. Can you handle it?"

Li Changle took the lunch basket and said, "It's okay. Just come back and have a good sleep."

"Be careful. If you find that the weather is not right, come back quickly."

"Don't worry," Li Changle squeezed her hand, "With you at home, I'll be very careful!"

Zhou Ruonan slapped him in annoyance, "You're so unruly every day!"

"You obviously like me, but you won't admit it." Li Changle leaned forward and kissed her, then strode towards the alley.

Going to the pier would take a detour from Yantou Mountain, so he went straight out of the village from Nantou and walked towards the pier. From a distance, he saw Chen Yongwei and Chen Dong talking there.

"Adong, my brother never said your price was unfair."

Chen Yongwei thought, "The main reason is that their price is much higher than yours, and my brother has no grudge against money, so of course he will sell it to the one with the higher price!"

Chen Dong thought that Li Changle had found big and good fish at the beginning. The fish he caught were all fresh seafood, which was what rich people liked.

Sea transportation is a mysterious thing. If you are lucky, you can get any rare, good or big goods. If you are unlucky, you won’t even see the good goods passing by you.

"What's going on? I thought you were not satisfied with the price I offered, so Ah Le was unwilling to send the catch to my house to sell."

Ah Wei scratched his head in embarrassment, looked up and saw Li Changle, pointed at him with a look of relief, "My brother is here, go talk to him."

"Ah Wei, you are so biased. We are cousins. Every time you see me, you call me Adong, Adong. Why have you never called me Brother Dong?"

Why didn't you say this before? It's because you saw that my brother and I could catch good fish together that you became polite to me.

"You are different from my brother." Chen Yongwei said and walked towards Li Changle, "Brother, Adong asked you about crabs. I have already rented the boat and filled it with diesel."

Li Changle handed him the backpack and said, "Go and start it. I'll be right there."

Chen Yongwei nodded and walked towards the boat.

"Ah Le, we're going out to sea!" Chen Dong smiled and handed him a cigarette, and helped him light it up. "Ah Wei made the right decision to follow you. I heard that you took over your fishing boat, and you gave him 20% of the shares." Li Changle corrected him, "It wasn't given to him. He didn't want me to drag him down, so he bought two shares from me."

"How could your luck be so bad? If I had known earlier, I would have bought two shares!" Chen Dong changed the subject and said, "Ah Le, may I ask if you have any cooperation with any seafood store in town?
I will tell you something from my heart today. As long as it is good stuff, the price they can give you, my family can also give you..."

Li Changle felt that Chen Ji would know about his cooperation with the restaurant sooner or later, so he simply told the truth, "Adong, the one I'm cooperating with is not the seafood store, but the Phoenix Restaurant. In the future, when there are good products, I can only focus on that side first."

"So that's what's going on!" Chen Dong breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't someone from the same industry, it would be fine. "I didn't expect you to get in touch with Phoenix Restaurant so quickly."

"Don't worry." Li Changle patted his shoulder. "We are from the same village. We have a relationship with Awei. When I get a large amount of goods in the future, as long as the agency fee you charge is reasonable, I will definitely ask you to help contact the buyer first."

Chen Dongxu nodded at him a few times, "Brother Ale, you are so smart. You won't take any loss! Don't worry, as long as you find a large amount of goods, I will definitely help you find a generous buyer."

Seeing that he even called his brother, Li Changle smiled and said, "It's not that I'm good at calculating. Look at my house. Every time it rains, it's heavy rain outside and light rain inside. I don't have any special skills. I just earn some hard-earned money by fishing in the sea. It's okay if I don't calculate it!"

"Look at what you said. Who in the village doesn't want to be like you? Rice and fish today, sea urchins tomorrow, and crabs the day after tomorrow. All the good luck falls on you, and you get the hard-earned money."

"How can it not be bitter? I have only slept for more than an hour from last night till now!"

"You are just happy." Chen Dong glanced at Wang Ji and whispered, "The neighbor was very proud a few days ago, but today he found out that you got a lot of crab roe, and his face is very unhappy. You have to be careful."

"I got it. Thank you very much!" Li Changle saw Chen Yongwei waving at him, "I'm leaving first. You can take your time."

"Okay, let's buy more good stuff!"

"Thank you for your good wishes!" Li Changle waved his hand, glanced at Wang Ji, strode over and jumped onto the boat.

The diesel engine made a clattering sound and the boat slowly sailed away from the shore. Li Changle sat on a small wooden stool, leaning against the side of the boat and watching the ripples created by the fishing boat breaking through the waves. After a while, he fell drowsy.

"Awei, I'm going to take a nap. Call me when we get to the island."

