CHAPTER 354: CHAPTER 78: TAIHU CRAB SEEDLING (PART 3)

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"Where is Yezi heading to? Why has he stopped in this small town? There aren’t many train services around here," Ni Qiu was still not at ease, and asked another question.

"Going to Beijing, to find my..." Yezi was embarrassed to continue and his face turned red with shyness.

The men, still looking skeptical, all burst into laughter upon seeing Yezi’s demeanor; they had all been young before and understood what was going on with Yezi just by looking at him. Their wariness slightly dissipated.

"Going to Beijing, is it? I do business in Beijing myself. You seem to be unfamiliar with the place, so just come with me," proposed the man with the Henan accent, slapping his chest in invitation.

Yezi thought it over and agreed. Wandering aimlessly around the Beijing District, he still didn’t know how he would be able to find Xiao Xian, only knowing that Xiao Xian was studying at some school with "heart" in its name.

"Alright, I’ll trouble you then, Uncle," Yezi thought to himself that being a big guy and only carrying about a hundred bucks, what was there to fear about being sold? It was always good to have someone to look after him, so he readily accepted.

That night, Yezi ate more than a dozen crabs in one go, which made Ni Qiu and his buddies laugh non-stop.

The next morning, Yezi watched TV with Ni Qiu for a while at the place they were staying. Around noon, the uncle with the Henan accent (Yezi would later learn his name was Uncle Lu) finally returned.

As soon as he arrived, Ni Qiu couldn’t wait to ask: "Did you manage to buy them?"

"I did, this time it’s finally a success," Uncle Lu said delightedly. He had come to buy crab seedlings and had managed to find a supplier in town and negotiate a good price. Now he could start the journey back to Beijing.

"That’s great, Brother Lu. Now when you get back, you can strut proudly. Let’s see how that bastard monopolizes the Beijing river crab market," Ni Qiu cursed fiercely.

"Yeah, let’s not talk about that. Come and gain some experience, let’s see some authentic Taihu Crab Seedlings," Uncle Lu was in a good mood and didn’t mind that Yezi was an outsider. He took him along with Ni Qiu to see the crabs.

Before the festival last year, Uncle Lu had searched along the Taihu waterways for crab seedlings. After inquiring, he learned that this place, called Shangpei Town, had crabs and the local fishermen didn’t catch them.

So, Uncle Lu specially contacted several local old fishermen and collected dozens of kilograms of wild crab seedlings from last winter until after the Spring Festival.

The crab seedlings Yezi saw were densely packed and, compared to the medium-sized ones he ate the night before, these could only be described as tiny.

One kilogram of crab seedlings could contain about 50 to 200 individuals. The growth of crabs is similar to shellfish. Juvenile crabs are much smaller than adults and grow larger with each molt, like blowing up air.

Comparing the crab seedlings caught before and after the new year, the size difference was several times larger.

"Uncle Lu, are you going to take all these crabs back to Beijing?" Yezi picked up a crab seedling and shook his head: "No, it won’t work. Although I haven’t raised this kind of crab, I used to catch shrimp in the creeks back in my hometown. I think raising them should be somewhat similar. These aquatic animals can’t withstand high temperatures, and you have to be careful not to raise them together; otherwise, they’ll cannibalize each other. By the time you reach Beijing, there may not be many left alive."

After listening to Yezi’s words, Uncle Lu and Ni Qiu were both stunned. How could this kid’s words sound exactly like what the local fishermen said? Was he really just a young man from the mountains?

"No worries, I’ve already figured out a way. I’ve chartered a train carriage, and I’ll make sure there are ventilation holes inside. As for the damages to the crabs, your Uncle Ni Qiu has come up with a solution. We can put some Ni Qiu fish with the crab seedlings, and with them thrashing around, the crabs will safely make it to Beijing," said Uncle Lu, along with Ni Qiu and a few others who came, all of whom were breeding experts from various fields.

Years ago, Ni Qiu and Uncle Lu had taken a lucrative breeding class at the Agricultural Science Academy together.

After completing the course, one went south and the other roamed north, cultivating different economic animals, but both relied on their solid breeding techniques and hard-working nature to become wealthy.

If not for the rise of a competing new arrival, the two of them might not have met again to work out a new plan together.

"That’s good," Yezi said, throwing the crab back into the breeding nest.

After purchasing the crab seedlings, Uncle Lu and Ni Qiu and the others parted ways at the Shangpei train station.

Uncle Lu personally carried several boxes of crabs into the freight carriage. Once everything was settled, he took Yezi onto the passenger carriage.

"Yezi, Beijing is a wonderful place. Let Uncle Lu tell you all about it," Uncle Lu said with a smile, guiding Yezi to their seat and began to chat with him about the customs and people of Beijing.

The train, carrying crab seedlings and Yezi filled with hopes, traveled from south to north, crossing half of China, heading straight for Beijing.

In the outskirts of Beijing, Yanqing, not far from Xiao Xian’s new home, at a dairy feed factory, a man in his thirties was scolding the managers: "What’s going on with you people? How did the milk output drop by a full eighty percent last month? And what’s up with the cows and sheep in the shed? Lying there all limp? Didn’t you feed them enough fodder?"

**

I have written up to 500,000 words to this day.

Yesterday while reviewing the draft, I felt suddenly restless.

Next week there might be no recommendation ticket runs.

It’s possible that it’ll change to second night watch updates.

I’ll rest on the weekend, to see if I can recover my state.

If I can, I will maintain the third watch updates.

Thank you to all who have been supporting me with your genuine subscriptions and generous recommendation tickets.

It’s all of you who have supported me to keep going, thank you.

**(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to send recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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