Chapter 230: The Forgotten Coconut Snail King
The cabin was already filled with fish, and the longlines had all been used up. Zhang Ze did not plan to go to the coordinates given by Tong Yuanhang, but chose to go back to sell the fish first.
Now that he owes a lot of money, he has to make use of his time and cannot waste a day or two just because of his curiosity about the coordinates.
There is always a period of time every month when we cannot go out to sea due to weather and other reasons. Zhang Ze has to take advantage of the good weather recently to go out to sea more often and be more diligent.
Jin Sanbao and Tong Yuanhang went out to sea a day earlier. The boat had a great harvest and when they saw that he was going back, they followed him back as well.
Especially for Jin Sanbao and his crew, their boat is small and has insufficient endurance. If they stay on the waves for too long and fail to pay attention to the consumption of diesel on the boat, and there is no boat around, they may not be able to come back.
Only if there was Zhang Ze or Tong Yuanhang's boat nearby would the three of them dare to go fishing in the open sea.
After returning to the fishing village, he asked someone to help notify the two brothers Lin Long and Lin Hu.
But after a long time, neither of them came. Finally, the third sister came hurriedly and told him that the two brothers had gone to the mountain to set traps and catch game, and she had asked her younger brother to wait for them at the foot of the mountain.
Zhang Ze was stunned. Was he too kind to the two brothers, letting them be so idle? But on second thought, if they were idle in the village, not only Lin Long and Lin Hu would not be able to stay, he himself would not be able to stand it and would do something.
However, when Zhang Ze learned that they were going to the mountains to catch wild game, he still became interested.
In a few years, many wild animals will not be hunted legally. If you want to eat them, you can only buy farmed ones.
In this age of scarcity of entertainment, it seems like a good idea to learn how to hunt.
I just don't have a way to get a shotgun, it would be great if I had this.
Originally Zhang Ze was planning to go back at night, but now he changed his mind and decided to stay in the village first and follow Lin Long and others into the mountains tomorrow.
So he gave the longline to Jin Sanbao and asked him to go back after he finished his work. He then sold some of the catch to Jin Guangcheng on the boat.
In fact, the amount of fish he sells to Jin Guangcheng is getting smaller and smaller, and they are all ordinary stuff.
Originally he also sold common groupers such as blue spot, but now Zhao Xianghua has bought all of them, so Zhang Ze naturally has to sell the ones from the restaurant, after all, they are his own people, and he can offer a higher price.
But Jin Guangcheng was willing to come and collect the fish, even though his seafood business was growing bigger and bigger and his monthly income was already very considerable.
If others are willing to come and collect, Zhang Ze will naturally not drive them away.
They are from the same village and the other party is polite to him, so there is no need to worsen the relationship.
But now he is not the only seafood dealer. When other dealers come to buy his catch, he politely refuses them all.
After Jin Guangcheng left and there was no one on the boat, Zhang Ze came to the live water tank and put the fish into the space to restore their vitality.
He has taken out the three fish kings that have been converted to growth. Except for the seven-band grouper that is lying in the cold storage compartment, he has to pay attention to the remaining two living ones, the red snapper and the white grouper, for fear that they will die if he is not careful.
Even if the oxygen pump in the live water tank is always on, it is still unknown whether the fish can survive. The main reason is that these two king fish are too big and too precious.
After waiting for nearly an hour, Lin Long and Lin Hu finally arrived.
Lin Long came up and was about to apologize, but Zhang Ze waved his hand to stop him.
The time of his return is uncertain, and it is really unrealistic to ask people to wait at home and not do their own things. It would be good enough if he could return in time.
"We have a lot of catch today, and one truck may not be able to hold all of it. So please send the fish in the refrigerated hold over first, and I won't go over."
However, when Lin Long and Lin Hu opened the refrigerated compartment and saw a large number of tunas and the huge seven-band grouper, their mouths opened unconsciously and their jaws seemed to drop to the ground.
"Aze, if you don't go over, the price of these fish will be high."
Lin Long was a little hesitant. How could they determine the price of a tuna and such a big grouper? If the boss didn't come, they didn't know how to negotiate the price.
Zhang Ze seemed to see their concerns and said with a smile, "Don't worry about the price. Just send the fish over and note the weight. I'll call Brother Zhao later and we'll discuss the price then."
He and Zhao Xianghua have become partners, so there is no need to negotiate the price face to face.
When the two brothers heard what he said, they immediately felt relieved, and then the three of them put the fish one by one onto the truck.
They are all adult men with great strength, so they don’t even need a crane to catch the tunas, they just carry them out one by one.
