This timeline is still many years from when I started raising livestock in my previous life, but I can't be sure when this person first came up with the idea. If he manages to steal it from me, the outcome might be the same as in my previous life.
Thinking of this, Xu An squeezed through the crowd to his second grandfather's side, stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear, "Second grandfather, isn't this making too much noise? What if someone finds out about our plans and snatches it away?"
"Haha!" Second Grandfather laughed heartily upon hearing this, patting Xu An hard with his large, fan-like hand. He looked at Xu An with satisfaction and said, "Not bad, not bad. You're getting better and better at considering things from the perspective of Xu Family Village. That's right. Although our Xu Family Village is small, we are united. Everyone is of one mind and works together towards the same goal. Things won't be bad in the future."
After praising Xu An, the second grandfather lowered his voice and leaned close to Xu An's ear: "I have already registered this land with several leaders in the city, and they are very supportive. Now we just need to wait for the professor to confirm that there are no problems before we can officially sign the contract."
"It's better to be safe than sorry. I just saw quite a few people talking about this, and they might be having ulterior motives."
Upon hearing Xu An's words, the second grandfather suddenly looked up and around. He indeed saw many people huddled together in twos and threes, whispering amongst themselves, and his vigilance rose.
"Alright, I'll listen to you. I'll get your Uncle Dongliang to write a report when we get back tonight and submit it as soon as possible." Second Grandfather made the decision immediately.
Xu An looked at Xu Dongliang with pity in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Uncle Dongliang. Your sacrifice will bring happiness to the entire Xu Family Village."
Just as the two were talking, Professor Yu and four students came up with bags and bags of samples. The second grandfather quickly left Xu An and stepped forward to take the samples from them. The way he took the samples was completely contrary to his rugged appearance; his hands were incredibly gentle, as if he were taking a newborn baby.
"Professor Yu, what do you think of this mudflat?" Xu Dongliang, who had no idea what he was going to suffer tonight, squeezed through the crowd to ask Professor Yu as he approached.
Xu An noticed that the pot-bellied man had also followed Xu Dongliang over.
"Not bad." Professor Yu looked down as he took off his rubber pants, which were covered in mud, and said with a smile, "The ecology is quite good, and there doesn't seem to be any pollution. It looks pretty good right now."
"Then could you..." The rest of the sentence was left unsaid, but Professor Yu instantly understood what Xu Dongliang meant.
"We'll only know the specifics after the sample test results come out."
"Are you sending it to the city for research? Shall I go and call Brother Guosheng to come and drive you up?"
"No need, no need. I have an old friend here. I just contacted him on the way. He should be arriving soon." Professor Yu put the clothes he had taken off into a bag and waved his hands repeatedly to refuse, saying, "It will probably take two days to get the results. I'll contact you again when the results are out."
As they were talking, a black minivan pulled up to the side of the road, and a man who was about the same age as Professor Yu got out. He was also about the same age as Professor Yu.
"Old Yu, what brings you here?" The man walked straight toward Professor Yu and greeted him very familiarly.
"I heard this area has abundant marine resources, and since I was here for research anyway, I came to take a look and also to see you," Professor Yu said with a smile.
"If you're talking about abundance, you have to look at the mangrove forest to the south."
"Wow, there are large areas of mangroves in the town! I was wondering why there were only a few scattered trees over there. The terrain and mudflats are quite suitable for mangroves to grow, so why are there only a few?"
"Come on, let me take you to see the south."
Professor Yu followed the man to his car, unloaded his luggage from the car his second grandfather had rented, said goodbye to everyone, and left with his students.
Xu An watched Professor Yu leave in his car, then turned around and found his tricycle. He discovered Xu Lili hiding behind the tricycle, looking terrified.
"Sister Lili, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Xu Lili did not answer Xu An's question. She poked half her head out from behind the tricycle and looked in the direction where the black van had just been parked. Only after confirming that the car had left did she breathe a sigh of relief and stand up.
"That was terrifying! The person who came to pick up Professor Yu was my elective course professor. He caught me skipping class before and I almost failed the course."
The key figures had left, the excitement had ended, and the crowd who hadn't even understood what was going on slowly dispersed. Xu An was also sitting on his tricycle, preparing to go home, when his second grandfather called out to him after he had only ridden two meters: "Anzi, come to my house when you get back."
"Alright!"
As Xu An expected, this was indeed another internal meeting concerning the development of Xu Family Village. This time, the meeting focused on raising funds for 'mudskipper farming'.
“I’ve inquired in the city and found that this mudflat has been listed for three or four years, but no one has rented it yet. This mudflat covers a total of 15,000 mu, and the price is 210 yuan per mu. The maximum lease term is 20 years, and the fee is paid annually.”
Hiss! Everyone present gasped. The rental fee for this mudflat alone would be 3.15 million! That's much higher than they expected. After leasing it, there would be development investment, which would probably be well over 5 million!
"How about we rent half of it first, and then rent the other half once we've made some money? That way, we'll have less pressure."
"No, marine aquaculture is different from pond aquaculture. If we let someone else rent the other half, it's fine if they do a good job of aquaculture, but if they cause any trouble, we'll all suffer along with them. Either we don't rent it, or we rent it all," Grandpa Er argued.
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