RBCT Chapter 53
Chapter 53
Chen Zheng went upstairs and pushed open the door.
The dormitory was converted from an old classroom. There were eight bunk beds in one room, housing more than a dozen people.
Chen Rong's bed was by the window, the quilt was folded neatly, and there was a stack of books on the headboard.
Chen Feng was doing his homework on the lower bunk when he saw his brother come in. He threw down his pen and jumped up from the bed.
"elder brother!"
Chen Zheng stuffed a handkerchief bag into his hand.
The handkerchief contained a few pieces of homemade sesame candy.
The sesame seeds are roasted until fragrant, and the syrup is cooked until thick and sticky.
Chen Feng opened his handkerchief bag and handed one to a short classmate in the upper bunk.
The student took the candy and wolfed it down, apparently because he didn't usually have many snacks.
"Where's your brother Rong?" Chen Zheng asked.
"I went to the library."
He said there was a chemistry interest group in the afternoon, and the teacher talked about eight experiments to produce oxygen. He was going to look up the information.
As Chen Feng spoke, he took another piece of sesame candy, stuffed it into his mouth, and puffed out his cheeks.
Chen Zheng noticed a math workbook lying next to Chen Feng's textbook.
Turn to the page with the folded corner, and there's a big "78" marked in red pen.
Seventy-eight points is more than ten points higher than the entrance exam score; this kid has been working hard.
He took two yuan out of his pocket and put it into Chen Feng's pencil case.
"Buy something nice to eat, don't just eat steamed buns."
Chen Feng's eyes lit up when he saw the two yuan, then dimmed again, and he pushed the money back.
The young man who had remained silent until now suddenly spoke up:
"Brother, Fengzi and I help wash dishes in the school cafeteria, and we can earn two yuan a month."
"I have enough for living expenses, you don't need to give me any more."
Chen Zheng was stunned for a moment.
The junior high school cafeteria does have work-study positions, where students wash dishes for an hour each at noon and in the evening.
I can earn a few dollars a month.
Chen Rong signed up himself and even brought Chen Feng along to work with him.
He pushed the two yuan back in front of Chen Feng: "Then buy reference books. Study hard."
Chen Feng accepted the money and whispered, "Brother, I know."
Rong-ge tutors me in math every day. He says I'm smart enough, just careless.
"Brother, Rong said he wants to go to a university in the provincial capital and become a teacher like Teacher Zhao..."
Looking at Chen Feng's serious expression, Chen Zheng suddenly realized that the kid had grown up quite a bit.
He placed his hand on Chen Feng's shoulder and patted him hard.
At this moment, Chen Rong returned.
He had a thick book tucked under his arm. When he saw Chen Zheng, he paused for a moment, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
Say something like, "Brother, you've arrived."
Chen Zheng handed the junior high school math reference book he had brought to Chen Rong.
He then took out twenty yuan from his pocket and stuffed it into Chen Rong's hand.
Just as Chen Rong was about to decline, Chen Zheng pressed his hand down.
Chen Rong looked down at the wad of banknotes in his hand, his lips twitched, and finally he only said:
"Brother, how's the fishpond at home?"
"It's doing great. Experts from the province just came to visit and said our fish are doing very well."
Next spring, we'll dig two more ponds to make a total of six acres of water surface.
Chen Rong's eyes lit up: "Six mu? How many fish fry would that require?"
"Four thousand or more."
"Four thousand fish..." Chen Rong calculated in his mind, "If they are harvested by the end of the year, we can get more than six thousand catties of fish."
"Pretty much," Chen Zheng said. "So next year you two can focus on your studies and don't need to worry about things at home."
Chen Rong nodded, carefully folded the twenty yuan, and put it into his inner pocket.
"Brother, my chemistry teacher said that the dissolved oxygen level in the water used for raising fish can be increased by electrolysis."
It involves passing electricity into the water to break down water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen dissolves in the water, so the fish stop surfacing.
Chen Zheng was stunned for a moment.
He had seen the electrolysis method for oxygenation in the book "Freshwater Fish Aquaculture" that Zhou Haiming gave him, but that required specialized equipment that was simply unavailable in rural areas.
