"Xiaohai's grades were always pretty good, why did he drop out and start fishing with you at such a young age?"
After a brief silence, Yang Fan asked Yang Hongtao.
"Sigh, it's all because of that incident..."
When it came to Yang Xiaohai, Yang Hongtao sighed heavily. "After his parents passed away, he was hit hard, and then the kid just gave up on everything. He started skipping school, going to internet cafés to play games, and his grades plummeted."
"Then, after a couple of years, he failed his exams during the middle school entrance exams and decided to quit studying altogether. After leaving school, his grandpa sent him to town to learn hairdressing from his uncle, but the kid didn't want to wash hair or cut hair for others. So, not long after, he came back to the fishing village. He kept begging me to teach him how to fish, and since I couldn't say no, I let him come out to sea with me."
"Speaking of which, over the years, besides you, Xiaohai was the most academically talented kid in our village. If it weren't for that incident, maybe our village would've had another college graduate. Sigh..."
As Yang Hongtao said this, he shook his head, feeling sorry for Xiaohai.
But there was nothing that could be done. Fishermen had it tough. One minute, you could be out at sea making a living, and the next minute, you could be gone. Who could you complain to about that?
After hearing Yang Hongtao's words, Yang Fan felt a little choked up.
In fact, he had always felt a twinge of guilt about Yang Xiaohai and the other children of the villagers who had died. After all, their parents had lost their lives while helping his own family.
Now, hearing that Xiaohai had given up on studying and wasn't living a good life because of that tragic event, Yang Fan felt even worse.
"Fan, don't blame yourself, alright? Xiaohai's life is his own fate, it has nothing to do with you. You can't blame your parents for what happened, and you certainly can't blame yourself!"
Seeing that Yang Fan had been silent for a while, Yang Hongtao guessed that he might be feeling guilty about Xiaohai's situation and quickly reassured him.
"I'm fine." Yang Fan shrugged and gave a bitter smile.
He knew very well that it wasn't his fault, but things like this were hard to just let go of.
"Alright, let's not talk about that. We're almost at my place. My mom heard you were back, so she made a big feast for you! I don't even get treated like this!"
Since the conversation was getting a bit heavy, Yang Hongtao quickly shifted the topic with a laugh.
"Haha, I really miss Aunt Zhang's cooking." Yang Fan also laughed.
When they were young, Yang Fan and Yang Hongtao were very close, and Yang Fan often ate at Yang Hongtao's house, so he had fond memories of Aunt Zhang's cooking.
As they were talking, they arrived at a two-story building.
This was Yang Hongtao's home.
"Dad, Mom, I brought Fan! Is dinner ready?"
Before they even entered, Yang Hongtao yelled loudly.
Soon, a middle-aged couple came out. It was Yang Hongtao's parents.
"Ah! Xiao Fan is here! We were so happy when we heard from Hongtao that you were back!"
Yang Hongtao's mother, Zhang Xiulian, quickly came over and warmly shook Yang Fan's hand with a friendly smile.
Since Yang Fan had always been an excellent student with a bright personality, he was considered "the good child" by the elders in the village. Especially Yang Hongtao's parents—they often used Yang Fan as an example to criticize their son.
Because of this, Yang Hongtao's parents treated Yang Fan like their own son.
When they heard Yang Fan was back, they asked their son to invite him over for dinner.
"Aunt Zhang, it's been years, but you still look as young as ever," Yang Fan greeted her with a smile.
"Look at you, Xiao Fan, always so good with words! Not like that Hongtao, always careless!" Zhang Xiulian laughed and playfully mocked her own son.
This made Yang Hongtao give her an aggrieved look. Damn it, every time Xiao Fan comes over, he makes me look bad!
Yang Fan then greeted Yang Hongtao's father, Yang Daming, and after some pleasantries, they all entered the house.
Just as Yang Hongtao said, his parents had prepared a large table of food for Yang Fan.
There were vegetables grown in their own fields, freshly caught groupers from the sea, and various wild game from the mountains. It was truly a feast of mountain and sea delicacies, worth several hundred at a restaurant in the city.
The group ate and chatted happily. The atmosphere was warm and filled with affection.
The meal lasted almost two hours, and everyone was full and content.
After the hearty dinner, Yang Fan thanked Yang Hongtao's parents for their hospitality before bidding them farewell and leaving.
Of course, he wasn't walking back alone.
Since the village had no streetlights, Yang Hongtao's parents asked him to come out and walk him home with a flashlight.
This made Yang Hongtao feel very frustrated. Who's the real son here?
As they walked along the dark path of the fishing village, Yang Fan couldn't help but feel a bit sentimental. His old fishing village was still poor and isolated.
He had visited rural areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where development was so good that it could rival the cities.
But what about Big Whale Village?
There were no streetlights, and once night fell, it was pitch black and lifeless.
The most frustrating part was that the village's geography was unique—three sides were surrounded by mountains, and the roads to the town were all mountain roads, making it very inconvenient to travel. The saying "to get rich, first build roads" was true, but Big Whale Village didn't even have good roads, so there was no chance for development.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be so backward.
With this thought, an idea suddenly popped into Yang Fan's mind.
Maybe he could use his abilities to help develop the fishing village?
After all, he grew up in Big Whale Village, and he had a deep affection for the simple and primitive fishing village.
Now that he had the means to develop the village, why not?
Furthermore, with the Dragon Pearl in hand, he was planning to stay in the fishing village for the long term. If the village developed well, it would also benefit him greatly.
Of course, this idea seemed a little premature.
Yang Fan hadn't even fully established himself yet.
What he needed to do first was to become successful so he could help the villagers get rich and make the fishing village a better place.
As for his future plans, Yang Fan had some ideas.
His initial plan was to start by fishing in the near sea.
For example, like he had done the past few days, catching yellow croaker or beautiful lobsters to make money. Once he had enough money, he could buy a large-tonnage fishing boat capable of going to deep seas.
With his abilities in the water, he was confident that once he had the boat, every trip out to sea would be very profitable.
When he made even more money, he could buy an even larger ocean-going fishing vessel and go to the high seas to catch premium sea products like bluefin tuna.
At that point, he could even buy a salvage ship to search for sunken treasures in the sea or go to Somali waters to search for legendary pirate treasures!
Just thinking about it was exciting!
"Fan, what are you smiling about all of a sudden? Are you thinking about something nice?"
At that moment, seeing Yang Fan grinning, Yang Hongtao asked curiously.
"Nothing..."
Yang Fan snapped back to reality and smiled as he shook his head. Then, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, Hongtao, do you have any nets that can go down fifty or sixty meters deep?"
"Of course, Fan, are you planning to drop a deep-sea net? When do you want to do it?" Yang Hongtao replied.
"How about tomorrow morning?"
Yang Fan thought for a moment. To avoid someone else catching the yellow croaker he found, he decided to get up early tomorrow, drop the net, and catch all those fish himself.
"Alright then, you can take my new boat tomorrow. It has a net-lifting machine, otherwise, you won't be able to pull up the deep-sea net on your own."
"Aren't you using the new boat?"
"I'm going to collect crab traps tomorrow. I won't need the net-lifting machine, so I'll just use the old boat."
"Thanks, Hongtao!" Yang Fan patted Yang Hongtao on the shoulder and smiled.
"Damn it! What's with the formalities between brothers?" Yang Hongtao waved his hand and laughed.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]