As soon as Boss Fu moored the boat, he saw his daughter looking at... a flock of birds on the ground with a puzzled expression.
People who grow up by the sea are probably most familiar with fish and seabirds.
As he approached to examine the flock of birds with some curiosity, they flew up warily at the sight of him and landed on a branch not far away.
That lithe and graceful figure, that shape—it's a swallow!
But where would swallows come from on the beach?
Fu Wan suddenly became excited. She finally remembered the feeling of déjà vu when she saw the swallow!
In her past life, she worked for a boss who sold bird's nests, and they had a fairly good relationship. At that time, she read a lot of information about bird's nests.
Those seemingly inconspicuous black birds in front of me are the nobles of the swallow flock, the swiftlets!
The swiftlet is small in size, with a body length of only about the width of a hand and about ten centimeters.
They are generally black or brown in the upper body, and sometimes, under sunlight, they can be vaguely seen to have a blue sheen.
Swiftlets are gregarious birds that primarily feed on insects. Modern records show that a single swiftlet can eat several mosquitoes in a single day.
Fu Wan couldn't help but get goosebumps when she thought about the mosquitoes in that experimental diagram.
However, in modern times, people's enthusiasm for swiftlets is mainly due to their bird's nests.
During their breeding season, they typically use saliva to mix feathers, mud, and other materials to form a nest, which is usually placed on cliffs in the sea. This nest is the famous tonic – bird's nest.
Golden bird's nest is the most expensive and most nutritious of all bird's nests. A pound of high-quality bird's nest can cost tens of thousands of yuan.
However, modern bird's nests are generally produced in India and the Malay Archipelago.
Chinese bird's nests are distributed in provinces and regions such as Hainan, Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, and Guizhou.
Boss Fu had heard of swiftlets before, and when he heard Fu Wan say that this was a swiftlet, his eyes lit up.
The fact that so many swiftlets are catching insects here indicates that there are their nests nearby.
It's not that they're unethical to break into swallows' nests. Swiftlets build nests to breed, and after the young swiftlets grow up and leave the nest, the older swiftlets will build a new nest.
However, if the swiftlets still have the nest they built before, they will build another nest on top of the original one.
Some swiftlets are quite capricious and will simply choose a new location to build another nest. However, because they like to roost in groups in cliff caves, the second nest is often not too far from the first one.
Therefore, harvesting bird's nests will not cause swiftlets to become homeless.
Fu Wan and Fu Laoda perked up. The father and daughter, who already had two snakeskin bags strapped to their bodies, were even more excited as they walked toward the tall reefs next to them.
The cave is likely located on the edge of the rock formation, with tall rock formations on the other side of the island.
Sure enough, after the father and daughter had walked for a few minutes, they heard many light and melodious bird calls.
Fu Wan is much younger than Boss Fu, and she is walking ahead of him at this moment.
But just as she was about to climb to the edge of the cave, she was stopped by Boss Fu.
"You walk behind me, and I'll walk in front to take a look."
They didn't know if the cave ahead was a swiftlet's nest, and Boss Fu was worried that it would be too dangerous for Fu Wan to go up there. He was a grown man, and he was much stronger.
After saying that, he ignored Fu Wan's agreement and skipped over her, quickly climbing up the rock wall.
Climbing up was easy, but the cave in front of us was much smaller.
Fu Laoda quickly turned around to pull Fu Wan up. The child couldn't wait any longer and had already climbed up.
Boss Fu led the way, with Fu Wan following behind.
It was a bit dark inside the cave, but after the two of them adjusted to the darkness, they were able to see the specific situation inside the cave.
Especially Fu Wan, whose eyesight was already impaired by the fish pearl, so she could see things in the dark just as well as during the day.
The area in front of the cave was a bit damp, but it became much drier after walking for a while. I guess the cave is far away and the seawater can't get in.
The cliff caves by the sea are all naturally formed by long-term wind and rain, so the edges of the caves are uneven. Boss Fu walked along the edge of the cave, feeling his way. If it weren't for his caution and the rough calluses on his hands from years of farm work, he would have been in danger.
The sharp edges of the cliff face would cut your palms.
The two walked along the cliff cave for about ten minutes before they saw a light not far ahead.
When we got to the light, we found that it was a very large reef, but it was hollow in the middle, and the sunlight shone through from the top, illuminating the scene on this side clearly.
"My God!"
Fu Laoda looked up at the densely packed, transparent, bowl-shaped objects along the cliff edge, with swiftlets flying around from time to time.
Fu Wan also looked up. This place was estimated to be nearly a thousand square meters. Transparent bird's nests were inlaid on the cliff wall, just like the footsteps of rock climbers in her previous life, one after another.
Many of the bird's nests were already somewhat gray, especially those closest to them. The bottommost nests looked like they had been abandoned by the swallows.
Fu Wan and Boss Fu were overjoyed. They knew there should be bird's nest here, but they didn't expect there to be so much.
Even if we only harvest a portion of all these bird's nests, we could still make a lot of money!
Neither Boss Fu nor Fu Wan were greedy; even when harvesting bird's nests, they knew when to stop.
Perhaps because of the commotion caused by Boss Fu and Fu Wan, many swiftlets were startled and flew up, then circled twice before returning to their nests.
Fu Wan was delighted to see the tiny creatures, no bigger than the palm of her hand, and whispered to Old Master Fu, "Dad, we only collect the ones without swallows. We can't touch the nests where swallows live."
Boss Fu looked down and took out his bag without looking up, saying, "That's for sure. We're not greedy for money; we would never do something so despicable."
"Hurry up and get started. Once we've gathered enough, we'll head back so your mother won't worry about it getting too late."
Fu Wan took out her small knife, while Boss Fu pulled out his small shovel, which he had originally intended to use to scoop clams.
When the two men stepped forward with their tools, they both stopped in their tracks.
"Ah Wan, how do you get this thing off?"
Fu Laoda frowned, while Fu Wanze remembered that the information she had read in her previous life didn't seem to mention much about how to harvest bird's nests; it only boasted about their value.
However, she had heard from the boss that when harvesting bird's nests, you need to spray some water with a special spray bottle so that they can be easily picked up.
After all, bird's nest is made from the saliva of swallows.
However, Fu Wan was puzzled again. Wouldn't taking water dissolve the bird's nest?
Neither of them had any ideas, so Boss Fu stopped caring and simply took a small shovel and carefully scooped up a bird's nest.
He was a skilled worker, and he scooped the bird's nest off with a single, precise scoop.
"Dad, you're the best!"
Fu Laoda couldn't help but feel a little smug, but he was dumbfounded when he put the bird's nest in the bag.
The bird's nest is stuck to the spatula, and I can't get it off no matter how hard I shake it!
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