I never expected that this would be covered in my junior high school chemistry class.
"The teacher even teaches this?"
"It was mentioned when discussing redox reactions."
The teacher said this is university-level chemistry content, but gave an example to help everyone understand the application of redox reactions.
Chen Zheng looked at Chen Rong, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind.
This kid learns things not just for exams, but to apply them.
After learning about electrolysis in chemistry class, he immediately thought of using it to increase oxygen levels in fishponds.
This ability to apply knowledge to new situations is something not everyone possesses.
He suppressed the idea and simply said, "Okay, let's try it together when you come back for winter break."
Chen Rong's lips curled up slightly.
He opened the book he had borrowed from the library, pointed to a page, and said, "Brother, I found something else."
Tree tongue and oak mushroom contain a polysaccharide that can enhance human immunity.
My chemistry teacher looked up some information for me and said that this polysaccharide is called fungal polysaccharide, and that it has already been extracted and used in medicine in Japan.
"Don't rush to sell all the acorns from those old oak trees on our mountain; keep one or two for later."
Chen Zheng took the book and glanced at that page.
The book is a popular science book on organic chemistry, which introduces the research progress of fungal polysaccharides in simple language.
Although the content is very simple, it is already quite an achievement for a second-year junior high school student to be able to understand these things and connect them with the actual situation at home.
"Rongzi, you're on the right track."
Chen Zheng closed the book and handed it back to Chen Rong, saying, "Study more and ask more questions. Whether it's chemistry or biology, as long as it's related to our work, think about it more."
The two brothers chatted for a few more minutes.
The sun was already setting in the west when a whistle sounded from the playground, signaling the physical education teacher to urge the students to gather and return to their dormitories.
Chen Rong said a few more words reluctantly before taking the book inside.
After leaving the county's No. 1 High School, Chen Zheng went to the post office in the east of the city and made a phone call to Guo Changlin.
Guo Changlin said on the phone that the wholesale price of aquatic products in the provincial capital had risen again.
The price of crucian carp has risen to 1.5 yuan per jin, bream to 1.6 yuan, and grass carp to 1.9 yuan.
He asked Chen Zheng if he could get a batch of fish out before the end of the year, even if it was just a few hundred kilograms, because they were running out of stock in the provincial capital.
Chen Zheng made a mental calculation.
The fish in the pond, the silver carp and bighead carp are almost a pound each, and the grass carp and black carp are all over half a pound each.
If we select the larger ones to ship first, we can probably get about 300 jin (150 catties).
However, catching fish at this time is risky. The water temperature is low, the fish are less active, and netting can easily damage their scales.
Fish with damaged scales don't fetch a good price and are more susceptible to bacterial infections.
"Manager Guo, it's possible to get the fish out ahead of schedule, but the quantity will be small, around 300 catties."
The remaining fish will be harvested from the ponds around the winter solstice, as originally planned.
"Three hundred catties is fine! Mainly crucian carp and bream, the larger ones. I'll buy as many as you have, and the price will be the highest grade."
"Okay. I'll have someone come and pull up the nets next Saturday. You can come and check the goods then."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Zheng sat on the wooden bench in the post office for a while, pondering the details of getting the fish out ahead of schedule.
The netting operation requires manpower, at least three people.
He had to include Zhang Jianguo and Li Quan as well. Li Quan had helped pull the net a few times before; he was skilled and wouldn't hurt the fish.
The mesh size of a seine net is one size smaller than that of a regular fishing net.
Because the fish in the pond are more uniform in size than the fish in the lake, it is easy for the fish to leak through if the mesh of the net is too large.
The net should be pulled with less force than it would in the lake, to avoid damaging the fish.
He had learned these details in Zhou Haiming's training course, but he had not actually tried them in practice.
Upon returning to the village, he first went to see Zhang Jianguo.
Zhang Jianguo was chopping firewood in the yard when he heard that the fish were going to be caught early, so he put down his axe and ran to the fishpond with Chen Zheng.
The two men re-inspected the pond embankment to confirm that the sluice gate at the outlet opened and closed smoothly.
They took the net out of the bamboo sieve and examined it; the mesh was intact.
Chen Zheng explained the details of pulling the net to Zhang Jianguo.
