1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 307: An explosion and the person is gone
The thin guy nicknamed Monkey continued to curse and splash around in the water. The large splashes of water could be seen from more than ten meters away.

However, after struggling for a while, the movement gradually stopped. There was no more splashes, and the head and arms that emerged disappeared.

It seems that after all, we are in the sea, facing the scouring of waves and the push of ocean currents. Even if we know how to swim, there is a high probability that we will be swept away by the ocean currents.

But it sank so quickly and without any sound, which Liang Ziqiang still found quite strange.

The fat man on the boat looked around at the sea which was gradually calming down. Seeing the monkey disappear completely, he seemed to be quite happy. In his comfort, he slowed down the boat.

"No way, that skinny guy is gone just like that? He couldn't have died a few more times?" Deng Zhaocai said with regret, seeming unsatisfied.

"What a pity that the fat guy is still alive. These two guys almost killed Old Qiu because of a few words. They deserved to die!" Li Liang also felt a little regretful.

A few people were puzzled and did not disperse, but continued to look at the movement on the sea.

Right in their sight, a black head suddenly emerged from the water.

The skinny monkey appeared again, and as soon as he emerged from the water, he appeared right next to the fat man's boat!
"Fuck, he's a master of diving!" Lin Baixian blurted out.

Liang Ziqiang was no longer so puzzled. He said, judging from the thin man's quick reaction of waving his arms to save himself when he fell into the water, he must be a good swimmer. How could he drown so quickly?
It turned out that he had dived underwater, and his diving speed was incredible. In a blink of an eye, he actually caught up with the wooden boat quietly.

With this swimming ability, he can be considered a folk prodigy. Anyway, none of the people on the top of the slope dare to say that they have such superb swimming skills. If they fall into the sea, it will be difficult for them to successfully save themselves without help.

It seems that Fatty still doesn’t understand his partner’s abilities well enough!

Soon, the skinny monkey reached out and grabbed the edge of the boat's side, and with a leap, he actually climbed back onto the boat!

The fat man was obviously careless this time. He was sitting in the boat and enjoying himself. When he turned around, he found a wet person standing on the boat, but it was too late.

"Go to hell, I'll kill you, and I'll take it all for myself this time!"

The thin man was a little hysterical and rushed towards the fat man with a roar.

The two men immediately started fighting. No one was driving the boat, which was swaying on the sea, drifting with the current.

"Now I really don't know who is dead and who is alive! I thought the thin guy was dead before!" Zhu Tianpeng was confused.

"This isn't hard to guess, right? Of course fatter people have greater strength. Even if the skinny monkey climbs onto the boat, can he still turn the tables? If he doesn't drown, he will be beaten to death by the fat guy soon!" Deng Zhaocai had a different opinion. He felt that the ending was already in front of him.

"Not necessarily. I see that skinny guy's hands and feet are quite nimble. Fighting doesn't just depend on strength!" Lin Baixian retorted.

"Not convinced? Then let's make a bet. In a few minutes, the fat guy will definitely beat the skinny guy to death and throw him into the sea. If I'm right, all the fish I caught today will belong to you, and vice versa!" Deng Zhaocai got excited, "Uncle Fu, Brother Qiang, you two can be witnesses. Don't let Ah Xian cheat later!"

"You can gamble on this? Acai, are you too full?" Zhu Tianpeng complained.

"Don't talk for a moment, something seems to be wrong..." Liang Ziqiang stopped them with a gesture.

Just now, he suddenly saw a brief flash of light on the ship on the sea.

It was like a moment of dizziness, or like the sunlight suddenly became brighter in an instant.

A loud thunder did not fall from the sky, but suddenly rose from the sea.

The wooden boat seemed to collapse from the inside, or to be suddenly crushed.

The dust of wood chips and sawdust rose up with all their might, and then fell silently. Among the debris, there might be blood, flesh and body parts.

Because the distance was close, only about twenty meters, the loud noise almost penetrated Liang Ziqiang and the others' ears from left to right, stirring up a violent and hot wind in their brains.

