Chapter 35. The Island Owner goes to Sea

It was lunch time, and the teahouse was full of people. The waiter pushed the snacks in the aisle between the tables, occasionally stopping to recommend snacks to the guests.

     Fang Xinhua specially asked the owner of the teahouse to leave him a booth with a wide view, few people and convenient for business talks. He and his secretary arrived first. In order to show his sincerity, he also asked the secretary to pick up Li Yaolin downstairs.

     Li Yaolin was a little uncomfortable with such a grand reception, but she did not show any embarrassment. Instead, she smiled very generously and said, “Mr. Fang, we are partners. You are too polite.”

     “Mr. Li, did you agree to take me out to play?” Fang Xinhua pretended to be stupid.

     Li Yaolin laughed: “That depends on how we play.”

     Fang Xinhua was not in a hurry at this moment. He took out his tea leaves and boiled water while asking: “What would Mr. Li like to drink, Chrysanthemum Pu’er, Tieguanyin or Xiaoqinggan?”

     Li Yaolin remembered that the little mermaid said that the more such a juncture, the less impatient you should be, otherwise it would be easy to be seen through, so she also acted very leisurely.

     She didn’t know tea, but she could tell from the packaging of those tea leaves that they were not cheap. For example, the Xinhui Xiaoqinggan, one of her classmates’ family sold this. This brand of Xiaoqinggan costs more than 800 yuan per can.

     She said, “All are fine.”

     “Then let’s try the Xiaoqinggan!”

     When the package was opened, a very mellow tangerine fragrance filled the air. Fang Xinhua brewed the Xiaoqinggan with familiar movements. When the tea soup became orange-red and clear, he poured a cup for Li Yaolin first, “Please–“

     Li Yaolin tapped the table with her index and middle fingers to express her gratitude and took the lead in tasting the tea.

     Xiaoqinggan has the flavor of Pu’er and tangerine peel. The mixture of them not only does not go against each other, but is extremely mellow and refreshing, and has a little sweetness.

     After tasting the tea, it’s time to talk about business.

     Fang Xinhua got straight to the point: “I want to open a diving shop on Xingzhou Island. This is my plan.”

     Li Yaolin had already rejected his cooperation plan in her heart, but out of respect, she still read the plan again.

     This plan is quite detailed, including the rent of the diving shop, the procedures for hiring people, the diving projects, and the rent of the diving area. It also guarantees that part of the income will be used as environmental protection funds to invest in the protection of the marine ecological environment on Xingzhou Island.

     Fang Xinhua said: “I know that Xingzhou Island is building a protected area, so I also support the protection of the ecological environment. Although the diving project will cause certain damage to the marine ecology, I will grasp the degree.”

     Li Yaolin said: “Does Mr. Fang mind listening to my request? If Mr. Fang can accept it, then let’s talk about cooperation!”

     Fang Xinhua raised his hand and motioned her to say.

     “Currently, Xingzhou Island’s marine resources only support two types of diving activities, one is snorkeling, and the other is scuba diving in the offshore waters not exceeding 20 meters. As for free diving, there is no condition for the time being. I have only two requirements for diving projects. One is that it is completely operated and managed by Xingzhou Island, and the other is that only ornamental diving activities are allowed.” 

     Fang Xinhua had no objection to the second point, – Isn’t diving just swimming in the sea, taking some photos, and dealing with it? – But the first point is completely unacceptable. The operation and management rights are in her hands, so what cooperation can we talk about? !

     Fang Xinhua pulled the corner of his mouth: “Mr. Li, you are boring now. ” What’s the difference between this and eating alone?

     Li Yaolin smiled and didn’t respond. Fang Xinhua had no choice but to reveal his trump card: “Xingzhou Island should not have a stable cooperation with any travel agency now, right? I have shares in Wenhua Travel Agency, I can help you to cooperate with Wenhua Travel Agency.”

     Wenhua Travel Agency is a tourism brand company under Wenhua Group and the largest travel agency in Lingnan Province. With Wenhua Group as a backer, its tourism business has expanded widely. The tourist routes include not only domestic ones, but also Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. If we can cooperate with travel agencies, Xingzhou Island will have more customers.

