Chapter 71 - 72: Give Me Back My Points

Chapter 71: Chapter 72: Give Me Back My Points

"That’s perfect news."

The anglers cheered in unison.

Chen Yuan looked at the lively atmosphere both on-site and in the fishing ground group chat, and figured that once bookings opened, the slots would be gone in seconds — just like yesterday.

Sure enough, the moment five o’clock hit and reservations went live, the daytime session was fully booked within seconds.

"Damn, missed it again."

"Same here, couldn’t get one either."

"I finally broke my skunk streak and landed a Fish King, and now I can’t even get a spot? Besides Chen Yuan Fishing Ground, where else is gonna let me fish to my heart’s content?~"

The group chat went dead silent for a few seconds before exploding, and most of the anglers on-site were grumbling too. Heavy Chummer was especially gutted — outside of Chen Yuan Fishing Ground, he genuinely had no idea where else to go.

This was the only place that made fishing feel truly alive for him.

"Haha, I snagged a spot at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground!"

"Hey guys, if you couldn’t get into Chen Yuan Fishing Ground, come try Old Pond — the owner’s a real piece of work, but the fish are actually decent."

"I can vouch for that — we had the owner practically in tears~"

People’s fortunes couldn’t be more different. While some were complaining about missing out on Chen Yuan Fishing Ground, the anglers at Old Pond were buzzing with excitement and even inviting their fellow fishers over to give the owner hell.

The messages came with photo after photo of impressive catches, along with shots of Zhou Jianming and his wife wearing matching expressions of absolute misery, like they’d completely lost the will to live.

Chen Yuan’s mouth twitched when he saw it.

A dozen anglers pulling out every trick in the book, plus two top-tier pros in Wang Heng and Blond Punk — God only knew how badly Old Pond had been cleaned out today.

"Don’t worry, folks — night fishing slots are still up for grabs."

He opened the night session reservations, and as expected, they vanished in seconds. The finger speed on these anglers — no wonder they were all single.

"Haha, got a night session spot!"

"Saving my energy for tonight — see you all on the water~"

Excited cheers broke out on-site, and the group chat filled with celebratory memes. There were still a few complaints, but noticeably fewer than before.

Looked like that damn system actually came through — with different booking odds for everyone, it seemed like within just these two days, most anglers who wanted to come would get their chance.

The customers in the fishing ground group had to be kept engaged as much as possible. That was the only way to build a solid foundation.

"Guess I’ll just head over to that other place tomorrow."

Those who hadn’t scored a spot sighed and resigned themselves to going to Old Pond tomorrow to give the owner a rough time.

Sure, today’s whole situation had been a mess and that owner was a real lowlife, but judging by the catch photos the others were posting in the group, the fishing there wasn’t bad at all.

Shady owner, decent fishing — well, the answer was obvious: make him suffer for it.

"Bastards."

Chen Jun and the others, who’d been busy working, had felt pretty good hearing that the night sessions were fully booked — right up until they heard that customers were thinking about heading to Old Pond instead. That soured the mood instantly.

Thankfully, they kept the cursing internal and didn’t let it show, keeping their hands moving without missing a beat.

Chen Yuan hopped down from the small slope and called Wang Heng first.

"Brother Wang, need me to come pick you up?"

"Nah, it’s fine — I called the restaurant owner, he’s driving straight out to the pond."

Wang Heng’s voice could barely contain his laughter. Clearly, it had been a very good day.

With over a dozen anglers giving it everything they had, it was the master-and-apprentice duo that deserved most of the credit for leaving Zhou Jianming and his wife looking like they’d swallowed something bitter.

"Coming to your pond tomorrow night to go after the Fish King — already grabbed a night session slot."

Just as Chen Yuan was about to hang up, Wang Heng added that.

"Not going back to Old Pond?"

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow.

From the laughter in Wang Heng’s voice, today’s haul must have been enormous. By all logic, after a day like that you’d want to go back for more — was Wang Heng actually going easy on them?

"Oh, I’d love to."

Wang Heng’s tone turned exasperated. "That crafty bastard of an owner was smarter than I gave him credit for — called time right on the dot, wouldn’t let us net the last fish, said our session was up. Then told us not to bother coming back tomorrow, said he wouldn’t serve us."

So that’s how it was.

Apparently Zhou Jianming wasn’t completely stupid after all. When you run into big-league anglers, you have to find a way to cut them off, or your pond gets picked clean sooner or later. No one could keep restocking fast enough to keep up with them.

"Anyone in this game knows the rules — hitting one pond once is fair enough, as long as the owner plays fair too. But this son of a bitch wasn’t just shady, he had a foul mouth and a rotten attitude the whole time. You think I’m just going to swallow that?"

Wang Heng’s tone sharpened — he clearly had a serious grudge against Zhou Jianming and his wife.

