Chapter 123 - 124: Not Just Anyone Can Handle My Pond

Chapter 123: Chapter 124: Not Just Anyone Can Handle My Pond

"Boss Chen, looks like some more master anglers showed up at your pond."

A regular customer was giving him a heads-up.

Yesterday’s competitive fishing match between Little Fish King and Wang Heng had left the fishing ground’s group chat buzzing for a long time. Almost everyone knew Boss Chen’s pond was being targeted.

The customer had come today, scanned the area, and spotted the figures of more master anglers.

"Which ones?"

Chen Yuan asked.

"See? Those two over there in the corner."

The angler frowned and jutted his chin toward two spots on the opposite bank.

"They’re not from Chong City. I went to a new fishing ground in the Warm Zone once for fun, and I happened to see those two have a massive haul. Their technique is absolutely top-notch."

The Warm Zone wasn’t part of Chong City but a district of the provincial capital that happened to border it. Chong City used to be under the capital’s jurisdiction before becoming an independent county-level city, but you could still basically consider them one and the same.

The trip wasn’t long, so it was normal for anglers to go there for fun.

"Whoa, two of them this time?"

Chen Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

’Just one Little Fish King yesterday, and today they send two. They really don’t give up, do they?’

’But this is pretty interesting. I was just about to go raid them anyway. We’ll see who raids whom, and who ends up being the Wealth Boy for whom.’

"Thanks."

Chen Yuan offered the angler a cigarette to thank him.

"It was nothing, don’t mention it. Boss Chen, you should come up with a plan. Best to call Master Wang over to teach them a lesson in competitive fishing."

The angler chuckled.

"My pond can’t just be raided by anyone. If you don’t pick the right spot, even a master angler will start questioning his life choices."

Chen Yuan gave a mysterious smile, thanked him again, and left after saying a word to Chen Jun. At the same time, he quietly pulled up the system and set the status of those two fishing spots to "No Bites."

’Please, show me all your amazing fishing techniques.’

"I’ll give you a ride to the village entrance."

Chen Jun called out to Chen Yuan.

"Alright."

Chen Yuan thought about it and didn’t refuse.

It was about a ten-minute walk to the village entrance, which would be a bit of a delay, and he wasn’t planning on taking the tricycle anyway.

Although Fisherman wasn’t far and the tricycle’s battery had enough charge for a round trip, if he took one, they’d be short-handed at the fishpond.

"You’re not going fishing, are you?"

Seeing Chen Yuan with his rod bag on his back and carrying a tackle box to the tricycle’s cargo bed, Chen Jun’s eyes went wide.

He hadn’t asked what Chen Yuan was up to yesterday, but looking at him now, he looked just like any other angler. Was he going to run off and go fishing somewhere else?

"Of course not. This is equipment a customer left behind. I’m just dropping it off on my way."

Chen Yuan rubbed his nose and gave an embarrassed laugh.

’Never mind what Dad would say about me skipping work to go fishing... I own a fishing ground myself. Running off to fish somewhere else? That’s just ridiculous.’

"Hold on tight."

Chen Jun wasn’t suspicious, or rather, he simply couldn’t believe Chen Yuan would go fishing. He twisted the throttle and headed for the village entrance, arriving in three to five minutes.

"When will you be back?"

Chen Jun asked as he lifted the gear out.

"If things go smoothly, I should be home a little after six."

Chen Yuan said after a quick estimate.

"Okay, that’s a good time to be back for dinner."

Chen Jun didn’t say much more, just turned the tricycle around and rode back.

Chen Yuan stood by the road waiting for a ride. Although it was still early enough to take the village bus, he had checked the route and it wasn’t a direct trip.

A taxi would be more convenient.

Besides, these were the peak years for ride-sharing apps. There were plenty of cars, not to mention a lot of coupons, so it wouldn’t cost much.

In the time it took to smoke a cigarette, the car he’d hailed arrived. The driver was quite friendly, even getting out to help him with the gear in the trunk.

’The service from these drivers is pretty good these days. It’ll be a different story in a few years.’

"Hey, buddy, heading out to fish?"

After stowing the gear, the driver invited Chen Yuan into the car and enthusiastically started a conversation.

"Isn’t there a Chen Yuan Fishing Ground around here? I’ve been getting a lot of anglers coming this way recently. They say the owner’s service is amazing, and the facilities are all high-tech. Even the bathroom is supposedly like something out of a hotel."

Chen Yuan was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected the Chen Yuan Fishing Ground’s reputation to have spread beyond the fishing community to taxi drivers. And they were hyping it up to mythical proportions.

They even said the fishing ground’s owner was some rich kid, just running the place for fun; otherwise, no sane person would set things up like that.

Although the comment was a bit off-putting, overall, the Chen Yuan Fishing Ground had an excellent reputation. The driver didn’t have a single bad thing to say about it the entire ride.

