Back to 1980: Farming the Sea and Expanding the Island

The afternoon sun was already setting when Lin Chuan headed towards the village chief's house.

As for understanding the background of Zhao Chenghu, village chief Li Jianguo certainly knows more.

The gate to the courtyard was ajar, and Li Jianguo was squatting in the yard, scrubbing a piece of clothing covered in machine oil in a large wooden basin.

There wasn't any large machinery on the island, and it's unclear where he got all that oil on him.

"Uncle Jianguo," Lin Chuan called out from the doorway.

Li Jianguo looked up and saw it was Lin Chuan. He shook the water off his hands and straightened up: "Little Chuan's here? Come in and sit down."

"I won't go in, Uncle. Let's just say a few words here." Lin Chuan walked into the courtyard, casually pulled over a small stool from the side and sat down, looking at the dark water in the basin.

"Where did you get all this engine oil on yourself? This oil stain is hard to wash off."

"It's that tractor in the village, it's a bit broken, let's get it out and fix it." Li Jianguo sat down as well, took out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, and lit it.

"Oh, oh!" Upon hearing this, Lin Chuan immediately thought of the old-fashioned Dongfeng-12 hand-held tractor. This thing wasn't big, about two meters long and less than one meter wide.

It can be disassembled, and with wheels attached, it can be used to till the ground to a depth of half a meter to one meter. If other parts are replaced, it can be used for sowing and rotary tillage.

Thinking about the situation on his island, Lin Chuan suddenly became interested. "Uncle, how's the tractor? Is it working well?"

"No major problems, but plenty of minor ones. You want to borrow the tractor? I'm afraid not. It's the only one in the village, and it's busy tilling the land."

"No, I was just asking. It's just my parents on the island right now, and they haven't even finished working on the greenhouses yet, so they don't have the energy to do anything else," Lin Chuan explained with a smile.

"Uncle, I came here today to ask you about something. You mentioned Zhao Chenghu's situation to me last time, and I wanted to ask you about it."

"Zhao Chenghu? Why are you asking him out of the blue?" Li Jianguo asked, puzzled.

Lin Chuan then shared his guesses and what Wang Hao had told him. Li Jianguo was one of the investors in the transportation cooperative, so he was practically one of their own.

Lin Chuan didn't need to hide it; his side was weak right now, so he had to concentrate his punches to hurt the opponent.

"The loan is stuck? Are you sure it has something to do with Zhao Chenghu?" Li Jianguo frowned immediately and stopped smoking.

"This timing is too coincidental; I can't help but suspect that he's behind it."

Li Jianguo silently took two puffs of his cigarette, his face darkening: "Old Chen assured me the day before yesterday that we had all the necessary materials and it was a group project, so there shouldn't be any major problems."

Although I'm not very close to Old Chen, he seems to be quite principled in his work. But today he suddenly started acting strangely.

According to what you're saying, someone might have passed on a message, and it's quite possible that Zhao Chenghu is trying to trip us up again.

Lin Chuan shared his speculation: "Uncle, I reckon that Zhao Chenghu from this seafood company probably caught sea bass that didn't meet his expectations after the last heavy rain."

So they harbor resentment and are using this incident to their advantage, resorting to underhanded tactics against us.

Li Jianguo tapped his cigarette ash. "I don't know much about Zhao Chenghu either."

There was an uncle named Zhao Huanren, who was the deputy general manager of the county's aquatic products company, in charge of fleet scheduling and fisheries administration.

Lin Chuan listened silently, and this matched his previous guess.

Li Jianguo took a deep drag of his cigarette, slowly exhaled, and snorted coldly: "His father is Zhao Dehai, the director of the county environmental protection office."

However, even if his father is the county magistrate, he cannot interfere with normal policies.

Don't worry, Xiao Chuan. When your Uncle Jianshe comes back, if that old Chen is still making excuses, I'll go see him myself. I don't believe he can keep blocking the approval forever.

Environmental Protection Bureau? Lin Chuan's heart skipped a beat. A vague news headline from his past life seemed to flash by, but he couldn't quite place it.

"No wonder Zhao Chenghu is so arrogant, he really is a second-generation rich kid." Lin Chuan smiled.

"Xiao Chuan, don't go to Zhao Chenghu's place. Don't get involved in this. We old guys are still here. We won't let you be bullied," Li Jianguo said to Lin Chuan.

"With you and my uncles around, I'm naturally not afraid. I've also thought of the worst-case scenario."

"If it really is someone trying to sabotage us, we can just not take out a loan to buy this boat, and get a smaller one to operate for now. At most, we'll earn less money," Lin Chuan said with a smile.

He naturally wouldn't confront Zhao Chenghu, who was like a sewing machine operator, head-on, especially when Zhao was at his most arrogant and powerful.

"However, Uncle, I will still go to dinner invited by Zhao Chenghu. These are just my guesses."

"It'll be better to figure out the reason so we can come up with a solution. If it's not true, that'll be even better. Even if it is, I'll still get a good meal."

"You little rascal..." Li Jianguo laughed and scolded upon hearing this, quite pleased with Lin Chuan's idea.

He had just heard Lin Chuan's speculation and was not afraid of Zhao Chenghu's mischief. If Zhao Chenghu were to be re-evaluated in previous years, he would definitely be fish food in the river.

The fear is that Lin Chuan, being so young, might be too impulsive and act rashly, falling into someone else's trap. It would be best if Lin Chuan could have a clear understanding of this.

"Okay, I'm relieved that you think that way. When the second brother comes back, we'll ask him about the situation and then discuss it together."

As for your trip to the banquet, bring a few of the village boys with you.

After Li Jianguo finished speaking, he said that he would mess with Lin Chuan, since this was a banquet, not a fight, and he would turn him into Chen Haonan.

Fortunately, the Young and Dangerous series was released in the 1990s. If someone had seen it now, hearing the village chief say that would probably have them immediately getting excited.

He couldn't help but smile wryly and said, "Uncle, I'm just going to have a meal, it's not that serious."

"It can't be that bad. You haven't seen how bad a person can be. Alright, it's settled then," Li Jianguo said decisively.

Seeing this, Lin Chuan nodded and stopped making excuses.

With so many people protecting him, Lin Chuan felt a warmth in his heart. Perhaps this is the kind of affection that is hard to let go of.

After chatting with Li Jianguo for a few more minutes, Lin Chuan said goodbye and left.

Instead of going home, he went straight to Beishi Wharf to look for Wang Hao, thinking that he might know something about the situation.

The dock was much quieter in the afternoon, with only a few fishing boats tidying up their nets.

Wang Hao did know more than Li Jiaguo. Besides Zhao Dehai and Zhao Huanren, he also mentioned that Zhao Chenghu had a younger brother.

"Zhao Dehai has two sons. The eldest son is Zhao Chenghu, who is domineering, but fortunately, his cousin Zhao Dezhu keeps him in check."

Although he acted like a tyrant in the seafood company area, it wasn't too outrageous.

The youngest son, Zhao Chengwen, is quite different from Zhao Chenghu. He's well-educated and academically gifted, working as the deputy head of the raw materials department at the county paper mill. He's young, promising, and I hear he's highly regarded.

Paper mill? Raw materials department? Lin Chuan's nerves tightened instantly.

"Moreover, the paper mill is now a key enterprise and a major taxpayer in our county. It is expanding a new factory in Yinyang Commune, and it is very large in scale."

I heard that Zhao Chengwen is still a leading candidate for the new factory director!