Chapter 227 - 199: Tsunami Pool

Chapter 227: Chapter 199: Tsunami Pool

Time drifted by at its own unhurried pace, and before long, three days had passed.

Those three days were packed.

First up was the tenant recruitment. On top of Liang Chunping, who had signed up earliest, and Chen Yuan’s brother-in-law, as well as Zhang Hui and his younger brother-in-law whom Chen Yuan had personally invited—

Zhang Hui had also brought in two more: one specializing in beef skewers, and another running a hotpot place. That one was different from Zhang Hui’s fish hotpot — Zhang Hui’s was fish-focused.

In Sichuan and Chongqing, fish was hugely popular, but hotpot was just as essential.

Beyond that, a few Chinese restaurants and snack vendors had also approached Chen Yuan looking to get in, but he turned them all down.

The older aunties and Aunt Juan were genuinely skilled cooks. Sure, their style was rustic home-cooking, but give them the right stage and they could absolutely hold their own.

As for snacks—

Chen Yuan figured he’d wait and see how business went first, then leave that slice of the pie for the village locals. If they were willing to learn, great. If they couldn’t even be bothered to try, that wasn’t his problem.

Besides tenant recruitment, there was also hiring. Chen Yuan had talked it over with Zhang Hui — never mind front-of-house greeters for now, but at minimum, the servers handling food and dishes needed to come from the village.

On top of that, Hot Spring Paradise and the kids’ park would need a fair number of staff too.

Chen Li was handling all of that.

And then there was the biggest news of all — the construction over at Old Pond had finally wrapped up. What remained was just the equipment for the kids’ park and the interior fit-out for the restaurant.

Minor stuff, really.

At Wang Tao’s crew’s current pace, they’d knock it out in a day or two.

On the day construction finished, Chen Yuan called Zhang Hui and the others over to check out the site, then sat down with Wang Tao to nail down the interior style — the sooner they decided, the sooner they could get started.

"I’ve been waiting and waiting — it’s finally done!"

Zhang Hui’s group wasted no time. The moment they finished checking in at the fishing grounds, they rushed straight over, following Chen Yuan to the Old Pond area, buzzing with excitement.

"When Hui first told me about it, I honestly thought I’d just give it a shot and see. I had no idea Boss Chen was thinking this big."

Standing beside Zhang Hui were two men around the same age. The one speaking was Hong Qiang, who ran a beef skewer stall. The other was Wei Wei, in the hotpot business.

"You two just haven’t seen what Boss Chen is really capable of."

Zhang Hui’s brother-in-law Zhu Feng let out a laugh.

He’d seen firsthand just how bold Chen Yuan could be, and how far his ambitions stretched. Those two events at the small pond and Old Pond alone — most people wouldn’t have the guts to pull that off.

And then there was the building over at the small pond. The man built what was basically a hotel lobby just to house a public restroom. Unreal didn’t even begin to cover it.

Whatever they were about to see here was bound to be just as impressive. For Zhu Feng, who was about to open his very first shop, the whole thing felt almost too good to be true — equal parts anticipation and nerves.

"Boss Chen, is construction actually wrapping up?"

It wasn’t just Zhang Hui’s group who were excited. The anglers who’d just collected their lucky draw prizes overheard the talk about completion and turned toward Chen Yuan, equally curious.

"Pretty much. They’ll be pulling down the barriers and black sheeting shortly. There’s still a bit of interior work left and some equipment to bring in, so we’re probably a few days out from opening."

Chen Yuan said this as he made his way over toward Zhang Hui’s group.

Wang Tao had said the barriers would come down this morning for the full reveal, which was why Chen Yuan had called Zhang Hui and the others over — to walk the site and lock in the fit-out details.

"Whoa, they’re done already?"

"Has it even been half a month since they broke ground?"

"I’ve been keeping count — today makes exactly seventeen days."

"No way. That building’s got to be at least ten meters tall. They threw up a whole hot spring resort in seventeen days? That’s moving at rocket speed."

"Running around the clock, and even that thunderstorm the other week didn’t slow them down. Boss Chen’s construction crew is something else — they were absolutely grinding."

"That’s what you call professional."

"Right? Look at the building over at the small pond, and the guesthouse next to Boss Chen’s place — both knocked out in just a few days. Speed, quality, design — honestly world-class work."

"The price tag on this definitely wasn’t cheap~"

The anglers were floored by the pace of it all.

Even with round-the-clock work and no weather delays, seventeen days was all it had taken. On a normal job site, with overtime and all, something like this would easily take several months.

"Come on, come on — let’s go see what this Hot Spring Paradise looks like."

Beyond the shock, the anglers were flat-out curious about the building. They dropped their rods entirely and all came crowding over to get a look.

If it had been any other fishing spot pulling something like this, they probably wouldn’t have bothered.

But Boss Chen was different.

He always went big.

After what he’d done with the restroom and guesthouse at the small pond, was anyone really going to expect Hot Spring Paradise to be anything less?

The kids’ park and the restaurant vendors weren’t set up yet, sure, but at least now they’d get to see the hot spring facility.

"Clang!"

Chen Yuan had just pulled up on his three-wheeler to where Chen Li and the others were standing when a loud clang rang out — a gap burst open in the tall barrier, and Wang Tao stepped through from inside.

Nearly gave him a heart attack.

"All done?"

Chen Yuan hopped off and turned to face Wang Tao.

"Yeah. Everything’s finished except for what you told us to leave. The rest is sorted."

Wang Tao had an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, looking sharp and full of energy. Chen Yuan genuinely admired the guy — him and his whole crew, they were built tough.

Wang Tao pulled out a cigarette and handed it to Chen Yuan. There were too many people around he didn’t know, and the one familiar face — Chen Li — didn’t smoke.

"Can we start pulling the barriers down now?"

Chen Yuan took the cigarette and stuck it between his lips.

"Whenever you’re ready, Boss Chen. Just say the word and it’s all yours to inspect."

"Take it down."

No hesitation. Chen Yuan gave the order right then and there.

Wang Tao gave a nod and headed back inside. At his shout, the clanging of dismantled panels erupted from all directions at once. The tall barriers came down piece by piece, and the building inside gradually came into view.

"Damn, look at the size of that thing."

While the barriers were coming down, Chen Jun and Tang Ying rolled up on their three-wheeler, followed by Chen Kingdom and Lin Cuiju, along with a handful of villagers — all of them wanting to get a look at what had been built.