Chapter 587: Rival

The unloading went on until eight o'clock in the evening; after the last crate of meat crabs was brought down, everyone was so exhausted they collapsed onto the deck, and A Qing even stuck his mouth open, sticking out his tongue.

Wu An gave him a kick and said, "Pull your tongue back for me."

A Qing pursed his lips and honestly complied.

Wu An mentioned that this batch of catch still needed to go to auction; everyone naturally had no objections, and delaying the settlement by a few days was no problem.

The others stayed to clean the fishing boat; Wu An gave a few instructions, mainly to sort the remaining seafood so everyone could take some home to try.

"You don't need to wait for me; just clean the boat and head back to the village pier."

"Everyone, get back early to rest."

"We'll go out to sea again first thing tomorrow morning."

After Wu An finished speaking, he went to the weighing scale.

By the time the work was done it was already nine o'clock at night; they called for a manual delivery, which came from Mei Wen's shop, and now on this side of the market, Mei Wen's fast‑food restaurant is the biggest source of customers.

When the server wasn't busy, they would arrange deliveries.

Wu An naturally had no objection, but he also made an arrangement with Mei Wen: since they treated the server like a beast of burden, the wages should be higher; there was no need to be so harsh.

Wu An also probed the server with a few indirect questions.

The server, still looking wary, said, "Handsome, I can't say, my boss isn't hiring anyone either."

"Why?"

"Is being a deckhand not profitable?"

Wu An was startled, thinking the server assumed he wanted to steal their job, and smiled, saying, "It's fine, please deliver it, thanks."

The server hopped onto a small electric scooter and said, "You're welcome."

Finished speaking.

She pressed the throttle and sped off.

Wu An was both amused and helpless; although the server didn't mention the wages, his reaction showed the pay must be decent, otherwise he wouldn't be so afraid of losing his job.

After finishing the fast food, the catch was still on the scale; Wu An checked the time and said, "Qiang Ge, I'm leaving now."

Gao Qiangqi held a bowl of rice in one hand and a cigarette in the other, asking, "In such a hurry?"

Wu An nodded and replied, "My wife called a designer over, I'm going to take a look."

Gao Qiangqi said, "If you need a car, go to the office to get the key; no need to be formal with me, okay."

Wu An found an electric bike and rode away.

Gu Anran was at the milk‑tea shop, just as it closed; the designer was none other than Li Xin, and besides Li Xin there were his two classmates.

The supermarket's design plan was too much for Li Xin to handle alone.

They arrived at the milk‑tea shop.

Li Xin and his two companions were already there, sitting earnestly at a nearby table discussing over a computer; when Gu Anran saw him walk in, a flower‑like smile blossomed on her face, and she said, "What would you like to drink?"

Wu An casually said, "Lemon water, please."

Gu Anran prepared lemon water for him; although called lemon water, it was actually hand‑squeezed lemon, a signature product she had received from Wu An, and it was quite popular in the milk‑tea shop.

Once Wu An sat down, Li Xin and his companions finally reacted, clamoring to call him "Little Wu Chief."

Wu An said, "You're all a few years older than me; just call me A An."

"Let me see the design drafts."

Li Xin quickly turned his laptop toward Wu An; as Wu An examined it carefully, the three couldn't help but swallow nervously, since this concerned design fees of over a hundred thousand.

Li Xin hadn't even graduated yet, yet he landed such a big project; if he secured it smoothly, the benefits for his future career were obvious.

Wu An glanced over, and based on his future trips to supermarkets, thought Li Xin and his team's design was already quite good and the layout very reasonable.

But as the client, he couldn't just nod and approve.

He still pointed out a few issues, tweaking some details.

Gu Anran also came over to look; she was even stricter than Wu An, listing several points, and Li Xin took out his notebook to record everything.

In a month, the supermarket could start construction.

The supermarket isn't residential, so it could be finished in two months; therefore, Gu Anran tentatively set the opening date for a lucky day in January 2013.

Wu An's task was relatively simple—just invest the capital—while Gu Anran had to take full responsibility, and thereafter she ended up busier than he was.

Wu An originally planned to buy a book titled "If You Can't Lead a Team, You'll Only Work Till Death" so Gu Anran could study it properly, but damn, the book hadn't been published yet.

Nothing can be done.

It can only be abandoned.

In fact, there was no need for him to worry; Gu Anran had already prepared plenty of study material to recharge herself, and she had been a good student back in school.

After Li Xin and his companions left, Wu An and Gu Anran lingered for a long time before finally stepping out, each heading home; Wu An specifically took a portion of seafood for Gu Anran to bring back for the old lady to cook.

Back home, it was already past ten o'clock at night.

The older brother and sister‑in‑law were still awake; Mei Yueqin, after hearing Mei Wu recount the trip's gains, smiled and said "Good job, pour the tea," and Wu An, without hesitation, made a request, wanting a bowl of noodles.

The fast food was portioned, and honestly, he didn't feel very full.

Next time he'll have to give Mei Wen some feedback; ordering fast food at the market is all hard‑labor work, and, not to mention, the rice needs to be increased.

The sister‑in‑law quickly tied an apron and went to cook.

The older brother was still preparing lessons, and Father was also there, writing and sketching on a small notebook at a little table; Wu An greeted them and glanced over—it was a speech draft.

Wu An asked, "Dad, what meeting is this that you still need to give a speech at?"

Wu Yingwei shook his head and said, "There's no meeting that would have me give a speech; the town ordered it, saying that leaders from the county and city are coming to inspect work, and each village should be ready."

"If the leaders get a sudden whim to visit the village and look around, then I, as the village head, will have to speak."

"So I'm just writing down what to say in advance, to avoid being tongue‑tied when the time comes."

Wu An suddenly understood.

This matter.

Upon hearing it, he also became interested, sat down, took Father's written speech draft and had a look. As expected, Father mainly talked about Shen Nan contracting the sea area for a Fish Farm aquaculture project.

This is also one of the few presentable things in the Village now.

After he learned of this news, he had Chen Zhuren make thorough preparations, and also tried to lure the Senior Leader to Zhenzhongcun for a visit.

In any case, everything that could be prepared has been prepared; as for whether it will ultimately succeed...

Then it's up to Heaven's will.

In the Village he didn't pay attention, after all Xixi Village is still in a state of "hundreds of neglects awaiting revival", and there's nothing much to see; besides, if the Senior Leader really came to Xixi Village, the one who would show up would be Shen Nan.

In the Village, not only he goes out to sea to fish; besides, Father will also avoid suspicion.

But Zhenzhongcun is different; that inn is his, he got into university, attended for a while, roughly speaking that's a college student who dropped out to start a business and get rich in his hometown, definitely worth a sizable chunk in news coverage.

Never underestimate a word of praise from a leader.

It might play a decisive role at a critical moment.

Wu Yingwei also had no confidence in his heart, asking: "How about it? You've been to university, help me polish it."

Wu An put down his little notebook, saying: "Not bad, let's leave it like that."

He didn't have much to say.

Father doing well is to give Shen Nan extra credit; he would only help if he were crazy.

In this regard, he and Father are actually not on the same front; rather, they are competitors.