Chapter 258: with translation of chapter title

"Laochen, it's you! My younger brother said Laochen, I didn't expect it to be you—are you heading into the city to enjoy life?" Ye Guowei came down, saw it was an acquaintance, and went over to greet him.

"What's with all this talk about enjoying life or not? My son wants to buy a house—what can I do? Your younger brother is capable; after buying a Boat, the two brothers running a Boat is better than you lugging cargo on the Matou." Laochen also chatted familiarly with Ye Guowei.

Speaking of which, everyone makes a living on the Matou, more or less acquainted; plus Ye Guowei has worked there for years with a good reputation, so Laochen trusts him a lot.

Both parties happily completed the transfer procedures; Ye Cheng handed over 32,000 on the spot, Laochen gave over the keys, and Ye Cheng thus had his own Boat.

After saying goodbye to Laochen, Ye Cheng pulled Ye Guowei along to the clam seed farm.

To be honest, Ye Cheng was still visiting a clam seed farm for the first time; he had seen news saying that the clam seeds from Hujiang were the best, raised in near-shore waters, and at harvest time they used a Boat similar to a sand‑suction vessel to scoop up clams and sand together from the Sea Bottom.

Then they rinse with water, filter out the too‑small ones and sand, and what remains is the clam seed.

The owner of this clam seed farm, surnamed Hu, knowing Ye Guowei was raising clams for the first time and had 50 mu of tidal flats, warmly took the two of them on a tour.

The cultivation of clam seed mainly involves several steps:

The first step is spawning and fertilization. Normally, in the past they used a natural method: they put the selected, more vigorous male and female clams together and let them spawn and fertilize under natural conditions.

But this method has a drawback: you cannot control when they spawn and fertilize, so modern aquaculture uses artificial intervention.

The basic principle is to exploit the species' sense of crisis, making them feel they are about to die, and if they don't reproduce before death they lose the chance, so they rush to spawn and fertilize.

Generally, there are five kinds of artificial induction: the shade‑drying stimulation method, the flowing‑water stimulation method, the chemical induction method, the sudden temperature change method, and the ultraviolet irradiation method.

Boss Hu's farm uses the shade‑drying stimulation method plus the flowing‑water stimulation method: they take the selected seed clams (parent clams), shade‑dry them for 5–7 hours to give them a sense of crisis, then apply flowing‑water stimulation for 3–5 hours to simulate a tidal environment.

Then, at a water temperature of 26.5–28.5 °C, the parent clams show an excited state after soaking for less than 10 minutes, their shells gaping slightly, siphons and feet fully extended. After about 30 minutes, the males release sperm first, followed by the females laying eggs.

Of course, these are just fertilized eggs; before they grow into clams, they still need cultivation, after which they become seedlings.

Seedlings are generally 1–5 mm long, with 10,000 to 100,000 per jin, and their cultivation takes place indoors.

After the seedling stage, they are transplanted to outdoor farms, usually by the sea, where they are grown to medium size (5–15 mm), with 500 to 5,000 per jin.

Generally, farmers buy medium‑sized seedlings because they have a higher survival rate.

Boss Hu took the two of them around the whole farm, which opened Ye Cheng's eyes; he hadn't expected clam seed cultivation to involve so many details.

According to Boss Hu's introduction, the 1.6 million seeds Ye Guowei mentioned earlier might actually be too few.

"How about it, bosses, how much do you plan to buy?" After Boss Hu finished his introduction, he looked at the two of them.

"Let's do this, boss: you match it for us—we have 50 mu of tidal flats, two‑thirds medium seedlings, one‑third seedlings." Ye Cheng said, noting that seedlings have a low survival rate, but if you don't try you'll never know; anyway, we have money now, so trying more and learning more is always good.

"Alright, then 3,500 jin of medium seedlings and 1,500 jin of seedlings—seedlings at 2 yuan per jin, medium seedlings at 5 yuan per jin. We always have stock; when would you like them?"

Ye Cheng calculated in his mind: at Boss Hu's price, just the seedlings would cost 20,000 yuan, a substantial investment.

Ye Guowei licked his lips; 20,000 yuan is no small sum, and he felt a bit unable to bear it.

"Alright, then make it an even 20,000 yuan." Ye Cheng agreed, thinking that for this first farming attempt, not losing money would already be good; many things, without someone to show the way, you can only pave the path with money.

Even though Ye Cheng is a reborn person, he is not versed in everything.

After settling the price, Ye Cheng paid 30 % as a deposit on the spot, with the remaining 70 % to be paid when Boss Hu delivers the goods this afternoon.

After paying, Ye Cheng calculated the money he had left: originally his Savings were 180,000 yuan; this morning he paid 135,000 yuan for the contract fee, leaving 55,000; then he paid 32,000 yuan for the Boat, leaving only 23,000.

This time, the seed cost 20,000 yuan outright, dropping him from a ten‑thousand‑yuan household to penniless in an instant.

"A Cheng, I'll cover the seed money; you can't pay for everything yourself—you've spent a lot lately." Ye Guowei also figured Ye Cheng probably had no money left.

Ye Cheng thought it over and didn't refuse; although they are close brothers, if he always paid everything himself, it wouldn't be good in the long run.

Close brothers, settle accounts clearly—accounts are also feelings.

After returning, the two began preparing to seed the seedlings. According to Boss Hu's data, about 100–200 jin per mu is applied; for the first planting they'll be generous and use 100 jin per mu.

In the afternoon, Boss Hu's delivery truck arrived with 5,000 jin of clam seed.

That sounds like a big number, but the small truck only filled half its cargo bed, so it really doesn't look like much.

When such a truck came to the village, some bored villagers gathered to watch the spectacle; Chen Jinhai was also drawn over, running up to crowd around the truck and occasionally grabbing a handful of clam seed to look at.

"Guowei, this is clam seed, you bought this much?"

"Ah, these are seedlings, right? They're so small—are they easy to raise?"

"That must cost a lot, right?"

Looking at the truckload of clam seed, Ye Guowei's eyes filled with joy—a man with a career looks just like this.

"It's not that much money; the bulk is paid by A Cheng." Ye Guowei said proudly.

"Guowei will be a big boss from now on—will you look after us in the future?" Chen Jinhai said sourly.

Although Ye Cheng's contract fee wasn't small, seeing the Ye family thriving made him still feel a bit unwilling.

"Yeah, for such a big farm, if work is needed we should first rely on our own village people."

"We're all idle; technical work may be uncertain, but physical labor is definitely no problem."

"Yeah, Guowei, are you still hiring? Let my son come help—he graduated high school, went out to work for two years, and now he's home with nothing to do."

"My son can too—he's young, strong, and willing to endure hardship."

Several uncles and aunts had already begun speaking kindly, wanting to let the children come work.

However, Ye Guowei had originally planned to raise them loosely, not intending to hire help, so he clasped his hands toward the surrounding people,

"Uncles and aunts, this is my first time raising them; I lack experience, I expect to lose money, so I dare not hire anyone. When I gain experience later, if you uncles and aunts are willing and have time, I'll invite you all to come help then."