Chapter 41 - 42: Bosses, Don’t Disappoint Me

Chapter 41: Chapter 42: Bosses, Don’t Disappoint Me

"Brother Wang, how come you only brought one rod today?"

The last angler Chen Yuan picked up was Wang Heng, waiting at the village entrance with nothing but a single fishing rod — no bait bucket, no tackle, nothing.

"Not here to mess around with the small fry today. I’m going after the Fish King."

Wang Heng grinned.

"And my sifu’s main goal today is to put my skills to the test."

Standing beside Wang Heng was a young kid, couldn’t have been older than twenty, with dyed blond hair and the kind of slacker vibe that came naturally to him.

"Sifu?"

Chen Yuan was a little surprised. Wang Heng had booked two spots the day before, so he’d assumed he was bringing a friend — not an apprentice. Since when did anglers start taking on disciples and establishing seniority?

"My sifu is an absolute legend. Plenty of fishing pond owners have been cleaned out to the point of tears. Skills like that? I have to learn them. One day I’ll shake up the whole fishing world, make every pond owner go pale at the sound of my name, and have every angler bowing down at my feet."

The Blond Punk rattled on without a filter, his energy cranked up way past the normal setting.

"Your sifu’s skills really are something else."

Chen Yuan had to admit it. Wang Heng had said it himself — if he really went all out, he could pull three hundred jin in a single day. That was no joke.

"Don’t worry, Boss Chen. My sifu says you’re a straight shooter, so we’re not here to bleed you dry."

The Blond Punk just blurted it right out, earning a sharp glare from Wang Heng while Chen Yuan burst out laughing.

A few minutes later he dropped them off at the pond. The Blond Punk’s jaw dropped when he saw the crowd packed around the fishing grounds.

"Damn, look at all these people. Even if we pull a few dozen jin today, Boss Chen’s not losing any money, right?"

He’d barely finished the sentence before Wang Heng’s foot shot out and kicked him halfway to the water’s edge.

"Fish all you want."

That kid was something else, though.

"Alright, gentlemen, I hope you’ve all come properly equipped today!"

Chen Yuan hopped off the vehicle and strolled along the bank.

"Haha, don’t you worry, Boss Chen! Rod, line, hook — all of it’s up to Fishing King standard. If we get a bite today, we’re hauling it in, guaranteed."

"I brought the family heirloom rod today. The Fish King won’t be going anywhere."

"Snapped rods and cut lines? Not on my watch. That hundred-jin Fish King is as good as mine."

The crowd of anglers brimmed with confidence, acting as if the Fish King only needed to open its mouth and they’d have it on the hook already.

Not that it was surprising. After yesterday’s hard lessons, today’s crowd had come prepared — their gear, at least, wouldn’t be the weak link.

Whether their technique was up to scratch was another matter entirely.

"The Fish King is hungry and waiting. Show me what you’ve got, gentlemen — there’s a fat stack of cash with your name on it, so don’t let me down."

He hadn’t brought the cash on him today, otherwise he’d have definitely pulled it out to fire them up a little.

Fanning out twenty-plus red hundred-yuan notes in your hand — now that would’ve been a sight.

"Ha, looks like Boss Chen’s the one worried about us."

"Most pond owners would rather we caught as little as possible. With a Fish King prize like that on the line, they’d probably be praying we never land it in their dreams. But Boss Chen here actually seems more desperate than we are to see someone reel that thing in."

"You just don’t get it — Boss Chen’s got a serious money laundering quota to hit."

"Come on, Boss Chen, come clean — just how much are we talking?"

The anglers kept on joking, with a few even offering to ride his coattails — help take some of the burden off, they said, nothing major, just show up every day and spend ten grand or so, guaranteed to burn through every last yuan.

You’d be hard-pressed to find this kind of atmosphere at any other fishing pond.

After a bit of banter, Chen Yuan reminded the anglers to put in their lunch orders, then hopped on the three-wheeler and sped back home.

His mind, though, had already drifted to a problem he couldn’t shake.

Parking.

Today they’d just barely managed, but that was only thirty-odd cars. If every angler started driving in on the same day, where would they all go?

And that wasn’t even accounting for the other ponds he had his eye on. If he got his hands on those, each one could easily draw over a hundred cars a day. What then?

"Everything sorted at the pond?"

He pulled up to the house to find his dad and uncle sitting outside the courtyard gate, puffing away at cigarettes without a care in the world. Mr. Qin and the others were lounging with cups of tea, chatting away. His mom and his aunt were sharing a bench, each with a phone in one hand and sunflower seeds in the other.

