Chapter 62 - 63: Uncle Bin, Take a Look at This

Chapter 62: Chapter 63: Uncle Bin, Take a Look at This

"What’s wrong with Boss Chen?"

"His face is all flushed. Don’t tell me he snuck off to watch porn."

Yeah, right. Porn.

Chen Yuan ignored the anglers he’d startled and kept his eyes locked on the blueprints, completely floored.

He zoomed in, and the more he looked, the more his jaw dropped — and the more his stomach dropped with it.

Wang Tao hadn’t forgotten about the restroom. He hadn’t overlooked it at all.

He’d done something far bolder — he’d designed the entire restroom facility into the hillside behind the building.

Following the path through the spacious Divine Dragon Hall, the plans showed a massive decorative partition screen, and beyond it, a tunnel carved straight into the mountain, opening up on both sides.

And you didn’t even walk into the restroom right away — first there was a shower room, and only further in did you reach the actual toilets.

"What the f*ck—"

Chen Yuan didn’t know where to begin.

Last night he’d already sensed that Wang Tao had a wildly imaginative streak when it came to construction, and had dropped some hints about wanting to cut into the hillside.

Chen Yuan had shot it down hard right then and there.

And yet here was this blueprint anyway.

Unbelievably bold.

Carving into the mountain — if that thing collapsed, forget about the buildings on the surface, the fishing pond would probably get buried too, and all the anglers along with it.

If anything went wrong, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Chen Yuan called Wang Tao on the spot, skipping the pleasantries and going straight for the throat.

"I told you last night — don’t do anything crazy, don’t do anything crazy. Even if you’ve got big ideas about the construction, you have to keep them within reason. So why the hell did you turn in blueprints like this?"

"I thought it was perfectly reasonable. We’d be making good use of everything available."

Wang Tao sounded genuinely confused.

Chen Yuan was so irritated he was nearly speechless.

Then again, he couldn’t really blame Wang Tao. The guy was a simulation android. He had his own independent mind, sure, but he wasn’t a real human being at the end of the day.

He just didn’t have a feel for how certain things worked in the real world.

"Didn’t you say clearing out the loose rubble would be enough, and that you wouldn’t be touching the hillside?"

Chen Yuan tried a different angle.

"It’s too narrow."

Wang Tao answered without missing a beat. "Even after clearing the rubble, there’s barely three meters. There’s no way to do anything decent with that. I just wanted to borrow a little more space."

"Borrow my ass."

Chen Yuan cursed and cut straight to the point. "We’re not doing it that way. Build me a proper restroom and that’s it."

"Come on, Boss Chen — don’t worry about safety, not even a little. I guarantee there won’t be a single problem."

Wang Tao pressed, a note of urgency in his voice.

"It’s not just a safety issue."

Chen Yuan said with a touch of resignation.

"Then what is it? Is the design not good enough? Not impressive enough? Not grand enough? Does it not meet Boss Chen’s standards?"

"That’s not it either."

Chen Yuan let out a quiet sigh.

Not good enough?

Not a chance.

Setting everything else aside, a design this bold and daring — throw it out on the open market and companies would be lining up to poach the designer.

Breathtaking, majestic, refined, with a classical elegance, and a style that was wildly imaginative and utterly fearless.

Honestly, Chen Yuan was tempted. That divine dragon rockery bursting up out of the water alone would blow every angler who saw it clean out of their boots.

But the real question was — could Chen Wenbin back him on this?

"Fight for it, Boss Chen. If it really can’t be done, I’ll revise the blueprints."

Wang Tao was stubborn about his work and wasn’t ready to let go without a fight.

"Wait for my word."

Chen Yuan thought it over, steeled himself, and decided to give it a shot.

Just looking at the blueprints had his hair standing on end. He couldn’t even imagine what it would look like once it was actually built.

He was seriously tempted.

If there was a chance, he wasn’t about to give it up.

The Hermès of the Fishing Realm deserved exactly this kind of class.

Besides, whether it was possible or not — you had to try first.

He rang Chen Dequan to come keep an eye on the fishing pond, and once Chen Dequan showed up, Chen Yuan hopped on his three-wheeler and headed straight for the village committee.

"Uncle Bin."

He knew the place like the back of his hand. Chen Yuan poked his head into the village secretary’s office and had a quick look — still just Chen Wenbin in there, as expected — then strolled in with a grin.

"Oh, it’s Yuan! Grab a seat, help yourself to the smokes on the desk — just let me finish this round of Landlord first."

Chen Wenbin had been sitting up straight, but the moment he saw it was Chen Yuan, he eased back into his chair, smiled, and went right back to staring at his phone.

Slacking off on the job.

And he was the one in charge, no less.

The fact that he’d do it so openly in front of you — that meant he genuinely considered you one of his own.

