Chapter 64 - 65: Yes, Boss

Chapter 64: Chapter 65: Yes, Boss

"Don’t play dumb with me, kid. You’ve had your eye on the big pond, so don’t tell me the Old Pond never crossed your mind."

Chen Wenbin let out an amused snort.

Those sharp eyes of his had seen straight through Chen Yuan from the start.

"Sure, two fishing grounds in one village means competition, but Uncle Bin, rest assured — it’ll all be fair, normal business competition. We won’t cause any headaches for the village committee."

Chen Yuan patted his chest with a grin, making his promise.

"Don’t try to be clever with me. You know what I mean."

Chen Wenbin shook his head, half-amused, and pulled open a drawer, tossing a document across the desk and gesturing for Chen Yuan to take a look.

"Isn’t this Zhou Jianming’s lease contract?"

Chen Yuan’s curiosity was piqued. He flipped through it quickly, and when he hit the lease price, his eyes went wide. "Eight hundred per mu? Uncle Bin, that price is..."

"You think it’s too high?"

Chen Wenbin lifted his teacup and gently blew the tea leaves aside.

Chen Yuan said nothing.

Silence spoke louder than words.

The going rate was around six hundred, so eight hundred was on the steep side — and on top of that, the contract required full payment upfront, meaning Zhou Jianming had handed the village committee eighty thousand yuan in one shot.

That was probably every last bit of savings his family had.

Gutsy move, that.

"It’s a bit pricier than the small pond, sure, but the market rate for a ten-year lease on the Ten Mu Pond would be even higher. This is practically a friends-and-neighbors discount."

Chen Wenbin set down his teacup with a light chuckle.

Chen Yuan thought it over and gave a slow nod.

He’d been making the wrong comparison.

By normal market standards, a three-to-five-year lease was typical. Over ten years, the annual rate could never stay flat at six hundred — it would go up by a percentage each year. Averaged out, eight hundred was actually quite reasonable.

"Everyone wants to get rich in business, especially when they see someone around them succeed. Their head gets hot and they want to copy it, but then they can’t figure out where to paste."

Chen Wenbin shook his head with a wry grin.

Chen Yuan laughed along.

Uncle Bin had a real way with words.

"Not everyone’s cut out for business. Not everyone can run a fishing ground. Zhou Jianming is no match for you."

"You really have that much faith in me, Uncle Bin?"

"Just those two expert anglers who showed up at the Old Pond this morning are enough to give Zhou Jianming all he can handle."

Chen Wenbin watched Chen Yuan, a knowing smile on his face.

"I have to state for the record, Uncle Bin — that had nothing to do with me."

Truly worthy of being Yu City Village’s top man. He might seem like he just sat in the village committee building all day, but he had his finger on the pulse of everything in the village — he even knew that Wang Heng and Blond Punk were expert anglers.

Had he actually installed surveillance cameras across the whole village?

Though scanning the office, Chen Yuan didn’t spot any camera feeds anywhere.

"What are you looking for?"

Chen Wenbin watched curiously as Chen Yuan glanced around the room.

"Come on, Uncle Bin, just tell me — did you set up cameras all over the village? How else do you know everything that goes on around here?"

Chen Yuan said it with a grin.

"You think I’m just a figurehead as village secretary?"

Chen Wenbin leaned back with an air of total composure, radiating the quiet confidence of a man who always had things under control.

"Looks like as long as Uncle Bin’s around, nothing in Yu City Village can go sideways."

Chen Yuan gave him a thumbs-up.

"Wipe that smirk off your face."

Chen Wenbin made a show of scolding Chen Yuan for the flattery, but his smile had already bloomed wide enough to light up the room. Who doesn’t enjoy a compliment — especially from someone they actually respect?

"My guess is Zhou Jianming’s fishing ground will fold on its own without you lifting a finger. That eighty thousand yuan — lord knows how much that’s going to hurt him and his wife."

Chen Wenbin reined in his smile and fixed his gaze on Chen Yuan.

"Solving problems for the village committee — that’s my honor."

Chen Yuan understood exactly what Chen Wenbin was getting at.

Coming up with eighty thousand in cash all at once would gut a family — not just a rural one, but plenty of city families too.

So when the fishing ground inevitably tanked, Zhou Jianming would come knocking on the village committee’s door. He hadn’t paid a thing when he was just raising fish before, and now he’d sunk eighty thousand out of nowhere — who’d be happy about that?

With a loss like that, there was no point even raising fish.

Chen Wenbin, as the village head, would naturally want to take care of his villagers. But a contract was a contract — it wasn’t like the village committee could just hand the money back.

That would open a whole can of worms.

The cleanest solution was for someone to take the lease off Zhou Jianming’s hands.

Chen Yuan was that someone.

Looking across all of Yu City Village, he was the only one with the means to do it.

