1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 30 Sea Snakes and Moray Eels

His eyelids became heavier and heavier, and Liang Ziqiang soon fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night and was about to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. In a daze, I saw a dim light in the room.

Liang Ziqiang suddenly opened his eyes and found that his younger brother Liang Zifeng was still awake.

The boy was sitting at the head of the bed, under the dim light of a kerosene lamp, holding some book in his hands, reading it like a man possessed.

Liang Zifeng is like a cultured person, not just in the superficial gentle manner, but in his entire personality.

Completely different from Liang Tiancheng and Liang Ziqiang, his younger brother Liang Zifeng was always at the top of the class in terms of academic performance when he was in elementary and junior high school.

This is simply an anomaly among the younger generation in the fishing village.

In my previous life, I never gave up my dream of taking the college entrance examination until my life ended in the swallowing and spitting of the waves. Liang Ziqiang knew this all along.

But I didn't expect that he was so obsessed with studying on his own for the college entrance examination. He was so tired and sweaty during the day that he would secretly get up in the middle of the night to read.

The reason for doing it secretly was, of course, because the family could not afford to support a "scholar". His father clearly opposed his plan to study for the college entrance examination from the beginning.

At this time, Liang Zifeng noticed that his second brother moved on the bed, so he quickly opened his mouth and blew out the light in one breath. Then he hid the book under the pillow and lay down pretending to sleep.

The whole process was quick and smooth and completed in one go.

The more skillful his younger brother's movements became, the more uncomfortable Liang Ziqiang felt.

I was fascinated by fishing since I was young, but I never touched fishing gear again for most of my life until I died on a construction site.

My younger brother had excellent grades since he was young and dreamed of studying, but in the end he was buried in the waves of the sea.

Fate played against both of them.

Liang Ziqiang fumbled out of bed, listened to his brother's rhythmic snoring, smiled helplessly and whispered:

"Don't pretend anymore. I won't tell my parents!"

The snoring paused for a moment. After a while, Liang Zifeng's embarrassed voice came:

"Thank you, second brother."

"But you have to be careful. If you work hard during the day and stay up too long at night, your body may not be able to handle it."

After Liang Ziqiang finished speaking, he got out of bed and went to the bathroom.

He continued to sleep for a while in the second half of the night, and got up when it was almost dawn.

Although I didn’t go to the beach to set up the trap nets last night, I did set up a few rows of nets in the tidal gully the night before.

Usually they are released and retrieved on the same night.

This time we left it in the tidal creek for one day and two nights, so I estimate the harvest may be a bit more than usual.

We arrived at the beach and found the first tidal gully where we had set the net the night before.

This tidal gully was exactly the place where Liang Ziqiang caught Yang Laizi stealing the net on the first night after his rebirth.

Fortunately, the net was not stolen this time.

It seems that those dishonest villains in the village are also wary of Liang Ziqiang.

No one wants to follow in Yang Laizi's footsteps, be caught by him again, and then admit defeat and pay money.

It was not yet completely light. Liang Ziqiang took out the trap net and shone his flashlight on it.

A little unexpectedly, there were not many shrimps this time, but there were some crabs.

Logically speaking, since the shrimps were released for a long time this time, one day and two nights, the harvested shrimps should be more than usual.

Why are there only a few shrimps?

With doubts, he continued to shine towards the other end of the trap.

When he saw the photo, his scalp suddenly felt numb.

My hand slipped and the trap almost fell back into the water.

A slippery, long, cylindrical creature, brown all over, was wriggling slowly in the cage!

sea ​​snake?

I put up a trap and actually introduced a sea snake?
If it really is a sea snake, we must be extremely careful.

After all, as far as he knew, the vast majority of sea snakes were venomous.

The venom of sea snakes is a neurotoxin. After being bitten, people often experience general weakness and paralysis, and there is a high probability that they will be bitten off!

Liang Ziqiang was glad that he did not rashly put his hand into the cage.

However, it was just a quick glance and I couldn't see clearly.

It is not certain whether it is a sea snake.

For example, at first glance, moray eels look extremely similar to sea snakes!
He moved the flashlight closer and took a second look with wide eyes.

I finally felt relaxed.

If you look closely, you can see that there are obvious differences between conger eels and sea snakes.

The one in the cage in front of you looks very much like a sea snake, but it is actually a not-so-big conger eel!

It was estimated to be about three or four pounds, which is far from being big among conger eels.

After confirming that it was a conger eel, Liang Ziqiang opened the cage and poured all the shrimps, crabs and conger eels inside into the bucket.

During the process, the conger eel suddenly went berserk and twisted its body violently.

