After their hunger was satisfied, the two descended to the third-floor cinema. Faced with a dazzling array of movie titles, they exchanged a knowing glance and, with a shared unspoken thought, pointed to the film at the very bottom, smiling. "Tomorrow, Will You Still Love Me?"
After waiting for about half an hour, when the time felt right, Li Haochen went to buy fizzy drinks and popcorn before pulling Murong Yanran inside. They settled into their usual couple's booth; not many people were watching.
Soon, the plot reached its climax. Watching the on-screen kiss between the male and female leads, they both smiled. "Remember this part?"
"Of course! Your expression when you were angry then was hilarious, hehe!"
"How could I not be angry? The show ended at such a crucial moment, ha ha!"
"How about we... *smooch*..."
Before Murong Yanran could finish speaking, her soft lips were covered by Li Haochen's. It was a kiss devoid of desire, a simple embrace to mend the regret of that past moment.
"How does that feel?"
"Wonderful. If I'd known, I would have been bolder back then, hahaha."
"Tsk, bold? You were too scared to even hold hands back then. Besides, *I* was the one who kissed you, hehe!"
"Uh... did I?"
Li Haochen blushed slightly, turning his face away to look elsewhere.
"What do you think?"
Murong Yanran pursed her lips into a smile, looped her arm through Li Haochen's, and whispered in his ear, "Let's go home."
The signal was clear enough. As soon as they entered the house, the passion ignited in the living room, moving from the living room to the bathroom and then to the bedroom. They continued their exertions until past midnight, leaving Li Haochen's lower back aching terribly. Before sleeping, he complained to Liu Zijun, "Why did you have to make this soup? It's made the guns so hot they're sparking."
"You got the benefits but you're complaining. Don't drink it if you're so capable."
"I... I was just saying."
Although the soup's effects had not yet worn off, the couple didn't continue. They were already exhausted, and any more activity would mean no work the next day.
Waking up the next morning, they felt refreshed and energetic. Li Haochen went downstairs to find a loving breakfast kept warm in the pot.
After breakfast, Li Haochen rushed down to Butterfly Bay; he had a busy day ahead.
Looking at the frantic fish in Butterfly Bay, Li Haochen could only exclaim in disbelief. Two weeks of absence had resulted in a fish population so dense it rivaled a commercial fish farm, too many to count.
While the fish were plentiful, the issue of insufficient farming nets was significant. Unless they were crammed together, which was not a good method, they would resort to cannibalism when food became scarce.
"Forget it. If there's really no other way, I'll just release them into the spatial ocean to reproduce freely. They still belong to me, after all."
Putting the thought aside, he cast dozens of ground nets into Butterfly Bay and then entered his spatial dimension. After some time away, the space had expanded considerably. Its current size meant it would take a full day to walk around Jiuzhou Island.
At a speed of five kilometers per hour, a day would cover over a hundred kilometers. Imagine, a hundred kilometers of coastline for farming abalone, and it was still expanding. Terrifying, wasn't it?
Indeed, a hundred kilometers of coastline covered with abalone would be a magnificent sight. Li Haochen had already implemented this plan; he had spent some time previously scattering abalone every few kilometers, though it was too soon to see the results.
Li Haochen first spent two hours planting coconut saplings. The remaining time was naturally dedicated to building the farming nets. He didn't slacken his efforts just because he had Yuan City as a shortcut; to conquer the world, one must strive harder and harder.
After five or six hours, fifteen nets were installed, and he stopped. Although he wanted to continue, there was a more important matter at hand – the abalone. If he didn't prepare them soon, Gu Xiaonian would go mad.
Diving for abalone was much easier than installing nets. In less than three hours, he had gathered five to six hundred jin. Mussels were even simpler, growing in clusters, and he easily collected one to two thousand jin.
After preparing the stock for the abalone shop, Li Haochen took some time to check the growth of mussels on the bamboo poles. His continuous smiling and nodding indicated his absolute satisfaction.
He sent the abalone out of his spatial dimension, called Gu Xiaonian, and then returned to the bay to tend to the dozens of ground nets. He didn't need to think about it; the harvest would undoubtedly be immense.
As expected, the catch in each ground net could only be described as terrifying.
Li Haochen simply brought the ground nets into his spatial dimension, not bothering to process the catches immediately. Dozens of ground nets—it would take several hours to manage them all, unless he released them all into the spatial ocean to roam freely.
Returning to the main gate at the entrance, he waited for less than five minutes before Gu Xiaonian arrived.
"Brother Li, I've been waiting for you like waiting for the stars and the moon. If you hadn't shown up, I would have been driven mad."
"Uh, I'm really sorry. I've been a bit busy lately. By the way, in about two weeks, I plan to stop external sales. All abalone will be supplied to the Binhai Grand Hotel. Only if there's surplus will I consider outside sales. You handle this part then."
"Okay."
Shortly after Gu Xiaonian left, Li Haochen received an urgent phone call. Looking at it, he saw it was from Liu Xinyuan.
Before Li Haochen could speak, an excited shout came from the other end of the line, "Boss, boss, we're taking off! Faster than a rocket!"
"Uh, what nonsense are you talking about? Explain it clearly to me."
"Check the news. I've forwarded it to your WeChat."
Li Haochen frowned as he opened a news article forwarded by Liu Xinyuan with the headline "Yuan City is About to Enter the Fast Lane." Seeing this title, Li Haochen already had a guess, and his heart began to pound.
Upon clicking it open, Li Haochen's eyes widened in disbelief. "This, this, this... How come Dad never told me..."
It was truly shocking. In addition to the highways connecting Yuan, Kai, and Bin cities, a high-speed railway station was to be built one kilometer from Yinjiangshan residential area! This was momentous news. With these two super-announcements arriving simultaneously, Yuan City would undoubtedly erupt. All real estate prices had nearly tripled overnight and were still climbing.
Li Haochen clenched his fist and shook it forcefully, shouting loudly.
"Ah, we've made a fortune this time!"