The only troublesome thing was the grouper, but compared to the manta ray last time, it was child's play and could be easily handled with a crane.
The fish in the cold storage compartment were frozen hard. After they stacked up the tuna, they found that there was enough space in the truck and the tuna did not take up as much space as they had imagined.
The other deep-sea fish did not take up much space, so they simply transported the fish in the live water tank up there as well, filling up the boxes of live fish in the truck.
After turning on the oxygen pump, Lin Hu started the truck and drove towards the restaurant, with Lin Long sitting in the passenger seat.
Zhang Ze also specifically instructed them to pack a table of banquet from the restaurant. In the evening, he planned to invite Jin Sanbao and his brothers-in-law to have some drinks.
After watching the delivery truck leave, he called the family who had previously cleaned the fishing boat and asked them to clean the boat inside and out, and to take away the quilts and other things in the room and clean them.
He returned to his house in the fishing village, planned to have a drink tonight and go for a walk in the mountains tomorrow. By the time he was ready to go out to sea, the quilts would probably have dried up.
After returning to the house, Zhang Ze immediately called Zhao Xianghua to tell him about the catch and the large amount of bluefin tuna.
Zhao Xianghua was overjoyed when he heard that there were bluefin tuna and three precious king fish.
The Mid-Autumn Manta Ray Fish Banquet did bring some popularity to the restaurant, but after half a month the popularity had almost died down. This batch of fish came just in time for him.
Zhang Ze knew the weight of the king fish, so the two of them agreed on the price over the phone.
The three king fish were sold for a total of 18,000 yuan, which was about 3,000 yuan higher than Zhang Ze had expected.
Bluefin tuna cannot be sold at a high price in China, but after Zhao Xianghua asked his manager to investigate, he still offered a price of two yuan and thirty cents per pound.
Of course, the price was not discussed over the phone, after all, it would take some time for the manager to conduct market research.
Zhang Ze didn't care too much about this, he knew that Zhao Xianghua would not let him suffer any loss.
It’s not that the other party is really that generous and doesn’t treat money seriously.
It was because the quality of the catch he provided was so good. Zhao Xianghua had run the restaurant for such a long time, but he had never seen anyone preserve seafood so well, let alone large quantities of live fish.
He knew that Zhang Ze had his own special methods and secrets, but he had never explored them.
He doesn't go out to sea to fish, so why would he bring this secret here? And Zhang Ze is not made of clay.
So, when the two brothers Lin Long and Lin Hu came back, they not only brought a table of delicious food, but also brought more than 30,000 yuan.
The three king fish and the tuna alone cost nearly 30,000 yuan. Add in other catches, and it is normal to exceed 30,000 yuan.
Zhang Ze was very happy about this huge increase in income. In the evening, he got all the men at the table drunk. Not only did he drink five bottles of white wine, he also drank two small jars of rice wine bought from the villagers.
The alcohol content of rice wine is not high, but it tastes good, which Zhang Ze likes.
To get people drunk, you have to use white wine.
The next day, even Zhang Ze slept until noon. When he got up, his whole body reeked of alcohol. This was because his body had expelled all the alcohol and the quilt was also filled with the alcohol.
He looked at the weather outside. It was a sunny day with plenty of sunshine, so he took the quilt to the window to dry it in the sun.
After we return to the city, just ask Lin Long to arrange someone to clean up the house.
It's a big fishing village with many poor people.
Although Zhang Ze will not provide direct financial support, he will basically look for these families when there is any work so that they can have extra income.
Because of this, he is very popular in the village.
I went downstairs, drank a bowl of water, and then started making lunch in the kitchen.
It was already ten o'clock in the morning, and Xiao Hei was howling with hunger.
There were still some bones from last night, so he used clean water to dilute the seasoning and threw them to the cat, letting it gnaw on them first.
I looked at the space and decided to get a fish for lunch.
But the next moment, Zhang Ze was stunned, and then he slapped his forehead.
There was an extremely huge coconut snail in the corner of the space. He had actually forgotten about this thing which was almost as big as a small washbasin.
Well, let's eat this for lunch! With a thought, coconut snails appeared in a large basin.
It’s really big, and I think it can’t fit in one pot.
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Looking at the huge shell of the coconut snail, Zhang Ze felt it would be a pity to smash it.
He might not encounter such a huge coconut snail king in his lifetime, so he decided to try to take out the snail meat inside.
So he cleaned the coconut snail, poured water into the pot, and put the whole coconut snail in.
It takes at least forty minutes or even an hour to cook this, and this is when his family uses a wood stove, so the fire is very strong.
If I change to a gas stove, I don’t even know how much gas I’ll use.
