Chapter 253

Where did this hotheaded youth come from, speaking so aggressively? If it were before, Ye Cheng would probably have argued with him; now I feel my disposition has become much more bland.

Ye Cheng poked his head out and took a look, then immediately understood, "Little lobster, it's what we collected, one dollar per jin, guaranteed."

That man was already irritated to the extreme; upon hearing Ye Cheng say it was really one dollar per jin, he first stared for a moment, then lowered his tone and looked at him doubtfully,

"You're not trying to cheat me, are you?"

Ye Cheng pursed his lips, glanced at his bucket, then pulled out 20 dollars and shoved them into his hand,

"Then, this is a deposit; follow my sister-in-law over there, weigh it and pay accordingly; once you get the money, you'll believe me, right?"

As soon as the 20 dollars landed in his hand, the man's throat went silent; he bowed his waist and said, "Okay, okay, I believe you, I believe you."

Saying that, Jiang Yunxiang was about to have him bring the stuff over.

"Wait." Ye Cheng suddenly called out to him, "Brother, which village are you from?"

The man stopped, opened his mouth and said, "I'm from Big Concave Village."

Big Concave Village is some distance from Baiyun Village; it seems the news of buying little lobsters has spread quickly.

This person brought only a few little lobsters; he's probably just scouting the route. Later on, we'll likely see more people coming to sell little lobsters.

"Brother, Big Concave Village seems pretty far," Xiao Hu said, glancing at that person.

"I've been there; it's about twenty li, not too near nor too far, but that side is near the mountains, relatively poor, so this person probably came on foot." As for this area, Ye Guowei does the most walking.

Having someone come to sell shrimp is a good thing; when I go back I'll have the Chen Brothers make a sign, or leave a phone number for them, so they won't enter the village and not know where to go.

Before, we went door-to-door to collect, then left; now if we want others to come over, we definitely need a contact method.

Besides, looking at those old ladies' curious expressions, it seems the matter of the little lobsters can't be kept hidden any longer.

He didn't expect that what would spread next wasn't the little lobsters at all.

Jiang Yunxiang took people to sell the shrimp, while Ye Cheng and the three of them continued walking toward the beach, starting to put up fencing nets on the tidal flats.

This job isn't too hard, but 50 mu is indeed quite long; the three of them trampled in the mud and worked a whole morning before finishing.

Seeing the 50 mu of tidal flats completely enclosed, the aquaculture venture had taken its first step; Ye Guowei felt very relieved.

Sitting by the sea, he silently lit a cigarette: "Ah Cheng, if our parents were still alive, seeing us now able to contract so much tidal flat, they'd surely be pleased."

Ye Cheng gave a faint smile; he wasn't the original owner, so he didn't have deep impressions or feelings for his parents, lacking that deep sentiment, so he could only change the subject,

"Brother, this afternoon we'll pick up the stones again, then we can seed the seedlings; have you found a place to buy the seedlings?"

Although it's supposed to be natural, self-sustaining farming, the seedlings are still needed, and they're an important part of the aquaculture costs.

Ye Guowei nodded: "Found it, 8 dollars per jin; I asked around—if we raise clams on all 50 mu, we'd need 2000 jin, about 1.6 million individuals."

"That many!" Xiao Hu exclaimed; frankly, having never done aquaculture, he really had no concept of it, and hearing that figure of over a million really frightened him.

Of course, Ye Cheng, who also had no aquaculture experience, was frightened too—over a million? Just how densely packed would that be?

Even if it were a million coins, scattering them like that would be somewhat terrifying.

"They're all seedlings; the smaller ones are naturally more numerous—about 800 per jin, let's see how big they can grow." Ye Guowei explained.

"Brother, clear another patch of land and raise some blue crabs too; blue crabs are expensive." Ye Cheng proposed.

Clams are easy to raise, but the problem is they're cheap, so there's not much profit.

Blue crabs are different; I recall that in later times there were specialized farms for blue crabs, quite famous, and they sell for a high price.

As soon as Ye Cheng finished speaking, Xiao Hu looked at him like he was an idiot: "Brother, you're planning to feed the clams to the blue crabs, right? With over a million clams, I doubt even one will be left."

Um...

Come to think of it, I forgot that blue crabs eat shellfish.

Never mind, let's talk about it later.

Ye Guowei's clam seedlings won't arrive until tomorrow; after the three of them went back and ate lunch, they went back to pick up the stones.

Ye Cheng meanwhile brought Da Huang over and, at that reef, set up a little house for it, a one-room dwelling.

Whether it likes this arrangement or not is its own business.

Da Huang is fairly satisfied with the place; seawater brings small fish and shrimp over, the reef can be climbed to bask in the sun, and if unhappy it can go downstream with the tide for a swim—really not bad.

Dinner was eaten at Ye Guowei's home; Jiang Yunxiang cooked a few hearty dishes, no alcohol was drunk; in the evening Ye Cheng still wanted to go diving to get some goods—this luck value shouldn't be wasted.

During the meal, Jiang Yunxiang mentioned that the person from Big Concave Village had said they'd bring more little lobsters back, claiming they had plenty there.

Sure enough, just as Ye Cheng had guessed, if we could get little lobsters from villages twenty li away, this business could keep going for a while longer.

After finishing the meal, Ye Guowei didn't go out; Ye Cheng took his things and Xiao Hu and headed toward the village entrance.

A 5-meter-long fishing boat doesn't need a dock; just find a spot to stop and it's done.

The boat Ye Guowei borrowed was slightly modified, with a small live-water tank installed, suitable for holding high-grade fish.

This time going out at night, Ye Cheng took just a clamp and a net bag; anyway, when diving you'll either catch crabs and shrimp or shellfish—fish are hard to grab, so bringing extra tools is useless.

The fishing boat is diesel-powered; after pulling the cord, a 'gōng dá gōng dá' roar sounded and the propeller kicked in, and the two headed out to sea.

"Brother, which way should we go—deep sea or shallow sea?" Xiao Hu sat in the back operating.

"Shallow sea will do; just grab a bit, head northwest—I recall there's a coral reef there, and it's shallow."

"Okay." Xiao Hu adjusted the course and headed northwest.

Since it was night, the sea area Ye Cheng chose wasn't far; the small boat arrived after ten or so minutes.

The weather was fine tonight; the sky was bright and clear, moonlight spilled onto the sea surface, as if draping the ocean in a layer of white gauze.

Ye Cheng lightly leapt, passing through the gauze and entering the water below.

The underwater world at night is more lively than by day, especially this shallow sea, because shrimp and crabs mostly come out to feed at night.

When they come out at night, one reason is to avoid those predators; another is that nighttime tides cause more plankton, making food more abundant.

Ye Cheng went down with a light; wherever it shone, the creatures there froze; the sudden strong beam left them a bit dazed.

As soon as Ye Cheng descended, he saw something move in the water; he shone his light on it—it was a lobster, lurking obscenely on the coral reef, probably just having come out to feed; after Ye Cheng shone the light on it, it froze.