Chapter 74 - 75: Building a Clubhouse and a Hotel

Chapter 74: Chapter 75: Building a Clubhouse and a Hotel

Once all the customers had been received, the guys leaned against the tricycle to take a breather.

"Everything go smoothly this morning?"

Chen Yuan pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed one to Chen Dequan, then to his dad and his uncle, before sticking one in his own mouth.

"Easy work. We’ve done it a bunch of times already — got it down pat."

Chen Dequan chuckled and took the cigarette, lighting it up. Ever since Hua stopped hoarding the good stuff, quality smokes were never in short supply.

"Good to hear."

Chen Yuan gave a nod and said, cigarette dangling from his lips,

"Once the morning customers are sorted, Uncle Chen, you head back and take care of your own stuff. Do a bit of farm work, rest up, whatever. Just come by for lunch."

"Nothing much going on anyway. The wife’s handling things at home. I can stay here and keep an eye on the pond."

Chen Yuan had told Liu Fang to come in at ten, so she hadn’t tagged along in the morning — she was taking care of things at home, plenty of time to spare.

He was perfectly capable of watching the pond himself.

"Uncle Chen, your main job is running the night sessions. Visibility at night is nothing like daytime, so you’ve got to stay sharp — you need to be well-rested. Running yourself ragged around the clock isn’t going to work."

Chen Yuan shook his head.

Grinding through two or three days without proper sleep was manageable, but the night fishing sessions weren’t just a two- or three-day thing. If he tried to run both day and night shifts indefinitely, he’d burn out sooner or later.

"Fair enough. I’ll head back then~"

Chen Dequan could see the logic.

Sure, this job was a thousand times easier than construction work — nothing he couldn’t handle — but even construction had you out early and home late without staying past midnight, with only the occasional all-nighter during overtime.

The night sessions, on the other hand, were every single night, with maybe the odd night off. Completely the opposite.

Your body’s internal clock needed time to adjust.

He had to take care of himself if he wanted to do right by the boss.

"Dad, Uncle, how about this — once we start the night fishing close-outs, the three of us rotate shifts, one person handling each night. What do you think?"

After Chen Dequan said his goodbyes and left, Chen Yuan turned to his dad and his uncle.

Close-out was easily the busiest part of running the fishing ground — even busier than receiving customers. Anglers leaving at the end of a session always had their catch to deal with, and even just a few fish could weigh several kilograms. It got heavy fast.

Relying on just Chen Dequan and his wife would be brutal. And with a midnight close-out, the anglers all wanted to get home quickly too — the more hands on deck, the better.

"I’ll handle it myself. No need to go setting up some rotation — saves the hassle."

Chen Jun squatted down, crushed his cigarette butt underfoot, and tossed it in the trash. He was ready to take it all on himself.

His older brother’s leg wasn’t great, and stumbling around in the dark wasn’t ideal — better for him to get to bed early.

And Chen Yuan was his own son. What father didn’t want to spare his kid some grief?

"You can’t be pulling late nights every single night though."

"Late nights my ass. Half an hour at most, then I go straight back to sleep. Barely makes a dent. If it ever gets to be too much, I’ll say so. Now quit arguing — it’s settled."

He didn’t give Chen Yuan a chance to push back. Chen Jun made the call and that was that.

He waved his hand, and headed back with Chen Kingdom.

"Stubborn old man~"

Chen Yuan stood there with a wry smile, but he didn’t say anything more. One thing was for sure — he wasn’t going to let his dad wear himself out.

He glanced over at the vending machine. It was powered up.

Chen Yuan hopped on the tricycle and rode home, loaded up the cargo bed with cases of drinks and bottled water, grabbed a selection of cigarette brands, and tossed in bags of sunflower seeds and peanuts for good measure.

"Looks like it’s time to restock again."

Smokes and drinks sold like crazy, especially in summer. A lot of anglers liked grabbing a pack of cigarettes with a bottle of water, or picking up smokes while buying drinks.

He pulled up the system and navigated to the shop, spending the last of yesterday’s leftover points before riding the tricycle back to the pond.

He stocked the vending machine with the cigarettes and drinks, then turned around to look out over the pond.

"Gentlemen, the vending machine’s been restocked. Scan the code if you want smokes or water."

The anglers were all busy baiting their spots and casting out. They just laughed and called back that they got it.

With that taken care of, Chen Yuan looked over the foundation work and wandered over to where the hillside had been cut open.

He could see rebar and support columns holding everything up inside, so there was nothing to worry about on that front. But looking at the depth — it had to be close to four meters already. He found himself genuinely looking forward to seeing it finished.

"Ring ring ring~"

Chen Yuan was just about to go in and look around when his phone suddenly went off.

"Boss Chen, any chance I can order a boxed meal from your place today?"

It was one of the anglers over at the big pond.

Word had spread through the fishing ground group chat yesterday that the boxed meals Zhou Jianming and his wife were putting out were practically inedible. They probably wouldn’t sell a single one today.

The anglers over there had no choice but to look Chen Yuan’s way.

"Sure, but you’ll have to come here to eat."

