"Single-headed abalone is hard to find." Xiang Yang nodded. He also knew this. "I have been looking for so long and only found one. It is almost impossible to find a second one."
He Mingde was slightly stunned.
"Xiaoyang?" He Mingde looked at Xiang Yang.
"It was also luck that I met a sea lion on the seabed, and it found a single-headed abalone in a crack in the rock." Xiang Yang said: "If it weren't for the sea lion, I might not have been able to find the single-headed abalone."
"Captain, did you really find a single abalone?" Chen Qingsheng was surprised and happy.
How long has Xiang Yang been gone
Chen Qingsheng and Xiang Yang went downstairs together. After Chen Qingsheng came up, he hadn't even finished smoking a cigarette before Xiang Yang followed him up.
In such a short time, Xiang Yang was able to find four three-headed abalone and one single-headed abalone. What does this mean
"Don't waste time. Chen Qingsheng, finish your cigarette quickly and ask a few people to bring tools and go to the sea with me." Xiang Yang decided to use tools to pry open the huge rock, and then use a knife to carefully pry off the abalone. "The abalone I found is hiding in the cracks of the rock. I need a few people to help pry the rock open."
Chen Qingsheng immediately flicked away his cigarette butt, "Then why are you still smoking? I'll go get the iron rod."
He Mingde was also eager to try. To be honest, he had been drifting on the sea for many years and had never seen a single-headed abalone.
Even Zhou Wang and Xu Fang volunteered to follow Xiang Yang down to pry the huge rock, just to see the beauty of the single-headed abalone before other crew members.
Soon, Chen Qingsheng found six steel pipes from the cabin.
Xiang Yang took one himself, and followed by five crew members holding steel pipes as they swam towards the sea area.
"Be careful, don't let the steel pipe hit the abalone when prying the rock, or it will break." Xiang Yang gestured after he arrived next to the stone.
The crew members nodded one after another, indicating that they understood.
"Push harder." Xiang Yang took the lead in inserting one end of the steel pipe into the crevice of the rock and pried it up with force.
Chen Qingsheng and others also followed suit.
Fortunately, although one of the two rocks is large, it is not a reef. Otherwise, the bottom of the reef is directly connected to the oceanic plate, and it would be impossible for six people to pry it open, let alone six people.
With the joint efforts of Xiang Yang and five other crew members, the rock that was more than a meter tall was pried open bit by bit.
Everyone became excited when they saw the rock being pried open. Everyone knew that they would be able to see the real appearance of the abalone in a while.
Even the sea lions were extremely excited, circling around Xiang Yang and the others, wagging their tails rapidly.
The rock was slowly pried apart.
Xiang Yang loosened the steel pipe and threw it directly on the ground, looking at the abalone with excitement.
This abalone is really old. Normally, the lifespan of this type of abalone is only five to eight years. Assuming that abalone grows three centimeters per year, this abalone would definitely be considered the oldest in the abalone family if it had not mutated.
Just because an abalone gets older doesn't mean its stickiness decreases.
The abalone shell, with a diameter of nearly 18 centimeters, is tightly attached to the reef, and there is no trace of any gap whether viewed from the front or from the side.
Xiang Yang tried to pry it open with his hands again.
The abalone didn't move at all.
The old master Xu Fang patted Xiang Yang on the shoulder from behind, signaling Xiang Yang to let him come.
Xiang Yang shook his head slightly. He knew that Xu Fang wanted to pry the abalone off the rock with a knife. Abalone of this age could not withstand the severe shock. The violent vibration might end its life directly. To remove such a large abalone from the rock, it could only be pried slowly with a blade. It was a very precise technical job. No one could guarantee that the abalone's meat or shell would not be damaged at all.
The reason why Xiang Yang shook his head was not because he did not believe in Xu Fang's craftsmanship, but because Xiang Yang wanted to do it himself.
Prying off a single abalone is a very challenging job for both Xiang Yang and Xu Fang. Xu Fang took the initiative to apply because he felt that he was the oldest and had the most experience.
Xiang Yang wanted to do it himself because he was afraid that Xu Fang would blame himself if he damaged the abalone while prying it open. If Xiang Yang broke it himself, no one would be able to say anything.
Xiang Yang carefully cut the edge of the butterfly knife into the gap between the abalone and the rock, keeping the sharp blade close to the rock from beginning to end.
Later, Xiang Yang exerted a little force and flipped the back of the butterfly knife upwards, and the single-headed abalone immediately fell off the rock.
Xiang Yang quickly caught it with his hands.
When the single abalone was caught, a group of people immediately swam upstream, and even the fur seals followed closely behind.
"Haha, I caught it, I actually caught it? Let me see it quickly." On the deck, He Mingde took the abalone from Xiang Yang and turned it over and over, seeming reluctant to let it go.
Xiang Yang was also laughing, "It's not easy, everyone has worked hard, I will treat everyone to a drink after I return this time."
"Just drinking?" someone asked disappointedly.
"We use abalone as a side dish." Xiang Yang said with a smile.
The crew immediately cheered.
He Mingde handed the abalone to Chen Qingsheng. "Old Chen, go and weigh it to see if it is a single-headed abalone."
"No need to weigh it, this is definitely a single-head abalone." Chen Qingsheng affirmed.
Xiang Yang also smiled and said, "This is definitely a single-head abalone, and it is a single-head abalone of perfect quality. If we had discovered it a month or two later, it would have died of old age."
Everyone nodded, looking as if they agreed with what he said, and no one doubted Xiang Yang's words at all.
The saying that a double-headed abalone is worth a fortune has been passed down for thousands of years and it is not for nothing.
Even in today's booming abalone farming, two-headed abalone is extremely rare.
If even the double-headed abalone is in this condition, one can easily imagine how much the single-headed abalone is worth.
"It will die of old age in two months at most?" Fang Youqun immediately became anxious when he heard this, "If it dies of old age, will it become worthless?"
"No." Xiang Yang shook his head and said, "If you hire a top chef to cook abalone with the most advanced craftsmanship, its price will only be higher. There is no saying that fresh abalone is more valuable than dead abalone."
What Xiang Yang said is reliable, as my country's craft of making dried abalone has a long history.
It is rumored that more than two thousand years ago, Sun Quan ordered his men to send a single dried abalone to General Zhao Yun and Prime Minister Zhuge Liang respectively, hoping to bribe Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang with it.
But who is Zhao Zilong
Who is Zhuge Kongming
One is a loyal and righteous man who is not sworn brother to the brothers, but his friendship is comparable to that of the brothers in Taoyuan.
The other was also a prime minister who devoted himself to his work until his death.
Sun Quan giving abalone to them was naturally like Prime Minister Cao giving Red Hare to Guan Yu, who immediately started running on Red Hare.
Xiang Yang was in a very good mood after catching a single-headed abalone, and ordered: "Hurry up and clean out the water tank separately. This abalone must be taken good care of."