1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 313: The brand new big steel ship goes home
Since we didn't spend much time in the Moon Sea, it was still light when we got home.

Liang Ziqiang took out the remaining 2,600 yuan and mentioned that someone had given him giant clams during the day.

"What kind of shell can be sold for two thousand seven?"

Chen Xiangbei was shocked when she heard this. Liang Ziqiang felt that this was a bit beyond what a pregnant woman could bear.

Last year, the price of the giant clam was over one hundred yuan, which surprised her greatly. How could it be possible to sell it for two thousand seven hundred yuan now?
"It's not a small, light thing. This time, each one weighs more than 20 kilograms!" Liang Ziqiang explained.

Chen Xiangbei felt that she understood it a little better. Then she turned around and found him tiptoeing and hiding something in the drawer.

She had difficulty walking due to her big belly, but her hands were still as nimble as ever, and she grabbed his arm:

"What shameful thing are you hiding behind my back?"

Liang Ziqiang originally wanted to hide the hairpin and kettle in the drawer for two days, and then take them out on her birthday the day after tomorrow to make her a little happy.

Now that it’s exposed, there’s nothing we can do.

"Come, let me pick it up for you and see. I think it will look really good on you!" He simply took out the butterfly hairpin and wanted her to try it on.

The wife really liked it at first sight: "It's really beautiful, why are you hiding it?"

Liang Ziqiang didn't answer her: "Try it on in front of the mirror!"

The daughter-in-law took the round mirror from his hand, combed her long black hair with a comb, and quickly put on the butterfly hairpin.

She smiled, obviously satisfied with herself in the mirror, turned her head and raised her eyebrows, and asked him again: "What do you think?"

Liang Ziqiang searched his brain urgently, but couldn't find a word for a long time.

My wife's oval face and facial features are well-proportioned and beautiful, and her skin is always fair. Now the red string has been replaced with a pink hairpin, and the whole hair has its own beauty, and her face is more naturally pink.

"It's so beautiful!" He blurted out a word from later generations.

The wife understood what he said and gave him a reproachful look: "What a weird thing to say! It sounds like an insult!"

He reached out and stroked the long hair on her cheek naturally: "Happy birthday, may you be so beautiful every day, every month, and every year!"

His wife's pretty face was stunned for a moment: "Birthday? Today?"

It turns out that people don’t really remember their birthdays every year.

"I was originally planning to give it to you on your birthday the day after tomorrow, but you caught me red-handed. Can I wish you a happy birthday in advance?"

Chen Xiangbei's eyebrows knitted together: "The day after tomorrow is the 28th day of the fifth lunar month?"

"This year's lunar calendar is May 6th, which is June 27th in the Gregorian calendar, the day after tomorrow, there's no mistake about it."

"You haven't been remembering this date these days, have you?"

Chen Xiangbei stared at his face, her eyes flickering. The next moment, the head with the pink hairpin tilted slightly and rested on his shoulder.

Liang Ziqiang really didn't expect that he had to buy her a small, not-so-expensive gift when he was in urgent need of money, but she would be so touched.

After dinner, Liang Ziqiang had to go out to find Lin Quansheng.

When he came to Lin Quansheng, he naturally asked for an auspicious date. Although he didn't believe in these things as much as his parents did, buying a boat was a big deal, so he still had to ask for an auspicious date.

Liang Ziqiang explained his purpose. Lin Quansheng was eating dinner, and his chopsticks hesitated in his hand.

"You bought another boat? Wait, let me think about it. The last new boat you bought hasn't even been a year old yet, right?" Lin Quansheng said with hindsight, "Look what I said at the time. I told you that you would definitely make a fortune by sailing out to sea with a boat full of fish and shrimp!"

Liang Ziqiang was also somewhat amused when he heard this: "Uncle Quan, you are so good at speaking. How about when I buy a new boat this time, can you give me some good advice?"

"By buying a big iron ship this time, I'm sure we'll make even more money. With the help of the Dragon King, the ship will be full of big fish and the money will roll in!" Lin Quansheng said nice things without asking for money. "By the way, when do you plan to buy it? Give me an idea."

"In the recent few days, there is no need to be too particular. You don't have to choose the most auspicious day, just avoid the particularly inappropriate days!"

Now we have to buy the boat in the last few days before the price goes up, so there is no time to wait and we can only pick a relatively good day.

