Chapter 24

Back on the deck, Ding Er brought a reclining chair for Ye Yuan to sit on.

Ding Yi and the others began to inspect the fishing boat. With these two mechanical men, it was really convenient. They could handle a lot of tedious tasks.

"Hmm, I must find time to make a few more," Ye Yuan thought to himself.

This time out at sea, the issue of insufficient manpower on the fishing boat became apparent. Normally, a fishing boat would have at least a dozen people, but Ye Yuan's side only had four. Although Ye Yuan's fishing boat was very advanced and much of the work was done mechanically, the task of sorting the catch still required human labor.

Lying on the reclining chair, a convoy of vehicles approached from a distance. The lead car was an Audi, followed by several refrigerated trucks. The convoy stopped in the parking lot by the dock.

A few people got out of the Audi, including the dorm leader, Zhao Chuan, and the second dorm mate, Zhang Wujin.

They quickly spotted Ye Yuan on the deck.

Coming aboard the fishing boat, Zhao Chuan pointed to the people behind him and introduced them to Ye Yuan: "These are the guys I mentioned on the phone. Wang Yueshan runs a seafood trading company in Blue Island. His father and my old man have a good relationship. We've been friends since childhood. He's a year older than us, so you can just call him Brother Shan."

Ye Yuan nodded and shook hands with Wang Yueshan.

"Brother Shan, it's really a bother to have you come all this way."

"Brother, what are you talking about? I should be thanking you. It's not easy to do business these days, and good products are hard to come by. I heard from Chuanzi that you have quite a few good catches. Just don't forget about me when the time comes."

Ye Yuan and Wang Yueshan exchanged a few pleasantries, then led the group to the fish hold.

When Wang Yueshan saw that the fish hold was filled with common seafood, he was slightly disappointed. After all, what he lacked were high-end seafood channels. However, this batch of seafood from Ye Yuan was of top quality, both in quantity and quality.

Wang Yueshan offered a price of over 900,000 yuan for the entire boat of seafood, and Ye Yuan nodded in agreement. Subsequently, the workers Wang Yueshan brought began to load the seafood onto the trucks, which would be directly shipped to his hotels in various places from Blue Island.

The dorm leader told Ye Yuan that the jade fragments he needed had already been obtained and were on their way. He had come earlier because of Wang Yueshan's matter.

Ye Yuan wanted to treat the group to a meal, but Wang Yueshan politely declined, saying he needed to get the seafood back immediately as it was his first business in Blue Island City and he couldn't afford to mess it up.

After Wang Yueshan left, Zhao Chuan and the second dorm mate also didn't want to eat in Pinghai County. Both were eager to see Ye Yuan's island.

......

The current Fish Bay Island was already in the initial stages of construction. In just a few days since Ye Yuan's departure, a modern dock had been completed, and various factories were under construction nearby.

At the dock, his brother-in-law was supervising the workers unloading materials from the transport ship.

Ye Yuan led the two brothers over.

From his brother-in-law, he learned that the dormitories on the island were already finished, and the final renovations were underway. Ye Yuan's family villa was also completed and ready for occupancy. His sister and Niu Niu had already moved in, and the small supermarket had closed down.

Because his brother-in-law had to run back and forth between the county and the island, and his sister was in charge of the company's finances, they decided that his sister would bring Niu Niu back to live on the island for the next few months.

After telling his brother-in-law that he would be having dinner at home, Ye Yuan took the two brothers to his new villa.

From a distance, they could see their three-story standalone villa, built with natural stones. In front of the villa was a newly cultivated vegetable garden, where his mother was watering the young vegetables. Behind her, Niu Niu was riding on Da Huang, who had a drooping face, and the little girl was pulling Da Huang's ears with her small hands.

Seeing Ye Yuan, Da Huang suddenly ran over as if he had found a savior, but was pulled back by the little girl.

Seeing this, Ye Yuan picked up Niu Niu, freeing Da Huang from his predicament. The liberated Da Huang barked a couple of times at Zhao Chuan and the second dorm mate, then ran out of the villa, probably off to play somewhere. Since taking the Spirit-Opening Pill, Da Huang often went out, and the family didn't pay much attention to him.

"Big doggy~ Big doggy~ Niu Niu wants to ride the big doggy."

The little girl, seeing Da Huang run away, struggled to get down from Ye Yuan's arms.

"Be good, Niu Niu. Let's go inside first, and we'll ride the big doggy later, okay?"

Ye Yuan comforted the little girl and introduced the second dorm mate to his mother. Zhao Chuan had been to Ye Yuan's house before, so his mother recognized him.

Seeing guests, Ye Yuan's mother went to the kitchen to prepare a meal.

Holding Niu Niu and leading the two brothers into the villa, Ye Yuan, though it was his first time entering this villa, was not unfamiliar with the interior, as he had designed many parts of it himself.

Zhao Chuan's eyes widened at the 80cm blood-red dragon in the living room. "Brother, this fish is really top-notch, much better than the one Jia Hongyuan gave my dad."

This blood-red dragon was the one Ye Yuan had obtained from Zhao Chuan's sister and left with his brother-in-law before leaving.

"Are you planning to treat us and the dorm leader with this? I haven't even tasted this fish," the second dorm mate joked.

"You're a bad person, no eating Hong Hong~" Niu Niu's characteristic childish voice rang out, making the second dorm mate feel embarrassed.

The dorm leader and Ye Yuan burst into laughter. Ye Yuan suddenly remembered the tourmaline he had obtained from the sea and called Ding Yi. Soon, Ding Yi brought the tourmaline over.

Ye Yuan gave a 20cm pink tourmaline to Niu Niu, who was delighted by the shiny object and kissed Ye Yuan on the cheek before hugging the tourmaline and going to find her grandmother.

Ye Yuan still had two pieces left, one black and one deep blue, which he placed in front of Zhao Chuan.

"Take a look, dorm leader. This should be quite valuable, right?"

Zhao Chuan looked at the deep blue tourmaline in front of him, unsure, and asked Ye Yuan with a doubtful tone: "Is this tourmaline? Did you get this from the sea?"

"Yep."

Zhao Chuan carefully examined the tourmaline, explaining its value to Ye Yuan and the second dorm mate as he did so.

"Tourmaline, also known as tourmaline, is a mixed gemstone. Tourmaline crystals come in a variety of colors, with over 15 different shades, including colorless, rose red, pink, red, blue, green, yellow, brown, and black. The most valuable are the transparent and lustrous deep blue, bright rose red, and pink with green. Tourmaline, due to its vibrant, varied, and highly transparent colors, has been loved by people since ancient times. It is currently one of the most valuable colored gemstones, second only to diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds.

The history of using tourmaline as a gemstone is relatively short, but its vibrant and rich colors and high transparency have made it popular since its introduction. It is known as a gemstone of infinite charm. During the Qing Dynasty, tourmaline received unprecedented attention in China, especially from Empress Dowager Cixi, who was a great fan of tourmaline. It is said that she always kept a red tourmaline under her pillow. Tourmaline was also a symbol of power, used as the material for the top hats of first and second-rank officials and for the beads they wore."

PS: Thanks to brother 08a for the tip.