Chapter 240 - 207: Why Don’t You Get a Membership?

Chapter 240: Chapter 207: Why Don’t You Get a Membership?

"Sure, that works — but rules are rules. You still pay for the room."

Blond Punk actually had every intention of staying the night.

But this time was different from the last. During the carnival and Old Pond’s grand opening, they’d been working staff, so Chen Yuan covering their accommodation made sense. This time, though, they were just regular guests.

Friendship is friendship, and business is business.

"Brother Xu, since we can stay over, why not invite Sister Jia Wen and the others to come hang out too? I’d have someone to keep me company~"

Dongfang Qingyang batted her eyes.

Xu Bai actually went a little red at that.

"Oh? And what’s going on there?"

Chen Yuan’s ears perked up immediately.

Beep beep~

Blond Punk and the others grinned and were just about to dig into the gossip when a horn blared from behind. A line of cars had formed, stretching all the way around the bend in the blink of an eye — no telling how many were queued up back there.

"Alright, enough chatting. It’s almost six forty — peak check-in time."

Wang Heng turned the wheel and pulled into their usual spot.

They hadn’t reserved any fishing spots. Since they’d missed out on booking a guesthouse room, they’d figured they’d just enjoy the hot springs, so there was no rush to head over to Old Pond. And now that they could stay at Chen Yuan’s place, parking here made perfect sense.

"Boss Chen~"

Right behind Wang Heng’s car was Little Fish King.

Chen Yuan went over and offered him a cigarette, noticing a woman and a child in the car — looks like Little Fish King had brought the whole family along.

No small talk. Little Fish King drove straight on toward Old Pond.

"Alright, everyone get to work~"

Chen Yuan handed out cigarettes up front while Chen Jun and the others got moving behind him — guests for the small pond stayed here, while Old Pond guests kept going.

Chen Hanwen and Chen Hairong had ridden ahead on Chen Nan’s three-wheeler. They were on parking lot duty, and now that cars were rolling in, it was time to get back to their posts.

Everyone else pitched in where they could.

"Boss Chen, brought my girlfriend along today~"

Heavy Chummer actually had a girlfriend. Who knew.

"Head straight to Old Pond — someone at the parking lot will sort you out."

Chen Yuan said, sliding him a cigarette.

He offered one to every car that pulled up, and almost every face was a familiar one. Most of them had brought someone along — a spouse, the kids, a friend — except for a handful of singles, or those whose families were too busy or simply weren’t around.

Some had even brought mates.

Nearly every car had at least two people in it. Great turnout.

"We’ll head over to Old Pond to check tickets."

Chen Li saw how things were going and waved Liang Xueling and the others over to Old Pond.

Sure, it wasn’t officially time for Hot Spring Paradise or the kids’ play area to open yet — but the anglers had brought their families and the kids were already here. It wasn’t like they could just leave them standing around.

"Got it."

Liang Xueling, Liang Chunping, and the rest of the staff all headed over to get things ready.

Check-in went smoothly. Even though most of the anglers had brought family or friends, this whole wave had reserved their fishing spots in advance, so they’d come early.

Pretty much the usual pace.

The real test would come later in the day.

"Hey folks, the kids’ play area over at the hot springs is already open. Anyone who wants to head over can go now."

Once the rush had settled, Chen Yuan noticed there were still quite a few family members and little ones hanging around the small pond side. He clapped his hands and let them know the area was already up and running.

"It’s open already? Didn’t you say nine o’clock?"

Some of the family members looked surprised.

"Ha, if you want to go, just go. Boss Chen’s place — no need to stand on ceremony."

The married anglers chuckled — they’d long since stopped being surprised by this sort of thing.

This was Boss Chen, after all.

The man just operated on a different level.

Same deal with fishing — if you showed up early, nobody said you had to wait for the official start time before casting your line. A little early was fine; Boss Chen never minded.

This was exactly the same.

The wife and kids were here, so just open up and let them enjoy themselves. No need to be uptight about it.

"Alright, I’ll take the kids over now."

"Still early. I’ll fish for a bit — you take the kids for a while."

Some wanted to head over right away, others wanted to cast a line first. A few weren’t even big fishing fans to begin with, but once they soaked in the atmosphere of the place, they figured they’d throw a line in anyway.

Plus, it gave them an excuse to hand the kid off to the wife and get a bit of peace and quiet. Why not?

The stay-at-home dads stuck holding their babies suddenly felt very hard done by, shooting envious looks at the guys whose wives had taken the kids off their hands.

"Uncle Chen, Mr. Liang — can you guys ferry these guests over to Old Pond? And brother-in-law, grab that other three-wheeler from the house and help shuttle some people over too."

