Chapter 142: It's so dark and not festive at all
Chapter 142: It's dark and not festive at all
Brother Li pulled the tricycle onto the boat, Li Changle started the diesel engine, and the boat drove out of Zhangjia Wharf with a clatter, facing the rising sun.
After the boat docked at the pier, the group went home and brought the bowls of tofu to the master's temple, where they placed pork, tofu, and bowls of tofu, worshiped the gods, asked for their protection, and set off firecrackers. Only then was the ceremony considered over.
The group came back from the master's palace. As soon as they entered the yard, Zhou Ruonan waved happily at Li Changle. He immediately understood that they had found beads again.
Chen Yongwei was faster than him. He jumped off the tricycle and rushed into the house in a few steps. Li Changle and his two brothers also followed him.
When Li Changle and his companions entered the room, they saw that on the bench in the center where Li's mother and others were sitting, there was an earthen bowl with three beads in it. The shiny black bead in the middle was particularly dazzling.
"My goodness, there's a black one!"
Grandma Chen: "I've lived for decades and this is the first time I've seen black beads. Does anyone want black beads?"
"Why doesn't anyone want it? The less there are of something, the more valuable it is." Li Changle excitedly picked up the bead, which was at least as big as a two-cent coin. "If we can get all three of them, we'll be rich!"
After hearing this, the people in the room all felt that the black beads were extremely precious and a little unbelievable.
"Ah Le, the golden one is better. The black one is not festive at all. Who would like it?"
Li Changle was stunned for a moment, and retorted: "Things are valuable because they are rare. The ideas of those rich people are different from ours."
"My brother is right. Last time my brother caught a cat shark, Brother Fa laughed at us for catching such a worthless fish. But I sold the cat shark that no one wanted for 20 yuan. Such beautiful black beads must be more valuable."
After hearing this, everyone agreed. Rich people nowadays say that fatty meat is greasy and prefer lean, skinny meat without any oiliness.
Zhou Ruonan nodded, "I think black beads are beautiful, and have a mysterious beauty!"
"Yes, yes, mysterious beauty!" Li Changle picked up the two white beads and felt that they were bigger than the last one. It was a pity that they could not form a set.
Brother Li pulled him aside and said, "Ah Le, stop looking. Everything went smoothly today. You and Ah Wei should quickly deliver the catch to the restaurant. Then, go out to sea and lower the traps. Then, go to the deserted island while the tide is out to take a look."
"Oh! Take the toadfish to the restaurant and ask, maybe you can sell it for a good price."
"The grouper and toadfish just died this morning. After you left, I asked Anan to go to the dock and buy a dollar's worth of ice to cool them down. I'll send them over right away while they're still fresh."
"What a pity. I can at least sell it for half the money." Li Changle said with a distressed look, and took out the bucket covered with cotton wool and put it on the tricycle.
Chen Yongwei and two other people carried all the Buddha's hand snails that they had chiseled last night onto the tricycle.
"In the past, when I went to paint the bridge with Brother Ale, we would carry it on our backs and walk to the village entrance. If we were lucky, we would stand for a while and a minibus would come. If we were unlucky, we would have to walk a distance before a bus came. Now, we don't have to walk and save on bus fare."
"What's the good of it? Although we can save some money on the bus fare, we will be exhausted if we pedal there."
"I'm not afraid of getting tired, I'll pedal." Chen Yongwei got on the bike, "Get ready, let's go."
"There are more than 40 people in total, and they are still acting like children."
The eldest and second brothers smiled and shook their heads, then went back to help take the opened oyster meat to the ditch, cleaned it, and carried it home. Mother Li happily showed them a pearl.
"Look, Anan has opened another golden bead, this one is even bigger than the last one."
"Ah Le said that if we had three of similar size, we could have a complete set. If we opened another one, we could sell it for six or seven hundred dollars!"
"You only got a golden one?"
"I also opened two flat ones. Anan said they can be sold to the pharmacy."
"What a pity." The two brothers carried the oysters to the kitchen. Father Li had already boiled half a pot of water.
Brother Li added a small amount of salt to the pot, poured all the oyster meat in the bucket into it, and boiled it over high heat for three to five minutes. He then scooped it out and poured it into a bamboo basket to drain the water, then spread it on a bamboo flat plate to dry in the hot sun.
……
Over there, Li Changle and Chen Yongwei had already arrived at the restaurant's kitchen.
Ah Sheng opened the door and saw the two of them. "I went to call Uncle Kun. He just came to ask me if you guys came?"
"Thank you!" Li Changle and Chen Yongwei had just moved the fish in, wondering what good news A Kun had to tell him?
"A Le, you are really good. You got so many seafood as soon as you came back!" A Kun walked into the backyard with a smile.
Li Changle pointed at the bamboo basket and said, "I came back a little late yesterday afternoon. I was busy carving Buddha's hand snails on the island, so I didn't have time to come and see you."
After hearing this, A Kun hurried forward and picked up the Buddha's Hand Conch to take a look. "It looks like the same one that was delivered the first time?"
"Yes! This time, with the help of my brother, we were able to carve out so much. We also got a toadfish, a grouper, and some big blue crabs."
Li Changle said as he uncovered the cotton wool covering the bucket, "It just died this morning, and I went to the dock to find some to keep it cool."
