"It's better to sell private bathrooms than public ones," Jiang Ye said.
Ju Lanlan blinked. "That works too!"
He plopped down in front of the base panel and opened the chat channel to message Xu Yan.
Jiang Ye: I want to sell bathrooms to the townspeople. How much does it cost to build a bathroom?
Xu Yan: Bathrooms aren't valuable; the water system is. Ten million will build a tap water pipeline network for your town. Twenty million will build a water purification plant by the sea, so every household will have running water. As for individual bathrooms, they're fifty thousand each. One hundred households would be five million. That's thirty-five million in total, and that's the member price.
Jiang Ye: That's too expensive. I'll think about it later.
Ju Lanlan watched the entire exchange.
"You don't even have thirty-five million?" she asked, frowning slightly, a hint of surprise in her voice.
"I do, but I need to build a new factory recently and don't have spare cash," Jiang Ye explained. "This factory is very important; it's for manufacturing firearms, and I need to gather the money in the next few days."
Ju Lanlan rested her chin on her hand, scrutinizing him as if he were an alien.
She stared for a long time without saying a word.
Jiang Ye felt uneasy under her gaze. "What are you looking at? There's nothing written on my face."
"You're so amazing," Ju Lanlan said earnestly, her eyes sparkling with admiration. "How did you manage to get a firearms factory?"
"Well..." Jiang Ye paused, his expression troubled. "It's a long story."
"I get it! You don't need to tell me!" Ju Lanlan raised her hand to refuse.
Jiang Ye was utterly bewildered. "Get what?"
"I've guessed it for a long time. You're no ordinary person, right? You have some background?" Ju Lanlan narrowed her eyes meaningfully, a faint smile playing on her lips.
"What are you talking about?" Jiang Ye was even more confused.
"What kind of background could I possibly have? Everyone I knew died over a thousand years ago! If I had a background, would I be stuck on this godforsaken barren planet eating dust?"
"Big brother, protect me!" Ju Lanlan reached out and tugged at his sleeve.
"You've misunderstood. I'm just an ordinary person, with no background," Jiang Ye said.
"Ordinary person? You can just create a town when you want to, and you can just set up a firearms factory when you want to. You can get things I can't get, and you call yourself ordinary?" Ju Lanlan continued to pull at his sleeve. "You don't have to tell me, but big brother, you have to protect me!"
Jiang Ye tried to explain, but after a long while, Ju Lanlan wouldn't listen. She stubbornly believed that Jiang Ye had an extraordinary background and a powerful backer, and she demanded his protection.
"Protect, protect, protect! Fine!" Jiang Ye covered his face. "I'm tired. If you have nothing else, I'm going up to sleep."
"Good night, good night! I just came to visit," Ju Lanlan said, standing up and waving goodbye cheerfully as she left.
Before closing the door, she winked at Jiang Ye.
"Why doesn't she believe me!"
Jiang Ye was speechless. He went upstairs and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep.
At five in the morning, wolf howls.
Jiang Ye sat up, went downstairs, and washed up with renewed vigor.
He changed into his work clothes, bought twenty-four cans of meat from the Galaxy Mall, and then went to the warehouse to pack the remaining fruit.
Carrying two sacks, he left the base vehicle and headed for the dock.
Shao Wan was already there, dressed in a black bulletproof vest and leather boots, carrying a rifle, with ammunition clips and grenades on his belt. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses, making him look incredibly cool.
Five hired workers had already arrived. Upon seeing Jiang Ye, they immediately lined up.
"Hello, Mayor!" the workers bowed respectfully.
"You're all here quite early. Let's get on the boat and have breakfast first," Jiang Ye nodded.
The group boarded the boat. It was the workers' first time aboard, and they were amazed, remaining cautiously still.
Next to the cargo hold was a large lounge with benches and tables, capable of accommodating dozens of people.
Jiang Ye untied the sacks and placed the canned meat and fruit on the table. "Eat as much as you want, and there's more if you finish."
The workers didn't hesitate and immediately began to grab food.
He returned to the base vehicle, packed two more sacks of canned meat, took them to the fishing boat, and laid them all out on the table.
Eight workers had arrived, and two more were expected. With over forty minutes until departure, they should all arrive.
Jiang Ye disembarked and headed straight for the express center.
When he wasn't pressed for time, he certainly wouldn't eat canned meat; it was too salty. His life was gradually moving towards a higher standard.
He pushed open the glass door of the living center and went straight to the second-floor restaurant.