Immediately afterwards, his eardrums were greeted with a huge dead silence. For the first time, Liang Ziqiang felt that silence could be so deafening.

When he regained consciousness, the first thing Liang Ziqiang saw was that he was on a fishing boat parked next to the beach. Duobao and Haigou were running towards him in panic.

Before this, Duobao took advantage of the time they were fishing to steal a little time off and was taking a nap on the boat.

The earth-shattering explosion woke it up from its sleep, and it ran down the slope, screaming and howling incoherently.

The female sea lion was probably feeding her baby, but now she abandoned her baby and staggered, half-rolled and half-crawled, then jumped onto the beach and started running around.

"That's good, Ah Cai and Ah Xian, you two can exchange the fish you caught today!"

Liang Tiancheng, the usually gloomy eldest brother, actually showed a rare bit of humor today and teased Ah Cai and Ah Xian.

"I don't know whether it was the fat guy who lit the explosives first, or the thin guy?" Ah Xian's younger brother Lin Baiyi muttered after being shocked.

"Maybe they each ordered one?" Liang's father sighed. "Since ancient times, people are always greedy. If these two people were not so greedy and wanted to eat alone, they could have made a lot of money from the jade giant clam on the boat! They are so good at getting giant clams, how can they complain that they will not make enough money in the future? They are just too greedy and have swallowed themselves up!"

"The main reason is that the jade giant clam in the Triangle Reef area is bigger than the one they got today. The fat guy thinks he has made the greatest contribution, and he definitely doesn't want to see the thin guy playing dirty and secretly taking away the big giant clam at night! If it weren't for the big giant clam, the two of them probably wouldn't have turned against each other like this!" The eldest brother Liang Tiancheng thought.

"There's nothing wrong with what you said, but these two people have long been at odds with each other, and it's only a matter of time before they end up like this. If you want to work together, the key is to be sincere, otherwise things won't go well!" Liang's father seemed particularly touched.

"What should we do? These are two lives. Should we report the case and notify the police?" asked the eldest brother Liang Tiancheng.

"Why don't we just report it? The boat was blown to pieces. A few planks are still floating on the water, and the rest has sunk. Just think of them as someone who accidentally blew themselves up while frying fish. If we get involved, it will only make things more complicated!"

Liang Ziqiang felt that this matter was very different from the incident on Thorny Dolphin Island. Today, they had no involvement from the beginning to the end. It had nothing to do with them from the beginning. Even if someone investigated it later, it would definitely be a fish bombing accident.

If you insist on getting involved, you'll be asking for trouble.

Father Liang frowned for a long time after hearing this, and finally decided:

"Let's do as Ah Qiang said. But there is one thing. If you decide not to report the case, then don't tell anyone in the village. As for what happened today, just pretend you didn't see anything and nothing happened. There's really no case to report in a dog-eat-dog case!"

"No, I won't say a word!" Deng Zhaocai saw that everyone was looking at him, and said guiltily, "I didn't mean anything. Am I such a chatterbox usually?"

Finally, I patted my chest and made a promise, and I passed.

It was already afternoon, not particularly early, and coupled with the shock of what had just happened, several people decided not to continue fishing for snapper.

He picked up the fish that he had caught after half a day, called Duobao, who was fishing like crazy, and returned to the boat.

The sea lion had learned from the experience of being almost abandoned on the rocky beach last time. This time, when it saw that the situation was not right, it quickly trudged over from the beach.

Before the diesel engine started, he turned over and climbed into the boat.

The four boats sailed out of the reefs on this side of the island, passed through the smell of explosives that had not completely dissipated on the sea, and headed towards the village.

After switching to fishing on the back side today, the fish catch has increased again.

Especially Liang Ziqiang, who caught such a big stone clam, his income must be quite good.

Liang Ziqiang did not go to Zheng Liu's place. He handed over all the common snappers he had caught to his father and elder brother, asking them to help him take them to Zheng Liu's place to sell.

