Chapter 223 - 196: Boss Chen Hired Another New Employee?

Chapter 223: Chapter 196: Boss Chen Hired Another New Employee?

Chen Yuan was in no rush to head back inside. He waited by the courtyard gate and shot a quick look over his shoulder at his parents, who were peeking out from behind the door — a silent signal telling them to go back to whatever they were doing and stop making it so obvious.

Chen Li squeezed the brakes and pulled smoothly to the side of the road. A young guy hopped down from the back of the vehicle — casual clothes, bright smile, the kind of easygoing look that made a good first impression.

Decent height too, about the same as Chen Yuan, just a bit leaner. Probably around a hundred and twenty pounds or so — roughly the same weight as the biggest grass carp out at Old Pond.

Ahem.

He’d really gone deep into this fishing thing. Chen Yuan hadn’t even noticed he’d started using fish weight as his standard unit of measurement.

"Sis, is this the vendor you were talking about?"

Chen Yuan asked the question with a grin, playing dumb even though he already knew the answer.

Same guy as in his memories — no doubt about it, this was his future brother-in-law. Only right now the guy was still young and lean, nothing like the slightly pudgy version in his thirties that Chen Yuan remembered from his past life.

Chen Li shot him a sharp glare. Vendor my ass — you already figured it out, so what are you playing dumb for? And don’t think I’ve forgotten what happened this morning.

"His name is Yang Yangyang. Call him brother-in-law."

With her boyfriend standing right there, Chen Li held back from laying into Chen Yuan, and instead made the introduction while carrying things inside.

Well, that confirmed it.

So it really was good old Yang Yangyang as his brother-in-law.

"Hey, brother-in-law."

Chen Yuan stepped forward and smoothly pulled out a cigarette from his pocket to offer.

"Why are you offering cigarettes? Can’t you see there are bags to carry? Completely clueless."

Chen Li shoved two cases of milk toward Chen Yuan.

He had no choice but to stuff the cigarettes back in his pocket and grab the gift boxes first.

"Mom, Dad — brother-in-law’s here!"

Chen Yuan grabbed the milk and jogged into the courtyard, hollering toward the kitchen at the top of his lungs.

Chen Jun and Tang Ying had already been waiting for the signal. The moment they heard Chen Yuan shout, they both came rushing out, took the things from Yang Yangyang’s hands, and warmly ushered him inside.

"Hello, Uncle, Auntie."

Yang Yangyang greeted them politely.

Once they were in the main room, Yang Yangyang fished out his pack of cigarettes, called out "Uncle" and offered one to Chen Jun, then called out "Yuan" and handed one to Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan took it and lit up without hesitation.

"You want a Coke?"

Chen Li opened the mini fridge and grabbed Yang Yangyang a cold bottle.

"It’s scorching out there and you just got in — don’t drink anything cold yet. Have some tea first."

Tang Ying switched on the air conditioner, then shot a look at Chen Jun. The old man was completely useless, just standing there with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, grinning like an idiot. Couldn’t even think to turn on the AC or pour a cup of tea.

"Right, right — have some tea first, save the cold drinks for after you’ve cooled down a bit~"

Chen Jun was beaming so wide he could barely close his mouth. He got up to pour some tea.

"Uncle, let me do it~"

Yang Yangyang wasn’t about to let Chen Jun wait on him.

"Don’t be silly, sit down and rest~"

Chen Jun kept the cigarette in his mouth, grabbed a paper cup, poured one for Yang Yangyang, and then immediately ran out of things to say. He just sat there smoking and grinning to himself.

Chen Yuan found it pretty amusing to watch.

He almost wanted to lean over and ask his dad — are you just standing there with your head buzzing right now, not sure what to say? Are you thinking back to when you first went to meet Mom’s parents, trying to remember what the old man asked you?

"Mom, Dad — why don’t you go check on the kitchen?"

Chen Yuan suggested his parents head back to what they were doing. The stove was still going in there, and things were a little awkward since nobody really knew each other yet. Better to let the atmosphere warm up naturally — he’d handle things out here.

Young people could find their own rhythm.

"The fire is still going in there, you’re right. Yang, make yourself at home — no need to stand on ceremony."

