"Uncle, you control the small boat. Ah Hai and I will pick some basil first, and then we'll go to the purchasing station to ask about the price."
It seems unrealistic to think we can harvest all these goby snails today. We didn't bring any tools, and we arrived a bit too late; in a little while, they'll be out of reach.
Bai Yu looked at the snails above his head and then made arrangements for picking them.
Bai Yu didn't know why, but he always felt a natural aversion to these goby snails, perhaps because of their appearance or their unique habits.
You asked what the habits of the Buddha's Hand Snail are?
Despite having "snail" in its name, the Buddha's Hand Snail is actually a parasitic sea snail. Young Buddha's Hand Snails drift with the currents in the ocean.
Once they reach adulthood, they will parasitize other marine organisms. No matter what kind of marine organism it is, once it is attached to them, the life of that marine organism will begin its countdown.
Even whales, the largest marine creatures, will suffer the same fate when they encounter barnacles; the only difference might be that whales can withstand the attack for a longer period.
Picking the basil shells that grow on the rocks while standing on the boat is no easy task, even if Bai Yu and his crew have the tools.
Because they have nowhere to exert their strength.
First of all, they were in a small boat. Since it was a small boat, it was very shaky on the sea, especially since Bai Yu and Wang Hai had to tilt their heads back to pick the basil.
This makes it difficult for them to maintain their balance. Even if they touch the rocks above them, they dare not exert too much force.
Because when they exert force, the small boat will rock, making it even more difficult to maintain balance.
At this moment, Bai Yu and Wang Hai stood at opposite ends of the boat, one at the bow and the other at the stern, spreading their weight across the boat as they looked up to pick the Buddha's Hand snails.
You can't just pull these basil shells out by force. Instead, you grab one, shake it from side to side to loosen the base that's clinging to the rock, and then try to pull it out.
Picking basil is like pulling up radishes; the principle is similar, except that it's not easy for Bai Yu and his group to do it now that they're on the boat.
Five minutes later, Bai Yu and Wang Hai each picked a handful of basil, and then they prepared to stop working and quit.
"Brother Yu, I can't take it anymore. Picking them like this is too tiring. My head gets sore after tilting it back for a while. I can't do it."
"You're right! Not only can my neck not take it, but when I'm working with my head tilted back, dust keeps getting into my eyes. It's really uncomfortable. Uncle, do you have any good ideas?"
Bai Yu and Wang Hai massaged each other's shoulders and necks to relax their muscles, and then asked their uncle a question.
"Xiaoyu, asking me won't help. You can think of the same solutions I can think of. The best solution is to come early tomorrow and pick the basil while the sea level is high. That might save a lot of effort."
Let's leave it at that for now. Let's find a place to go up to the islands and reefs and take a look.
My uncle glanced at the basilica on the roof and suggested that we go to the island first and leave the basilica for now.
Looking at the basil above his head, which he could only admire but not pick, Bai Yu felt as if he were about to brush past a large sum of money.
There were so many basil snails on the ground, I estimate they weighed at least ten kilograms. And they were all quite large, each one that Bai Yu and the others picked was five centimeters long, which is a very big size.
Given their size and quantity, these Buddha's Hand snails from this area could easily fetch a thousand or eight hundred yuan.
However, all of this has one prerequisite: you must first pick the basil before you can sell it. Otherwise, you can only look at the basil with longing, like Bai Yu and the others are now.
Then my uncle drove his small boat around the reef, looking for a suitable place to land.
Reaching these islands and reefs in the ocean is not something that can be done simply by saying "I'm going" or "I'm going to go."
Unless you plan to stay on the reef until high tide, you'll need to find a good landing spot, at least one that will allow your boat to be easily launched even as the tide continues to recede.
Uncle was an expert in this area and quickly found a gentle slope where Bai Yu and his two companions could land on the reef, and the small boat could be easily pushed into the sea even when the tide went out.
As the three of them arrived at the island, they split up. Since their goal was to see what resources the island had, splitting up to search was definitely the fastest way.
The island where Bai Yu and his group are currently located is the largest in the inner bay, but its actual size is still quite limited.
The area currently above the sea surface is only about 100 meters long, and its width is irregular, with the widest part being no more than 30 meters.
Even if the tide continues to recede, the area of this island reef will still be very limited.
Fifteen minutes later, the three uncles returned to where the small boat was moored, but the three of them were carrying different things.
The best among them was my eldest uncle. He had a lobster in one hand and a big crab in the other, with shrimp soldiers and crab generals all in his hands. He was so majestic and domineering.
The key point is that the lobster he caught was a spotted lobster, and a rather large one at that. Bai Yu was extremely envious when he saw it.
You should know that in the early hours of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Bai Yu and his three companions spent more than four hours on the beach, but they didn't catch a single one.
They've only just arrived here, and so little time has passed, yet Uncle has already caught a flower dragon and brought it back?
Comparing yourself to others is truly infuriating!
Besides his uncle catching a flower dragon, Wang Hai also had some gains; he only caught a small green dragon, and that was it.
On the other hand, Bai Yu found a nest of conch and scallops, and even two abalone. There were so many that Bai Yu had to use his clothes to carry them back.
In terms of quantity, he caught the most, but in terms of value, he was no match for Hua Long.
