Chapter 102 - 103: Wind in the Village

Chapter 102: Chapter 103: Wind in the Village

"The ratio of regulars is going up, and new faces are thinning out."

Chen Yuan scrolled through the group chat, watching people show off their freshly snagged fishing spots. He recognized plenty of the usernames — they’d clearly been to Chen Yuan Fishing Ground before. Regulars, at this point.

"Makes sense. Night fishing’s been running for several days now."

He wasn’t surprised.

With two sessions a day running back-to-back, most newcomers had already come at least once. The ones who hadn’t were probably just tied up with work or life in general.

But the booking mini-program gave priority to new users, so whenever they found the time, they’d be able to snag a spot without a problem. None of that complaining about spots being impossible to book like in the first few days.

Time flew, and before long it was closing time. Chen Yuan and the others got busy wrapping things up.

"Boss, we’ll send the ones parked on our side home first~"

After working the job for several days, Chen Dequan and his wife had the whole routine down cold. Whether it was a daytime session or a night fishing close-out, the two of them always kept track of which customers had parked at their place.

Getting those people home first was always the priority — their parking spot was a bit farther away, and it kept things from turning into a mess.

Back and forth a couple of times, and it was all taken care of.

Chen Yuan lit a cigarette for Chen Dequan, told them to head home and rest, then stood waiting at the courtyard gate. About two minutes later, Wang Tao pulled up in his truck.

"Don’t you dare unload this out here — get it inside for me~"

The bait had been getting great feedback, so Chen Yuan had stocked up in bulk. The whole reason he’d waited at the gate was to stop Wang Tao from doing what he’d done yesterday — just dumping everything outside.

The man was on a monthly salary. He could damn well earn it.

"You want it in the main hall?"

Wang Tao hopped down from the truck and asked in a lowered voice.

"Storage room~"

After Mr. Qin and his crew had left, the storage room had started filling back up again. Cigarettes, liquor, water — it all went in there, stacked neatly.

"Got it."

Wang Tao nodded and waved his workers over to help. One trip was all it took — everything was inside, handled with care, no fuss.

"Sign here~"

Same as always — a delivery receipt.

"How much longer until it’s finished?"

Chen Yuan scrawled his signature in two quick strokes.

"Depends on whether the boss’s points can keep up. At the current rate, at least another five or six days~"

Wang Tao pocketed the paperwork and offered Chen Yuan a cigarette.

"This is a goddamn five-star bathroom."

Chen Yuan waved it off and didn’t take the cigarette. Smokes were for when the moment called for it — if he could hold off, he held off. He was about to go straight to bed, no point damaging his lungs any further.

Though honestly, his heart was already hurting enough.

The hillside plot had already burned through tens of thousands of points, and Wang Tao was still asking for another five or six days’ worth of revenue. All told, it was going to hit a hundred thousand points.

In terms of actual purchasing power, that was the equivalent of six or seven hundred thousand yuan.

At today’s property prices, that money could buy a decent hundred-square-meter apartment in the city. Thank god the system was footing the bill — no sane person would drop that kind of cash on a bathroom otherwise.

"Think bigger, boss~"

Wang Tao lit his cigarette with a grin.

Chen Yuan couldn’t be bothered to respond. He waved a hand, turned around, and went to bed. Wang Tao could go deal with his construction project on his own~

...

Over the next few days, Chen Yuan Fishing Ground kept on as usual — every session fully booked, Chen Yuan buried in the day-to-day running of the place, seemingly without a thought for anything else.

But a rumor had begun to circulate through the village.

It had started with Chen Wenbin, and with Liu Fang doing what she did best — fanning the flames — it had quickly become the hottest topic in Yu City Village.

"I heard from people in the village that Chen Yuan has his eye on the big pond. Sounds like he’s not interested in the Old Pond at all."

That evening, Zhou Jianming came home from work to find Zhang Guiying pulling him into the main room and shutting the door behind them. Her face was a mixture of worry, gloom, and barely contained anxiety.

"Where’d you hear that~"

Zhou Jianming blinked, mildly surprised, but didn’t seem too bothered. He peeled off his sweat-soaked shirt, switched on the room fan, poured himself a glass of water, and sat down to rest.

After the fishing ground closed, Zhou Jianming had gone back to doing day labor in the city. Two or three hundred yuan a day — steadier than running some fishing pond, that was for sure.

"Who else would it be? Liu Fang’s the only gossip in this village who keeps her mouth that busy~"

Zhang Guiying’s voice had an edge to it. Liu Fang had originally been on their side, but she’d turned out to be more trouble than she was worth — and somehow ended up getting pulled into Chen Yuan’s camp entirely.

Now she sang Chen Yuan’s praises to anyone who’d listen, a complete one-eighty from how she’d acted at the start.

"You’re actually listening to that blabbermouth?"

Zhou Jianming shook his head with a short laugh, entirely unconcerned.

