Chapter 205 - 184: The ’Air Force’ Guy Makes Progress

Chapter 205: Chapter 184: The ’Air Force’ Guy Makes Progress

The downpour had stopped.

The rain seemed to have it out for them personally — it had hammered down nonstop during the busiest stretch of welcoming and seeing off customers, then quit the moment things finally calmed down.

Still, the sky was smothered in thick black clouds, hanging low and heavy. Another thunderstorm was definitely on the way.

Chen Yuan did a quick loop around the ponds, exchanged a few words with Chen Nan and the others, and headed back.

He got home, hung up his rain jacket, and checked the time — nearly five o’clock. He went to the main room to pull up the reservation system, and even though he’d been expecting good numbers, seeing both ponds fully booked still gave him a pleasant little jolt.

"How are your bookings looking?"

Chen Jun came over, dropped into a chair by the table, and casually plucked a cigarette from the pack Chen Yuan had left out, lighting it up.

"Fully booked~"

Chen Yuan handed him the phone and fished out a cigarette of his own.

"In weather like this — these fishing guys are absolutely unhinged."

Chen Jun took a long drag and let out a rueful laugh with the smoke.

Both sessions today had sold out, so he’d been curious about tomorrow’s reservations. Fully booked again. He was genuinely stumped for a moment, struggling to wrap his head around it.

All this for fishing?

Nobody’s this enthusiastic about showing up to work~

"If you’re not a little unhinged, you’ve got no business calling yourself a fisherman."

Chen Yuan figured he’d finally seen firsthand what the true spirit of fishing looked like.

"Crazy or not, it’s good news — money’s coming in~"

The fishing ground needed to start recouping its costs. He’d been worried the thunderstorms might tank business right when they needed to be making money back. Turned out he’d been worrying over nothing.

He’d been way overthinking it.

"You do what you need to do — I’m going to check on the vegetable patch."

Chen Jun stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, stood up, grabbed his straw hat, and made for the door.

"The vegetable patch, right now? What about the kitchen?"

Chen Yuan looked up.

"Your sister’s here helping out. I have to go — the wind knocked over bamboo stakes all over the place, the whole patch is a mess. Gotta take advantage of this break in the rain and sort it out."

Chen Jun called back over his shoulder as he walked.

"I’ll come with you."

Chen Yuan quickly stubbed out his cigarette, grabbed his rain jacket, and followed.

"Don’t worry about it if you’ve got things to do."

"Nothing urgent right now. Let’s get the vegetables sorted first."

Fishermen were crazy enough to do business in a downpour, which meant the vegetable patch couldn’t wait for the usual routine — if you didn’t go while the rain had paused, you sure as hell weren’t going in the middle of a storm.

Normal scheduling was out the window.

"Alright then, grab the hoe and the spade."

Father and son loaded up their tools, hopped on the three-wheeler, and rode out to the vegetable patch.

The patch wasn’t far — just behind the house.

More precisely, it sat on the slope behind Chen Kingdom’s place, several mu in total. It wasn’t just Chen Yuan’s family’s plot either — Chen Kingdom’s and Second Aunt’s land were all being used to grow vegetables too.

"Hey, when did you get here?"

They’d barely arrived when they spotted Chen Kingdom already working away with a hoe, clearing out the drainage ditches.

The storm had left the ground thick with mud. Soil had washed down with the rainwater, blocking the drainage channels along the edges, and water had pooled all across the patch.

Chen Kingdom was in the middle of clearing it.

"Just a little while ago. I’m grabbing some vegetable leaves to feed the chickens~"

Chen Kingdom raised his head and said.

Chen Jun gave a nod, hopped off the three-wheeler, kicked off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs, grabbed a hoe, and waded right in. He called over to Chen Yuan as he went —

"Go check on the pepper plants over there. Any seedlings that got knocked over but aren’t dead, prop them back up. The ones that are too far gone, just pick off the peppers and toss them to the side of the plot — we’ll collect them later."

The vegetable patch had a little of everything.

Cowpeas, sword beans, green beans. Eggplant, tomatoes, water spinach. Garlic chives, cucumbers, cantaloupes. Luffa, bitter melon, pumpkins. Every kind of vegetable you could think of.

The seeds had been bought through the system — suitable for planting in any season.

