1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 26: Pretty but Deadly

The tide actually began to recede when Liang Ziqiang and his friends were sitting around eating grilled fish, but the water level had not receded much at that time, so naturally there was nothing to pick up.

About two or three hours later, the five people were almost tired from walking, so they sat on the island to rest, looking at the sea and chatting.

Liang Ziqiang and Lin Baixian suggested going to the reefs on the edge of the island to take a look and pick up some shells, snails and the like during low tide.

The five men were originally beating their legs and complaining of being tired, but when they heard that now was a good time to pick up shells, they immediately revived on the spot, got up and ran towards the reefs.

That momentum is enough to make him run faster than Liang Ziqiang and the other two.

Liang Ziqiang boarded the boat again. The bucket, snakeskin bag, large scoop net, bent iron pliers, chisel, hammer and small iron shovel he brought from home were all on the boat.

After getting off the boat with these belongings and arriving at the reefs, I heard Lu Feng and the others screaming like crazy.

Among them, the girl named Xiaoyue had the sharpest voice:

"Oh my god, aren't these mussels? Why are there so many of them? They're so densely packed together that my scalp is numb just looking at them!"

"Oh my god, there are so many clams here!"

"What kind of snail is this? It's different from anything I've ever eaten!"

Liang Ziqiang listened from a distance and felt that this girl had a characteristic when speaking: exaggeration.

When he walked to the reefs and took a look, his mind changed instantly.

The girl Xiaoyue is not exaggerating.

The dense swarms of mussels covered the seaward side of a large reef like a layer of dark blue tide. It was a sight that made one's scalp tingle.

Next to the mussels, clams are also competing and dotted the rocks.

In addition, there are some snails of different colors and types, which are also tightly attached to the reefs.

Liang Ziqiang started going to the sea when he was very young, but he rarely saw such a scene!
Normally, people go fishing on the mudflats near the sea. The shallows are ploughed a little at every low tide, and the whole village is ploughed a lot at every high tide. Although the tides always bring new harvests, they are limited after all.

If his father took him out to sea on a boat, the purpose was to cast a net and catch fish. He would not waste diesel money to go to the island to pick up shells and dig clams.

Therefore, the abundance of resources from the reefs around the island also exceeded his expectations.

At this time, Lin Baixian, who usually loved to shout and yell, became a practical man. He stopped shouting with those city people and threw himself directly onto a reef, using his hands to dig out the chicken claw snails from the cracks in the reef!
My goodness, even mussels and clams are not in his eyes, and he goes straight to the most valuable chicken claw snails!
The chicken-claw snail, also known as the dog-claw snail, has a peculiar shape, with a pointed protrusion on the top divided into several petals, which looks like a chicken or dog's claw.

In Liang Ziqiang's short videos in later generations, he often saw the introduction of "gooseneck barnacles" from abroad, which were sold at a very high price and were in great demand. In fact, "gooseneck barnacles" and chicken claw snails are the same thing, with the scientific name of turtle foot.

Of course, chicken snails are not that expensive now, but the purchase price is much higher than mussels, clams and the like!
But to see how difficult this thing is to deal with, just look at Lin Baixian’s constipated expression.

My hands were so purple that I couldn't break off many of them...

Liang Ziqiang walked straight past him, squatted down in front of another crevice nearby, and calmly took out a chisel and a hammer from the bucket.

Aim at the cracks in the rocks, and with a clang, a bunch of snails are thrown into the bucket...

Lin Baixian's eyes widened. He remembered that when he went to the Liang family to call Liang Ziqiang, he saw Liang Ziqiang holding a lot of business, and he laughed at him at that time.

At this moment, looking at his purple hands and the pitiful harvest, he just wanted to laugh at himself!
"Hey, Aqiang, do you have any extra hammers and chisels? How about giving me one? It would be a sin not to take away so many snails!"

"No!" Liang Ziqiang rejected him straightforwardly, "It's not a sin. I will also be a great merit if I take it away for you!"

