Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 354 Harvest from Dongdao Island, Hu Xiaodong's Changes

Tang Er kept looking up at the mountaintop, and soon he saw Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei standing on the eastern cliff. He smiled at the mountaintop, but did nothing else.

He had two carrying poles on his shoulders, with four buckets hanging from them, so he couldn't free his hands to wave.

So he told the others, and Luo Ping and the others all raised their hands and waved.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei waved in response. Lu Xi'an said, "Let's go downstairs and wait for them to see what they've got."

The two descended the mountain and reached the east coast. The large fish in the sea swam extremely fast, and in no time, it swam back to the shore and reunited with Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

The group jumped off the fish's back and looked back. The large school of fish surged and splashed up waves before swimming far into the depths of the sea.

"Are these fish so easy to ride? Their backs feel very slippery, and you might fall off if you're not careful."

Lu Xian said.

Luo Ping said, "This is all thanks to Liu Hua. She's extremely skilled and can get those fish to cooperate and accommodate us."

"We fell into the water a couple of times at first, but later the big fish gradually figured out our body shape and movement habits, and then they carried us around and we were fine."

"She is extremely skilled; I never expected her to be able to control these big fish so precisely."

Liu Hua smiled shyly and said modestly, "It wasn't all fish. You guys were also gradually adjusting your movements and getting used to riding the fish. It became much easier for me later on."

Luo Ping said, "Alright, stop being modest. No matter what, you need to be able to control the fish first before we can gradually adjust and adapt."

Having finished discussing that topic, Luo Ping moved on to another.

Seeing that Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were looking into the bucket, he said, "Big brother and sister, take a look and see if there's anything you can use. Thanks to Committee Member Hu, we were able to get so many good things."

"We got a lot of seeds, as well as earthenware pots, earthenware bowls, salt, and dried fish. These are all easy to sell. We can use the cigarettes and coins you gave us, and people will sell them."

“These families can make it themselves, and salt can be dried on the beach, so they don’t have to worry about the source.”

"It took a lot of talking to get the hoe blades—the island is short of iron and doesn't want ironware to leave, even if we promised to get some hoe blades back first and then bring back scrap iron to return to them, it still didn't work."

"In the end, it was thanks to Committee Member Hu's guarantee that we would keep our promise and bring iron over. If we couldn't bring it, we could have the blacksmith come to him. Only then were we able to exchange some hoe blades."

“We also urgently need this. Once we get back, we can make hoe handles and install them, and we can use it to expand the scale of farming. We won’t have to wait in line for hoes like we do now.”

Lu Xi'an nodded and said, "That's good. But what's the deal with this Committee Member Hu you mentioned?"

"It's Hu Xiaodong."

Luo Ping said, "He is now a member of the Dongshan Committee. He told us that the Dongshan Committee has temporarily added an extra member position, which was specifically for him."

"When the election comes next time, this spot will be withdrawn, and one of the committee members will lose the election."

"Hey! This family has such interesting names, Hu Xiaodong, Hu Dong, Hu Xiaodong, Hu Dong, they could never use up all the names they have."

"But no matter what, their names are much better than ours."

"We've learned a lot now, and we should learn from Dongdao in the future. We can't keep giving names like Liu Hua, Tang Er, Chou Nu, Lao Yao. From now on, we should give names that are cultured."

After Luo Ping finished speaking, Liu Hua, Tang Er, and Chai Xin all nodded very seriously, agreeing with Luo Ping's statement.

Old Tree said, "Didn't you just have a baby boy in the family? How about naming him Jiancun?"
"Brother Luo, didn't you say that once we've developed our business, we plan to move out of Shanyang County and settle in a village by the river? Then let's use the name 'Jiancun' (建村, meaning 'building a village') – it's very meaningful."

"If we have another son in the future, we can name him Xingcun, Wangcun, Weicun, or even Cunxing or Cunwang."

Luo Ping grinned and said, "Old Tree, you're really something. You came up with so many names all at once. Not bad, not bad. We'll go with what you said."

Lu Xian: "..."

He had overheard Luo Ping mention the topic of migration when they were on the mountaintop.

Luo Ping said that people nowadays hide in cities because cities are relatively large, have complex buildings, and are easier to hide in, so people gather around towns.

Actually, the best place to camp is a village near a river. However, rivers are places that most travelers would go, and the environment is relatively dangerous, so most people wouldn't choose to camp there.

As for Boss Liang, Aunt Xu, and Xuan Xiaocao, who are already powerful enough to intimidate the region, why didn't they go to the riverbank but instead stayed in the city? That's simply because of habit and neglect.

They were used to city life from the beginning and didn't question why they lived in these places.

After all, they don't do the work themselves. The people who do the work for them are ordinary people whom they regard as servants. What does it have to do with them if ordinary people suffer and have to travel long distances to fetch water?

