Chapter 144 - 145: What I Want, You Can’t Afford

Chapter 144: Chapter 145: What I Want, You Can’t Afford

Chen Yuan had no idea anyone was scheming to poach his fish supplier — and even if he had, he would’ve just laughed it off.

A system-bound fish supplier wasn’t something just anyone could steal away.

"Heh, time really flies."

After finishing up the membership system, Chen Yuan stretched with a long yawn and glanced at the time — half past eleven at night.

"Alright, bed time. Got a big day tomorrow~"

He’d briefly considered waiting for the night fishing session to wrap up and getting Wang Heng and the others settled before turning in, but with his dad around to handle the three rooms, there was no need. He headed straight upstairs.

Restocking was serious business. He needed to be sharp.

He shut the laptop, hit the bed, and was out cold — didn’t even stir when the system chimed. When he woke up the next morning at six, he finally pulled up the system to check.

"Whoa, over eighty thousand points added."

Chen Yuan’s face lit up.

He tapped into the details — sure enough, the whole pond had been cleaned out overnight.

Black carp fetched more than grass carp, so on the surface the night session looked like it had outscored the daytime one. But once you converted it to actual fish weight, the night catch was still a bit lighter.

"There’s at least four thousand-plus jin left in the pond. With three more pros joining today, I wonder if the anglers will finally fish at full power."

After a moment’s thought, Chen Yuan opened the rewards inventory and dropped in all three hundred remaining black carp, along with five hundred silver carp and four hundred bighead carp.

That would keep the pond stocked at well over ten thousand jin — nearly on par with the opening session.

"Silver carp are really the worst, honestly."

If he had a choice, Chen Yuan would’ve ditched the silver carp entirely. Their value was too low — even below silver and bighead combined, and nowhere near black carp. But he had to throw in some variety.

"Black carp are still the best. I’ll swing by the pond today and try to pull a few myself."

Chen Yuan muttered to himself as he rolled out of bed and shuffled toward the bathroom.

The fishing grounds around Chong City mostly stocked the four major carp species, plus common carp, crucian carp, and bream. Anglers had a little rhyme they liked to use: black, grass, silver, bighead, common, crucian, bream — fish one spot and move to the next. Occasionally a place might throw in something exotic like tilapia.

Beyond that, there wasn’t much else.

The rest came down to whatever tricks each fishing ground could pull off.

"Oh, you’re all up already."

After washing up and heading downstairs, Chen Yuan stepped out of the main room to find all five of Wang Heng’s group already awake, brushing their teeth and washing up by the sink.

"Morning, Boss Chen."

They greeted him with casual waves.

"Why didn’t you sleep in a bit? It’s not even six-thirty yet. Still need to stock the pond before we open — casting won’t start until after seven at the earliest."

Chen Yuan wasn’t just being polite.

The whole point of offering them a place to stay was so they could rest properly. With fishing starting around seven, sleeping until six-thirty, then washing up and eating, was perfectly fine.

"Woke up on my own, couldn’t sleep any longer."

Wang Heng smiled back.

"They say before thirty you can’t get enough sleep, after thirty you can’t sleep at all. At my age, I barely doze anymore. Life’s down to two words: make money~"

Little Fish King chuckled with a knowing sigh.

Chen Yuan couldn’t agree more.

When you’re young, it’s all about fun — eating, drinking, doing whatever feels good. But once you’ve got a family and responsibilities, or you hit a certain age, all you really think about is making money.

"He’s talking about sleep, but I’m talking about energy — Boss Chen, don’t you worry. We’re all fired up and ready to go. We won’t let the proxy fishing down."

Blond Punk spat out a mouthful of toothpaste foam and grinned.

Xu Bai and Dongfang Qingyang both confirmed they’d slept well and weren’t tired either.

"Alright, but seriously — if you’re ever dragging, just sleep in. No one’s going to mind. You guys finish up, I’ll go check on breakfast."

