1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 223 Discovering the Secret to Wealth: Brine Shrimp

After thinking about it, I found that I simply did not have the conditions and technology to purify the bird's nest to the point where it was spotless.

The bird's nest that has just been picked like this one contains some impurities. It is not known whether eating it will bring any unknown harm to pregnant women.

Originally, he wanted her to try a few, but thinking of this, Liang Ziqiang didn't dare to persuade his wife to eat this.

The next morning, he planned to carry the dozens of bird's nests in the snakeskin bag to the city. He didn't need to look for a way around, he could just sell it directly to Du Ziteng. Their restaurant would definitely want this kind of high-end food, and they would definitely have a way to find someone to purify it.

As a result, he had just got out of bed when he heard his father calling him outside the door.

He quickly ran out the door: "Dad, you came to see me so early?"

He also didn't know why his father came to the new house to talk to him today. Normally, the spring flood hadn't even appeared in Longju Mountain yet, and there was no possibility of fish to be caught elsewhere on the sea, so it was unlikely that they were talking about going out to sea.

The father came in carrying a large bamboo tube. Chen Xiangbei moved a chair and Liang's father rushed to take it. After sitting down, he looked at his daughter-in-law and asked:

"Do you still have an appetite now?" He turned to his son and said, "Your wife's belly is getting bigger, so you should move more. Don't be lazy. You don't even know you are rushing to move the chair!"

Chen Xiangbei hurriedly explained on behalf of her husband: "The chair is light! Usually at home, Aqiang is the one who rushes to do the housework!"

Liang's father asked a few more questions about Chen Xiangbei's fetus, and then turned to Liang Ziqiang again:

"Aqiang, do you remember last August? At that time, the village was talking about arranging the contract for the salt fields. It has been delayed for several months, but this month the contract will be officially awarded. Let me ask you, do you want to contract a few acres of salt fields so that you can dry some salt to sell?"

It turned out that his father came over specifically to tell him this.

The salt fields in Changwang Village have a history. In the beginning, the land area of ​​the village was not as large as it is now. Later, the whole village worked together to extend the land towards the sea again and again.

They built seawalls and sea dikes to keep the sea waves as far away from the village as possible, thus reducing the damage caused by typhoons, huge waves and the like.

During this process, people naturally reclaimed land from the sea, creating a number of fields close to the sea. These were not fields that could be used to grow rice, but salt fields.

In the era of collectivism, production teams went out to sea to fish and dried salt together.

Compared with those specialized large-scale state-owned salt fields, their village should be regarded as a private salt-drying operation. But in fact, whether in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, the society encouraged coastal villages to dry salt.

On the one hand, it can increase the income of coastal villagers and maintain their livelihood. On the other hand, the demand for salt is large, and the overall production volume these days is not that large, so it is necessary to supplement it with private salt drying.

In fact, sea salt is not that complicated. The sea salt that villagers make and refine by themselves using sunlight can also be used for cooking, except that it is not iodized and its purity is slightly lower. This is how sea salt has been made in the past dynasties.

During the collective era, the large salt fields and salt ponds on the mudflats east of the village once brought a lot of income to the village, which was a supplement to income from fish.

Later, the collective era was over and fishing was no longer carried out in production teams or groups. Instead, the villagers' enthusiasm for going out to sea increased greatly. Everyone was busy casting nets to catch fish at sea, and no one organized to work on the salt fields anymore. Except for one or two families who specialized in drying salt for a living, the other salt fields were basically left there.

Since last year, the village has begun to think of new ways to revitalize the salt field resources. The method is to contract the salt fields to households and have the villagers manage them individually. The village only collects a small contract fee each year, which can be said to be equivalent to the rent of the salt fields.

Liang Ziqiang remembered that when he was reborn last August, his father mentioned to him that the village was holding a meeting to discuss the contracting of salt fields. After such a long time, it is now time to implement it.

"No matter what, contracting salt fields is definitely a sure win, it's just a matter of how much you can earn. Drying salt is more stable than fishing. As long as the sea is still there, there will be salt to dry, and it can also be considered an income to supplement the family income. Why don't you come with me to take a look and see if there is any field you want?"

