1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 204: Cod Caught

The sea surface this time really disappointed them.

The two boats waited from morning to noon, and continued to wait for a while after eating, until afternoon. The four people drove the boat around, craning their necks to look around, but they didn't see any fish.

Even fish such as toothfish and black carp, which are relatively adaptable to cold water, have not been seen.

The four men did not get any harvest in Longjuling for the first time, but they finally believed that the winter flood here was completely over.

"Damn it! I'm really losing money on gas today!" The boat was empty, and Li Liang sighed with disappointment as he sailed back.

Liang Ziqiang also decided that he would not go to Longjuling again throughout the winter. The answer was clear, and there was no need to try his luck anymore.

The boat quickly left Longju Ridge and returned to the area where it usually cast nets to fish.

The endless winter sea surface is filled with nothing but clear water except for the occasional sea lettuce and camel hair floating by.

When two light gray-brown figures slid through the waves, for a moment, Liang Ziqiang and Li Liang thought it was just some kind of seaweed floating.

The camel's hair was stirred and spread out, and the shadows of two swimming fish, along with the fine spots on their backs, all came into view.

"It's a fish! We actually encountered such a big fish in the shallow sea in this weather!" Liang Zifeng quickly pulled Liang Ziqiang.

"This is not an ordinary fish, it looks like cod!" Liang Ziqiang had vaguely recognized the type of fish and turned around to pick up the fishing net.

"It seems to be cod. Oh my god, my luck has turned. If I can get it, I won't have to worry about the gas money anymore!" Li Liang also saw it clearly.

"Cod is very rare here, so it must be expensive!" Deng Zhaocai was also happy for him.

As they were talking, the two cods that were swimming together had separated and swam in different directions.

Liang Ziqiang and Li Liang reached a tacit understanding. They each focused on one fish and sailed to catch up.

They were not afraid that it would scatter and swim away, but they were afraid that it would dive deep into the water and never come out again. In that case, it would be difficult to find any trace of it.

Fortunately, when Liang Ziqiang caught up with one of the cod, the cod was sinking and floating up from time to time.

Cod has a good appetite, is omnivorous, and eats a lot. Basically, it eats everything in the sea, whether it is animal or plant, it can eat.

At this moment, it opened its mouth and was actually biting the seaweed floating on the water.

Liang Ziqiang seized the opportunity and quickly threw the net over.

The net was cast accurately, and the cod eating the camel's hair, along with the camel's hair being eaten, were all caught in the net.

When the cod found itself caught in the net, it tried to break out, but the net became tighter and tighter, and after a futile struggle, the cod was pulled onto the boat by Liang Ziqiang.

This fish is indeed not small, and it should weigh about ten pounds. It has a long body, and the tail gradually tapers towards the back. The lateral line scales running through it are not particularly obvious.

The back and upper sides of the fish are gray-brown with a few light yellow spots. Overall, the appearance is still somewhat beautiful.

This is real cod, not another type of silver cod.

There is nothing difficult to understand about encountering cod in shallow waters in winter.

Cod is a kind of fish that particularly likes cold water and cannot survive in places where the temperature is too high.

Therefore, cod is more common in the north, but it does not mean that there is no cod in the south. The small amount of cod in the South China Sea is mainly distributed in the deep sea, and the meat of cod in the South China Sea is relatively loose and the taste is slightly worse.

The seasonal pattern of cod's swimming is also opposite to that of most marine fish. It is more likely to swim out of the deep sea and appear in the cold waters of shallow seas in winter.

Normally, codfish never appear in the list of fish caught by fishermen in the area of ​​Pomfret Village when they go out to sea to cast their nets. Only in winter, they may occasionally catch one or two. But such opportunities are extremely rare, and fishermen only encounter them once every few years.

While the cod was being fished out here, Li Liang's boat also caught some. "Brother Qiang, do you want to take another look? What if there are more cods that we haven't found yet?"

Human beings are so unsatisfied. After Li Liang caught such a big cod, the first thought that came to his mind was to see if he could catch one or two more.

The two continued to sail for a while, but found nothing else on the sea except some sea vegetables.

Finally, the two of them each picked up some worthless sea lettuce and camel hair and returned to the shore.

When they arrived at the big pier, they were unsure whether they could sell the cod they had caught that day.

Because now the whole village has stopped going out to sea, Zheng Liu might have already run away to some village to live a happy life, and it is unknown whether he is still staying at the purchasing point.

As a result, when I arrived at the purchasing point and pushed the tightly closed door, I couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised.

The door was not locked and Deng Fei was not there, but Zheng Liu was wearing a big cotton hat, with his hands in his sleeves, sitting there dozing off out of boredom.

Liang Ziqiang and Li Liang were both moved by Zheng Liu's professionalism in sticking to his post in the cold weather, although it was actually because of Zheng Liu's last incident that it was not convenient for him to socialize in nearby villages recently and he was forced to open for business.

When Zheng Liu saw them coming in, he was even more surprised than them. He rubbed his eyes and asked:
"Did you catch any fish? What kind of fish can you still catch at this time? Let me see."

I took the initiative to walk over and look inside the basket, and the remaining sleepiness disappeared:

"It's cod. Your luck is going to be good until the end of the year! Come, let me weigh it for you!"

"I see that you're sitting here doing nothing all day, so I'll at least give you some business!" Liang Ziqiang said with a smile as he cooperated with the weighing.

He weighed the fish and it was actually 11.2 jin, which was even bigger than he had expected.

Li Liang’s is not much different, weighing 10.9 jin.

"The price of cod is not low. I can give you one dollar and fifty cents! It's almost four times the price of ordinary pomfret and sea bass!"

Zheng Liu counted the money for them. Liang Ziqiang's was 16.80 yuan, and Li Liang's was 16.35 yuan.

The purchase price of cod was just $1.50. The reason why rainbow trout was sold at a very high price of $6 was because it was not sold at the purchase price, but at the retail price.

In terms of purchase price, rainbow trout was only a little over two yuan. In addition, because rainbow trout was a newly introduced fish more than 20 years ago, its number was even rarer, and it also had a special function of assisting wound recovery, so its price was relatively high in the 1980s.

In later times, rainbow trout reproduced more and more, and the price became almost the same as cod and cheaper than deep-sea salmon.

After that, even if the weather was fine and the sea was calm, Liang Ziqiang no longer considered going out to sea.

Anyway, going out to sea would most likely be a waste of time, and his time was extremely precious right now.

Except for the tiles which have not been delivered yet and can be shipped later, other things like river sand, lime, cement, bamboo poles and trees have all been delivered one after another and are directly piled up in the open space near the bamboo grove at Juzipo.

Of the 40,000 bricks that Red Brick agreed to deliver, 20,000 bricks have already been delivered. Boss Zhang came along with the truck himself and, together with the last deposit, he received 600 yuan in total, and also paid the driver a little freight.

He will continue to deliver the remaining 20,000 bricks after the construction of the house begins, and he will then charge another 600.

In a blink of an eye, November 11, the auspicious day for starting construction, arrived.

Before dawn, Liang Ziqiang and Chen Xiangbei had already gotten up and started making arrangements.

When the first rays of sunlight broke through the eastern sky, the young couple were already at Juzipo, welcoming the arrival of more and more villagers and also welcoming their new beginning...

Two chapters have been posted in the early morning. Happy reading, fellow readers!

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(End of this chapter)