1983 Small Island, Starting From a Large Farmer

Li Duoyu stepped on the mud horse and went down to the tidal flat.

Mud horses are also called "sea bicycles". On Dandan Island, anyone who makes a living on the tidal flats usually has one at home.

Because his family cultivates oysters, the mud horse is bigger than others. It looks like a small boat, and has two or three compartments for loading seafood and transporting things.

It has been too long since he used this thing. Even at his age, Li Duoyu was sweating when he slid the mud horse to the oyster cultivation site.

In the 1980s, the cultivation technology of oysters was still very backward. There were two methods: stone throwing and pillar erection.

The stone throwing method is to fix the oyster seedlings on the stones with cement, and then throw them into the sea and let them grow on their own.

This cultivation method is more Buddhist, but the rate of bad seedlings is high, and once the mud covers the stones and oysters, they will be wiped out.

The pillar method is a popular breeding method nowadays. It evolved from the stone sinking method. Cement pillars are inserted on the beach, and then the seedlings are fixed on the cement pillars.

This breeding method is easier to manage, and oysters are not easily attacked by natural enemies.

Even in later generations, when the breeding technology is very perfect, there are still many old fishermen who use the pillar method to raise oysters.

But there are also many disadvantages. The pillars are inserted on the beach, and the surge of tides often causes the pillars to fall or tilt. At this time, they need to be straightened manually.

After arriving at the oyster breeding site.

Li Duoyu started to work. He first straightened the somewhat crooked cement pillars, caught a snail that was stealing oysters, and threw it on the mud horse.

For oyster farmers, it is not as simple as raising them. They also have to guard against various natural enemies of oysters, such as snails that love to eat oysters the most, and various crabs.

In addition to guarding against natural enemies, they also have to clear out various competitors and parasites, such as mussels that like to compete with oysters for living space and barnacles that like to attach to oyster shells.

In this era, farming is more difficult than fishing, which is why not many people are willing to do farming.

Li Duoyu knocked off some small mussels attached to the stone pillars, and then began to knock oysters.

In this era, since they have not been baptized by biological genetic technology, oysters grow quite casually, and their sizes are not very large, and there is no such thing as diploids and triploids in later generations.

Li Duoyu knocked some larger oysters on a stone pillar, and then moved to the next one and continued to repeat the previous process.

Under the scorching sun.

Li Duoyu was exhausted after knocking off 20 to 30 kilograms.

Old Li, who was watching from the side, was very surprised. He thought that the fourth child would knock randomly and just fill 200 kilograms to get by.

He had thought of the lines and was ready to educate his son and let him give up the idea of ​​raising kelp.

He didn't expect to be more meticulous than him.

Even the details such as supporting the pillars, catching conchs, cleaning barnacles and mussels were done very well.

And the oysters were not knocked randomly, but the big ones were knocked.

This made him swallow the lines he prepared in advance, but after thinking for a long time, he couldn't say a good word:

"You are so slow, when the tide rises later, how can you knock 200 kilograms? You push the cart and I will knock."

Facing Lao Li's "disdain".

Li Duoyu grinned, he knew that this old man was a guy who said one thing and meant another. According to Chen Huiying's words, he wanted to praise you in his heart, but "a dog's mouth can't spit out ivory".

Besides, today is a high tide.

The sea water just receded, how can it rise so quickly.

The father and son went into battle together, and they finished knocking oysters in less than an hour, which was supposed to take two or three hours.

Old Li sat on the bank, rolled a cigarette, and asked, "Do you want one?"

Li Duoyu, who was sweating all over, shook his head and said, "No, Xiaoying is pregnant, it's not good for the baby."

"When did you become so obedient?"

"I was very obedient from the beginning, okay."

Old Li was stunned for a while, but he was very happy in his heart. It seems that the fourth brother has really changed.

I used to worry about him going astray.

Now he suddenly changed his temper and became the most stable among the brothers.

At this moment, Old Li felt that the burden on his shoulders was lightened a little. Next, he should worry about the eldest and the second.

The eldest had a quarrel with the second, and he went to Rongcheng to work. Now he is almost 30 years old and has not found a partner.

Although the second has no money, he can still live a decent life. It's just that this daughter-in-law is like a time bomb, which explodes from time to time, making everyone uncomfortable.

Li Duoyu took a rest.

Looking at the oysters on the mud horse, although he knew the whole set of oyster farming techniques, and even knew the rope hanging method and cage farming method, which could make the current oysters bigger and fatter.

But in the short term, he did not want to engage in oyster farming, because this thing has a long farming cycle, is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and most importantly, lacks preservation methods.

Even if they are raised and fattened, they will eventually have to be dried into oysters, which may not be much more expensive than the current dried oysters.

Seeing that the tide has not risen yet.

Li Duoyu walked towards his mother who was asking for Xiaohai not far away.

There are many small seafood on the mudflats.

All of them are densely packed with holes, there are fiddler crabs holding big claws in front of you, and there are jumping fish that keep jumping in front of you, but you just can't catch them.

There are also various mud snails, mud clams, razor clams, clams, etc.

Li Duoyu came to the place where A Niang asked for Xiaohai. She wore a bamboo hat, carried a bamboo fish basket with a lid, and held a hoe in her right hand.

From this scene, it is clear that they are here to catch the tide-watchers.

The tide-watchers are a small octopus that lives on the mudflats. Their scientific name is Octopus brevis. When the tide recedes, they will curl up in their holes. Once the tide starts to rise, they will crawl out of their holes and shake their tentacles up and down to meet the tide.

Fishermen can use this special habit of tide-watchers to judge the rise and fall of the tide, hence the name "tide-watchers".

The taste of tide-watchers is much better than that of octopus. They are very suitable for blanching. If you dip them in soy sauce and chili water, they taste extremely delicious and fresh.

If I remember correctly, in later times, the price of a tide-watcher can be sold for about 10 yuan. On the mudflats, some old people make money by digging for this.

"Why are you here too?"

Chen Huiying was very surprised when she saw her son.

The women who were begging for small sea fish together also looked over when they saw Li Duoyu.

In this era, there is a division of labor. Men beg for the big sea fish, and women beg for small sea fish. Under normal circumstances, few men will follow women to beg for small sea fish.

Because this will make them feel embarrassed.

Li Duoyu didn't care about these worldly eyes at all. I've lived to the second life, so why would I care about these messy rules.

After walking a few steps, Li Duoyu saw a coin-sized hole next to his feet, which was swallowing and spitting out seawater regularly.

"Mom, give me the hoe quickly."

Chen Huiying looked at Lao Si in confusion. He had never asked for Xiaohai, so how could he know how to catch the tide.

After handing over the hoe, Chen Huiying reminded: "Be careful, don't hit your feet."

"Got it."

Li Duoyu quickly hit the small hole that swallowed and spit out seawater with a hoe. An octopus covered in mud and waving its claws ran out, but it was hit by the hoe and broke one or two legs.

Li Duoyu picked it up and grinned:

"My skills are not bad, it's two taels."

This operation was smooth and made Chen Huiying dumbfounded. What shocked her most was that Lao Si had a very good technique in finding holes.

Every time he dug, he found a spot.