By nine o’clock, everything at the fishing ground had finally been sorted out. Chen Yuan and the others collapsed onto the ground, too exhausted to stand, but their faces were lit up with wide grins as they gazed out at the dense crowd swarming around the pond.
"Honestly, when Yuan first came back and said he wanted to open a fishing ground, I didn’t think much of it. But who could’ve guessed — two days in, and the place is already packed like this."
His uncle leaned on a hoe, cigarette dangling from his lips, smiling warmly toward the pond.
"The worst I figured could happen was that business would be slow — at least the fish would still be in the water, and we’d only lose some time. But this? This is beyond anything I expected."
Chen Jun held his cigarette between his fingers, the smile on his face impossible to hide.
"That’s my boy."
Tang Ying beamed with pride. Right now, she just wanted to grab the village loudspeaker and holler for everyone to come see for themselves how well the fishing ground was doing.
Who said nobody would pay money to go fishing?
Who said coming back to the village meant you had no ambition?
Who said going to college just to raise fish was a waste of a degree?
Hmph.
If Liu Fang hadn’t gone home right after finishing her laundry, and if Tang Ying hadn’t been run off her feet all morning, she would’ve marched right over and shoved it all in that woman’s face by now.
"Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie — you all head back and rest. I’ll go collect the fishing fees."
Chen Yuan finished his cigarette, got to his feet, and headed toward the pond.
"Don’t forget to ask how many people are staying for lunch."
Tang Ying called after him.
Chen Yuan gave a thumbs-up over his shoulder without turning around.
"Hey, you poor bastard — where’d you get these life vests? Mine feels like I’ve got a little fan strapped to my body, it’s so cool."
Qin Fen waved Chen Yuan over, tugging at the life vest on his chest, his expression a mix of excitement and disbelief. Then he pointed up at the parasol overhead.
"And that thing up there — it’s like it’s pumping out a cool breeze. Sitting under it doesn’t feel like summer at all. More like a breezy spring day. I can’t figure out how it works."
They were just ordinary life vests and parasols, yet somehow they gave off this refreshing, comfortable coolness. Strange didn’t even begin to cover it.
"Right? Boss Chen, why are your life vests and parasols so cooling? It seriously doesn’t feel like summer anymore. Where’d you get them?"
"Boss Chen, drop a link! I want to grab a couple for myself — perfect for going out in summer."
"Hey, pond master — please, we’re begging you, send the link!"
The anglers were equal parts baffled and delighted.
Normally, anglers had a strong aversion to all this safety gear at fishing grounds — especially life vests in the summer. It was already sweltering, and throwing on an extra layer of clothing felt worse than sitting in a sauna.
But the life vests at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground were something else entirely. The material was incredibly comfortable, and wearing one actually made you feel noticeably cooler. It was borderline miraculous.
And those parasols — genuinely refreshing.
No more worrying about getting roasted alive while fishing in the summer heat, only to come home and get teased by the wife: "Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?"
They had no idea how it worked. They just wanted the link.
"Ha! As long as everyone’s happy. I was actually wondering how I’d talk you all into cooperating with the gear rules — turns out you guys are way more on board than I expected."
Chen Yuan laughed out loud.
He was genuinely pleased.
System-made, top-grade — without exception.
With the life vests and parasols working in tandem — warm in winter, cool in summer — customer loyalty was practically guaranteed. These anglers were going to have a hard time ever going back to another fishing ground.
Unless they had a thing for sunstroke.
And thanks to Ye Huan, that walking God of Wealth, what was originally expected to be around thirty customers had turned into thirty-five. Every extra head was money in the pocket.
"Ha! It’s not that we’re so cooperative — it’s that your setup here is just too good to pass up, Boss Chen."
"At any other fishing ground, you couldn’t pay me to put this thing on."
The anglers burst out laughing, satisfaction written all over their faces.
"Holy shit, the float just went under!"
Suddenly, one of the anglers shouted with a jolt of excitement, and every head around the pond snapped in his direction.
"Ha! It’s a bream — and a nice one too, straight from the pond. That’s gonna taste incredible cooked up."
The angler held the fish up and turned it over, clearly pleased with the quality.
But plenty of the others watched the bream get pulled out and clicked their tongues in mild disappointment.
