Chapter 36 - 37: Guiding Qin Fen

Chapter 36: Chapter 37: Guiding Qin Fen

"How’s the night fishing treating you?"

After finishing the feeding and getting everything sorted, Chen Kingdom headed back. Chen Yuan stayed by the pond, made his rounds handing out cigarettes, then settled down beside Qin Fen.

"Nice and cool out here."

Qin Fen pointed at the mosquito coil smoldering on the ground.

"Hey, speaking of which — where’d you get this mosquito coil? Thing actually works. Haven’t felt a single bite all day."

The countryside was notorious for mosquitoes, especially near ponds. Those water mosquitoes were huge and their bites were brutal — you couldn’t last long without protection. Yet with this coil burning, they hadn’t been bothered at all.

Damn good coil.

"Where are you guys sleeping tonight?"

Chen Yuan just smiled and let the question slide. All he could say was that everything the system produced was top-notch.

"Me and Grandpa are sharing a room — two old men, one room."

"There’s no AC in there. If Mr. Qin and the others find it too hot, they’re welcome to squeeze into my room."

Chen Yuan offered.

"No need. It cools right down once it’s late anyway. Honestly, the countryside feels great — perfect place to beat the summer heat."

While Qin Fen was still talking, he suddenly grabbed his rod and yanked it up hard — only to pull up absolutely nothing.

"What the hell, I thought that was the Fish King for sure."

Qin Fen muttered in disappointment, baited the hook again, and cast back into the water at lightning speed, as if waiting even a second longer would let the Fish King swim right out of his spot.

Chen Yuan watched in amusement. The worse the fisherman, the more obsessed they got.

He was wondering whether to pull out the remote and let his buddy and Mr. Qin tangle with the Fish King for a bit.

Then again, maybe not.

It was already pushing ten o’clock. If they hooked the Fish King now, they’d be too wired to sleep all night. Better to save it for tomorrow morning.

Besides, he had the remote. He could guarantee every one of them would get a taste of the Fish King’s power before this trip was over.

"Has your grandpa come around at all?"

Chen Yuan stubbed out his cigarette on the ground and asked.

"Help Grandpa land the Fish King and you might just seal the deal."

Qin Fen leaned in with a sly little grin, looking every bit the shameless schemer.

"Get lost."

Chen Yuan gave him a light shove, though inwardly he had a pretty good read on the situation.

It was the same answer as yesterday, but Qin Fen seemed far more relaxed. Clearly he felt confident he could bring his grandfather around.

That was good news.

If he got to do what he loved, he wouldn’t end up like he had in their previous life — depressed and hollow, dragging himself through the days like a walking corpse.

"Have you thought about how you want to grow from here?"

If he was going to do it, the next question was which direction to take it.

"The way you’re talking, sounds like you’ve got some ideas?"

Qin Fen blinked, his expression a mix of curiosity and anticipation.

"Depends on what your end goal actually is."

"What do you mean by that?"

Qin Fen set down his rod and leaned over, hand drifting to his pocket to fish out a cigarette.

He’d half expected a joke, but the look on Chen Yuan’s face said he was dead serious. His interest was immediately piqued.

"Just had one."

Chen Yuan waved him off, then picked up a stray blade of grass from the ground and tossed it into the pond. A fish darted over and dragged it under — oddly satisfying to watch.

"The way I see it, there are two paths you could chase: fame or money. It all depends on what you’re actually going for."

"Why can’t it be both?"

Qin Fen asked, not out of greed — he just genuinely didn’t follow.

"Fame brings money. Chasing money is easy. Chasing real fame is hard. You get what I’m saying?"

Did he get it?

Not even close.

Qin Fen pulled out a cigarette and lit it himself, taking several long drags without getting any clearer on it.

"Stop talking in circles. Break it down for me."

Chen Yuan smiled.

He reached over, plucked a cigarette from Qin Fen’s pack, and lit it up.

When someone’s smoking right in front of you, you can’t just sit there empty-handed.

"If you’re purely in it for the money, forget about chasing some dream. Just do whatever it takes to go viral — exaggerate, do crazy stunts, pull cheap tricks, whatever. No limits. Go viral, and the cash follows."

With the internet exploding the way it was, online influencers in the future would be a dime a dozen.

And with ten years of foresight locked in his memory, Chen Yuan could easily guide Qin Fen to copy what worked — there’d always be a shot at success. Breaking through as an influencer would be the easy part.

