1983 Small Island, Starting From a Large Farmer

Its daybreak.

 The work of collecting kelp is still going on. Every villager who participated in collecting kelp last night had exhaustion written all over their face.

 Many people’s hair is wet, either from sea water or sweat.

Each of the villagers on the sampan boat also wore special skirts made of fertilizer bags so that when pulling the kelp, the whole body would not get wet with the kelp.

 You can work until the end.

 The lower body is still wet.

 Fortunately, it is already June, the weather is not that cold, and everyone can hold on.

Although everyone was very tired, as the glow appeared in the east, the farmers finally felt relieved.

The sky is blue, with only a few small white clouds floating in the sky. It is very rare for a northeasterly wind to blow in summer.

 But because it is relatively dry there and the moisture carried by the wind is not that great, it should be sunny in the next few days.

Li Duoyu was so tired that he lay down on his fishing boat with a cigarette in his mouth and looked at the blue sky.

 Also lying beside me were Chen Wenchao, Li Shuguang, and Li Qingguang.

The second uncle and the first uncle stood at the bow of the boat, taking off their water boots and buckling them backwards to dry the water inside.

 Take off your pants, wring them dry with your hands, hang them on the bow of the boat and blow them for a while.

 Everyone worked from 11 o'clock last night to 6 o'clock in the morning, which lasted for seven hours.

The hands are already a little numb from pulling the kelp all the time, especially the arms are particularly sore. It is difficult for these people lying on the deck to even raise their hands.

Li Qingguang curled up into a ball and fell asleep on the spot from exhaustion, but not long after, he jumped up suddenly.

 I took off my pants on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, a slippery gray-white eel came out from his trouser leg. This is a small eel. There are many places near the sea and you can often catch them.

Locals usually coat them in flour and fry them, or braise them.

The second uncle, who was wearing underpants, smoked a dry cigarette and joked: "Qingguang, which one is bigger, this one or yours?"

Li Qingguang, who was not yet eighteen, blushed: "Anyway, mine is definitely bigger than yours."

 “Then let’s compare.”

 “Let’s compare, who is afraid of whom? Mine will definitely be longer than yours.”

Uncle-in-law said with disdain: "The older I get, the more immodest I become. I shrink up like a sea intestine. I can't even urinate half a meter. I still have to compare with young people."

 After hearing the great uncle’s metaphor, everyone couldn’t help laughing.

"Why are you laughing? When you get older, you may be smaller than a seagut, and you will be a sea earthworm until you die."

Last night, Li Duoyu's fishing boat also participated in collecting kelp. His father, Lao Li, was very reluctant to let go and was afraid of getting the fishing boat dirty.

 But time is tight, so Li Duoyu is too lazy to worry about it. Although the boat is very precious, it cannot be provided like his ancestors.

 If it gets dirty, just rinse it.

And last night, this fishing boat made a great contribution. Not only can it pull five or six thousand kilograms of kelp at a time, it can also tow five or six sampans behind it, and it can pull half an acre of kelp in one trip.

 The most important thing is that it is fast.

Li Shuguang’s boat can make one trip, and Li Duoyu’s fishing boat can make two trips.

 But his family has too much kelp. This year, he called on more than 40 people to help collect kelp. After one night, he only collected less than a quarter.

 It would take at least two days, otherwise they would not be able to finish harvesting at all, and while they were taking a break, there were several sampans still collecting kelp in the kelp field.

 Normally, a sampan boat is equipped with three people to collect kelp, but Ersao's boat only has two people.

Li Yaoguo was responsible for sailing the boat and sorting the kelp, while his second sister-in-law kept pulling kelp from the sea to the boat.

Zhu Xiuhua worked vigorously and resolutely as before, and others were pulled on board one by one.

 But she is very strong. A piece of kelp weighing more than 100 kilograms is like carrying a chicken in her hand. When doing hard work, one person can carry three of them.

 The wages for harvesting kelp have increased this year, and Li Duoyu gave everyone two choices.

 One kind of work, no matter how much or how little you do, each person will be paid three yuan a day.

 The other method is to charge by boat. If you salvage the kelp from a sampan boat and hang it on a bamboo frame, it costs 60 cents.

 Second sister-in-law thought about it for a while and felt that it was not cost-effective to charge per person, so she chose the per-boat fee. From last night to now, she has made ten ships of kelp and has earned six yuan.

They are pulling the eleventh boat of kelp now. Zhu Xiuhua estimates that if they work for a full day, the couple can earn at least fifteen yuan.

