CHAPTER 1908: CHAPTER 901: SANSHA SUPPLY STOP 2

It’s Xiaoning who’s speaking; Yan Fei heard her as soon as she arrived and purposely held up the book for her to see.

He got these French learning materials from America. Obviously, there isn’t any Chinese text inside. The translations and everything are in English, which is what’s frustrating Xiaohe and the others.

They thought Yan Fei was bragging when he said he’d learned English and Japanese, but turns out he wasn’t kidding. He’s studying French using English materials. They’ve got to accept it; that’s how the gap arises.

Unexpectedly, Xiaoning is studying foreign languages, she’s learned French, and even tried a few sentences with Yan Fei, then cheerfully said, "I was just thinking I can’t practice my speaking, but now it’s great. Shall we practice speaking together? Let me tell you something interesting. When He Qingzhi was at school..."

Yan Fei was worried he’d be studying behind closed doors with no practice, so he’s happy to chat a bit with Xiaoning.

The few beside them were dumbfounded, watching the two talking in a language they couldn’t understand. Key thing is Xiaoning kept sneaking glances over here, making them feel utterly uncomfortable.

Eventually, they couldn’t hold back. Xiaohe asked, "Brother Fei, what’s the little girl saying about me?"

"She said when you were at school, you secretly applied for technical secondary school but didn’t get in, and your dad whipped you with a belt!" Yan Fei answered honestly.

Xiaohe rolled his eyes in anger, "She’s good at studying. In school, people called her Little Bean. She was the youngest in the whole grade..."

"Little Bean started in the same grade as Xiaohe, then jumped to our grade because she studied well, making her even younger! The name Little Bean stuck with her all the way to university." Old Cui laughed and said, "The funniest thing was when she first got to university, teachers often mistook her for a student’s little sister attending class."

Xiaoning immediately continued to expose more, "He Qingzhi wrote love letters to classmates at technical secondary school and was made to read them aloud in class! Old Cui’s the worst, he even read erotic novels..."

Zhang Jian was the wisest, seeing the situation and choosing not to speak.

Yan Fei didn’t even know whose words to respond to, just listening to the three expose each other’s embarrassing pasts. But he did understand quite well that Little Bean was good at studying. Genius youths were popular at that time and she was a prominent figure. Unfortunately, she had a conflict with her family over choosing a country for further studies after finishing university, so she didn’t continue her studies.

This time going to Hong Kong, mainly because Little Bean wasn’t happy being persuaded at home to continue her studies, so she went out to play.

Hmm, why choosing the country? Because in the eyes of a genius girl, choosing a postgraduate major meant selecting from any university globally. There were so many choices, so she was willful.

The terrifying thing about scholarly elites is that while most peers are still fretting over which university might accept them, she was not just picking a university but choosing from a world map!

"I think it’s best to stay at home!" Yan Fei suggested, although his French wasn’t great, in just a short time he didn’t need to think for a while in his head before speaking. "For you, it doesn’t matter which university you attend. If you want to travel, you can go on a trip; anyway, your studies don’t require you to stay at school all the time. Go spend some time in any country when you’re happy, no need to necessarily choose a school to go out."

"Girls should stay at home."

It was a mistake, Boss Yan shouldn’t have said that.

"Hmph!" Feng Ning suddenly stood up. "Are you being chauvinistic? What’s wrong with girls? I’m not talking to you anymore!"

She stood up, turned around, and stomped away!

The sleepy ones over there didn’t know what was happening. Xiaohe couldn’t help asking, "Brother Fei, what’s going on?"

"I said girls should stay at home, and she didn’t like it!"

"Hahaha..."

Suddenly, everyone laughed. Zhang Jian explained to the puzzled Yan Fei, "She wants to go abroad; her family wants her to stay in the country, afraid she’ll marry outside if she goes abroad. She is most annoyed by this, and also hates chauvinism. You hit both points with one sentence! You’re doomed, no one will practice speaking with you they are worried about the future!"

