Reborn in the Millennium: Building a Fortune from Fishing

Chapter 333

Early the next morning, Qin and his son went out to pick cotton.

Both boats were launched, Qin Dahe's splicing boat and Qin's father's big boat, waiting at the intersection of the water systems in Xinba.

Their main cotton collection areas are places that large tricycles cannot reach, such as Xiaoguowei, Panggezhuang, Huwan, etc.

In previous years, cars rarely came to these places to collect cotton because they had to go to Fenghuang Bridge first and then take a long detour.

Not only does it waste fuel, but harvesting cotton is also a hassle.

Because of its density, cotton has a high center of gravity, making it easy to overturn on these rugged paths.

These villages with underdeveloped transportation usually row their own boats to Fenghuangqiao Township, and then call a car to transport them to the flower-making factory for sale.

Today, Qin Dahe used a loudspeaker to announce the cotton harvest, but was stopped just as he passed his grandfather's house.

"Cotton collector, what's the price of cotton today?" an aunt asked.

"Three dollars and forty-five cents, I'll take three dollars and forty." He replied loudly, sitting on the boat calmly smoking.

Many people can accept a five-cent price difference.

After all, if I hire a car to transport it to the flower-making factory, I will definitely have to pay dozens of dollars in shipping fees, so it’s better to have someone collect it.

"Okay." The aunt nodded and went back without saying anything about selling cotton.

Qin Dahe didn't care. He drove the boat slowly on the river heading towards Fenghuang Bridge. When he saw a residential area, he stopped the boat and rowed slowly with a bamboo pole.

He paid special attention to the river channel here. It was covered with purslane and floats, and there were many mazes and earth traps in it. It was estimated that there were not many fish.

It is eight o'clock in the morning. Several small wooden boats are returning. The old men in their sixties and seventies are shouting slogans with all their might. There are quite a few passengers on the boats now.

Someone else called out to him and casually quoted the price.

"Your boat can't collect much?" The other party was a little confused.

"If you can sell cotton, I can buy it. The big ship is behind us."

"Okay, I have over 800 pounds."

Qin Dahe was shocked when he heard this. Eight hundred kilograms was considered a lot now, so he hurried ashore.

"Are you sure you want to sell it?"

"Why would I call you if you don't want to sell it?" Grandpa scolded him with a smile and took him to the gate of a large courtyard.

There was a large tarpaulin in front of his house, covering the road and leaving only a small aisle.

There were large pieces of white cotton drying on the waterproof cloth. Qin Dahe walked forward and pinched a handful.

"This is first-class cotton. I'll give you a high price."

"Nonsense, I'm not selling this, I'm making quilts for my family." Grandpa curled his lips, "The cotton for sale is in the living room."

"Oh." He followed in embarrassedly.

He had never seen anyone selling first-class cotton. They either mixed it with inferior cotton to make more money, or they made their own quilts.

The cotton quilts made by rural families are fluffy and warm, and they are really cozy to sleep in during the winter.

Most of the finished cotton quilts in the city are made of inferior cotton because of their low cost.

As soon as you enter the house, there is a large pile of cotton, the color of which is much worse than the first-class cotton outside.

Qin Dahe took the cotton gun he carried with him and started poking the cotton, poking into the pile from all angles to measure the humidity of the pile.

The cotton gun is an instrument for measuring soil moisture, and it can measure cotton moisture very accurately. They will only collect it if it is within a reasonable range.

Qin Dahe even pulled the cotton apart and measured the inside before he felt relieved.

"These are all second-grade cotton. How about the price of three dollars and fourteen?" He pretended not to see some of the stubborn fruits.

Who sells cotton without mixing in some inferior cotton? As long as it can pass the inspection of the cotton-tying factory, it’s fine.

"Okay, now we need to weigh the cotton?"

"I'll call the boat over in two minutes." He said with a smile and called his father.

After a while, the big ship came over with a rumble, and stopped beside the small boat when it saw it.

Then my father came up with a lot of new snakeskin bags, which are standard equipment in the flower-making factory. They are blue-green in color and each bag weighs about 80 kilograms.

I didn’t expect that Qin’s father knew the person. He was Xiao Guoxu’s son-in-law and came here quite often.

Qin Dahe mentioned the humidity and started to pack cotton with his father.

Although it is a bit tiring to install it yourself, don't worry, at least there will be no stones mixed in.

