Back to 1980: Farming the Sea and Expanding the Island

Lin Chuan and his father smiled at each other. Despite being tired, the fruitful results made them very happy.

"Dad, Uncle Wang, Uncle Li, let's rest for a while, pack up, and then we'll go back."

After packing up the fishing gear and resting for a while, it was already bright daylight. The sound of oars mixed with the jumping of the perch as Mr. Lin slowly rowed back with his famous oar.

Lin Chuan squeezed himself into the stern of the boat, took out the remaining half of a pancake from his pocket, took a bite, and smiled as he looked at the boat full of silvery fish.

The initial anxiety upon logging off the net had vanished, replaced by a sense of security. The cooperative had successfully navigated its first challenge.

The river breeze carried the fresh scent of fish and the chill of the morning, but it couldn't dispel the warm heat emanating from his body.

As we approached Sanhe Wharf, we saw Lin's mother and Wang Haiyue standing on tiptoe, peering out from the shore.

Standing beside him were Li Xinru and three men. Lin Chuan recognized them all; they were Li Xinru's second uncle, Li Shanheng, and the two men who had come to collect the fish last time.

Upon seeing the boat, Lin's mother and Wang Haiyue's worried expressions vanished. Wang Haiyue waved her arm and shouted, "Dad! Chuanzi! Xiao Pu is here!"

Lin Chuan waved with a smile, and as soon as the boat docked, he jumped off.

Li Xinru leaned closer, looked at the full hold of fish, punched Lin Chuan lightly, and exclaimed, "So many..."

Lin's father jumped off the bow of the boat and said with a smile, "Three boats can't hold it all. I estimate it must weigh close to two thousand catties."

As everyone jumped off the boat one after another, Li Shanheng walked forward with a smile and shook hands with Lin's father, saying, "Brother Lin, it's been a long time. You're amazing, truly amazing!"

Xinru told me last time that I hadn't paid much attention, and I thought Xiaochuan and the others were just lucky. I didn't expect you guys to actually master the technique of catching sea bass.

"Hahaha! It's all luck, luck."

"Xiao Chuan, well done." Li Shanheng praised Lin Chuan again with a smile, then looked at his nephew and said, "Xinru, you and Xiao Chuan are classmates, you learned the same things, so why don't you use them for good?"

Li Xinru was speechless at these words. She couldn't say anything to her second uncle, so she could only roll her eyes at Lin Chuan and let him figure it out himself.

Lin Chuan smiled and greeted Li Shanheng, "Hello, Uncle Li!"

"Alright, alright! Xiao Chuan, Brother Lin! You know the situation on my end."

Looking at the full hold of fish, Li Shanheng said with some difficulty, "I can only eat a maximum of six or seven hundred catties, eight hundred catties is the limit, I can't do any more than that."

Lin's father glanced at Lin Chuan and laughed, "Brother Shanheng, weigh out as much as you want. I won't let you force me to buy it. Just do as you and Xiao Chuan agree."

Li Shanheng was someone Lin Chuan had contacted beforehand. Lin Chuan wasn't very confident about how many fish they could catch; he was afraid of catching too many or too few.

Based on the previous catch of over 500 jin, Lin Chuan estimated a catch of 800 jin, which was all taken by Li Shanheng.

The family had discussed it together, and it was decided that Lin Chuan and Wang Haiyue would be in charge of selling the fish.

In Huiping Commune in 1980, very few individuals could handle such a large number of fish at once. Apart from the aquatic product supply and marketing station, the guesthouse behind Li Shanheng was the biggest customer.

Unlike county towns, there are hardly any decent private restaurants in the communes now.

If we were to actually get it to the county seat, not to mention transportation, even finding a way to get it would be another matter entirely.

Lin Chuan smiled and replied, "Uncle Li, please do as we agreed. I'll figure out the rest. If all else fails, we'll send it to the supply and marketing station."

