Return To 1977 Chapter 181: The value of abalone
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The meal was enjoyable and the wine was enjoyable. Later, eight bottles of white wine were served, and the table was not cleared until six o'clock.
So that day, except for "Lao Daoyu" who was not drunk, and "Xiaobaizi" and "Haigouzi", the two youngest half-year-old children, the rest of the "Hai Bangzi" all drank too much. . In the end, no one left, and the group spent the night at the house of "Old Saury".
Drinking is actually the same as diving. It almost follows the rules of physical fitness. Therefore, although "general", "Hong Yanwu" and "Chen Liquan" were all the primary targets for torture, Hong Yanwu was the first to get down, followed closely by the general.
Fortunately, Chen Liquan persisted until the end, and gloriously "died" together with several drunken boys, but they were not left alone after all.
That night, "Sanjizi" and "Bachu" were so drunk that they couldn't even stay in bed. When they woke up the next morning, they found each other rolling on the ground.
"Flying Crab" even hugged a paulownia tree in the yard and refused to let go. While vomiting, he climbed up the tree like a monkey, insisting that he was a **** and wanted to go to heaven to meet Chang'e.
Even the most self-controlled "Shrimp Crawler" was doomed. He woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to go home. As a result, he crawled around the yard for an hour without finding the yard door. In the end, he was forced to come out to pee in the middle of the night. "Xiaobaizi" found out and woke up "Seagouzi", and they helped him back into the house together.
Anyway, when they woke up early the next morning, almost everyone was still hungover and had a severe headache.
However, despite being unwell, the "Old Sabry" couple also kindly tried to persuade them to stay. However, because everyone missed their mother and their home, they went their separate ways after breakfast.
Before leaving, Hong Yanwu did not forget to advance a "salary" to each of the "sea cucumbers" living in the nearby fishing village as an advance fee for collecting sea cucumbers.
This made those boys so happy that they promised to bring more dried ginseng with them.
Hong Yanwu, Chen Liquan and "Xiaobaizi" also shared the 600 kilograms of abalone shells with the three people who lived in the city, "General", "Sanjianzi" and "Xiapaizi". Taking the fruits of "Old Saber's" labor from the last time he "touched the sea", he embarked on the road back to Bincheng.
As for "Old Saury", because he wanted to stay and continue to take care of drying sea cucumbers, he did not follow him into the city this time.
Needless to say, the main task of Hong Yanwu and the others this time is to sell these abalone shells and the sea cucumbers in stock of the "sea bumpers" in the hands of the "general" in exchange for start-up funds for speculating on sea cucumbers.
When it comes to the value of abalone, we need to say a few more words first.
There is almost nothing that people in modern society don’t know about abalone. Everyone knows that this thing is not a fish, but actually a shellfish, a sea treasure comparable to shark fins.
But people nowadays don’t know that the reason why abalone is so famous and famous is mainly because after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it came into the limelight following a major historical event. The reason why he achieved the status he has today.
That was in 1972, when US President Richard Nixon visited China. This is the first time since the Cold War that China and the United States have broken open the ice of super diplomacy. Our Prime Minister personally assigned the task to ***, which is to require abalone from the Liaodong Peninsula to be used at the state banquet for foreign guests. Because the sea water at 39 degrees north latitude is neither cold nor hot, it is most suitable for the growth of abalone.
After the mission was assigned to Zhangzi Island in the Yellow Sea, the local people were full of glory and pride. Although abalone hid deep in the reefs to "hibernate" in winter, making it difficult to find traces, young diver Wang Tianyong mustered up the courage to go to Zhangzi Island in the Yellow Sea. In the severe cold of more than 20 degrees below zero, dive into the biting sea water to find and catch high-quality abalone.
Every time he surfaced, his diving suit was frozen into a layer of glass-like bright armor. When he hit it with a stick, ice particles would fall down. In this way, he worked hard for many days and dived more than a hundred times. Finally, he caught more than 1,000 kilograms of high-quality abalone and quickly sent it to the capital.
After the "China-U.S. Joint Communique" was published, the Prime Minister called for this, specifically praising the workers who had fought for the success of this major diplomacy as "the heroes behind the scenes." To this day, Wang Tianyong’s photo still hangs high on the list of heroes of Zhangzidao. At the same time, people all over the country knew about this stuff in the sea.
After that, as the economic boom took off, people had money in their pockets. The first thing the hungry Chinese people did was spend money on food to make up for the long-term shortfall of the spleen and stomach. And once the big fish and meat get tired of it, it is logical that the craze for "raw seafood" will follow.
Businessmen who would make a lot of money simply struck while the iron was hot and vigorously promoted hype, claiming that abalone that had been served at the state banquet was extremely nutritious. It is said that abalone is rich in globulin, and its nutritional value is seven to eight times that of walnuts. There is also a magical "abalone" in the meat of abalone, which can destroy the formation of cancer cells.
They also say that abalone has the effect of nourishing yin and replenishing yang, calming the liver, strengthening the kidneys, adjusting adrenaline secretion, and has the effect of regulating blood pressure in both directions. There are generally strict distinctions between foods that nourish yin and yang. If you eat ginseng with yin deficiency, it will cause dryness and even nosebleeds, but abalone uses both yin and yang, tonifying but not drying, and has no side effects.