Everyone in the village knew what Liu Fang was like. You could hear her out, but nine out of ten things she said were nonsense — and the tenth you’d be better off whispering to a shrine statue.

"Is dinner ready? I’ve been starving since noon~"

Zhou Jianming took a sip of water and nudged Zhang Guiying to hurry up with the food.

"Cured pork and rice, steaming in the pot. Still a bit longer."

Zhang Guiying answered absently, the worry on her face completely unchanged. She pulled a chair up to the table and kept going.

"I know you can’t trust anything Liu Fang says, but these past few days there’s been a steady stream of people going over to Chen Yuan’s place — looks like they’re helping in the kitchen. I asked around, and it sounds like Chen Yuan’s hiring. People to help with the fishing ground, people to cook, and apparently someone to manage fish farming too~"

"For that tiny little pond of his? Hiring like crazy — he’s going to bleed himself dry~"

Zhou Jianming let out a cold snort and dug a crumpled cigarette pack from his pocket, pulling one out with his lips.

"What if it’s not for the small pond?"

That stopped Zhou Jianming cold. He’d already fished out his lighter but didn’t even flick it.

"I looked into it. From what the people going to Chen Yuan’s place are saying, it sounds like he’s after the big pond — and apparently someone’s already agreed to it."

Hearing that, Zhou Jianming’s brow furrowed.

That little bastard Chen Yuan couldn’t actually be writing off the Old Pond and going after the big pond instead, could he?

"So what do we do now? If Chen Yuan really goes for the big pond, what happens to the Old Pond we’re sitting on? We’re talking nearly a hundred thousand yuan just gone~"

Zhang Guiying was genuinely panicking now.

They’d held onto the Old Pond specifically to try to claw back some of their losses. But if Chen Yuan had no interest in it, who were they going to offload it to?

Who else was going to take it off their hands?

"Don’t panic. Don’t go losing your head over a bit of gossip~"

Zhou Jianming offered a word of reassurance, lit his cigarette, took a long drag, and exhaled a slow stream of smoke. He sat frowning in thought for a good while before speaking again.

"For all we know, that little bastard Chen Yuan stirred this up himself, just to mess with our heads. The big pond isn’t some easy grab — wanting it and getting it are two different things. Let’s wait and see~"

"I’m just scared we’ll be stuck with the Old Pond forever and end up with nothing. Do you know how long it’d take to earn back that kind of money?"

Zhang Guiying sighed again and again.

Make money raising fish?

Not a chance in hell.

If there were real money in it, someone else would’ve snatched it up long ago — never mind the village committee’s objections, the villagers themselves would’ve shown up with hoes ready to fight over it.

Ten acres at the Old Pond was only marginally better than the small pond, but factor in the labor, the materials, and the current lease fees — there was bugger all left. A whole year’s work and it’d probably net less than the small pond used to. Pure wasted effort.

And if they left it empty, it was an even bigger loss.

Right now, all they could hope for was someone — anyone — to take the Old Pond off their hands and save them from this mess.

...

"The roof on that hillside bathroom’s been on for two days now. Should be pretty much done inside by now, right?"

In the courtyard of Chen Yuan’s home, Chen Jun lounged in the main room in front of the fan, cigarette in hand, thoroughly at ease.

Usually he’d have been in the kitchen at this hour, but over the past few days — thanks to Chen Wenbin’s networking — a good number of village women had been coming over to help out and show off their cooking skills.

Every single one of them was wielding a ladle like she was trying to strike sparks off it. There was no room for Chen Jun in that kitchen even if he’d tried.

After all, word had gotten around the village about what Chen Dequan and Liu Fang were making. Now that Chen Yuan’s place was putting out feelers about more hires, everyone was pulling out all the stops.

"Should wrap up tonight. Ready to open tomorrow."

Chen Yuan replied around a popsicle.

His parents had never been fans of the things — he was really the only one who had one every now and then. Anglers generally liked them too, but overall they couldn’t compete with sodas and cola in popularity.

So he’d never bothered stocking them at the fishing ground.

"Pretty fast turnaround. Just wondering what Wang Tao’s managed to put together."

Chen Jun was a little curious. The whole structure had been fenced off with black sheeting — you couldn’t make out a thing from the outside. But judging by the height and the silhouette, it looked pretty impressive.

"We’ll see tomorrow."

Chen Yuan was just as curious. He’d sunk over a hundred thousand points into the thing — of course he wanted to know if it was worth it.

"Old man, get in here and help pack the lunch boxes~"

Tang Ying’s voice drifted in from the kitchen.

"Coming, coming."

Chen Jun stubbed out his cigarette and headed for the kitchen.

Chen Yuan didn’t move. He finished off his popsicle in two or three bites, then started clearing the table. Any minute now there’d be a spread of dishes coming out, all waiting for him to taste and give his verdict.