Chapter 58 - 59: Village Entrance Signpost

Chapter 58: Chapter 59: Village Entrance Signpost

"How are those videos you’ve been filming doing?"

Qin Fen had just driven out of Yu City Village when Mr. Qin suddenly spoke up from the passenger seat.

"Pretty good."

Qin Fen hadn’t quite caught his drift yet and answered casually.

"And the response?"

Mr. Qin had to press further.

That got Qin Fen’s attention. His eyes lit up and he quickly fished out his phone, pulled up the videos he’d been working on, and handed it over.

"Really solid, Grandpa — people online love them. Take a look."

Mr. Qin took the phone and tapped play. The first clip that came up was the moment he’d asked Chen Yuan whether there might be a wooden stake stuck in the pond. The scrolling comments flooding the screen were all calling it hilarious.

"The old man is such a character — he’d sooner believe there’s a stake in the pond than admit he actually got a bite."

"I came back just to rewatch this part. The more I watch, the more I love this old guy."

"The holy Fish King’s Eighteen Techniques lmao — the short chubby dude is even funnier though."

"Haha, that’s not a sink-or-swim cast, that’s a full-on ’drown the pond’ technique."

"Genuine question — does the fishing world actually have something called the Eighteen Fish-Taming Techniques? Why is fishing so entertaining?~"

"The fishing world has just as much drama as the martial arts world. Come join us, fellow anglers~"

And it wasn’t just that clip. The video of them hauling in the Fish King sent viewers absolutely wild — the comment section was practically wall-to-wall "holy sh*t"s.

There was also a bunch of fun footage Chen Yuan had captured.

Like the three-second guy.

And Ye Zhi, who could hold her own against any man out there.

Anything Qin Fen thought was worth sharing got edited up and posted online.

The reception had been genuinely great.

Even Mr. Qin found himself breaking into a wide smile as he watched.

"Not bad."

After finishing the videos, Mr. Qin handed the phone back to Qin Fen — and that was it. Nothing more.

Qin Fen’s anxiety quietly spiked.

Come on, Grandpa, give me something to work with here.

"One year."

Just as Qin Fen was about to burst, Mr. Qin raised a single finger. "I overheard what Chen told you the other night. Good analysis. I’ll give you one year to see where this goes. If it doesn’t pan out, treat filming as a hobby and leave it at that."

A year wasn’t exactly short.

But it wasn’t all that long, either.

His grandson had just graduated. If this path didn’t work out, it would just be a year spent on something he loved — no real damage done to the rest of his life.

And if it did work out, all the better.

"Thanks, Grandpa~"

Qin Fen blinked in stunned silence for a moment, then pumped his fist with a whoop.

"Eyes on the road~"

Mr. Qin shot him a sharp glare. You’re driving, don’t mess around.

Meanwhile, back at Chen Yuan’s place.

With the kitchen cleaned up, the three of them settled into the courtyard to wait.

"It’s already eight and there’s not a soul in sight."

Chen Jun kept craning his neck around the corner. The past couple of days had been buzzing by this hour — today felt oddly quiet. What if the anglers had all bailed for some reason?

"Hey, little bro, how come nobody’s shown up yet?"

Chen Kingdom and his wife came around from the back courtyard.

Chen Dequan rolled up on his three-wheeler with Liu Fang in tow, equally puzzled about the empty scene. Had something gone wrong?

"The fishing ground doesn’t open until nine. It’s only eight — plenty of time still."

Chen Yuan found it a little amusing.

What fishing ground owner in their right mind would want customers showing up an hour early to fish for free?

Besides, the first couple of days the anglers had been navigating unfamiliar territory, so leaving early to find their way made sense. By now they knew the route — even the ones who hadn’t been could piece together the location from the group chat. Eight-thirty was probably about right.

"Have you all eaten?"

Chen Yuan stood up and patted his pockets, pulling out cigarettes to hand one each to Chen Kingdom and Chen Dequan, then passing one to his dad before sticking one between his own lips.

"Yep, ate around six."

Chen Dequan took the cigarette and lit it.

Back when he’d been doing construction work in the city, he’d had to leave the house just after six every morning — eating early had long since become second nature.

Chen Kingdom and Lin Cuiju were the same — they always came over after breakfast.

"Enjoy the downtime while it lasts. Starting tomorrow the ground opens at seven, which means we’re up and moving by six-thirty at the latest."

The four men sat at the courtyard gate, smoke curling around them, while Tang Ying and the others chatted inside — most likely sorting out what to cook for lunch.

"Car coming."

About ten minutes later, Chen Dequan suddenly widened his eyes and stared down the road.

The men waved the smoke away from their faces, and sure enough, a car rounded the bend — heading straight for Chen Kingdom’s place in the back.

Looked like a regular. Knew exactly where to park.

"I’ll go bring them over."

Chen Kingdom pushed himself to his feet, and within a couple of minutes he’d brought the angler and all his gear back around.

"Boss Chen, what’s the deal with that sign at the village entrance? I thought you’d moved — why didn’t you say anything in the group chat?"

