Chapter 128 - 129: The Invitation

Chapter 128: Chapter 129: The Invitation

Outside the Fisherman.

Chen Yuan sat on his tackle box, laughing and chatting with Wang Heng and Blond Punk while they waited for the owner to weigh everything and settle up.

"Boss Chen is absolutely insane — four hundred and twenty catties all by himself."

The owner knew the process cold. In under two minutes it was all wrapped up, every last fish loaded onto the truck. He pocketed his phone and gave Chen Yuan a big thumbs-up.

"Over four hundred — damn, Boss Chen, you keep this up and I’ll have to start calling you Master~"

Blond Punk’s eyes went wide.

Just looking at the haul when it was dragged out, he’d roughly estimated maybe four hundred — turns out even that was selling it short. This was way beyond anything he could pull off.

Back when he used to fish at the Fisherman, a good day was maybe two hundred-odd catties.

So who’s the real big shot here?

"Haha, just got lucky today — the fish were biting great, and having two pros backing me up made all the difference. Any other day and I wouldn’t have come close~"

Chen Yuan kept it humble.

"Luck is part of the skill."

Wang Heng shook his head in admiration.

Four hundred-plus catties.

A haul like that would crack his personal top five, and if you adjusted for time, probably top three. It was hard to believe Boss Chen had pulled it off.

Of course, the bait, the luck, the fish activity, the advice they’d called in remotely — every piece had mattered. But the single biggest factor, without question, was the bait.

The attractant effect had been nothing short of extraordinary. Wang Heng was genuinely fascinated.

"Same deal as always here at the Fisherman — I’ll give you five yuan a catty."

The owner opened WeChat and held it out toward Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan had no objection and pulled up his payment QR code.

"Sent."

"Thanks, boss~"

Two thousand, one hundred yuan — straight into his account on the spot.

"Boss Chen, you’re too kind. Let’s add each other on WeChat and swap numbers — makes it easier to work together again if the opportunity comes up."

The owner said with a grin.

"Sure, no problem."

Chen Yuan gave him his number — same as his WeChat.

They added each other and exchanged numbers. After a quick bit of small talk, the owner said his goodbyes and headed off. Restaurant owners are genuinely slammed, and on top of that, the lunch rush was right around the corner.

"Brother Wang, couldn’t have done this without you two backing me up remotely. After deducting the fishing fees, I’m rounding it up — six hundred each. Sending it to your WeChat now. Blond Punk, yours too."

Once the owner was gone, Chen Yuan lit a cigarette and transferred six hundred yuan each to Wang Heng and Blond Punk right then and there.

"Come on, Boss Chen, don’t do that. By the unwritten rules, whoever puts up the fishing fee keeps the catch~"

Wang Heng tried to wave it off.

"There are actually rules like that in fishing?"

Chen Yuan was genuinely surprised.

"Look, given the relationship we’ve got, why would we lie to you about something like this? We take proxy-fishing jobs sometimes too — in those cases the catch belongs to the client and they just throw us a tip for the trouble."

Blond Punk said it straight, no filter.

That earned him a sharp look from Wang Heng.

What tip? We don’t need a tip.

"Ha, you literally just brought up our relationship — so let’s drop the unwritten rules talk. Besides, we already agreed yesterday: we split the haul three ways."

Chen Yuan waved for both of them to take it.

"We’ve still got plenty more sessions coming up. If you keep pulling this, how am I supposed to keep asking for your help~"

"Haha, that’s what I love about you, Boss Chen. Don’t be shy — think of it as credit toward the fishing fees next time we come hang at your place~"

Blond Punk flicked away his cigarette butt and looked over at Wang Heng.

"We hung around the shop all day and we’re walking away with six hundred bucks."

Wang Heng felt a little awkward about it, but in the end, with Chen Yuan insisting, he accepted the transfer.

It was a fair split, plain and simple.

If it’s owed, it’s owed.

And honestly, Chen Yuan couldn’t care less about the money. The moment he thought about the system reward, excitement surged through him.

A hundred-times multiplier on four hundred and twenty catties — what kind of number was that?

So many fish his little pond couldn’t possibly hold them all~

"Where are you hitting tomorrow, Boss Chen?"

Blond Punk asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.

It wasn’t really about the money — this whole thing was just too damn fun.

They’d seen what went down at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground today through the group chat. Two top-tier anglers had sat in the wrong spots and gotten completely skunked.

Meanwhile Boss Chen was out there absolutely killing it, like he’d somehow downloaded a pro angler’s skill set.

One side collapsing. The other side steamrolling.

What a storyline. Satisfying as hell~

"Keeping the streak going — next one is Jiangyuan Fishing Ground~"

Chen Yuan was just as eager.

He wanted that hundred-times multiplier. He wanted those upgrade points.

"Jiangyuan’s nothing special, but a stop’s a stop."

