Chapter 220 - 194: Inviting Zhang Hui to Open a Branch Store

Chapter 220: Chapter 194: Inviting Zhang Hui to Open a Branch Store

What did his brother-in-law do for a living?

He just made milk tea, didn’t he?

In his previous life, after his sister got married and had kids, it was difficult for her to hold a full-time job while taking care of her family. So, she and her brother-in-law simply opened a milk tea shop.

Just like Liang Chunping, she opened her own shop so she could balance work and her children.

The only difference was the industry they chose.

’No wonder my sister thought of this. It seems she’s already discussed it with her future husband.’

"Alright, you handle the business recruitment. What time tomorrow? Do you need me to be there?"

Chen Yuan knew exactly what was going on but didn’t let on.

If his memory served him right, his future brother-in-law should still be an employee at a milk tea shop right now, not an entrepreneur. But his skills were definitely solid.

"No need. I can handle it."

Chen Li was full of confidence.

Chen Yuan smiled to himself. ’Of course you can handle it. You can even handle the person involved.’

The siblings chatted for a while longer before Chen Li walked off, busy with her phone.

’Looks like this is going to happen.’

Watching his sister’s cheerful figure, Chen Yuan’s lips slowly curled into a smile. ’She’s already calling the guy over to open a milk tea shop. Is there any way he’s getting away?’

After a moment’s thought, he headed to the kitchen.

"Mom, Dad, dress up a little tomorrow."

"Dress up for what? We’re in the village. It’s not like we’re going to a banquet. It’s all just neighbors. Who are we dressing up for?"

Chen Jun, poking at the stove fire with a pair of tongs, scoffed at Chen Yuan’s words.

He was a man in his forties who spent all day in the village. Flip-flops, shorts, and a tank top were his standard attire—convenient for work and cool in the heat.

If he wasn’t running the fishery and having to pick up and drop off customers every day, he wouldn’t even want to wear a tank top in this scorching weather.

"What are we dressing up for?"

Tang Ying, who was chopping vegetables, also found it amusing and asked casually.

"We have an honored guest coming, of course."

Chen Yuan grinned.

An honored guest?

The old couple was a bit bewildered. What kind of honored guest could they possibly have?

"Are you bringing a girlfriend home?"

Tang Ying said with a laugh, just teasing him.

But Chen Yuan let out a chuckle.

"Mom, are you a fortune teller or something? You basically guessed it."

Tang Ying’s chopping suddenly stopped.

Chen Jun, still fiddling with the stove, shot his head up.

The couple stared at him, their eyes gleaming.

"Are you really bringing a girlfriend home?"

"Who is she?"

"Is it Zhou Lin’s wife’s cousin?"

"That girl really is nice~"

Their words poured out like a machine gun, one question after another.

Whoa, whoa, whoa~

Chen Yuan was exasperated. ’To think they’re still hung up on Zhou Lin’s wife’s cousin.’ He’d never even chatted with her on WeChat. It was completely out of left field.

"It’s not about me, it’s about my sister."

Chen Yuan quickly changed the subject, pulling himself out of the vortex.

"Your sister?"

Tang Ying didn’t quite catch on, asking in confusion, "What about your sister?"

"Our brother-in-law."

Chen Yuan slapped his forehead. "I forgot what I told you last time—something might be going on with my sister. I just saw it again. She’s already invited him over for tomorrow."

"Are you serious?"

Tang Ying was getting a little excited.

Chen Jun was just as excited. He pulled out a cigarette for himself and tossed one to Chen Yuan.

Cigarettes were for both happy and stressful occasions.

"Would I lie to you?"

Chen Yuan lit the cigarette dangling from his lips.

"This is great! This is great news! Old man, you better dress nicely tomorrow. Don’t look all sloppy. We can’t have our future son-in-law looking down on us."

Tang Ying happily reminded Chen Jun.

"You think I don’t know that?"

Chen Jun lit his cigarette with a piece of kindling. He wasn’t an idiot.