Zhang Jianguo listened attentively, nodding from time to time.
"The force when pulling the net should be even, not sudden. The more the fish struggles in the water, the more scales it will lose."
"The quality isn't good anymore, so we'll sell it for several cents less per pound."
"Alright. Don't you trust the strength I use to pull the net? My dad says my net-pulling technique is among the best in the whole village."
Chen Zheng smiled.
Zhang Jianguo is usually carefree, but he becomes serious when it comes to work, just like his father, Zhang Laohan.
The next day, he went to Lijiawan to find Li Quan again.
Li Quan was scattering feed by the fishpond when he heard that the fish were to be harvested ahead of schedule. He paused for a moment and asked, "Harvesting the fish now?"
The water temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius, the fish are not very active, and there's a significant risk involved in using a net. Are you sure you want to do it?
"The provincial capital urgently needs the goods, and the price is 10% higher than at the end of the year. There are risks, but the returns are also high."
Li Quan thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay. I'll go over on Saturday."
By the way, you should stop feeding the fish the day before you put the net in the water to allow their intestines to empty.
When the net is being pulled in, the fish don't defecate, so the water doesn't become cloudy, and the fish are less likely to get injured.
Chen Zheng kept these words in mind.
The training course materials did not cover the detail of fasting and cleansing the intestines.
It is an experience that Li Quan himself has gained from years of practical experience in fish farming.
After returning home, he wrote down the events of the past few days in his notebook.
The data on the fishpond water quality has been recorded in a thick stack.
On the last page of his notebook, he drew a graph, marking the changes in transparency, water temperature, and feeding amount from August to the present.
The trends of the three curves are clear at a glance.
Early Saturday morning, Li Quan arrived on his bicycle, with a bundle of netting tied to the back seat.
The mesh is a size smaller than that of a regular fishing net; he wove it himself.
Zhang Jianguo was already squatting on the bank, holding the rope in his hand and with half a steamed bun in his mouth.
Chen Zheng stopped eating the day before yesterday afternoon.
The fish occasionally surfaced on the pond's surface in the early morning before sinking back down.
The activity level was lower than usual, but there was no stress response.
Li Quan dipped his hand into the water to test the temperature, then parted the water plants along the pond bank to examine the muddy color at their roots.
He nodded: "The water's fine. Go ahead."
The three men each pulled one end of the net: Zhang Jianguo on the left, Li Quan on the right, and Chen Zheng in the middle controlling the depth of the net.
When the net was lowered into the water, the fish did not scatter violently, but slowly retreated to the deeper water.
Halfway through pulling the net, the head of the net started to shake.
Several crucian carp leaped out of the water, their scales gleaming brightly in the morning light.
"Slow down! Slow down!" Li Quan whispered, "The net is too tight, loosen it a foot!"
Zhang Jianguo loosened the rope by a foot, the shaking of the net head slowed down, the fish turned over in the net and then stabilized.
When the net was pulled ashore, about three hundred crucian carp and bream were thrashing about inside, splashing water everywhere.
Chen Zheng squatted down and quickly sorted the fish, putting the good ones in one basket and the smaller ones in another.
Watching Chen Zheng's technique for selecting fish, Li Quan muttered to himself that the speed of hand movements is crucial when using a net to select fish; the faster you go, the fewer scales you lose.
Chen Zheng didn't look up, but his hands moved even faster.
Two hundred and forty catties of good quality crucian carp and bream were weighed and paid for on the spot by Guo Changlin's purchasing agent. At the highest price in the provincial capital, the crucian carp was sold for 1.5 yuan and the bream for 1.6 yuan, for a total of more than 370 yuan.
The slightly inferior quality fruit, weighing around forty jin, was delivered to Master Qian's processing point and sold at the general price, for which he received another thirty-odd yuan.
There were over four hundred pieces in total.
This income was not included in the annual plan and was a pleasant surprise.
He deposited the money at the Agricultural Bank branch in town. The teller was a round-faced girl who glanced at him as she took the banknotes and passbook.
It's rare to see farmers in their town depositing money this month.
The number on the passbook has increased again.
With a savings of over two thousand yuan, a family in Lutang Village in 1984 was considered quite well-off.