The angler didn’t rush off toward the pond. He hopped down from the truck bed and pulled out a cigarette like an old friend.

Chen Yuan was completely lost.

So were Chen Jun and the others.

What sign?

"You didn’t put it up, Boss Chen?"

The angler looked at their blank expressions and froze too.

Ding-a-ling-ling~

Right then, Chen Yuan’s phone rang. He picked up and was immediately met with a confused voice on the other end.

"Boss Chen, your fishing ground’s still on the right, yeah? There’s some sign at the village entrance pointing left — what’s that about?"

"Right side, same place as always."

He hung up, and it all clicked into place.

Chen Wenbin had warned him about this just yesterday.

Hadn’t expected them to move this fast. Couldn’t wait to poach some business, could they.

He tagged everyone in the group chat to clarify: Chen Yuan Fishing Ground hadn’t moved. Within seconds, anglers were already venting in the chat.

"Knew it. There’s no way the fishing ground relocated — I drove all the way out there and it’s nothing like Chen Yuan Fishing Ground."

Someone had attached a photo.

It was unmistakably the Old Pond that Zhou Jianming had leased.

So people had come early after all — they’d just been thrown off by the sign and ended up at the wrong place without ever bothering to contact Chen Yuan.

"The main road through the village loops around — if you keep driving forward you’ll end up at my place."

Chen Yuan quickly tagged that angler and sent three separate reminders in the group chat: Chen Yuan Fishing Ground had not moved, still on the right as you enter the village.

"Damn, that pond’s got a nice stretch of water on it."

"Big surface area."

"Boss Chen, whose pond is that? Someone turning it into a fishing ground too?"

"What’s the fish situation like in there? Any Fish King?"

"Same village as Boss Chen — can’t be too different, right? Brothers, what if we give this big pond a shot?"

"It’s Saturday and I couldn’t snag a spot at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground anyway. Since we’re already out here, might as well try somewhere new."

Anglers were always drawn to unfamiliar water — especially a wide open surface like Ten Mu Pond.

On top of that, it was in the same village as Boss Chen’s place. With him as a benchmark, people figured it couldn’t be much worse. The ones who hadn’t managed to book a spot at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground figured they had nothing to lose.

Chen Yuan spotted the chatter and jumped in to set the record straight.

After a moment’s thought, he went ahead and replaced the group announcement entirely.

"To be clear: Chen Yuan Fishing Ground has not moved."

"Furthermore, that Old Pond in the village has absolutely nothing to do with me. I have no knowledge of the fishing conditions there. Please make your own informed decisions, fellow anglers."

"Any experience you have there is entirely unrelated to Chen Yuan Fishing Ground."

Where people chose to fish was their business — he had no right to stop them. But he absolutely could not let people walk in there expecting something on par with his place just because they were in the same village.

Nobody knew what the fishing was like at the Old Pond. If it turned out to be a disappointment, the last thing he needed was that blowback landing on Chen Yuan Fishing Ground.

"What’s going on? Why is there a sign at the village entrance pointing left?"

The moment Chen Yuan put his phone down, Chen Jun was on him with questions.

They’d all heard both the angler standing in front of them and the voice over the phone clear as day.

"It’s nothing major. Looks like Zhou Jianming turned the Old Pond into a fishing ground, and the sign’s been directing people that way."

Chen Yuan looked completely unbothered.

"That son of a bitch is trying to steal our business?"

Chen Jun’s expression darkened instantly. His family and Zhou Jianming’s had never gotten along — and now this guy wanted to move in on their turf? He was already half-rising to go give Zhou Jianming a piece of his mind.

Beside him, Chen Dequan’s face twitched. Liu Fang didn’t look too comfortable either.

After all, this whole thing had been her idea to begin with.

"No need to make a scene. We focus on our own business — and honestly, running a fishing ground isn’t our exclusive right. Anyone can get into this trade."

Chen Yuan held Chen Jun back.

Logically speaking, he was right. Still felt lousy though.

"Competition is perfectly normal. Right now it’s just small-time stuff within the village. Wait until Chen Yuan Fishing Ground gets on the radar of the bigger operators at the county and city level — that’s when the real game begins."

Every industry had competition. There wasn’t a single field where one player could hold all the cards forever.

This was just par for the course.

Besides, Chen Wenbin had already flagged it.

Chen Yuan just hadn’t given it much thought.

Even without the system, he could play this low-stakes game in his sleep. With it? There was no contest.

Seriously — what exactly were they going to compete with?

Come at me then.

"Alright, Dad, don’t worry about it. Let’s just handle our own thing. I’m going to head to the village entrance and direct traffic — some customers might not have seen the messages and end up at the Old Pond by mistake."

Chen Yuan said a few words to calm everyone down, then hopped on a three-wheeler and headed for the village entrance, completely unfazed by the Old Pond opening as a rival.

If anything, he was a little excited.

The Old Pond wasn’t as big as the main pond, sure — but it was still a ten-mu stretch of water. If he ever got his hands on it, the potential there would blow the small pond right out of the water.

Just thinking about it got his blood pumping~