Tang Ying said a word to Yang Yangyang, then nudged Chen Jun toward the door.

"Of course, Uncle, Auntie."

Yang Yangyang wasn’t in any hurry to make a big impression — now wasn’t the right moment for that.

"Yuan, be a good host."

Chen Jun said that to Chen Yuan before heading off to the kitchen.

Chen Yuan waved him off.

With just the three young people left in the main room, the vibe instantly got a lot more relaxed. They chatted for a bit, and Chen Yuan was just about to suggest taking Yang Yangyang out to see the fish pond.

Then his phone rang.

"Hey, Brother Hui~"

It was Zhang Hui calling — probably with a final answer.

"Hey, little bro, your partnership model works for me. When can we take a look at the space? I want to talk through the renovation before anything gets started."

Zhang Hui’s cheerful laugh came through the phone.

"Should be within the next few days. Once the site’s ready to show, I’ll give you a heads-up in advance, Brother Hui."

According to Wang Tao’s schedule, there was about a week of work left before everything would be fully done. But Zhang Hui and his brother-in-law still needed to pick their spots, and he’d have to find out what they had in mind for the fit-out. A few remaining renovation details were still pending — probably three to five more days before they could pull down the barriers and black tarpaulins.

"One more thing — how much space have you got over there? My brother-in-law’s been wanting to open a place too. Is there still room for him, Boss Chen?"

Zhang Hui’s brother-in-law — Chen Yuan actually remembered him. Another young guy. They’d crossed paths briefly during the fishing carnival when he came to buy fish.

"There’s definitely space, but what does your brother-in-law specialize in, Brother Hui?"

Chen Yuan slid the cigarette pack across the table with one hand, offered one to Yang Yangyang, and lit one for himself.

"Ha, don’t worry about that, little bro. He got his start in barbecue — trained in grilled meat."

Zhang Hui understood what Chen Yuan was getting at. There was no point in having two restaurants doing the same thing, especially in a village setting.

"That’s no problem at all. I’ll save a spot for your brother-in-law."

Chen Yuan agreed on the spot.

"Thanks, little bro."

Zhang Hui expressed his gratitude over the phone.

His brother-in-law had been working alongside him for a while now, helping out at the restaurant and learning the ropes of the food business. He’d been waiting until he had enough capital to go out on his own, but right now he was still a bit short — even with his brother-in-law chipping in as a partner.

Chen Yuan’s project was perfect timing. No rent, no renovation costs to worry about — what they had was more than enough to give it a real shot. So Zhang Hui had decided to bring him along.

Even if it didn’t work out in the end, they wouldn’t lose much — and they’d walk away with some valuable experience.

"By the way, Brother Hui — do you know anyone else in the food and beverage world? See if you can send a couple my way. Same partnership model."

Chen Yuan tapped his cigarette and floated the idea of whether Zhang Hui could help recruit more vendors.

If he was going to do this right, the more variety the better — give visitors more to choose from.

"Sure, I’ll ask around."

Zhang Hui didn’t hesitate.

Sure, competitors were rivals, and bringing in more of them would cut into his own business — but Chen Yuan would find others even without his help. That was just the reality of it.

So when Chen Yuan asked, there was no reason to say no.

They chatted a bit more, with Chen Yuan joking that Brother Hui would definitely get first pick of the best spots, before he finally hung up.

"Hey, brother-in-law — want to go take a look at the fish pond?"

Chen Yuan put the phone away and extended the invitation to Yang Yangyang.

"Sure, why not."

Yang Yangyang thought it over for a second, then agreed.

Chen Li tried to tag along, but Chen Yuan shut that down. Go find somewhere cool to sit — it’s not like I’m going to kidnap the guy.

"From your accent, brother-in-law, I’m guessing you’re from the hometown of Guanyin?"

Chen Yuan had Yang Yangyang hop on beside him, twisted the throttle, and headed toward the small pond, making easy small talk along the way.

"Small town — that’s pretty much the only claim to fame we’ve got."

Yang Yangyang laughed.

"That’s not all, though. People say your area has the most standard accent in the whole province — they call it the birthplace of the Sichuan Music College dialect. Supposedly everyone else has some kind of regional twist to their speech."