Quite the picture of leisure.

"You all look pretty relaxed."

"Yeah."

Chen Junchao gave a little jerk of his chin toward the courtyard, and only then did Chen Yuan notice Chen Dequan sweeping the yard while Liu Fang was over by the wash basin prepping vegetables. Those two were nothing if not stubborn.

Not a word, not a plea — just heads down, working away, refusing to leave no matter how many times they were shooed off.

Out of sight, out of mind. Let them work.

"Go wash up and eat. The customers are already ordering, and once you’re done there’ll be plenty to keep you busy."

Tang Ying was the one handling food — taking orders, collecting payment, running the whole show.

"Let’s eat."

Chen Jun ground out his cigarette butt and stood up.

"You all start without me. I’ll grab a couple of thermoses and take them over to the pond."

Drinking water had to be sorted, especially in summer. Not everyone wanted bottled water or soft drinks — plain boiled water was non-negotiable.

"I’ll do it, I’ll do it — you all sit down and eat. I’ll go keep an eye on the pond."

Chen Dequan was already darting into the main room, where the two thermoses sat waiting. He picked them up, gave them a heft — both full to the brim — and trotted off toward the fishing pond.

The whole family watched and tried not to laugh.

Nobody could be bothered to deal with it. Time to eat.

"Orders are in — everyone wants lunch. Forty-five box meals, three shared dishes. Sister-in-law, think you can handle the shared dishes?"

They’d barely finished breakfast and hadn’t even left the table when Tang Ying excitedly thrust her phone at Lin Cuiju.

How could she not be thrilled? Every single person had pre-ordered lunch. Just the box meals alone came to six or seven hundred yuan, and the three shared dishes added another five or six hundred on top — over thirteen hundred yuan all told.

Each family could pocket several hundred. That was better than selling vegetables, practically on par with going out to work in the city.

"No problem at all. I’ll take care of the shared dishes."

Lin Cuiju glanced over the orders. Everything looked perfectly manageable.

"We can get fish from the pond, but we’ll need to buy meat — pork ribs and pork intestines, grab some of both."

Tang Ying ran through the ingredients, then jotted down a list and handed it to Chen Yuan, following it up with a question.

"Can you get it here in time? If not, I’ll have your dad make a run to town."

Chen Yuan shoveled in the last bite, tore off a piece of paper to wipe his mouth, and said, "Hand it over. I’ll have everything here in half an hour, tops."

"Then we split it up — your dad and I handle the box meals, your brother and sister-in-law handle the shared dishes, and you handle the supplies and keep an eye on the pond."

Tang Ying stood up and started clearing the table as she talked.

"Anything we can do to help?"

The three older gentlemen were itching to find something useful to do. They weren’t fishing during the day, and it felt wrong just sitting around eating for free — especially with so many mouths to cook for.

"Mr. Qin, you all rest up. You need to save your energy for the morning and evening sessions — can’t take on the Fish King running on empty, can you?"

Chen Yuan smiled and insisted. There was no way he was putting guests to work. It took some back-and-forth, but Mr. Qin and the others finally headed off to do their own thing.

"Hey, you pest, can I borrow your computer?"

Qin Fen sidled over. The kid had been messing around on his phone this whole time — probably researching whatever scheme he had brewing.

"Upstairs in my room, help yourself. If it’s too hot, turn on the AC."

Chen Yuan pointed upstairs, then turned and pulled up the system, navigating straight to the shop.

"Now that the fishing pond is offering meals, we’re going to need meat every single day. Might as well stock up in bulk — save on some rush-order points. But the little fridge and mini freezer we’ve got aren’t going to cut it."

Chen Yuan muttered to himself and decided then and there to order a large chest freezer, leaving the smaller unit for water and drinks. He could even stock some old-school popsicles while he was at it.

They were cheap as anything, but nothing hit the spot like one on a hot summer day — and there was bound to be at least a few anglers who’d be into it.

Besides, when it came to perks and services, more was always better.

Once all that was sorted, Chen Yuan glanced over at Liu Fang — his mom couldn’t chase her off no matter how hard she tried, the woman was dead set on staying and working — thought about it for a moment, said nothing, and headed straight out the door. He climbed onto the three-wheeler and rode off toward the village committee office.

This matter needed to be dealt with. Uncle Bin was surely waiting on him, and the least he could do was show up and give him that much.

Besides, he had things he wanted to talk to Uncle Bin about himself — things that might just give him a leg up on what he was after.