Chapter 35: Conch
Jiang Wan fainted, and the old village chief immediately asked his daughter-in-law to carry her back to the Yin family.
Her mother is a doctor, and no one else can help her. But before Yin Huaixi could return home, Jiang Wan woke up again.
Yin Ning was frightened by the sick look when she woke up. The old village chief consoled her and went home to have someone call Grandpa Hutou home.
This was the first time that the village chief called the head of the family after Hu Tou's mother had been making a fuss in the village for a long time. No one knew what they said, but the old couple returned home with gloomy faces. According to the neighbors near Hu Tou's house, the family had a huge quarrel that night.
The next day, Hu Tou Niang went to apologize, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Because Jiang Wan was having a fever and felt dizzy.
She had been eating well and drinking well recently, and her body was not so weak anymore, so she relaxed her vigilance. Unexpectedly, she got sick after swimming in the water, getting a gust of wind, and running.
Her mother went to the city to get medicine early in the morning. She sent her uncle and aunt to the sea to pick sea urchins, leaving only her cousin at home to take care of her.
Tiger Head's mother was so fierce that she didn't dare let her cousin open the door.
Jiang Wan stayed at home for four or five days before she recovered. After eating three chickens, her face not only didn't get thinner, but also became a little rosier.
She was worried that Hu Tou Niang would argue with her about compensation for the clothes, but after she got sick, Hu Tou Niang didn't dare to mention it anymore, and on the surface, everything seemed to be fine.
"Wanwan, Master Fu in the city said that we won't use sea urchins starting tomorrow."
"It's okay, just don't bother. It's normal to get tired of eating these past few days."
Jiang Wan had not originally intended to trade sea urchins for a long time. After all, sea urchins were always moving around, and who knew if there would be more sea urchins coming from other places after the few sea urchins in the village were caught.
"Hey, this is the money I made from selling sea urchins today."
Yin Huaishan took out a small string of copper coins and handed it to Jiang Wan.
"He said he doesn't want sea urchins anymore, but if you catch any rare and edible seafood, you can send it to Fu's house on Changqiu Street in the city. Just say that it's the Third Master Fu who wants it, and the concierge will accept it."
"This Mr. Fu really is a foodie."
Jiang Wan took the string of copper coins with a smile and silently calculated the small treasury.
Now my mother has given me the money in the family. I had more than six taels of silver left, but I spent three hundred coins on medicine. But Mr. Fu spent four days buying sea urchins, so the family earned about eight hundred coins. After sorting out the small treasury, I have more than seven taels of silver.
She hid the seven taels of silver and did not intend to use it for the time being. The remaining two hundred and seventy coins were the money for the family to buy food and meat recently, plus the starting capital for small business.
The mint water was only briefly tried, but unfortunately the flow on the road outside the village was unstable and the water was no longer sold. Jiang Wan wanted to start a food business related to conch meat this time.
There are so many conchs in the village that you can pick a handful of them from any rock when the tide goes out. Of course, the ones you get are not the big oyster snails, but more small ones such as spicy snails and mud snails.
These small snails are small in size and have little meat. Eating them can cause poisoning. Villagers would rather eat clams than these.
Jiang Wan had many delicious conch recipes in her mind, and she could make it delicious even without chili peppers. There were many snack stalls in the city, and she wanted to try them.
When this idea was proposed, some people in the family supported it, while others opposed it.
Because she is still too young, except for her mother who supports her unconditionally, her uncle and aunt think she takes it for granted too much.
Even the villagers don't eat conch, so how can the city people eat it? They really can't imagine how conch can make money.
"Brother and sister-in-law, don't worry. Wanwan is not doing business alone. I'll be watching, and you guys should watch too. Nothing will go wrong."
"Dad and Mom, I think it's amazing that my cousin has this idea. It's just to get more conches. Now that we have bought the seasonings, we can eat them ourselves even if we don't sell them. It's not like we haven't eaten them before."
Yin Ning had long felt that her cousin's eloquent personality suited her to business, and now that her cousin had a plan, of course she had to support her.
The score was now 3 to 2 among the five people in the family, and the couple lost.
The two of them were not bothered. Since they had decided to do it, they would do their best to make money. So the next day, when the tide receded, the whole family went to the beach to catch sea snails. This time, they did not look for other seafood, but only brought home bucket after bucket of snails.
When the tide rose again, there were already several piles of conchs in the Yin family's yard.
Jiang Wan and her cousin sat aside and started sorting them.
Because in addition to small conchs, there are also some larger oyster conchs and tower conchs. This large conch with a pagoda-like appearance is not only beautiful in appearance, but also very fresh and sweet in taste. Jiang Wan thought that it would look good to collect some conch shells and string them together to make a curtain.
There was a tinkling sound in the yard, which was the sound of conch shells colliding with each other.
Jiang Wan picked up a large pile of conchs and was about to stand up and stretch when she suddenly noticed a conch in the pile with a slightly brighter color and a slightly different shell.
Image source: Internet
She had a vague impression of it and wanted to say it but was stuck and couldn't say the name.
"Cousin, what are you staring at?"
Yin Ning subconsciously reached out to grab the snail, but Jiang Wan's hand was faster than his brain and had already stopped him.
Why should I stop?
Jiang Wan asked herself, the answer was obvious, because it was dangerous. She immediately remembered all the information about the snail.
This unique sea snail is called the cone snail in modern times. It is one of the top ten most poisonous animals among the millions of marine creatures.
It is said that one drop of its venom can kill ten people, and it will also attack actively.
Jiang Wan didn't even dare to pick it up with her hands. She turned around and took a shovel to scoop it up and show it to everyone in the family one by one, reminding them to remember its appearance and never touch it with their hands if they saw it again in the future.
I don’t know if this snail was brought back by someone at home, and it’s a blessing that she wasn’t bitten, otherwise she would have been guilty of a serious crime.
After making sure that everyone in the family remembered its appearance, Jiang Wan threw it directly into the stove and burned it into ashes. This was the safest way.
After this little episode, the two sisters were no longer careful and poured out the conches that had already been picked and picked them carefully again, for fear that something might be exposed.
All the small snails picked out will be soaked in water to spit out the sand. Only after the sand is spit out will Jiang Wan show off his skills.
In order to give her uncle and aunt more confidence, Jiang Wan was the chef for lunch.
Yin Ning said that she wanted to learn how to cook from her cousin, and happily went to the stove to light the fire.
"Cousin, what delicious food are you going to make for lunch?"
Jiang Wan thought about it. She had a lot of eggs and some wheat flour at home. She could make some egg pancakes to change the taste. She also had some clams that had spit out sand and could stir-fry them. She could also make some green bean porridge. This lunch would not be bad.