Liang Ziqiang did not dock, but continued sailing towards the city.

Although he only got one clam, it was not only expensive but also very large, making it worth his special trip to the city.

When they arrived at Yuehai Restaurant, Du Ziteng was very happy when he heard that they had stone clams. He said:
"You finally got some grouper again! Which types are they this time? Are there many? Are there any live groupers?" Liang Ziqiang paused for a moment before he realized that he had misheard and had heard "grouper" instead of "clam".

Yes, the names of these two fish are too similar, and it is hard to distinguish them. Moreover, Liang Ziqiang had only sold grouper before, but had never brought "stone clams".

"Stone clam! I'm talking about the stone clam of the spotted snapper. It's alive and well. I caught it with a fishing rod!" Liang Ziqiang said.

"Spotted snapper?"

Hearing this, Du Ziteng not only did not feel disappointed, but his enthusiasm increased:
"It would be great if you could get as many clams as you can! How many clams did you catch?"

Liang Ziqiang chuckled and said, "It's not a lot, but I caught one."

As he was talking, Du Ziteng had already seen the spotted snapper in the bucket:
"It's really not very interesting because it's only one, but at least it's quite big. Weigh it and see how many pounds it weighs."

Liang Ziqiang carried the goods to the warehouse while asking about the price.

Du Ziteng smiled and replied, "As for the price, at least you don't have to worry about it with me. Twenty yuan for grouper is enough, right? This one is a little more than grouper, twenty-two yuan a pound, there's nothing much to say, right?"

"Okay, then twenty-two!"

Liang Ziqiang felt that it was two pieces higher than the grouper, and it was almost the same.

Wild stone clams are sold for thousands of yuan per catty in later generations, so they are naturally incomparable, but twenty-two yuan is already a very expensive price in those days.

When we got to the warehouse and weighed it, it was three pounds and nine ounces.

This one stone clam fish alone sold for eighty-five and eighty cents!

Du Ziteng specifically told the accountant to give him the eighty-six yuan.

He rushed back to Changwang Village with the money, and when he got home, his father gave him the proceeds from selling the other types of snappers.

Today we visited the new side of the island so the income was higher than the previous two days. Liang Ziqiang sold dozens of snappers for more than 210 yuan.

Adding the eighty-six from the stone clams, it directly came to three hundred yuan!
It's not just about making money, Liang Ziqiang also specially left a red snapper from his bucket on the boat, so that he could use it as dinner when he returned home.

In the past, people would never eat red snapper at home. Even the cheapest snapper is still 80 cents per pound!

I remember last year I ate a sea bass that cost only 40 cents per pound, and my mother scolded me for a long time.

This red snapper is not only more expensive than striped sea bass, but also larger in size, weighing three or four pounds. One is enough for a meal for five people in a family.

Chen Xiangbei had never cooked red snapper before, so Liang's mother taught her while she cooked.

The best way to cook it is to steam it. Because the fish is large, Liang's mother specially cut a "well"-shaped pattern on both sides of the fish.

The meat of red snapper is firm yet exceptionally tender, and has a completely different flavor than that of spotted sea bass.

Normally, Lizhi is most afraid of eating fish with a lot of bones. This is a real challenge for her. She often gets her tongue or lips pricked while eating.

The red snapper, on the other hand, has fewer bones and is more juicy, so I enjoyed eating lychees to my heart's content today and couldn't stop eating with my chopsticks.

Liang's mother couldn't stand it anymore, so she blocked her chopsticks and rushed to put two pieces of fish meat into Chen Xiangbei's bowl:

"This fish tastes good and is nutritious, Xiangbei, don't just look at it, eat more!"

"Mom, I'm eating. The fish is big today and I can't finish it!" Chen Xiangbei said quickly, fearing that Liang's mother would blame Lizhi again.

After dinner, Liang Ziqiang took out about 300 yuan and counted the money in the box again. The last time he counted was over 6,000 yuan, and with the income from recent days, it has reached 6,700 yuan!