     Currently, Wenhua Travel Agency has launched tourist routes in Youshi including Lady Xian Cultural Base, Yuhai Park, Mangrove Wetland Park, Open-air Mine Park, Genzi Town, Litchi Township, etc. Every year, 5 million tourists sign up to visit through travel agencies. The number of tourists in the city is more than 11 million per year. It can be seen how good the prospects are if we cooperate with travel agencies.

     Fang Xinhua thought that a mature entrepreneur would weigh the pros and cons. Moreover, he was renting a diving shop, not taking advantage of Xingzhou Island, so Li Yaolin had no reason to refuse.

     However, Li Yaolin really declined: “At present, the infrastructure of Xingzhou Island is not yet complete, there are few entertainment projects, and there are only five one-way flights a day… Generally speaking, the tourism carrying capacity of Xingzhou Island is not high, and even if we cooperate with travel agencies, it is not meaningful.”

     Fang Xinhua choked.

     Yes, for tourist attractions, food and accommodation are often the most profitable, and travel agencies get the most kickbacks in these aspects. It is said that Xingzhou Island does not even have hotels and restaurants. Travel agencies are not charitable. Without the premise of interests, only fools will listen to him and cooperate with Xingzhou Island.

     Fang Xinhua asked tentatively: “How about I invest in Xingzhou Island to build hotels and restaurants?”

     “At present, Poseidon Holiday Tourism Development Co., Ltd. does not need investment. If I have a plan to attract investment, I will definitely tell Mr. Fang as soon as possible.”

     Fang Xinhua curled his lips, and the small green orange in his mouth was no longer fragrant, and the tea and snacks were tasteless.

     He hated the second generation of rich people, especially the second generation of rich people like Li Yaolin whose origin was mysterious and whose background was unknown. Knowing her background could at least cater to her, but who could tell him why he couldn’t find out her origin even after mobilizing all his connections and forces? 

     Although he was secretly criticizing Li Yaolin, facing huge interests, Fang Xinhua was flexible and immediately put down his posture:

    “Mr. Li, is the rent not suitable? If so, we can increase the rent a little bit, how about 600,000 a year?” The rent of 50,000 a month is already very high for a new scenic spot like Xingzhou Island. If it weren’t for the good prospects of the diving project, he really couldn’t bear to spend so much money. 

     Li Yaolin shook his head: “It’s not for this reason. Even if you give me 6 million in rent, my position will not waver. If you really want to cooperate with me, you can invest in a diving shop, don’t interfere with the operation, and get dividends every quarter.” 

     Until she met Fang Xinhua, she didn’t think about the popularity value, pollution index and Poseidon satisfaction, after all, the system and the little mermaid didn’t mention it. Just now, she always felt that she had forgotten something. After thinking for a long time, she suddenly realized that the little mermaid had always been a passive assistant who “did not move when not called”. If she did not actively ask it about something related to the island, it would not mention it actively.

     So she asked this question in her mind: “If I outsource the diving project to others, will there be any impact?”

     The little mermaid said frankly that the outsourced project did not belong to the project operated by the island owner and could not enjoy the relevant project subsidies.

     From this, she determined one thing. Once the store was rented out, she had no management rights, and could not manage it through the Poseidon Holiday APP, nor could she obtain relevant data of the project.

     Take the popularity value as an example. The popularity value of projects not operated by the island owner is not included in the total popularity value of [Business Level].

     She outsourced the diving project to Fang Xinhua for operation. Although the rent she received would be included in the turnover, she could not upgrade the diving point without popularity, nor could she reduce the pollution index, and could not obtain Poseidon’s satisfaction.

     The loss of the opportunity to upgrade means that the improvement space of this project is not large, and the development is also subject to great resistance.

     Compared with that little rent, the sustainable development of the project and the satisfaction of Poseidon are naturally more important. After all, the satisfaction of Poseidon cannot be bought with any rent.

     Li Yaolin was glad that she was not blinded by the benefits and agreed to Fang Xinhua without thinking.

     She said to Fang Xinhua: “Not only the diving shop, but also the hotels, restaurants and even other water entertainment projects built in the future, I will not give up the management rights.”

     Her attitude was too firm, and Fang Xinhua suddenly felt it was difficult.

     He was afraid of Li Yaolin and did not dare to use any tricks.

