Chapter 52

"Gaijin Shipyard always keeps its word; the ships will definitely be built. As soon as the work for Fudong is finished, construction will begin immediately."

Tang Wen's attitude gave Chen Yonggui a sense of reassurance; after all, the fishing company could only be established with the shipyard's assistance, otherwise it was just empty talk.

"Good. With your word, I'll risk my face to get all the preferential policies!"

Chen Yonggui was also determined to make a big push; now the whole country was swept up in the wave of entrepreneurship and going into business, and seeing other places constantly take off, he was unwilling to just lead the whole village to maintain the old ways.

Of course, this also required support from the township level; at the very least, a sales channel to Echeng had to be opened up.

Moreover, he wanted to try to see if he could get help from the credit cooperative; it would be best to expand the scale first to make it easier to grow big.

"Wait, I'll go with you."

Tang Wen called out to the village head who was about to act immediately; the latter thought for a moment and did not refuse:

"That's good too; meeting more people and getting a familiar face."

"No, Village Head, I have a new idea: do you think our village is suitable for tourism?"

"Tourism?"

Chen Yonggui's eyes became confused; this term was too niche for the people of Dawan Village.

For ordinary rural areas of this era, even a trip to a big city counted as tourism; as for those remote, backward places... what was there to see?

Dawan Village was merely a poor village under Dawan Town, with average terrain and average population; there was truly nothing special about it.

It had neither towering mountains nor historical ancient buildings; truly, it lacked everything.

If we talk about being by the sea, there are plenty of big cities by the sea; why would anyone come to Dawan Village for tourism?

However, to Tang Wen, none of this was a problem; he originally just wanted to try setting up a small scenic area to legally operate airplanes, so he immediately started talking nonsense:

"Look, our Dawan Village has flat terrain; in less than half an hour, you reach the golden sandy beach. We can completely connect them to build a large-scale resort.

By then, plant coconut trees on both sides of the road, have an old man standing by the roadside selling freshly picked coconuts—100% original ecological coconut juice.

Pick up trash on the beach, spread a layer of fine white sand, set up a row of beach chairs and tents; selling snacks, drinks, bonfire banquets, team-building parties, beach volleyball, and so on would all be very suitable!

The shipyard can also get a few motorboats; 10 yuan to take people for a ride, 100 yuan to tie on a paraglider and fly people."

"I remember there's a small island outside our village; let's send people there at night to experience wild island life. Overnight stays must rent tents and sleeping bags; leaving trash incurs a cleaning fee, living there incurs an environmental protection fee, and on the way back, they have to take the boat again.

Then just sell some freshly caught fish and shrimp; a seafood banquet with original flavors for 150 isn't excessive, right?"

"Then the Dawan area down below could also be developed; build a fishing boat port.

For a high-end touch, build a hotel with a Zhenzhugang style, experience the Honolulu, Hawaii vibe, and hire a few models to dance hula.

For a lower-end option, open 20 seafood food stalls; prices can be high or low, but they are all opened by our own villagers, guaranteeing bottom prices so no one loses money."

"Eating, staying, and playing are solved; add some thrilling activities, get a few airplanes to take people up for a couple of loops; wouldn't 500 or 1000 be necessary?"

By then, during festivals and New Year, thousands of tourists a day; if each spends ten yuan, that's tens of thousands!"

Tang Wen originally just blurted this out casually, but he quickly remembered the various tricks used at seaside scenic areas before his transmigration:

Don't look at the dozens of seafood restaurants by the sea; actually, they are all colluding. If you see one is expensive and turn to go to another: sorry, both restaurants are partners; probably even the kitchen is shared.

Taking a boat to an island is also a huge trap; paying hundreds to blow wind on a deserted, uninhabited wild island; just the fishy smell of the sea breeze is enough to make one choke.

As for seaside hotels? Staying in one leaves you speechless: if the balcony isn't closed, after a strong wind, you can pick up fresh oysters on the 20th floor.

But it is these scammy man-made scenic areas where people get scammed every year, yet people still come every year.

If this whole system were brought to Dawan Village... oh no, it might actually make money.

In fact, what Tang Wen said sounded unheard of to Chen Yonggui; building a hotel in Dawan, camping on a wild island, sightseeing by airplane—just hearing about it sounded very high-class.

Last time, when Tang Er told him about airplanes, he thought it was bragging; looking at this, is it really true?

Moreover, Tang Wen, who had been scammed before, spoke with such detail; it was no longer a simple idea, but something ready to be used immediately.

Following his train of thought and imagining it all, Chen Yonggui saw many coconut trees around the earthen houses in front of him, vendors selling tropical fruits sitting on the cement roads under the bright sun, sightseeing airplanes flying overhead, and crowds of people coming and going everywhere on the ground.

"This resort thing; I haven't heard of it in the surrounding areas. Maybe it's something we can try."

"However, our village wants to set up a fishing company and also build roads; perhaps..."

"No need to worry."

Tang Wen waved his hand:

"Let's first apply for this title; whenever we have time, we can do a little bit.

With the qualification, we can do it whenever we want."

The fact that private aircraft regulations were imperfect happened to remind Tang Wen; now many rules had not yet been clearly defined. If the work involved mostly local decision-making, the difficulty would be much lower.

Getting it done and then formalizing it was much easier than formalizing first and then doing it.

Applying for a tourism resort and corresponding entertainment projects shouldn't be very difficult.

This time, besides going with the village head to the township to settle the resort and fishing company matters, Tang Wen also planned to go to Echeng for a look.

It was at least a big city; perhaps he could see other opportunities.

"That works too, but I estimate I'll have to stay in the town for a day; I'll just take your car."

Chen Yonggui's mind had also been opened up; after all, Dawan Village needed development; why not try something different?

Rather than sitting and waiting for the young people to run away, it was better to let go and take a gamble.

The two agreed to set out first thing tomorrow morning; Tang Wen returned to the office, humming softly as he imagined future plans.

Steel was temporarily not lacking, money was not lacking; finally, he felt a bit relaxed.

"Ding-ling-ling."

Tang Wen glanced at the landline's caller ID; he didn't recognize it.

Could it be the bank? Has the money arrived?

"Hello?"

"Is this Gaijin Shipyard? Is Boss Tang in?"

The voice was somewhat familiar, but Tang Wen couldn't recall it immediately:

"I'm Tang Wen. Who am I speaking with?"

"It's me, Old Wu!"

Wu Lao Er was thrilled to hear Tang Wen's voice — he hadn't expected the newspaper report to actually be true.

At noon, passing a newsstand to buy cigarettes, he had spotted at a glance a piece in the local daily headlined "Agricultural Bank Backs Local Shipbuilder to Produce Thousand-Ton-Plus Deep-Sea Fishing Vessels."

Reading the content, it was unmistakably the order Gaijin Shipyard had signed with Fudong Fisheries.

He had been in Guang Province these days drumming up business, and never imagined Tang Wen was actually going to build thousand-ton fishing boats?

The paper also carried Gaijin Shipyard's ad recruiting ambitious talent, so Wu Lao Er had followed the phone number and called.

Tang Wen hadn't done any diesel engine business in nearly half a month, and, recalling Wu Lao Er, took the chance to ask whether there had been any progress.

"Progress? Brother Tang, I've landed a big deal!"