Chapter 114 - 115: A Big Shot Comes to the Pond

Chapter 114: Chapter 115: A Big Shot Comes to the Pond

Early that morning, Chen Yuan was up before any dream had a chance to knock — wide awake and full of energy.

He’d caught up on sleep during the day, so the night hadn’t dragged on him at all. He was up before six, feeling sharp and ready to go.

After washing up, he came out of the bathroom humming a little tune, shuffled into his slippers, and headed downstairs.

"You’re up early today."

Chen Jun was already moving stock around. He’d taken it upon himself to handle all the restocking.

"Heh, caught a nap yesterday afternoon."

Chen Yuan went over to help.

Every session was packed to the brim these days, with a Fish King pulled every single time. Bait and tackle were flying off the shelves — on the busiest days, they’d restock in the morning and have to do it again mid-session after the rotation.

"How’s your hand? All healed up?"

Chen Yuan noticed his dad had already peeled off the bandage.

"It’s been fine for ages. Just a little nick. You and your mom made such a fuss over nothing."

Tang Ying had been the one keeping an eye on him the past couple of days, not letting him pull the bandage off in case the wound got infected. Left to his own devices, he wouldn’t have given a small cut a second thought — just disinfect it and move on.

"I’ll go get the stock. You go check on the kitchen."

Chen Jun tossed the bait in along with everything else, chucked it all into the cart bed, grabbed the remote out of Chen Yuan’s hand, hopped on the three-wheeler, and headed off toward Fish King.

"Mom, what’s for breakfast?"

Chen Yuan turned and walked toward the kitchen. His dad could handle things on his own.

"Noodles."

Tang Ying was dropping dried noodles into the pot and stirring them with a pair of chopsticks.

There’s an old saying in the countryside: porridge sends you to the toilet, but noodles keep you going. The idea is that noodles fill you up better, so you’ve got the energy to work without running out of steam.

Eating at six in the morning, they’d be at it nonstop until past noon. You couldn’t do that on an empty stomach.

"Don’t bother adding wood to the fire — just pull yesterday’s leftovers out of the fridge and heat them up. If we don’t eat them now, we won’t have time later. There’ll be plenty of food at lunch."

Tang Ying called out to Chen Yuan, who had been about to sit down in front of the stove.

"Sure thing."

Chen Yuan opened the fridge and took out the leftovers.

It reminded him of some variety show from his past life, where a bunch of celebrities were asked what was in their fridge. One of them said a bowl, and the crowd absolutely roasted them for it.

Kind of ridiculous, when you think about it.

In any ordinary household, the fridge doesn’t just have a bowl in it — it’s got plates, dishes, and last night’s leftovers.

Sure, people always say not to keep cooked food overnight, but except for vegetable dishes, most normal families can’t bring themselves to throw the rest out. Reheat it, and it’s perfectly fine.

"The back burner’s already hot. Just heat the dishes up directly."

Tang Ying pointed to the pot at the back.

"Got it."

Chen Yuan quickly warmed up the leftovers. By the time he was done, the noodles in the front pot were ready too. Tang Ying brought out three big bowls, each with a fried egg on top — a proper spread.

"Let’s eat in the main hall."

The broth in the noodle bowls was scalding hot — no way to hold the bowl bare-handed — and with the hot dishes on top of that, they skipped the courtyard today.

Chen Jun was back in no time, and the family of three sat down together in the main hall.

"Heading to the village committee today?"

Chen Jun asked between slurps of noodles.

"Yeah, it’s time to go have a chat."

Chen Yuan picked up a piece of meat and popped it in his mouth. Word had been spreading around the village for a few days now, and with the aquaculture plans and everything else in the mix, things should be lining up by now.

"Then I’ll head over to keep an eye on the pond this morning."

Chen Yuan had been about to say there was no need — the fishing ground was running smoothly, and the anglers were a decent bunch, refusing to take off their life jackets once they put them on. Things rarely went sideways.

But having someone there to watch over things wasn’t a bad idea either.

"Still eating over here."

Chen Kingdom and his wife had just arrived.

"Brother, sister-in-law, you’re here early — have you eaten?"

Chen Jun immediately grabbed a stool and waved them over, already reaching into his pocket for a cigarette.

"We’ve eaten. Went to bed early last night. Honestly, it’s all thanks to Yuan not putting us on the night shift — we’ve been sleeping like logs."

Chen Kingdom waved it off with a smile and told Chen Jun to keep eating. They were family; no need to stand on ceremony.

After the meal, Chen Yuan helped clear the table, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to his dad and uncle.

The three chimneys stepped out to the courtyard to smoke and chat. Before long, they all looked up at the same time.

A car was rounding the bend, rolling in slowly.

"And so another busy day begins."

Chen Yuan flicked away his cigarette butt, dusted off his hands, and went to meet the car. His dad and uncle followed along. The three-wheelers were already lined up, ready to go.

Cars kept pulling in one after another. Chen Yuan and the others directed each one to a spot — most of today’s crowd were first-timers, so parking had to be managed.

"Whoa, nice stretch of water."

