Chapter 478: A Bountiful Harvest
Chapter 478: A Bountiful Harvest
Upon hearing Tian Caihua's words, Jiang Xia smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, do you want to come and work for us? Will you be able to manage it with your busy schedule?"
Tian Caihua immediately replied, "Of course I can manage it! After finishing my daily chores, I don't have much else to do."
Jiang Xia said, "But sister-in-law, you're the supervisor of our aquaculture farm."
Tian Caihua's eyes widened, "Supervisor?"
When did she become a supervisor?
It sounded quite impressive.
"Yes."
"Our farm will sell the high-quality scallops we cultivate to the Aquatic Products Export Company. We need you to oversee the harvesting and sorting of the scallops. Once they grow bigger, you'll also need to help patrol the beach from time to time to prevent theft."
"Apart from scallops, you'll need to supervise the harvesting of other things we cultivate. I'm planning to have you and Mom start hiring people to make hanging nets and collection devices. Sister-in-law, you won't have time to make small fish fry."
Jiang Xia didn't explicitly mention what else they were cultivating, but when she talked about other things and hanging nets, Tian Caihua immediately thought of pearl oysters.
That's right!
She almost forgot that Jiang Xia had mentioned that April and May were the peak breeding seasons for pearl oysters.
The peak breeding season for pearl oysters was approaching, and they needed to prepare the hanging nets and larvae collection devices in advance.
"Why didn't you tell me about such important matters earlier? I really don't have time! I'm not going to fry these small fish fry anymore!"
Jiang Xia also mentioned that the owner of a pearl farming company had sent them several thousand pearl oyster larvae.
In other words, starting this year, their pearl farming venture would immediately welcome several thousand pearl oysters!
Pearl farming was truly lucrative; cultivating a single high-quality pearl could earn as much as a year's worth of wages, or even more!
Why bother frying small fish fry?
Jiang Xia said, "It's not too late to start preparing now. There's still time, and Mom has been free to work on it."
Tian Caihua was no longer preoccupied with the small fish fry business and smiled, "There aren't many days left. I won't say more! I'll go back and start making the hanging nets right away!"
Jiang Xia handed Tian Caihua a hundred yuan, "Sister-in-law, please hire some help! Prepare more, and this is the money to buy the materials."
Tian Caihua happily took the money, "I'll use this money to buy the materials. I don't need to hire anyone for now. I'll try to make as many as I can myself. If it's not enough, I'll hire more people to ensure the task is completed!"
Hiring people costs at least one yuan per day! Without making any profit, she couldn't bear to spend money.
She wouldn't have to spend any money if she did it herself.
"Thank you for your hard work, sister-in-law!"
"It's no trouble! I should do it!" Tian Caihua hurried off.
She was going to town to buy materials to make the hanging nets and larvae collection devices.
Jiang Xia indeed needed Tian Caihua to patrol the beach, check on the scallops' growth, and prepare for the upcoming expansion of the pearl oyster cultivation.
They needed to seize the peak breeding season of pearl oysters and collect more larvae in the ocean.
This required a large number of larvae collection devices and hanging nets for pearl oyster cultivation.
It was also necessary for Zhou Mu and Tian Caihua to do this themselves or hire someone to lead the effort.
Furthermore, when Zhou Fu returned from his distant sea voyage after the Qingming Festival, he would bring the larvae collection devices to the neighboring province's waters to collect and salvage pearl oyster larvae.
Jiang Xia had already asked Jil Duo to purchase several sets of diving equipment at the previous Guangzhou Fair, and he would be coming to Huaguo again during the fair. At that time, he would bring them over.
The next month would be a busy one.
The weather was now warming up, and the pens they had ordered could be installed.
Zhou Chenglei had scheduled the installation with the boss for the end of this month, and the other party would deliver the fish fry at the same time.
There were many things to organize anyway.
Jiang Xia tended the fire while thinking about the tasks ahead.
