Reborn in the Millennium: Building a Fortune from Fishing

Chapter 555 Beachcombing

"Dahe, next time you go to the beach, you can bring back some big oysters. They're really delicious," Auntie said with a smile. Oysters are good for men's vitality, and she often buys them for her husband.

"Hmm." Qin Dahe nodded. There were still quite a few oysters on the beach. Local fishermen usually didn't bother with the medium-sized ones unless they were particularly large, because it wasn't worth the effort.

He turned to his wife and asked, "Yan'er, how about we go beachcombing at noon?"

"Going to the beach?" The girl's eyes lit up.

"Yes, the tidal bore receded in Dapeng at noon today, so there should be some stock available."

"Okay." The thought of going to the beach got her excited, and she turned to look at her mother expectantly, "Mom?"

"Go play, Dahe, keep an eye on things. I'll take care of the kids," Qin's mother said, both amused and exasperated.

This daughter-in-law is sometimes so naive and funny, even though she's only in her twenties.

"Little Lin is here too, perfect timing for your big brother to take you out for some fun."

Hearing this, Xiao Linzi turned and looked longingly at his aunt.

His expression amused everyone, so they naturally agreed.

When Xiao Linzi learned that he could go out to play, he jumped for joy.

He lives in Shenzhen, but he has never been to the beach in his life.

At most, I'll go to Shenzhen Bay Park to watch people collect mudskippers and crabs on the mudflats.

"Haha, there probably won't be many people today, which means we can have a great time."

The three of them, including Qin Dahe, were getting restless and wished they could fly to the seaside immediately. They even ate their meal a few minutes faster.

The two elders, seeing this, immediately asked the waiter to pack up the leftovers, as they had almost finished eating.

Then, the eldest aunt drove her mother and two children home in a Mercedes-Benz W14, while Qin Dahe and the others went directly to Dapeng.

He even made a phone call to Uncle Li halfway through, asking him to help arrange a spot for beachcombing.

All the beaches along the coast of the Pearl River Delta region are owned, and each area has its own fishing tycoon who is responsible for the sale of local fish catches, the delineation of fishing areas, and so on.

Alternatively, the village may be managed collectively, making it impossible for outsiders to get a share.

Qin Dahe brought his family here for fun, and that's why Uncle Li gave him face. The group of fishermen on the beach often have similar needs.

It's okay to lend a hand, but you won't pick up much stuff.

When they encounter a crazy catch while sea fishing, they sell their catch to the village, specifically to Uncle Li's stall.

This is no small sum; it's easy to double the price of fish caught at the beach and sell it to restaurants.

The restaurants were aware of this situation, and even the fish from the fishing boats were sold to the restaurants at double the price, but no outsiders had ever gotten involved in the seafood wholesale business.

Or someone might interfere, resulting in a complete loss of money. Of course, it's also possible that one's life will end at sea. Fishermen have their own set of rules.

When individual tourists go to the pier to buy wild seafood, the fishmongers won't sell it at the purchase price; they'll only sell it at the normal hotel price, thus preventing outsiders from interfering.

When they passed by a fishing tackle shop, Qin Dahe specially took the two of them to buy a set of equipment.

Straw hat, rubber boots, wire gloves, two red buckets, and a small shovel.

Going to the beach barehanded can easily lead to injury if you're not careful, so you must take precautions.

When he arrived at the beach, the scene was completely different from what he usually saw when he came to fish.

The rocky area is exposed down to its base, with rocks of various sizes still below.

There were a dozen or so fishermen wearing straw hats busy on the beach. As soon as Qin Dahe got out of the car, someone came over.

"Where are we from? Outsiders aren't allowed to come here to go beachcombing."

"Uncle, we've already greeted Uncle Li. We often come here to fish when the tide is high, and I brought my wife along for a bit of fun." He then slipped a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes into the man's pocket. "Heh, so you're Brother Li's friend." Seeing Yan Yan and Xiao Linzi come down, he knew they were a family. "You should go to the rocky area; there's more fish there."

A pack of Zhonghua cigarettes costs over sixty yuan; at least let someone get some to take home.

"No need, we'll just go to the mud stalls on the west side to pick up some things." Qin Dahe waved his hand and led his men over.

It's too dangerous for a woman and a child to go to the other side of the reef.

With the old man's permission, we passed through without any obstacles, as there was no one around on the mud stall side.

"Brother, what items are valuable?" Yan Yan asked excitedly as she walked along.

Xiao Linzi is the same way; he can't take it all in, and he finds everything fascinating.

"Wait a minute, this area belongs to someone else. I'll take you to collect seashells over there," he said with a smile.

There's hardly anything to be found when you're beachcombing normally; fishermen come every day at low tide, so there's simply not enough to store.

However, sea snails are still valuable. Large sea snails can cost tens of yuan per kilogram, as can sandworms, mantis shrimp, and other small creatures.

As for those who claim to catch grouper and eel, that's pure nonsense.

Even digging for sandworms and mantis shrimp requires bending over and working for quite a while to catch just one.

A pound of fish sells for tens of yuan; these fishermen are considered lucky if they earn a hundred or two hundred yuan per tidal wave.

Soon the three of them arrived at the mudflats. The mudflats by the sea were not soft beaches; they were covered with stones, mud, and a thick layer of seaweed.

The tide had already receded to its lowest point and would soon rise again. Qin Dahe led them to a point two meters from the shore and hurried them ashore.

"You can pick up anything you see, small sea snails, small crabs, but be careful not to fall."

"Yes, yes, I know, big brother." Xiao Linzi was very excited and went forward to catch a mudskipper.

This thing isn't worth much, but it's so much fun to bounce around like that.

Yan Yan is the same way; she specifically chooses animals that move.

Qin Dahe carried a shovel to collect oysters and conch; he brought all the oysters with him, unless they were empty.

I haven't decided on bait for tomorrow's sea fishing yet. Shrimp bricks cost 20 yuan, and I can't buy anything good with the remaining 30 yuan.

"Brother, I caught a crab!" Yan Yan said with a grin, holding up a small crab, the kind that runs incredibly fast like a stone crab.

And you know what? It's really hard for an average person to catch it.

"Great! See if you have any blue crabs. We'll steam one tonight."

What do blue crabs look like?

"It's bigger than this, and it tastes delicious."

The girl looked down and searched around, but couldn't find it.

"I'll take you to find it." Qin Dahe chuckled and beckoned Xiao Linzi to come along.

Here they're called blue crabs, but in Shanghai they're called mud crabs—they're the same species.

They like to burrow into mud or under obstacles, but there's still a chance to catch them if you do hard labor.

There were many stone slabs and rotten wood on the mud stall side. Qin Dahe was in charge of lifting things up, and then Yanyan and Xiaolinzi grabbed the goods under the stone slabs.

However, most of them don't have much to offer. Fishermen come here every time they go out to sea, and they only care about this little bit of income when they can go out to sea.

When the fishing boats go out to sea, the prices of these small items will plummet, making it unnecessary to come here to earn this hard-earned money.

I flipped over several more, and they were all conches and mudskippers. The fifth piece of rotten wood was a pleasant surprise when I found a small octopus hidden under it.

(End of this chapter)