Isabelle was already cooking. She wore a pink tight-fitting t-shirt and a short white skirt that made his heart race. Her long legs were also clad in sheer stockings.
"Morning! Preparing to go out to sea?" Isabelle looked back at him and smiled.
"Departing at six. I'm here to grab a bite," Jiang Ye said, sitting down to wait.
A few minutes later, the table was filled with:
Fried rice cakes, square and golden brown.
Pork and pickled vegetable noodles, the noodles as fine as hair but surprisingly unbroken when picked up.
Oil-fried pastries, small fried dough sticks, ice cream, soy milk, and cherry tomatoes.
Jiang Ye ate slowly, finishing just as it turned five fifty-five. He bid farewell to Isabelle and went to the dock to board the boat.
All ten miners were present, and they had all finished their breakfast. These individuals were quite well-behaved, or perhaps they were afraid of Jiang Ye's displeasure, as they had already tidied up the empty cans and fruit cores, placing them in the sacks.
"You can nap if you're tired. It will take two hours to reach the destination. I'll wake you when we get there," Jiang Ye instructed, then turned and returned to the captain's cabin.
He clicked on the screen and set sail.
The sea breeze was light today, and the boat moved quickly.
The journey was peaceful, with no encounters with reefs or sea monsters.
At eight-thirty, they finally docked.
Jiang Ye led the workers ashore and assigned each of them their excavation area.
"Listen up, everyone. I'll only say this once."
"We're digging for Shan Stone, small purple crystals encased in black rock. You need to chip out the black rock and pile it up. We'll pack it into sacks this afternoon and calculate your wages then!" Jiang Ye clapped his hands. "Alright, let's get to work!"
The workers went to their respective spots and began digging with shovels and pickaxes, working diligently!
Before long, they all started shouting:
"Found some!"
"We've hit the mine!"
"I've found ore here too!"
Shao Wan stood guard with his rifle, both to keep an eye on the workers and to watch the surroundings for any wild animal attacks.
His right hand was habitually in his pocket, where a miniature pistol was kept.
Jiang Ye wasn't idle either. He drove the excavator to the edge of the mining area and began digging with the bucket.
The morning's excavation was extremely smooth, with piles of ore accumulating beside the workers.
The dark rock shells contained purplish-red Shan Stone, small grains like bright pomegranate seeds peeking out from a burnt pomegranate.
Jiang Ye sold all the ore he dug up, and his account balance increased to 69.11 million yuan.
He still needed over ten million more.
Lunch was, naturally, a communal affair.
The atmosphere at the table was heavy. Jiang Ye remained silent, and no one dared to speak. The silence was so profound it felt less like miners eating and more like people restoring ancient artifacts.
The hired workers kept their distance from Jiang Ye and cautiously stole glances at his expression.
Jiang Ye maintained a stern, unsmiling face throughout. He deliberately wanted to create distance between himself and the workers.
The town was newly established and its foundation was unstable. He needed to maintain an air of mystery and authority. Only when it developed into a large city could he afford to be approachable.
After eating, they resumed work.
They worked straight through until four in the afternoon. Jiang Ye drove the excavator back onto the fishing boat's deck.
He grabbed a handful of empty sacks and gave each worker one to fill with the ore they had dug that day.
Shao Wan stood by with a small notebook, recording the workers' contributions. For every sack of ore deposited into the cargo hold, he would add a stroke to the worker's name, using the tally mark system.
Jiang Ye stood with his arms crossed in the captain's cabin, watching his account balance steadily climb.
Seventy-three million!
Seventy-four million!
Seventy-five million!
Finally, it settled at 80,067,000 yuan!
Indeed, bringing in hired hands significantly increased efficiency. If Jiang Ye had done it himself, it would have taken at least three more days.
The miners, exhausted, returned to the lounge, and the boat set sail back.
On the return journey, Jiang Ye cross-referenced Shao Wan's notebook and transferred money to each miner.
In addition to their agreed-upon wages, he added a five-hundred-yuan tip for each person.
As night fell, the fishing boat finally docked.
The workers disembarked one by one, and Shao Wan and Jiang Ye parted ways.
Jiang Ye headed straight for the base vehicle and clicked on "Build Factory."
He spent eighty million yuan!
"Congratulations! You have acquired the construction and operation rights for the 9mm pistol bullet manufacturing plant!"
"This construction project will be undertaken by Termite Real Estate, with Xu Yan as the person in charge. They will contact you shortly."
"Wishing you a prosperous start and early success!"