Chen Yuan called out as he headed toward the kitchen.

No need for formalities with Wang Heng and the rest — they were friends at this point.

Little Fish King was the kind of straight-talking guy who didn’t do fake niceties. He’d already told Chen Yuan last night to find him a place to sleep in the village — if he needed anything, he’d just say so.

"Did Dad go out for more supplies?"

Only Tang Ying was in the kitchen. Chen Yuan talked as he walked over to the firebox door to check the firewood.

"Left a while ago. Should be back soon."

Tang Ying was working a ball of dough, making pan-fried flatbreads stuffed with egg and chive leaves. Chen Yuan was quite fond of those — the chive and egg combo was good.

"Your dad talked to your second aunt last night. She agreed — if you want to use that house as a guesthouse, just use it. You’re family. No need to make it a transaction."

Tang Ying stretched the dough flat and dropped it into the hot oil, filling Chen Yuan in on the outcome of last night’s conversation with Chen Rong.

"So I can just go ahead and use it?"

Chen Yuan asked, a little hesitant.

"If you want it, use it. Whether the business does well or not, your second aunt won’t have a word to say about it. She’s not that kind of person."

Tang Ying smiled.

She knew what Chen Yuan was worried about. But Chen Rong wasn’t an outsider — she’d married a bit far, sure, but the two families still got together for every holiday and gathering.

They were close.

"Then I’ll start with a trial run. If it goes well, I’ll cut Second Aunt in on the profits."

Chen Yuan laughed.

He hadn’t spent much time with his second aunt personally, but the older generation had always kept a warm relationship. His parents both vouched for it — no reason to stress about it.

"Take these out, will you? Tell your friends to eat first. There’s milk in the fridge — bring some out. There’s congee on the stove too, let them pick what they want."

After frying up several flatbreads, Tang Ying sent Chen Yuan out to get Wang Heng and the others fed.

His dad had just gotten back too, so Chen Yuan stepped aside to free up the firebox space and walked out to call everyone in for breakfast. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

They’d barely started eating when Little Fish King’s phone rang.

"Turn right — I’m right on the roadside. Two turns and you’ll see me~"

Little Fish King talked as he walked out of the courtyard. Chen Yuan followed. Before long, a car came around the bend, and Little Fish King waved it into a spot next to his own vehicle.

"Bro~"

Three men stepped out — all male — and pulled Little Fish King into warm hugs.

After a quick round of small talk, Little Fish King made introductions. Chen Yuan smiled and offered cigarettes, asked if they’d eaten, and invited them to sit in the courtyard.

Soon his uncle and aunt arrived, and Chen Dequan showed up on his three-wheeler not far behind.

But before Chen Yuan could even step forward to hand out cigarettes, more cars pulled in — anglers were trickling in one after another.

"Ha, guests first."

Chen Kingdom and Chen Dequan said with a laugh.

Chen Yuan tucked the cigarettes back in his pocket. Guests first, then.

"Boss Chen, I showed up early today — how about releasing the fish early too? Earlier we cast, earlier we haul in."

"Think bigger. Like the anglers say — during a festival event, landing fish is just the bare minimum. A massive haul is the real goal. That’s what I’m here for today."

The anglers had indeed arrived a touch earlier than usual — only by a few minutes, but they came in a concentrated wave, clearly hoping to get the fish in the water sooner and squeeze out more fishing time.

"Say no more~"

Chen Yuan wasn’t about to be stingy.

The earlier they fished and the more they caught, the more points he racked up too.

Meanwhile.

At the entrance to Yu City Village, a car was parked on the roadside. Two men in their thirties sat inside, eyes fixed on the village gate.

If the Fisherman and Old Wang of Jiangyuan had been there, they would’ve recognized them instantly — it was none other than the owners of the Solo River Moon and Leisure Cast fishing grounds.

"There it is, there it is."

