337: Tide Lodge

Once the scale increased, the cottage would appear preferentially when tourists searched online or used navigation systems.

It could even become a local benchmark for this type of project; these intangible benefits were countless.

There were bound to be downsides, of course. After all, it was a partnership, and if someone had ill intentions, it wouldn't last long.

Yang Qi looked up at everyone, finally seeing the hopeful gazes of his mother and Bai Xue. He secretly complained in his heart:

"These two both have the potential to be 'brother-helpers'! They don't say it, but in their hearts, they still want to earn more money for their younger brothers."

"Whatever, it's not some massive business anyway, and I'm not short on money. Let them have their fun! I'll help out where I can."

So he spoke up:

"Fine! You guys handle it, but you need to discuss a set of specific regulations. For a partnership business, it's best to have a written contract to prevent a good thing from turning sour later on."

After saying that, he started chatting with his dad.

About an hour later, Bai Xue had drafted a contract and read it aloud to everyone.

The general idea was that Chen Lanying's and her sister's families would each prepare ten rooms to voluntarily join the 'Tide Cottage' homestay. Each family would hold a 30% stake, while Zheng Jin would hold 40%.

Zheng Jin would serve as the manager, and everyone would follow her unified management for future operations.

After opening, they would cook together at his mother's house, and their own kitchens would be available for the tenants. These expenses would be covered by the general accounts.

Yang Qi saw that everyone seemed very happy. He looked over the contract but didn't say much else.

The way things turned out, he had originally wanted to find something for his dad to do, but now his dad had nothing to do with it.

"Dad, how about this: I'll buy you a small fishing boat. You can take guests out to sea to fish and charge two or three hundred a day per person. That money will be yours to keep."

"When there are no guests, you can also split a boat with Brother Jun and the others to go fishing in the South Oil area."

"Oh? That sounds pretty good. Can we catch big Tuna in the South Oil area?"

Yang Limin's interest was piqued instantly.

“Hehehe, that depends on luck. Leave the homestay business to Mom and the others. That way, you don't have to stay home every day; you can go out fishing and relax.”

“I think it's great. A few days ago when I mentioned it to Brother Jun, he wanted to invite you to the South Oil area too.”

“Come with me tomorrow to see if there's a suitable fishing boat. I'll buy it for you, how about it?”

Yang Qi continued to entice his father.

Yang Limin turned to look at his wife. At that moment, she was discussing what supplies to buy tomorrow with her subordinates and wasn't even looking their way.

“Fine, I think that works. Take me to buy it tomorrow.”

He knew his son wasn't short on money now, so he agreed without being polite at all.

Another major reason was that he had just received his boating license four days ago, and his hands had been itching to get behind the wheel.

Moreover, Yang Qi had been the one to have him switch to the A2F license, which he had tested for alongside Zhang Jun, making them classmates.

He could upgrade to an A1F in six months, but it was enough for now.

“Don't tell my mom about this tonight. We'll talk after we buy it.”

Yang Limin smiled gratifiedly. The father and son happily decided on the boat purchase for tomorrow.

The next morning, everyone swung into action. Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan drove the dodge ram, while his mother and the others also took their own cars. There were quite a few things to buy today.

After the women's group set off, Yang Qi took his dad to an advertising company to order two more sets of lightboxes.

Then he drove his dad toward the Municipal Shipyard.

They looked at several fishing boats, but they were all custom orders with no ready stock. If they wanted to customize one, the earliest it would be ready was after the New Year, which was a bit frustrating.

He couldn't let his dad's excitement be for nothing.

Yang Qi thought for a moment and called Zhang Long to ask if there were any recent judicial auctions and if there were any small fishing boats available.

“What do you want a small fishing boat for?”

Zhang Long found it a bit strange. It was only after Yang Qi explained that he wanted to buy one for his father that he understood.

“Consider yourself a filial kid with good luck. There happens to be an auction this afternoon. Come over now, and I'll take you to see the actual items.”

To be honest, he really wanted to buy a new fishing boat for his dad. Since there was no ready stock, he could only think of judicial auctions.

He explained the situation to his dad, who didn't mind as long as it wasn't too dilapidated.

Zhang Long led the two of them to the Maritime Safety Administration pier and pointed at three fishing boats, saying:

“Those three. Let's go up and check their condition.”

The three of them boarded the boats one by one to inspect them. Finally, they chose the fishing boat they liked best. It was 12.05 meters long, 4.2 meters wide, and about 85% new.

In fact, not every item sells at every judicial auction, nor do insiders want these things every time.

Ultimately, Yang Qi spent 380,000 yuan to win the auction for the fishing boat and another 50,000 yuan for four or five sets of fishing gear.

With Zhang Long's help, the procedures for renaming the vessel and transferring ownership were quickly completed.

From then on, Yang Limin also became a boat owner.

Yang Qi and his father bid farewell to Zhang Long and called a designated driver to help drive his car to the entrance of the Municipal Shipyard.

He personally accompanied his dad to sail the boat to the shipyard. When General Manager Cao saw the second-hand fishing boat Yang Qi had bought, he felt it was a bit of a pity that he hadn't made this sale. But whose fault was it that he had no ready stock?

Besides, Yang Qi had come to them first, giving them both the sentiment and the face; it was just that he had missed out due to the lack of stock.

Furthermore, Yang Qi still had an order with him for two fishing vessels worth ten million each, making him a high-quality customer.

So, without a word, he agreed to let them skip the line. He would perform maintenance on the fishing boat overnight and repaint the entire vessel so it could be picked up the day after tomorrow.

After thanking General Manager Cao, the father and son drove back to Qingshan Town to update the business license.

Since the business premises had expanded and differed from before, the license needed changing. However, Yang Qi had called the director early that morning, and the other party very readily helped him re-process it.

When they returned home, they found that his mother-in-law's and his Younger Aunt's families had already tidied up the rooms.

Some infrequently used items were moved back to the old residence. His Younger Aunt moved those items to her maternal home in Chenjiaping.

The two buildings, aside from the few rooms they kept for themselves, were all cleaned spotlessly. Five bicycles were placed in each of the three courtyards. It felt like they could open for business and receive guests at any moment.

When Yang Qi and the others returned, the people from the advertising company were installing the last set of lightboxes.

This time, Yang Qi's phone number wasn't left on the lightboxes. He was sick and tired of the room booking calls.

He happened to see his mother and the others fiddling with a computer. Yang Qi went in to look and found they were entering the information of the booking customers into the computer system.

Bai Xue was teaching, and his mother and the others were taking turns to operate it personally.

Seeing the father and son enter, Bai Xue happily told them that all thirty-four guest rooms were now full.

Within the next week starting from tomorrow, the occupancy rate had reached 95%.