Blond Punk muttered. Knowing Old Wang of Jiangyuan’s reputation, the pond probably had nothing worth catching — but working through the whole circuit like this was still a blast.

"Haha~"

Chen Yuan laughed.

They chatted for a little while longer before Chen Yuan said his goodbyes and headed out.

He called a ride the usual way, through his phone.

The AC in the car was blasting, and the cool air felt absolutely incredible. His mood was sky-high. Every time the system reward crossed his mind, the corners of his mouth curled up on their own — he just sat there grinning like an idiot the whole ride.

The driver kept sneaking glances at the rearview mirror but didn’t dare say a word. This passenger had to be a little off, just sitting back there grinning nonstop for no reason.

When they reached the village entrance, the driver was very eager to haul the gear out of the trunk, then jumped right back behind the wheel, hit the gas, and shot off.

Like he was afraid Chen Yuan might do something weird.

"Damn, what happened to dropping me off inside the village? Should’ve just taken a cab~"

Chen Yuan muttered under his breath.

That was the one annoying thing about ride-hailing apps — you had to set a destination, and once you were there, you were there. Drivers wouldn’t budge an extra two meters. With a regular cab, you just tell them where to stop.

"This heat, man~"

Chen Yuan squinted up at the blazing sun and figured he might as well call his old man.

It wasn’t far, sure, but it’d still take at least ten or fifteen minutes on foot, and he had all this gear to lug. His dad could make the round trip on the three-wheeler in just a few minutes.

May as well put the old man to work.

"How come you brought all this stuff back?"

Chen Jun came riding over on the three-wheeler, staring at Chen Yuan with a puzzled look.

Wasn’t he supposed to be delivering it to a customer?

"Customer had something come up last minute~"

Chen Yuan tossed everything into the cargo bed and hopped in after it, thinking he’d ask Brother Wang tomorrow if he could store the gear there for a while.

Lugging it around every day wasn’t just a pain in the ass — his dad kept asking questions about it too.

"Zhou Jianming came by today."

Chen Jun gave a nod, cranked the handlebar, and turned the three-wheeler around, tossing it out casually.

"Looking for me?"

Chen Yuan pulled out a cigarette, stuck it between his lips, and passed one to Chen Jun.

"Not entirely. Mainly he came to drop off a wedding invitation — and he wants to ask your auntie to head up the cooking. He’s throwing a big open-air banquet in the village, wants the whole village to come celebrate together."

That was just how it worked in the village.

Sure, Chen Yuan’s family and Zhou Jianming’s family had their friction, but when something important came up, everyone still got notified. Even if you didn’t show, you made sure the gesture wasn’t overlooked.

That was only the case if there was a real blood feud and people had genuinely cut each other off for good.

"That’s not going to work — we’ve got a business to run."

Chen Yuan had just pulled out his lighter but hadn’t flicked it yet. He shook his head the moment he heard what Chen Jun said.

It wasn’t about holding a grudge and refusing out of spite — if they needed something, sure, that could be worked out. But he couldn’t just leave his own business sitting there unattended.

Plenty of customers had been raving about his auntie’s cooking lately. The sides she served put box lunches to shame. If she went off to cook somewhere else, who was going to keep things running?

"Your auntie thinks the same thing. We’ve worked hard to get this business off the ground — can’t afford to drop the ball now."

Chen Jun had the cigarette dangling from his lip, steering with one hand, lighting up with the other. "But they came to us in person, and a wedding’s a big deal. We should still try to help if we can."

"So what did you two decide?"

"Here’s what we’re thinking — have Xu Juan handle the cooking, and your auntie won’t open up shop in the morning that day. She heads over there early to help out, and if we can get customers at the fishing ground to order a bit earlier than usual, she comes back, knocks out the meals, then heads back over. What do you think?"

This really did need to be run by Chen Yuan. After all, he was the one calling the shots at the fishing ground. If it truly couldn’t be worked out on that end, they’d just have to politely decline.

"Fine by me."

Chen Yuan thought it over for a moment and agreed.

His old man had a point.

Given the history between Zhou Jianming and their family, showing up in person with a wedding invitation and asking his auntie to take charge of the cooking — that was basically an olive branch. A way of saying the grudge was behind them.

If someone goes that far, you help if you can.

"Alright, I’ll sort it out with that bastard later."

Chen Jun let out a laugh.

He clearly wanted to help — and it seemed like today’s chat with Zhou Jianming had gone pretty well. The way he said "that bastard" this time was noticeably softer, more like how you’d rib an old friend than spit at an enemy.

Whatever bad blood had been sitting between them — there was a good chance this might be the thing that finally cleared the air.

"When’s the wedding set for?"

Chen Yuan asked with a chuckle. Whatever the older generation decided to do, that was their business.

"Checked the date — the sixth of next month. Still got a little over half a month."

August sixth. An even month, an even day — not a bad pick at all.