1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 167: Freshly Killed Heavy-Shelled Crabs and Fishing for Grouper
It was still afternoon when he returned home. Before he even reached the house, Liang Ziqiang heard a familiar man's voice coming from afar.

As he approached his home, he saw his father-in-law Chen Dagang sitting under a tree, chatting with Chen Xiangbei and his mother Yuan Qiuying.

Liang Ziqiang thought quickly, today doesn't seem to be a special day, right? I don't know why his father-in-law came here suddenly.

Duobao came up to him from afar, trotting ahead and leading him towards Chen Dagang, as if he was afraid that he would not recognize this was his father-in-law.

"Dad, you're here. When did you come?" Liang Ziqiang went up to greet him.

"I just got here this afternoon. Someone from your village was walking around my place and mentioned that Xiangbei was available, so I came to take a look."

Then he glanced at the bucket Liang Ziqiang was carrying and asked, "You're busy going out to sea. Is the harvest good today?"

"My nets aren't doing so well lately, but the fish I put on the bottom of the sea are still okay. I collect them every few days. This time I collected about 80 yuan, and I also earned a lot of food!"

Liang Ziqiang showed his father-in-law the shrimps and fish in the bucket. The fish were sea bass, the shrimps were smooth shrimps with roe, and there were also quite a few dragon head fish and the like.

Fortunately, he had saved a lot of valuable shrimps today to satisfy Chen Xiangbei's craving. It would be best to use them to entertain his father-in-law. The shrimps were chewy and tasted really good.

My father-in-law's attention was not on the delicious slippery shrimp, but on hearing that he put something into the sea and brought back eighty yuan, a smile immediately appeared in the wrinkles of his face.

That look clearly showed that he was very pleased with his original vision. At that time, I heard Lu Hongyu say that this young man was better at fishing than the old hands in the village. I didn't expect that Lu Hongyu was actually being modest.

Looking at her daughter again, she saw Chen Xiangbei glance at her husband with a smile on her lips. That kind of happiness could not be faked.

After chatting for a while, Liang Ziqiang went into the house and put the bucket away, then immediately turned around and went into the inner room to open the drawer.

Fortunately, this morning when he rushed to town early to buy a lot of things, he also bought a few packs of cigarettes and put them in the drawer, intending to use them in case he visited relatives.

The cigarettes were Daqianmen. He opened a pack, took out a cigarette and lit it for his father-in-law, then stuffed another intact pack into his father-in-law's hand.

Chen Xiangbei turned around and went into the house. When she came out, she had already brought some grapes, tangerines and oranges and placed them under the tree so that the family could eat fruit while chatting.

Liang Ziqiang discovered that grapes and oranges were a bit sour. He now understood why his father-in-law had come all the way here. He had selected some sour fruits from the orchard and sent them specifically for Chen Xiangbei to eat.

Hearing her father say that he had to go back soon, Chen Xiangbei hurried to cook.

Chen Dagang smoked a cigarette, looked at his son-in-law, and encouraged him:

"You made the right decision to buy a boat first and then consider a house. With a boat, it will be much easier to make money. If you work hard for three or two years, you can save enough money to build a house!"

"Oh, I haven't had time to tell you about building a house yet," Liang Ziqiang replied, "At the end of this year, when the villagers are not going out to sea, it's easier to hire laborers, so it's a good time to build a house!"

"...You mean, we'll build the house this year?" Chen Dagang forgot to smoke the half-smoked cigarette in his mouth, thinking that he had misunderstood what his son-in-law meant.

"We'll try to do it by the end of this year. If it's really late, we'll have to start building it tomorrow after spring comes. Otherwise, by April, when there are more fish, everyone in the village will be busy going out to sea to fish, and it'll be hard to hire people!" Liang Ziqiang told his father-in-law his plan truthfully.

After all, it is something I will have to start doing soon, and I had originally planned to mention it when I visit my father-in-law's house later.