As a result, the value of abalone continued to rise, and soon it became a delicacy at various banquets. Steamed abalone, braised abalone, braised abalone in sauce, Longjing abalone, first-grade abalone, abalone skirt... In short, as long as there is a dish with "abalone" in the name, the person who is treating or being treated will feel a high-end taste. .
However, the heyday of abalone was after the reform and opening up, and before the 1980s. Although it had the honor to serve as the main course of state banquets, in reality, its true status has always been far away from this official conferment. The definitions of "high-level" are very different.
Because first, the price has not been liberalized and it is a completely planned economy. Without commercial interests, no one will take the initiative to explore its value. The locals of Bincheng are known as "belly of stick noodles, pants of material", and ordinary people are simply reluctant to eat "luxury". Therefore, although abalone meat only sells for 20 cents per catty, it is completely difficult to sell in aquatic products stores. , basically no one cares about it.
Secondly, the circulation of materials at that time was too poor, and post-processing could not keep up, so this kind of stuff has been limited to local consumption. It is difficult to find traces of it in coastal cities, and it is difficult to obtain long-lasting and sustainable value nationwide. Cognition.
Sanlai fishery production has also been stagnant because of the "movement". Therefore, in any bay along the Liaodong Peninsula at that time, as long as you hold your breath and dive into the water that is more than half a person deep, you can find some abalone. It is not as rare and precious as it was a hundred times later.
Therefore, almost everyone on the seaside fishermen in this era could easily eat abalone. In the eyes of local people, abalone was not even as valuable as conch. The "Hai Bangzi" can even carve out the abalone meat at will, roast it on the fire until it becomes sizzling and oily, and then chew it randomly and swallow it in a daze. To satisfy one's hunger, without any intention of cherishing it.
When it comes to the common people in Bincheng's generally recognized understanding of abalone, there are no gorgeous adjectives. The highest evaluation is "abalone does not jam teeth".
But they don’t know that this is the most unpretentious and ultimate praise. Because high-end fish and meat will make your teeth choke when you eat them, but abalone meat, which is both elastic and chewy, does not choke your teeth. This is absolutely wonderful.
Therefore, in fact, the one who benefited the most was Hong Yanwu. While sighing in his heart that the "sea bumpers" were so blessed, he ate abalone with great energy.
Since arriving at "Yunwu Cliff", every meal he has at the beach has always included dozens of grilled abalones to share with Chen Liquan and "Xiaobaizi". He also specializes in picking big ones, at least "six-headed abalone" or above, so everyone knows that he has a special liking for abalone.
Especially the "flying crabs", who refused to eat when they saw that they had food and roasted bird meat, told them they were stupid and laughed at them as people in the capital who had no experience in the world.
But Hong Yanwu didn't care about this, the benefits had already fallen into their own stomachs. Bincheng's "Purple Wrinkled Abalone" is the top grade of the abalone family and is famous for its tender, delicious and nutritious meat. At which meal was he eating abalone and drinking wine, and didn't he eat something worth thousands of dollars? It's better to have a stupid name than to miss such a great opportunity.
But having said that, if abalone meat is so worthless in this era, why is it a seafood product that "sea bumpers" have to work hard to fish out?
In fact, in 1977, the real value of abalone lay in its colorful shell.
At this time, our country is exporting abalone shells to make shell carving handicrafts in exchange for foreign exchange, and is in urgent need of a large amount of raw materials. At the same time, abalone shell is also a famous medicinal material "Stone Cassia". Because it has the effect of improving eyesight, it is also called "Senecio". Therefore, the purchasing point of the aquatic product company specifically offers a high price of 48 cents per pound of abalone shell.
This is an attractive price. For example, a master of "touching the sea" can harvest more than 20 kilograms of abalone at the tide. The abalone shell alone can be sold for almost ten yuan, and the meat is still free.
Specifically, among Hong Yanwu and others, "General" and "Chen Liquan" are both current record holders on the northwest coast. Both of them have an amazing record of fishing out nearly a hundred kilograms of abalone in one tide, but the specific numbers are quite different. It's just that it's difficult to tell the difference between them if they are far away.
In short, abalone and sea cucumber are the only two sea products that can be sold for money in this revolutionary era when private trading is absolutely prohibited. And abalone is better than sea cucumber. That is, it can be sent to the national acquisition point to be sold for money by "sea bumpers" openly, without fear of being labeled as a speculator or a bad element.
However, it should also be noted here that it is a natural law that the tide rises and falls, and the stars change. With the development of society, when the price of abalone meat rises after entering the 1990s, the situation will change dramatically.
No one will buy abalone shells soon, and even the kitchens of hotels and hotels will throw abalone shells as garbage. Jinzhou District was the last purchasing point in Bincheng. At that time, all the "Haipongzi" in and outside the city sent abalone shells there. Although the price was already 54 yuan per kilogram, no one thought it was a good place anymore. A good way to make money.
The Jinzhou Purchase Point also felt overwhelmed by the "Haichengzi" in Bin City, and it didn't last long before it was closed.