sbdcsierra Chapter 1710 Ready to make a move
Chapter 1710 Ready to make a move
Chapter 1710 Ready to make a move
After hanging up the phone, Ye Yaodong took advantage of the remaining free time to inquire about matters at the factory. He had originally planned to call the children after school, but unexpectedly, his uncle-in-law arrived.
He had no choice but to call someone to his office, where he could sit down and have some tea before sending someone to fetch his father.
Uncle He Dawei's dark face was full of wrinkles when he smiled. He looked around and exclaimed in amazement. The first thing that caught his eye when he entered the office was the pile of brocade banners and honorary plaques hanging on the wall.
"Wow, you're amazing! A model unit! What's this? Certificates of honor... and so many banners?"
"Hehe, some were brought from home, and some were replicas of the ones from home," Ye Yaodong said, handing him a cup of tea.
My uncle took the tea and sipped it. After admiring the honors on the wall, he walked to the table, sat down, and put down his teacup. Only then did he notice the printed words on the teacup.
"Wow, what's this? The 1988 May Fourth Youth Award, what else could it be?"
My uncle looked at the dozen or so enamel mugs arranged against the wall on the table, each bearing a five-star red flag and red printed lettering, all facing him. He read them one by one...
"Advanced Youth? Model Worker? Advanced Producer? Advanced Collective? Contribution Award? Patriotic Glory? Defending Territory? Why do you have so many enamel cups with all these titles?"
Ye Yaodong's eyes and brows were always smiling. Ever since he brought these from home and placed them on the table last year, everyone who came to his office for tea would notice them, including visiting guests.
Then everyone was surprised to find that he had so many cups, each with different characters, and the dates of the signatures and stamps were all different, with even the red stamps belonging to different organizations.
He explained the origins of the enamel mugs to the surprised people, indirectly praising himself and increasing the customers' trust in his company, which brought him many orders.
These are all forms of credibility. People nowadays know the value of these things; they are a plus, representing that the person is recognized by so many organizations. People are quite honest these days and still believe in these things.
He then recounted the origin of each enamel mug and the story of how it was awarded.
My uncle gave me a thumbs up and said, "Impressive. I can hardly manage to get even one, and you've managed to get so many."
"It's just luck. Let's sit for a while and wait for my dad to arrive before we go out to eat together. I have to go out to sea again tomorrow."
My uncle rummaged through his bag and took out a piece of red coral about the size of a washbasin, handing it to him with a smile. "Here you go. Just have a carpenter carve a base, paint it, and then put this piece of coral inside."
This original coral branch looks a bit like a huge, lush antler. It is a rich oxblood red all over, with a deep red base and much lighter colors at the branches, with the last branch being a light pink.
These are unpolished and untrimmed branches, so the color ranges from dark to light, and there are many branches at the ends, as thin as fingertips, some of which were broken off during fishing.
The surface is not smooth, but covered with natural patterns and holes similar to tree rings.
Ye Yaodong's eyes lit up as he took it. "It's so big? How much is it? I'll give it to you."
"No need, why would I pay you? It's not worth much. I asked for it anyway, I didn't spend any money."
My uncle took another one out of his bag. "There's another one, smaller one, but it's all blood red. This one is more valuable; it's also from a whole branch, so we can display it together."
This one is a bit smaller, but not by much, and the color is even better. It's a deep oxblood red all over, and it looks much better than the previous one.
"Holy crap, this isn't cheap, it's all made of acrylic?"
"You know about these? You have good taste. This one was a gift from the boss. The one before that was one I asked him for. I said I wanted one, and he let me pick any one. But having to choose one put me in a bit of a dilemma. I had to be careful not to pick anything too fancy, so I could only pick something not too expensive. After he looked at them, he brought out this one and said it was a gift for you. This one is expensive, though. Don't be fooled by its smaller size; it's a deep oxblood red all over. But he's rich enough to give it away. Those two online items have already been sold..."
My uncle didn't say the number out loud, but instead held up a 2 with his finger.
"If we hadn't been discovered, we could have made even more money by doing another smuggling operation."
Wow, they make so much money?
"Who says otherwise? Would you take such a risk if you weren't making money? You only dare to go if you know a lot of fishing boats and go with several of them."
