Reborn in 1981: My Life as a Fisherman

Shi Hailong lowered his head and swept the contents into the bamboo basket.

A few small sand crabs, and some bitter snails.

As expected, they're all worthless. The valuable ones will definitely be sold, even though they're very cheap.

Most of them cost a few cents per pound, and very few good ones can sell for a few cents or a dollar.

But it only costs a few cents per pound, and if you go too late, there's nothing left to pick up.

There are so many people gathering seafood at the beach that you can find almost anything that's gone, even if it's only a penny a pound.

However, there's not much to collect during a slack tide, unless it's a high tide when the tide recedes far.

Only then can you find good things.

Shi Hailan took the bamboo basket and went to deal with it.

Shi's mother also took off her hat and headscarf and asked Shi Hailong if he still had a fever.

Seeing that Shi Hailong said he was fine and had recovered, Shi's mother reminded him that he must continue taking the medicine.

I changed my shoes and went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables.

Because the household responsibility system is still under discussion and has not been finalized, the matter is still being addressed in meetings.

So, nothing much has happened these days.

They were busy going to the beach, tending the vegetable garden, and working in the mountains.

Shi Hailong also stopped being a patient and went to help his older sister clean seafood.

However, as soon as Shi Hailong arrived at the stream, he saw that his elder sister had fallen into the bitter snails in the bamboo basket.

A small abalone seedling was mixed in.

The eldest sister casually picked them out and threw them into the bamboo basket.

Shi Hailong squatted down, reached out and picked it up, then looked at it in his hand.

The older sister glanced at it and said, "It's dead, we can't eat it. We'll smash it up and feed it to the ducks later."

Indeed, it had died and spoiled, and it wasn't very big, only slightly larger than a thumbnail.

Even if it's alive, it's worthless.

Finding this thing while beachcombing is quite rare.

However, seeing the baby abalone touched Shi Hailong's heart, and he seemed to know how to earn his first pot of gold in a reasonable way.

He knew a place where there were lots of large abalone.

It was a place that had never been found or looted by the production team's diving team.

Yes, the production team had a diving team, and it had existed for many years, specializing in searching for valuable items like abalone and sea cucumbers.

As a result, abalone is now on the verge of extinction.

Even research and experiments on artificial breeding had already begun in this era.

Because this is used to exchange foreign currency, its price increases year after year.

Of course, once it's widely cultivated artificially in the future, it won't be worth much.

Artificial breeding technology did not mature and scale up until the late 1990s.

In the early 1990s, wild abalone, specifically five-headed abalone, was priced at 1,200 yuan per catty.

That means five of them would sell for 1,200 yuan.

Shi Hailong's memory is clear because it was in the early 1990s.

I unexpectedly discovered a place where I found several abalone.

At this time of year, even the lowest price for abalone (five-headed abalone) is seven or eight hundred yuan per catty (500 grams).

The minimum purchase price is three or four hundred...

It's truly comparable to gold; if you manage to grab a few, you'll immediately become rich.

Of course, the chances of finding a five-headed abalone during this period are almost nonexistent.

They were driven to extinction long ago.

Unless it's small abalone, with dozens per pound.

This thing is rare to begin with.

Therefore, it is not without reason that abalone, shark fin, and bird's nest have been considered luxury items since ancient times.

This creature is too rare, grows too slowly, and is difficult to catch.

The coastal fishing production teams have been in a state of flux in recent years in order to earn foreign exchange.

However, after a brief moment of joy, Shi Hailong's headache returned: he had no boat and no diving equipment.

I wonder if the production team's diving equipment has been contracted out to someone else.

I don't think I ever heard of anyone contracting diving equipment in my past life.

That's true, there's no abalone left to catch.

Moreover, diving is too risky.

During the production team era, it is said that four or five members of the diving team were lost.

Another issue is that the production team's diving equipment is too outdated, consisting of a manual hand-cranked air blower.

The helmet weighed several dozen kilograms, and it was unclear whether the rubber hoses were worn out.

And there were lead weights for waist support...

Shi Hailong subconsciously got up and began to stare blankly again.

He was considering whether to talk to the team about contracting the diving equipment.

Therefore, it would certainly require a large rowing boat, or even a large sailing ship.

Of course, he couldn't be alone; he would have to bring along several veteran divers.