As for Zhou Chenglei, he returned home, had breakfast, took a shower, and went to bed to catch up on sleep. After staying up all night, he had to continue fishing that evening, so he could only sleep during the day.
Jiang Xia spent the entire morning at the Old Residence, helping to stoke the fire and quickly process this batch of small tube squid. By the afternoon, when Hou Ye arrived, they would be ready for transportation.
There were also thousands of pounds of dried small fish waiting to be fried, and the small food processing workshop had a heavy workload.
However, there were limited stoves, and hiring more people wouldn't help.
It was time to look for a factory space to rent, or if none were available, find a place to build one themselves.
They couldn't continue working at the Old Residence indefinitely.
Additionally, relying solely on manual labor for cooking in small batches was slow and made it challenging to control the heat.
Perhaps Jiang Dong could develop a production line for the dried small fish?
With this thought, Jiang Xia decided to write to Jiang Dong again that evening, explaining her requirements.
Convenience food factories had instant noodle production lines, and instant noodles also required frying. Assembly line production was the future trend.
Jiang Xia was confident that if they could produce instant noodles, they could do the same with her small fish fry. Of course, this was contingent on Jiang Dong being able to develop it according to her specifications.
In the afternoon, Hou Ye arrived.
Jiang Xia presented him with four different flavors of small tube squid to sample.
After tasting them, Hou Ye immediately said, "Make more of the spicy and braised flavors, and you can also increase the sweet and spicy flavor. People here prefer spicy food but can't handle it too hot. The sweet and spicy one is just right, but you can reduce the sweet and sour flavor. Sweet and sour is usually preferred by children, but they also enjoy the braised flavor, which suits all ages. So, make more of the braised flavor."
"Okay!" Jiang Xia agreed.
Hou Ye continued, "Small tube squid is relatively expensive, and not many people are willing to buy it. It definitely won't sell as well as the dried small fish."
Jiang Xia replied, "I know. We can sell them in Beijing, Shanghai, and Sui Cheng. Small tube squid is seasonal, and we won't have this much after these two months."
However, after the boon season for small tube squid, it would be the season for jellyfish, and they could make jellyfish threads, kelp threads, and seaweed products.
There was no need to worry about running out of products to manufacture.
"It will sell better over there. This area is in the boon season for these two months, but other sea areas also have their seasons. Buying and transporting them back here would significantly increase costs. We'll see how sales go and decide from there."
"Yes," Jiang Xia responded.
Hou Ye glanced around the kitchen, noticing its cleanliness. Even the workers preparing the small fish fry were neatly dressed, wearing hats, sleeve covers, and aprons, giving off a very professional vibe. The only drawback was the small space, "No wonder your production is so low. You have too few stoves, and with just a few of you working, have you considered renting a factory space to start a food processing plant?"
Jiang Xia smiled, "We've been thinking about it, but we haven't made enough money to build a factory, and we haven't found any factory spaces for rent."
Hou Ye turned to look at the tall, grandest building in the village and fell silent for a moment.
He had just been inside, and the room full of leather sofas was also worth a considerable amount. Could they really be short on money?
Jiang Xia discussed with Hou Ye, suggesting that he help with purchasing fresh small tube squid at the city wharf and transporting them over, while also taking the previous day's prepared small squid and dried small fish back.
After they reached an agreement, Hou Ye left.
He had to return to the wharf in the evening when many fishing boats would be docking to collect the fish.
This time, Hou Ye left with just over a thousand pounds of small tube squid, purchasing them at the price of two yuan and seventy cents per pound.
Due to the sauce, the weight of the processed small tube squid increased.
After deducting He Xinghuan's share and other costs, including labor, Jiang Xia calculated that she had made around two thousand yuan in profit.
It had been another fruitful day!
Thank you to all the readers who voted and rewarded the author!
As we bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, may everyone have a happy Lunar New Year, good health, success in all endeavors, abundant wealth, happiness, and peace for years to come.
(End of Chapter)
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