"Get rich."
"It's only because you have such a big reputation and influence that you don't even need to show your face. As soon as I heard you wanted one, I picked out a good one for you!"
As he spoke, my uncle kept rummaging through his cloth bag, finding only broken small corals piled up in a small heap.
"These are worthless, nobody wants them. I just grabbed a handful. Keep them if you want, or just throw them in the trash if you don't."
"Sure, why not? Have it polished up and made into a ring, earrings, or a string of beads."
"Why bother with that? These are worthless, nobody wants them, and you'd have to pay extra for the labor. The craftsmen who can carve these things are too busy to handle anything else, who has the time to work on these tiny little things?"
"It will be available later."
Ye Yaodong held a large coral branch in his left hand and a piece of pure red coral in his right, admiring them back and forth, each with its own unique beauty.
Although the first one isn't entirely blood red, its gradient is still quite beautiful; it's a primitive work of art. The second one, needless to say, is valuable just by looking at it.
"Is your boss free tonight? Let's have dinner together. I gave such a big gift, and I don't have anything to give back. How about we have dinner together and get to know each other?"
“He has a dinner engagement every night. He’s been having dinner with different bosses every day for the past two days, selling his coral.”
"That's a pity. I have to go out to sea tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until next time. Remember to give me a call when you come ashore next time."
"Row."
Ye Yaodong swept the small coral branch into the drawer. Since the other two drawers were also full, he simply placed it on the table.
When he has some free time, we'll hire a carpenter to carve a base for him.
Ye's father slowly came over, carrying a bag of oranges, who knows when he went out to buy them.
"Huh?" His eyes widened. "Where did such a big coral come from?"
"They were gifts; both of them were obtained through my connections."
"A gift? Your uncle gave it to you? It's so big, it must have cost a lot of money!"
"Hehe, one of them I asked the boss for, and the other one, which is all blood red, was given to Dongzi by the boss when he heard that Dongzi wanted it."
Mr. Ye picked up the two corals and examined them closely, then held them up to the window where the light was good for a closer look.
"You think you're so powerful now? Just mentioning your name and people start giving you gifts? You'll have to repay that favor later."
"The way you're telling me makes it sound like they're asking me for favors. They just want to make friends, friends with influence! Having more friends means having more options. If something really happens, everything will be easier to handle."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, having a friend as capable as you will definitely open up more opportunities for me in the future."
“That’s right.” Ye Yaodong said smugly.
He does know a lot of important people now, and he knows a lot of wealthy businessmen. He himself is a wealthy businessman now!
"Get ready, shall we go eat now? It's almost 5 o'clock, it's about time to go to a restaurant."
"I'll call my local friends who love eating and drinking, and we'll all go to Fatty's place together. It'll be more lively with more people; it'll be quiet if there are too few."
If there aren't enough people, the atmosphere won't be lively. What's the point of having a meal if it's cold and quiet? It'll feel like a task, and that's not what you call treating someone to a meal.
"Then we'll head out first. You call them and tell them to go by themselves later."
"Sure, go drive your car."
Mr. Ye's face lit up with joy. "Driving a car? How will you drive back if you drink too much?"
"What are you afraid of? If they've had too much to drink, just leave them there. We can drive them back tomorrow. Just have Fatty send someone to keep an eye on them."
"Okay, then we'll go by car."
Mr. Ye turned to He Dawei with a smile and repeated that he had gotten his driver's license last year and that Dongzi had bought him a car for the New Year.
Finally, he found someone to listen to his boasting, and they were such close friends. He went back to the boat and bragged to his fellow crew members again, which made him even more famous.
They walked out while chatting, heading towards the cars parked in the factory. After circling the cars for a while, Mr. Ye introduced them again before getting in.
After getting into the car, He Dawei touched it left and right, extremely envious. "You've finally gotten over your hardships and are enjoying your good fortune. Who knows, you might have even greater blessings in the second half of your life."
"Hehehe, I'm content with things as they are now. Whether I'll have even greater blessings depends on whether my three sons have even greater abilities."
"If I have half the good fortune you have in the rest of my life, I'll be laughing in my sleep."