Li Yaoguo, who was so tired that his face turned pale, took a deep breath and said, "Let's take a rest, I can't bear it anymore."

Zhu Xiuhua looked disgusted:

“You are really useless. You have only worked for seven hours and you are tired. How can we make money like you?”

Li Yaoguo muttered: "Everyone else has three in a boat, but we are only two, so we must be tired."

"If there are three, the money we earn will be divided equally with one more. Of course, two people are better."

The next moment, Zhu Xiuhua suddenly said: "Yao Guo, how about we also raise kelp this year."

Li Yaoguo frowned and said, "Don't you want to raise eels yourself? Why do you want to raise kelp again?"

 “Let’s do it together.”

 Li Yaoguo frowned, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, shook out a cigarette, then struck a match and started smoking.

“We have just invested in a big fishing boat, how can we still have the money for these things?”

Zhu Xiuhua, who was still pulling kelp, said: "Don't you have a female classmate, Gao Jing, who works at a credit union in the town? We can ask her for a loan."

Li Yaoguo was stunned. His wife used to get angry when she heard about Gao Jing, but now she was actually willing to let him take the initiative to find her.

“Loans are different now. They carry interest, and you have to pay them back after maturity.”

Zhu Xiuhua then said: "Yaoguo, how much money do you think Duoyu made from kelp this year?"

 “At least twenty thousand.”

Zhu Xiuhua also envied Li Duoyu for being able to earn so much kelp and make so much money, but in this matter, she admitted her failure.

 Her brother-in-law had long told them whether they wanted to plant kelp together. She had to use the money to invest in abalone.

Zhu Xiuhua said regretfully: "Last year, I was fooled by lard and deceived by the Wang brothers into investing in abalone. I think we can't miss it again this year. Even if we get a loan, we have to raise kelp."

Li Yaoguo, who was a little annoyed, said, "Let's talk about it when the time comes."

Seeing Li Yaoguo's impatient look, Zhu Xiuhua felt aggrieved instantly: "You can't say it every time, you are an accountant, you have to plan well, otherwise our family will never be able to hold its head high and we will always be the poorest. that one."

“Look at Duoyu. In less than two years, it has completely turned around. Now it has earned at least 30,000 to 40,000 yuan.”

“There is also Shuihuajia. Her husband owns two boats and can afford to pay the fine for three births. Even if he doesn’t have many fish and money, there will definitely not be much difference.”

“The eldest brother and sister-in-law can invest five thousand in a big boat at a time. There is also a house in the city. One is the workshop director and the other is in charge of finance. They will definitely develop well in the future.”

“There’s no need to talk about Xiaorong, he’s a doctor from a big hospital. Maybe he can find a second-generation doctor, who can turn a sparrow into a phoenix.”

“But our family is so poor that we don’t even have a thousand yuan. If you don’t think about yourself, you have to think about Haoran.”

 Seeing Zhu Xiuhua starting to think about it, Li Yaoguo frowned: "Don't worry, let's just follow Xiao Chao's example. As long as we follow Duoyu and don't use any crooked ideas, sooner or later, we will get up."

Zhu Xiuhua sneered and said:

"How is it possible? Your brother is just a stingy man. How can he help us?"

Zhu Xiuhua suddenly whispered: "Two days ago, the big boss of that company contacted me and said that when the time comes, he will open an eel farming factory with us in the next town."

Li Yaoguo said speechlessly: "How can you cooperate with others to raise eels when you only have half a bucket of water yourself?"

“I’m not the only one. The big boss also invited several experts from the Ludao Fisheries Research Institute. If we work together, I won’t be able to support him.”

 “When the time comes, you have to come with me, you know.”

 Li Yaoguo did not agree.

 Because he always felt that something was strange. The most important thing was that Duoyu's attitude was a bit strange. Logically speaking, his wife had stolen his technology and cooperated with others.

According to Duoyu's character, he would definitely fall out with her, but he didn't seem to care at all.

"Xiuhua, if you want to raise kelp, I can go find my classmate and let's not touch the matter of raising eels. It's really difficult. Didn't you see that there are so many fish in the days when it rains? I also stay at the eel pond every day.”

“No, I have already agreed with others on this matter. Anyway, we will just come up with a technology and there will be no loss.”

Li Yaoguo really wanted to scold her: You are so unskilled, but if you scolded her like that on the boat, she might really slap her into the sea.

He smoked the remaining cigarette in one breath and couldn't help but sigh. He just wanted to live an ordinary life, why was it so difficult? (End of chapter)