The coconut snails were being cooked when Lin Long came in yawning. He was a little surprised to see Zhang Ze cooking in the kitchen.
"Aze, why are you already cooking lunch? Stop it, stop it. My third sister bought some food and we can eat at my place later!"
"After we eat, we'll go into the mountains this afternoon. Ah Hu and I set up a lot of traps yesterday, so we should be able to catch something."
"Third sister is so virtuous, you must not let her down." Zhang Ze couldn't help but sigh when he heard that third sister specially bought vegetables to cook lunch.
Although the two have already agreed to get married at the end of the year, the third sister often comes to take care of the two brothers, and her heart is truly tied to Lin Long.
You can't let down a good girl like this, otherwise I'll jump into the river in a minute.
"No." Lin Long's eyes were filled with happiness, but his tone was firm.
Zhang Ze nodded, still feeling reassured about him.
"I have a big snail cooking in the pot. Call me when lunch is ready. By the way, prepare lunch for Xiao Hei as well. He didn't eat anything this morning and is so hungry that he is just gnawing on bones."
Lin Long looked at Xiao Hei who was concentrating on gnawing on a bone, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
So hungry that they have to chew bones? Look, is this human language? There are many dogs in the village who are so hungry that they eat dirt!
Lin Long agreed and prepared to go back, but as soon as he turned around, he immediately turned back: "Aze, what are those big snails in your pot? Why don't you take them to the next room and let my third sister cook them?"
"This snail is a bit big. I'll cook it first and then take it away." Zhang Ze opened the lid of the pot and let the curious Lin Long take a look.
Seeing the coconut snails that could barely fit into the large iron pot, he immediately gasped: "So big?"
"Hehe, of course. It will take another half an hour to burn. You go back first, I'll finish it here and go over there." Zhang Ze boasted a little, but did not tell him his ultimate goal.
Eating the snail meat was secondary. The most important thing was that he wanted to see if there would be Melo pearls in such a large coconut snail.
After all, the snail is so big, I hope it looks bigger too.
Of course, this is not absolute, because many coconut snails weighing more than ten or twenty pounds do not contain Melo pearls, but some small snails have opened up.
The appearance of Melo Pearls is not necessarily related to the size of the snail.
Lin Long didn't know that pearls could be found inside coconut snails. Even if the pearls were found in front of him, he would not know the value of Melo pearls.
Are there not many examples of fishermen treating ambergris as ordinary stones? After Lin Long left, Zhang Ze continued to guard the kitchen, waiting for the coconut snails to be cooked.
As for whether the possible Melo Pearls will change color due to the high temperature, he is not worried.
The highest temperature in the country is only 100 degrees Celsius, which will not cause any changes to the beads.
Otherwise he would have taken out the beads directly without boiling them first.
The waiting time passed quickly. Zhang Ze opened the lid of the pot and poked the coconut snail meat with chopsticks. It was very elastic and seemed to be cooked.
Then he took the washbasin and placed it against the pot, and used a large spoon to push the coconut snails up.
The coconut snail was still steaming, but it was no big deal, so he simply poured cold water into it to cool it down.
After changing the water twice, the surface temperature of the coconut snail dropped to a level that was acceptable to the hands.
As for the high temperature inside, Zhang Ze couldn't care less about it for the time being. He didn't know how long it would take for it to cool down completely.
If it weren't for the need to preserve such a large shell, he wouldn't have gone through so much trouble.
Zhang Ze took out the coconut snail, wiped the moisture on the surface with a towel, then held the snail body with his right hand and reached in with his left hand to grab the snail meat.
"Drink~"
Using both hands, he tried to pull the entire snail meat out of the shell.
Pulling the snail meat is also a fun part of playing with coconut snails.
In later generations, some old ladies specialized in filming videos of pulling snail meat. They used all their strength to eat only a few kilograms of coconut snails.
Now, facing the coconut snail king weighing dozens of kilograms, Zhang Ze had to use all his strength to defeat it.
If someone else were to deal with such a large coconut snail, the shell would basically be smashed into pieces.
However, facing Zhang Ze's full-strength attack, the coconut snail only lasted half a minute before the entire piece of snail meat was pulled out.
"Hiss~ hot, hot, hot."
The moment it was pulled out, the snail tail also brought out a lot of the water inside.
Zhang Ze didn't expect that even after he cooled the water down, the temperature was still so high, and the back of his feet, which were wearing slippers, were immediately burned.
Fortunately, the burning sensation only lasted for a moment and passed quickly.
Putting the huge snail shell on the table, Zhang Ze took the snail meat back to the kitchen and picked up the kitchen knife.
(End of this chapter)
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