Yan Fei chuckled awkwardly, "Well, if that’s the case, so be it! But is it okay that she’s angry? Try to persuade her later, I didn’t mean it."

"Haha, it’s fine, she’ll be angry for a while; she’ll probably get bored and come back later!"

...

It was exciting when the journey by boat started, but after a while, looking out, there was just vast ocean everywhere. If not for the occasional sight of other ships, it was really monotonous.

When the sky darkened, a few people paired off and started playing poker — it was incredibly boring!

This boredom lasted until they reached the Sansha Supply Area—though others were bored, Yan Fei was not. When he returned to his room at night, he locked the door and entered the dinosaur world to be with his wife!

In everyone’s imagination, the supply point should be a lush green landscape, a typical island spectacle. In reality, the conditions at Sansha were truly harsh, harsher than imagined.

The few islands had only a few hundred people, scattered across islands. The captain said it was a fishing boat supply point, and they believed it. Actually, it could only be considered a haven. Fishing vessels come here, and can hide by the side of the island when encountering storms.

The supply point wasn’t formal; it was improvised by the fishermen themselves. The supplies were arranged by the boat captain, with other ships specifically delivering them. On these islands, there’s nothing at all.

Everyone initially looked forward to experiencing some island scenery, but when they got ashore, they were dumbfounded!

The messy dilapidated stone houses appeared to take people back to ancient times, except for the few modern items brought by fishermen—like the large plastic water barrels outside one household—there was nothing modern to be seen.

Why collect water? Because there’s no fresh water here!

But the island’s inhabitants were quite friendly; led by an old man introduced by the supply ship, a few walked onto the island for a real experience of primitive charm.

The fishermen were shirtless; looking at their clothes, it was clear they weren’t showing off muscles but were unwilling to wear them.

The houses were shacks, cobbled together with stones and wood, very primitive.

Several people didn’t even feel comfortable asking questions; they just listened to the captain and the guide from the fishing boat.

No water, let alone electricity!

The wealthiest was the host family, reportedly having a diesel generator, but the diesel was brought from outside, so it wasn’t used often. This family was well-off because they managed a few households and could sell some seafood to the fishing boats, saving the boats’ time.

Whether fishing boats wanted to save time, or to maintain good relations for convenient docking wasn’t worth elaborating. The island doesn’t have modern fishing boats, relying on small boats they could only travel between a few islands.

Living supplies were insufficient; apart from the occasional docking fishing boats, there was a supply ship—one supplying to Xisha, which also delivered some things here. But it was limited to basic living; it wasn’t about providing for transit fishing boats.

Fishing boats that came were all large ones; small fishing boats couldn’t make it. Even when large fishing boats approached, usually in calm weather, they wouldn’t dock. Even if they did dock, there wasn’t anything on the island for fishing boats; life was truly struggling.

Not even considered a village, just dozens of households living scattered.

This area was all managed by Hainan Province, with an office officially overseeing these islands.

In less than half an hour, a group fled as if escaping, carrying a bag of red throat conchs and a few scomberomorus—scomberomorus are common Spanish mackerels after all, only the name differs.

When leaving, Xiaoning left some money on the table, hoping they could buy some supplies next time a fishing boat comes.

The difference was immense from what they imagined. Same island, how could it be so different!

The youngsters on the boat had never seen a place harsher than here. Honestly, they were shocked.

The captain of the supply-fishing boat arranged for delivery of prepared seafood to the yacht before leaving, allowing the group to enjoy authentic seafood.

In addition, some seafood was also sent to the yacht—like some snapper fish, red drum carp, grouper, sole fish, etc.—though these could be bought from other fishing boats, people gladly received them when delivered ready!

No one knows now, twelve years later, this area would become China’s southernmost city. Then they would have access to freshwater—real freshwater, not rainwater.

(National Day is here, hope Sansha soon becomes our Maldives, allowing more to see our southernmost city. Now Sansha already has a semblance of a city!)