"Buddy, if you’re going to Fisherman, you’d better bring your own food. The stuff they serve there is terrible."

The driver was definitely a chatterbox. He went from the Chen Yuan Fishing Ground to Fisherman and even knew the food there was bad. Looked like he was an angler himself.

"You like to fish too, driver?"

Chen Yuan chimed in.

"Haha, not often. I just cast a line every now and then."

’People who say that are almost never casual about it. He probably pulls over to cast a few lines whenever he sees a good spot on his route.’

’Mostly wild fishing.’

The driver was a good guy. When he found out Chen Yuan hadn’t brought any food, he found a place for him to buy some, then drove straight to Fisherman.

"Hope you get a huge haul today, fellow angler!"

It was just after eight when the car pulled up smoothly outside Fisherman. The driver helped get the gear out and offered a cheerful blessing.

As he got back in the car, he was still muttering to himself.

"Looks like Chen Yuan Fishing Ground is really that popular. Anglers can’t even get a spot, so they have to go to other fishing grounds. I should go check it out myself one of these days."

’If he really went and saw me, Chen Yuan, running my own pond, I wonder what his expression would be.’

’A fishing ground owner going to fish at another fishing ground? What kind of situation is that?’

"Brother Wang, I’m here."

Chen Yuan didn’t rush inside. He stood outside and called Wang Heng.

"Okay, get a spot first, then start a video call."

Wang Heng replied.

Chen Yuan hung up and walked toward the entrance of Fisherman with his gear.

Right after he entered, he saw three neatly arranged ponds. You could tell they were excavated; the edges were all perfectly straight, completely different from the natural ponds in the village.

Each pond had lights installed, obviously for night fishing. The fishing spots had umbrellas, too; after all, without them in the summer, even the most dedicated anglers wouldn’t last.

By the middle pond was a small building with a "Fisherman" sign, a lifebuoy hanging on it, and fishing rods and bait for sale outside.

It was obviously the payment office.

As for the bathroom...

It was over in a patch of grass on the other side, just a shed made of sheet metal with a tattered cloth flap fluttering in the wind. It couldn’t have been more primitive.

’Sigh, this is the benefit of a good location.’

Chen Yuan secretly shook his head.

’In terms of environment, Chen Yuan Fishing Ground is streets ahead of Fisherman. The facilities aren’t even comparable. Whether it’s the life jackets, the climate-controlled umbrellas, or the bathroom building, my place blows this one out of the water.’

But Fisherman had a prime location with guaranteed foot traffic.

Of course, the fishing here wasn’t bad either. After all, for it to hold the top spot among the Silver Horse Fishing Grounds despite all the complaints from anglers, it had to have some advantages.

"Boss, I’d like to get a spot."

After scanning the whole place, Chen Yuan walked to the payment office. Inside sat a short, chubby man in his thirties, his head down, engrossed in his phone.

"Which pond would you like, boss?"

The short, chubby man looked up with a smile, not recognizing Chen Yuan.

"Pond 2, I guess. What’s the fee?"

Yesterday, he had learned about the top fishing grounds in Chong City. Here at Fisherman, there were three ponds. Pond 1 was purely for leisure fishing.

Pond 3 was the "monster" pond, with bighead carp and Daqing that started at over fifteen pounds, with some weighing thirty or forty pounds. But you couldn’t keep your catch from the monster pond; the owner had a mandatory buy-back policy. The reward wasn’t high, either. Even with an average weight of twenty pounds, you’d need to catch five fish just to break even. In a four-hour session, fighting big fish takes time, so breaking even wasn’t easy.

Pond 2 was similar to Chen Yuan’s pond—a mixed-fish pond. It had grass carp and common carp, as well as bighead carp and Daqing, but they were all around five to seven pounds. They didn’t take long to reel in, and you could either keep the fish or sell them back.

If he wanted to raid Fisherman, Pond 2 was the best choice.

"Pond 2 is 168 yuan for four hours. The buy-back price is four yuan per pound, regardless of the species."

The short, chubby man pushed a QR payment code forward.

Chen Yuan’s mouth twitched. That fee was damn expensive. 168 yuan for four hours meant over 300 for eight. One of his spots could cover three of his own.

"I’ll do eight hours. The timer starts when my line hits the water, right?"

Chen Yuan directly transferred over three hundred yuan. Nine in the morning to five in the evening—exactly eight hours, enough for two sessions.

"That’s right, timer starts when your line is in."

The moment the chubby man received the money, his smile broadened. He grabbed a cigarette from the desk and enthusiastically offered one to Chen Yuan. Customers who fished two sessions in a row were rare, especially in the summer.

"I’m going to go mix my bait."

Chen Yuan waved his hand, declining the cigarette, and went straight to Pond 2.