Chapter 141 - 142: Bed and Breakfast

Chapter 141: Chapter 142: Bed and Breakfast

"We’re going to need three rooms tonight — there’s no way everyone fits in this house."

Wang Heng and Dongfang Qingyang clearly had a thing for each other, but they hadn’t made it official yet, so putting them in the same room was out of the question. And squeezing three grown men into one room wasn’t exactly ideal either.

Little Fish King definitely couldn’t be lumped in with the others. Even if he shared a room with Chen Yuan himself, they’d still need at least three rooms total.

His sister’s room was off-limits, which meant the house simply didn’t have enough space.

"You’re usually pretty sharp — why are you drawing a blank right now? If we don’t have enough room here, just talk to your uncle. It’s not like he doesn’t have a guest room."

Chen Jun let out a short laugh.

"Tonight we’d manage. Tomorrow’s the problem."

Little Fish King hadn’t made any big promises, but he’d said he could bring three more skilled guys — that would put the total at eight people. One extra guest room still wouldn’t cut it.

Chen Jun’s smile faded. He scratched his head, at a loss.

His brother’s place was the same as theirs — a compact two-story layout, more or less identical in floor plan. Four bedrooms: one for his brother and sister-in-law, one each for their two sons, and one guest room.

Borrowing the guest room was fine, but using the sons’ rooms was a different story. They hadn’t even let anyone sleep in their own daughter’s room — asking to use someone else’s son’s room seemed a bit much.

"What about using your aunt’s place? There are three rooms over there. Clean it up a bit and it’d be liveable."

Tang Ying suggested.

"No way. That house has been sitting empty for years. Even Second Sister won’t stay there when she visits — how are we supposed to put other people in it? If something happened, that’d be a real mess."

Chen Jun shook his head without hesitation.

"Second Aunt’s place really isn’t fit for anyone to stay in."

Chen Yuan nodded in agreement.

It was the old family house — originally their grandparents’. After their uncle and father each got married, the family split up and everyone built their own places. When the grandparents passed, the old house and the land were left to Second Aunt Chen Rong.

The idea was to keep a home base for her, somewhere to come back to so she’d always have a place in Yu City Village.

Chen Rong hadn’t married out of the province, but she’d settled in another city within it, over two hundred kilometers away — far enough that she rarely had reason to come back.

She’d show up for Spring Festival or the occasional family matter, but that was about it.

The old house had been sitting empty so long it was practically falling apart. Whenever Chen Rong did visit, she stayed with them. There was absolutely no way they could put Wang Heng and the others in there.

"I’ll have a word with my brother. We might need to use his daughter’s room too — I’ll ask her myself and make sure she’s okay with it."

Chen Jun thought it over and landed on a plan.

Chen Yuan nodded. It was the only way.

He grabbed a cold cola from the main room, then opened the system shop and ordered five air conditioning units — one for each bedroom, one for the main room, and one for the storage room.

"Get someone else to handle the delivery. I need you for something else."

After placing the order, Chen Yuan called Wang Tao, then ducked out of the main room and called toward the kitchen, "Mom, Dad, I’ve got to head out for a bit. Don’t wait on me — eat when the food’s ready. If the AC guys show up, just let them go ahead and install everything."

"Where are you rushing off to? The food’s almost done — at least sit down and eat first!"

Tang Ying hurried out and called after him.

But Chen Yuan had already hopped onto the three-wheeler, cranked the throttle all the way, and was gone in a flash, leaving nothing but a trail of settling dust behind him.

"That little punk, can’t even sit down for a meal."

Tang Ying shook her head and turned back inside.

"He’s been slammed lately — there’s the carnival over at the small pond, the Old Pond’s opening to get ready for, and Chen Wenbin’s been throwing work his way too. No idea what he and Chen Wenbin are always cooking up."

Chen Jun flicked his cigarette butt into the opening at the base of the stove.

"And he’s out running around every single day in this heat. Who knows what he’s even busy with."

Tang Ying stirred the last dish in the wok and waved Chen Jun off — no more firewood — then got up to start packing the takeaway boxes.

"He’s definitely checking on the fish. Never mind the Old Pond — the small pond alone needs a huge amount of stock. Nobody’d be at ease without seeing the fish situation firsthand."

Chen Jun said, scooping rice into the boxes.

He wasn’t far off. Chen Yuan had indeed gone to check on fish — specifically, to oversee an incoming stock delivery.

"Still, he’s got to eat~"

Tang Ying worried about her son.

"Once the carnival wraps up and the Old Pond has its grand opening, both ponds will find their rhythm. It’ll settle down."

Chen Jun finished packing the food and started boxing it up.

"Talk to your brother about the lodging situation when you get a chance. I’ll handle our niece — after dinner, help me get the rooms sorted."

Tang Ying said to Chen Jun.

Then she set aside a separate portion of food and left it warming in the pot.

