Chapter 918: Islanders

Since the island wasn't big anyway, he decided to act as a tour guide for once and take He He Lingchuan to inspect the place in person. After walking a small part of the way, He He Lingchuan had to admit: "Indeed, the scenery is boundless." There aren't many people who can resist the charm of the sea.

Along the way back and forth, one could see a long bamboo pipe conduit; they even followed the pipes for over a hundred yards.

"The supply station hollows out thick bamboo tubes and connects them section by section. By connecting a few hundred yards, they can channel the mountain spring water down." Otherwise, the fresh water needed by passing ships would have to be fetched from deep in the mountains.

"That is quite convenient."

Registrar Yang also produced the compensation agreement signed with the tenants, which bore the signatures and thumbprints of both parties.

In the face of big money, the Lu family wouldn't care about those little scraps of silver.

Afterwards, the group headed to Suoding Island.

Among the six outer islands of the Yangshan Archipelago, only the two closest to the shipping lanes had supply stations set up.

Suoding Island was actually three times larger than Heiye Island, with fairly flat terrain and similarly dominated by shale. To He He Lingchuan's surprise, the supply station here was built quite neatly; the pier was wide and level, and the exterior walls of the buildings on shore were smoothed over with grayish-white mud, dotted with shells gathered on-site, while the roofs were uniformly thatched with thick seaweed.

Viewed from a distance, the rows of houses were situated in an orderly fashion, like plump, sturdy, large round mushrooms nestled in a grove of glossy palm trees.

Observing them up close, the house functions were reasonably zoned: a storage area specifically for ships to unload cargo, a food area for storing food, tobacco, and liquor, as well as a kitchen and a lounge.

Of course, the food and water had already been cleared out.

The rows of houses behind were guest rooms; the ones on the side facing the sea were single VIP rooms, with a direct sea view and peace and quiet.

Closest to the storage area were dormitories for seven or eight people and standard guest rooms for four or five.

All kinds of objects and utensils were also arranged neatly, as if the owners had only left temporarily.

Perhaps because the contrast was so sharp compared to the supply station on Heiye Island, He He Lingchuan found this place very pleasing to the eye; the original station master must have put in quite a lot of effort.

"This place is built quite well." Not big enough, but clean and tidy. No need to tear it down later, just expand it.

Registrar Yang laughed: "Yes, most ships are willing to stop here. Oh, there is a sulfur hot spring behind here; people can go right in. Soaking in it is very refreshing."

He led He He Lingchuan to see the hot spring, which was actually a small lake in a half-bay on the side, with steam rising; as soon as they approached, there was a smell of sulfur.

It was a saltwater hot spring, and the water output appeared to be quite high. Reaching out to touch it, it was forty-five or forty-six degrees.

He He Lingchuan was satisfied; having a natural hot spring was a plus. Hmm, worth developing.

"This supply station is really well built. The lease isn't up yet, is the original owner willing to leave?"

"After being given the compensation money, they had nothing left to say."

In He He Lingchuan's original world, this was called a breach of contract penalty.

After walking a small part of the island, He He Lingchuan saw two small villages, both living by a small stream, but there weren't many people.

The old people in the village sat on benches outside their houses, watching them expressionlessly.

"Who are these?"

"They are the island's residents. They have lived here for decades and have land deeds, which the predecessors of the Lu clan lords also recognized." In other words, a legacy issue. "There are such small villages on other islands too, with as few as twenty people, and at most no more than forty or fifty."

Was this the protected private property mentioned in the Yangshan Archipelago transfer agreement? According to the agreement, He He Lingchuan could not forcibly drive them out.

"Across the entire archipelago, how many villages are there in total?"

"Uh, six. Heiye Island alone has three; this island is relatively large, so there are a few more villages."

"Is this village the most populous?" He He Lingchuan pointed forward. "What is this village called?"

Registrar Yang wasn't sure either, so he had someone go in to ask before finding out: "Luding Village. Named after the Luding Creek nearby."

"With so few people, do they just make a living by farming?"

"I suppose so."

Registrar Yang's words were equivalent to "I don't know." He He Lingchuan glanced at him: "Do they not pay rent or taxes?" Otherwise, the authorities would at least know a little bit.

Registrar Yang coughed: "There are too few people."

Which meant they didn't pay.

After running to several islands, they only collected such a pittance that it didn't even cover the labor costs of the tax collectors. This small account was a loss, so Does Bailie simply stopped collecting.

He He Lingchuan nodded and continued walking forward.

The whole island was full of palm trees; there was even a farm in the woods, where many tools were stored, and behind the house were piles of fruits, as well as husks, like chestnuts but larger in size.

He He Lingchuan picked up a husk and looked at it for a few moments: "What is this?"

Registrar Yang said: "This is palm fruit. They are privately picking fruit and pressing oil here without reporting it or paying taxes!"

The archipelago previously belonged to Does Bailie, so the crops on the islands naturally belonged to Does Bailie as well. The supply station organized the villagers to build a workshop here to press oil without paying extra money to Does Bailie, so Registrar Yang was naturally unhappy.

Of course, these islands would soon belong to He He Lingchuan and would have nothing to do with Does Bailie.

"There are many palm trees on this island. Are they high-yielding?"

"They can be seen everywhere," Registrar Yang replied casually. "I heard there are even more in the depths of the archipelago."

"Oh? Heard?" He He Lingchuan glanced at him. "Registrar Yang hasn't been to the depths of the archipelago to see?"

Thinking back, the palm trees on Longji Island were indeed countless, and he had even seen fruits hanging heavily on and under the trees, with absolutely no one tending to them.

Oops, almost let it slip! Registrar Yang quickly smoothed things over: "I fear the wind and waves at sea, so I rarely take a boat. Other matters of the Yangshan Archipelago are handled by my colleagues."

He He Lingchuan gave a hum and didn't press further, returning to the seaside to board the ship under Registrar Yang's escort.

However, just as they reached the beach, an argument broke out on the pier ahead.

He He Lingchuan looked up and saw that the dozen guards brought by Registrar Yang had blocked the pier, as if surrounding someone.

He He Lingchuan couldn't see the other party in the argument, but he could hear a loud and angry voice—

"Everything is built by my own family. By what right do you give it to others just because you say so? Did you get my family's consent? The lease still has seven years left, by what right are you driving us away? Do you know that a sale does not break a lease?"

It was a woman, her voice very young, and she spoke as fast as popping beans, rattling off words one after another.

The dozen big men opposite couldn't win the argument against her, and couldn't even drown her out with their voices.

A guard was so angry that he reached out to shove her, but before his fingers even touched her, the woman grabbed his arm and pulled hard, simultaneously kicking him in the stomach.

Thump, a man weighing over 150 pounds was actually kicked into the water by her.

The other guards saw this and thought, "Oh, you dare to make a move?" They immediately went up to grab her.

The woman jumped back onto the small boat a step ahead, grabbed a wooden oar, and slammed it at the guard who followed her down.

Another one fell into the water.

She was exceptionally agile, and the other guards didn't want to go down and get beaten, so they grabbed the cables and worked together to drag the boat toward the pier. This way, her fate would be either falling into the water or being captured; was there a third way?

(End of chapter)