Chapter 192 - 175: Want to Rent a Venue

Chapter 192: Chapter 175: Want to Rent a Venue

He’d expected the house to be chaotic — after all, Xu Juan had gone over to cook, and his aunt needed to go help too. But the moment he stepped into the kitchen, he found his parents already packing up the lunch boxes.

"Wow, you’re already done?"

"We took orders early today. They’re short-handed over there, so the sooner we finish up here, the sooner we can go help. Don’t worry, we cleared it with the customers first."

Chen Jun packed up the last of the lunch boxes with practiced speed, then keyed his walkie-talkie.

"Quede, Quede, lunch is ready at Small Pond. Come back and run the deliveries."

"Copy that, copy that."

The walkie-talkie crackled with static.

"Teams one, two, three — are your meals ready? Come in, come in."

Tang Ying got on her walkie-talkie too, calling out each group by number — a system she’d borrowed from the tricycle numbering, which made coordinating everything a whole lot easier.

"We’re good to go."

"Two more minutes."

"Done on my end."

The responses came in one after another over the radio.

Tang Ying shot Chen Jun a look. He caught on immediately and radioed the Old Pond staff to come over and pick up the deliveries.

"Deliveries are on you — we’re heading to the square now."

Tang Ying said as she untied her apron. She and the other cooks had barely finished before they jumped on their tricycles and headed straight to the wedding banquet.

"Don’t forget the red envelope — I don’t want you getting caught up and losing track of it."

Chen Jun called out as a reminder.

The words snapped Chen Yuan into action too. He jogged upstairs, dropped off his bag, then pulled a stack of cash from the cabinet, counted it carefully, and tucked it into a red envelope.

"Dad, you handle the Small Pond deliveries — I’ll head over to Old Pond and go straight to the square from there."

He came back downstairs to find Chen Dequan and his uncle already pedaling off toward Small Pond on their tricycles, while Chen Jun stood nearby holding some side dishes, walkie-talkie in hand.

"Alright, just head over to the wedding once you’re done."

Chen Jun handed Chen Yuan the side dishes for Old Pond and radioed Chen Nan to skip the pickup — just grab the lunch boxes and go straight to Old Pond. He himself would go with the uncle and Chen Dequan to Small Pond.

It was a busy operation, but they had enough hands. Small Pond had Chen Jun and two others, Old Pond had all the fish pond staff on duty, plus Chen Youliang — and with Chen Yuan added in, that made six.

They finished distributing the lunch boxes in no time.

"You all go ahead — I’ll head over in a bit. My wife’s already there anyway."

After the deliveries were done, Chen Dequan decided to stay behind at Small Pond.

Over at Old Pond, Chen Yiheng stayed back to keep watch. Since someone from the family was already over helping at Zhou Jianming’s side, there was no rush to send a representative right away.

"I’ll come relieve you later."

Chen Yikai said.

Chen Yuan had no objections. No matter how busy things got, someone needed to keep an eye on the fish ponds at all times — one accident and things could go sideways fast.

"Alright, let’s head over and enjoy the wedding feast."

Chen Yuan waved the other employees along.

He’d barely climbed onto the tricycle when his dad’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie, telling them to swing by Zhou Jianming’s house first and ferry the guests to the square by tricycle.

The square was over in Hou Village — not exactly far, but not exactly close either. On foot, it would take a good few minutes, and with the midday sun blazing at its worst, walking there would be absolutely brutal.

Chen Yuan wasn’t about to say no to that.

He rallied the tricycle convoy and they headed straight for Zhou Jianming’s place. With wheels under them, getting to the square was a matter of minutes.

The square was packed. The whole place buzzed with the kind of energy you only get when a crowd really shows up for something. Up on the wedding stage, a large LED screen played a slideshow of the bride and groom’s moments together.

It reminded Chen Yuan of watching outdoor movies as a kid.

Several industrial evaporative coolers were set up around the canopy, and behind the stage, makeshift stoves had been built from stacked bricks. Lin Cuiju and Xu Juan were working the woks, with Tang Ying and a handful of other women pitching in around them.

"Boss Chen, get over here!"

After Chen Yuan finished helping guests off the tricycles, the bridesmaids waved him over to join the bride and groom in receiving guests.

Right.

His duties as a groomsman weren’t over yet.

He parked the tricycle under a shady tree, took the backpack full of red envelopes and the cigarettes Zhou Lin handed him, and stationed himself at Zhou Lin’s side — handing out smokes and red envelopes to each arriving guest.

The bridesmaid side handed out wedding candies.

"That canopy of yours was a lifesaver, honestly."

Zhou Lin was genuinely grateful to Chen Yuan.

A lot of guests had assumed that an outdoor village banquet in the dead of summer would be sweltering — especially people from the bride’s side, many of whom had nearly skipped the whole thing when they heard it was an open-air affair.