"Wife, let's discuss something. One day when I have some time, I might have to go to the Fengshou Shipyard in the county to have a look." After collecting the money, Liang Ziqiang said to his wife who was sitting beside the bed.

"Are you planning to buy a big ship? Can you buy the big iron trawler that you have always wanted for more than 6,000 yuan?" Chen Xiangbei knew that he must want to go to the shipyard to see the iron trawler, so she asked him.

"I can definitely buy it. The last time I went to Fengshou Shipyard, I only had a few hundred dollars in my hand and didn't dare to think about the trawler, but I went to take a look. I heard from the people at the shipyard that a large iron trawl would cost at least 6,000 yuan. I just don't know if a 6,000 yuan trawl can go to the deep sea. I have to ask first when I go to the shipyard this time." Liang Ziqiang expressed his thoughts.

Since he had changed to a large iron boat with a trawling net, he wanted to go to the deep sea. If the boat cost 6,000 yuan, he would buy it immediately and start going to the deep sea next month.

On the contrary, if the 6,000-ton ship was suitable for trawling in shallow waters, he would wait a little longer.

In fact, even in shallow waters, the trawling method and harvest are definitely very different from those of ordinary net-casting boats, but Liang Ziqiang still yearns for the deep sea.

If a large ship worth eight thousand or ten thousand is required to go to the deep sea, then he will continue to save money, and when he has saved enough, he will directly buy a bigger ship.

The next morning, we continued to go out to sea. When we arrived at the beach, we didn't see Li Liang, and even Li Liang's boat was not on the shore.

Deng Zhaocai was already waiting on the shore. When he saw Liang Ziqiang, he said:

"Brother Qiang, Liangzi can't come today and won't go out to sea. You guys go by yourselves! He has to take his wife Yuan Xiaomei to the hospital today!"

"Going to the hospital? Are you going for a check-up? There's no need to be so urgent for the check-up, right?" Liang Ziqiang asked curiously.

In theory, we only started the first day of fishing on the back side of Snapper Island yesterday. Even if the catch decreases later, we can at least still fish for another two days.

This is the money that Lao Xie gave away freely, which is different from the usual money for going out to sea.

Li Liang could have waited until he was done fishing for the past two days before considering taking Yuan Xiaomei for a prenatal checkup.

"I'm not that clear, but I heard from Liangzi that his wife had a stomachache, so she set sail for the county at dawn. She said hello to me and asked me to wait here so that she could tell you!" Deng Zhaocai told him everything.

"Stomachache? I heard from Liangzi that it's not even three months yet. How come you suddenly have stomachache?" When Liang Ziqiang heard this, he couldn't help but worry about Li Liang.

After all, I heard Chen Xiangbei mention Yuan Xiaomei's back pain last time, and now she has a stomachache again. It's impossible not to think of the worst.

"I don't know, maybe he just ate something wrong?" Deng Zhaocai muttered, "If he doesn't go out to sea, I won't go today. My mother's medicine for the last day is gone, I have to go to the town to get her medicine today!"

Seeing this, Liang Ziqiang didn't say anything more.

Today the four boats became three boats and headed to the sea together.

When they arrived at the sea area near the snappers, they found that all the broken planks on the water surface had disappeared, having been carried away to an unknown place by the ocean currents and waves.

The once strong smell of explosives also completely dissipated.

At this moment, the sea water is blue, the sea breeze is blowing, and the vast and clean sea surface looks as if nothing has happened.

I didn’t catch the big stone clams like I did yesterday, but fortunately, humpback snappers came more frequently than yesterday.

For two consecutive days, the overall revenue was not as good as the first day, but we still sold more than 100 yuan every day.

After a few days, Liang Ziqiang had accumulated more than 6,900 yuan, approaching 7,000 yuan.

During the rest period, he decided to go to Fengshou Shipyard to see the trawler...

(End of this chapter)