The key question is whether the brigade headquarters is willing to contract the project to him.

The possibility is very low. As I said before, my voice carries little weight.

It's almost certain that Shi's father will go, but it's nearly impossible for a young man like him to go.

As for having the father take over the contract, that's also highly unlikely.

My father is no longer part of the diving team.

My major doesn't match my job.

At this moment, Shi Hailong felt a sense of helplessness, knowing where the treasure mountain was but having no way to bring it back.

The path of selling abalone is more stable than any of the paths I had previously considered, and it won't cause any trouble.

Even people from supply and marketing cooperatives and aquatic product companies would thank him.

But after much deliberation, Shi Hailong still didn't act rashly and went to the brigade headquarters.

Because it's not something you can just try and expect to succeed.

He's too young; the officers at the brigade headquarters wouldn't let him take on the most dangerous tasks.

Also, it's uncertain whether those diving equipment will even work.

But Shi Hailong thought about it and realized that all he needed was a boat and an eye mask.

Maybe that will work!

That place was a submerged reef, not very obvious, and the rocks were very low.

It's hard to spot without going into the water.

In his past life, he also discovered it by accident when he went into the water to untangle the net that was hanging there.

Of course, the abalone in that area was also completely sold out by the boat captain's men.

He only got a few.

However, given his current physical condition, diving to a depth of about ten meters would be suicidal.

The ocean is not a swimming pool; the underwater currents are very complex.

Without professional equipment, it's tantamount to playing with your life.

"well……"

With a subconscious sigh, Shi Hailong felt that it was really too difficult to do anything right now.

Even though he knew that cage nets were not yet widely used.

He could gain an advantage, but the cost of the fish trap netting was beyond his current means.

These days, nothing is cheap.

Of course, he could improve the bamboo woven rolling basket, but bamboo woven rolling baskets are also not cheap.

Needless to say, his parents wouldn't give him money to waste.

Household expenses are also high, with three children still in school, and there are kerosene, matches, oil, salt, and other necessities.

Including food, clothing, and other necessities, these are all daily expenses.

There are electric lights, but the power goes out every few days.

And even so, we still have to share the electricity costs.

It all boils down to one word: poor!

It's incredibly difficult for the poor to turn their lives around!

Shi Hailan looked up at her second brother again and asked, "Why are you sighing like that?"

It feels old-fashioned...

I need to get myself well these next couple of days, because it'll be time to harvest the sweet potatoes soon.

Father and Haifeng will probably be boarding the ship in the next couple of days…

Shi Hailong chuckled, "Sister, everyone in the village calls it sweet potato, but we call it yam."

Shi Hailan smiled and said, "Some people call it sweet potato, but our family isn't from around here."

My mother told me that we came from Shanghai and Zhejiang.

My ancestors were from Shandong.

Shi Hailong squatted down again, helping out as he said, "Most of the ancestors of Fujian were from the north."

When I was a child, I listened to a mad monk tell stories about ten surnames entering Fujian.

The mad monk is dead; he died eight years ago in a dilapidated temple in the mountains.

When Shi Hailong was a child, his favorite thing to do was to cool off on summer nights.

Listen to the mad monk tell stories with the children in the village.

That temple, it is said, was originally very good, but was later destroyed.

Actually, that wasn't a temple, it was a Taoist temple...

The mad monk was neither a monk nor a Taoist priest, and no one knew his origins.

However, after liberation, he lived in an empty temple, and he was always acting crazy and unserious.

That's why everyone calls him the mad monk.

In fact, everyone knows that the mad monk is not mad at all; on the contrary, he is very knowledgeable...

At noon, my father, my eldest brother, and my two younger sisters also returned.

After dinner, Shi Hailong chatted and drank tea with his father and elder brother under the ancient banyan tree.

He didn't mention anything about contracting diving equipment.

Shi Hailong wouldn't waste his breath on unrealistic things.

At his age, if he wants to get into scuba diving, his parents will be the first hurdle to overcome.

He wouldn't let anyone else take the lead, so it's better not to do it at all and just let others take advantage of it.

If we give him a few dollars then, he'll be furious.

He is a soul weathered by time, not just an eighteen-year-old on the surface.

Seek stability in all matters, and plan carefully before acting...