     If you want to play in the other party’s territory, it is better to abide by the rules set by the other party. After careful consideration, Fang Xinhua made a decision and asked: “How much money do you have to invest and what are the dividends?”

     Li Yaolin smiled and said: “Since Mr. Fang has approved this way of cooperation, we can discuss the details another day.”

     “That’s right.” Fang Xinhua also smiled.

……

     After leaving Minghui Teahouse, Li Yaolin went straight to the noodle shop and ate a bowl of noodles. In order to maintain her status, she only drank tea in the teahouse. She didn’t dare to eat too much of the delicious snacks. After a business negotiation, she didn’t eat enough!

     Fang Xinhua didn’t order many snacks. After all, he thought both parties came for negotiations. Snacks were just decorations, and tea was the focus.

     After finishing her noodles, Li Yaolin went straight back to Xingzhou Island. The diving equipment she ordered a few days ago was delivered, just in time for her to explore the sea conditions of Xingzhou Island in person.

     She chose several areas with high visibility as diving spots, and then asked Gao Lao to drive out the idle ferry and take her to the vicinity of these diving spots.

     The visibility of the sea water at the nearest diving spot is eight meters. Because the weather is good and there is no cold current to make the water turbid, you can see the bottom at a glance.

     The fish that were originally swimming here were scared away by the sound of the motor, and only the plants on the seabed still stood quietly on the sand and rocks.

     “Island owner, are you really going down?” Gao Lao asked Li Yaolin with some concern.

     Li Yaolin gave him a comforting smile: “I have a certificate, don’t worry, it’s okay.”

     After that, she put on the mask, made some adjustments, and went into the sea. Gao Lao nervously looked around on the ferry. Fortunately, the sea water was in good condition and he could see Li Yaolin.

     After the motor stopped running, the fish that were disturbed and left swam back, and they were not afraid of Li Yaolin at all. They swam freely in the sea and chased plankton that was difficult to see with the naked eye.

     These fish are big and small, but many of them are tropical fish that Li Yaolin had seen a while ago. Their bodies are colorful, and when they are exposed to the sun, the fish scales are shining with colorful light. The school of fish swam by, as if drawing a beautiful rainbow on the seabed.

     Diving further down, you can see clusters of well-growing coral algae and sargassum, and not far away, there is a large area of antler-shaped corals, and some leaf-shaped peony corals mixed in. Clownfish are active there in groups, and naughty juvenile fish are drilling in and out of the coral crevices, which inexplicably reminds Li Yaolin of Nemo in “Finding Nemo”.

     There are anemones, starfish, shrimps, crabs and various shellfish in the mud and sand on the seabed. The species are so rich that Li Yaolin can only name less than one-third of them.

     Suddenly, Li Yaolin felt something touching her. When she came to her senses, she found that a large number of tropical fish had come to her side without her noticing, as if they were watching her, a new face in the ocean.

     Li Yaolin felt something and reached out to them, but they just avoided her slightly and were not scared away. Several naughty little fishes were darting around her breathing tube, occasionally slapping her face with their tails. One of them was golden and only as long as her index finger, and even bit her arm “brutally”. Its mouth was not even as big as Li Yaolin’s fingertips when it opened wide.

     Li Yaolin didn’t feel anything through the diving suit, but she felt that these tropical fishes were so lively and cute, and couldn’t help saying, “I’ll play with you guys next time!”

     She realized that she was wearing a respirator after she said that.

     However, the group of tropical fishes seemed to have received the signal she sent, and they all went to play somewhere else.

     Li Yaolin’s eyes lit up, and she said again, “Come here.”

     The group of fishes swam back again.

     Li Yaolin’s eyes widened. Did she get some superpowers? !

     Will DC ask her to film the sequel to “Aquaman” “The Return of the Daughter of Poseidon” if they knew about it? 

     Although she teased herself like this, she still had a clear understanding of this rationally, thinking that this might be related to “sea god satisfaction”. After all, she was a person recognized by the sea god. It was reasonable for these fish to give her some face for the sea god’s sake!

     Suddenly, the group of fish seemed to be disturbed and fled around again. Li Yaolin saw a blurry shadow coming towards her from a distance. Some terrifying images of water monsters flashed through her mind. Goose bumps appeared on her skin under the diving suit, and she subconsciously wanted to follow it.