Seeing how anxious he was, Lin Quansheng looked up the almanac and calculated Liang Ziqiang's birth date and time carefully. Finally, he said:
"Then you can go buy the boat tomorrow and pick it up the day after tomorrow. It's all fine. But remember, the day in between, which is June 6, the 26th day of the fifth lunar month, must be avoided."

Although the date was chosen very simply this time, Liang Ziqiang still paid the date selection fee according to the old rules, three yuan according to the standard wage for a skilled worker.

The next day was June 6th. Liang Ziqiang took 25 yuan for the booking fee and went to the shipyard in the morning. As for the remaining yuan, he only needed to pay it within five days when picking up the ship. This was also mentioned by Lao Xu last time.

Because the largest denomination in circulation on the market is only 10 yuan, and 5,000 yuan is 500 big unity notes. It is definitely impossible to put so much money in your pocket.

Liang Ziqiang put the money in an iron bucket and stuffed it under a wooden board in the cabin, which was considered to be very safe. Then he drove the lotus-patterned boat to the Fengshou Shipyard.

When he arrived at the shipyard, he carried an iron bucket of money covered with a lid and walked into the large but short building.

Old Xu actually felt relieved and quickly told him:

"I was just wondering how to inform you. The price increase has been approved, and the date has not been postponed but has been moved forward a bit, starting on the 28th of this month. I was afraid that you would wait until July, so you would have to pay 7 yuan!"

"The price will be raised on the 28th?"

Liang Ziqiang almost broke out in a cold sweat. The deposit must be paid before the 28th, which means that the balance must be paid before July 7rd.

After all, it was fortunate that Lao Qiu's jade giant clam came just in time. Otherwise, it would have been difficult for me to save up 7 yuan before July 3!

The procedures for buying a large steel ship are much more complicated. Liang Ziqiang registered his ID card and then went to the county fishery station to apply for his own license to drive the boat and have the boat marked with a fishery number.

Of course, if you need it urgently, you can open the business and go fishing first, and then go to the fishery station to apply for it when you are free. These days, the management is relatively not so strict.

What Liang Ziqiang bought was the 24-meter steel ship with a red base and blue paint that he had taken a fancy to last time.

When entering the bay for trial operation, several masters from the shipyard came at the same time and carefully taught Liang Ziqiang the function of every part of the new ship.

In fact, Liang Ziqiang was not unfamiliar with this. The state-owned ships he had worked on were generally no different from this ship. As for the ships he was indirectly familiar with in later generations, their systems were much more complicated than the one in front of him.

With these basics in place, after a whole day of trial operation with the shipyard master, Liang Ziqiang has already mastered the key points.

Including how to start the winch, cast the trawl into the sea, and how to collect the net, all operations were performed several times.

Finally, the shipyard technicians still told him that someone at the county fishery station was responsible for relevant training. In order to achieve comprehensive and thorough control, he could sign up for a period of training while going to the fishery station to handle the formalities.

The ship has been fully completed from components to exterior paint, but there is still one detail that needs to be added, which is to write the name of the ship in paint on the upper side of the bow.

Liang Ziqiang did not hesitate much about this matter and directly asked for the two big words "Ziqiang" to be written on it.

According to the date Lin Quansheng suggested last night, the day after tomorrow would be the most suitable day to pick up the boat. Coincidentally, the shipyard will arrange for someone to write on the bow this afternoon, and by the time Liang Ziqiang comes to pick up the boat the day after tomorrow, I believe the paint will have dried completely.

The steel boat was finally snatched in time. In the evening, Liang Ziqiang drove the lotus-patterned boat back to the village.

After returning to the village shore, Liang Ziqiang was walking on the road after getting off the boat. He saw Li Liang talking to the villagers on the roadside.

Li Liang turned around and saw him. He left the others behind and walked over to him and asked with a smile, "I heard that you went to the county shipyard today. Did you buy the boat?"

Liang Ziqiang noticed that this guy was grinning as soon as he spoke today, and seemed to be in a good mood. He replied about the boat, then pulled Li Liang aside and asked, "Did you use the fish maw that Old Xie gave you yesterday?"