I filled eleven bags, but the last bag was not full, so I took a break.

"Grandpa, you have a lot of cotton at home."

"We applied a lot of fertilizer this year. If things don't go well, we'll be left with nothing." Grandpa sighed. "The cotton price is too low. I don't know if it will go up by the end of the year."

He needs money urgently, otherwise he wouldn't be willing to sell it now.

Farmers sometimes sell their crops based on when they need the money, and not everyone has the confidence to wait for prices to rise.

"Damn it, I sold it for 3.6 yuan last year." When talking about the price of cotton, Qin's father also started cursing.

"My family sold it for 3.7 yuan last year." The two of them were chatting about the same topic and became excited.

Qin Dahe started to weigh himself, and wrote down the weight every time for the other party to see.

I was busy all the time, but I didn't see my dad helping me.

"A total of 3111 kilograms, yuan. Grandpa, let's go over the bill."

"Okay." Grandpa followed him and counted the money with a reluctant look.

Qin Dahe counted it once, and Grandpa counted it twice to confirm that it was correct.

"Dad, I'll leave it to you. I'll go to the front and continue collecting."

"Go ahead." Qin's father waved his hand and told him to go collect cotton. He would finish the work here in a short while.

Each bag weighs 80 kilograms. The boat is parked on the river bank a few steps away, and it is easy to carry it by one person.

Today's goal is to fill up the boat. We have dry food on board, so there is no time to waste.

Now there is not much cotton in each household, and you can’t expect to buy enough without visiting five or six households.

It is quite rare to see boats collecting cotton in Xiaoguowei. People come to ask about it from time to time, and then run to the end of the village for another order.

The eldest son of my uncle lived here. Qin Dahe went up and saw him and called out "Uncle".

Just like my second uncle in the village, although he is my mother’s cousin, I still have to call him uncle.

When I was using the cotton fork, my uncle also came over to watch and wanted to learn.

"Uncle, the warehouse hasn't started harvesting cotton yet?" Qin Dahe asked with a smile.

Logically, a large factory like Cangtou should have produced the first batch of cotton spindles long ago. How can they not use the millions of cash in their accounts?
"They said there's little cotton, so they'll let half the trucks start harvesting first," my uncle said with a bitter face. "It's decided by lottery. My family won't start harvesting cotton until after the 15th." "What a shame," Qin Dahe shook his head. He agreed on the price of cotton with the host family and started calling his father.

"Xiangzi, your family has become rich. Now they have invested in a cotton factory." The cotton seller smiled and helped to open the cotton piles.

Having said that, anyone with a discerning eye could see the gloating on his face.

"Daha, you are busy. I am going back." My uncle's face turned black and he went straight home.

Qin Dahe didn't take it seriously. He watched his uncle leave and took out a black pine and gave it to the host.

When people receive a cigarette that costs one dollar, they speak more politely.

After finishing his cigarette, he called his father before he came over.

Who knew that only half of the goods were moved over there, Ce, what were you doing taking so long?
I was a little speechless and waited for about ten minutes before someone came over.

Since there were outsiders present, he didn't say anything, and the father and son began to load the cotton and weigh it.

They didn't have much goods, just about 700 kilograms, and they were finished quickly.

When moving the goods, Qin Dahe deliberately placed it in the last cabin, next to the driving seat.

After saying hello to everyone, the father and son boarded the boat. It was already half past eleven, so they decided to eat something before calling again.

"Dad, work faster. We almost delayed things just now. This is a business." Qin Dahe started to complain when he saw that there was no one around.

"I know. I just met an acquaintance and had a quick chat with him." The old man said nonchalantly.

The dry food was just cold steamed buns with some salty beans, and each person had a bottle of beer, so it tasted quite good.

After eating and drinking, Qin Dahe set off first, and Qin's father followed behind, ready to pick up the goods at any time.

Because large ships consume a lot of fuel when moving after loading, if you run back and forth to collect cargo, you will have to spend a lot of fuel every day.

It wasn't until Panggezhuang that I finally found someone selling cotton. It's really hard to harvest cotton now.

There are quite a lot of people asking about the price, but it’s fucked up that everyone is waiting for the price to go up.

Director Li has studied the market and thinks that a price increase of only one cent by the end of the year would be a big deal.

This is still uncertain, because as production capacity increases and cotton spindles fall in price, the guide price of cotton will also fall.