Same rule as always — no delivering meals to the big pond. That would just mean dealing with Zhou Jianming’s drama. But where an angler chose to eat? That was entirely their own business.

"No problem at all. Thanks, Boss Chen~"

"Don’t mention it. Place your order with my mom~"

Chen Yuan had added Tang Ying to the fishing ground group chat a while back. She handled all the daily meal orders, and had even changed her group nickname to "Chen Yuan Fishing Ground Order Desk."

Officially promoted to Head of the Order Desk.

Now that was what you called professional.

He’d barely hung up when Wang Tao called.

Delivery.

The paperwork had only just been processed yesterday, and it had ended up in Wang Tao’s hands within minutes. He’d just restocked not long ago, and Wang Tao was already back with another delivery. What the hell was the rush charge even for?

The bastard had basically become a salaried employee — this stuff was all included in his monthly pay. No rush points getting charged anymore.

"Just leave it in the courtyard. Someone’s home. I’m at the pond right now."

Chen Yuan fired back a reply and hung up, muttering a few curses under his breath.

A little while later, Wang Tao showed up at the pond and immediately started venting.

"Your old man’s a real character. Soon as he saw me, he grabbed me, insisted on taking a bunch of photos, then asked for my ID and went snap snap snap."

Chen Yuan found it pretty funny.

That wasn’t friendliness — that was a man scared half to death by the whole mountain-blasting operation, making sure he had someone to pin the blame on if anything went sideways.

"I’m planning to buy a batch of fishing rods — rigged lines, hooks, floats, the whole setup. Everything to the standard of landing a Fish King."

Chen Yuan gave Wang Tao a heads-up so the guy wouldn’t be nagging him about materials.

You never really understood how tight money was until you were the one running things. Everything cost points.

"So how many points will you have left today?"

"Probably close to none."

Chen Yuan’s expression turned a little pained.

He was planning to buy at two hundred points per rod — if he was going to do it, he’d do it right and give the anglers the best possible experience.

But at two hundred points a rod, and needing sixty for the whole pond, that was twelve thousand points right there. Even if both afternoon sessions were fully booked, there’d be nothing left over.

At most he’d have enough left for meals and smokes and drinks.

"Boss Chen, you really need to hustle for more points."

Wang Tao heard that and quickly lit himself a cigarette. Two or three thousand points at most — how much work could he even get done with that?

Barely any work day after day, just sitting on a base salary. Pretty damn useless, honestly.

"You think I don’t want to? It’s a two-acre pond, what do you want me to do — pull points out of thin air?"

Chen Yuan threw his hands up, completely at a loss.

He’d thought about launching memberships yesterday to bring in some cash flow, but his mind had gone off in a hundred different directions with all sorts of ideas — whether they’d work or not, the membership plan would have to wait.

"What if you just used cash and bought the gear on the open market?"

Wang Tao suggested.

"Not a chance."

Chen Yuan shot it down immediately.

It wasn’t that he was tight with money — he just had a lot of cash expenses coming down the line.

Besides, the fishing ground had only been open a few days. How much cash was there really?

Still wouldn’t be enough.

"Give it a few days. With two sessions running, between fishing fees, boxed meals, and smokes and drinks, the daily turnover should hit around fifteen thousand easy. I’ll have enough to cover you in no time."

Chen Yuan lit the cigarette Wang Tao had handed him as he talked.

"You’re the boss — whatever you say. Worst case I take a few days off. I’ve got my monthly pay either way. I won’t starve~"

Wang Tao lit his own cigarette, making no fuss about the points or materials.

Chen Yuan shot him a sharp glare.

Can you not bring up the monthly pay? That’s more points right there.

Already not enough to go around, and now he had to pay this guy’s damn salary on top of it.

Give me a break~

Once they’d finished their cigarettes, Wang Tao said his goodbyes and headed out. Not enough points — might as well enjoy a paid vacation.

"Boss Chen, what exactly are you building over there? It’s a hell of a production just for a bathroom."

One of the anglers climbed up to scan the vending machine for a pack of cigarettes, opened it up, and tapped one out for Chen Yuan.

"Building a clubhouse. Going full hotel."

Chen Yuan took the cigarette with a grin.

"Well then you’d better line up some girls to work there."

Anglers loved messing around like this — if you’re building a clubhouse, you’ve got to have ladies working the floor.

"Boss Chen, you really building a clubhouse? I’ll hook you up with the girls — just say the word~"

The guys along the bank started hollering and egging each other on. A bunch of grown men — the second someone mentioned girls, they all perked right up.

Just talk, of course. All mouth.

"I’ve got cameras up, you know. Careful I don’t clip that footage and post it to your WeChat comment sections~"

Chen Yuan pointed to the cameras mounted on the streetlights.

"Don’t care. WeChat isn’t like some open forum — non-friends can’t see each other’s comments. You can’t touch our lives, Boss Chen."

The anglers kept up their bravado, not budging an inch.

"This place is packed with people, and I’ve got a lot of contacts on WeChat. Who’s to say we don’t have mutual friends?"

Chen Yuan raised his hand and gave his phone a little wave.

Trading jabs with the anglers — honestly, not a bad way to spend the morning~