"So Brother Wang is going back at him?"

Chen Yuan’s brow furrowed slightly.

Not that he’d mind watching Old Pond get fished into bankruptcy, but if Wang Heng pushed it too far, things could come to blows with Zhou Jianming — and he wasn’t sure Uncle Bin would be okay with that.

Wang Heng wasn’t acting on his orders, sure, but Chen Yuan knew that what Chen Wenbin valued most in Yu City Village was stability — peace and quiet, no one stirring up trouble.

If he knew about this and did nothing, there’d be no explaining it to Uncle Bin.

"Of course not — if I went back myself, it’d definitely end in a fight. I’m out here to make money, not to start wars. But if someone wants to make his life hell, there’s plenty of people who can do that."

Wang Heng let out a sly chuckle, a scheming edge to his voice.

Chen Yuan immediately understood.

Who said there was only one big-league angler? They networked, shared information, pooled resources — that was how you maximized returns and hit more ponds.

He remembered yesterday, when he’d gone to pick up Blond Punk, and Blond Punk had blurted out that Wang Heng said he wouldn’t touch Boss Chen’s place. That was probably Wang Heng giving the heads-up to his circle.

"Appreciate it, Brother Wang."

Now that it clicked, Chen Yuan thanked him.

Not that he was afraid of big-league anglers like Wang Heng — even if Wang Heng called in his whole crew, Chen Yuan could just activate a full pond lockdown and watch them all question their life choices.

But why create trouble when you don’t have to.

When you’re running a business, it’s always better to make a friend than to make an enemy.

"You’re too kind, Boss Chen. I have to go — my ride’s here. Chat tomorrow night~"

Wang Heng hung up.

Chen Yuan stared at his phone and shook his head with a smile.

Zhou Jianming — good luck, pal.

Let’s see how long you can hold out.

He pocketed his phone and got back to helping out. All seven of them pitched in, and they wrapped up sending off the last of the anglers with time to spare — not even five-thirty yet.

Using the brief window, Chen Yuan quickly went through the system and purchased all the required permits — for the meal boxes, side dishes, cigarettes, alcohol, drinks, snacks, the whole lot.

He watched the 12,000 points that had just landed in his account evaporate almost instantly, as if they’d never been there at all, leaving barely a fraction behind. Chen Yuan’s face went sour.

Points were way too tight.

"Beep beep."

Barely two minutes after sorting all that out, Wang Tao pulled up in his dedicated truck.

This guy had timed it perfectly — the anglers had barely rolled out of the village before he was rolling in.

"Doing the bathroom tonight?"

Chen Jun spotted the truck and tugged at Chen Yuan.

"Can’t get it all done in one night. Start with the foundation work and see if we can get the surface installations moving."

Chen Yuan shook his head. Wang Tao’s project was enormous — getting everything fully sorted would take time. Mainly because the points weren’t there, and cash was running low too, and what cash was left still had other uses.

A good chunk needed to go toward buying out Zhou Jianming’s Old Pond, and there was that other big pond he had his eye on — on top of a few other things Chen Yuan was already turning over in his head.

Thinking it through, he even found himself wondering whether it was worth rolling out a membership program sooner rather than later. That would be the fastest way to bring money back in — faster than relying on reservations alone.

Eh, better get the night sessions running smoothly first.

"Mom, just throw something simple together for dinner tonight. We’ve got two sessions tomorrow, and it’s the first time we’re running a night session — everyone needs proper rest."

With the night session added on top of everything, the workload wasn’t just doubled — it was more. Rest wasn’t optional, or everyone would be running on empty.

"Got it, go do what you need to do."

Tang Ying nodded.

"Need a hand?"

Chen Jun called out.

"I’ll come along to the pond."

Chen Dequan fell into step behind Chen Yuan.

"No need, you two handle things here — we’ll all eat together in a bit."

Chen Yuan waved them off and headed to the truck. Old habit — first order of business was lighting a cigarette.

Noticing a few guys had ridden along in the back of the truck, Chen Yuan tossed one to each of them too.

"Straight to the pond."

He called out and jumped into the truck, heading off toward the fishing pond.

"Here, the permits you needed."

Wang Tao rummaged around in the cab and pulled out a thick envelope, handing it over to Chen Yuan.

The permits were already here?

Chen Yuan’s eyes went wide. He’d just bought them through the system minutes ago — and they were already delivered? On top of that, Wang Tao must have already been driving into the village when Chen Yuan was still placing the order.

"Does the system shop just send everything straight to you?"

Chen Yuan weighed the envelope in his hand and shot Wang Tao a grinning look.

"It was on my way this time."

Wang Tao laughed it off.

On your way my ass.

He used to spend extra points on rush delivery. Turns out that was a complete waste of time.

He only had one thing to say.

Give me back my points~