"Auntie, I'll take yours first. My dad will be here soon. There's no rush." Qin Dahe smiled and started to pick up the cotton.

Qin Dahe sent a black pine tree to the store next door, and the customer was willing to wait. Selling cotton didn't cost them a few minutes.

This time, Qin's father came much faster and helped load the cotton as soon as he got ashore.

Seeing the snow-white cotton, the father and son looked at each other and nodded slightly.

After drying, this cotton can barely reach the level of first-class cotton, and the same goes for the 700 kilograms that Qin Dahe packed separately in front.

Don’t sell these cottons after you collect them. Dry them in the sun for a while, mix them with some of the best cotton at home, and send them to the cotton-making factory for at least three yuan and seventy-eight yuan.

Of course, you can also mix in some inferior cotton at home. After all, you can make more money with good second-grade cotton at the same price.

For top-grade second-class cotton like this, if you harvest 1,400 to 1,500 kilograms a day, you can earn at least 600 to 700 yuan, which is an extra gain in the cotton harvesting process.

The father and son began to weigh and calculate the weight in silence, and then put it together with the 700 pounds in front.

After a while, we started to collect cotton from another company. The quality of this company was a little worse, but it was also within the range of second-grade cotton.

The humidity and other things are fine as long as they are about the same, and there is no need to be so particular about collecting the cotton.

Although the father and son had not done these jobs in previous years, they did them like veterans.

The two families together weighed 1,400 kilograms. After the host family left, Qin's father wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at his son.

"Are you still going to collect?" We've already harvested 3,000 kilograms today, and there are still about 1,400 kilograms of good cotton left. The profit is amazing.

"Keep collecting. Each boat should hold at least five or six thousand kilograms."

"Xinba asked you to collect so much?"

"According to the quota, our family harvests 20,000 kilograms of cotton a week. I have to finish the harvest early so I can catch some big crucian carp."

Yanyan's belly is already very big, and the due date is around mid-to-end of November. There is no sign of the big crucian carp, and my mother complains to him every day.

There's usually no place to buy this thing, so I bought two big ones from my second uncle last night.

First collect this week's quota, then find someone to go fishing with.

The fruits in the field have not been picked yet, but this is Dad's job, he can help when he is free.

Lighting a cigarette, I sat happily on the spliced boat and smoked. The autumn breeze blowing on my face was extremely comfortable.

Shouting all the way, after harvesting another 800 kilograms of cotton in Panggezhuang, they started to head towards Huwan.

This is a big bay where water systems converge, similar to the small estuary where I fished for silver carp and bighead carp last time.

At first glance, he saw that it was a maze and lost the fun of exploring.

It was already half past three. After thinking about it, he called his son and asked him to go and get the sheep. They had agreed to roast the sheep today, and they probably had killed the sheep by now.

I harvested a final wave of cotton and sold it, then went home for dinner.

About four or five thousand kilograms will be enough.

I didn’t expect that there were so many people selling cotton in Huwan, and there were people selling cotton at Hukou.

Qin Dahe asked his father to come over and prepare to leave after collecting all the money from this family.

I didn’t expect that the neighbors were also selling it, that’s even better, since the big ship can fit it anyway.

The father and son were full of energy at the thought of receiving five or six thousand kilograms of cotton today.

He was very efficient in loading the cotton. Although it was already past the Mid-Autumn Festival, he was still sweating a lot.

Most of the 20,000 yuan in cash I brought with me was spent, and the boat full of cotton was a pleasure to look at.

The two men had happy smiles on their faces. After finishing the work at both houses, they lit a cigarette and sat at the bow of the boat to take a breath.

Although there were only 5,600 kilograms of cotton, it was indeed troublesome to run back and forth, and it was more tiring than harvesting 10,000 kilograms of grain.

"Twenty thousand kilograms of cotton. Judging from our progress, we can finish it in three days." Qin's father said with a smile.

"Next week, it'll take less than three days. The further we go, the faster we'll collect. The cotton sales team hasn't arrived yet."

It’s just the beginning now. Those who sell cotton are all from families that are short of money.

Once these people confirm that the cotton price is stable and can be sold in large quantities, they can collect 10,000 kilograms a day as long as it can be stored.

Unfortunately, the flower-making factory gives their drivers a quota, which is really fucked up.

After finishing a cigarette, he moved the small sampan directly to the bow of the big ship, and then returned to the flower-making factory in Xinba.

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(End of this chapter)