Chapter 188: Telephone
Chapter 188: Telephone
Jiang Dong took the documents and gave them a quick glance, his eyes widening in surprise, "So many?"
Jiang Xia explained the details and then presented all the customs declarations, auction records, tax receipts, and other documents related to the pearls to her father for inspection, asking, "Dad, take a look."
Zhang Rong was very reliable, and she had provided all the necessary documents.
Jiang Dong carefully examined the documents and then handed them back to Jiang Xia with a smile, "Not bad, you're becoming a little rich lady. You have more money than your parents. If the pearls are of good quality, you can even sell them at international auctions. This price isn't exceptionally high; it's quite normal."
Jiang Xia smiled and then brought up the topic of booking a ship.
The ship had a significant discount, so she wanted to inform her father. Although the discount was obtained by Zhou Chenglei and her through their own abilities, the shipyard staff didn't even know who her father was.
Listening to his daughter's detailed explanation, Jiang Dong felt both touched and relieved. He couldn't help but blink and glance out the car window, discreetly wiping his eyes.
His daughter had become more considerate after getting married, always thinking of her elderly father and being extra cautious in her actions.
Seeing this, Jiang Xia turned to fetch the banner and handed it to her father.
Jiang Dong raised his eyebrows, taking the banner and asking with a smile, "Where did this banner come from? Is it from Alei?"
The restaurant was not far from the city center, and they arrived quickly. Jiang Dong felt like he hadn't had much time to talk with his daughter, and there were still many questions he wanted to ask.
With so many people at the dinner, it wasn't convenient to have an in-depth conversation. Jiang Dong only asked about when the large ship was received and when Zhou Chenglei would return.
The meal didn't last long, and it was over in less than an hour.
Then, Zhang Rui drove the jeep and sent Jiang Xia and the others back to the village.
For the next two days, Jiang Xia spent her mornings translating at home, her afternoons making fish fry, and her evenings learning to weave fishing nets.
Zhang Fuyan sent her a substantial amount of oil coupons, and Marquis even personally came to the village to deliver oil coupons, asking her to ensure she had a sufficient stock of fish fry before the Mid-Autumn Festival. He would come daily with his tractor to collect them.
Jiang Xia announced that she would buy a large quantity of fish fry and dried fish, and many villagers took the opportunity to catch and sell them to her.
Zhou Bingqiang's family temporarily stopped purchasing dried fish as they were overwhelmed and making losses. They didn't have enough oil coupons to buy oil to continue production.
Moreover, drying fish was capital-intensive, and they had already spent several thousand on renting the sea area. They also needed to buy materials for the fish cages and construct the net panels, which required additional funds. Building a house was another significant expense.
In short, they were running out of money, and their savings were depleted!
With three fishing boats going out to sea, their daily earnings of three to four hundred yuan were insufficient. Zhou Guohua's two older brothers started to voice their concerns.
Zhou Bingqiang had no choice but to temporarily stop purchasing dried fish and focus on fishing with his three sons.
He even considered selling the dried fish to Jiang Xia's family but felt too embarrassed to do so! Recently, more people had been selling dried fish and fish fry to Great-Grandmother's house.
Jiang Xia didn't bother with these matters. She focused on buying dried fish and fish fry, and both Great-Grandmother and He Xinghuan were busy handling the sales. When they needed help, Zhou Mu would assist.
However, Zhou Mu also had limited free time. She had to work on the pearl oyster larva attachment device and net panels as Jiang Xia had instructed.
These tasks could only be done by her and Tea Caihua, as they couldn't let others know about it.
After staying at home for two days, Jiang Xia went out to sea every day to check on the pearl oysters.
Some of the pearl oysters that had been harvested and returned to the sea for cultivation died each day. After five consecutive days at sea, she was relieved to find no dead pearl oysters on that day.
Jiang Fu calculated, "About fifty percent of them survived, and most of the oysters that survived were the ones Xia opened."
The Prosperous Little Expert truly lived up to her name. Jiang Fu even considered having Jiang Xia open all the pearls in the future, as the others seemed to bring bad luck! One by one, they were all unlucky!
Zhou Chengxin sighed, "The survival rate is too low!"