Recently, he has been increasing the amount of food in his wooden box by night fishing and seabed diving. In addition, he will go to Wuming Island to fish for grouper for a few days. In addition, he may be able to make some quick money in other ways by taking advantage of the alternation between warm and cold weather.

If you use all the tricks, including slow money and fast money, there is still hope of building a house.

Chen Dagang's face turned from surprise to joy, and he said happily:
"It would be even better if it can be built by the end of the year! Tell me before you start building the house, and I'll try to come and help out for a few days if I can spare some time!"

Today, before dinner time, a table of dishes was ready. The pork I bought in town this morning came in handy. I made stir-fried pork with carrots, spinach and pork liver soup, and steamed the fresh sea bass Liang Ziqiang had just brought back. I also made a dish of garlic shrimp with shrimp.

When his father-in-law went back, Liang Ziqiang happened to bring him some dried dragon head fish that he had dried a while ago. In addition, it is not advisable to eat too much stone crabs, swimming crabs and other old fragrant shellfish. Liang Ziqiang can catch them next time if he wants to eat them himself, and he also let his father-in-law bring a lot.

Chen Dagang looked very satisfied, not because of the seafood he brought, but because he was quite satisfied with his daughter's condition. In addition to sending sweet and sour fruits to his daughter, one of his purposes was to come here today to see how his daughter was doing.

The young couple walked Chen Dagang for a long distance, and when they got home Chen Xiangbei immediately got busy, anxious to prepare various things for Liang Ziqiang to take to the island tomorrow.

"It's cold on the island at night. Take this quilt with you and be sure to cover yourself with it when you sleep on the boat!"

While giving instructions, Chen Xiangbei took out the extra quilt in the house.

"You can't just bring a big kettle with you for water. That will only last for a day at most. I cleaned two large wooden barrels. You have to bring two large buckets of clean water on board. It should be enough for cooking and drinking for a few days!"

Tangerines and oranges prepared a lot for him. In addition to sweet potatoes, they also gave him a big bag of rice.

The next day, Liang Ziqiang carried all the food, drinks, bedding and other items onto the boat.

Lin Baixian also arrived at the beach on time, and the two of them drove their boats and started off.

The weather today is really nice, with the sun shining brightly in the sky, which is a rare occasion. It seems like a brief warming period between late autumn and early winter.

Occasionally, a few fish would appear on the sea surface. To be honest, this kind of scene is not easy to come across in this season.

But neither of them was very interested in these things. The boat did not slow down and continued along the previous route, first heading towards the Scale Island, then turning east and heading to the Nameless Island.

After arriving at the unnamed island, the two men parked the boat and headed straight for the reef with buckets and fishing rods.

After finding a suitable place to sit down, Liang Ziqiang began to take out his most carefully prepared bait - heavy-shell crab.

This crab is still alive until now. Liang Ziqiang specially kept it here and slaughtered it for immediate use, so that the special function of the heavy-shell crab can be maximized.

Lin Baixian didn't pay much attention at first, thinking that the bait he prepared today was all fish meat or something like that. But when he saw him take a crab out of the bucket, his eyes widened:
"Didn't you say that ordinary crabs are ineffective against rat spots? Wait, this isn't a heavy-shelled crab, is it?"

"Nonsense, if it's not a heavy-shell crab, why would I bring it here? Do you think the rat spot is so easy to fool?"

As Liang Ziqiang spoke, he picked up the knife and prepared to kill the heavy-shell crab and cut it into several pieces.

Before he could cut, Lin Baixian quickly snatched it away, lifted up the outermost shell and looked inside:

"Damn! It's really a heavy-shell crab. You can even find this one. How many do you have?"

"You can pick up any heavy-shelled crab you want. There's only one. Forget about your plans!"

Liang Ziqiang took the heavy-shell crab, cut it with the knife, killed it, and cut it into four pieces.

Four pieces means only four chances to catch top-quality grouper. The top-quality grouper is more interested in heavy-shell crabs.

Whether you can lure out the legendary "King of Grouper" depends entirely on these four top-quality baits.

Burst

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(End of this chapter)