That's why they're too lazy to even think about moving. Besides, the houses in the village don't look as grand as those in the city, so why would they want to move?

But Luo Ping and his group are different. They genuinely want to develop their home and improve the lives of everyone, whether they are new humans or ordinary people. Therefore, these are things that must be considered.

Once they have enough strength to protect themselves, or have gained a reputation, they will definitely migrate to the riverbank. Therefore, their current land reclamation is also planned: they will start with a small-scale planting, and then select sites along the riverbank to make further plans.

—These things have already begun to be implemented. Now everyone's strength has made a qualitative leap, and Luo Ping and the others are already considering migration plans.

Once the plan was made, reclaiming wasteland and expanding the planting scale became a foregone conclusion.

That's why when I come here now and see hoes, I insist on buying some.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei went to look inside the bucket and found it filled with iron hoe blades. Tang Er's rattan box was open, and inside were many ceramic bowls and cups. The bowls were filled with sea salt, but not to the brim, probably to prevent it from spilling out during the bumpy ride.

In addition, everyone else was carrying a ceramic basin, which contained bowls and salt.

These things are indeed essential for the 923 Institute base.

Nowadays, Institute 923 is also severely lacking in resources.

Everyone had to drink water directly from the tap, and eat with their hands. Even the earthenware pots could be put to good use by Lu Xi'an.

With these pottery pieces, the quality of life for Luo Ping and all of them could indeed be improved to a higher level.

Lu Xi'an smiled and said, "It's still thanks to you guys. After all, we don't live in Pingchuan City, so we didn't think of these details. When we went to Dongdao, we were only thinking about getting more food and seeds. We didn't even think about taking these things."

As he spoke, he remembered the six ceramic basins that Hu Xiaodong and his son had given him earlier, and said, "We happen to have six ceramic basins here. We don't usually need them. You can leave one for us and take the rest."

Luo Ping didn't stand on ceremony and said, "Then we thank you very much, brother."

"And please don't say that, brother. If it weren't for you and sister, we wouldn't have been able to contact Dongdao."

"Besides, if it weren't for you, brother, Hu Xiaodong wouldn't have become a member of the East Island Committee. If he hadn't become a member, we would have had to put in a lot more effort to get things done on the island. Now that we have his connection, things are much easier for us."

"..."

Lu Xi'an paused for a moment, then said, "When I left before, I thought that Hu Xiaodong might use what I left on the island to make a fuss, and he might even become an official."

"Unexpectedly, he actually succeeded and became a committee member on the island. How did he do it?"

Luo Ping said, "Hu Xiaodong didn't explain in detail how he did it. He just said it was thanks to the five packs of cigarettes you left him, and the hole punched in the yard."

"And what you, my elder brothers and sisters, taught him in every word and deed was to be approachable and kind to others. No matter how strong you are, you should not bully the weak. You should earn people's genuine respect."

He said that he relied on these skills to scare people away when they came to him, and later he gradually persuaded many people and gained their support. After becoming a committee member, he also won the sincere goodwill of many islanders.

"Anyway, after we arrived on the island, this was indeed the case. The people on the island respected and were very close to Hu Xiaodong and his son, much better than the other committee members."

"If it were any other committee member, that blacksmith named Yuan Laotie would probably never have agreed to take out the hoe blade first."

"It was only because Hu Xiaodong spoke and made promises that it had an effect."

"That's it."

Lu Xi'an nodded. "That's good. As long as the backup plan I left on the island didn't have any bad consequences, that's fine. I was wondering why Hu Xiaodong and his son hadn't been coming to the island as often as before; it turns out they were busy being officials on the island."

Luo Ping laughed and said, "That's perfect. Dongdao Island is a great place. With someone like Hu Xiaodong around, it'll be convenient for us to do whatever we want on the island."

"Brother, we plan to have more contact with Dongdao in the future. We can visit and learn from their development, and we should also take note of their bad points and learn from them."

"Then we can strengthen the exchange of supplies. They have things they lack, and we also have many things we need. Wouldn't it be good to cooperate with each other?"

"You decide those things yourself."

As Lu Xi'an spoke, he helped carry some things.

Everyone picked up their belongings and chatted as they made their way up the mountain.

As the sun rose higher, it shone brightly on the sea. When the group reached the halfway point of the mountain and looked back out, they couldn't help but marvel at the view.

“This place is really nice.”

The old tree sighed.

Luo Ping said, "That's right, you can't stay here. Your family needs you, Uncle Tree."

Chai Xin said, "Brother Luo, this is the first time you've called Grandpa Tree Grandpa."

"Humph!"

Old Tree glanced at Luo Ping with an unfriendly expression and snorted coldly.

(End of this chapter)