Chen Yuan grabbed the thermos nearby and topped off Chen Wenbin’s cup, then pulled up a chair across from him and waited quietly.

About two minutes later, Chen Wenbin set his phone down and plucked a cigarette from the pack on the desk, handing it to Chen Yuan.

"Not busy at the fishing pond today?"

"All thanks to Uncle Bin hooking me up with two staff members. I’ve got enough hands now — even running night sessions isn’t a problem."

Chen Yuan accepted the cigarette with a smile.

Chen Wenbin already knew that Chen Dequan and his wife had been brought on as employees — after drinks last night, the couple had come by to thank him personally.

If Chen Wenbin hadn’t nudged them in the right direction, things never would have turned out this well.

"So, what brings you by today?"

"Take a look at this, Uncle Bin."

Chen Yuan didn’t beat around the bush. He pulled up the blueprints on his phone and handed it over.

"The blueprints are already done? That’s some solid efficiency."

Chen Wenbin took the phone with a casual smile, not paying much attention at first.

That little slope was something he’d already signed off on for Chen Yuan to do with as he pleased, and word had gotten around about what it was being used for — Chen Yuan hadn’t kept it a secret, and the whole village knew.

He’d figured Chen Yuan was just putting up a restroom out there, so villagers working the fields and hillsides would have somewhere to go in a pinch, instead of trekking all the way home.

It wasn’t like Chen Yuan was going to stop the villagers from using a toilet, was it?

All in all, it was a nice little perk for the locals.

"This is supposed to be a restroom?"

But when Chen Wenbin actually looked at the blueprints, he nearly flew out of his chair.

"It’s a little on the extravagant side, I’ll admit, but it is technically a restroom."

Chen Yuan scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh.

"Technically my ass. You’re trying to blast open a mountain and build a hotel."

Chen Wenbin slammed the phone down on the desk.

If it were anyone other than Chen Yuan standing there, he’d have flung the phone across the room and told them to get the hell out.

"Whatever you do with the land you leveled is your business — I can cover you on that. If you actually manage to build a hotel there, good on you. But you are not touching the hillside. It’s too dangerous."

Chen Wenbin reined in his anger and laid out his hard limit for Chen Yuan.

Do whatever you want with the slope, fine. But pushing further into the mountain — and on top of that, a shower room, then the toilets beyond that — they were carving at least three meters in.

And that was just the main corridor. They’d need to chisel out several more meters on either side.

If something went wrong, Yu City Village would end up all over the news. That was the last thing he needed.

"On the matter of quality and safety, Uncle Bin, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I’ll stake my head on it — there won’t be a single issue. And if you’re still not convinced, once it’s finished, bring in as many inspectors as you want for a full quality assessment. If it doesn’t pass, no arguments — I’ll tear it down myself."

Chen Yuan tapped his own head, and inwardly, he felt a flicker of hope.

Uncle Bin was angry, but not because of the construction itself — it was the safety risk he was worried about.

As long as safety could be guaranteed, Uncle Bin would back him.

"If something does go wrong, your head won’t be nearly enough."

Chen Wenbin shot Chen Yuan a look.

He tapped a cigarette out of the box and said in a measured, earnest tone, "You’ve got a fishing pond — just run your fishing pond. Don’t get wrapped up in all this nonsense. It’s not just a safety hazard, it’s a waste of money too."

"I came back to the village to run this fishing pond, and I intend to run it right. If I’m going to do it, I want to make it the Hermès of the Fishing Realm — the benchmark for the entire industry."

Chen Yuan took out his phone and leaned over to light Chen Wenbin’s cigarette.

"The benchmark for the industry?"

Those words hit Chen Wenbin like a switch being flipped. The easy warmth in his eyes slowly gave way to something deeper, sharper, as he fixed Chen Yuan with a long, searching look.

Even Chen Yuan, who’d been out in the world scrapping for ten years, felt the weight of authority behind that gaze — the kind that came from the man who ran Yu City Village — and for the first time in a long while, a rare knot of tension coiled in his chest.

He forced himself steady and held Uncle Bin’s gaze without flinching.

"You want to turn this fishing pond into the benchmark for the entire industry?"

After a long moment, the intensity in Chen Wenbin’s eyes gradually softened.

"Every company wants to go public, every businessman wants to make money. Who wouldn’t want to be the top dog in their field and have both the fame and the fortune?"

Chen Yuan quietly exhaled. The office had air conditioning, but he still felt a little warm.

Chen Wenbin had been village secretary for years and had kept Yu City Village running smoothly — the man had real capability. The easygoing front he put on was reserved for small talk; when he got serious, it showed.

"So what’s your plan?"

Chen Wenbin flicked his ash and asked.

"I’ve got some ideas, still a bit rough around the edges—"

Chen Yuan wasn’t about to hold back. He laid out every last thought he had in detail.