Seeing Lin Baixian scratching his head anxiously, Liang Ziqiang smiled proudly and pointed at his bucket and said:

"Why don't you come and take a look? There are a pair of bent pliers and a small shovel. Take whichever one you like."

Lin Baixian rushed over, took out a very thin small shovel with a bitter face, and started chopping and digging at the cracks in the reef.

Compared to an iron chisel, it is much harder to use, but much better than digging with hands. It is better than nothing. After knocking out the chicken claw snails in this crack, Liang Ziqiang plans to look for other cracks. If there are none, he will get some mussels and clams.

After walking a few meters along the reef, I saw Lu Feng, Fangfang and others catching crabs.

At this moment, the two found a large blue crab, almost as big as a rice bowl. They were very excited and gestured excitedly, as if they were possessed by the crab, but they did not dare to touch the blue crab.

Liang Ziqiang looked at it for a while and shook his head. Without saying a word, he pulled out the curved iron pliers from the bucket and stretched them towards the big blue crab.

This pair of curved pliers is a tool designed specifically for catching crabs.

The curved part just holds the crab firmly. The big blue crab was so angry after being clamped that it waved its claws but scratched nothing.

"This crab is really fat. How about I buy it?"

Lu Feng mistakenly thought that Liang Ziqiang had got there first and was going to take the crab for himself, so he immediately offered to pay for it.

Liang Ziqiang was actually a little jealous. After all, such a fat blue crab was of top quality and should have a lot of roe in its belly.

But the twenty yuan Lu Feng gave him today was already a lot, and he also borrowed the other party's boat for free to go fishing. He was not going to compete with the other party for a big blue crab.

"Why pay? I'll catch it for you." Liang Ziqiang said as he threw the blue crab into the other party's bucket.

There was a little more smile in Lu Feng's eyes.

Liang Ziqiang was about to turn around and walk away, but he saw Fangfang exclaiming with surprise, and quickly approaching something lying in a puddle on the reef.

"Is this an octopus? How come it can change color like that dolphin? It's so pretty!"

Fangfang seemed to have a preference for colorful things. She was so happy that she reached out to pick up the octopus from the water.

Seeing that his hands had already touched the water surface and were about to touch the little octopus in the next second, Liang Ziqiang looked closely at the appearance of the little octopus in the water, and suddenly his hair stood on end!
Without even having time to utter a word, he took two big steps forward, grabbed Fangfang's arm, and pushed her back hard.

"What are you doing..."

Before Fangfang could even utter a complete scream, she was thrown backwards on her back by the sudden thrust.

Fortunately, Lu Feng was behind her and helped her up, so she didn't fall into the sea completely.

Even so, one of his arms hit the bucket behind him, and his delicate skin was immediately cut and blood flowed out.

Seeing Fangfang's arm bleeding, Lu Feng frowned and his face darkened, and he asked:

"What's wrong with you? What are you doing?!"

Liang Ziqiang did not rush to explain, but walked closer to the little octopus and took a closer look.

His expression became more serious, he looked at Fangfang and asked:

"You haven't touched it yet?"

Fangfang's eyes were filled with tears, but she also felt something was wrong and said nervously:

"Just when I was about to bump into him, you pushed me and I fell over. What happened? It's just a little octopus, isn't it?"

Liang Ziqiang breathed a sigh of relief:
"Really didn't encounter it? That's good. This is not an ordinary octopus, it's a blue-ringed octopus!"

"Blue Ring?" Fangfang had obviously never heard of this scary name, and asked in confusion, "Is it so special that we can't touch it?"

Liang Ziqiang was almost so angry that he laughed:
"You know cobras, right? This thing is dozens of times more poisonous than a cobra. Do you think it's okay to touch it?"

Thanks to "Wu-Yao", "Prosperous Memories", "Longwang Village" and other book friends for their recommendations. [Continue to ask for recommendations, monthly tickets, and to read the latest chapters] Your support will gradually make a serious new book visible. Thank you again!
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(End of this chapter)