Chapter 175: The Finale

There were already five Fleet Dormitories now, and most rooms were bought by the fishermen.

The seafood of Fish Cabin County was sold everywhere, and the fishermen all made a decent amount of money from it. To the fishermen, three taels of silver was nothing.

Some of them had even invested properties in town.

This fishermen’s dormitory was closer to work. Although some of them had invested properties somewhere else, they were still living in the dormitory.

The fishermen would always hold gatherings to talk about work and to promote friendships.

They would always go to the restaurants in town for the gatherings, and their favorite was still the buffet restaurant.

“Zhou An, I heard that your wife is working at the fancy restaurant now?”

Zhou An nodded, “Yeah, he is loving it!”

“I heard that restaurant was very pricy, the average price for a dish is like 30 cents or so!”

Zhou An nodded and said, “Although it’s expensive, there are still many customers.”

“It is said that there are a lot of young masters from the capital city frequenting the restaurant.”

Zhou An nodded and said, “Yeah! Second Master Chen said that young masters from the capital city don’t mind spending money as long as the restaurant has a good atmosphere and vibe. And don’t ask me what a vibe is.”

“These people like to have their meals in the restaurant, then they will hop on the tourist boats for some sea breezes. Do you know that the boat ticket is sold for one tale of silver?”

“So expensive, and people are still paying for that?”

“The tourist boats might not be practical for fishing, but they are very beautiful, so yeah, they are very popular among the tourists.”

……

Time passed by quickly, Lu Lin’s fleet and seafood center both had grown over the past three years, and soon it marked Lu Lin’s first tenure in Fish Cabin County, and Lu Lin chose to retain his post.

Knowing that Lu Lin chose to stay for one more tenure, the people in Fish Cabin County were very happy.

The members held a celebration for Lu Lin after they found out that Lu Lin was staying for three more years.

Lu Lin found that the public seemed to approve of him. He felt fully satisfied and contented that the public all spoke highly of him.

Yuan Bao was a teenager now, he had been helping out in Chen Xiao Cai’s restaurants, and now he was able to work independently.

Lu Lin sent Dash to school. Dash always got good results, everything seemed to be on the right track.

Yuan Bao stood on the boat, he looked at the waves and he was fired with boundless enthusiasm in the heart.

Over the past few years, Yuan Bao had done a few successful businesses, and he loved ocean carriage business the best, he was no stranger to going to the sea.

Yuan Ba was as fierce as Chen Xiao Mi. The people in the fleet initially looked down on this boy, but as time went by, they started to admire this valiant fighter.

……

The fisherman’s dormitory.

“Old Li, you’ve bought a house!” A fisherman asked the fisherman surnamed Li.

The fisherman surnamed Li nodded and said, “Yeah! I bought one in town.”

In the past few years, all kinds of seafood had been sold very well. The fishermen’s standard of living had improved significantly. Many of them bought a room at the dormitory building and invested in a property in the village or town.

“Old Li, is it because your son is going to get married soon?”

Old Li nodded and said, “That’s exactly the case.”

A few years ago, fishermen had a hard time getting married. As soon as the matchmaker heard that it was a fisherman, she would frown. However, it was different now. The young fishermen were the most popular.

Sometimes, there were girls from the villages who came to check out the fishermen on the excuse of buying fish.

Chen Xiao Cai had organized an elite fishermen team, the team specialized in working on the pilot ship. The members in the elite team were all great swimmers and great at fishing.

They enjoyed excellent perks, they would have great wages and holiday presents as well.

All fishermen aimed to enter the elite team. The young members in the elite team were all as popular as hot cake. Old Li’s son was one of them, several matchmakers had approached him as soon as he made it to the elite team.

Old Li smiled and asked, “This is all thanks to Magistrate Lu! A few years ago, I can’t imagine my son will get married so smoothly.”

A few years ago, Old Li was worried whether his son would be a bachelor forever. Old Li never imagined that girls would fight with each other to marry his son.

Several fishermen all nodded, they completely agree that they needed to thank Magistrate Lu for his great leadership.

In the past few years, the fishermen all had earned some money. There were quite a few villagers around here who had learned fishing as well.

“Old Li, where are you going to hold your son’s wedding banquet?”

Old Li smiled and said, “The buffet restaurant of course.”

The fishermen smiled and said, “Excellent choice.”

It was quite troublesome to prepare a wedding banquet, you needed to prepare tables, chairs, cutleries and such. They used to do it in a simple manner to avoid trouble until they found that they could have the banquet in the restaurant, all they needed to do was to pay for the meal tickets. 10 cents for a ticket was very affordable.

Chen Xiao Cai offered to give the fishermen who held wedding banquets in his restaurants some discount, the fishermen all appreciated that, and more and more fishermen chose to do that.

……

In the fancy restaurant, many people were drinking tea and chatting.

