I See through Everything

Without the yield-boosting No. 4 feed, the scale of Egyptian Catfish farming would need to reach 12,000 mu just to barely meet the feed factory’s demand.

Jinting Village.

Wang Baorui, who had just returned from the feed factory, hurried to the entrance of a new five-story house.

"Shitou, are you home?"

The stainless steel door slowly opened, and a large man appeared behind it. "Huh? Isn’t this Brother Rui? What brings you here?"

Wang Baorui walked in as he spoke, "Shitou, how about you rent me your family’s two mu of land to dig a fishpond? Two thousand yuan per mu per year."

"Is farming Egyptian Fish that profitable?" Wang Baoshi asked, surprised.

"Can’t compare to your seafood restaurant, Shitou."

At the mention of this, Wang Baoshi looked gloomy. "Bullshit. I lost twenty thousand yuan this month. Even the peak tourist season is this bleak. I’m thinking of changing careers, damn it."

"Huh? For real?"

"Of course it’s real. I’m worried sick right now."

"Why don’t you turn those two mu of rice paddies into fishponds? You can get a harvest of Egyptian Fish every three months. I heard that with the new feed, one mu can yield thirty thousand catties of fish."

Wang Baoshi’s eyes widened. "Thirty thousand catties per mu? What’s Hailufeng Company’s purchase price?"

"One and a half yuan per catty."

"Damn! Brother Rui, you’ve struck it rich! I’m going to find someone to dig fishponds right now."

"Not so fast! If you want Hailufeng Company to buy your fish, you have to sign a contract. Otherwise, you can only sell under another contracted farmer, but that’s not reliable. After all, every farmer has a limited purchase quota."

Hearing this, Wang Baoshi became even more anxious. "What do I need to bring to sign the contract?"

"Your and your family’s ID cards—two or three people is best. Then you have to dig the fishponds within a month, because Hailufeng Company will send people to inspect them. It’s to prevent people from squatting on the opportunity without doing anything."

"Thanks, Brother Rui. I’ll treat you to a meal later."

"See? There you go being hasty again."

"But didn’t you say the quotas are limited?"

"There’s no rush this very second. I’m planning to find a way to acquire the rice paddies around my fishpond. You can take a piece of it too. I’ll go find Old Zhu to the east, and you go find Guoxin to your west. See if they have any intention of renting out their land."

"You’ve got a point."

The two of them split up to take action.

Although the allure of profit was strong, not everyone was interested in this kind of hard-earned money.

For example, the landlords who owned storefronts in Jinting Bay and rented out commercial properties naturally had little interest in farming Egyptian Catfish.

Soon, Wang Baorui had rented 4 mu of rice paddies, and Wang Baoshi had rented 5 mu.

That afternoon.

Inside the office building of the Yandun Mountain Feed Factory.

The Aquaculture Contracting Office had set up shop here. One after another, previously contracted farmers came to apply for increases to their farming quotas, while new farmers rushed over to apply for contracts.

The newly released quota of 3,600 mu was completely snapped up by the villagers from Nanhu Village, Salt Town Village, Xinxiang, Jinting Village, Changsha Village, and Nanfen Village, who benefited from their proximity.

Profit truly is the greatest motivator.

Before the company started its official purchases, many farmers had been hesitant. But now, as soon as they got paid and heard that Hailufeng Company was expanding its purchase volume, they couldn’t wait to expand their own operations.

In addition to the 436 previously contracted households, another 755 were added in the past few days, bringing the total number of contracted farming households to 1,191, with a total farming area of 4,921 mu.

This covered nearly all the low-lying, idle, and barren land around Magong Town, and even encroached upon more than two thousand mu of rice paddies.

Even several farmers who had previously been raising South American white shrimp rushed over to sign contracts.

The reason for this was mainly that farming South American white shrimp wasn’t very profitable. Even for skilled farmers using earthen ponds, the yield was only about 300 kilograms per mu. For shrimp sized at a 20-30 count per kilogram, the purchase price was about 40 yuan. At best, one mu could generate 12,000 yuan in sales.

After deducting costs, there was hardly any profit left.

Furthermore, raising South American white shrimp came with another, more troublesome problem: the impact of extreme weather. This was especially true for the extreme heat of summer. If the water temperature exceeded thirty-five degrees Celsius for several days, it could wipe out an entire pond of shrimp.

In recent years, such extreme weather has become increasingly frequent, causing immense suffering for many farmers.

Compared to species like the South American white shrimp, which seemed to die at the drop of a hat, the Egyptian Catfish—a tropical freshwater fish—was not only tolerant of high temperatures but also of low oxygen, and it was extremely disease-resistant.

In terms of survivability in the Lingnan region, the only thing that could top the Egyptian Catfish was the Cleaner Fish, an invasive species from recent years.

Once they confirmed that Hailufeng Company would purchase their harvest at the stated price, the white shrimp farmers couldn’t sit still any longer and immediately chose to switch allegiances.

’White shrimp?’

’Get lost!’

’I’m done serving you!’

’Egyptian Catfish is our one true love!’

A farmer’s heart is like a summer sky—it changes in an instant.

In truth, it wasn’t that South American white shrimp couldn’t be farmed. With high-standard indoor farming systems, the yield per mu could reach 2,500 to 6,500 kilograms.

But this circled back to a more fundamental problem.

High-standard indoor farms had prohibitively high investment costs, and their operating costs were not low either. They were simply not something ordinary farmers could afford.

No wonder so many local shrimp farmers were choosing to switch allegiances and throw themselves into the arms of Egyptian Catfish farming.

Even as Hailufeng Company was massively expanding its roster of Egyptian Catfish farmers, the company had not forgotten to develop its other business ventures.

For instance, the fish ball factory and indoor farm to the south of the Yandun Mountain Feed Factory were being retrofitted and constructed at an astonishing speed, estimated to be operational by the end of September.