Chapter 179 - 167: Chen Yuan Fishing Ground Has No Fish?

Chapter 179: Chapter 167: Chen Yuan Fishing Ground Has No Fish?

"Let me introduce myself first — my name is Zuo Xianyun. I work in the fishing tackle industry, researching Golden Dragon bait and Angler tackle. By that measure, I’d say I’m in the same business as your city’s Little Fish King."

Zuo Xianyun was nothing if not straightforward.

The man owned two companies and was clearly worth a small fortune, yet he casually measured himself against Little Fish King.

Anyone else in his position would have whipped out a gleaming gold business card loaded with titles — Golden Dragon, Angler, association chairman, and God knows what else, every last millimeter crammed full.

"Chen Yuan. I run a pond."

Chen Yuan kept his own introduction just as casual.

"Ha! Boss Chen really is a straight shooter. Then I’ll get straight to the point too — I’m interested in investing in your bait and tackle operation. I don’t know if that’s something you’d consider, but don’t worry about the money. I’ll make it worth your while."

Zuo Xianyun was genuinely direct about it — no dancing around the subject, no hidden agendas, no playing games.

Chen Yuan liked that in a person.

Less posturing, more sincerity.

"I won’t lie to you, brother — right now I have no plans to bring the bait or tackle to market."

Chen Yuan shook his head with a rueful smile.

The bait and rods were all system-issued. Using them at the fishing ground was fine, but selling them was out of the question.

When he’d first activated the system, Chen Yuan had spotted this potential loophole — buy items from the system shop using points, then flip them in the real world. Even tripling or quadrupling the price would be obscene profit, let alone quintupling it.

But the system had an explicit rule against it: for personal use only, not for resale. Violate that, and the items would stop working.

That said, the system hadn’t left him without hope entirely. Once the fishing ground reached a certain level of development, certain permissions would unlock — just not yet.

"Not bringing it to market?"

Zuo Xianyun looked genuinely surprised.

Bait with that kind of fish-attracting power, rods of that quality — the moment either hit the market, anglers everywhere would lose their minds over them. And Boss Chen had no interest in that?

Was he being turned down, or had the man truly never considered it?

He was inclined to believe it was the former.

After all, anyone who’d built a fishing ground this popular wasn’t stupid.

A fishing ground had a hard ceiling on how far it could grow. You had to branch out into other brands, and tackle was the obvious move.

A pond could only hold so many anglers at a time, but tackle could reach every single person who’d ever picked up a rod. The fishing ground was just the launchpad — the spin-off brand was the real prize.

"Sounds like my appetite is too big for you, brother."

Zuo Xianyun took a drag of his cigarette, thought for a moment, then continued,

"How about we look at it differently — you supply the bait and tackle, and I provide the sales and distribution channels."

"I’ve been in this industry for years. My online and offline networks are solid. I won’t make promises I can’t keep, but our province’s market share? That I can guarantee."

"It’s worth thinking about, Boss Chen. A win-win for both of us."

Chen Yuan’s rueful smile deepened.

Truth be told, Zuo Xianyun’s sincerity was hard to fault.

He’d offered direct investment, a satisfying price, and a full distribution partnership covering both online and offline channels. The man had put everything on the table.

Of course, that was only the broad strokes. The fine print would come with plenty of conditions — one wrong move and your own brand could get swallowed whole.

"I’m not brushing you off, brother — I genuinely mean it. My focus right now is on the fishing ground and rural development. Branching into tackle just isn’t on my roadmap at the moment. But I give you my word: when that day comes, you’ll be the first person I call."

Chen Yuan said it with complete sincerity.

Zuo Xianyun held his gaze, took one last long drag of his cigarette, then dropped the butt and crushed it underfoot before extending his hand.

"You’ve got a solid vision. I look forward to the day we get to work together."

"Same here."

Chen Yuan shook his hand, then slipped in a question. "By the way, brother — is it hard to get into the Fishing Association these days?"

"You want to join the Fishing Association? Easy — I’ll sort it out for you. With your track record and what you’ve built here, a vice-chairman seat is absolutely on the table."

