Yanlong Village is so small that if someone loses a chicken, the news will spread throughout the village the next day.
The news that Xiang Yang's family sold ten pounds of sea cucumbers for 50,000 yuan spread quickly throughout the village, and even showed signs of spreading to neighboring villages.
It would be a lie for the villagers to say they were not envious. To them, this gift from the ocean is like picking up money.
While feeling envious, the villagers also admired Xiang Yang.
"It's not like I haven't caught sea cucumbers before. I sold them to the town for more than 300 yuan per pound. Damn, those people out there are so despicable. They fish in such deep water." A fisherman said angrily.
The villagers who had said that Xiang Yang's education was useless immediately changed their tune, "The village chief is wise. He mobilized the elders and asked the whole village to contribute money and effort to send Xiang's kid to college. At that time, many people complained that the village chief was messing around. In my opinion, people with education are different. We have good products but can only be ripped off by others, while others can sell them for a good price. Why? Because they have been to college, know people outside, and have connections."
A villager suggested, "What do you think? If we catch something good in the future, can we ask the kid from the Xiang family for help? Can we ask him to find a big boss outside to take it over?"
"I think this will work."
"Come on, why would someone who is not your relative help you?"
"You can't say that. The Xiang family has always been easy to talk to. Back then, it was all of us who paid for the tuition for the boy from the Xiang family to go to school. They won't refuse to help with such a small matter, right?"
“It’s hard to say.”
"I think we need to talk to the village chief about this matter."
... ...
Xiang Yang had no idea that he had become a celebrity in the village. At this moment, he was busy comparing the parameters of various diving equipment on his mobile phone.
Although they found a treasure and got a "huge sum of money" at the bottom of the sea this time, Xiang's mother still did not change her plan to let Xiang Yang go out to work. After all, relying on the sea for a living is like relying on the sky for a living, which is too unstable. Xiang's mother is more worried about Xiang Yang's future.
The solution Xiang Yang came up with was to make the matter a fait accompli. When the time came, he would buy a set of diving equipment worth several thousand dollars and then say that he wanted to stay in his hometown by the sea to develop. He didn't believe that Xiang's mother would not allow him to do so.
The most important thing is that Xiang Yang must get a set of diving equipment to hide his tracks. Diving suits are very cheap, only a few dozen yuan each. What is expensive is the oxygen cylinder. The price of oxygen cylinders varies from JD.com to Taobao. The cheapest one is only 600 yuan, but it can only allow one to breathe underwater for twenty minutes. The expensive ones are a bit outrageous.
Although Xiang Yang bought the diving equipment just to conceal his tracks, he never thought of buying the cheapest ones, because Xiang's father was also a fisherman, and he might wear them and take a stroll under the sea on a whim one day.
After comparing various parameters, Xiang Yang ordered a set of SMACO professional diving equipment, which included an oxygen tank, a diving suit, and an oxygen compressor, which cost more than 4,000 yuan in total. A full tank of oxygen allows one to breathe for four hours under the sea.
"Mr. Xiang, are you home?" Just after placing the order, Xiang Yang heard someone calling at the door.
"Uncle village chief, Fatty Zuo, why are you here?" Xiang's father and mother were not at home. After Xiang Yang welcomed them into the house, he smiled and made two cups of tea. "The tea is ordinary tea grown at home. Have a cup of tea first. My parents should be back soon from the town." Subconsciously, Xiang Yang still thought that the village chief was here to look for his father.
"We are actually here to look for you." The village chief is a middle-aged fat man. He picked up the teacup and blew on it a few times before taking a sip. Then he looked at Xiang Yang with a smile and said, "Yes, I heard about your story. You can sell sea cucumbers that cost 300 yuan per kilogram for 5,000 yuan per kilogram. You have a promising future. Your university studies were not in vain."
Xiang Yang just wanted to say something humble.
Fatty Zuo rubbed his hands and rushed to say, "Brother Yang, this is what happened. Yesterday I went to the place you mentioned and caught some sea cucumbers. They weren't as big as yours, but after being processed, they weighed about one or two kilograms. Can you help me contact the big boss you know to buy them?"
After saying that, Fatty Zuo looked at Xiang Yang eagerly.
The village chief sighed and chimed in, "Xiang Yang, you've been to college and have seen the world. I know you have connections outside. The villagers in the village are in a difficult situation. Now that you have the ability, you can help out if you can."
The village chief's tone was very soft, and he praised Xiang Yang very much in his words. In fact, in recent years, he had seen the villagers give up their ancestral businesses one by one to make a living outside, and the village chief really wanted to bring some benefits to the village.
Xiang Yang had an idea. Although fishing is becoming more and more difficult, there are still many fishermen in the village. However, the villagers have no sales channels. It is actually not cost-effective to take the catch to the town to sell to buyers. If the catch of the village can be collected together, maybe he can make some money.
"I do have some sales channels, and my prices are much higher than those offered by the buyers in town. I can purchase all the seafood in the village at once, but I declare in advance that I can't do this for nothing. I must make some profit from it." Xiang Yang thought for a while before speaking carefully, and he made it clear at the beginning that he would seek some profit from it, so as not to make it difficult for the villagers to meet in the future.
The village chief was delighted when he heard this. "Of course. As long as the price you offer is higher than the one in town, it's reasonable for you to earn some hard work. If anyone in the village dares to gossip about me in the future, I will be the first to disapprove."
Xiang Yang smiled and said nothing. He could still hear the subtext of the village chief's words, which was that we were all from the same village, so you shouldn't make too much money. However, Xiang Yang had never thought about making too much money. Except for the fact that the villagers were straightforward and sometimes spoke harshly, they were mostly united. Even if the village chief didn't say anything, Xiang Yang would still feel embarrassed to make too much money, as he didn't rely on this to make money anyway.
Of course, there is a big difference between not making money from this and not making this money. If Xiang Yang had helped with the slogan of not doing it for the purpose of profit from the beginning, there would probably be more trouble in the future. Xiang Yang felt it was great to be able to make a small profit and help the villagers at the same time.
After getting Xiang Yang's guarantee, the village chief patted Fatty Zuo on the shoulder and left with satisfaction. He had to go door to door to tell everyone the good news.
Fatty Zuo refused to leave and continued to say with a wry smile, "Brother Yang, can you give me my sea cucumbers?"
Xiang Yang smiled and said, "Okay, go home and get your sea cucumbers. I'll ask them about the price. You know the price of seafood is closely related to the size of the fish. I can guarantee that yours will be more expensive than the price we get from the town, but it will definitely not be 5,000 yuan per pound."
"Okay, thank you Brother Yang. Brother Yang, please wait for me, I'll be there soon." After hearing the first half of Xiang Yang's words, Fatty Zuo was suddenly overjoyed and ran towards the door like the wind. As for the second half of Xiang Yang's words, Fatty Zuo automatically filtered out. That thing can be sold for three hundred yuan per pound in the town, which is more expensive than in the town. A little more expensive is also a good thing!
Xiang Yang didn't care about Fatty Zuo's impetuosity. He took this opportunity to call Li Chao to ask about the price.
"Hello? Is that Brother Xiang?! Have you got some good stuff again?" Li Chao was a little surprised and a little excited when he received the call from Xiang Yang. After he looked at the batch of sea freight provided by Xiang Yang and shipped it back, he found that it was better than he had imagined. The benefits of getting these high-end ingredients and hyping them up a little in his hotel would be far more than what is apparent. In the environment of scarce fishery resources, whoever can get higher-end ingredients will have a golden signboard.