"How could it not work? As soon as I got home last night, I did what Old Xie said. I didn't add anything but a little salt and boiled the soup with water," Li Liang said excitedly. "It's amazing! My wife was bleeding yesterday, but she hasn't bled since she woke up this morning. Her stomach discomfort has also eased a lot! What kind of fish maw is this Old Qiu using? It's not yellow lip fish maw, but the effect is just as good as yellow lip fish maw!"

Liang Ziqiang quickly made a gesture, signaling him to lower his voice:

"That's great news. Congratulations to both of you. Don't tell anyone about this out loud. What kind of fish Lao Qiu used is his own secret. He definitely doesn't want others to know!"

"Well, I won't say anything!" As long as his wife's pregnancy is stable, Li Liang will say anything now.

After chatting with Liang Ziqiang for a few more words, Li Liang went home, and Liang Ziqiang also walked towards Juzipo.

Liang Ziqiang also thought it was amazing that fish maw actually worked on Yuan Xiaomei. The key point was that this was not the kind of yellow lip fish maw that was extremely expensive in the market.

After returning home, Liang Ziqiang told his wife about the boat purchase. His wife was also very eager to see what the big and long new boat looked like.

Liang Ziqiang described it to her, and as Chen Xiangbei listened, she suddenly thought of something:

"Go home and look for any firecrackers. We'll be picking up the boat the day after tomorrow, so we'll have to set off firecrackers. If you don't have any, you'd better go to town and buy some tomorrow!"

Liang Ziqiang realized that he had almost neglected these details. He searched around and still couldn't find them. The things he bought for building the house and the New Year were all used up.

The next day he went to the town and bought some red earth and some incense and candles.

I ran out of apples at home recently, so I bought some in town and also bought a piece of pork.

The consumption of diesel will be very high in the future, so I bought quite a few barrels.

In a blink of an eye, several dozen or nearly a hundred yuan had been spent. Now the whole family only had about 800 yuan left for expenses.

June 6 was the day to pick up the boat, and Liang's father deliberately did not go out to sea. He went to Fengshou Shipyard with him in the lotus-patterned boat.

Liang Ziqiang put the final payment of 5,000 yuan in an iron bucket in the cabin as usual. After arriving at Fengshou Shipyard, he handed over the final payment and the ship.

On the return, the two boats sailed on the sea one after the other.

Liang Ziqiang drove a brand new 24-meter steel trawler, while Liang's father followed behind in a lotus-patterned boat at a distance.

Liang Ziqiang was steering the ship in the upper part of the cabin, looking into the distance through the cabin glass.

The sea is still the same sea as before, but it seems completely different.

The huge steel ship under his feet was calm and spacious, as if the sea breeze had summoned a giant whale with blue-gray skin, which slowly raised its huge body from the flowing sea and lifted up him who was riding on its back.

On the gills of the giant blue-gray whale are two big white characters, "Self-reliance", like a brand.

As the giant whale moved forward, the waves it created rose one by one, as if there were mountains in the ocean trying to rise from the ground.

He was lifted up an inch, and the clouds and clear sky above his head also rose an inch with him.

As the boat turned, a flock of seagulls were also drawing a curved arc in the air.

As we got closer, the familiar coastline of the village bulged slightly forward, and the land was surging towards the bow.

The ship moored. A group of people, young and old, had gathered on the shore. They all raised their hands and pointed at the ship, exclaiming and discussing.

Liang Ziqiang spotted the faces of his elder brother and Lizhi at a glance.

The eldest brother was holding a plate of exceptionally plump earth red, ready to order.

Chen Xiangbei had wanted to come here originally, but unfortunately she was about to give birth, and it was obviously not suitable for her to walk all the way to the beach and face the crowds and the blast of firecrackers.

The voice of Dadihong rose up again and the villagers who came forward expressed amazement, envy, congratulations and ridicule.

"Qiangzi, you are really like a little cow entering a bull pen - you are so awesome! Since our village was founded, no one has owned such a large iron boat. You are the first one!"

"What do you mean by our Pomwang Village? You make it sound like other villages have the same boat. Among the villages around here, which one has this kind of boat? Show it to me. Qiangzi is giving honor to the Pomwang Village!"

"A Qiang, remember what I said last year? I said you married a woman who brings you good fortune. I was right, wasn't I? Ever since you married her, your fortune has been growing faster and faster!"

"Oh, yeah, why isn't his wife around today? Wouldn't she have come over for something as big as this?"

