Chapter 61 - 62: The Shocking Blueprint

Chapter 61: Chapter 62: The Shocking Blueprint

You know what a jinx is?

This guy right here is the ultimate fishing jinx.

Can’t fish to save his life, can’t be taught either — goes home empty-handed more often than not, and the one trick he’s managed to pick up is dumping a mountain of bait, which has screwed over more anglers than anyone can count.

"Let me put it another way — just enjoy yourself at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground today, and if you still don’t catch anything, I’ll give you a full refund on your session fee."

Chen Yuan made the promise.

Dealing with a jinx this bad, even Wang Heng showing up might not have been enough.

"You mean that?"

Heavy Chummer’s face lit up.

"My word is my bond. Everyone here is my witness — I’ll not only refund your fee, I’ll hold a spot for you free of charge, for as long as it takes until you actually land a fish at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground."

Chen Yuan swept his gaze around the whole pond, then doubled down on his promise to Heavy Chummer.

"Holy shit, Boss Chen, you said it — no taking it back!"

Heavy Chummer was over the moon, nearly leaping right off his fishing spot.

"Just make sure you actually put in a proper amount of bait. Don’t you dare give me that ’just a little’ crap again."

Chen Yuan threw out a half-curse.

The nerve of him — calling that monster pile of bait "just a little."

"Heh heh, I just threw in a little bit, that’s about right — that’s enough, I reckon. Alright, I’m done. Time to rig up and fish."

Heavy Chummer laughed to himself, set the bait bucket down on the ground, whipped out his rod at lightning speed, rigged it up, baited the hook, and dropped the line in.

*Phew~*

The anglers around him finally let out a long, collective sigh of relief.

Nothing ruins a fishing session like sitting next to a Heavy Chummer Immortal. Whoever ends up beside him is just plain unlucky. If he’d actually dumped that entire bucket in, nobody at the whole pond would’ve had a prayer of catching anything.

"Chen Yuan Fishing Ground doesn’t ban baiting, but keep it reasonable — don’t stuff the fish so full they can’t bite, or you’ll all be fishing in an empty pond."

Chen Yuan reminded everyone at the pond.

Seriously, who baits like that besides an Immortal?

All the anglers cheerfully agreed, and more than a few gave Chen Yuan a big thumbs-up.

They’d been spared from the Heavy Chummer Immortal’s chaos — but poor Boss Chen had taken the hit.

To protect everyone else, he’d had no choice but to make that kind of guarantee to Heavy Chummer. Who knew how long this jinx would have to stick around Chen Yuan Fishing Ground before he ever caught a fish.

"No big deal."

Chen Yuan mouthed the words toward the other anglers.

He looked a little exasperated on the outside, but inside he was grinning from ear to ear.

Stepping in to save everyone had earned him a ton of goodwill. As for Heavy Chummer being a fishing jinx — sure, he might deserve to go home empty-handed at every other pond, but at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground? Going home empty-handed simply wasn’t an option.

One tap on the system remote, and an empty net was the last thing he had to worry about.

Say what you will about this damn system — it was thorough.

Chen Yuan even suspected the system had seen this coming from day one. The "no-skunking" remote was basically built for exactly this kind of angler.

If even a certified fishing jinx could land a fish at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground, that alone would be one hell of a promotional story.

Chen Yuan was itching to try out some of the remote’s untested functions, but he held himself back. Better to let Heavy Chummer’s jinx run its course first — the payoff would be so much sweeter.

"Boss Chen, could you grab me a pack of smokes?"

"And a bottle of water."

It wasn’t long before anglers started calling for cigarettes and drinks.

"On it."

Chen Yuan hopped down the small slope and rode the three-wheeler back home.

No way around it — the vending machines hadn’t arrived yet, so he was stuck spinning like a top again today.

"Got everything sorted at the pond?"

Tang Ying was scooping water from the cistern with a ladle when she saw Chen Yuan come back and casually asked.

"Just came back to grab some smokes and water. How are the meal orders looking today?"

Chen Yuan glanced into the kitchen — his dad wasn’t around, but Liu Fang was there helping out.

"Just one side dish order today, enough for six people — your sister-in-law can handle that on her own. There are quite a few bento boxes to pack though, so Aunt Liu is here giving a hand."

Tang Ying called out from the kitchen.

Not many groups had come together today — the odd two or three, but they couldn’t really be bothered ordering a full side dish spread. The bento boxes from Chen Yuan Fishing Ground were solid — generous portions and good flavor.

Chen Yuan didn’t ask where his dad had gone. He trusted everything was fine on the home front.

He headed inside, grabbed a bunch of cigarette packs, scooped up a case of drinks and a case of water, loaded it all into the cargo bed, and got ready to head back to the pond.

"Oh, right."

Chen Yuan had already climbed onto the three-wheeler when something suddenly hit him. He jumped back down and ran straight to the security monitor screen.

