My Manor

"Hey, boss, how's it going? Have they signed you?" Jiang Hai drove back to his manor. As soon as he got out of the car, he saw Robbins and his friends walking from the warehouse in the distance. It seemed they had just cleared the snow. When he saw Jiang Hai, Robbins asked with a smile. Hearing his words, Jiang Hai couldn't help but smile.

"They gave me a short contract of ten days. I'm sick, but I'm going to sign it!" Jiang Hai replied unhappily. Hearing Jiang Hai's words, Robbins and the others laughed. Jiang Hai really didn't need to go.

"By the way, boss, Edward has something to discuss with you." After a few more jokes, Jiang Hai was ready to go back. Louis and John also had to go home since their female companions were still waiting for them. But just as Jiang Hai was about to leave, Robbins suddenly spoke up. Edward Anderson came by not long after Jiang Hai had left. He didn't say anything when asked what he wanted but just said to call him when Jiang Hai returned. He seemed mysterious.

"Okay, ask him to come to my house!" Hearing Robbins' words, Jiang Hai nodded. In fact, even if Edward Anderson hadn't said anything, Jiang Hai probably knew why he had come—either for fishing or fish farming.

To be honest, Edward Anderson's current position in this manor was the most awkward.

Everyone else had their own tasks, while he only patrolled the fishing grounds daily, with nothing to do. This made the old fisherman feel that he was taking Jiang Hai's money without contributing, which made him uneasy.

Some people are strange—some aren't happy taking money without working, like Jiang Hai once was, but others must do something after taking money, or they feel uncomfortable, like Edward Anderson.

Less than ten minutes after Jiang Hai returned to his room, Edward Anderson, who smelled of the sea, walked in from outside.

"Hey, boss, I heard you went to the Celtics to be a player. How's that going?" Edward Anderson, who had been changing into slippers outside, asked with a smile when he saw Jiang Hai. Hearing his words, Jiang Hai threw a bottle of beer to him helplessly and said unhappily, "Don't mention it. Sit down. What do you need?"

"Well, boss, I wanted to ask if you have any plans for fish farming this year?" Edward took the beer Jiang Hai threw him, but instead of opening it, he placed it on the table and then asked Jiang Hai a little awkwardly.

"Well, I can't say no, but it depends on the funds!" Jiang Hai rubbed his temples helplessly, thinking about the money left in his bank account. When could he say that money was just a string of numbers?

"It's already January. If the boss wants to raise fish this year, we'll have to speed up. Of course, if the boss doesn't want to farm fish now, we can still make some income from the fish farm," Edward Anderson sighed after hearing Jiang Hai's words. He knew that Jiang Hai had invested more money in the ranch for faster returns, so the fish farm plan would be delayed. But hearing Jiang Hai's words now, he felt helpless.

"In fact, no one would go against green Franklin, right? But I remember you said that if we raise fish in the fish farm, it would cost at least tens of millions of dollars. Here, except for the money to pay taxes in April, I can only use about 10 million. This is not enough," Jiang Hai shrugged helplessly after hearing Edward's words. For him, making a lot of money was great, but the problem now was that there wasn't enough money. He didn't want to take out a loan either, as he didn't want to owe money to anyone, not even the government.

"If we want to raise fish, we don't need to start with so many. The tens of millions I mentioned are for fully saturated fish farming. If we start under-saturation, it won't be too troublesome. And if you have a small gap in funds, we can make up for it with our current sea," Edward Anderson said immediately after hearing Jiang Hai's intention to raise fish.

"What do you mean?" Jiang Hai looked at him, a bit surprised.

"The most expensive cost of raising fish, aside from the fry cost, is creating a natural environment and food chain for the fry's growth. But I've been checking our fish farm for the past few months, and I found that our fish farm's original food chain is quite stable. We just need to plant more seaweed and introduce Arctic shrimp, crabs, squid, and octopus. That would be enough to raise millions of cod fry." Edward explained immediately when Jiang Hai asked him.

It takes at least five to seven years for a cod fry to grow into an adult, reaching sexual maturity. In the south, it only takes three to four years, but in the north, it takes longer.

However, if we want fish that can be sold, it would take about a year. A year-old cod with sufficient size and no natural enemies can grow to about 20 centimeters and weigh around one pound.

Currently, the price of fish is about two yuan per pound. With millions of cod, the annual income would be around 10 million. There's no need to worry about sales, but profits won't be substantial. The important thing is that this is just for the first year. The second year will likely turn a profit just from labor costs and fry money.

If luck is on our side and the sea stays calm for three years, it will be profitable.

After hearing Edward Anderson's words, Jiang Hai couldn't help but smirk. If there was no profit from the ranch, Jiang Hai might have listened to Edward and raised cod. Cod fish has a large market and is easy to raise with a high survival rate, making it ideal for large-scale fish farming.

But now, after hearing Edward Anderson's words, Jiang Hai wasn't interested in raising cod anymore because it was too cheap.

Whether raising fish or livestock, Jiang Hai was least concerned about survival or quality, as he had blood as a backup. Although he constantly had to bleed, which was a bit frustrating, he hoped that with upgrades, this issue could be resolved. At least he wasn't without a solution. This gave him the idea of raising more dangerous fish. He didn't find cod interesting due to its low market price.

"Can we raise something more expensive, like tuna, Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, or grouper?" Jiang Hai thought for a moment and then asked Edward.

"Well... tuna can't be farmed. It's constantly on the move and will die if trapped in one place. Atlantic salmon can be farmed, but they are migratory fish and must grow in freshwater for their first four years. If we buy four-year-old semi-juveniles, the cost will be high since mature Atlantic salmon are very valuable. Rainbow trout is similar to Atlantic salmon— we have sea but no freshwater rivers or lakes. Migratory fish are hard to raise. As for grouper, it can be farmed, but the price isn't high, and it's about the same as cod," Edward said after hearing Jiang Hai's suggestion.

Everyone knows tuna is expensive, but it hasn't been farmed successfully because, like some sharks, it needs to swim constantly for oxygen. Since tuna swims in groups, raising them requires a large water area to let them move around. If raised in smaller quantities, they suffocate, and it's impossible to oxygenate enough in the sea.

As for salmon and rainbow trout, they are valuable, especially wild ones, but raising migratory fish is the problem. Without a river to raise them, costs skyrocket. The last option, grouper, has both cheap and expensive varieties. The cheap ones, like golden grouper, blue grouper, and gentian grouper, are similar to cod in price. The expensive ones, like tiger and star grouper, are tropical fish that can only be raised in the South Indian Ocean.

The most expensive is the mouse grouper, which is technically not a grouper but a humpback perch. Though it can be farmed, its survival rate is low, so it's mostly raised as an ornamental fish.

After hearing all of this, Edward could only smile awkwardly at Jiang Hai's suggestion. He had to admit that sometimes his boss had some whimsical ideas.

"None of these fish work? Well, although I don't have a problem with cod, it's not worth much. I'm sure you've seen and eaten the cattle here at the manor. What I really want is to raise high-quality things in our manor. I have a feeling that everything raised here is destined to be extraordinary. Cod, which doesn't bring in much, just doesn't fit. Can you think of something easier to raise that can be sold for a high price?" After thinking for a moment, Jiang Hai decided to share some secrets with Edward. Of course, he wouldn't say too much, as he didn't want to attract unwanted attention.

"There are some more valuable, easy-to-raise options..."