But once they arrived, there was none of that suffocating heat they’d braced for. If anything, it felt refreshingly cool — almost like sitting inside a hotel with the air conditioning on full blast.

Everyone was impressed. Zhou Lin earned himself a mountain of face.

"Alright, groom — are all the guests here? Let’s get everyone seated. We’re about ready to start."

As noon approached, the MC came over to give the heads-up.

Zhou Lin nodded and went to find Zhou Jianming and the others.

They quickly got everyone settled into their seats.

Chen Yuan seized the moment and made his way over to the gift registration table.

Two of Zhou Lin’s uncles-in-law were managing the table. The second uncle tore open Chen Yuan’s red envelope — and his eyes went wide.

"Damn, Boss Chen, you really went all out~"

The guests nearby instinctively turned to look, and more than a few of them did a double take.

That thick stack of red bills — easily several thousand at a glance.

The second uncle counted it out. Eight thousand yuan, flat. Without question the biggest red envelope of the day.

"Why so much?"

Zhou Lin rushed over and was just as caught off guard as everyone else — and so were the bride and the rest of the wedding party. The bridesmaids in particular couldn’t seem to stop stealing glances at Chen Yuan.

"You handed Old Pond over to me — that was a huge gift. Now that you’re getting married, I had to make it count."

Chen Yuan said with a grin.

The truth was, that eight thousand wasn’t just a wedding gift. Part of it was also meant as compensation for Zhou Jianming.

When Zhou Jianming had let go of Old Pond, Chen Yuan had only paid seventy-five thousand. Chen Wenbin never said a word about it, but Chen Yuan knew Uncle Bin had wanted to put in a good word and push for a higher price.

But Chen Yuan hadn’t budged.

Business was business. The handover was what it was, and any gesture of goodwill would come separately. Besides, Zhou Jianming hadn’t drained the pond before leaving — there was still a solid haul of fish in there.

So this was Chen Yuan’s way of settling that debt, using Zhou Lin’s wedding as the right moment.

"I always said Yuan had his head screwed on right. He knows how things work."

Chen Wenbin was there too, seated up front where Zhou Jianming had arranged a spot for him. When he saw what Chen Yuan had done, it clicked immediately — and he gave a satisfied nod.

"That kid, Yuan..."

Zhou Jianming and his wife stood nearby, shaking their heads with quiet smiles. There was nothing left to say.

Once everyone was seated, the wedding ceremony officially began.

By the time the ceremony wrapped up, the main event was essentially over. At some point during the banquet, Chen Yikai finished eating and headed back to Old Pond to relieve Chen Yiheng.

Chen Jun ate for a while, then pedaled his tricycle back to take over from Chen Dequan.

Chen Yuan had been planning to leave too, but when the bride and groom came around to toast the tables, Zhou Lin pulled him aside and asked him to stick around — his wife’s older sister wanted to have a chat.

Chen Yuan thought it over, then went and got Chen Li to come join him.

The banquet hadn’t even fully wound down when Zhou Lin’s sister-in-law came over.

"What can I do for you, Sister Liang?"

Chen Yuan said with a cheerful smile, raising his glass of soda in a toast.

The bride’s family name was Liang — the bride was Liang Xueling, and her elder sister was Liang Chunping.

"You have a way with words, Boss Chen."

Liang Chunping laughed, then let her expression settle into something more serious. "I noticed the construction area over at Old Pond is quite large. Are you planning to use all of it for the children’s park?"

"The hot spring water park and indoor children’s play center are the main attractions, but there’ll also be a casual dining zone and other supporting facilities."

Chen Yuan replied, his tone even and unhurried.

"So Boss Chen is going for something that blends a hot spring resort with a commercial complex. I was wondering — would you be open to renting out a space to me? We could partner on the children’s entertainment side of things."

Liang Chunping didn’t dance around it. She got straight to the point.

The night before, Chen Yuan had mentioned children’s entertainment to her, and she’d assumed he was thinking along the same lines as her.

Renting a storefront in the city and running a business there.

But coming out here today, she’d seen the full scale of what was being built at Old Pond — the footprint was massive. And more importantly, she’d watched the fishing park’s business with her own eyes.

She’d also heard from Zhou Lin’s side that the fishing park’s customer group had already topped three thousand members.

Factor in the village’s ongoing development, and it wasn’t hard to imagine this place becoming a genuine rural leisure and tourism destination. If things went well, doing business here could be every bit as good as setting up shop in the city.

"You want to rent a space here?"

Chen Yuan was a little surprised to hear that.

He’d figured Zhou Lin’s sister-in-law might bring up children’s entertainment — which was exactly why he’d called Chen Li over in advance. But renting a space from him was not what he’d expected.

"You’ve got real guts, Boss Chen — coming back to the village and building something from scratch. Honestly, if this bet doesn’t pay off, it’s a total wipeout. But if it does? It’ll be massive. So I want to place my own bet alongside yours. What do you say?"

Liang Chunping pressed on.