Back to 1980: Farming the Sea and Expanding the Island

In the afternoon, just as Lin Chuan's family returned from the island, the water monkey ran over excitedly.

"Brother Chuan, my dad and Uncle Jianshe are back from watching the boat. They said they'd come to your house tonight to discuss it together." Water Monkey's face was beaming with barely suppressed excitement.

Looking at the water monkey's expression, Lin Chuan knew that Wang Pusheng must be satisfied with the boat he found this time.

He immediately smiled and nodded, saying, "Okay, I'll come over to discuss it after the literacy class ends later."

As evening fell, fog slowly began to rise over the river, the mist like a thin veil, gently drifting over Qingping Island.

Lin Chuan jogged home under the cover of night.

As soon as they arrived at their doorstep, they saw Wang Pusheng with Shui Houzi, followed by Li Jianshe and Li Jiaye. All of them had smiles on their faces.

Especially Wang Pusheng and Li Jianshe, although their eyes were sunken and they looked tired, their eyes seemed to be burning with two balls of fire.

"Xiao Chuan, we've found the boat!" Wang Pusheng's voice was hoarse, but he couldn't suppress his excitement.

Li Jianshe smiled and nodded repeatedly.

Lin Chuan smiled and led everyone into the main room. When Lin's mother saw that everyone had arrived, she hurried to the kitchen to boil water.

Xiaoman greeted everyone cheerfully and then followed her mother to the kitchen to help.

After everyone was seated, Wang Pusheng took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, on which a simple sketch of a ship and some numbers were drawn in pencil.

"There is an old shipyard downstream of Chongming Island, with 120-ton steel barges that are 60% new."

The factory is willing to sell the two 135-horsepower machines, which underwent major repairs two years ago.

Wang Pusheng pointed to a string of numbers on a piece of paper on the table and continued, "The price is 30000 yuan. Jianshe went to check it out, and the ship is fine. The price isn't too expensive."

The main room fell silent. Even though he was prepared, Lin's father still subconsciously gasped.

Thirty thousand yuan—this figure was simply unbelievable to the Lin family, who owed the team several thousand work points just a few months ago.

Li Jianshe took over the conversation, his tone slightly urgent: "The team leader and I have made several trips to the commune and the county town, and we've figured out all the policies."

The credit union offers "interest-free loans for agricultural machinery used by township and brigade enterprises," which can cover half the loan amount for a three-year term.

Lin Chuan listened and nodded: "What are the conditions?"

"There are two hard requirements." Li Jianshe held up two fingers. "First, the borrower must be a production team or a collective enterprise run by the team."

Second, the down payment must be at least 50%, which is 15,000 yuan, and there must be collateral or a guarantee.

Fifteen thousand.

Wang Pusheng and Li Jianshe stared intently at Lin Chuan. The money they had earned before, plus what Lin Chuan had earned, was definitely enough.

Lin Chuan looked at the two men, guessed what they were thinking, and said with a wry smile, "Uncle, you know that a greenhouse was just built on the island, and several thousand yuan was invested in it."

"My family can only contribute 5000 yuan to buy this boat."

"5000?" Li Jianshe frowned. "Pu Sheng and I can each contribute 4000, but... there's still a shortfall of 2000."

The water in the kitchen boiled, making a "whooshing" sound.

Lin's mother came in carrying a copper kettle and poured a bowl of hot water for everyone. The rising steam blurred the solemn expressions on everyone's faces.

"Xiao Chuan, is it possible to bring in other people to invest?" Li Jianshe asked, his eyes gleaming.

"What do you want?"

"Your Uncle Jianguo is also somewhat interested. If possible, he could also invest in it," Li Jianshe said to Lin Chuan.

"Where is Uncle Pusheng?"

When Lin Chuan asked him a question, Wang Pusheng nodded.

"Okay, everyone agrees, I have no problem with that," Lin Chuan said with a smile. Then, Lin Chuan looked at Li Jianshe and asked, "Uncle, how much can Uncle Jianguo contribute?"