Jiang Xia smiled, "It's not that low. After all, this is our first attempt, and the survival rate will only increase in the future."
Jiang Xia heard that after nucleation, the mortality rate of pearl oysters increases significantly, reaching over 70%. In any case, they are difficult to raise!
Zhou Fu laughed, "Exactly!"
He loved the attitude of Prosperous Little Expert.
Zhou Chengxin smiled as well.
Regardless, now that they are alive, it proves that Jiang Xia's words were right.
From now on, as long as they are careful when extracting the pearls, allowing the oysters to live, they will continuously produce pearls.
Tea Caihua also went out to sea today. She was delighted, thinking that with a continuous supply of pearls to sell, they would become wealthy.
She asked Jiang Xia, "Xia Xia, now that the pearl oysters are alive, is it time to start nucleation?"
Jiang Xia replied, "Not so fast. Let's wait until we have more pearl oysters before nucleation. Once we start, some will likely die, and we won't have many left. It's better to wait until more pearl oysters are born, and then try nucleation. It's not the peak breeding season for pearl oysters yet; next year's April and May are the peak months. We'll see if we can raise more pearl oysters then."
Zhou Chengxin now spends time every day diving to the seabed to check on the growth of the pearl oysters. He also needs to place the pearl oysters on the net grids prepared by Jiang Mu and Tea Caihua and sometimes install the pearl oyster larva attachment devices.
Anyway, he has to dive for about two hours every day, releasing fish, tending to the pearl oysters, and doing all this without being seen by others, as they don't want people to discover the location of their fish cages.
Although their fish cages are placed at a considerable depth, making it challenging for ordinary people to dive that deep, it's still better to be cautious.
Currently, the fish are thriving, the pearl oysters are alive, and the whole family is filled with hope.
Tea Caihua happily said, "Alright, then I'll go back and grind more small round cores!"
Zhou Fu said, "You should weave more nets instead! We'll need a lot of hanging nets later."
He didn't trust Tea Caihua to grind the small round cores, as they were the crucial elements that determined whether the pearl oysters could produce pearls and what kind of pearls they would be.
Tea Caihua, that unlucky little expert, what good pearls could she possibly grind out?
It would be better if no pearls were produced at all, rather than having them all die!
Zhou Fu had become wary of her.
He intentionally marked the pearl oysters she had touched, and those were the ones that died the most.
So, not every task was suitable for Tea Caihua.
Tea Caihua was unaware of Zhou Fu's silent criticism and happily agreed, "That's fine too!"
After finishing these tasks, they continued sailing and trawling.
After sailing for a while, Zhou Fu spotted Zhou Bingqiang's fishing boat in the distance, releasing fish cages.
Jiang Xia glanced at it, noticing that their fish cage was smaller than theirs.
However, Zhou Bingqiang's boat was not large enough to carry bigger fish cages out to sea.
Zhou Fu didn't feel like going over to take a look; instead, he hurriedly sailed away.
They had trawled four nets in total that day, most of which were mackerel and red spruce fish, totaling over a thousand pounds. The red spruce fish would be dried and not sold, and the remaining mackerel should fetch around five to six hundred.
Upon returning to the pier, Jiang Xia heard the radio warning about a typhoon approaching in the next couple of days and advising everyone to avoid going out to sea, especially to distant waters.
The family's first thought was whether Zhou Chenglei had received the news and started his return journey.
He should be on his way back, right? After all, it's almost Mid-Autumn Festival in a couple of days. Jiang Xia, feeling distracted, disembarked from the fishing boat, and at that moment, Zhou Li rushed over, "Xia Xia, your mother called several times looking for you today. Go and call her back quickly!"
Thanks to all the readers who voted and rewarded!
A gentle reminder: Be cautious when receiving calls from unknown numbers, and it's best to cover the front-facing camera.
Yesterday, a family member of mine received a call from an unknown number, and as soon as they answered, the front-facing camera turned on, pointing at their face. They were so startled that they immediately hung up and even turned off the internet!
I checked the call record later, and it showed it was a video call. I asked if they noticed it was a video call when they answered, and they said they didn't pay attention.
Please be cautious when receiving calls from unknown numbers!
(End of Chapter)
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