Fisherman Fubao made his fortune by fishing

After the shells were arranged, Li Meir began to clean the whale meat, wash the rice, and prepare lunch.

A handful of old rice is cooked separately and fed to newborn manatees.

Looking at the small handful of stale rice left, Li Meier sighed, "I can only hold out for three days at most. I hope the whale meat will sell well in three days, otherwise we will not be able to make ends meet."

There are three patients at home, all waiting to be recuperated, especially Fan Xiaojuan, who is in confinement. She suffered from difficult labor and hemorrhage, which damaged her foundation. If she is not well taken care of, the doctor said that she will not live long.

"It will be almost done. Let's make an effort. We will be fine as long as we get through this." Li Yuer encouraged.

She lifted the lid of the wicker pot and stirred the isinglass with chopsticks. It had basically melted into a lump and the heat was just right.

Natural isinglass is of good quality, high viscosity and milky white color. In later generations, isinglass, as a tonic for women, was sold at sky-high prices.

It is absolutely impossible to use it as glue.

One disadvantage of natural glue is that it is afraid of high temperatures, so it will degrade if overheated.

Therefore, Li Yuer planned to use iron wire or iron nails to connect the candlesticks, which happened to be connected up and down, and vertical nails were very suitable.

Other complex parts do not need to be exposed to open flames, so isinglass is very suitable for gluing.

"Sister Mei, stop the fire. We can take it out of the pot when it cools down."

When Li Meir saw the white and sticky fish maw, a smile appeared on her lips. It was basically done.

Li Dalang, who was standing by, stretched his neck and asked, "What delicious food are you two sisters making?"

The two sisters looked at each other, and Li Yuer said evasively: "I'm making porridge for my little brother. The child is small, so it should be cooked softer."

Li Dalang didn't care. In just a short while, he had woven three large square wicker baskets specifically for storing whale meat.

Li Dalang was very skillful. He wove several handles on the edge of each basket, so one wicker basket could be carried by up to four people.

He clapped his hands and muttered, "I'll go see Uncle San. It's time to go to the bathroom."

Li Laoer and Li Laosan, one had a broken leg, and the other was beaten so hard that he couldn't get out of bed. They both needed someone to take care of them at all times.

Li Dalang was the man that Old Man Li specially left at home to take care of his two uncles.

It was cold, and the isinglass cooled quickly. Li Yuer tried it with her hand and it was warm, just right. If it got any cooler, it would become hard.

"Sister Mei'er, pour the isinglass into the pestle and crush it."

Li Meir did as she was told and mashed the fish maw into small pieces, almost turning it into a paste.

The pounded isinglass is one step closer to becoming gelatin, and the last step is to squeeze out the gelatin.

Li Yuer found a clean small jar, made of rough celadon, which was the dowry that Old Mrs. Cai brought from her parents' home. It was a bit old and had some tiny cracks on it.

Old Mrs. Cai treasured it very much on weekdays. She would only take it out to pack pickles for ancestor worship during festivals.

Li Mei'er was a little hesitant, but Li Yu'er said, "There's no other way. This is the only suitable one. When we make money, we'll buy a lot of white porcelain for grandma."

Li Meir reached out to take the ceramic tube, carefully placed it on the chopping board, and wrapped the pounded isinglass with white linen as Li Yuer said.

The pores of linen are large and suitable for filtering things. She squeezed the fish glue bag slowly and forcefully, and the white fish glue flowed slowly along the bottom of the cloth bag into the ceramic jar.

The combination of clean and white colors is really beautiful and makes people feel better.

Li Yu'er clapped her hands, her eyes smiling into crescent shapes, "It's done!"

After making the glue, Li Meir quickly started to cook. Hainiu'er's porridge was already cooked, but there was only one old iron pot at home, so other people's meals would have to wait in line.

Li Meir watched the fire while Li Yuer made the shell candlesticks.