"Brother Yu, the resources here are quite abundant. Look, we've caught so much stuff in just a short while."
I just saw quite a few crabs; if I hadn't forgotten my bucket, I definitely wouldn't have let them go.
“Indeed, there’s a lot of seafood here. Uncle, Ah Hai and I are planning to come here early tomorrow to go beachcombing. Do you have time tomorrow? Why don’t you come with us?”
Bai Yu looked at the three of them and saw that their harvest was truly abundant, and the resources here were plentiful. He immediately decided that he would come here to go beachcombing the next day.
"I don't have time tomorrow, I have to go to the city. How about this, if you want to go beachcombing, I'll have your brother come with you."
"Okay, then I'll go see my brother tomorrow. Uncle, you should tell him when you get home tonight, so he won't be home when I go to see him tomorrow."
"Hmm, I'll talk to him about it later. So what should I say now? Should we go straight home or wander around here?"
"Let's go back first. We didn't bring any equipment this time, and we don't have anything to carry our catch while beachcombing. Let's talk about it tomorrow."
After hearing this, the eldest uncle nodded, and then led the two brothers towards the small boat. Once on board, the boat turned around and headed towards the dock.
Actually, my uncle wasn't particularly interested in beachcombing. Even though he was just a sailor, there are different kinds of sailors.
Take my uncle for example. Although he is not the captain yet, he is only one rank below the captain. He is the first mate and receives an annual salary.
When Bai Yu and his friends were young, we would take them out to sea to set cages and go beachcombing on small islands. This was partly out of interest, and partly to take Bai Yu and his friends out to play.
Now that he's older, he likes to use crab traps and gillnets for leisure during his holidays, but he really doesn't have the energy for beachcombing.
It didn't take long for Bai Yu and his two companions to return to the dock. The eldest uncle tossed the flower dragon and the big crab he had caught to Bai Yu, then clapped his hands and left.
He left without looking back, and his meaning was quite clear: the flower dragon and the crab were given to Bai Yu.
"Hey, this is a flower lobster! A pound of flower lobster costs several hundred yuan!" Uncle just tossed it to Bai Yu, who accepted it without a second thought.
However, Bai Yu had no intention of keeping the dragon and crab. Instead, he planned to take them to the purchasing station to sell, give the money to his mother, and then have his mother buy some things to send to his uncle's house.
Although the process is complicated, isn't the whole point of life to deal with interpersonal relationships and reciprocal courtesy?
When his uncle went home, he left the key to the small boat with Bai Yu so that Bai Yu could come and sail out to sea the next day.
After watching their uncle leave, Bai Yu and Wang Hai, carrying their respective spoils, headed towards the purchasing station.
Wang Hai carried the lobsters and crabs, while Bai Yu held a bunch of conch shells, including some Buddha's Hand snails, in his arms.
"Hey, Xiaoyu, you two went beachcombing again? Looks like your catch wasn't great today. You didn't even bring a bucket, you just carried it all over?"
"Yeah, I wasn't very lucky today. I didn't find much on the beach. What's the point of carrying a bucket if I can't even use it?"
When asked about her third uncle's question, Bai Yu did not choose to tell the truth, but instead went along with the other person's words and said that she was having bad luck today.
After all, he understood the principle of making a fortune quietly. Although the island they went to today was rich in resources, that richness only applied to Bai Yu and his companion.
Once too many people go there to collect seafood, even the abundant resources will become scarce.
And although Bai Yu didn't bring many things, their value was still very high.
One flower dragon, one small green dragon, one large stone crab, plus more than a pound of Buddha's hand snails and more than two pounds of other sea snails, sold for a total of more than 1,500 yuan.
Wang Hai received 150 yuan, Bai Yu received 225 yuan, and the remaining 1,000 yuan was the price of the dragon and crabs from the eldest uncle.
Although it wasn't much money, it was the result of their hard work.
After receiving their respective shares of money, Bai Yu and Wang Hai happily went home.
Bai Yu also inquired about the price of Buddha's Hand snails, and it was slightly different from what he had imagined. The purchase price of Buddha's Hand snails was only eighty yuan per kilogram.
Bai Yu originally thought that a pound could sell for over a hundred yuan, but it turned out he was overthinking it.
According to Uncle Bai, if it were a few years ago, Bai Yu and his friends could have sold their Buddha's Hand snails for hundreds of yuan, or even several hundred yuan per kilogram.
However, this won't work now, because in recent years people have started to farm these Buddha's Hand snails.
It is a well-known fact that once something is started to be farmed, it will inevitably affect the market price.
Originally a rare find with sky-high prices, the price of the Buddha's Hand snail has plummeted to rock-bottom levels due to the availability of farmed alternatives.
Farmed goose barnacles are even cheaper in the market, sometimes dropping as low as 20 or 30 yuan per kilogram when the market is bad.
As for the wild Buddha's Hand snails like those from Bai Yu, because of the word "wild," some connoisseurs believe that wild ones are better than farmed ones in terms of efficacy and taste, which is why they have a place in the market.
As for how to distinguish between wild and farmed animals?
Bai Yu really didn't know anything about this. After all, he had no knowledge of Buddha's Hand Snails before, let alone that they were farmed, let alone how to distinguish them.
In short, it boils down to two words: I don't understand.
...........
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