Her son was so busy he couldn’t even sit down for a proper meal. It hurt to watch, but there wasn’t much she could do — just make sure there was always something ready for him, so at least that was one less thing on his plate.

...

"What do you need that many air conditioners for, Boss Chen?"

Chen Yuan met up with Wang Tao at the Old Pond. Wang Tao handed him a cigarette, clearly curious.

"Got some friends staying over in the village for a bit."

Chen Yuan took the cigarette and tucked it behind his ear.

"Guests staying over?"

Wang Tao tilted his head and lit his cigarette, then looked over at Chen Yuan — something lit up in his eyes.

"They’ve fished here before. But right now I’ve got them helping out with the carnival, so calling them customers would be a stretch."

Chen Yuan swept his gaze across the Old Pond.

Wang Tao had done solid work. When Chen Yuan had walked the perimeter yesterday, plenty of spots were choked with weeds, littered with wooden stakes and branches — impossible to get close to the bank, let alone set up fishing spots.

Coming back today, the whole circuit had been cleared. The steeper sections had been leveled out, the major drop-offs smoothed over, and a ring of cobblestones had been laid along the water’s edge. The whole look was completely different from the small pond.

All in all, a solid start.

"Boss Chen, I think you should give some thought to accommodations."

Chen Yuan was still sizing things up when Wang Tao suddenly turned serious beside him.

"What do you mean?"

Chen Yuan looked puzzled.

"Accommodations. If you want to run both the leisure and sporting sides of this business, the supporting facilities have to keep up. What happens when guests want to stick around for a couple of days and there’s nowhere for them to sleep? That’s a problem."

Chen Yuan’s eyes brightened slightly.

That step had genuinely slipped through the cracks in his planning.

Back when the place first opened, Qin Fen and Mr. Qin had already needed somewhere to crash. Once the Old Pond launched and both ponds had several hundred fishing spots between them, filling every session to capacity was unlikely — and that meant plenty of guests might want to fish across multiple days.

Besides, going the leisure route meant the customer base wouldn’t be limited to die-hard anglers.

On a weekend, someone brings the whole family out to fish, escapes the noise of the city, soaks in the feel of the countryside — wasn’t that exactly the kind of experience worth having?

That was the whole point of the leisure concept.

"Accommodation sounds simple enough in theory, but it’s a real headache in practice. The main issue is there’s no obvious place to build a hotel."

Chen Yuan started turning it over in his mind.

"I wouldn’t recommend going the hotel route at all, Boss Chen. Sure, a hotel has decent capacity, but it loses everything that makes this place special. You’d be better off playing to the village’s strengths — build a guesthouse, something rustic and homey. Guests feel more relaxed, more at ease. That fits the leisure brand a lot better."

Wang Tao shook his head.

Chen Yuan smacked his forehead. How had he blanked on that?

Guesthouses had been huge in his time — city folks loved heading out on weekends or holidays to unwind somewhere different, to live at a slower pace for a change.

He’d helped clients arrange exactly that kind of stay before.

And Second Aunt’s place was already a crumbling wreck — it might be worth using as a pilot. Since they were all part of the same collective, he had no residential land of his own in the village, but he could buy some.

The only catch was whether Second Aunt was willing to sell.

He’d bring it up with his parents when he got back, find out what she thought. If she didn’t want to sell, renting was an option. And if that fell through, his own family’s place could always work as a last resort.

"I’ll let you know once I’ve sorted it out."

Chen Yuan made up his mind, then waved for Wang Tao to hop on the three-wheeler. "Come on, I’ll take you to see the land I’ve leased. We can figure out what to do with it based on the leisure plan."

Wang Tao opened his mouth as if to say something — he had plenty of ideas for the wide open space around the Old Pond.

But in the end, he let it go.

One step at a time. Even if they pushed the project to full throttle, it still had to be done in stages.

After doing a loop of the area, Chen Yuan and Wang Tao ran through various options and narrowed it down to two.

The nearly-abandoned scrubland and the hillside next to it could be turned into a Flower Sea — a proper scenic attraction.

The better plots of land could be planted with an orchard. Same idea as the aquaculture land — not meant to turn a profit.

It could work perfectly as a member perk.

Chen Yuan was pleased. Talking through the member perks with Wang Tao, a fully-formed picture of a membership system began to take shape in his mind. One good sit-down session to map it all out, and he’d be ready to roll it out.

"I still need to run the plans by the village committee. Construction could probably start tomorrow. As for the guesthouse pilot, I’ll sort that out when I get back and move on it as soon as possible. Anything you need right now?"

Chen Yuan pulled out a cigarette and offered one as he asked.

"Tonight I’m laying out the fishing spots and planning the floating bridge. Nothing for now."

Wang Tao took the cigarette and shook his head.

"Good. Bottom line — push the project at full speed. Points aren’t an issue."

With that many points sitting in the account, and the carnival still churning out more by the minute, Chen Yuan had every reason to spend big~