Li Yuer taught patiently while she was doing it. She was still young and had limited energy, so her cousin would have to be the main force in production in the future.

"You need to choose shells that have been washed well by sea water and have a glossy look. If there are particularly good-looking ones, you can also process them later if they have slight flaws."

In modern society, there are special shell polishes, but there are none here. If it doesn't work, vinegar will work. But you need to control the time and amount of vinegar, because if you soak the shells for too long, they will become useless.

In modern society, marine resources are scarce, and the good shells on the coastal beaches have basically been picked up. Some are used to make handicrafts, some are sold directly to customers for DIY, and some are even crushed to use as fertilizer.

The remaining ones with defects, such as parasitic vine shells, oyster shells, dull surfaces, etc., need to be processed later.

The marine resources of this era were extremely rich, and shells were everywhere on the beach.

Seawater is a natural polishing agent. Shells that have been exposed to the long-term natural effects of seawater have a more natural and soft luster that cannot be matched by artificial polishing agents.

Li Yuer pointed to a scallop shell on the base and said, "Apply isinglass here, place it on a flat chopping board, and then place the lamppost shell on top."

Li Yuer picked up the cat's eye snail that she had selected in advance and gently pressed it to stick to the scallop shell at the base.

Li Meir listened carefully and memorized the steps silently. She learned very quickly and sometimes could draw inferences from what she learned and come up with some of her own opinions.

Li Yuer held the cat's eye snail with his hands for a while and said, "Wait until the glue sticks, then you can let go."

Isinglass is relatively viscous. The colder the weather, the faster it dries. If it is too hard for next use, just heat it in water.

After gluing the two lamp posts in order, Li Yuer picked up an iron nail with tongs and slowly drilled and polished a scallop shell.

Soon, a hole was drilled in the scallop shell.

Li Mei'er looked outside the kitchen shed and saw that Li Dalang had not returned. She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This time, we took a big risk. We not only stole grandma's porcelain jar, but also stole the iron nails used to repair the boat at home."

Fishing boats need constant repair and maintenance during their use. No matter how poor a fisherman's family is, they must have iron nails on hand as they are indispensable at critical moments.

There is an old saying: A rotten boat still has three pounds of nails. Although it does not apply to the usage scenario, it illustrates the importance of nails to the boat. The iron nails connect the key points of the hull.

Otherwise, why would you buy such expensive iron products for such a rotten ship?

Iron was a product controlled by the imperial court, and ironware circulated among the people was not cheap.

"Sister Mei'er, don't worry. I'm here. It's okay. Once the oil lamps are sold, we can definitely exchange them for a lot of porcelain jars and iron nails.

Besides, it’s winter now, so we don’t need these. They won’t know about them, so we just hide them.”

At this point, Li Meir could only let it go.

Half an hour later, the porridge was ready and sticky, and Li Yuer's first shell lampstand was also ready.

"Sister Mei'er, quickly bring the oil lamp over and replace it with this one."

Li Mei'er served the porridge and placed it on a wooden board. She turned her head and glanced at the shell oil lamp, and was surprised: "It's ready so quickly?"

Then, her eyes lit up and she couldn't help but exclaimed: "This, this is so beautiful."

The first oil lamp, with its pink and purple color combination, lustrous shell luster, and staggered visual experience, immediately captured Li Meir's heart.

"This is no worse than the decorations in the town."

Li Meir had never seen high-end items in the jewelry shop, but she had seen the ornaments at the dock. She thought they were beautiful in the past, but now compared with the lampstand in front of her, they were both expensive and ugly.

"wait me back."

She hurried into the boat to bring rice porridge to the manatee. It had been half a day and the child was getting hungry. He must be hungry now.

Li Yuer looked at the shell oil lamp carefully, checking to see if there was anything missing.

The shell oil lamps she made can not only be used to light lamps with oil, but also as candlesticks, aromatherapy burners, or just be used as ornaments without anything in them, and they all look beautiful.