Ye Yaodong said with a smile, "If you want to have great fortune in your later years, you must first have good health. We who work at sea spend all year at sea, so it's hard to have good health."
"That's right. I can't get enough sleep every day. I feel short of breath, dizzy, and lack energy. I just have to tough it out. I don't know how many years I'll live."
“When we dock in Shanghai in a couple of days, I’ll have Qing take you to the hospital for a check-up, and my dad will go with you. Hey, don’t rush to refuse. To enjoy life, you first need to live long enough and have a healthy body. Anyway, we’re docked now, and we’ll be staying here for a few days.”
My uncle shook his head. "That would be too much trouble. There's no need to bother. The inspection is useless. We're at sea every day. Does the inspection mean we won't have to go to sea anymore?"
"That's different. Once the check-up reveals a problem, then we can treat the symptoms accordingly. We should also pay more attention to controlling our health, rest when we need to, and take care of ourselves when we need to retire. It's better than not knowing that our health is ruined without even realizing it."
Ye's father also strongly resisted, saying, "Why bother? Who goes to the hospital for no reason? They can find out you're sick even if you're not. You're just scaring yourself. I'm not going. I'm perfectly fine. I can eat two big bowls of rice at every meal. I'm sure I'll live to be a hundred."
"That's right, as long as you can eat, your health won't suffer."
“You didn’t have much to eat before, so your health must have been poor, and you’ve been working hard ever since. Take my advice, getting a checkup won’t hurt you. It’ll only take a day or two, and a little time. Especially since you’re clearly feeling unwell, you should definitely get checked out. It’s all worth it for a long and healthy life.”
Ye Yaodong then said to his father, "You're already enjoying good fortune, but even greater blessings are yet to come. Do you want to live to the old lady's age, live to be a hundred, and enjoy even greater blessings?"
How do you know I won't live to that age?
"I can calculate how many years you will live."
"Then tell me, how many years do I expect to live?"
"No, you're driving. I told you you'd get too excited. You have three lives in your hands."
Ye's father turned and glared at him, saying, "You can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth."
"Then it's settled. When your uncle leaves for Shanghai, you should go too. Call Qing and she'll make an appointment in advance to take you for your check-ups."
"talk later……"
Since things have already softened, there's no need to say anything more. When the time comes, we can just let them go together.
When Ye Yaodong and his group drove to the entrance of Fatty's shop, they attracted a crowd of onlookers, which Fatty found fascinating.
"I'll earn money for another year, and I'll buy one next year too!"
"Then you should lose some weight, otherwise your belly is so big it'll hit the steering wheel."
"Grass……"
"Quickly arrange a table for me. I'm treating my uncle to dinner tonight, and some local friends will be coming too."
……
Ye Yaodong rested for a day, and the next morning, despite a headache from a hangover, he hurriedly went out to sea.
I was already squeezing out a day off yesterday, and I had to leave early in the morning.
Once they reached the sea, somehow word spread that they knew about the coral poaching, and after they were able to communicate with him, they even asked him about it.
"How did you know? You probably didn't know anything before I left, right?"
“What Ah Guang said? Ah Guang said that your uncle had gone on a boat to poach coral before, and he has a lot of small corals at home. After you returned by boat, he started chatting with us about it.”
Ah Guang chuckled, "We just chatted for a bit, and seeing my uncle's fishing boat rushing back, I guessed it was because he was poaching coral."
"Hey, Dongzi, is poaching coral really that profitable?" Xiaoxiao asked.
"Does your uncle's boss manage to catch millions in one trip?"
"This is too easy money! Should we try it too?"
"Dongzi, why don't you ask your uncle when they'll go again? Should we go with them?"
"Yes, if we go and set up two networks, we won't have to worry for the rest of our lives when we come back."
Ye Yaodong knew they would be interested after hearing about it, and he asked them as soon as he came out.
If they were them, they would definitely be tempted to take a gamble. A bicycle can become a motorcycle, a motorcycle can become an Alto, an Alto can become an Audi, and wealth is just around the corner.
He would have been tempted if it were him two or three years ago.
"They were discovered while poaching, so they quickly fled back to the port and definitely won't be going there for the next few months."
