Chapter 80: Fishing Boat News

It's a red alert.

The members of the Village Committee gathered together, all with grim faces.

This is no joke.

A typhoon passing through could pose incalculable threats to villagers' personal safety and property, the old village chief smoked and asked, "Shall we organize an evacuation?"

Wu Yingwei shook his head: "Impossible."

"We tried it when last year's typhoon hit; many elders in our village would rather die at home than leave."

"And also…"

Chen Gui: "Those old things don't know when to die…"

The old village chief looked up.

Chen Gui immediately fell silent, then said sullenly, "I'm just anxious."

The old village chief didn't argue, saying, "Higher-ups have given orders; each village handles its own affairs, reports hazards promptly, and the higher-ups will arrange rescue."

"Our Xixi Village has a pier here."

"Who here is willing to take charge of the pier?"

No one spoke.

The old village chief looked at Wu Yingwei.

Wu Yingwei nodded: "I'll take responsibility."

Everyone didn't react much; Wu Yingwei has always been at the front, so the most troublesome and dangerous places naturally fall to him.

The old village chief continued assigning tasks.

Chen Gui kept complaining; at times like this he wanted to resign on the spot, yet he was reluctant to give up the position and authority. Watching the old village chief assign work, his eyes flickered, as if he wished to replace him.

He muttered inwardly, cursing why the old village chief still wasn't dead, occupying the latrine without using it, and rose reluctantly, braving wind and rain to go outside.

…

Wu Yingwei first went back home and put down his lunchbox.

He briefly explained what he knew and inspected the house, lest he was busy outside while the home fell into disarray, which would be a laughingstock.

Wu An was also at home.

The old house had just been tidied, and Wu Ping ran over to call him home.

Because of the typhoon, the school held only half a day of classes before closing, and its buildings were long overdue for repair; if the students were buried beneath, no one could bear that responsibility.

Wu Yingwei asked, "Is the old house all fixed?"

Wu An nodded: "Foreman Li is reliable; everything's done."

"We'll call him again when we build a new house."

Wu Yingwei asked a few more questions, learned that a portion of the final payment was still unpaid, nodded, said no more, and braved the wind and rain to go out again.

Wu An watched and wasn't too worried.

Father's notebook also recorded this typhoon; although it caused some property loss, it was basically smooth.

Typhoons blow every year, sometimes one after another.

Actually, it's nothing.

In their year, out of 365 days, at least more than half are windy and rainy; genuinely good weather days are few.

They ate.

Rarely having leisure, they ate fruit, drank tea, and the three sat watching TV; the wind and rain outside added a certain charm.

In the afternoon, the wind and rain suddenly stopped.

A Qing ran over.

He had been cooped up all morning, which made him feel terrible.

"Brother, shall we go to the seaside?"

"When I came, I saw many people heading to the sea to chase the tide."

"Uncle and Chen Gui and a few others are also there."

Wu An shook his head; with only a Luck Value of three, he wouldn't join the fun and increase Father's workload.

This is the calm before the storm.

Boss Gao called, saying there was news of a fishing boat.

Wu An perked up, asked about the boat; Boss Gao said it was a small fishing vessel that could only go to near seas, and he didn't know the details.

Wu An immediately said he'd go check it once the typhoon passes.

After hanging up, Wu An was a bit excited.

He looked at the money in his hand, gradually calming down; why? He didn't have much—just over two thousand, only enough for the final payment.

He wasn't panicked.

No money, no problem; just earn it.

This isn't the immediate "green crab passage"; a wave could make them fat. He had no idea how much could be earned, only heard many made big money, and Father had noted it in the notebook.

It was said that it also sparked some conflicts; the scramble led to fights, and Father got no benefit from it, but had to spend effort to handle it.

If he could "take it all in one pot," that would be a way of indirectly helping Father reduce his workload.

Of course, that also requires Luck.

If he fails to seize the initiative, it's no big deal.

Anyway, he now has a way to make money; even if the system is weak, a hard day's work can earn a thousand or eight hundred.

He's not as good as those above, but more than enough compared to those below.

A Qing, upon hearing the fishing boat news, was also excited: "Brother, does that mean we can set sail to the sea soon?"

Wu An smiled: "If things go smoothly, it should be soon."

A Qing was even happier than he, saying, "Great, I can also be a shiphand now."

Wu An asked, "What's there to be happy about being a shiphand?"

A Qing said, "I also applied before, but the ship captain didn't want me, looking down on me."

Wu An suddenly understood.

A Qing dropped out of school early, and being thin and short, although already an adult, he looks like a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old kid; at first glance he doesn't seem like someone capable of work.

In fact, A Qing is hardworking and endures hardship without complaint, and he is honest and sincere, making him a very good partner.

A Qing continued, "We can also go to the uninhabited islands in the outer sea to gather seafood; then no one will follow us, and we can pick whatever we want."

"We can also set up a water pump to drain a pit; many boat-owning families in our village do that."

Wu Anle chuckled and agreed, "We can contract the uninhabited island."

A Qing glared: "Brother... are you playing for such high stakes?"

"Um..." Wu An blinked, realizing the joke about "contracting fish ponds" hadn't appeared yet, and said, "I was just saying that."

"Anyway, ordinary people don't go to uninhabited islands; if we go, it's practically the same as contracting it."

Wu Ping let out a breath of relief: "A An, you really scared someone."

"I thought you had gotten carried away, really planning to contract the uninhabited island."

Wu An smiled.

"When we have money later, contracting the uninhabited island for development wouldn't be impossible."

Mei Yueqin said, "Going to the uninhabited island to gather seafood requires caution; there's no one on the island, the rocks are very slippery, and if the wind and waves are strong, it's even more dangerous."

"You two, don't be reckless when you go."

"You think the big shots don't know the uninhabited island is rich in resources; the reason hardly anyone goes to gather seafood there is that it's simply too dangerous."

Wu An nodded.

"Besides being relatively dangerous, gathering seafood depends on the tides; to catch the tide, one might have to get up early and work late, and moreover the outer sea's uninhabited islands are fairly far from land, making a round trip time-consuming and costly; if luck is bad and the island's resources are poor, it would be a loss."

"As long as there are good places nearby, villagers generally won't consider going to the outer sea's uninhabited islands to gather seafood."

"After all that talk, we first need to earn money to buy a boat."

"If we don't have a boat, we can only honestly gather seafood and fish by the seaside."

While chatting, Wu An heard a sound from his phone.

He took it out and saw it was a QQ message.

It was from Gu Anran, asking if he had gone to gather seafood.