Uncle Bin had his back — so it was only right that he have Uncle Bin’s back in return. And besides, this was exactly what he wanted anyway.

"I don’t know where you picked up that sharp mind of yours, kid."

Chen Wenbin was thoroughly pleased with Chen Yuan’s attitude. He slid the document back into the drawer and made his position clear: "Don’t worry — if it comes to that, I won’t let you get the short end of the stick."

"If everything goes through proper channels, I won’t be losing anything. And if I do take over the Old Pond, I’ll probably need to trouble Uncle Bin and the village committee to help scout out some workers."

This wasn’t empty talk — these were real, tangible jobs on the table.

The Old Pond was a ten-mu stretch of water. If he got his hands on it, the operation would be a whole different scale compared to his small pond, and he’d need people across the board.

Chen Wenbin burst out laughing and jabbed a finger at Chen Yuan repeatedly.

This was exactly why he believed in Chen Yuan and was willing to back him. The kid was sharp and knew how to read a room without needing things spelled out — and more than that, he had restraint. Despite the bad blood between his family and Zhou Jianming, he wasn’t looking to twist the knife.

"Go on, get to work. As long as everything’s above board, I’ve got you covered — but it has to go through the proper process. If anything doesn’t check out, don’t come crying to Uncle Bin about the green light."

Chen Wenbin waved him off with a cheerful smile.

"Thank you, Uncle Bin."

Chen Yuan practically leapt to his feet, refilled Chen Wenbin’s tea, left two packs of Hua cigarettes on the desk, and headed out of the village committee building buzzing with excitement.

Now he could really go all out. With Wang Tao’s incredible construction skills and the system behind him, he was confident he could turn Chen Yuan Fishing Ground into the gold standard of the industry.

At the very least, the brand would make its mark on the Fishing Realm.

Most importantly, after this conversation, his relationship with Chen Wenbin had shifted into something genuinely close — practically family.

The future of Chen Yuan Fishing Ground and the future of Yu City Village were now bound together as one.

"Time to build without holding back."

He stepped out of the village committee building, hopped onto his three-wheeler, and immediately called Wang Tao. Following Wang Tao’s advice, he spent every last one of the seven-thousand-plus points in his account.

Once that was done, he didn’t linger. He swung the three-wheeler around and made straight for the fish pond, going fast enough that one wheel was practically lifting off the ground.

The wind roared past his ears. Blazing summer heat, but Chen Yuan’s mood couldn’t have been better.

"Hey, that’s a fine bream — over a jin at least. Steam it or braise it when you get home, it’ll be absolutely delicious."

"Haha, thanks, uncle — here, have a smoke~"

Everything at the fish pond was running smoothly.

Chen Dequan was on the job, landing net in hand, ready to scoop up any fish a customer hooked. A cigarette dangled from his lips, and both ears were already loaded with extras tucked behind them.

Best job in the world.

"Boss is back! If you’ve got things to take care of, go ahead. If not, take a rest — I’ve got the pond covered. No problems here."

Chen Dequan finished netting a fish, spotted Chen Yuan riding up, and walked over, plucking one of the cigarettes from behind his ear and handing it to Chen Yuan.

"Shouldn’t that be my line?"

Chen Yuan took the cigarette with a laugh.

Wasn’t the boss supposed to be the one telling an employee to head home if there was nothing to do?

Somehow it had flipped — the employee was telling him to go rest, insisting he had things handled.

"It’s not hard work — if I can do it, I’ll do it. Now if something really tough comes up, that’s when we need the boss to step in~"

Chen Dequan beamed from ear to ear.

His mood today was a world apart from yesterday.

Yesterday had been good too — especially when the customers happily passed out cigarettes. Every single one was a quality smoke he’d never have been able to afford himself, and that had made him genuinely happy.

But the worry over his wife’s situation had kept his heart in his throat the whole time.

Today was different.

That matter was settled. He was officially a fishing ground employee — working away, smoking one good cigarette after another, faster than he could get through them.

"Uncle Chen, it’s fine to accept smokes when customers offer them, but don’t you dare ask customers for one."

Watching Chen Dequan pull the other cigarette from behind his ear and tuck it into his crumpled pack, Chen Yuan gave him a serious reminder.

There was a world of difference between being given something and asking for it. A customer cheerfully tossing you a smoke was perfectly fine — everyone walked away happy.

But if you started asking customers for cigarettes, what would they think?

That the staff at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground were just there to mooch smokes off them all day?

If he was going to build Chen Yuan Fishing Ground into something real, the quality of the staff and the standard of service both had to be right.

"Got it, boss."

Chen Dequan nodded firmly, grinning as he said, "Don’t you worry. Been smoking my whole life — I know the difference between taking what’s offered and bumming a cigarette."