"Old Chen, it's you! My brother said I didn't expect it to be you, Old Chen. Are you planning to go to the city to enjoy your retirement?" Ye Guowei came down and saw that it was an acquaintance, so he went up to greet him.

"What's with all this talk about enjoying life? My son wants to buy a house, what can I do? Your brother is capable, after he buys a boat, it's better for the two brothers to run boats than for you to work at the docks." Old Chen chatted familiarly with Ye Guowei.

To be honest, everyone here works at the docks and knows each other to some extent. In addition, Ye Guowei has been working at the docks for many years and has always had a good reputation, so Old Chen trusts him a lot.

Both parties happily completed the transfer procedures. Ye Cheng paid 32,000 yuan on the spot, and Old Chen handed over the keys on the spot. Ye Cheng now owned his own boat.

After saying goodbye to Old Chen, Ye Cheng took Ye Guowei to the clam seedling nursery.

To be honest, this was Ye Cheng's first time visiting a clam hatchery. He had seen news reports that the clam hatcheries in Fujian were the best, as they were raised in nearshore waters and harvested from the seabed along with sand using a boat similar to a sand dredger.

Then rinse with water to remove the small ones and sand; what's left are clam seedlings.

The owner of the clam hatchery, surnamed Hu, knew that Ye Guowei was raising clams for the first time and had 50 acres of mudflats, so he enthusiastically gave the two of them a tour.

Clam seedling cultivation mainly involves several steps:

The first step is spawning and fertilization. Generally, in the past, a natural method was adopted, in which selected male and female clams that were relatively vigorous were placed together and allowed to spawn and fertilize under natural conditions.

However, this method has a drawback: you can't control when they lay eggs and fertilize, so modern aquaculture uses artificial intervention.

The basic principle is to exploit the species' sense of crisis, making them feel that they are about to die and that if they do not reproduce before they die, they will have no chance, so they quickly lay eggs and fertilize them.

Generally speaking, there are five methods of artificial induction: air-drying stimulation, running water stimulation, chemical induction, sudden temperature change, and ultraviolet irradiation.

Mr. Hu's hatchery uses a combination of air-drying stimulation and water-flow stimulation. The selected broodstock are air-dried for 5-7 hours to create a sense of crisis, and then stimulated with flowing water for 3-5 hours to simulate the tidal environment.

Then, at a water temperature of 26.5-28.5°C, the parent shellfish will show signs of excitement after being soaked for less than 10 minutes, with their shells slightly opening and their siphon and foot fully extended. After about 30 minutes, the male will release sperm first, followed by the female laying eggs.

Of course, these are just fertilized eggs. Before they grow into clams, they need to be nurtured and then grow into seedlings.

The seedlings are generally 1-5 millimeters in length, and there are 10,000 to 100,000 seedlings per kilogram. The seedlings are cultivated indoors.

After the seedlings are established, they need to be transplanted to outdoor breeding farms, usually by the sea, where they will grow into medium-sized seedlings (5-15 mm) through cultivation. There are 500-5000 medium-sized seedlings per kilogram.

Generally, farmers buy seedlings of medium size because they have a higher survival rate.

Boss Hu showed the two of them around the whole time, which broadened Ye Cheng's horizons. He never expected that there were so many intricacies involved in cultivating clam seedlings.

According to Mr. Hu, the 1.6 million pills that Ye Guowei mentioned earlier may be an underestimate.

"So, gentlemen, how much are you planning to buy?" Mr. Hu asked, looking at the two men after his introduction.

"Okay, boss, you can decide on the allocation. We have 50 acres of mudflats, two-thirds medium-sized seedlings and one-third small seedlings," Ye Cheng said. The survival rate of small seedlings is low, but you won't know until you try. Anyway, we have plenty of money now, so it's always good to try and learn more.

"Okay, then we'll have 3,500 jin of medium-sized seedlings and 1,500 jin of small seedlings. Small seedlings are 2 yuan per jin, and medium-sized seedlings are 5 yuan per jin. We have stock available anytime. When would you two like to order?"

Ye Cheng did the math in his head. At Boss Hu's price, the seedlings alone would cost 20,000 yuan, which was a considerable investment.

Ye Guowei licked his lips. 20,000 was a considerable sum, and he couldn't afford it.

"Okay, then I'll round it up to 20,000 yuan." Ye Cheng agreed. It would be good enough if he could break even on his first attempt at farming. Without someone to guide him, he could only pave the way with money.

Even though Ye Cheng was reborn, he wasn't proficient in everything.

After agreeing on the price, Ye Cheng paid a 30% deposit, and Mr. Hu would pay the remaining 70% when he delivered the goods this afternoon.

After paying the money, Ye Cheng calculated the amount of money he had. He originally had 180,000 yuan in savings. He paid 135,000 yuan for the contracting fee in the morning, leaving him with only 55,000 yuan. Then he paid 32,000 yuan for the boat, leaving him with only 23,000 yuan.

This time it's really bad. The seedling cost of 20,000 yuan has turned me from a wealthy family into a penniless one in an instant.

"Acheng, I'll pay for these seedlings. You can't pay for everything; you've spent so much money lately." Ye Guowei also estimated that Ye Cheng probably didn't have much money left.

Ye Cheng thought about it and didn't refuse. Although they were brothers, it wouldn't be a good thing to keep paying for everything himself in the long run.

Even between brothers, accounts should be kept clear; it's both about accounts and feelings.

After returning, the two began preparing for the release of seedlings. According to the data provided by Boss Hu, about 100-200 jin per mu should be released. Since it was their first time raising seedlings, they decided to be more lenient and release 100 jin per mu.

In the afternoon, Mr. Hu's delivery truck arrived, carrying 5,000 catties of clam seedlings.

It sounds like a big number, but when the small truck arrived, it only filled half the truck, so it really doesn't look that big.

When this truck arrived in the village, some bored villagers gathered around to watch the spectacle. Chen Jinhai was also startled and ran over, looking around the truck and occasionally grabbing a handful of clam seedlings to examine them.

"Guowei, these are clam seedlings? Why did you buy so many?"

"Oh, these are seedlings, right? They're so small, are they easy to care for?"

"That must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Looking at the truckload of clam seedlings, Ye Guowei was filled with joy; this is what it means for a man to have a career.

"It wasn't much money; Acheng paid the majority of it," Ye Guowei said proudly.

"Guowei will be a big boss from now on. He'll take care of us in the future," Chen Jinhai said sourly.

Although Ye Cheng paid a considerable sum for the contract, he was still somewhat resentful seeing how well the Ye family was doing.

"Yes, with such a large farm, we should prioritize the villagers when it comes to work."

"We're all free. We might not be good at technical jobs, but we're definitely good at physical labor."

"Yes, Guowei, are you hiring? Let my son come and help. He went out to work for two years after graduating from high school, and now he has nothing to do at home."

“My son can do it too. He’s young, strong, and willing to work hard.”

Several uncles and aunts have already started saying nice things, trying to get the child to come and work.

However, Ye Guowei had originally planned to keep the workforce relatively unrecruited and hadn't intended to hire anyone, so he simply cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to those around him.

"Uncles and aunts, this is my first time raising animals, and I have no experience. I'm afraid I'll lose money, so I don't dare to hire anyone. Once I have more experience, if any of you are willing and have time, I'll ask you all to come and help me."