"Ah... I've let you down as your father. I've never taken you out to a restaurant. I don't even know how much the dishes cost. Ah..." Tang Linde sighed, his face full of shame, and took out a pack of cheap cigarettes to smoke.
"Our island is surrounded by sea. Is seafood really that expensive? If anywhere should have expensive seafood, it should be inland areas without a sea, because of transportation, labor, and all that." Tang Wen was taken aback.
"There's certainly plenty of seafood in the sea, but the ocean is far too dangerous.
"Go ask the fishermen. Accidents happen every time they go out. Sometimes, not a single person on a boat comes back.
"So you need all kinds of supplies to go fishing at sea. For instance, the workers have to be strong and healthy, and you need to stock certain pills, which are very expensive.
"And sea beasts, sea monsters, whirlpools, undercurrents, and all sorts of inexplicable, unknown things often appear in the sea.
"Over the years, the fishermen have grown afraid. To stay alive, they've had no choice but to upgrade their equipment.
"Wealthy boat owners can hire the Security Company, but how could ordinary fishermen afford that?
"So neither the equipment nor strong workers come cheap, which keeps seafood prices sky-high.
"A sturgeon weighing just over half a jin sells for four or five thousand. My monthly wages would only buy two.
"And nine-segment shrimp cost twenty thousand a jin, while a two-jin mandarin fish costs fifty thousand. We can't afford it," Tang Jiayin said with a sigh.
"If the sea is dangerous, why not farm them? Surely ponds aren't dangerous?" Tang Wen said.
"Easier said than done. Fish and shrimp are hard to raise. A single change in the weather might kill