"Go to sleep." Chen Yongwei drove the fishing boat towards the small island. The island was west of Zhushan Island, about ten minutes away by sea, but it arrived in the blink of an eye.

Chen Yongwei steered the fishing boat slowly to the shore. After turning off the engine, he found that Li Changle was already snoring. He walked over and shook him a few times, "Brother, we're here."

Li Changle opened his eyes and looked around. When he saw a bun-like hill not far to the south of the island, he remembered that when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he went to sea with his eldest brother for the first time and they came to this island.

The island is in the shape of a Chinese character "竅", as if it was built by someone using rocks. He also named the small island Mantou Island, and this deserted island is called Concave Island.

The lowest point of the island is high on both sides and low in the middle. When the tide recedes, you can see that the reefs on both sides are covered with Buddha's hand snails.

Chen Yongwei jumped onto the shore and tied the rope. "Brother, come over when the tide comes in. The steamed bun-like island will be exposed above the water. There will be a gravel road between the two islands. You can walk to the island from here."

Li Changle followed him over the rocks and headed towards the top of the mountain. "I've been here before. I picked up a bucket of seabird eggs here with my brother."

"I picked it up the last time I came here. It's in the bushes in front." Chen Yongwei said as he picked up a stone and threw it down the mountain. Then he saw several big birds with long red legs flying up from the bushes.

Li Changle remembered seeing such a seabird with long red legs on the beach, but it seemed that it was rarely seen in later generations.

The two climbed over the reef to the top of the mountain, and then climbed down to the place where they collected Buddha's hand snails. It took about ten minutes to get from the top of the mountain to the depression at the bottom.

There were steep cliffs everywhere. Li Changle followed Chen Yongwei, walking and stopping, and when his legs were trembling with exhaustion, they finally arrived at the place where the Buddha's hand snails grew.

When we went down to the sunken area, we saw that every stone and every crack in the stone was covered with densely packed Buddha's hand snails. On the cliffs facing the water, Buddha's hand snails grew everywhere.

There are oysters, clams growing in clusters, small conches, stone crabs on the rocks, and many small fish in the shallow puddles under your feet.

"Brother, look at this area, it's all covered with them. Hurry up and dig a few sacks before the tide reaches here."

Chen Yongwei said as he picked up the chisel and started to chisel along the stone wall. After chiseling a cluster, he said to him, "Look, if we don't compare them with the ones in the cave, these Buddha's hand snails can be considered top-quality goods, right?"

"It's really good. Even if it can't be sold for two yuan, we can pick out the best ones and send them to the restaurant. It should be no problem to sell them for one yuan per pound." Li Changle stepped on a rock and picked up a special chisel to start chiseling.

This chisel is narrower than the one used by craftsmen. This ensures that after the chisel is inserted into the crevice, the conch can be chiseled out of the crevice intact.

"Brother, look in the puddles and reef caves down there later, you may find fish and blue crabs." Chen Yongwei shouted towards the reef cave, "Look, I was right, wasn't I?"

Li Changle turned his head and saw a small green crab quickly crawling towards the crevice of the reef. "Hurry up and dig it. The tide will rise soon."

"Oh oh!" Chen Yongwei no longer paid attention to the reef cave below and concentrated on chiseling.

Li Changle chiseled for a while, and the large piece of cargo in front of him disappeared. He looked down and found that the bucket was already half full. He picked up the bucket, walked forward a few steps, and continued to work with his arms spread out.

It seemed like it didn't take long before the bucket became heavier and heavier. It seems like it's too easy to get a bucket bursting while fishing in the sea these days.

He took out a sack and poured a bucket into it, then continued to chisel while holding the bucket. He left the small ones for seeds and chiseled all the big ones off.

For those big ones that grow in rock cracks that are smaller than a chisel, curved-nosed pliers come in handy. Grab the largest one and pull it out with force. After pulling out several in a row, it will be much easier to pull out the others.

Li Changle felt that pulling out Buddha's hand snails relieved stress much more than chiseling them. When he was full of energy, he could pull them out all day long.

At this time, he saw the large snails growing on the edge of the puddle, and there were oysters and clams growing in clusters below.

It’s a pity that I didn’t have time to visit them this time. Next time I’ll bring Anan and sister-in-law with me and get more clams to dry.

The scientific name of clams is Mytilus edulis, and some people call it mussels. It is delicious when stewed with radish or winter melon after being dried.

It didn't seem to take much effort, and the two sacks I carried with me were full. Fortunately, I also had a net bag, so I could continue working.

Suddenly there was a splash from behind, the sea water hit the rocks and splashed all over him.

　Friends, I went to review today and only coded one chapter. I’m sorry to everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)