Zuo Xianyun had actually been planning to extend an invitation himself, so hearing that Chen Yuan was already thinking the same thing was a pleasant surprise — great minds think alike.

"You’re too kind. I’m just looking to do something at the city level — this is my home turf, after all."

Simply joining as a member held no appeal.

He needed to found his own Chapter. That was the only way to register for competitions and stop the fishing ground from being just a fishing ground.

"Joining the Provincial Association works just as well—"

Zuo Xianyun started to say that being in the Provincial Association gave you access to everything, but he caught on almost instantly. There was a world of difference between running your own Chapter and being a member of someone else’s.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have joined the national body and then gone ahead and founded the Provincial Association himself.

"The Fishing Association actively encourages like-minded people to join, and it also encourages regional Chapters to form. If you want to establish a city Chapter, the Provincial Association will absolutely back you up."

That wasn’t just talk.

The national association had only been founded two and a half years ago, and major competitions were still very much in the experimental stage — nowhere near fully developed. The Provincial Association itself had only been up and running for three months.

The Fishing Association was in the middle of a major growth phase, plain and simple.

Every level had an obligation to support the ones below it.

"First things first, Boss Chen — you’ll need to confirm your members. You can’t have fewer than fifty. You’ll also need a fixed venue and legitimate funds to cover the Chapter’s operating expenses. After that, you submit a preparatory application, and the Sports Bureau will audit and approve it."

Zuo Xianyun had been through the whole process before, so his advice was practical and on point. He’d essentially drawn Chen Yuan a clear roadmap and made the whole thing seem a lot more manageable.

The two of them talked for a long time in the car, not wrapping up until the fishing ground was almost ready for the session changeover.

Chen Yuan thanked him repeatedly and watched Zuo Xianyun’s car disappear down the road before hopping onto his three-wheeler.

"Now that’s what I call a quality client."

Chen Yuan hung a cigarette from his lip, a satisfied grin spreading across his face.

Zuo Xianyun showing up had effectively opened the door to the competitive circuit for him. Sure, the man probably had his eye on the bait and tackle, but that was a bridge to cross later.

"Time to stock the pond — let’s get those Daqing topped up first."

He didn’t rush straight to Old Pond for the changeover. While the anglers hadn’t made their way over yet, he pulled up the system to replenish the fish.

"Damn, these guys went hard — the monster pond is down nearly four hundred Daqing. That’s almost four fish per person on average."

Chen Yuan checked the current fish count at Old Pond, then scrolled over to the rewards inventory.

The double reward was listed separately — a full 796 Daqing, each one tagged with its size class.

"One of each size."

After a moment’s thought, Chen Yuan decided to pull one fish from every size bracket.

Technically, going by the event announcement, the pond was close enough to target already — topping it up with the 60-plus bracket would be more than sufficient. But a double reward was a double reward. You max it out, no question.

He rang Wang Tao to let him know the fish delivery was needed.

He’d barely shoved his phone back in his pocket when he spotted Chen Nan coming his way on a three-wheeler. Chen Nan had kept track of which clients he’d picked up that morning, so it made sense he’d handle the drop-off too.

Otherwise clients would get mixed up, their cars parked in different spots, and you’d end up shuffling everyone around.

"Well, look at that — Boss Chen’s been hiding over here the whole time!"

"What is it, slacking off? Or sneaking in a good cry?"

"If anyone should be crying, it’s the fish dealer!"

The anglers spotted Chen Yuan and immediately started ribbing him, all of them grinning from ear to ear — clearly, the catches had been good.

Even by conservative estimates, even if everything they’d caught was on the smaller end of the 10-plus bracket, they’d still be walking away with a few hundred yuan each. Better than a regular workday for most people. Hard not to be in a good mood.

"Relax and enjoy the haul — there are so many fish even Old Pond can barely hold them all."

Chen Yuan laughed back, then twisted the throttle and headed toward Old Pond to handle the session changeover.

By the time he got there, Zhang Hui and the fish dealers had already cleared out. They knew the fishing ground would be in full changeover mode and made sure their vehicles weren’t in the way.

This window of time was perfect for settling the newly arrived fish. There’d be another wave of action come evening.

