Chapter 163 - 157: Uncle? Were You Calling Me?
"Let’s not rush. We’ll see after the analysis results come in." Professor Yu didn’t give a direct answer, but the sheer joy on his face gave him away completely.
He had visited and inspected so many provinces and cities, and he’d certainly seen better mudflats. But when you combined the low price, large area, and lack of prior development, very few places met his requirements. The mudflats in Qianhai Town were one of those rare few.
He had already reached an agreement with the chief of Xu Family Village. If the sample analysis from these mudflats met his requirements, he would apply for a research grant and effectively pool his funds with theirs to lease the land. Xu Family Village would then let him pick the first plot for his research. The only condition was that, in his spare time, he would guide them in their aquaculture and advise them on what to look out for.
It might have seemed like Professor Yu was getting the short end of the stick, but his years of firsthand experience had taught him one thing: trying to conduct long-term research without the backing of the local powers was a pipe dream. To say nothing of other issues, just a few fearless local thugs would be enough to cause a massive headache.
Professor Yu had a friend in agricultural research. After more than half a year of hard work, his crops were finally ready for harvest. But overnight, everything was dug up, roots and all. When the police eventually caught the perpetrators, they turned out to be a gang of local thugs. They didn’t even want the crops for food; they had simply been passing by, noticed how well everything was growing, heard an outsider was responsible, and destroyed it all with absolute impunity...
When they were arrested, they were all smirking and cheerfully discussing how much time they would have to do, acting as if a prison sentence was a badge of honor—the longer, the better.
From then on, whenever that friend went anywhere to conduct research, his first move was always to fence off the land. Then, he would get on good terms with the nearby villagers and the local government, asking for their help in reining in such hooligans. A few cases of petty theft still occurred later on, but a total wipeout like that never happened again.
It was a classic case of better safe than sorry. His research projects were typically measured in years. If something went wrong, several years of painstaking work could be wiped out in an instant. Nobody wanted to face that kind of outcome.
He had even made a point of asking a friend working in Hai City about Xu Family Village. The village wasn’t large, but it was notorious—the kind of place that even local delinquents knew to avoid. On top of that, both the old village chief and Xu Dongliang had made a good impression on him. They might look big, burly, and fierce, but they were both sensible and reasonable men.
’It was a mutually beneficial deal. No downside.’
After the sampling was finished, there was nothing else on the agenda. Professor Yu had seen the curious looks on his students’ faces all along, so with a wave of his hand, he set them free to explore, telling them to meet back in an hour to head home.
The four students cheered and scattered, looking for approachable fishermen to chat with. They even tried their hands at digging for mud worms and catching Jumping Fish, finding the experience absolutely fascinating. Professor Yu, meanwhile, trudged unevenly back to the shore, found a spot in the shade, and happened to sit down right next to Xu An.
"Good afternoon, Professor Yu," Xu An said politely.
"And you are...?" Professor Yu sounded puzzled. His eyes darted for a moment, and then a look of recognition dawned. "You’re from Xu Family Village, aren’t you?" he replied in a booming voice. "I remember seeing you yesterday. The old village chief introduced you. Your name is... Xu An... correct?"
’Just what you’d expect from a professor,’ Xu An thought. ’It was so chaotic yesterday, and noisy too when we were introduced. We haven’t spoken since, but he still remembered my name. I guess you can’t be a professor if you have a bad memory!’
"That’s right, I’m Xu An. The old village chief is my great-uncle," Xu An replied, then asked curiously, "Didn’t you already take samples yesterday? How come you’re back again today?"
"We didn’t have much else going on, so I brought the students for a look around. They’ve seen plenty of aquaculture farms, but this is their first time seeing fishermen catch Jumping Fish. Every last one of them is fascinated." It was as if Xu An’s question had opened the floodgates. The professor launched into a long-winded explanation of Jumping Fish aquaculture on the mudflats. Xu An was completely lost and couldn’t get a word in, so he could only nod repeatedly to show he was paying attention.
After talking for a while, Professor Yu seemed to notice Xu An’s dazed expression. He was clearly not understanding a word and was even starting to look a little sleepy. The professor abruptly changed the subject and began asking about Qianhai Town instead.
As they chatted, Professor Yu brought up the anomaly on the mudflats further ahead.
"...I just took a walk over there. The farther south you go, the scarcer the marine life becomes. It’s quite an unusual situation. I’m not sure what’s causing it, so I had the students take some samples to study back at the lab."
’The south?’ Xu An looked toward the southern area, a mental map of the local geography forming in his mind. "That way is the greenhouse farming district. A little past that, there’s a paper mill, and then beyond that is the village."
"A paper mill?" Professor Yu’s expression turned serious. "Why didn’t the old village chief mention that?"
"The paper mill is from many years ago. It was abandoned early on, so now there are just a few empty factory buildings left. It’s basically a patch of wasteland," Xu An explained.
After listening to Xu An’s explanation, the tension on Professor Yu’s face eased slightly. ’Of course,’ he thought. ’It couldn’t be industrial pollution. The effects of that would be far more widespread. It seems the anomaly on the mudflat has nothing to do with this.’
Afterward, Professor Yu seemed to get lost in his own thoughts, speculating on the cause of the anomaly. His part of the conversation became sporadic, and he would often go long stretches without saying a word. Seeing this, Xu An didn’t try to engage him further. Instead, he pulled on his gloves, headed down to the mudflats, and resumed his grand mission of catching Jumping Fish.
He had, after all, promised that tonight he would serve up a plate of fragrant, pan-fried Jumping Fish—caught, cleaned, and cooked by his own hands. He couldn’t break his promise.
Just as he reached Li Xindong and got to work, one of Professor Yu’s students hurried over. With an eager, almost fawning smile, he asked, "Hello, Uncles. Do you mind if I watch you catch Jumping Fish?"
’Uncles?’
Li Xindong and Xu An both froze. They exchanged a look, each seeing the same astonishment in the other’s eyes. Slowly, they straightened up, looked at the student, and asked in perfect unison, "Were you just calling me?"