The problem was that influencers burned out fast.

But even a short window was enough to cash in, and if managed well — streaming, product deals — building an actual brand wasn’t out of the question.

"No limits? That’s just selling yourself out."

Qin Fen shook his head like a rattle drum. He loved filming — it was his passion, his dream. He wasn’t about to trash it for a quick buck.

"That’s all I needed to know."

One look at Qin Fen’s face and Chen Yuan had his answer.

Qin Fen didn’t want to be just another influencer. He wanted to actually create something. At least, that was the young man’s true heart right now.

That road was hard. It required building a real name for yourself.

But once that name was established, no run-of-the-mill internet celebrity could touch it.

As long as you didn’t crash and burn, it was wealth and glory for life.

And had anyone actually made it down that road?

Of course they had.

Chen Yuan genuinely admired Brother Hao from Er Long Lake in his past life. There was also Dapeng, who kind of counted, and Chen Xiang’s Six-Thirty series — that counted too.

As for Qin Fen.

Whether he’d reach that level — or go even further — that was entirely up to him.

"If you want to get where you’re dreaming of, you’ve got to start doing. Figure out how on your own — but for what it’s worth, I think that video you shot yesterday was solid. Brother Jiangyu might just be the one that puts you on the map."

The two of them talked for a long while. Chen Yuan offered a lot of advice — or more accurately, gave a one-sided lecture. By the time he glanced at the hour, it was past eleven. He wrapped things up, gave Qin Fen a pat on the shoulder, and stood up.

"You three take your time fishing. I’m heading in for the night — the front room door’s unlocked, so just come back whenever you’re ready to call it."

He said goodnight to Mr. Qin and the others, then headed home.

Qin Fen stayed seated, his expression blank, clearly still lost in thought. Mr. Qin watched Chen Yuan’s retreating figure, then turned to look at his grandson, his eyes full of quiet satisfaction.

"Splash~"

Meanwhile, over at Zhou Jianming’s pond.

Zhou Jianming and his wife couldn’t sleep. Once the villagers had finished their evening air and turned in for the night, the two of them crept out under the cover of darkness and cast a net into the pond.

"What’s taking Aunt Liu so long to get back to us?"

After about half an hour of waiting, the couple was getting antsy.

The plan was simple: they’d net the fish, Aunt Liu would take them and release them into Chen Yuan’s pond, then use the village collective property angle to seize the fishing ground — or at the very least, blow the whole thing up.

But it was nearly midnight, and still nothing from Aunt Liu. She hadn’t gone cold feet on them, had she?

"There it is — Aunt Liu just messaged."

Just as the two of them were growing desperate and about to send a message themselves, the phone in Zhou Jianming’s hand finally lit up. He tapped it open and took a look.

"Pull the net — Aunt Liu’s on her way."

He shoved the phone back in his pocket, and the two of them started hauling in the net.

The Old Pond in the village was a wide stretch of water, but Zhou Jianming and his wife had stocked it well over the years. The density was no worse than a small pond — and with just one modest cast of the net, they pulled up dozens of fish in under an hour.

Every single one weighed five or six jin.

"We caught so many — shouldn’t we throw some back?"

Zhang Guiying winced at the sight. This haul was worth at least two hundred yuan. Handing it all over to Chen Yuan’s pond felt like a real loss.

"You can’t catch the wolf if you won’t risk the child."

Zhou Jianming hated it too.

But if they were going to do this, they had to go all in. What was the point of tossing in one or two fish? And once he pictured Chen Yuan Fishing Ground going under, all those anglers flocking over to his side — suddenly it felt worth it.

"Is the fish ready?"

The net had barely been hauled in when Liu Fang crept over, voice low.

"Been ready for ages. What took you so long?"

Zhang Guiying grumbled, the pain of parting with those fish still fresh.

"Ugh, don’t even get me started. Those city people — staying up half the night to fish. The second they finally left, I messaged you."

Liu Fang had been keeping an eye on the small pond for a while now. Getting caught releasing the fish would ruin everything. She just hadn’t counted on Mr. Qin and the others fishing all the way until midnight.

It had kept her waiting out there for ages.

"Fishing that late into the night?"

Zhou Jianming and his wife exchanged a surprised look — which quickly turned into smiles.

People who loved to fish were exactly the kind of customers they wanted. Once Chen Yuan Fishing Ground went belly up, those anglers would have nowhere else to go.