He even wanted to attack Liang Ziqiang, but he obviously didn't give him the chance.

Being bitten by a conger eel is also uncomfortable.

The difference between a moray eel bite and a sea snake bite is that a moray eel bite is extremely painful and uncomfortable.

On the contrary, after being bitten by a sea snake, there is basically no pain, just like nothing happened. But!

It's just that the sea snake's venom paralyzes the human pain nerves!

In as fast as half an hour or as slow as about three hours, the bitten person will feel dizzy, nauseous, and even gradually lose consciousness.

Liang Ziqiang obviously does not intend to experience either of these two situations personally.

After collecting the fish from the cage net, Liang Ziqiang lifted it and estimated that it weighed only six or seven kilograms.

The time it takes to grow crops is three times longer than usual, but the harvest is no more than usual.

Ultimately, the culprit was the moray eel.

Those small shrimps in the cage must have been devoured by this fellow and became his food!
Only these larger stone crabs have not entered its stomach for the time being.

Although he could sell the conger eel for some money, he still felt he had lost money overall.

After collecting the first row of trap nets, he went ashore, left this tidal ditch, and went to other places.

The second row of ground traps is about two hundred meters away from here.

This row actually gave him a lot of comfort.

There are shrimps, crabs, and small yellow croakers in it. I estimate that it weighs more than ten kilograms.

Obviously, the harvest is much richer than the usual one night!

Then, the third row of nets was placed further away. To our delight, the harvest was similar to that of the second row.

It seems that the harvest is more than ten kilograms.

Moreover, compared to the second row, there are a few more plump red crabs!

The fourth and fifth rows are slightly worse.

It does weigh about ten pounds, but unfortunately, it is mostly mantis shrimp.

Shrimp are cheaper than other red shrimps and green shrimps and are not as valuable.

With a great harvest, Liang Ziqiang returned home. It was already dawn and the family was ready for breakfast.

Today's breakfast was very good and he could smell the fragrance as soon as he entered the house.

Although it was still the same thin porridge, this time it was extra filling.

He used only a small portion of the mussels he brought back from Fox Bay Island yesterday to make soup for dinner.

As for the remaining shellfish, my mother picked out the meat this morning and cooked it into the porridge.

At the same time, some vegetables were added to the porridge.

The green of the vegetables and the beige of the shellfish complement each other, making the whole pot of porridge look very tempting.

After a busy morning, Liang Ziqiang saw the porridge in the pot, and then he heard an embarrassing sound from his stomach.

This is really hungry.

Without saying a word, he filled a big bowl and started drinking it in big gulps.

Facts have proved that green vegetables with mussels are not only pleasing to the eye, but also taste fresh and refreshing.

The only drawback is that it is too hot.

"Can't you eat slowly? No one is trying to snatch the food from your bowl!"

Seeing how he ate with such ferocious fury, Liang's mother glared at him and almost wanted to hit him on the head with the spoon in her hand.

"Don't blame me! If you want to blame someone, just blame you for making the porridge so delicious!"

Liang Ziqiang exhaled a breath of hot air, cleared his mouth, and answered vaguely.

Although the words were vague, Liang's mother heard it clearly.

After hearing what her son said, the blaming expression on her face disappeared in the next second.

Who doesn’t like to hear people praise themselves?

The point is, Liang Ziqiang is a stubborn guy who always enjoyed blasting people to death. When has he ever praised someone like this?

It is often more beneficial for a person who never praises others to suddenly change his attitude and start praising others!
"Come on, mussels are the best, give me more!"

The iron spoon that Liang's mother was going to hit him on the head turned smoothly and returned to the porridge pot.

I deliberately picked half a spoonful of scallop meat and put it into Liang Ziqiang's bowl.

Liang Ziqiang was happy.

This spoonful is full of essence!
However, Kuang Haixia was unhappy as she walked to the pot with a bowl.

Although it was difficult to say anything, when he glared at Liang Ziqiang, his dissatisfaction was written all over his eyes.

I don’t know if Liang’s mother noticed the resentful look of her eldest daughter-in-law.

While she was adding more ingredients to Liang Ziqiang's meal, she also said loudly:

"Eat for a while and then add more. You have worked so hard for the family these days, you have to eat more to replenish your strength!"

After these words were spoken, sister-in-law Kuang Haixia's eyes became even more aggrieved.

Liang Ziqiang didn't care and ate the sweet shellfish meat with peace of mind and without distraction.

Parents' love for their children is fair.

It’s just that parents will be particularly fair to those children who can earn money to support the family and are also obedient.

Well, nothing wrong with that.

(End of this chapter)