Li Shanheng breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "Alright, Xiao Chuan, let's start weighing."

"Alright, Uncle!" Lin Chuan replied with a smile, then turned to Shui Houzi and Li Jiaye and said, "Houzi, Jiaye, give the spotted bass you picked to Uncle Li to weigh."

"Okay, Brother Chuan."

"No problem, Brother Chuanzi."

"Baocheng, hurry up and help carry all the fish up, sort them, and weigh them," Li Shanheng instructed from behind.

"Haiyue, come and lend a hand, let's clean the fish out quickly." Wang Pusheng jumped off the boat.

"Okay, Dad," Wang Haiyue replied and walked back.

In no time, everyone pitched in, and the 800-pound sea bass was quickly picked out, along with other cuttlefish and silverfish.

After watching the fish being weighed and packed, Li Shanheng smiled and handed Lin Chuan an extra 34 yuan of the 1,200 yuan he had prepared.

"Xiao Chuan, here's a total of 1,234 yuan. Please count it."

It was past noon, and there were far fewer people out and about at the dock than at the morning market. But when they heard that three boats of spotted sea bass had arrived at the dock, they all came to see what was going on.

At this moment, seeing Lin Chuan and his group carrying baskets of perch, people gathered around and started discussing it.

Seeing Li Shanheng pull out so many large coins, a sudden commotion arose, with everyone eyeing the boat full of perch and the large coins in Lin Chuan's hand with envy.

"So many spotted bass! Did we catch them in their feeding area?"

"Why are there so many? Which production team's fishing boat is this? Are so many fish being delivered to the free market?"

"It looks like it's from the Qingpingzhou production team."

"From Jiangxin Village..."

"Amazing, truly amazing! Old Zhang, look at these old wooden boats! They've caught so many sea bass just with these old wooden boats!"

"Look at all these large unison bills, they must cost over a thousand dollars!"

......

Lin's father, Wang Pusheng, and Li Jianshe concealed their excitement and silently blocked the way to prevent any accidents from happening.

After checking it over, Lin Chuan smiled and nodded, "Uncle is fine, thank you for taking care of me." Then Lin Chuan handed the money in his hand to his mother behind him.

Then he said, "Don't be busy at noon. Call Grandpa Li and my dad and the others. You should have a good drink together."

"Haha, Xiao Chuan, you're so kind. But it should be your uncle who's treating you. Let's go to my fish restaurant together at noon and try my cooking." Li Shanheng laughed heartily upon hearing this.

He patted Lin Chuan's arm and then smiled at Lin's father, "Brother Lin, it's settled then. Xinru will take you there at noon."

Without waiting for a reply, he took Song Jiacheng and rode away on a tricycle with the fish.

Lin Chuan watched Li Shanheng leave and smiled at his father, "Dad, Uncle Li has been a great help. You, Uncle Wang, and Uncle Li can have a good drink with him at noon."

"You, Li Zichuan, are just taking advantage of your numbers to bully the few," Li Xinru teased with a laugh.

"It's been a while since I've seen you, you've gotten even fatter. When are you and Jialing planning to have a baby?" Lin's father wasn't surprised by the task Lin Chuan gave him, as it was something they had already discussed.

Looking at Li Xinru, who was now somewhat rounder, she made a rare joke.

"Hey, Uncle Lin, it's still early." Li Xinru was a little embarrassed by the question.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd asked, "Do you sell these fish individually? If so, how do you sell them?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuan immediately replied, "Uncle sold them. You saw them just now." Lin Chuan picked up a large spotted bass, "They're all fresh spotted bass caught this morning."

Then he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Uncles and aunts, as you all know, a spotted bass costs two yuan a pound in the market now."

It's fate that we met everyone today. All the sea bass are priced at 1.8 yuan per jin (500g). If you buy more than 5 jin, get 1 mao off. If you buy 15 jin or more, it's 1.5 yuan per jin.