Li Jianshe thought for a moment, "I estimate it can be around 800!" This was after he earned a few hundred dollars from hunting sea bass with Lin Chuan last time; otherwise, he would have had a hard time coming up with 300 dollars.

"We're still short 1200!" Lin Chuan picked up his bowl, took a sip, thought for a moment, and said, "Uncle Jianshe, Uncle Pusheng, I'll find a few more people to help raise the rest of the money."

"Look, how about we bring Uncle Liang and Uncle Tongjiang over too? They can take turns running the boats, making things easier for everyone."

"Okay, no problem."

"I'm fine with it too," Wang Pusheng nodded.

These two people often interacted with each other, and everyone had seen how they treated others and handled their affairs, so they immediately nodded in agreement.

"But Xiao Chuan, are they willing to pay this money? It's no small sum," Wang Pusheng said with concern.

Lin Chuan smiled and said, "Uncle, don't worry, you should go back and rest first. You've been running around all day."

I'll go talk to them about the boat's condition and price. You can tell them tomorrow, and we'll buy it.

But it will take some time to raise the money; please ask them to keep it for us.

If it were in his previous life, he definitely wouldn't have been willing to take out several hundred dollars at once.

Putting himself in Wang Pusheng's shoes, one can understand his concerns.

Wang Pusheng and Li Jianshe left with their men, leaving only the Lin family members in the courtyard.

Now, Shui Houzi and Li Jiaye have become the two's main focus of training, and they leave them at Lin Chuan's house whenever they have free time.

If you go out to discuss business, bring someone with you to teach you by word and deed.

Lin's father squatted on the doorstep, smoking silently: "Twelve thousand... that's no small sum. That means they'd have to empty their entire savings. Do you think they'd agree to that?"

Let's not end up using up all our family's savings.

Lin's mother didn't speak, she just looked at her son. She believed that her son had a solution, but she felt sorry for him because all the pressure was on his shoulders.

The old man tapped his pipe, then asked, "Xiao Chuan, is it absolutely necessary to buy this boat?"

"Grandpa, it's true that we should have bought the boat earlier, and now is a rare opportunity," Lin Chuan said with a smile.

"Also, we need boats to get our island produce out of the island. These boats are like our legs reaching out to the outside world."

Don't worry, I'm confident I can persuade Uncle Liang and Uncle Tongjiang.

The next day, Lin Chuan went to Uncle Liang's house, Liang Chengfeng's house, which was not far away, early in the morning.

Uncle Liang was mending fishing nets in the yard when he saw Lin Chuan looking for him early in the morning, which surprised him.

Lin Chuan didn't stand on ceremony and explained in detail the policies regarding buying a boat, setting up a transportation cooperative, obtaining loans, and the current funding gap.

"Uncle Liang, you should have heard about the cargo ships operating outside, and now you know how profitable this trip is."

Wen Dong and Wen Wu are both getting older, and Wen Dong can't keep catching loaches on the mudflats forever.

"Why don't you let him join the transport team and work on the boats with you? You can teach him a skill too; it's a trade, isn't it?"

Liang Chengfeng stopped what he was doing and remained silent for a while.

He said, "Xiao Chuan, I've seen what you've done, and I believe you, but I don't have that much money on hand."

"I can only come up with 500 yuan at most, that's what I earned last time when I went with you guys to catch sea bass. Otherwise..." Liang Chengfeng smiled wryly.

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuan nodded solemnly and said, "Uncle, it's alright. If you're willing, that's fine. I'll take care of the rest."

Don't worry, I guarantee you won't lose this money. If you do, I'll find a way to compensate you.

"You rascal, what are you talking about? The business hasn't even opened yet, and you're already talking about whether it will be profitable or not. That's very unlucky," Liang Chengfeng said with a laugh.

"Your Aunt Liang will bring the money over tonight." He then changed the subject and reminded Lin Chuan, "Xiao Chuan, there's been gossip about you in the village lately, it's related to the college student who came last time, so be careful."

"Okay, Uncle Liang." Lin Chuan listened thoughtfully and quickly thanked Liang Chengfeng.

Immediately afterward, Lin Chuan took his leave and went to the brigade to record his work points.