"If we're going in a few months, can he let us know? Can we go with him?" Ah Zheng asked eagerly.
“I’m not going. It’s too risky. I have so many ships, and I’ve made a lot of money steadily. Right now, it’s better for me to play it safe. If you want to come along, I’ll have my uncle and Ah Guang make the connections first, and then you can decide for yourselves.”
"Aren't you going?"
"Well, there's no need for me to take the risk."
Everyone's enthusiasm instantly halved.
Dongzi is their leader now. If he doesn't go, they feel like something is missing if they go with him. They suddenly feel uncertain and don't think they have much of a chance.
Ah Guang was also tempted to take a gamble, and he hesitated before saying, "Why don't you arrange for one boat to go? The other boats can continue fishing as usual?"
The others quickly chimed in, "Yeah, that works too, we didn't make you send all your ships over."
"Just try it out with one boat. You shouldn't suffer any losses, but if you make a profit, you could make a fortune."
"If I just go by boat, it won't mean much to me. I don't care about a million or two. If I put in more effort and win this year's trade show, I can earn much more in the next few years, and that will continue for a long time."
"You're really not going?"
“If you want to take a gamble, let A-Guang contact my uncle. He probably just finished his business and won’t be going for the next few months or even this year, but if you have this idea, you can contact him in advance.”
Their village is now well-known, and they have a connection with him, so people will probably give them a chance out of respect.
Ah Guang said helplessly, "Alright then, I'll consider contacting you later."
"Damn it, why isn't there any in the waters around here?" Ah Zheng cursed.
"There should be some, but it can't be done on a large scale, so people can't concentrate on fishing there. It might be because of the warm currents over there."
Ah Zheng said confidently, "Dongzi, I think we should go and steal their coral. They're already coming all the way here to steal fish, so what's wrong with us stealing coral from their territory?"
Xiao Xiao chimed in, "Yes, that's right, they steal our fish, so we'll steal their coral!"
“Okay, then you guys go. Be careful. I mainly feel that with my current wealth, there’s no need to take so many people on a risky trip. With so many boats, we’ve made a good living from steady fishing. If we do something so risky and get caught, we’ll all be wiped out. That would be a huge blow, and we’d have nowhere to turn to complain.”
Ah Guang sighed helplessly, "Alright, alright, we'll talk about it later. It's too early to talk about this now."
Ah Zheng said, "Anyway, I'm going to go and take a gamble!"
"We'll talk about that later."
He didn't want to say much about things that weren't yet certain, just in case there were changes. Ye Yaodong didn't want to be too definitive.
"I'm not going to talk anymore, I need to catch up on some sleep. I'm so sleepy and my head is spinning. I've only been at sea for a few days and I already feel severely sleep-deprived."
"I also feel dizzy. If I keep drifting like this for half a year, I feel like I'm going to die young."
"It's really tough to make money and tough to get by. Staying at sea for a month is already quite unbearable. It's only March now, and there are still 5 months until August. Just thinking about it makes me feel like the sky is going to be dark."
"We just finished shipping. If you arrive, let us know in advance and we'll arrange to ship the goods according to the situation."
Ye Yaodong responded and took a sip of tea from his thermos to refresh himself.
It seems they'll have to make a trip to poach coral, otherwise they won't be satisfied.
He'll see how things go then.
I don’t know if the area where his uncle was illegally fishing is the same one he knows about. The sea is so vast, yet he only knows of two places.
But his uncle-in-law is a senior figure who is now engaged in high-risk work on ships. In his previous life, back in 2000, he was following in the footsteps of his predecessors.
Ye Yaodong let his random thoughts wander for a while, then put them out of his mind for the time being.
Anyway, he will definitely treat his uncle's boss to a meal. Whenever he runs into him, he will treat him to a meal to get to know him better. Even if he doesn't go himself, he can still let them learn more about him.
It's the middle of the night now. We expect to drive for another three hours or so before reaching the target sea area to start collecting the goods.
He perked up, paid closer attention to the various display screens, and listened to the radio.
P.S.: I messed up the previous chapter and had to revise it before the deadline, so it was updated late, but it was still before midnight anyway.
I'll try my best to add an extra monthly pass tomorrow.