The mudflats in the southeast corner of Qianhai Town are very large. How large are they? Well, they are so large that when the tide is completely out, if you stand on the road and look into the distance, you can hardly see the sea level.
Along the way, you can see many fishermen walking on the mudflats, occasionally wielding hoes to turn over the silt, searching for mudskippers.
On the mudflats, many women could be seen moving through the mangroves on the south side, picking olives.
Upon arriving at the location, Li Xindong carried his bicycle to the shore, locked it, and then went down into the mudflats with his tools to start working, while Xu An stood by the roadside and looked out.
In my past life, I had only heard that the village had started raising mudskippers, on this mudflat in the southeast corner.
After working for three years, they earned a lot of money. Every household in Xujia Village built a new house and bought a new electric vehicle. The village also built a small square for them, so Aunt Hong and the others could dance together after dinner. Their living standards improved a lot.
If they can continue working like this, Xujia Village will eventually be able to afford cars.
However, Xujia Village was not the only one that contracted this mudflat. More than a dozen villages of varying sizes, such as Majia Village and Yanjia Village, contracted it together, with Xujia Village only occupying a small portion of it.
Compared to Xujia Village, other villages, with their larger populations, formed cliques and caused a lot of trouble. In the end, no one would submit to anyone else, and they started to do whatever they wanted to sabotage each other.
Today I'll tear off a corner of your greenhouse so seabirds can feast inside; tomorrow I'll block the seawater inlet to your aquaculture farm, preventing seawater from entering during high tide; the day after tomorrow I'll throw some rotten fish and shrimp into your greenhouse.
After all that fuss, everyone got angry and started plotting something malicious.
Regardless of whether I gain anything, I'll be happy as long as you suffer.
There are many villages, and there are honest people, but usually, hardworking and honest people don't have a say in these matters.
The second year's profits were only 70% of the first year's, which intensified the darker side of everyone's hearts.
In the third year, all sorts of methods were used openly, even the most absurd thing like pouring pesticides into the aquaculture fields.
No one dares to mess with Xujia Village, but in tidal flat aquaculture, the principle is that everyone prospers or suffers together.
When the tide comes in, the pesticides that were originally only sprayed on one aquaculture field are not only carried by the seawater to every aquaculture field, but also into the sea.
After several days of receding tides, countless dead fish and shrimp appeared on the mudflats, creating a stench that filled the air.
So, the rural development project, which had been a great success in its first year and even received an interview from the city's television station, ended up being abruptly abandoned.
Now, in August 2012, this mudflat was still unclaimed; it was so clean, so clear, and the scent of the sea was so pure.
If mudskipper farming was a great success three years later, then it should be no problem to do it three years earlier.
Xu An took out his phone and started searching for mudskipper farming cases, discovering that several other coastal cities in China had already started mudflat aquaculture.
In addition to tidal flat aquaculture, there is also shallow sea net enclosure aquaculture, and deep sea bamboo raft and buoy-suspended aquaculture.
The ocean has become a maritime ranch for humankind.
The only remaining question is how to tell my second grandfather about this reliable development model at the right time, in the right place, and in the right way?
If we can link tidal flat aquaculture with the current rural industry support initiatives, and with policy support and some achievements, will the road ahead for Xujia Village be easier than it was in the past?
September 1st, there are still half a month left, I need to think of a way to let my second grandfather know about the feasibility of mudflat aquaculture as soon as possible.
Xu An put his phone back in his pocket and was about to leave when he looked up and saw the women picking olives in the mangrove forest.
Thinking of the taste of cooked olives, Xu An couldn't help but swallow and called out to the woman closest to the shore.
"Auntie, how many olives have you picked? Are you selling them? How much per pound? I'd like to buy some to try!"
"Selling for money, twenty yuan a pound, how much do you want?" The aunt stopped picking the fruit, struggled to pull her feet out of the mud, and walked step by step toward Xu An.
"How much have you picked? I want three to five pounds."
"Yes, wait a moment."
The aunt walked to the shore, left with those words, and then left. Less than three minutes later, she reappeared in front of Xu An, this time with an old-fashioned weight in her hand.
"Six pounds in total, do you want it all?"
"I'll take them all." Xu An generously bought all the olive coins.
When Grandma Xu saw the money in Xu An's hand after he returned home with the money, she showed a hint of disgust on her face.
During the great famine, olives were eaten as a staple food by the people living by the sea.
Wash it clean, soak it to remove the bitterness, steam it and eat it directly. Many times, no salt is added. Even if it tastes bad, you have to force yourself to swallow it. You have to eat it if you want to live.
Grandma Xu was one of these people back then. It was around this time that she got sick of eating olive coins, and she couldn't control the expression on her face whenever she saw olive coins.
That memory is truly unforgettable.
Xu An's method was naturally not as crude as that of that era. He found a small knife, gently cut open the outer skin of the olive, took out the fuzzy core inside and threw it away. This core was the source of the bitterness.
After processing all the olives in this way, wash them twice and put them in a pot. Add water to cover the surface of the olives, cover the pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then turn off the heat. After the water cools down, take out the olives and soak them in clean water. Repeat this process three times, soaking them until the next morning to completely remove the bitterness.
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