Chapter 214: A Small Step Towards Success
Chapter 214: A Small Step Towards Success
The boat soon arrived near Zhou Bingqiang's fishing boat, and Zhou Chengxin didn't stop, only slowing down a little to allow his father to show off.
Zhou Fu loudly greeted Zhou Bingqiang, "Bingqiang, what a coincidence! Is your fish cage okay?"
Zhou Bingqiang's face darkened at the sight of Zhou Yongfu's fishing boat.
But with his son already underwater inspecting the cage, he couldn't just leave with the boat.
Zhou Bingqiang replied irritably, "I don't know, what about yours?"
Zhou Fu: "I haven't checked mine yet. I was planning to go and see it early this morning, but I encountered a school of fish, so I decided to cast a net first."
Zhou Bingqiang also saw a boat full of Huang Jiaoli.
With his experience, he knew this catch could sell for at least five to six hundred.
They had also cast two nets that morning, both filled with cheap miscellaneous fish, which together could only fetch a dozen yuan.
Their luck was far worse than on a regular day!
This was after the typhoon, when there should be more fish.
Zhou Bingqiang had never experienced such a poor catch after a typhoon.
On other occasions after a typhoon, he would earn two to three hundred, or even four to five hundred.
Zhou Bingqiang really started to suspect that his complaint about Jiang Xia's father might have brought him bad luck.
He couldn't help but be superstitious, and Jiang Xia's words felt like a thorn in his heart.
Zhou Fu's show-off mission accomplished, he laughed and said, "I'm off! I need to go check on my fish cage too!"
Hearing this, Zhou Chengxin sped up and sailed away; they had a lot to do today.
As soon as the Zhou family's boat left, Zhou Guohua emerged from the water, looking dejected, and said, "Dad! Our fish cage is gone! We can't even find a trace of it!"
Zhou Bingqiang couldn't help but close his eyes in despair!
It was all gone! All the investment had gone down the drain!
Sure enough, doing bad deeds brings bad luck.
After a quarter of an hour, Zhou Chengxin sailed the boat to where they had set up the fish cage.
Zhou Chenglei and Zhou Chengxin put on their diving gear and went underwater.
It was already noon, and Jiang Xia followed them into the water, as she hadn't been underwater for a while.
As soon as the three of them submerged, they saw the fish cage lying calmly on the seabed, not a single one missing.
Although the wind and waves were still quite strong out at sea, the waves in this area were much calmer, and underwater, they couldn't even feel the water moving.
The three of them swam over.
Jiang Xia noticed that after being in the seabed for a while, some things had attached themselves to the fishing net.
But it wasn't a problem; having things attached could provide food for the fish.
The fish inside the cage were swimming leisurely.
With no dead fish in sight, Jiang Xia felt relieved.
Jiang Xia took a closer look and found that many of the fish had grown significantly in size.
Zhou Chengxin threw the small fish and shrimp he had brought into the cage.
The fish quickly swam over to feed.
Although the holes in the cage were relatively large, allowing small fish, shrimp, and some plankton to swim through, the number of fish and shrimp that passed through daily was limited. Therefore, to ensure the fish grew faster, feeding them daily or every one or two days was necessary.
After checking the fish cage, Jiang Xia went to inspect the nets used for pearl farming, which were also lined up in rows in the seawater.
Jiang Xia took a look at the pearl oyster larva attachment device.
This device was made based on what she had seen in her previous life.
Pearl oysters spawn larvae that need to attach to a surface to survive.
Usually, pearl oysters spawn in the sea, and the larvae they release attach to fish gills or other surfaces, growing naturally until they reach a certain size and then detach.
Jiang Xia specifically instructed Jiang Mu to make some larval attachment nets to collect pearl oyster larvae.
Now, she saw that there were already one or two tiny black pearl oyster larvae on these nets, very small, only the size of rice grains.
There were one or two on each net, and some even had three or four.
Although there weren't many, it still proved that collecting pearl oyster larvae in this manner had some small effect.
Jiang Xia waved to Zhou Chengxin and Zhou Chenglei.
The two quickly swam over.
Jiang Xia then pointed to the tiny pearl oysters above.
Zhou Chengxin widened his eyes and looked again and again!
Then he examined each attachment device one by one and found that there were one or two on each, and there were three or four on two or three of the nets.
They varied in size, but they were all small, and the largest wasn't even as big as a peanut.
Seeing that Zhou Chengxin was observing carefully, Jiang Xia gestured to Zhou Chenglei to swim to the surface, indicating that she wanted to go up.
Zhou Chenglei accompanied Jiang Xia to the surface and then helped her climb onto the boat.
After that, he climbed aboard himself.
Jiang Xia removed her diving gear, and Zhou Father eagerly asked, "How is it? Is the fish cage still there, and are the fish okay?"
Jiang Xia laughed, "The fish cage and the fish are fine, and those fish have even grown a bit."
Zhou Father smiled, "I knew it would be fine!"
Zhou Chengxin soon climbed onto the boat as well, and he eagerly removed his diving gear and asked, "Xia Xia, were those just now the larvae of pearl oysters?"
Jiang Xia smiled, "Yes!"
Zhou Father was thrilled when he heard this, "You really collected pearl oyster larvae?"
Zhou Chengxin smiled, "Yes, they've grown to the size of rice grains. There are one or two on each net, and I counted a total of twenty-six! If it weren't for Xia Xia's careful observation, I wouldn't have known."
"Haha! Great! Although there are only twenty-six, there will be more and more in the future. Didn't Xia Xia say that May and June are the peak season for pearl oysters to spawn?"
Jiang Xia laughed, "Let's take them out in a couple of days and put them in the net to raise them, so they don't fall off and get lost."
Twenty-six was indeed a small number, but since the pearl oysters spawned directly in the sea, the seawater could potentially wash their eggs to any place. Being able to catch twenty-six was already considered a lot.
Currently, they lacked experience and knowledge, and even Jiang Xia, who had some experience, relied on everyone's imagination to come up with this method. They all approached it with a trial mindset, and collecting twenty-six was considered a small success!
Zhou Mu was also delighted, "Then I'll make more of these attachment devices, and we'll put more of them into the sea."
Zhou Chenglei looked at this stretch of sea, and if they were to truly mass-produce pearls in the future, they would need someone to guard them.
Otherwise, if they were stolen, it would be a huge loss.
However, there was no rush now, as they had just started, and no one knew they were raising pearls.
Even if the villagers knew they were raising fish, those with boats wouldn't waste their time coming to steal fish; wouldn't it be more efficient to just drag a net than to steal?
Those without boats couldn't even venture out to sea.
So it was still very safe, especially before their fish grew and they started selling them.
After checking that the fish cage on this side was fine, Zhou Father started the boat and headed towards Coral Island, while Jiang Xia and Zhou Chenglei went to set the nets and dragged a net along the way.
After sailing for over an hour, they were almost at Coral Island, and the father and sons began to haul in the net.
Although this net hadn't been set as long as the one in the morning, it was much heavier.
Received everyone's blessings! Thank you! Love you all~
(End of Chapter)
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