Chapter 54 - 56: Finalizing the Nightclub

Chapter 54: Chapter 56: Finalizing the Nightclub

"Yuan’s coming down."

Chen Dequan was all smiles in the main room, fishing a crumpled cigarette pack out of his pocket — though the cigarette he pulled out and offered was a Hua.

"Just had something to take care of."

Chen Yuan took it with a grin.

"Your dad mentioned you wanted us to run the night sessions?"

Chen Dequan couldn’t hold back the question. When he’d been chatting with Chen Jun earlier and found out that was what Chen Yuan wanted to discuss, he and his wife had been over the moon.

Not coming after them for any kind of compensation — actually wanting to hire them instead.

And yes, hire, as in paid work. Decent pay, too.

Three thousand a month per person. Sure, it wasn’t as much as he made doing construction in the city, but together as a couple they’d be pulling in nearly six thousand a month — that was a whole different story.

And construction work wasn’t steady either. Whenever materials ran short, equipment was missing, or a heavy rain rolled in, there was nothing to be done. If you managed twenty-odd working days in a month, you were lucky.

Most importantly, this job wasn’t backbreaking, and it didn’t eat up much time. During the day they’d still have plenty of hours free to tend to their crops and squeeze out a bit more income.

On top of that, Chen Jun had mentioned meals were included, and the anglers at the pond were always handing out nice cigarettes.

Ahem~

This was an absolute godsend.

One look at Chen Dequan’s barely-contained excitement and Chen Yuan knew this was a done deal.

He caught Chen Jun quietly holding up three fingers and knew exactly what it meant. He dragged over a stool and sat down.

"For now you’ll be handling the night sessions. It’s summer, so the days are long — the schedule’s easy to manage, and the night slot should still draw people. Winter’s a different story, though."

Chen Yuan lit his cigarette, took a drag, and looked at Chen Dequan. "If business is slow at night in the winter, we’ll just run daytime sessions only, and you two would need to cover those instead. That work for you?"

"Absolutely. Once we take this job, we’re done running off to the city for construction work. We’ll be right here in the village, available whenever. Day shift, night shift — whatever you need, just say the word."

Chen Dequan didn’t hesitate for a second.

Where in any village would you find a gig like this? You’d struggle to find this kind of deal even in the city. Better hold on tight and not let go.

"The current plan is seven in the morning to three in the afternoon for the day session, and four in the afternoon to midnight for the night session. Even though you’re on nights, you need to be at the pond before three to handle the changeover between sessions."

As he spoke, Chen Yuan picked up the teapot and paper cups and poured three glasses of cold tea.

Iced cola was great in the summer, but he’d already knocked back several bottles today. You couldn’t go overboard with that stuff — had to show some restraint.

"Got it. I got a feel for things today anyway. No problem at all."

Chen Dequan was so earnest he nearly thumped his chest in a solemn pledge. It was obvious how much this job meant to him — enough to make both Chen Yuan and his father shake their heads with a helpless smile.

"Your job is to manage the pond. As for Aunt Liu, on top of helping out there, she’ll need to handle a few other things — like giving my mom and my aunt a hand with the cooking."

Chen Yuan took a sip of cold tea as he spoke.

"No problem."

Chen Dequan actually thumped his chest this time, then added, "My wife’s a pretty good cook, actually. Her noodles especially — those are something else."

Chen Yuan’s eyes lit up slightly at that.

Noodles had a solid fanbase. Get the flavor right, and plenty of people would be all over them.

No one had asked about noodles yet, but if enough anglers started bringing it up down the line, it might be worth setting Liu Fang up with her own little kitchen stall.

"Once the night session wraps up, I’ll have someone help you see the customers out. After that you’re free to head home. Oh — does Aunt Liu know how to ride a three-wheeler?"

With Chen Dequan’s household in the mix, they could put together three vehicles. If Aunt Liu could ride one too, he wouldn’t need to arrange as many extra hands for the evenings.

"Oh, she can ride one, alright — better than me, honestly."

That wasn’t an exaggeration. Chen Dequan usually headed into the city for construction work, so Aunt Liu handled most of the farm chores at home. Without knowing how to ride a three-wheeler, every heavy load would have had to be carried by hand — exhausting doesn’t begin to cover it.