Chen Yuan looked around and figured only a small group needed to go. Between him and the others, they had four three-wheelers — enough to get everyone over in one trip without having to call in the staff from Old Pond.

"On it!"

Chen Dequan, always quick to read the room, was already waving the anglers’ family members over to hop on.

"Dad, hold down the fort here. I’m heading to Old Pond — I’ll come back once things are sorted over there. Radio me if anything comes up. And Uncle, if guests want to come over and there aren’t enough three-wheelers, just call for backup."

Chen Yuan called out to his dad and uncle.

Chen Kingdom was on the early shift, and there were still plenty of family members waiting around the small pond side — they’d need the three-wheelers to shuttle people to Old Pond before long.

Chen Jun was on the mid shift and had nothing pressing at the moment, so he could stay here and keep an eye on the next wave of guests as they arrived.

"I’ll go restock first."

Chen Jun grabbed Chen Kingdom’s three-wheeler keys and headed home to pick up cigarettes and drinks for Old Pond.

Chen Yuan had been about to go himself, but the three-wheelers still needed to carry passengers, which left no room for supplies. Besides, it was still early — he’d leave that to his dad.

When he arrived at Old Pond, the place was already buzzing.

Some anglers were making their way to their spots, while others were still hanging around with their wives and kids. A bunch of little ones had taken a real liking to the pebbles laid out on the ground and were happily picking through them outside.

Others were at the front desk getting their group-buy vouchers verified. Chen Yuan watched as his sister and Liang Xueling processed each one and slipped a wristband onto every guest.

Different colors meant different packages — that way staff could tell at a glance what each guest had access to. Anything not covered by the voucher had to be paid for separately.

"Boss Chen, you’re finally here — time for the lucky draw~"

Chen Yuan had just finished getting the guests he’d brought over checked in at the front desk when he heard some anglers outside hollering for the draw.

"What lucky draw?"

The family members had no idea what was going on, but their curiosity was piqued — they crowded in, eager to see what was up for grabs.

"Ha, it’s a prize for us anglers~"

The regulars started explaining.

"Oh — is this that thing where you came home with a few thousand yuan last time and said it was some kind of lucky prize from the fishing spot?"

One angler’s wife suddenly remembered.

"That’s the one."

The angler nodded with a grin. Chen Yuan recognized him — pretty sure he was the one who’d caught the 60-plus-jin fish and had jokingly tried to get him to take back the prize money.

"And that’s not even close to the best prize. There are three giant grass carp in this pond that each weigh over a hundred jin. If a lucky angler lands the first one, that’s a six-figure payout right there."

For the regulars, landing a giant grass carp was the dream prize from the lucky draw.

That was how you got rich in a single day.

"Six figures? A hundred thousand yuan?"

The family members standing around all gasped.

For people who didn’t fish and had no idea what these fish were worth, hearing that a single catch could fetch six figures was genuinely jaw-dropping. The first thought anyone would have is that it must be some incredibly rare species.

And they’re just letting people fish for it?

And from the sound of it, if you catch it, you can just take it home, no questions asked.

A hundred grand, just like that?

No way. For real?

"Ha, you lot just don’t understand Boss Chen’s vision. When this place opened earlier this month, someone landed one of those giant grass carp and sold it to a fish dealer on the spot — wire transfer, right then and there."

One of the regulars said with undisguised envy.

"Ha, I owe it all to Little Fish King, honestly. Without him fishing on my behalf, I never would’ve seen a penny of that money."

The angler had arrived with his wife and kid in tow, and was now chatting away with Little Fish King and his family, already making plans to have a meal together later.

"The big ones are harder to hook, but anything over sixty jin is pretty manageable. Get lucky and pull up one around ninety jin, and that’s still worth ten grand easy."

The anglers bantered on, and plenty of the family members were getting tempted. Especially after the lucky angler was drawn — his partner immediately shoved the baby into his arms and announced she was going to catch a giant grass carp herself.

A hundred thousand yuan, come on.

Plenty of other family members caught the bug too. No rush to go inside and play — just hand the kid off to dad, and since the kids were happy enough outside picking through the pebbles while it was still cool, why not?

"Why is there a whole row of sofas over here?"

Once they made it to the fishing spots, some of the family members noticed that the members-only area had sofas — and not just regular ones, but ones with massage functions. How come their spots didn’t have any of that?

Was this a paid upgrade?

"That’s members-only. You have to sign up for a membership to get those perks."

Said the husband standing next to her, kid in arms.

"How come you never signed up for a membership?"

The angler froze.

You know exactly how much money we have — don’t play dumb.