The pepper section alone had quite a variety: finger chilies, green peppers, red peppers, regular chili peppers, sweet peppers, corkscrew peppers. Peppers showed up in so many dishes that the pepper section was one of the larger plots, and it was stocked with a pretty comprehensive range.

"Should we get Wang Tao to build a proper greenhouse over the vegetable section?"

Chen Yuan had taken off his shoes and rolled up his trouser legs. Looking at the bamboo stakes that had been propped throughout the patch to support the plants — now knocked flat in great swaths — the whole garden looked completely wrecked. A greenhouse seemed like it might be the answer.

But then it would basically just be a regular greenhouse operation.

The growing techniques Wang Tao had provided were actually superior to standard greenhouse methods.

"Talk it over with Wang Tao when the time comes."

Not wanting to get hung up on it, Chen Yuan grabbed the spade and headed into the pepper rows.

Plenty of pepper seedlings had toppled over. Chen Yuan went through propping them back up one by one and packing soil around their bases. For the ones that were clearly beyond saving, he pulled them out root and all and tossed them to the edge of the plot.

Rumble.

After more than an hour of work, thunder started rolling across the sky again. The already gloomy sky grew even darker — one look up and it felt like the black clouds were about to come crashing down on top of them.

"Another thunderstorm’s rolling in. Pack it up — time to head back."

Chen Jun squinted up at the clouds with a frown and called to Chen Yuan to start loading the vegetables into the cargo bed of the three-wheeler.

He grabbed the walkie-talkie and called out,

"Hey, hey — you still at the breeding ground? Storm’s coming, get yourself home."

Chen Kingdom hadn’t stayed long at the vegetable patch — once he’d cleared the drainage ditches and gathered a pile of vegetable leaves, he’d headed over to the breeding area.

"On my way back."

Chen Kingdom’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie.

A moment later Tang Ying’s voice came through as well — dinner was ready, she was heading out to deliver the meal boxes.

"Let’s go, let’s go — get back to the house quick. Beat the storm and get those meal boxes delivered."

No time to sort through the vegetables properly — they threw everything into the cargo bed in heaps and rode straight home.

They’d barely gotten back when Chen Li pulled Chen Yuan aside.

"The Old Pond opening promotion’s wrapped up. Tomorrow’s Monday — should I put together a rest day schedule?"

"Go ahead. People need their days off."

It was a benefit they’d set up from the start. Just because everyone had been run ragged in the storm didn’t mean they were going to shortchange the staff.

"Alright, I’ll send you the schedule later tonight."

Two sentences and it was settled. Chen Li headed off to the kitchen to bring out the dishes.

Chen Yuan had been about to tell his sister not to bother putting him on the roster, but he thought about it and let it go.

"Give me two minutes — I’m coming to Old Pond too."

He spotted Chen Yiheng and the others getting the meal boxes together, ready to head out, and quickly called after them.

He jogged over to the wash basin, rinsed the mud off his feet, slipped on his sandals, hopped onto the three-wheeler, and rode out with them to Old Pond.

They got the meal boxes handed out quickly, and Chen Yuan sat on the three-wheeler eating alongside a few of the staff.

"How’s the night fishing going?"

Chen Yuan asked between bites.

"I’ve got over fifty so far on my side. One came in at over eighty jin, the rest are all under sixty."

Chen Hongjun popped a piece of meat into his mouth and grinned as he spoke.

"Mine’s a bit fewer, but I’m getting close to fifty. Got one over seventy, two over sixty."

Chen Nan swallowed a mouthful of rice, said his piece, and went right back to eating.

It was just hitting seven o’clock — around a hundred fish total, roughly the same pace as a daytime session. No need to break out the remote for now.

Still no idea whether Heavy Chummer had gotten a bite yet. If it came down to it, the remote might still be needed.

After dinner, while the sky was still holding, Chen Yuan rode the three-wheeler on a lap around the ponds.

He pulled up near Heavy Chummer’s spot and lingered for a bit.

"Still nothing?"

Chen Yuan offered him a cigarette.

"No rush. One fish pays for three days."

Heavy Chummer was completely unruffled. Land one fish and it covered three days’ worth of session fees.

"That’s the heavy chumming mindset, right there."

Chen Yuan threw out the quip with a grin.

"You giving me the green light, Boss Chen?"

Heavy Chummer’s eyes lit up instantly. He lived for heavy chumming — the only reason he hadn’t done it already was out of respect for Boss Chen.