"You must be dreaming! His wife has been pregnant for a long time and is about to give birth. How can he come here?!"

"Qiangzi is so lucky. Whether it's day or night, he rides the best first-class bikes in the village!"

"Diamond, you have a foul mouth, are you looking for a beating again?" Liang Ziqiang was quite familiar with the man who fired the yellow gun on the spot. He made a gesture as if he was going to beat him up and drove Dimond away.

Seeing that these people were getting more and more talkative, he quickly interrupted and said:
"Small ships have small incomes, large ships have large expenses. Anyway, we all make a living on the sea!"

Now that we have bought a big boat, we need to be visible when we go out to sea and catch more fish. It is impossible to hide such a big boat.

Whether everyone is envious, jealous, or sincerely congratulating him, Liang Ziqiang can't control it. People's hearts are all in their own stomachs.

He just needs to be more humble and not brag. There is no need to brag.

Before the firecrackers had completely finished blasting, a streak of khaki was seen twisting its body in a showy and nimble manner, passing through the crowd as if cutting through thorns and bushes, and arrived at his feet.

Duobao wagged his tail as he ran over, and every time he glanced at the big ship parked on the shore, he barked at him, as if to say:

Why did you change the boat again? It's quite impressive! Can I also ride on this big iron boat when I go out to sea in the future?
Not far away, there stood a spotted dog. It was the little female dog from Zhang Baomin's family.

Xiaohua seemed to be afraid of firecrackers. She waited until all the firecrackers of Dadihong were set off before she took small steps towards Duobao.

As soon as Duobao saw Xiaohua, he became quite proud and showed off as if the brand new iron ship was his.

At some point, a furry little head popped up from the lotus-patterned wooden boat nearby.

The little sea lion, which could now run on its own, came out from the corner of the boat and ran to the bow to peek around.

When I raised my eyes, I saw Duobao on the shore.

The little thing is usually very attached to Duobao. Except when he can't rely on Duobao for feeding, he likes to stay close to Duobao most of the time.

I guess it has never figured out in its little head whether it came from the female sea seal or from this amiable yellow-haired native dog.

The lotus boat was not very high, and the distance between it and the ground was even lower when it was moored at the dock. The little sea lion jumped off the wooden boat with a plop, flapped its front flippers, and jumped towards Duobao excitedly.

As soon as he got closer, he swiftly did what he was best at, hugging Duobao's legs, showing great affection.

Some of the villagers who had already dispersed turned back at this time, and they were all amazed:
"Where did this strange thing come from? Is it a baby sea lion or a seal?"

"I don't know if it's a sea lion or a seal, but if I wash it I think I can make soup with it, right?"

If Liang Ziqiang hadn't glared at it in time, the little sea dog would have been taken away as soup ingredients on the spot...

Just as they stopped the soup-making maniac's evil hand with their eyes, they heard a loud barking sound over there.

At first glance, Xiaohua, who had just been standing gracefully beside Duobao, suddenly turned hostile and sprayed at Duobao's face!
It's really aggrieved:

What's going on? Where did the puppy come from? Do you have a dog outside? You look like a very honest dog, but you actually gave birth to a baby without telling me!
You scumbag!

Xiaohua yelled and cursed for a while, and almost pounced on Duobao to bite him.

Finally, Xiaohua turned around and ran away from the beach without caring about Duobao's aggrieved face.

Duobao couldn't leave or stay, so he finally ran towards the village...

Liang Ziqiang almost laughed: It turns out that dogs can also be jealous?
He picked up the little sea lion and threw it back into the wooden boat.

It seems that Duobao is destined to have a bumpy love life recently...

After parking the big boat, Liang Ziqiang did not go home immediately, but went to the purchasing point, met Zheng Liu, and spoke to Zheng Liu, Deng Fei and others, asking them to help spread the message among the fishermen.

Now that we have a large steel ship that can reach the deep sea, there is no need to keep the original lotus-patterned boat.

Zhengliu is one of the largest gathering and distribution points in the village, with many people coming and going on weekdays.

He wanted Zheng Liuduo to talk to the villagers to see if anyone was interested in taking over his lotus-patterned boat.

This lotus boat has only been in use for half a year, so he doesn't plan to depreciate it too much based on the original price. If he can sell it successfully, it will be a considerable income for him who has been spending money everywhere recently...

(End of this chapter)