Having visited and investigated so many provinces and cities, I've seen mudflats that are better than this. However, there aren't many that meet my needs when factors such as low price, large area, and undeveloped nature are combined. This mudflat in Qianhai Town is one of the few.
I've already discussed it with the village head of Xujia Village. If the sampling and analysis results of this mudflat meet my needs, I'll apply for research funding, essentially pooling money with them to rent this mudflat. Xujia Village will let me choose an area as my research site. The only condition is that, in my spare time, I can guide them on aquaculture and remind them of things to pay attention to.
It might seem like Professor Yu is at a disadvantage, but his years of experience have taught him one thing clearly: without local connections to guide him, conducting long-term research here is nothing short of a pipe dream. For one thing, the presence of a few fearless thugs would be enough to cause headaches.
Professor Yu has a friend who does agricultural research. He worked hard for half a year, and his crops were almost ready for harvest. But in just one night, they were all dug up, roots and all. After reporting it to the police and finding the culprits, it turned out to be a group of thugs. They didn't intend to eat them; they just happened to be passing by, saw the good-looking crops, and, upon hearing that it was done by outsiders, acted recklessly.
When they were arrested, they were all laughing and joking about how long they would be in jail, as if the longer they were in jail, the more glorious it would be.
From then on, whenever that friend went anywhere to conduct research, his first priority was to fence off the land and cultivate relationships with nearby villagers and the local government to get their help in keeping these hooligans in check. A few more petty thefts occurred afterward, but the complete collapse never happened again.
In these kinds of situations, it's better to be safe than sorry. The research we've been doing takes years, and if something goes wrong, years of hard work could be wasted. Nobody wants to see that happen.
He had even asked a friend who worked in Shanghai about Xu Family Village. The village wasn't large, but it had a notorious reputation, and hooligans avoided it. He also had a good impression of the old village chief and Xu Dongliang. Although they looked burly and fierce, they were both reasonable and sensible people.
This deal is mutually beneficial, and neither party loses out.
After the sampling was completed, there was nothing else to do. Professor Yu noticed the curious looks on the students' faces along the way, and immediately waved his hand to let them move around freely, and told them to gather back in an hour.
Upon hearing this, the four students cheered and scattered, seeking out fishermen who seemed easy to talk to to chat. They even tried their hand at digging for mud worms and catching mudskippers, finding it all incredibly novel. Professor Yu, meanwhile, stumbled back to the shore, finding a shady spot to sit, which happened to be right next to Xu An.
"Good afternoon, Professor Yu." Xu An greeted Professor Yu politely.
"Who are you?" Professor Yu asked with a hint of doubt in his voice. His eyes darted around a few times, as if he remembered something. He replied loudly, "You're from Xu Family Village, aren't you? I remember seeing you yesterday. The old village chief introduced you. Your name is Xu An, isn't it?"
No wonder he's a professor. Yesterday, the scene was so chaotic, the introductions were so noisy, and we didn't speak to each other after that. Yet he still remembered Xu An's name. It seems that people with bad memories can't be professors!
"Yes, I am Xu An, and the old village chief is my second grandfather." Xu An then asked with a hint of curiosity, "Didn't you already take samples yesterday? Why are you here again today?"
"Since we had nothing else to do, we brought the students over for a look around. They've seen aquaculture before, but this is the first time they've seen fishermen catching mudskippers, and they're all very interested." Professor Yu seemed to have been opened up by Xu An's words and began to ramble on about mudskipper farming in the mudflats. Xu An was completely confused and couldn't get a word in edgewise, so he could only nod repeatedly to show that he was listening attentively.
After speaking for a while, Professor Yu seemed to notice that Xu An looked completely bewildered, unable to understand what he was saying, and even appeared somewhat drowsy. So he stopped the topic and began to inquire about matters related to Qianhai Town.
As he spoke, Professor Yu brought up the unusual features of the mudflats ahead.
"I just went over there to take a look, and the further south you go, the fewer marine creatures there are. This is quite unusual, and I don't know why. I had the students collect samples so we can study them carefully when we get back."
South? Xu An looked up at the area to the south, and the terrain and buildings there came to mind: "That's the greenhouse planting area, a little further on is a paper mill, and beyond that is the village."
"A paper mill?" Professor Yu's expression turned serious. "Why haven't I heard the old village chief mention this?"
"This paper mill is from many years ago. It was abandoned and no longer in use. All that's left are a few bare factory buildings, which is basically a wasteland," Xu An explained simply.
After hearing Xu An's explanation, Professor Yu's tense expression eased slightly. "That's right, how could it be industrial pollution? Industrial pollution has a much greater impact. It seems the anomaly on that mudflat has nothing to do with that."
Professor Yu then seemed engrossed in speculating about the unusual mudflats, becoming inattentive during the conversation and often going for long periods without replying. Seeing this, Xu An stopped talking to Professor Yu, put on gloves, and went down into the mudflats to continue his unfinished task of catching mudskippers.
I promised them when I came out that I would cook them a plate of fragrant pan-fried mudskippers that I had caught, processed, and cooked myself that night, and I can't go back on my word.
Just as they reached Li Xindong's side to start working, one of Professor Yu's students quickly approached Li Xindong with a fawning smile and said, "Hello, uncles, may I watch you catch mudskippers?"
uncle?
Li Xindong and Xu An simultaneously stopped what they were doing, exchanged a glance, and both saw surprise in each other's eyes. Then, they slowly straightened up, looked up at the student, and asked in unison, "Were you just calling me?"
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