354. Chapter 351 I Just Want to Live an Ordinary Life

It was dawn.

But the work of collecting kelp was still going on. Every villager who participated in collecting kelp last night had big tiredness written on their faces.

Many people had wet hair, not sure if it was wet by the sea water or sweat.

The villagers on the sampan also wore special skirts made of fertilizer bags, so that when pulling kelp, they would not get their whole bodies wet by the kelp.

But they worked until the end.

The lower body was still wet.

Fortunately, it was already June, the weather was not so cold, and everyone could hold on.

Although everyone was very tired, with the glow of the sunset in the east, the farmers' hanging hearts were finally put down.

The sky was blue, with only a few white clouds floating. It was very rare for the northeast wind to blow at the beginning of summer.

But because it was relatively dry there, the wind did not carry so much moisture, so the next few days should be sunny.

Li Duoyu was so tired that he lay directly on his fishing boat, holding a cigarette in his mouth and looking at the blue sky.

Chen Wenchao, Li Shuguang, Li Qingguang and others were lying beside him.

The second uncle and the eldest uncle stood at the bow, took off their waders, turned them upside down, and dried the water inside.

They took off their pants, wrung them dry with their hands, and hung them at the bow to blow for a while.

They worked from 11 o'clock last night to 6 o'clock in the morning, for a full seven hours without stopping.

Their hands were numb from pulling kelp all the time, especially their arms, which were particularly sore. It was difficult for those lying on the deck to even raise their hands.

Li Qingguang curled up into a ball, so tired that he fell asleep on the spot, but he jumped up suddenly after a while.

He took off his pants on the spot.

Then, a slippery gray-white eel shook out from his trouser legs. This is a kind of eel that does not grow big. There are many near the sea and they can often be caught.

Locals usually wrap it with flour for frying or braising.

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

Li Qingguang, who was not even 18 years old, blushed: "Anyway, mine is definitely bigger than yours."

"Then let's compare."

"Let's compare, who's afraid of who, mine is definitely longer than yours."

The eldest uncle said disdainfully: "The older you get, the less serious you are. When you shrink, you are like a sea cucumber. You can't even pee half a meter, and you still want to compare with young people."

After hearing the eldest uncle's analogy, everyone couldn't help laughing.

"What are you laughing at? When you get older, you may be smaller than a sea cucumber, and at most you will be a sea worm."

Last night, Li Duoyu's fishing boat also participated in the kelp collection. His father, Lao Li, was very reluctant to leave and was afraid of dirtying the fishing boat.

But time was tight, and Li Duoyu didn't bother to care so much. Although the boat was precious, it couldn't be worshipped like an ancestor.

If it gets dirty, just wash it again.

Last night, this fishing boat performed a great service. Not only could it pull five or six thousand kilograms of kelp at a time, but it could also tow five or six sampans behind it, and could pull half an acre of kelp in one trip.

The most important thing is that it is very fast.

For every trip that Li Shuguang's boat pulled, Li Duoyu's fishing boat could run two trips.

But his family had too much kelp. This year, he called more than 40 people to help collect the kelp, but after one night, they only collected less than a quarter of it.

It would take at least two days, otherwise it would not be collected at all. When they took a break, there were still several sampans collecting kelp in the kelp field.

Under normal circumstances, a sampan is equipped with three people to collect kelp, but the second sister-in-law's boat only had two people.

Li Yaoguo was responsible for driving the boat and sorting the kelp, while the second sister-in-law continuously pulled the kelp from the sea to the boat.

Zhu Xiuhua was still vigorous and resolute when she worked, while others pulled the kelp onto the boat one by one.

But she is very strong. A kelp weighing about 100 kilograms is like a chicken in her hand. When doing hard work, one person can do the work of three people.

This year, the wages for collecting kelp have increased, and Li Duoyu gave everyone two options.

One is to pay three yuan per person per day regardless of how much work is done.

The other is to charge by boat. If the kelp in a sampan is salvaged and hung on a bamboo rack, it will cost 60 cents.

The second sister-in-law thought about it and felt that it was not cost-effective to charge per person, so she chose the one that charges by boat. From last night to now, she has already caught ten boats of kelp and earned six yuan.

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

Li Yaoguo, who was already pale from exhaustion, let out a long sigh and said, "Take a break. I can't take it anymore."

Zhu Xiuhua looked disgusted:

"You are really useless. You're tired after only working for seven hours. How can we make money with you like this?"

Li Yaoguo muttered, "Others have three people in a boat, but we only have two. We must be tired."

"If we need three, we will have to have one more person to split the money we earn. Of course, two people are better."

The next moment, Zhu Xiuhua suddenly said, "Yaoguo, why don't we 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, and then struck a match and started smoking.

"We just invested in a big fishing boat, where can we get the money to do 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 from before. 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 was also envious of Li Duoyu's ability to earn so much kelp and make so much money, but in this matter, she admitted defeat.

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

Zhu Xiuhua said angrily: "Last year, I was deceived 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 instantly felt aggrieved: "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 the Shuihua family. Her husband owns two boats and can afford to pay the fine for three children. Even if he doesn't have many fish and money, there will definitely not be much difference."

"My eldest brother and my sister-in-law can invest five thousand in a big ship at a time. There is also a house in the city. One is the workshop director and the other is in charge of finance. The future development will definitely be good."

"There's no need to talk about Xiaorong. 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 learn from Xiao Chao. As long as we follow Duoyu and don't use any crooked ideas, sooner or later, we will get up too."

Zhu Xiuhua sneered and said:

"How is that possible? Your brother is just a stingy guy. 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, and the most important thing was that Duoyu's attitude was a bit strange. Logically speaking, his wife had stolen his skills to cooperate 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 too 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 technique and there will be no loss."

Li Yaoguo really wanted to scold her: You have such a shitty skill, but if you scolded her like that on the boat, she might really slap her into the sea.

He smoked the rest of the 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)