Normally, Tang Ying might have glared at him for that, but today she was truly happy. Even the lingering effects of yesterday’s troubles had vanished completely.

"How much do you know about your sister’s situation? Do you know anything about your future brother-in-law?"

Tang Ying asked Chen Yuan, wanting to get more details beforehand.

Where was he from? What was his family like? Would he look down on them for being from the countryside? They hadn’t even met yet, and she was already imagining all sorts of problems.

"I’ve already told you everything I know."

Chen Yuan didn’t dare reveal too much. He had said what needed to be said last time. He just reminded them that the man was coming to talk business tomorrow, so they shouldn’t be overly enthusiastic.

’My sister hasn’t laid her cards on the table yet.’

Tang Ying and Chen Jun said they understood. They also asked Chen Yuan to keep an eye on things, since young people were easier to talk to. As for what "keeping an eye on things" entailed, it had many implications.

Chen Yuan said it was no problem, then called out a farewell and headed upstairs.

He put his laptop on the desk, turned on the air conditioner, and began drafting a detailed plan for the large pond, breaking the main objective down into smaller goals.

It was a chain of interconnected steps, one following the other, moving forward one foot at a time.

Besides the plan for the large pond, Chen Yuan was also thinking about the proposal for the village-enterprise cooperation. Although he had talked about the guesthouse with Uncle Bin, the specific details and the entire collaboration needed to be planned out.

"If this thing with our daughter really works out, we should have the wedding by the end of the year."

In the kitchen, Tang Ying felt especially energetic as she chopped vegetables, a radiant smile never leaving her face.

"It’s just the very beginning. What’s the rush?"

Chen Jun finished tending to the firewood and came over to help with the vegetables. Tang Ying turned to focus on the wok.

"Our daughter is 23 this year. Next year is her zodiac year. If we delay a year, she’ll be 25. Besides, once our daughter is married, it’ll be easier to arrange things for our son."

Young people today don’t follow many customs, but the older generation was very particular about these things. Sometimes, you couldn’t even get married during your zodiac year.

"How did this turn to our son?"

Chen Jun didn’t understand the second half of Tang Ying’s sentence.

"What if our son brings someone home one day? If his older sister isn’t married yet, how can he get married?"

The oil in the wok heated up. Tang Ying picked up a bowl of meat from the cutting board and poured it in, stir-frying.

"Our generation’s old-fashioned ideas don’t apply to young people anymore. Let them arrange their own affairs. Nagging them won’t do any good."

Chen Jun shook his head.

In their generation, with many siblings, there was an order to getting married. If an older brother or sister wasn’t married, the younger ones usually had to wait.

Otherwise, it would easily lead to gossip.

’The younger one is married, but the older one isn’t settled down? That means no one wants them, they can’t get married, they can’t find a husband.’ That kind of talk.

"I’m just worried about our precious daughter being gossiped about."

Tang Ying wasn’t particularly stubborn or old-fashioned; she just didn’t want to hear any gossip.

"Times have changed. The fact that things are even starting is good news. We’ll worry when it’s time to worry. Let them handle the rest themselves."

Chen Jun’s way of thinking was quite good. Each generation has its own way of life. Don’t nag the young ones about their affairs; worry about what needs worrying about, and enjoy the peace when you don’t have to.

Tang Ying wasn’t a nag either.

She just confined her chatter to her husband, talking about how to arrange things for tomorrow, her face constantly lit with a radiant smile, full of energy as she worked.

At seven o’clock, Chen Yuan came downstairs for dinner, then went back up to continue working on his proposals.

A little after ten, he turned off his computer and went downstairs.

First, he took a stroll around the small pond. An angler had hooked a huge Daqing, so the bonus for a powerful retrieve had to be given out.

"Boss Chen, I feel like the huge Daqing in the small pond are especially fierce. I bet they’re more than a hundred pounds."

The angler who hooked the huge Daqing was particularly excited.

