Chapter 202 My heart is ice-cold.
On the way back, Xu An's tricycle had been taken by his second grandfather, so he had to squeeze onto the back of Uncle Dongliang's bicycle. The two remained silent the entire way. It was unclear what Uncle Dongliang was thinking, but Xu An was mentally planning the future development of this mudflat.
With the gimmick of a seaside hot spring, all the boasts I made before can finally come true! We can also interact with the golden coastline of Beitun Town next door. During the day, we can see the sea in Beitun Town, soak in the hot springs in Qianhai Town at night, and watch the sunrise over the sea the next morning. What a perfect day trip experience!
As Xu An pondered, he had already ridden his bicycle to the greenhouse planting area. He saw many people busy at the site of the dozen or so greenhouses that had been destroyed before, and the plastic film on the exterior of two greenhouses had already been re-laid.
Ah, it seems my hopes have been dashed; these greenhouse owners have no intention of transferring ownership. As my gaze returned to the abandoned factory located at the very front of the greenhouses.
There are many collapsed sections in the outer wall of the factory. Through these openings, you can see that the open space inside the factory, which may have been used to park vehicles or temporarily store supplies, is now overgrown with weeds. Even the factory gate has many holes due to years of sun and rain, with weeds peeking out from the holes. You can imagine that the inside of the building is not much better than the outside.
"This factory has been abandoned for seven or eight years now," Xu An remarked, unable to help but sigh at the dilapidated scene.
“That’s about right. I was still in junior high school when this factory moved away, it’s been more than ten years,” Xu Dongliang chimed in.
"Why hasn't anyone taken it over yet? This factory covers a large area and is close to the national highway, making it very convenient to transport supplies and materials!"
Do you know why the paper mill moved away before?
"I don't know." Xu An shook his head honestly; he truly didn't know anything about it.
"This paper mill was an investment that the previous mayor had to beg and plead to secure. It's been doing quite well, bringing considerable benefits to the town. The streetlights, village signs, and some of the roads you see now were all built after the paper mill was established."
"That's great, why did they move away later?" Xu An was even more confused after hearing Xu Dongliang's explanation.
Seeing Xu An's keen interest in the abandoned factory, Xu Dongliang turned the handlebars of his bicycle and led Xu An to the factory's main gate. Although the factory had been abandoned for over ten years, its contents had long been looted by waves of thugs, and even much of the surrounding wall had collapsed, allowing people to enter and exit freely, yet there were still security guards standing watch at the main entrance.
"Uncle Hu, I'm going in for a quick look around." Uncle Dongliang took out a pack of cigarettes and tossed it to the skinny old man. The old man caught the cigarettes with great agility, gestured "go ahead" to the two of them, and then continued to sit in the guardhouse, reading the newspaper with his reading glasses on.
"Uncle Hu used to be a manager at the factory. After working the night shift, he suddenly needed to urinate on his way home, so he went into the bamboo grove to relieve himself. He stepped into a trap set by some filthy bastard and lost half his leg. He recuperated for half a year, but when he returned to the factory, there was no place for him. In the end, he was assigned to guard the gate, where he has been ever since. The salary isn't high, but it's stable regardless of the circumstances, so it's not bad!"
As Uncle Dongliang spoke, he led Xu An to the factory gate. The rusty door was pushed open with a single hand, and pieces of iron fell off with a rustling sound, making the already large hole even bigger.
The factory wasn't as dilapidated as Xu An had imagined. Only the areas near the doors and windows, exposed to rain and sun, were overgrown with weeds. Most of the main structure was still quite intact. He searched through all three factory buildings and warehouses, finding nothing but dust and cobwebs. There wasn't even a screw on the ground, suggesting it had been ransacked countless times.
"So what caused the paper mill to move away?" Xu An was still very curious about the reason for the paper mill's relocation: "Was it due to poor management and cash flow problems that it went bankrupt?"
After saying that, Xu An felt that his guess was unlikely. Although he was young at the time, he clearly remembered that every household came to this factory to buy paper. Two large packs of yellow paper cost one yuan, and if used sparingly, they could last for two or three months, making them very popular.
"I was tricked into gambling and lost everything in just one night. By the time I realized I'd been set up the next day, the factory was completely emptied." Xu Dongliang said, looking meaningfully at Xu An, "Gambling, drugs, and prostitution—any one of these can be deadly. So many bosses have fallen because of them..."
Just as Xu Dongliang was rambling on, Xu An turned his head and looked through the hole in the factory's outer wall, taking in the entire greenhouse planting area. The roaring factory in his mind reappeared, but this time the factory in his mind had a concrete image, which was the abandoned factory in front of him.
But when the abandoned factory appeared in Xu An's mind, it looked completely new. The creaking iron gate at the entrance had been replaced by a brand-new stainless steel gate, and a large sign was welded above the gate with four characters engraved on it: "Xu's Catering"!
The view suddenly dropped from mid-air to the ground, and Xu An saw Aunt Hong and the others picking fresh fruits and vegetables from the greenhouse planting area next to them. These fruits and vegetables were carefully placed in plastic boxes and then sent to the 'Xu's Catering' factory.
Aunt He and her team carried baskets of fruits and vegetables into the factory, where they found a five- or six-meter-long vegetable washing machine and a vegetable cutter that they had seen at the exhibition. A steady stream of fruits and vegetables were processed into usable ingredients through this machine.
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