But Chen Zheng knew in his heart that next spring, he would have to spend money to dig ponds, buy fish fry, and purchase equipment.
With the loan of 1,000 yuan plus this deposit, he could first dig the new pond, stock it with enough fish fry, and equip it with all the necessary equipment.
As for the subsequent costs of feed and mandarin fish breeding experiments, they will have to be covered by mountain produce and soft-shelled turtles from Nanwan next spring.
On the morning before the winter solstice, Chen Zheng went to the fishpond to measure the water temperature and wrote down in his notebook: December 21st, water temperature 4.5 degrees Celsius, transparency 40 centimeters.
The water temperature has dropped below five degrees Celsius.
He closed the inlet gate slightly to reduce the water flow rate to a minimum.
The straw piled on the pond embankment was already bundled up, and the bamboo poles were also sharpened, ready to be laid on the pond once the water surface froze.
The water depth in the deep water area is still 2.1 meters, enough for the fish to overwinter.
The few goji berry trees by the pond embankment have lost all their leaves, leaving only red berries hanging on the bare branches, swaying in the cold wind.
He squatted on the bank of the pond, watching a thin layer of white mist rise from the water.
Suddenly, I thought that the fishpond his father dug at the east end of the village back then, if it had been dug, would probably look just like this.
Straw was piled on the embankment, aquatic plants floated on the surface of the pond, and several holes were drilled in the ice, allowing schools of fish to swim slowly in the deep water.
What his father couldn't accomplish, he accomplished, and he did it even better than his father had imagined.
With over three acres of water and more than a thousand fish fry, the survival rate exceeded 90%. A batch of fish was sold before winter, fetching over 400 yuan.
The remaining fish spend the winter quietly in the deep water, waiting to grow again next spring.
"Dad didn't finish the job that year because he couldn't manage it all by himself."
He stood up and patted the dirt off his knees.
"Now I have a group of people."
Zhang Jianguo can pull the rope and net, Liu Jiawang can draw diagrams and listen to the water, Chen Rong can explore the bottom and cultivate medicinal herbs, and Li Quan can exchange technologies and share resources.
Zhou Haiming, Zhao Deming, and Ma Yuanchao are people with knowledge, skills, and connections.
Master Qian, Guo Changlin, the supply and marketing cooperative, and the processing point are both sales channels and markets.
Seven land deeds, three fish ponds, guidance from provincial experts, and an employment letter from the county aquatic products company.
The agricultural bureau's support loans are the foundation.
Thinking about it more deeply,
Without these people, relying solely on his family's fishing skills and his physical strength, he would probably have only been able to repeat his father's mistakes.
They spend all year on the lake, earning a little more during the fishing season and tightening their belts during the off-season.
How could I dare to think about expanding the scale, breeding mandarin fish seedlings, or entering the provincial capital market?
He reached out to test the water temperature; the icy lake water crept up his fingertips, causing his fingers to twitch slightly.
This winter wasn't too cold, but the wind on the lake was already biting.
In the distance, in the reed marshes of Nanwan, the last flock of wild ducks had already flown away.
On the Winter Solstice, Zhang Cuihua made dumplings.
The filling is made of cabbage and pork, and the dough is hand-rolled. It's served piping hot after cooking.
Old Chen scooped a bowl of his homemade rice wine from the jar and poured a cup for Chen Zheng.
"When your grandfather was alive, he would drink three bowls of dumpling soup every winter solstice, saying that the winter solstice was as important as the New Year."
Old Chen held the rough porcelain bowl, looking at the dumpling soup inside under the kerosene lamp.
"If he were still alive, he'd drink four bowls of wine today. Your generation is better than he was back then."
That afternoon, after finishing discussing the processing point, Master Qian lit a cigarette and changed the subject to Lin Xiaoyun.
He said that Xiaoyun will take the college entrance exam next year, and with her grades, she's almost guaranteed to get into a university in the provincial capital, but the best ones are all in Beijing.
Although her father didn't say it, he still wanted her to go to a school in Beijing.
The cost of living in Beijing is high, and Lao Lin's salary is barely enough to support him.
Chen Zheng put down his teacup but didn't respond.