     However, before she could move, the shadow became clearer and clearer. She saw through the mask that it was a green sea turtle.

     Finally, she could put her heart back in her stomach.

      Li Yaolin looked at the approaching green sea turtle curiously. She always felt that it was called by her, and it seemed a bit irresponsible to just leave like that, so she played with it in the sea for a while.

     Finally, she was worried that she would get decompression sickness if she stayed in the sea for too long, so she said goodbye to the green turtle before returning to the ferry.

     “Island owner, you can make the green turtle approach you actively, which is amazing!” Gao Lao gave her a thumbs up.

     He could see clearly from above, not to mention the fish, even the green turtles, which are known for their timidity, were chasing her figure, which shows that the island owner’s affinity is not even resisted by marine life.

    Li Yaolin smiled awkwardly: “The halo on my head is just a fox taking advantage of the tiger’s might. “

     “Ah?” Gao Lao didn’t understand.

     “It’s okay, let’s go to the next point!”

…

     After 4:30, the tide gradually surged, and the risk factor of diving rose sharply, so Li Yaolin ended this diving survey.

     Based on her own experience and the situation in the sea, she decided to temporarily develop three diving spots. One is next to the white sand beach, which is suitable for developing snorkeling projects. The water depth there is only two or three meters, there are more shellfish and active fish, and the water quality is the best.

     One is a sea area with reef-building corals, located near the reef southwest of Xingzhou Island, with a water depth of about eight meters. This can be used as a diving experience point.

     There is another diving point in the southeast of the island. This area has never been visited by tourists. The water depth exceeds ten meters, and even the terrain of the sea area is relatively steep. But the marine resources here are more abundant, and the fish that move here are also edible fish.

     The yellow croaker school that once made fishermen eager to move because of a big yellow croaker caught by a fisherman is active here. They move in groups, and when they swim over Li Yaolin’s head, they cover the sky and the sun, which is very spectacular.

     If this is caught, won’t it sell for millions of yuan? Li Yaolin is so greedy that she is drooling.

     As if sensing her thoughts, fearing that they will fall into her clutches if they swim slowly, the yellow croaker school speeded up their swimming speed and swam away in the blink of an eye.

     Li Yaolin: “…”

     For the first time, she felt the taste of being despised by this group of fish.

     It seems that the “automatic avoidance of fishing” of the [No Fishing Zone] will also work for her.

     About a mile away from here, Li Yaolin also found the second-class protected animal, the lancelet^[1]With about twenty-five species inhabiting shallow tropical and temperate oceans, the Cephalochordata are a very small branch of the animal kingdom. Known as lancelets or as amphioxus (from the Greek … Continue reading. It was the end of their spawning season, and the area was densely packed with lancelet eggs. If all of them could be successfully hatched, in time, a lancelet fishing ground would inevitably be formed there.

     According to regulations, no person or organization can carry out commercial development activities in that area. It was good that she didn’t find the lancelets. Since she had already found them, she couldn’t go against her conscience to develop a diving spot here, so after abandoning that place, she also made a mark on the APP to indicate that there were lancelets there.

     The area where lancelets are active is just within the scope of the fishing ban area. Further south is the channel for ships to go out to sea and the offshore fishing area. She can’t control that.

     After the diving spot was selected, considering that the diving shop had not been built or renovated, even if the diving project was developed, it would only add an extra operating cost, so Li Yaolin was not in a hurry to operate the development project on the APP.

     Building a diving shop, recruiting people, and purchasing diving equipment, this part of the investment will cost about 850,000 yuan, far exceeding the 200,000 yuan budget she originally envisioned, mainly the construction and decoration of the diving shop accounted for the majority of the expenditure.

     At first, she wanted to open a diving shop in the tourist center, so that she could save this part of the expenditure. The remaining purchase of diving equipment and speedboats for going out to sea was only about 250,000 yuan.

     After visiting Qionghai and foreign countries to learn from others, she decided: If you want to do it, you must do it the best, and a regular diving shop must have everything here.

     So the budget increased all of a sudden.

     Fortunately, she left room for cooperation when negotiating with Fang Xinhua, otherwise, even if she could take out the money, it would empty her family’s pocket.

     In early August, through the negotiations between Little Mermaid and Fang Xinhua, the cooperation between the two parties was finally confirmed.