"Perfect."

Chen Yuan gave a satisfied nod.

"One more thing — in the mornings, if we run out of parking on our end, we may need to use the space outside your place."

The parking situation wasn’t something they could fix right now. They’d have to make do with Chen Dequan’s yard and the open ground out front.

"Park wherever you like. Ten cars fit easy, and if you squeeze a bit you could get twelve or thirteen in there, no problem."

Minor details.

Getting paid this well for such light work already made Chen Dequan feel a little guilty. A few parked cars? That was nothing.

He thought about it and volunteered on his own,

"When the time comes, just follow one car over with me. I’ll bring the gear across, you handle the customers. If any of the regulars know their way here, just leave them to me."

"You’re on nights," Chen Yuan said with a smile.

"Night shift, day shift — what’s the difference? It’s not much work, doesn’t take long, and early mornings don’t get in the way of anything."

Chen Dequan laughed.

Chen Yuan could tell he meant it, so he agreed.

Then he held up one finger, his expression turning serious.

"Last point — and the most important one. Safety at the fishing ground is non-negotiable. Make sure every single customer has their life jacket on, and if anyone goes in the water, get them out immediately."

Safety first.

That wasn’t just a slogan. It had to be put into practice every single time.

"Understood. I’ll keep both eyes on everyone out there."

Chen Dequan nodded, his face dead serious.

"Drinks tonight?"

Chen Jun watched his son and Chen Dequan wrap things up in good spirits, a warm, satisfied smile on his face, and glanced over at the liquor cabinet inside.

"We have to. Mr. Qin and the others are leaving tomorrow — we should send them off properly tonight."

"Already leaving?"

Chen Jun was caught off guard. They’d barely been here a few days — why not stay a little longer?

Chen Yuan explained, and Chen Jun dropped any thought of trying to keep them.

"Alright then. Let’s have a proper drink tonight."

Grab the liquor and call it settled.

"By the way, now that we’ve got the staffing sorted, when do you think the night sessions can launch? And can the pond be ready by this morning?"

Chen Jun set two bottles of good liquor on the table.

"The pond’s no problem. For the night sessions, I’ll see how people react in the group chat. If the response is good, we can open the day after tomorrow."

Chen Yuan had full confidence in Wang Tao — anything backed by the system wasn’t going to fall apart. As for the night sessions, he still needed to gauge the anglers’ interest, but the earliest they could launch was the day after tomorrow regardless. Tomorrow’s day session was already fully booked; changing the schedule wasn’t an option.

As they talked, Chen Yuan pulled out his phone and opened the fishing pond group chat. He updated the group announcement first, then posted a message — both session slots were highlighted in red, impossible to miss.

He was just about to tag everyone when the group exploded on its own.

"Night session times are up — Boss Chen doesn’t mess around."

"These hours work perfectly. Wake up, tell the wife you’re heading to work, go straight to the pond, come home without a scratch on your alibi."

"The night session hours are pretty generous too. Duck out of work a little early, tell everyone at home you’ve got a meeting, and you’re back by midnight — perfect."

"Hahaha, as long as I’m not out all night, I’m good."

Clearly a crowd of family men — none of them could afford to disappear until dawn. Just look at Emperor He Qiang, who still hadn’t come back from his last visit. Nobody even knew how he was holding up at home.

Split sessions like this were ideal.

As for the single guys with no one to answer to, any hour worked just fine.

"Why does it have to be the day after tomorrow? Please, please open the night session tomorrow."

The session times were fine, but one angler spotted the night session launch date and immediately started pushing for an earlier opening — he wanted to come out tomorrow night.

A long string of replies piled up below in agreement.

Chen Yuan had no choice but to explain in the group chat.

Plenty of anglers started joking about canceling their bookings and re-registering for both the day and night sessions.

The ones who had already secured spots weren’t having any of it.

Of course, the bickering in the group was all in good fun. In the end, the anglers accepted the arrangement — Chen Yuan was the pond owner, and the decision of when to open the night sessions was his to make, not theirs.

All they could do was wait for the night session to arrive.