Chapter 56 - 58: The Fish Pond’s New Look

Chapter 56: Chapter 58: The Fish Pond’s New Look

"What the hell, everything costs points~"

Chen Yuan read through the accompanying notes and found that, just like the Fish King, every feature burned through points.

Take the all-in-one aerator, for instance — oxygenating the water cost points, feeding the fish cost points. Every single function had a price tag attached to unlock it.

He’d be better off just feeding the fish himself.

No matter how he looked at it, he felt like he’d been scammed.

"Piece of shit system. Nothing but trouble every damn time~"

Chen Yuan cursed under his breath and backed out of the system, picked up his phone and scrolled through WeChat, made sure there was nothing that needed dealing with, set his alarm, and tossed the phone aside.

He closed his eyes, rolled onto his side, and was snoring within two minutes.

Before six in the morning, Chen Yuan did something rare — he woke up on his own, no alarm, no phone call.

He glanced at the pale light already seeping through the window, rolled over, let out a long yawn, and got up to get dressed.

Maybe waking up early these past couple of days had reset his internal clock, or maybe it was the construction work at the fish pond nagging at the back of his mind — either way, he had no desire to go back to sleep.

"Why are you up so early?"

He’d barely made it downstairs when he ran into his mom stepping out of the bedroom.

"Think my body’s just got used to it."

Chen Yuan gave a helpless smile. He glanced into his parents’ room — the bed was already made, but there was no sign of his dad — and asked offhandedly, "Where’s Dad?"

"That old man couldn’t stop thinking about the fish pond. Went straight over there the second he finished washing up."

His dad was even more anxious about the pond than he was, terrified the construction crew had cut corners and it would mess up today’s business.

"Alright, I’ll go wash up and head over there myself."

"Sure. I’m going to cook up some rice porridge. The old gentlemen slept well last night, but they’ll probably be up soon — a bowl of porridge will be good for their stomachs after all that drinking."

Tang Ying headed off to the kitchen.

They always say alcohol puts you right to sleep — Mr. Qin and the others usually woke up past five, but today they’d all slept until six.

Bit too much indulging last night.

A bowl of warm porridge would do them good — easy on the stomach and warming to the core.

"Mom, I’m heading to the pond!"

Chen Yuan finished washing up, poked his head into the kitchen doorway to let her know, then made his way over to the fish pond.

He spotted the three-wheeler sitting out front, so he hopped on and rode it over.

He followed the village road, rounded a bend, then took the fork on the left and coasted downhill, arriving at the fish pond in no time.

"Whoa."

Chen Yuan let out a sharp exclamation the moment he arrived.

Parasols ringed the nearly square pond on all four sides, and every edge had been turned into a proper path. The three dirt embankments that used to surround it were now freshly laid concrete, each at least a meter wide.

Especially at the base of the small slope — the drainage ditch had been filled in completely, leaving behind a wide, weed-free surface that looked clean and orderly, the comfort level shooting through the roof.

The face of the slope itself had been scraped smooth, every scattered chunk of gravel cleared away. It looked solid and sturdy, like it had been fitted with a brand-new coat, instantly catching the eye.

The whole fishing ground seemed to have jumped up an entire tier in quality.

"That construction crew you found is no joke."

Chen Jun leaned against a streetlight post by the road, cigarette in hand, taking in the pond’s new look with evident satisfaction.

"I had a look at those embankments — they didn’t disturb the outside soil at all. They used the inner slope of the pond to build them up and widen the path. Sitting here to fish is going to be a whole lot more comfortable."

Chen Jun held out a cigarette to Chen Yuan.

Comfortable? We’re nowhere near comfortable yet.

Chen Yuan thought to himself.

Going by Wang Tao’s development plans, even a fraction of what was mapped out would put this place several leagues above where it stood now.

Looking at the fish pond’s fresh new look, Chen Yuan found himself genuinely looking forward to what Wang Tao had in store.

"This is just the beginning. Once the real build-out is done, that’s when you’ll know what comfortable actually means."

Chen Yuan took the cigarette and lit it, the corner of his mouth curling into a grin.

"What are you planning to do with the slope? Did the crew give you any blueprints?"

Chen Jun knew the work wasn’t finished — once the slope was cleared out, they still needed to put up a restroom.