It wasn’t that they had anything against the fish — it was just that with the Fish King in the water, most of them had zero interest in hauling up these Little Kalamis. They’d come to land the Fish King.
Even if the bites from other fish in the pond were perfectly decent.
"Boss Chen, you sure the Fish King pays out a thousand flat?"
One of the anglers called over.
"Absolutely, positively, one hundred percent — anyone who lands the Fish King gets paid on the spot, and there’s no cap on how many times you can claim it." Chen Yuan said it with the swagger of a man who had nothing to lose.
"What the hell, Boss Chen, you’re really going all out, huh?"
"Boss Chen, just be straight with us — are you laundering money? Tell me how much and I’ll jump in that pond right now and grab the Fish King with my bare hands. I’ll get it out for you."
The crowd of anglers practically erupted.
A flat thousand was already insanely generous — the entry fee was only a hundred, and a ten-times payout fishing ground wasn’t unheard of, but none of them had ever actually run into one before.
But the real kicker was that the payout had no limit on how many times you could claim it.
Do you understand what that means?
Anyone could go for it. Over and over again.
If the Fish King was biting, landing it seven or eight times in a single day wasn’t out of the question — plus you could keep every other fish you caught, no restrictions whatsoever.
Wouldn’t Boss Chen bleed out completely?
Serious suspicions were forming that Boss Chen was running some kind of money laundering operation.
"Ha! Since I put the Fish King in there, might as well make it worth everyone’s while. Question is — do any of you actually have what it takes?"
Chen Yuan waved his hand like it was nothing.
Lose money?
I’ve got the remote control. How exactly am I supposed to lose?
"Screw it, send the fee, go after the Fish King — can’t let that smug bastard Boss Chen get too comfortable."
The anglers pulled out their phones and started flagging Chen Yuan down to come collect their fees — the guys paying were in more of a hurry than the guy collecting.
Chen Yuan laughed it off. He didn’t mind the ribbing one bit. The more they carried on like this, the more it showed they were having a genuinely good time.
The more it showed they were sold on the fishing ground.
"You poor idiot, are you sure you’re not in over your head?"
Qin Fen pulled Chen Yuan aside and lowered his voice. "You don’t actually think my grandpa is some top-tier angler, do you? If a real expert shows up, they could land that thing for you multiple times in one day. You’re going to bankrupt yourself."
Technically, Qin Fen was an angler himself, and the rules at Chen Yuan Fishing Ground were the kind that would have any serious angler losing their mind with excitement — but he was Chen Yuan’s brother first, and an angler second.
Unlimited shots at the Fish King. Keep everything you catch.
Playing it this way, Chen Yuan was going to run himself into the ground.
"Let’s just run the soft opening for a while and see how it goes. The place just opened — if there’s nothing exciting to bring people in, who’s going to bother showing up?"
Chen Yuan smiled.
Qin Fen had no idea about the system, of course, but the reasoning still held up — reel the anglers in first, build a steady customer base, and adjust the rules gradually from there.
"Just don’t let it get out of hand. Here, let me send you my fee first."
Qin Fen pulled out his phone. "Oh right — there’ll be four of us for lunch. Figure around two hundred for sides — those vegetables yesterday were great, Grandpa really liked them. Everything else, just set it up however you think works."
As he said it, he transferred six hundred over.
"Wait, Boss Chen — your fishing ground serves food? Do you make it here, or is it takeout boxes from somewhere?"
Qin Fen hadn’t bothered to keep his voice down, and an angler nearby caught every word, turning to ask out of curiosity.
"All homemade, of course — rice cooked over a wood fire in a big pot, absolutely incredible. The vegetables come straight from our own garden, and the chickens are genuine free-range village birds."
Chen Yuan walked over with a grin and offered the man a cigarette.
"Now that’s what I’m talking about. Every other fishing ground I’ve been to just orders takeout boxes — tastes like nothing and costs a fortune."
The angler accepted the cigarette with a smile. "So what are you charging for meals, Boss Chen?"
The anglers nearby perked up the moment they heard Boss Chen was offering food — and that it was all made in-house.
After all, Chen Yuan Fishing Ground was open all day. You had to eat something at noon.
Chen Yuan felt a warm, satisfied glow settle in his chest.
Another tidy little stream of income.