Yesterday, there were supposed to be two groups coming to fish—Huang Kai and his friends, of course, followed Xiang Ye to YueJing Lake. Meanwhile, the other group, who preferred reservoir and pay-to-fish ponds, headed off to Panshan Reservoir.
Over at Panshan Reservoir, they started fishing earlier than Xiang Ye's group. But by now, out of the seven people who went, they had only managed to catch a single small Common Carp.
Although ticket dodging costs much less than regular fishing, the truth is: you just don't catch fish. Sure, fish don't have great memory, but it's not like the internet memes say—with only seven seconds of recall. The fish that were caught yesterday haven't even recovered from their injuries yet—there's a low chance they'll bite again.
Plus, fish are cold-blooded; they don't need to eat often. The ones that weren't caught yesterday already had a feast—so the odds of them biting today? Slim.
According to people chatting in the group chat, today's fishing fee at Panshan Reservoir is 300 yuan per person, and the buy-back rate is 3 yuan per Jin. You'd have to catch 100 Jin just to break even. But looking at how things are going now, forget breaking even—they're not even sure if the whole group's catch combined could meet that goal. As the saying goes: "Listen to advice and you'll be well-fed."
They ignored Xiang Ye's warning, so he had nothing more to say.
Meanwhile, back at YueJing Lake, things were going just as planned—one big fish after another. No more fifty-Jin Grass Carp like the other day, but plenty of twenty-plus Jin Silver Carp and Bighead Carp. The biggest was about 27 or 28 Jin, and the smallest was still over 22.
From 9 AM, they started catching small fish, and by around 10, they'd moved on to the big ones. By the time it was past noon and the fish started to pause biting, Xiang Ye had already caught five big fish.
Perfect—there were five of them. One fish each was more than enough.
If they got one more, they could save it for dinner.
With this kind of haul, Xiang Ye's group was calm and relaxed, not the least bit anxious.
Right around then, Liu Guangqing's lunch order arrived. One of the staff took a boat to the shore to pick it up, but unexpectedly, came back with another man.
This man looked to be in his fifties, dressed in a suit and tie—definitely not someone who came to fish. Sure enough, after stepping off the dock and glancing around, he headed straight for Huang Kai.
"Huang, my good man! Still fishing? How's the catch today?" the man said, putting on a smile and ignoring the age gap. He was cautious and respectful.
"Not bad," Huang Kai replied calmly. "President Liu, what brings you here today?"
The middle-aged man, this "President Liu," smiled awkwardly and shook his head. "Nothing really, just came to have a look."
But Huang Kai's next words made the man's smile freeze.
"Then take your look, I'm about to have lunch."
Now Liu was stuck—couldn't stay, couldn't leave. After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth, turned around, and left the island on the boat.
"Trying to get you to do something?" Xiang Ye asked curiously as they walked over to join Huang Kai for lunch, which Liu Guangqing had already set up.
"Sort of. That guy's the head of the company developing YueJing Lake. It's a half-state-owned enterprise. In recent years, they've been losing money badly, so the government and local authorities have been pressuring them to generate some income. Otherwise, do you think they'd even let us fish here?" Huang Kai explained casually.
This kind of situation was pretty standard. A lot of wildlife conservation organizations mainly rely on government funding, but they're still expected to generate some of their own income.
That's why almost all conservation zones nationwide have some form of small revenue-generating activities. For example, at the Yangtze River dolphin reserve, they built a small animal park where people can view dolphins, feed the sick or recovering ones, and buy dolphin-themed merchandise like keychains or plush toys.
Land-based conservation areas, like those for Siberian tigers, do the same. These little ventures are how they keep some money flowing.
But YueJing Lake was a different story. It's far from the city center, and although it's technically a tourist site, it's really just a lake—and a deep one at that. No campfires or barbecues allowed, and no swimming either. It doesn't appeal to young people at all, so tourist traffic is low.
There are no iconic species here either, so they can't even do well with souvenirs or themed merch.
The best they could do was build scenic spots—though even those didn't sell well.
Sure, they opened up fishing, but at 500 yuan a day, that's not cheap. Besides people like Xiang Ye who can definitely catch fish, others just won't come.
500 yuan is a lot. For beginners, that could buy an entire set of gear!
But the price can't be any lower either. If someone catches even one fish—say, a 20-Jin wild lake fish—they've already broken even. That kind of fish sells for at least 20–30 yuan per Jin on the market. One fish pays off the whole day.
That's why the price stays high. And it's why the company behind YueJing Lake is in trouble. They've tried several ways to monetize, but nothing's worked. They're still bleeding money.
So now, they've decided to develop real estate.
Honestly, it's not a bad idea. The main problem here is low traffic. If real estate could bring people in, it might naturally lead to more business and development in the area.
But theory and execution are two different things.
First, there are environmental restrictions. YueJing Lake is a protected zone. While you can build housing, none of it can pollute the lake—not the construction waste or the residential garbage after people move in. That's hard to manage.
Second, the land here is overly rich in groundwater—not suitable for high-rises. Even six or seven stories might be too much.
So, the only option is to build villas.
But villas don't make money nowadays…
And more importantly, the goal here is to bring in traffic. How many people actually live in villas? This completely contradicts the original plan.
At first, Huang Kai's family real estate company didn't know this and won the bid. But once they realized the situation, they understood: building villas here wouldn't just be unprofitable—it might even result in losses. So, they shelved the project and sat on the land.
Now, the YueJing Lake development company is at their limit. The traffic hasn't come, the deficits haven't improved, and if things keep going this way, their executives are going to get axed.
That's why President Liu came to beg Huang Kai.
But it's clear this isn't the first time—and Huang Kai has no intention of getting involved.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]