This fancy restaurant was one of the most popular sites for the tourists who came for the seafood and ocean view.

The business of this restaurant wasn’t that great when it first opened, but thanks to Highness Cheng’s promotion, the business had become better and better.

Now the restaurant had become a ‘must-go’ for the young masters who traveled to Fish Cabin County, they would chant poetry and paint pictures here. The restaurant had prepared writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones for the young masters, and the best works would be displayed in the restaurant.

In the past few years, the size of the restaurant has been expanding.

Lu Lin built a towered ship, this towered ship had cost him more money than the pilot ship, and it wasn’t for fishing, it was just made for tourists.

Although the fishermen all found the towered ship impractical, this ship had actually brought a huge amount of income to Lu Lin.

……

Chen Xiao Mai stood in the courtyard, craning his head with excitement.

Ji Yun An looked at Chen Xiao Mai and said, “Don’t worry. They will be here soon.”

Chen Xiao Mai nodded and said, “I know, but I can’t help it.”

After Ji Yun An ranked the third in the national civil examinations, Chen Xiao Mai spent most of his time in the capital city with Ji Yun An for his official career.

Chen Xiao Cai and Yuan Bao wrote them a letter days ago saying they were coming to the capital city for a visit, and Chen Xiao Mai had been waiting impatiently since he got the letter.

“How’s your little brother doing?”

Ji Yun An pouted, “Who cares?”

Chen Xiao Mai nodded and said, “Yes, I don’t like him either, I don’t actually care how he is doing.”

For the past few years, Ji Yun An had a meteoric rise in his career, but his father, Zhao Heng, was not as lucky. Maybe it was because Ji Yun An had enjoyed unhindered promotion, Zhao Heng had been very strict towards Ji Yun An’s half-brother Zhao Qinghe.

Zhao Qinghe hated it the most when he was compared to Ji Yun An. As time went by, there has been piled-up grievances.

Zhao Qinghe always went out to avoid conflicts with his father.

Zhao Qinghe might not be very good at studying, but he had inherited his parents’ good looks, and he was quite popular. Just a couple days ago, Zhao Qinghe had a fight with the Director of the Board of Rites’ son over a prostitute, he had broken the other party’s leg.

The news was so big that it had reached the Emperor’s ears that Zhao Qinghe had already been detained.

For the sake of this son, Zhao Heng had been begging everyone he knew, he had even asked Ji Yun An for help, and Ji Yun An ignored Zhao Heng.

As a matter of fact, this matter was related to Ji Yun An.

Zhao Qinghe was very dissatisfied that his father thought he was inferior to Ji Yun An. He was wild for revenge, so he had been spreading rumor that the reason why Ji Yun An got promotions was because Chen Xiao Mai had cheated on him with Highness Cheng, and Highness Cheng felt sorry, so he promoted Ji Yun An as compensation.

As the rumor reached Ji Yun An’s ears, Ji Yun An was furious. Ji Yun An deliberately designed Zhao Qinghe to make this big mistake.

The Director of the Board of Rites’ son was the only son in the family, Zhao Heng’s official position was not high enough to smooth this over. Zhao Qinghe would suffer for sure this time. Zhao Qinghe was Liu Qingmei’s life. If Zhao Qinghe suffered, that meant Liu Qingmei would suffer as well.

……

Lu Lin sat in the courtyard while enjoying a drink with Chen Xiao Mi.

Lu Lin sighed, “In the blink of an eye, it has been so many years!”

Chen Xiao Mi nodded, “Yeah! Over ten years already.”

Lu Lin took a sip of the drink and said, “It’s a pity that this is the last bottle of Sprite.”

Lu Lin’s alcohol tolerance was not very good. He used to like drinking red wine mixed with Sprite, but there was only a limited number of Sprite in his convenience store.

Chen Xiao Mi blinked and said, “Such a magical drink, this Sprite, it’s a shame you can’t drink it anymore.”

Chen Xiao Mi blinked and didn’t understand why this drink made his tongue feel numb. Every time Chen Xiao Mi drank it, he felt magical, “Do you know what ingredient this is?”

Lu Lin frowned, “I only know the basic ingredients, but I don’t have the right machine to make it.”

After more than ten years of consumption, the stuff in the convenience store had become lesser and lesser, the store had become a warehouse to stock the stuff in the time and space. Lu Lin suddenly realized that he had become more and more integrated into this time and era.

Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin and blushed, “I often thought about when we first got married recently.”

Lu Lin tilted his head. “What happened when we first got married? Haha, it was embarrassing, I was carried to your house on a piece of door plank.”

Chen Xiao Mi felt a little dazed under the influence of alcohol, “I’m so grateful that it’s you who I married!”

Chen Xiao Mi felt that God indeed had treated him kindly whenever he thought he married Lu Lin.

Lu Lin smiled, he grabbed Chen Xiao Mi’s hand and smiled, “Maybe I came to this world because of you.”