The leveled slope really was something, though. He’d just paced it out — a little over three meters wide, and as long as the pond itself, maybe thirty-five or thirty-six meters.

That was well over a hundred square meters.

Just looking at it felt good.

"The restroom blueprints should be ready today."

Chen Yuan stepped forward and hopped up onto the leveled slope.

Wang Tao had stayed true to his word — only the loose gravel had been cleared away; the solid rock face behind it hadn’t been touched.

Even so, what used to be a little over two meters wide was now pushing past three.

"On top of that, I’m thinking of putting two vending machines up here — one for drinks, one for cigarettes. Anglers can just scan the code themselves. That way nobody has to run back and forth like a spinning top all day."

On opening day he’d been running smokes and water to customers himself, and Chen Dequan had made dozens of trips yesterday alone — literally spinning in circles, and it ate up way too much time.

Two vending machines would sort that right out.

"That’s a solid idea."

Chen Jun nodded in agreement.

The fishing ground was slowly getting on track, and a lot of the smaller gaps needed to be plugged — save labor wherever possible.

On top of that, the night sessions were about to open up, which would double the workload. Even with Chen Dequan and Liu Fang on board, if things stayed the way they’d been these past two days, everyone would be run ragged.

"Ah, shame this slope couldn’t be a bit wider."

Chen Jun suddenly sighed.

"Wider for what?"

Chen Yuan was curious — did his dad have some idea in mind?

"Parking."

Chen Jun pointed toward the far end of the leveled slope, a mix of excitement and disappointment on his face.

"Thirty-something meters — you could easily park ten or fifteen cars nose-to-tail with no problem. That alone would take a load off us. Shame it’s not wide enough to pass, though. Park in there and nobody can get around each other."

Cars could park, sure, but with no room to maneuver, anyone who needed to leave mid-session would have to reverse out one by one, dragging a bunch of other anglers into the whole mess with them.

Way too disruptive.

Chen Yuan smiled. His old man was being a little naive about this one.

"Parking’s less urgent than having proper facilities for the anglers. Get those sorted first, then worry about everything else."

He took one last drag and stubbed the cigarette out against the sole of his shoe, dropping the butt in the trash. "Besides, between the three courtyards and the open space out front, we’ve got enough parking for now — unless every single angler drives here solo."

Forty cars was no sweat at the moment, but sixty individual vehicles would start to get tricky.

Though that scenario was pretty much never going to happen.

"Alright, let’s head back for breakfast. Once Mr. Qin and the others head off, the anglers will probably start rolling in."

Chen Yuan jumped down from the slope, hopped onto the three-wheeler, and glanced back at the cargo bed, giving it two little toot-toots to signal his dad to get on.

Once his dad climbed aboard, Chen Yuan twisted the throttle and had them home in no time.

Mr. Qin and the others were already up, lined up along the outdoor washing basin, brushing their teeth and rinsing their faces.

It was a classic bit of village life — folks liked to squat outside with big ceramic mugs to brush their teeth, the spit watering the ground a little in the process.

"You gentlemen could’ve slept in a little longer~"

Chen Yuan walked into the courtyard with a grin.

"Ha, it’s already past six-thirty — that was a great night’s sleep as it is."

"Really. At home I’m usually wide awake past five. Today I slept an extra hour and change. Haven’t slept that well in a long time."

"The countryside is quiet and the air is fresh — you should make a habit of coming."

The three old men chuckled as they replied.

"Come anytime — you’re always welcome, gentlemen. Fish a little, have a drink — life doesn’t get much better~"

"Just the gentlemen? What about me?"

Qin Fen turned around, grinning at Chen Yuan.

"You can go cool off somewhere else~"

Chen Yuan let out a dismissive tsk, and laughter rang through the courtyard bright and early in the morning.

By the time Mr. Qin and the others finished washing up, Tang Ying had the meal ready — rice porridge, some pickled vegetables, and a couple of lightly seasoned stir-fried dishes. Simple and satisfying.

At half past seven, Mr. Qin and his group packed up their things and got ready to head home.

Chen Yuan helped load everything into their car, watched until it disappeared from sight, then turned back inside to get ready for what was sure to be another busy day.