1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 462: Lots of Money on the Beach
He was about to ask Li Liang, but he saw Zhou Hui, who was standing at the bow and looking out, holding up a telescope and shouting:
"There is an island, there is a small island ahead!"

Li Liang got excited:
"See, I said we would find the island today, and I was right, right? Now here we are!"

Liang Ziqiang also took out a telescope and looked into the distance for a while.

Sure enough, a hint of light gray appeared in the camera. It was because the distance was still far and the island was not big enough, so I didn't notice it much when I was standing on the boat with my naked eyes.

"Dad, steer the boat towards that island!"

At this moment, Liang's father was driving the boat in the cab. Liang Ziqiang said something loudly to his father, and the boat headed in that direction.

He turned around and continued to ask Li Liang:

"How can there really be an island when you say there is one? What's going on? Have you been here? That's impossible!"

As a result, Li Liang's answer was very confident, which surprised Liang Ziqiang.

"To be honest, I had a dream last night while sleeping on the boat."

"What did you dream about?"

"I dreamed of my grandfather. He told me that if we encounter an island tomorrow, you must tell Aqiang to stop the boat and go to the island. That island is amazing. You will know once you walk on it. The beach is full of money!"

"All money?" Liang Ziqiang looked confused.

"Yes, that's what he said. I even dreamed that I listened to him and went up there with you the next day. Guess what, there was really money on the beach, just big solidarity bills, each one was brand new..."

Li Liang was about to continue talking when Liang Ziqiang was so angry that he wanted to kick him and reached out to touch his forehead:
"You're not having a fever, are you? Deep sea, money after money? Can you take such a dream seriously?!"

"Maybe it's true. Look, we can really see the island." Li Liang laughed, obviously half joking.

It’s not a joke to be taken seriously, but we must go to the island.

When they got there, they put away the trawl net and stopped the boat. The crew sorted the fish on the deck while Liang Ziqiang, Li Liang and others got off the boat and landed on the island.

The island was smaller than the one two days ago and looked just as ordinary.

After walking on the beach for more than ten steps, Liang Ziqiang suddenly saw those things scattered all over the beach. He was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help but raised his finger and pointed at Li Liang and laughed.

"Liangzi, this dream of yours is truly amazing. There is money everywhere and you are still standing there in a daze. Hurry up and get a bucket to pick it up!"

There were hundreds of tiny things on the beach, round in shape, and very much like silver coins, with five-petal patterns on the back.

"This... this is a sand dollar!" Zhou Hui also laughed, "Where did so many sand dollars come from on this island!"

“Damn, this dream is a bit deceptive. It said there was money all over the floor, but how come it’s all sand dollars!” Li Liang’s face turned black.

Sand dollar, also known as sand dollar, is actually a kind of echinoderm. It is rare in other places, but you are more likely to encounter it in the South China Sea.

This thing is small and unique, and it is quite pleasing to the eye, but it has no meat at all, so it can be said to be worthless!

Fortunately, the term "Silly Pen" had not yet become popular in their area at that time, otherwise Li Liang would have been so angry when he saw that the name he had been waiting for for a long time was actually "Sand Coin".

Of course, he would not really pick it up. Although they were joking, they continued to look around the island. The island was not big, and they walked around it quickly. Again, they found nothing.

Now Liang Ziqiang basically tends to think that the drawing has no special meaning. It seems that he was overthinking it. He spent a lot of time drawing it excitedly, but it was all in vain.

Fortunately, we did not delay fishing while looking for the island, and we caught a lot of fish in five days.

After returning to the fishing port to sell the fish, Liang Ziqiang immediately went to the Fengshou Shipyard.

Only one boat was ordered, but it was no longer a pelagic trawler, but a bottom trawler. The three boats before were all pelagic trawlers, and this was the first time to buy a bottom trawler.

Bottom trawlers also have gantries, operating tables, refrigerated compartments and other equipment. The main difference lies in the design of the winch, stern slide, and the structure of the net bag.

In addition, although 24-meter steel ships can also carry out deep-sea operations, there are still many remote deep-sea areas that cannot be reached. This time, he directly bought a 32-meter bottom tugboat, which is much larger than the Ziqiang and Boqiang, and can reach farther and more sea areas.

Of course, the price is much higher, at 22,000.

Now that Liang's father is able to drive the large ship normally, Liang Ziqiang has his hands freed up to drive the new bottom trawler.

Normally, four boats go out to sea together, three of which mainly target pelagic fish, and one harvests bottom-dwelling fish, which complements each other. Besides, other fishermen's boats heading to the deep sea mainly trawle the pelagic layer, with relatively few bottom trawls, which means that the bottom-dwelling fish and shrimp in the South China Sea are now more abundant than the pelagic layer because they have not been disturbed in large quantities.

After paying the deposit, the boat would not be picked up until some time later, so Liang Ziqiang drove the boat back to the village first.

It was already past five in the afternoon when Liang Ziqiang entered the village. He saw a lot of people gathered in a large open space not far from the old palm tree in the village.

There were men, women, young and old, but the majority were obviously children, who were running around like monkey kings and talking excitedly.

Liang Ziqiang wanted to pick up some deep-sea fish and shrimp to go home first, so he didn't take a second look and went straight back to Juzipo.

When he got home, he put down the bucket and asked his mother:

"Mom, there are a lot of people at the big fish drying ground in the village today. What happened in the village?"

Generally speaking, if it has anything to do with gossip, you can never go wrong by asking your mother.

His mother was just coming out of the kitchen carrying a plate of fragrant fried broad beans and putting them on the table:
"What's the big deal? A projection team came to the village today and there will be a movie tonight. Some impatient people have already gone to the fish drying yard to watch the fun before it gets dark!"

"So they're showing a movie? That's right, the projection team hasn't been here for a long time!"

Liang Ziqiang now understood why his mother suddenly started frying broad beans.

As they were talking, Lizhi, Xiaohai, and Liang Jingcheng came right over after smelling the aroma. Lizhi and Xiaohai took some broad beans from the table and stuffed them into their mouths, breathing heavily as they ate.

"It's so hot. It's burning me to death!"

Liang Jingcheng couldn't reach the table, but he was curious and envious of Lizhi Xiaohai's behavior, so he also started to climb onto the table.

"You two are great! Finish your meal now, and don't eat while we're watching the movie!"

Before Liang Ziqiang could say anything, Liang's mother picked up a bamboo stick and started to beat him.

Before Lizhi ran away, he did not forget to stuff two for Liang Jingcheng.

As a result, Liang Jingcheng put it in his mouth, bit it hard twice and then spit it out. He couldn't even bite it apart!
But Liang Ziqiang was afraid that he would continue to climb onto the table out of curiosity, so he picked him up and took him outside to play.

Standing outside the door and looking back into the village, a large white curtain has been pulled up between two palm trees in the open space. Such a simple curtain makes the whole village feel different from usual, and the sense of ceremony is full.

"I don't know what movie will be shown this time. I heard on TV that a Cantonese opera female prince consort also made a movie. It would be great if this was shown today!"

Liang's mother is already looking forward to it.

"I want to watch a martial arts movie. Martial arts movies are the best. People will fly during the fighting!" Xiao Hai openly contradicted his grandmother.

In fact, everyone in the family was very excited, as if it was New Year’s Day.

Although we now have black and white TVs, the large screen and color film movies are still incomparable to TVs. Moreover, the atmosphere is very special when the whole village sits together on the fish drying ground...

(End of this chapter)