The changeover wrapped up quickly, and the fish truck made its grand entrance — right on cue, it stopped everyone in their tracks.

The moment the steel panels swung open and hundreds of Daqing came into view, the visual impact was staggering. The giant one in particular stood out like the leader of the whole school, and there wasn’t a single angler there who didn’t immediately want to be the one to land it.

"That big one’s mine — I’m calling it right now. I’m landing it tonight or I’ll swim three laps around the pond."

Qin Fen had his phone mounted on a stand, camera aimed squarely at the fish tank, looking every bit like one of those livestreaming influencers from a later era.

"Whoa, you’re actually live? What platform?"

Chen Yuan leaned in for a look — sure enough, it was a live broadcast.

"Hehe, Kuaishou. Brand new platform. I’ve been messing around on a few of them now."

Qin Fen flashed a grin and swung the camera toward Chen Yuan.

"This guy right here is my good brother — the owner of Chen Yuan Fishing Ground. An absolute baller. Drop some 666s in the chat for Boss Chen, everyone."

Chen Yuan’s eye twitched.

He could practically see the shadow of every future internet personality in Qin Fen’s moves. For a second he felt like he’d been transported straight back to 2024.

It wasn’t quite the angle he’d imagined for him, but getting into this game this early made Qin Fen practically an OG. If he actually made something of it, that wasn’t half bad at all.

He’d have a proper chat with him once things quieted down.

"What the hell — someone’s actually saying Chen Yuan Fishing Ground has no fish? Get your eyes checked, seriously."

"Watch your mouth? Who cares — there’s a whole truck full of fish right in front of you. If that’s not fish, what is?"

"We don’t need trolls like this in the stream."

Chen Yuan was directing the fish release when Qin Fen suddenly went off.

Someone in the livestream had actually claimed Chen Yuan Fishing Ground had no fish — what kind of nonsense was that? The truck had already pulled in, the tank was packed, and this clown was still trying to start something?

"It’s obviously fake advertising. Chen Yuan Fishing Ground probably just hired some influencer for promotion. Once the camera cuts away and the fish release is done, who knows if anything actually went in."

Oh, now we’re talking.

Qin Fen’s eyes lit up.

Trolls really do come out of the woodwork everywhere, don’t they.

He’d been about to head back to his fishing spot, but he planted his feet instead, swinging the camera back toward the fish truck, where the pipes were already open and fish were streaming into the pond.

"Keep your eyes wide open and watch. Tell me whether these fish are going into the pond or not."

"And for the record, this is a restocking — we already put in 1,342 Daqing this morning. Several of them over a hundred jin. The pond’s holding tens of thousands of jin of fish at minimum. And you’re telling me there are no fish?"

Qin Fen laughed coldly.

Anyone with working eyes could see the fish going in.

Let’s see you talk your way out of that.

"Ha, classic move — stock in the daytime, pull them back out at night. Oldest trick in the book."

"There’s barely anything in Chen Yuan Fishing Ground. A while back, two top anglers from our area went to check it out when it first opened. Figured they’d see what the hype was about. Eight hours. Not a single bite. Floats sat there like they were welded to the surface. Dead quiet the entire session."

If Chen Yuan had been reading this, he’d have known exactly who they were talking about.

Those fishing grounds in Chong City had sent people to mess with him — two serious veterans who’d ended up completely broken by the experience. Their reviews of Chen Yuan Fishing Ground were about as ugly as you’d expect.

"Two experts, and both of them blanked. Says everything you need to know about the fishing at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground."

The troll kept pushing.

"Oh, they blanked? Sounds like the kind of guy who slips and blames the road, or can’t take a dump and blames gravity. Chen Yuan Fishing Ground’s catch rate has been praised by thousands of anglers. Look it up."

Talk is cheap, though.

Qin Fen grabbed Mr. Qin’s phone, pulled up the Chen Yuan Fishing Ground WeChat group, and let the camera roll over the messages flooding in real time. Every screenshot was glowing praise.

And just to drive the point home, Qin Fen laid down a bet with the troll right then and there — if tonight’s session turned out to be poor fishing, if the overall catch rate across the whole pond came up short, he’d do a naked swim around the entire pond. Live on camera.