Chapter 242 - 208: Not Enough Parking Spaces

Chapter 242: Chapter 208: Not Enough Parking Spaces

But this was no small fish — and his partner hadn’t been ready for it. She’d set the hook like she was reeling in a minnow, and the moment she lifted the rod she’d completely lost control. At this rate, the fish would either snap free or drag her straight into the pond.

"Get over here, get over here — hurry, hurry! I can’t hold on much longer~"

She stopped fighting it. The fish was just too powerful. Never mind landing it — she couldn’t even lift the rod. If Chen Yiheng hadn’t grabbed it when he did, the fish would’ve taken the whole thing by now.

"Whoosh~"

The lucky angler set his kid down to the side and snatched the rod back, just as the tip was about to plunge under the surface. He started working it frantically, swinging left and right to wear the fish down.

"Get your life vests on. And keep an eye on the kids."

Chen Yiheng called out the reminder.

They’d been extra careful on patrol today — a lot of the people fishing were family members tagging along, and family members weren’t anglers. They had no idea what kind of fish were lurking in that pond.

The moment you hooked something could be the most dangerous moment of all.

A big fish like this one — when Daqing made its move, anyone who wasn’t braced for it could easily get yanked right into the water.

"Don’t worry, Uncle Heng. We’ve got safety covered."

The lucky angler called back.

Chen Yiheng gave a nod and kept moving, making his rounds and checking in with the family members as he went. The anglers were doing their part too, reminding their own partners to stay alert.

This wasn’t some little fishing pond. The moment that rod bent, you had to be ready — treat every single fish like it could be a monster.

"Whoosh~"

The lucky angler kept working the rod. His partner watched with wide eyes, completely baffled — what was he even doing? But what stunned her most was that the rod she’d barely been able to budge a second ago was now slowly, steadily rising back up.

"This one’s got to be seventy, eighty pounds at least."

He got the rod up again, leaned back with his whole body, both hands locked tight around the grip, face lit up with pure exhilaration.

"That big?!"

His partner’s excitement shot through the roof.

It wasn’t just the size — it was the value. This was a lucky-prize fish. They got to keep whatever they caught. Word was something like this could go for ten, maybe eighteen thousand yuan.

She’d never imagined fishing could make you that kind of money.

"Whoosh~"

The line kept singing as the fish ran. Slowly, the lucky angler got Daqing under control, then passed the rod to his partner and stood beside her, coaching her through the fight.

The best part of fishing was always this — the battle. She was completely lit up, buzzing with adrenaline. And once you got a taste of playing a fish like this, you never wanted to let go of the rod.

"Keep the fun going~"

Chen Yuan watched for a bit, then quietly activated a few more fishing spots with his remote, making sure more of the family members got to feel what all the excitement was about.

Then he headed inside Hot Spring Paradise.

"Sister Xueling, how are the check-ins going?"

The front desk had calmed down. Only Liang Xueling was left at the counter.

"Most of them are checked in. But the majority are still out having fun — there are about a dozen kids up on the second floor."

Liang Xueling smiled as she spoke.

"I’ll go take a look. You rest up, Sister Xueling."

She was pregnant, after all. He gave her a quick word and headed upstairs.

The second floor was alive with noise.

The moment the elevator doors opened, he was greeted by the sound of children’s laughter.

The kids were having a blast. Some of the moms were right in there playing alongside them, others sat nearby scrolling through their phones, and a few had sunk into the massage chairs and weren’t moving anytime soon.

They’d installed quite a few massage chairs up here on the second floor.

That had been Chen Li’s idea.

Being a mom was exhausting. If you brought your kid out for a day trip and could actually unwind while they played on their own — get a proper massage, shake off some of that tiredness — that was worth something.

"Sis, how’s everything up here?"

Chen Yuan tracked down Chen Li.

"Nice and easy right now. Only a dozen or so kids — we’ve got more than enough hands to go around. The moms can actually breathe for once."

Chen Li picked up a ball that one of the kids had flung out of the pit and lobbed it back with a grin. The kid spun around and launched himself straight into the ball pool.

It was pretty cute.

"It’s still early. Once it heats up outside, the kids will all be flooding in here."

Chen Yuan gave it a try himself and tossed a ball to one of the kids.

"Yeah, totally expected. We’ll be fine."

Chen Li nodded, then added, "Oh, one more thing — when Mr. Wen came in, he mentioned that basically everyone in this first wave is doing both the fishing and the park. That checked out when we were processing the group tickets just now."

