Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

From a distance, Xu An and Xu Guosheng saw several dozen people gathered under the large banyan tree at the village entrance. The clamor of their voices could be heard for miles. The most conspicuous figure stood in the center of the crowd, a head taller than everyone else, his snow-white hair tied neatly behind his head with a black cord...

The two of them exchanged a look and said, almost in unison, what amounted to the same thing: "Second Grand-uncle is back! (Second Uncle is back!)"

With that, they quickened their pace, wading into the crowd and squeezing their way to the front. There, they discovered it wasn’t just Second Grand-uncle and Xu Dongliang who had returned; five strangers were standing beside them.

Their leader was a big, burly man of about fifty. He had rugged features, a sharp gaze, and carried an unspoken air of authority. However, the skin on his face, neck, and arms was deeply tanned, clear evidence of years spent working at sea.

The four men behind him, however, were also somewhat tan, but they had a refined, scholarly air about them, not at all like fishermen who spent their lives at sea. They didn’t seem very old, either—at most, just three or four years older than Xu An.

It was an odd-looking group of five, no matter how you sliced it.

Second Grand-uncle must have just finished introducing the five men. Seeing Xu An and Xu Guosheng arrive, he puffed out his chest proudly and made the introductions again. "This is Professor Yu Zhongming, who we met on our inspection tour. These four gentlemen are his students. Their main research is in marine aquaculture, and right now they’re working on a new project, the ’Sea Ranch.’ They heard the conditions around here are good, so they came to take a look."

The speech was delivered so smoothly, one could only wonder how many times Second Grand-uncle had silently rehearsed it to achieve that effect.

"Professor Yu, a pleasure to meet you!"

"A pleasure to meet you all, too!"

"..."

After another round of pointless pleasantries, Professor Yu seemed to be getting impatient. He turned to Second Grand-uncle and asked, "Village Chief Xu, shall we go take a look at those mudflats you were talking about now?"

"Alright, you got it!" Second Grand-uncle pulled a key from his pocket and tossed it to Xu Guosheng. "You’re driving."

Then, Second Grand-uncle, Professor Yu’s party of five, and Xu Guosheng all piled into a van and headed for the mudflats at the southeastern corner of Qianhai Town. The other villagers, eager for a spectacle, rushed home. Bicycles, tricycles, and electric scooters were all revved up as a grand procession of villagers formed behind the van, attracting even more curious onlookers to tag along.

There was no way Xu An was going to miss such a spectacle. He hopped on his family’s small electric tricycle and followed the crowd toward the mudflats.

Professor Yu got out of the van, glanced at the mudflats, then turned right back around. He pulled a large suitcase from the vehicle and opened it. Inside was a full set of gear: rubber waders, gloves, goggles—everything one could possibly need.

Moments later, Professor Yu was fully geared up. He strode out onto the mudflats, occasionally bending down to scoop up a handful of mud and hold it under his nose to smell. All the while, he directed his four students to collect samples from the area.

Xu An stood beside Uncle Dongliang. Now that everyone’s attention was fixed on Professor Yu and his four students, Xu An finally had a chance to ask Uncle Dongliang how they had met the professor and convinced him to come back with them.

The question instantly erased all traces of fatigue from Uncle Dongliang’s face, and he launched into an animated story.

On this latest inspection tour, Second Grand-uncle and Uncle Dongliang had traveled to three different coastal provinces, visiting seven or eight fishing families who specialized in marine aquaculture. They toured farms raising everything Xu An had previously suggested, from Jumping Fish and abalone to prawns and oysters.

The last family on their tour was a group of oyster farmers whose base was located in the middle of the ocean, accessible only by boat. As it happened, Professor Yu and his four students were on the same boat. Xu Dongliang immediately sensed they weren’t fishermen, so he activated his innate talent for smooth-talking. He sidled up to them to chat, and in just a few exchanges, he’d managed to learn Professor Yu’s whole story.

Once he learned that Professor Yu was a professor specializing in marine aquaculture, he shamelessly pestered him with questions on the subject. As they kept talking, Professor Yu grew interested in the mudflats back in Qianhai Town, and one thing led to another, and here he was.

At the end of his story, Xu Dongliang lowered his voice and leaned close to Xu An’s ear. "This Professor Yu is doing research for his ’Sea Ranch’ project, and he’s looking for a suitable site. If this place works out, he might just stay here permanently. Then we’d get free guidance from a real professor."

Although Uncle Dongliang told the story with a straight face, making it all sound perfectly logical and above-board, Xu An knew them too well—across two lifetimes, in fact. ’There’s no doubt in my mind,’ he thought, ’that Second Grand-uncle and Uncle Dongliang tricked, cajoled, and sweet-talked the professor into coming here.’ Their goal was exactly what that last sentence revealed: they wanted the professor to set up a permanent base here and provide them with his expert guidance.

’Still, that’s a talent in its own right,’ Xu An mused. ’And if both sides are willing, who’s to say if it’s right or wrong?’

Xu An and Xu Dongliang’s conversation was overheard, clear as day, by a pot-bellied man who had appeared behind them at some point. The man pulled out his phone, opened a browser, and typed in a few words: ’Professor Yu, Sea Ranch.’ A dozen or so results popped up, and he tapped the first link.

’Yu Zhongming, Professor in the Department of Aquaculture at National Ocean University, credited with solving several major challenges in marine organism farming...’