That Heavy Chummer Immortal had been absolutely hilarious earlier — it had taken everything he had not to lose it, his grin harder to suppress than an AK on full auto. Shame he hadn’t managed to film it.

Might as well check what the security footage looked like.

"Huh, it even has audio — so this camera’s got a built-in microphone."

Chen Yuan fiddled with the footage, and the more he explored, the more excited he got.

Not only did the system come with a built-in mic, it also had editing tools that rivaled proper film and video software. The image quality was miles sharper than anything a phone camera could capture.

He wouldn’t need to stand around the pond filming on his phone anymore. Whenever something funny or promo-worthy happened, he could just clip it straight from the footage.

After thinking it over, Chen Yuan pulled the Heavy Chummer Immortal segment and sent it to Qin Fen, asking him to give it a proper polish. It wasn’t a bad piece of content at all.

Once that was done, Chen Yuan rode the three-wheeler back to the pond.

After delivering the smokes and water to the customers, Chen Yuan climbed back up to the flat ground at the top of the small slope. By just past ten, the sun was already blazing — it was a lot more comfortable in the shade of the parasol.

He’d just crouched down and pulled out a cigarette when his phone rang before he even got it lit.

"Boss Chen, should I bring the vending machines now or later?"

It was Wang Tao. Chen Yuan had figured it was a delivery call, but it was just him checking in.

"Come whenever you’re ready and bring them then."

Chen Yuan lit his cigarette, exhaling a slow stream of smoke as he spoke.

"Making a trip out just for those two things feels like a bit of a waste, doesn’t it."

Wang Tao’s words on the other end of the line were drawn out and loaded with implication.

"Just spit it out."

Chen Yuan took a drag and laughed as he said it.

Wang Tao used to call only after a delivery was already done — calling ahead to ask about timing like this meant he was clearly after something else entirely.

"How many points have you got right now? Place a bigger order and I’ll bring everything together this afternoon. Then we can get to work in the evening."

That was what Wang Tao was really after.

He wanted to start building.

"Are you thinking the pond or the slope area?"

Chen Yuan asked.

"Depends on how many points you’ve got and how much material we can buy."

"Have you finished the blueprints yet?"

Chen Yuan thought for a moment and didn’t answer the question, asking about the plans instead.

"I’ll send them to you now."

The moment Wang Tao said it, Chen Yuan’s phone chimed with a WeChat notification. Chen Yuan told him he’d take a look first, then hung up.

After hiring Wang Tao yesterday, he’d spent nearly all of his points on hand following Wang Tao’s recommendations. Whatever was left came from pre-booked session fees and the four hundred yuan in room and board from Qin Fen converted into points.

Add in today’s meal orders and the few packs of smokes and bottles of water he’d just sold, and his balance sat at just over seven thousand points.

But he’d just dropped five hundred points on two vending machines, so he was sitting at just over seven thousand. If bookings filled up for both sessions tomorrow, a bit over ten thousand points should be enough to cover the licensing fees.

"Better look at the blueprints first and decide from there."

Chen Yuan opened the plans Wang Tao had sent, and his eyes went wide the instant he saw them. He forgot to take a drag on the cigarette he had raised to his lips — it wasn’t until the smoke drifted up and stung his eyes that he snapped back to reality.

You’re calling this a restroom?

This looked more like a five-star hotel lounge.

According to Wang Tao’s blueprints, automatic sliding doors parted down the middle to reveal a spacious entrance hall — over ten meters long, with more than fifty square meters of open floor space.

The centerpiece was a decorative pool featuring a winding rockery, with water trickling over stones in a gentle, flowing cascade — designed to deliver a grand, sweeping visual impact that felt like nature itself flowing through the space.

On the blueprint, the whole pool curved and snaked through the room, and the rockery rose from it like a dragon rearing up to leap free of the water. It was hard to even imagine what the finished result would look like in person.

Flanking both sides of the hall were spaces designed in a classic Chinese architectural style, annotated with carved murals and upturned eave details.

Every single element radiated elegance without sacrificing grandeur.

The areas on either side appeared to be lounge zones — annotated with plush sofas, antique wooden tea tables, even a designated dining area, all serviced by a central radiant heating and air conditioning system that would keep the entire hall and lounge spaces at a perfectly comfortable, steady temperature.

"A restroom with a dining area — what the actual hell. Who sits down to eat right outside a toilet?"

Chen Yuan stared at the plans with a look of pained bewilderment. He had no idea what Wang Tao was thinking — dining areas, tea-brewing nooks, the whole lot, all shoved right outside the bathroom door.

Who in their right mind would want to hang out there.

"Wait a second."

Chen Yuan suddenly went still.

He’d gone through the entire blueprint, and there was no toilet to be found anywhere.

The entire flat area at the top of the slope — over a hundred square meters — had been packed full of features, and not a single square centimeter had been set aside for an actual restroom.

Chen Yuan looked again, more carefully this time.

"Holy shit~"

He nearly jumped out of his skin, jolting straight to his feet.

Wang Tao’s audacious design had completely blown him away.