"They eat bait every day, so they’re definitely getting bigger."

Chen Yuan chuckled as he handed over the reward.

He didn’t know if the Fish King had gotten bigger, but its pulling strength had definitely increased.

These days, he rarely used the remote control for the small pond, or for the Old Pond either. Chen Yuan wasn’t strictly controlling when the Fish King Daqing would bite.

For the small pond, he would only use it to lure the fish out if it hadn’t been seen for two or three days, and each time he did, he would increase its pulling strength.

When he wanted it to be really fierce, he would increase the strength by a full 100%. Many times, anglers couldn’t hold onto their rods and had them yanked from their hands. Such wild scenes only served to fire up the anglers’ desire to conquer it.

As a result, the lower bite frequency didn’t diminish the anglers’ enthusiasm at all; instead, their desire to conquer the fish grew even stronger.

After circling the small pond, Chen Yuan rode his tricycle to the Old Pond. As soon as he arrived at the bank, he saw a familiar van and a familiar figure.

"Brother Hui~"

Chen Yuan rode over to greet him.

"Yo, Boss Chen."

Zhang Hui had been about to hop into the driver’s seat, but when he saw Chen Yuan arrive, he closed the van door and pulled out a cigarette.

"Brother, you bought a Daqing?"

Chen Yuan took the cigarette and glanced through the van window. He saw a Daqing lying in a large fish box, with an oxygen pump running.

He estimated it weighed around seventy-five pounds.

"Haha, it’s all thanks to Boss Chen’s good business. I can come by and pick up a good deal every now and then."

Zhang Hui lit his cigarette and said with a smile.

"Brother, a ’good deal’ like this breaks my heart."

Chen Yuan clutched his chest with a pained expression.

But that’s how it was running a fishery; you win some, you lose some.

Since he’d established the lucky prize, the anglers were free to do whatever they wanted with their catch. Whether they sold it to a restaurant for cash or killed it on the spot, it was their choice.

As for the size, he had to honor it, whether it was a seventy-something-pounder or even a huge Daqing.

Besides, not every lucky angler could land a fish that big. In the past few days, plenty of lucky prizes had been fish weighing ten or twenty pounds.

Overall, every session was profitable; the only difference was by how much.

"Yo, even Boss Chen can feel heartbroken? I thought you didn’t care about this stuff at all."

Zhang Hui joked.

He had personally witnessed how extravagant Chen Yuan could be. From the Anglers’ Carnival to the Old Pond’s grand opening, the way he did things wasn’t something an ordinary person would dare to attempt.

Now he was acting heartbroken over a seventy-plus-pounder? Who was he kidding?

"By the way, Brother, how’s business at your restaurant?"

They chatted for a bit, and just as Zhang Hui was about to say goodbye and leave, Chen Yuan suddenly thought of his recruitment plan.

"It’s alright. Working from dawn till dusk to earn a little hard-earned money."

Zhang Hui did indeed own a few restaurants. They specialized in high-end fish hot pot and were doing quite well in Chong City, operating on a decent scale.

He wasn’t being secretive about it. After all, he and Chen Yuan weren’t in the same business.

"Brother, would you be interested in opening a branch here?"

After getting a basic understanding, Chen Yuan extended an invitation to Zhang Hui.

"Open a branch out here? Brother, are you serious?"

Zhang Hui was surprised, with a hint of skepticism.

A restaurant wasn’t a fishery. The main battleground for fisheries was in the suburbs or countryside, but for restaurants, it was definitely in the city. The city was where you had guaranteed foot traffic.

"I’m not kidding. Are you interested, Brother?"

Chen Yuan said with a nod.

Seeing that Chen Yuan didn’t look like he was joking, Zhang Hui’s smile gradually faded. He frowned in thought for a moment, then said with a wry smile,

"Brother, let’s talk business. Under normal circumstances, no one would really open a restaurant out in the countryside. After all, you know what the foot traffic is like here."