Seeing that Liang Ziqiang was still considering it, his father spoke up to persuade him.

Liang Ziqiang was not that interested in drying sea salt. It was not that difficult.

In terms of technology, all you need to do is lay a large plastic film in the salt field. In some fields, you don’t even lay a plastic film. Let seawater flow in from the sea every day, and then wait for the sun to evaporate the seawater naturally to become concentrated brine. Then pour the brine into the crystallization pool for crystallization to produce salt.

When there is a lot of salt, you can pile up small mountains on the flat ground. No matter how cheap the local sea salt is, you can still make some money for your family with that amount.

Liang Ziqiang thought that he was better at making a living and earning money at sea. Obviously, the money earned from fishing would be much faster than from drying salt. In any case, fish was more valuable than salt.

Besides, it takes a lot of time and energy to dry salt. It’s okay if you contract one or two acres, but if you really contract more, you won’t have time to go out to sea.

"That's fine. Then I'll go with you to the east of the village to have a look. I don't necessarily have to take over the contract!"

Since his father was already here, Liang Ziqiang finally decided to go and join in the fun. Maybe he could help his father and elder brother with some ideas.

Anyway, there is no fishing season in Longjuling, so I have to be idle recently. It won’t affect the sale of bird’s nest in the city a day later.

In the morning, Liang Ziqiang went to the salt field area near the sea at the east end of the village with his father and elder brother.

Today is a sunny day, suitable for drying salt. When we arrived at the salt fields, we saw some figures swaying in the fields, working. They were the two families in the village who specialized in drying salt for a living, and they had hired a few helpers to dry the salt.

Last year, when there were no ships going out to sea, Liang's father and his older brothers were invited to help here.

Apart from those few, many salt pans nearby are idle. Due to the frequent rainfall, large areas of salt pans are filled with water, which looks like shallow pools from a distance.

Liang Ziqiang and the other two walked along the salt pan mudflats. Liang's father expressed his opinions from time to time, saying that this salt pan was big enough and the one next to it would be more convenient to bring in seawater.

After looking for a while, Liang Ziqiang suddenly stopped, bent down and stared carefully at the shallow water of the salt field next to him.

"What are you looking at? There's not a single blade of grass growing in the salt pan. What's there to look at?"

When the eldest brother Liang Tiancheng saw him suddenly stop, he turned around and asked.

There is really no grass growing in the salt pans. Even after being left for many years, no grass can grow. The reason is simple: it is too salty. The salinity is ten times higher than that of the sea!
As for normal marine fish, shrimps, crabs, snails, etc., it is impossible for them to survive in high-salt areas.

However, in this bitter and salty place that had been brine-soaked countless times, in the shallow water, Liang Ziqiang saw countless small creatures swimming in dense numbers.

They are brown, pink or bright red, only about one centimeter long, and shaped like tiny leaves with hairy edges.

If you don't look closely, it looks like someone has sprinkled large amounts of red powder in the salt fields, and the powder is floating in the shallow water without any wind.

"Dad, brother, these are Artemia! Are there so many Artemia everywhere in the salt fields here?!" Liang Ziqiang recognized them, shuddered, and shouted to his father and elder brother.

In his previous life, he did not know the miraculous uses of Artemia worms, and rarely paid attention to the idle salt fields in the east of the village, so he had no clear memory of when there were so many Artemia worms in Changwang Village.

His father also came back, took a look and said to him:

"You mean brine shrimp? It's only been around for the past two or three years. In the past, we were drying salt here, so there were brine shrimp, but not many. In recent years, the salt fields have been idle, and brine shrimp have been popping up in greater and greater numbers!"

Artemia is also known as brine shrimp, brine shrimp, salt shrimp, and salt worms. People in the same place may have several names for it.

Originally, I just came here to show my support and take a stroll.

Now, Liang Ziqiang was excited and really planned to contract some salt fields. Of course, it was not for drying salt...

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(End of this chapter)