Suddenly, the two of them lit up like they’d spotted buried treasure, eyes gleaming with a sharp, calculating light. The one in the driver’s seat floored it and swung the car sideways, blocking the village entrance.

"Screech~"

The sound of hard brakes cut through the air. Wang Tao leaned his head out of the fish truck and let loose immediately.

"What the f*ck — you got a death wish?!"

"Sorry, sorry! We had no choice, had to do what we had to do. Here, boss, have a smoke, cool down~"

The owner of Solo River Moon put on his most apologetic smile and jogged over, cigarette extended toward Wang Tao.

The owner of Leisure Cast ran to the second fish truck, but the driver there didn’t take the cigarette — he glanced at Wang Tao up front first, and only accepted it once he saw Wang Tao take one.

One look was all it took for the Leisure Cast owner to figure out who was in charge. He took two quick steps back to Wang Tao’s side.

"Looks like you two were waiting for me on purpose. Go on then — what do you want?"

Wang Tao lit the cigarette, rested his arm on the car door, and looked at them both with an easy smile.

"Straight to business — that’s the mark of a big operator."

The Solo River Moon owner gave a thumbs-up. Flattery never goes out of style, after all.

"You look unfamiliar, boss. Just getting into the fish supply business in Chong City?"

"More or less."

Wang Tao took a drag and answered without much interest.

Just as they’d figured.

The owners of Solo River Moon and Leisure Cast exchanged a glance — it matched their hunch exactly.

"Let me introduce myself — I’m the owner of the Solo River Moon fishing ground."

"And I’m the owner of the Leisure Cast fishing ground."

They rattled off their introductions quickly, fully expecting the fish supplier to perk up at the mention of fishing grounds.

Instead, Wang Tao let out a short laugh.

"I know exactly what you two are after. You want my fish — or more precisely, you want to copy Chen Yuan Fishing Ground’s festival event, don’t you?"

"You cut right to it, boss. I’ll stop dancing around it then. We came today to propose a partnership. We’re not asking you to sponsor the whole thing — fish pricing is negotiable, and we’ll guarantee better rates than Chen Yuan Fishing Ground."

Solo River Moon was still laying on the flattery.

"Not interested."

Wang Tao shrugged, looking thoroughly unbothered.

"I understand you’ve already committed to Chen Yuan Fishing Ground here in Chong City and invested quite a bit — switching targets now wouldn’t make sense. But we could look at other cities, carve out a share of the fishing ground market elsewhere."

The Leisure Cast owner jumped in quickly.

This had been their plan from the night before.

Walking in and asking a supplier to ditch his current investment would never fly — they knew that much.

Forget the sunk costs. Chen Yuan Fishing Ground had already locked down the top spot in Chong City’s market. Starting from scratch somewhere else? That ship had sailed.

But expanding to other cities was a different story. If the supplier was willing to back them with capital, they could absolutely replicate the Chen Yuan Fishing Ground model and dominate a new market without breaking a sweat.

"Since you gave me two cigarettes, I’ll give you one last thing to chew on: I work with Boss Chen and no one else. Don’t even think about it."

Wang Tao flicked away the cigarette butt and reached for the window.

Boss Chen was waiting for him to stock the pond.

He didn’t have time to shoot the breeze with a couple of idiots.

"Come on, boss, don’t be so absolute about it. Everything’s negotiable. Whether it’s the event setup or ongoing fish purchases, we’ll match whatever Chen Yuan Fishing Ground is paying — or better."

Solo River Moon was still pushing.

"Name your terms, boss. Whatever you want, just say it. If it’s within our power, we won’t flinch."

The Leisure Cast owner made it sound like he was handing Wang Tao a blank check.

"What I want, you can’t give."

Wang Tao almost laughed.

The two of them were still trying, but Wang Tao was done listening. He started the truck the moment he finished speaking, spun the wheel, and rolled right past their car.

Leaving the owners of Leisure Cast and Solo River Moon standing there, thoroughly bewildered, in the morning breeze.