Ah Kun picked up the grouper and opened its gills to take a look. "What a pity, a dead one is only three yuan per pound. If it were alive, the price would be at least doubled." He put the grouper aside and looked at the toadfish. "This kind of fish is much cheaper. It's not bad to be this fresh. It's one yuan per pound."
"Thank you, Uncle Kun." Li Changle pointed at the bamboo basket and asked, "Are there many Buddha's hand snails?"
"Is this a lot?" A Kun said with a smile, "The boss's restaurant in Haimen will open soon. What you sent today is not even enough for the lunch banquet."
"Boss Gu has reached an agreement with the Hong Kong businessman?"
"Okay!" A Kun patted his shoulder, "I called you here to tell you that the restaurant in Haimen will need more good stuff after it opens. If you get any good stuff, just send it to me. You don't have to give me a cut in the future."
"Also, the optical glass factory jointly established by our boss and the village will start operation at the beginning of next month. I will take all the small fish, shrimps, and octopuses you get by then."
Li Changle was delighted and gave him a thumbs up, "Uncle Kun is great. He is in charge of the purchases of two big restaurants and the factory. He is truly a general manager."
"You little brat, you're still the chief steward!" A Kun looked at him with some pride and said, "The boss trusts me because I have a bottom line. If the seafood you send is not good, I won't accept it even if you give me a big kickback."
"I'm telling you, food is no joke. Also, the people who come here to eat are all well-off. If a bad reputation gets out, the restaurant won't be able to stay open. We can't do something that would ruin our own business."
Li Changle felt that he was not bragging about this. "Uncle Kun, rest assured. The seafood I send you is definitely good and fresh. If it's not good, I would rather throw it away than send it to sell."
"I trust you so I let you deliver the goods," A Kun said, and then asked, "Did the boat take you home?"
"I took it home this morning. When I get back, I'll go out to sea and cast traps to catch fish."
"I just like your enthusiasm for work. Look at our boss. The Phoenix Restaurant is doing so well that he opened a restaurant in Haimen that's even bigger than this one.
I also opened an optical glass factory with someone else, which will start operation at the beginning of next month. People who are making a lot of money are working so hard, why shouldn’t we work harder! ”
"Thank you Uncle Kun, I'll remember that." Li Changle thought that in his previous life, he had laid down too early. He never thought that people who were richer than you were working hard, so why should you lay down?
A Sheng brought out the scale, and A Wei put the conch on it and started weighing it.
Three baskets of Buddha's hand snails, after removing the skin, weighed a total of 196 pounds, 3 yuan per pound, toad fish weighed 11 pounds, 11 yuan, grouper weighed 6 pounds and 1 ounce, and giant blue crabs weighed 3 pounds and 7 ounces. The total sales for this trip were 623.
Li Changle felt that if they continued like this, once they sent all the Buddha's hand snails in the cave to the restaurant, they would have enough money to build the house.
The two of them took the money, and Li Changle rode his tricycle to the Agricultural Materials Bureau, spent about ten yuan to buy a few plastic water pipes, and then hurried back.
They both wanted to see if there were any new beads.
When I got home, I saw a bamboo rack in the yard with some bamboo flat oysters drying on it.
Li Xiaomei and Li Xiaobo were playing with spinning tops on the steps. They saw a tricycle come into the yard, drop the spinning tops and run towards them.
"Uncle San is back, we're going to ride a tricycle!"
"You're not even as tall as a tricycle, but you want to ride one!" Li Changle smiled and rubbed the two of them, "Why are there only two of you? Where are your brother and sister?"
Li Xiaobo pointed to the door and said, "She's opening oysters in the room. Grandma asked us to watch so that no one would see her and ask questions."
"Good boy!" Li Changle walked up the steps, opened the door and saw the older ones helping to open oysters. "How are they? How many have been opened?"
Zhou Ruonan handed him the bowl and said, "I opened another ten or so, but only three of them are sellable. The others are either flat or pointed at both ends. They are all in weird shapes."
Li Changle looked at those strangely shaped beads and thought that it was because they were opened too early and they had not yet fully grown inside.
He looked at the sacks piled in the corner and said, "There are still most of them left to be opened. Let's talk about it after all of them are opened."
Mother Li said cheerfully, "Including the three we opened this morning, six have already been opened. After we open the rest, we should be able to open a few more. This is much more cost-effective than selling oysters."
Li Changle nodded, "Where are my brother and the others?"
"Your brother said he was going to set up a trap to catch small fish for bait."
"Anan, prepare breakfast. Awei and I will clean the buckets and bamboo baskets. We will wait for my brother and the others to come back and then go out to sea to cast traps after eating."
"Uncle San," Li Xiaoyang hurriedly called him, "My mother said that as long as we help with the work, you will take us to the island to fish before school starts. We will sell the seafood we find and keep the money. Later, we can buy a big ship together."
Father Li was delighted after hearing this, "These young kids are thinking about saving money to buy a big boat."
"Do you know how much a big ship costs?" Mrs. Li looked at Li Xiaoyang with amusement, "You're still saving money to buy a ship? I think it's better for you to save money for a small store."
Li Xiaoyang looked at her with dissatisfaction, "Mother, are you going to regret it again? If you don't keep your word, we won't help you open oysters."
Mrs. Li said awkwardly, "Stinky kid, when did I ever break my word?"
"You often don't keep your word." Li Xiaoyang muttered.
(End of this chapter)