"I’ll figure out the parking situation."

Chen Yuan nodded.

Honestly, he’d already seen it coming. Nearly every angler had brought family along, and with Hot Spring Paradise and the kids’ area both on the table, there was no way they’d be leaving at three or four in the afternoon.

Which meant parking was going to be a problem.

They only had a little over two hundred spots. If the daytime anglers stayed put instead of clearing out, and the night fishing crowd showed up on top of that, those spots would be completely eaten up.

Tight, but just barely enough.

But what about everyone else coming just to visit?

After a short chat, Chen Yuan headed up to the third floor.

"Brother-in-law, how’s everything looking?"

He stepped off the elevator to find Yang Yangyang in his work uniform, a clear plastic face shield over his mouth — standard food service protocol, no saliva contaminating the drinks.

"Just waiting to open up~"

Yang Yangyang grinned.

Yang Yang seemed to have everything under control, so Chen Yuan pulled out a cigarette and offered him one, then took a quick look around Yang Yang’s living quarters out back before heading over to Tang Ying’s area.

The counter ran in a row like a canteen, with signs listing the prices for different meat-and-vegetable combos.

Next to it was a separate window — Lin Cuiju and Xu Juan’s made-to-order station, with a menu clearly posted so customers could pick whatever they wanted.

"Mom, make sure you’ve got plenty of food ready today."

Chen Yuan ducked into the kitchen to give them a heads-up.

"We know what we’re doing."

Tang Ying didn’t even look up, knife flying through the vegetables. Everyone was flat-out busy.

Today was Hot Spring Paradise’s grand opening — no room for sloppiness. And with nearly every angler bringing the whole family along, they were already looking at four or five hundred guests.

All of them were going to want lunch.

The workload was already several times what it normally was, and there was no telling how many more visitors would show up throughout the day. So they’d started prepping early.

"Anglers probably won’t be pre-ordering much today, but make sure there’s plenty to go around. And put together some dishes for the kids — keep the spice down."

Chen Yuan threw in one more reminder.

On his own, an angler didn’t care much about food — a simple boxed meal was perfectly fine. But with families in the mix, you had to think about a lot more.

And pre-ordering first thing in the morning was pointless anyway — nobody knew what they’d feel like eating later. Walking up to the window and seeing what was available would always beat ordering blind.

"The food is the last thing you need to worry about."

They’d already known the kids’ area was opening, so Tang Ying and the others had talked it over and added some lighter dishes to the menu. They’d even posted about it in the group chat.

Chen Yuan had just been too swamped to keep up with the messages.

But Tang Ying had quietly handled it herself without wasting a second of his time.

The kitchen was in full swing. Chen Yuan exchanged a few more words and headed out. He noticed Zhang Hui’s place was still shuttered — thought about calling, then decided against it.

Hotpot, barbecue, skewers — those were a different crowd from boxed lunches. The lunch rush wouldn’t hit them that hard, so there was no need to open early.

Chen Yuan went back downstairs.

While things were quiet, he pulled out the remote again, closed off a few fishing spots that had run their course, then opened up some new ones to make sure more family members got a shot at the fun.

"Dad, when the next wave of visitors comes in, ask if they’re here just for the park. If they are, send them to the parking spots we used when Old Pond first opened."

Coming out of the elevator, Chen Yuan unclipped the walkie-talkie from his belt and called Chen Jun.

Right now, most of the cars parked at Old Pond belonged to anglers who’d brought family. Since they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon, those spots were locked up for the day.

If regular visitors kept parking here on top of that, the night fishing crowd would have to be bumped back to the old lot.

But visitors would eventually leave, while the night fishing session didn’t kick off until midnight. Chen Yuan thought it over — better to keep the night fishers here where it was convenient.

"Copy that~"

Chen Jun’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie.

Chen Yuan switched it back to channel 3 and clipped it to his belt, glanced out toward the building entrance, then quickened his pace heading out.

"Put those flower baskets over there."

Outside the building, Chen Li was directing workers on where to place the flower baskets. Each one had congratulatory messages and names on it — clearly grand opening gifts.

"Who sent all these?"

Chen Yuan was genuinely curious.

There were an enormous number of them, and clearly from more than one sender. Several small trucks were parked along the village road, workers unloading basket after basket. Easily a few hundred of them — more than enough to overflow the entire entrance.