"Seeing the bathroom at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground in person — it’s even more insane than the photos in the group chat~"

A whole new batch of anglers poured in around the pond. Their reaction was pretty much the same as any angler seeing unfamiliar water for the first time — curious and pleasantly impressed.

Some of them were fixated on the restroom building, and honestly, it was hard to blame them.

Who would believe that a structure that looked like it belonged to a resort or a hotel was built purely for anglers to answer the call of nature?

"Gentlemen, go ahead and head straight to your spots and start fishing. Rods are already at each station, and you can pick your own bait."

Chen Yuan was pleased with the new customers’ reactions.

He didn’t linger, though — there was a full house to get settled.

Everything was running like clockwork. After a few runs back and forth, Chen Yuan’s phone rang. He pulled it out and saw it was Wang Heng calling.

"Brother Wang, give me two minutes."

He said his piece and hung up right away to deal with the current run. He and Wang Heng were old acquaintances — no need for formalities.

"Dad, I’m heading to the village entrance to pick someone up. You guys hold it down here."

After this run there wouldn’t be many left to shuttle. Chen Yuan hopped on the three-wheeler and made straight for the village entrance.

"Looks like we’re going to need a few more three-wheelers."

Chen Jun nodded to himself, still muttering under his breath.

The three-wheelers people bought in the village were mostly the cargo-bed type — handy for hauling stuff during farm work, way easier than carrying a shoulder pole and could hold a lot more.

But for shuttling guests, each run could only fit four or five people along with their gear. Unless nobody brought a tackle box and the customers happened to be on the slimmer side, you might just barely squeeze in five or six.

With sixty anglers at the pond, three vehicles had to make quite a few trips. On top of that, some people came by the local bus, which meant pulling one vehicle off pond duty. If they managed to secure Old Pond on top of it all, even this many wouldn’t be enough.

"We’ll talk it over later. It’s not like everyone in the family doesn’t know how to ride~"

The more Chen Jun thought about it, the better it sounded. Everyone could ride a three-wheeler. With enough vehicles, maybe two or three runs would do the job — save a lot of time all around, for the family and the customers both.

"Brother Wang, hop in."

Chen Yuan twisted the throttle all the way and made it to the village entrance in about three minutes. He didn’t bother getting off — just waved Wang Heng over.

"Do we need to wait for anyone else?"

Wang Heng asked with a grin.

"No need. The pond’s nearly full up."

Chen Yuan turned and gave two quick toots toward the cart bed.

Wang Heng put one hand on the side rail, pushed off with his foot, and swung himself in.

He’d known Chen Yuan would come pick him up, and didn’t plan on making things complicated. He’d just left the house a little later than usual on purpose — figured if he waited until the end, anyone else heading the same way could all go in one trip.

Wouldn’t slow Chen Yuan’s pickups down that way.

"Boss Chen is really building something here, huh? Spots are seriously hard to book."

Wang Heng leaned against the cart bed and ribbed him.

The second part was no joke. He’d tried to book a spot several times before finally landing today’s slot. Getting a chance to tackle Fish King at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground wasn’t something you could just show up and do on a whim.

A fishing ground that ran like this was a rarity. There was nothing else like it in all of Chong City.

Other spots couldn’t even fill seats when they stocked the pond, let alone have people struggling to book a slot.

"Ha, it’s all thanks to the regulars for showing so much love."

"Any word on Old Pond?"

Wang Heng skipped the small talk and got straight to it.

"Oh, Brother Wang already knows about that? Must’ve been Brother Xu who told you."

Chen Yuan wasn’t surprised.

The big pond had been a hot topic in the group chat, and since Xu Bai knew what he was thinking, it was only natural he’d mentioned it to Wang Heng and the others.

"We squeezed it out of him."

"Ha, no worries. I’m heading over to take a look at Old Pond later. Once things calm down, I’ll have to pick your brain, Brother Wang."

Chen Yuan held no ill will toward Xu Bai for it.

"Sure. Xu Bai and I talked it over, and I think the big picture is pretty solid. It’s really just the details that need working out — pricing, catch-and-release, how to handle the returns, that kind of thing."

Wang Heng was happy to help.

He was looking forward to fishing the big pond himself.

"Ha, let’s sit down and go through it properly later then. For now, Brother Wang, get your line in the water."

By the time the words were out of his mouth, they’d arrived at the pond. Chen Yuan parked up and lit a cigarette for Wang Heng.

"Absolutely. That guy Xu Bai hasn’t stopped bragging about breaking a hundred, and today I am going to match his record. Once Boss Chen locks in that pond, I’ll have to go head-to-head with him properly."

Wang Heng let out a laugh, took the cigarette, and started heading toward his spot.

He’d only taken two steps when he suddenly froze, then spun around and grabbed Chen Yuan by the arm just as he was about to walk off.

"What’s up, Brother Wang?"

Chen Yuan was startled — the cigarette he’d been about to stick in his mouth nearly hit the ground.

"Boss Chen, someone’s got their eye on you."

Wang Heng glanced around and leaned in, keeping his voice low.

"What do you mean?"

Chen Yuan took one look at Wang Heng’s serious expression and felt a jolt of alarm.

"There’s a big player at your pond."

Wang Heng was dead serious.