CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 35: DEEP-ROOTED PREJUDICE

"What nonsense are you talking about? Don’t scare them!" Han Dongcai said irritably, giving Zheng Guoxing a pat. "Go, go, get me something to eat, I’m starving!"

Zheng Guoxing immediately went to cook.

Without him around, Han Dongcai let out a long breath and said, "Which deserted island in Nanxi are you interested in? I remember there are at least a dozen or so of them."

"Yes, you’re right, there are about a dozen. We want to buy the deserted island next to Qingyun Temple," Chen Wenjun licked his lips and clenched his fists nervously.

Han Dongcai fell into thought, "I went to Qingyun Temple a few times with my mom before. I remember that deserted island is all rocks, nothing much to see. Are you sure it can be turned into arable land?"

Chen Wenjun nodded, "Indeed, it’s surrounded by rocky mountains, and there aren’t any decent big trees. There’s just a relatively flat wasteland in the center, probably around dozens of acres, plus some sloped areas, making it dozens of acres too, but certainly not up to a hundred."

Han Dongcai frowned tightly, "In that case, it’s not very big! How much are you planning to buy?"

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin exchanged a look, hesitantly saying, "We want to understand the price; we’ll buy as much as we can afford. If possible, it would be best to buy all those wasteland and slopes."

"You’ve got ambition! Alright, I’ll ask around for you when I get back, and I’ll let Guoxing know when there’s news. Then we can discuss what to do." Han Dongcai looked at Chen Wenjun in a new light.

At first, when Zheng Guoxing said Chen Wenjun was one of the Dang people, he instinctively thought Zheng Guoxing had met some unreliable person. Even though Zheng Guoxing said he and Chen Wenjun were in business together, Han Dongcai was still biased against Chen Wenjun. But after hearing Chen Wenjun’s words, he changed his opinion quite a lot.

Precisely when Zheng Guoxing came over with the food.

Chen Wenjun immediately pulled Lin Qin to her feet, "Then we’ll head off first and get in touch with you later."

"Join us for the meal!" Zheng Guoxing pointed at the dishes on the table, "I’ve already prepared everything."

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin shook their heads repeatedly.

"We didn’t tell the family when we went out, they’ve already made dinner at home, so we need to hurry back," Lin Qin said.

Zheng Guoxing couldn’t insist on keeping them, so he quickly went to the back kitchen and packed a bag of shrimp cakes, refusing to let them leave without taking it.

After seeing Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin off, Zheng Guoxing ran to find Han Dongcai, "How did it go just now? Can it be sold?"

"It can be sold! Why can’t it be? Let me ask about the price when I get back, see how it can be sold. That deserted island shouldn’t belong to any village commune, if it’s sold, it will need a name, and a house number, there’s a lot to do! If they can buy the whole island, that’s fine, but if not, it’s not really worth the hassle!"

Han Dongcai muttered as he ate.

Zheng Guoxing quickly said, "Brother-in-law, please help out as much as you can! The couple is really earnest, don’t underestimate them just because they’re Dang people, they are hardworking and honest, and straightforward in doing business."

"Honest Dang people have the money to buy a deserted island? Aren’t you smart? How can you be so easily fooled?" Han Dongcai shook his head, speechless at his brother-in-law.

Zheng Guoxing became anxious, "I’m serious! You, you, you... look at you underestimating people! So what if they’re Dang people? They’re committed to fishing and making money, delivering 10 to 20 pounds of river shrimp to me every day. Just the river shrimp sells for over thirty bucks, and there’s also mandarin fish, the mandarin fish soup you’re drinking is also from them, about 20 fish a day too.

Bighead carp, white carp, occasionally eels and softshell turtles, the other carp and such I won’t even mention, from me alone they earn sixty to seventy a day, and they also have a stall at the market street selling fish, how could they not have saved up money?"

This time Han Dongcai was genuinely surprised, "Does fishing really earn that much? A day’s earnings is more than my monthly salary!"

"Why would I lie to you? So don’t judge people through a crack in the door! I don’t know about other Dang people, but this Chen Wenjun is something! At the very least, his daily sales aren’t simple! So if you can help, please do, even if there’s no benefit, there’s no harm either, right?"

Zheng Guoxing advised, and seeing someone ordering, he quickly went back to the kitchen.

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin carried the bag of shrimp cakes back to the fishing boat.

Lin Yi couldn’t wait to look inside the bag, eagerly asking about the situation.

Lin Qin explained, "We already asked, just waiting for their response, probably in the next couple of days. Wenjun spoke to them, we’ll see the price, and buy as much as we can afford. Dad! Is there food? We’re starving!"

Lin Yi quickly started getting it ready for them, and took a glance at the bag, "What did you buy? Wasting money again!"

"We didn’t! We were at Guoxing Restaurant waiting for someone to discuss business, had nothing to do, so we helped the owner for a couple of hours, they invited us to eat, but we didn’t. This is the shrimp cakes the owner of Guoxing Restaurant gave us."

Chen Wenjun took out a plate and poured out the shrimp cakes as they spoke.

Guoxing Restaurant’s shrimp cakes were made with real ingredients, a thin large piece had at least seven or eight river shrimps, along with shredded carrots and chives, crispy and enticing.

The two kids were salivating.

Lin Yi quickly gave each of them one, leaving two for Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin.

The rest were stored away, Lin Yi didn’t dare to eat any himself.

Lin Qin frowned, "Dad! What are you doing! Saving a bite won’t make us rich, eating an extra bite won’t make us poor, quickly have some."

Chen Wenjun immediately took another one out.

Lin Yi said he didn’t need it, but inside felt warm.

The family ate the shrimp cakes, savoring every bite.

Liu Yaya whispered in Chen Ping’an’s ear, "If only we could eat shrimp cakes every day."

Lin Yi shook his head, "This thing uses a lot of oil! How can it be so extravagant! Having it once in a while is good enough!"

Lin Qin, however, had an idea, turned to Lin Yi and said, "Dad, once we buy the deserted island, we can cultivate it and plant some peanuts for peanut oil."

Lin Yi immediately became anxious, "What oil for? Even if we plant peanuts, we should sell them for money!"

"What about growing beans then?"

"What beans? It’d be a waste of land! If anything, we should plant sweet potatoes or grains!"

Lin Qin immediately closed her mouth, not speaking further.

For the sake of buying the deserted island, the whole family seemed energized, the two kids even stopped playing and focused on fishing with their rods.

Lin Yi’s condition was much better than before, helping the kids pull up the rods and catch fish was no problem.

The old and the young cooperated more and more smoothly, and if they encountered a big catch, they would call Lin Qin for help.

Lin Qin fished separately from them, so there could be more to harvest.

A couple of days passed.

When the two went to Guoxing Restaurant to deliver goods again, Zheng Guoxing, upon seeing them, immediately patted his thigh excitedly and ran forward, "Finally been waiting for you, my brother-in-law came by after work yesterday evening and said there were signs about the thing you asked about."

"What did he say?"

"What’s the price?"

Chen Wenjun and Lin Qin asked in unison.