"Just fish properly. Chen Yuan Fishing Ground won’t let you down."

There was no way Chen Yuan was letting Heavy Chummer go off the rails. The moment you gave him an excuse — saying you needed heavy chum to catch more — he’d dump so much bait in that the spot would die completely.

And even though the fishing spots at Old Pond were spaced out nicely, if the anglers on either side of Heavy Chummer were having a slow day, would they start competing with him in a baiting arms race?

"Honestly, when it comes to true fishing dedication, Heavy Chummer has my full respect~"

Chen Yuan exchanged a few more words, then settled back onto the three-wheeler. He watched Heavy Chummer staring at the water with absolute focus, and he genuinely meant it.

The whole point of fishing is to catch fish. Without bites, who keeps at it?

But Heavy Chummer had been blanking for years — he’d gotten skunked far more times than he’d ever landed anything — and yet his enthusiasm never wavered.

Raging storms couldn’t keep him away from the water. Blank sessions couldn’t dull his passion. Even sitting through a night session with nothing to show for it, he was still locked in, still fully present.

"Guess I’d better give you a hand~"

Chen Yuan felt a small stirring of intent and pulled up the system.

Without hesitating, he was about to trigger a bite for Heavy Chummer — at this rate he was genuinely worried the man might not get a single nibble all night on his own.

"Whoosh~"

But just as Chen Yuan was about to activate it, Heavy Chummer suddenly snapped his rod up with a sharp, powerful strike. The tip arced into a deep bow almost instantly, and the line sang out with that blood-pumping, electric whine.

"Hahaha, Boss Chen, you’re my lucky charm — the second you show up, I get a hit~"

Heavy Chummer burst out laughing, scrambling out from behind his shelter in excitement, gripping the rod with both hands and leaning his whole body back against the pull.

Whhrrr~

The line screamed in sharp, rapid bursts. Whatever was on the end of it was no small fish.

"Holy shit, the Blank King’s actually leveled up~"

Chen Yuan was genuinely stunned. He hadn’t even triggered anything yet — Heavy Chummer had hooked this one entirely on his own.

Not bad at all. The man’s skills had actually improved.

"This one feels like a big one too — I’m guessing 30-plus jin at least. Boss Chen, watch me land this bad boy."

Heavy Chummer felt the rod bucking in his hands and figured it was about the same weight as the one he’d caught at noon — probably pushing forty jin, thirty-plus at minimum.

One fish was all he needed to close out his fees.

"Not bad at all — you’ve really come on leaps and bounds."

Chen Yuan’s interest was piqued now. He was actually curious to see just how big a fish Heavy Chummer could land on pure skill.

"Heh, obviously~"

Heavy Chummer was absolutely beaming, and he didn’t forget to remind Chen Yuan to get the camera rolling — at noon he hadn’t been able to find anyone to film it, so all he’d ended up with was a photo.

A photo just couldn’t capture it the same way a video could.

Or more accurately — you can’t show off properly without video footage.

"Sure, I’ll film it for you~"

Chen Yuan pulled out his phone and started recording.

Heavy Chummer was absolutely living his best life, sneaking glances at the camera every now and then as he played the fish, loving every second of it.

He dragged it out for a good half hour before he’d had his fill — finally Chen Yuan helped him net it, and they weighed it with the lip grip scale. Thirty-eight jin. Not bad at all.

It was smaller than the one he’d caught at noon, but this one he’d earned himself. That made it a completely different thing — this was, without question, the biggest fish he’d ever landed under his own power.

"How about that, Boss Chen — did I impress you today or what?"

Heavy Chummer set down his rod, catching his breath, but his eyes were glowing as he looked down at Daqing.

"That one stings a little, I won’t lie. Keep this up and the Air Force Alliance is going to have to rename itself the Full Net Alliance."

Chen Yuan clutched his chest in mock anguish.

Heavy Chummer ate it up, laughing loud and long.

"Boss Chen, give me a ride to the parking area~"

"Done for the night?"

"Haha, I’ve had more than enough fun today~"

Heavy Chummer chuckled to himself as he started breaking down his rod.

Chen Yuan could understand where his head was at. Setting aside the fish from noon that had technically gotten away on a technicality, this one was the biggest he’d ever pulled in on his own. Of course he was going to take it home and brag about it properly.

As for selling it.

Heavy Chummer wasn’t hurting for money — showing off was the whole point~