"Really? I’ve never actually heard that before."

Yang Yangyang sounded genuinely surprised.

"Ha, totally unofficial — just folk wisdom~"

Chen Yuan laughed it off. It was all passed around by word of mouth, nothing ever confirmed officially. But the accent from that area really was pleasant to listen to and easy to place — even people from other provinces could understand it without much trouble.

Unlike some other parts of Sichuan, where the local dialect was so thick that even people from within the Sichuan-Chongqing region struggled to follow along.

"Whoa, this is a solid operation. Lili told me her family opened a fishing spot back home, and I said I’d love to come fish here — but she told me there were no spots left. I didn’t believe her at first. Thought she was brushing me off."

They reached the small pond in no time at all. Yang Yangyang’s reaction was just like most fishing regulars — the moment his eyes landed on the water’s surface, they lit right up.

"You’re into fishing, brother-in-law?"

Chen Yuan squeezed the brake and pulled over to the side of the path.

He didn’t remember hearing anything about his brother-in-law being a fishing guy in his past life. Maybe it just never came up because neither of them had been into it back then?

"Ha, we all grew up in the countryside — fishing was just something you did as a kid when you had nothing better to do. Back then we used sweet potato and corn to catch carp. Now it’s all commercial bait."

Yang Yangyang shook his head with a nostalgic sigh.

So his brother-in-law was about the same as him — knew how to fish, but didn’t do it regularly, and wasn’t really used to the commercial baits on the market these days. He still missed the old ways: earthworms, sweet potato chunks, and corn kernels from back when they were kids.

When sweet potatoes weren’t around, they used potatoes. Sometimes they’d dig up caterpillars from the vegetable garden, or pick out the little insects hiding in bamboo leaves to use as bait.

"You’ll have plenty of chances to fish here from now on."

Chen Yuan gazed out toward the big pond on the other side. That was a proper body of water — it’d be a long while before it was ever truly full, so family wanting to fish could drop by anytime they liked.

Yang Yangyang understood what Chen Yuan was getting at. He was basically telling him to open a bubble tea shop in the village.

At first, Yang Yangyang had come with a wait-and-see mindset — if things looked decent, he’d give it a shot, if anything just for Chen Li’s sake. But then he’d heard about the new partnership model the night before, and every last bit of hesitation had vanished on the spot.

This was completely doable.

"So the bubble tea shop would be set up over here?"

Yang Yangyang looked toward the building by the pond’s edge.

"Not right now. Foot traffic here is still low. Once the big pond across the way is up and running, we can look at opening a branch here if demand calls for it."

The small pond didn’t bring in enough customers to justify a full setup — deliveries could handle anyone who needed something. Old Pond was the main focus anyway, since that’s where the hot springs and all the activities would be.

But once the big pond was operational and there was a steady customer base, a branch location here could make sense down the line.

They did a full loop around the fish pond, then stepped inside the building. Yang Yangyang looked around, visibly impressed.

"Come with me to deliver lunch to Old Pond, brother-in-law — you can check out the venue over there."

It was almost noon. Chen Yuan headed back to grab his laptop with Yang Yangyang in tow, then brought him along to deliver the boxed meals to Old Pond.

"This kid, I swear — what kind of way is that to treat a guest?"

Chen Jun tried to call out to them, but Chen Yuan was already gone — a flick of the throttle and he’d shot right out of there.

Beside him, Chen Li was grinding her teeth. Whose boyfriend is this, anyway? What kind of person just hijacks someone else’s partner like that?

"Let’s just eat."

Tang Ying felt a bit helpless too. She understood that Chen Yuan was getting a feel for the situation, but wasn’t this going a bit far?

Chen Kingdom and the others hadn’t come over for lunch — this meal had been meant just for the family. And now Chen Yuan had walked off with Yang Yangyang.

The guy’s first visit, and he couldn’t even sit down for his first meal. What kind of hosting was that?

"Oh — Boss Chen hiring new staff again?"

Over at Old Pond, Chen Yuan was going around handing out boxed meals with Yang Yangyang, and one of the regulars called out with a grin.