As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 46: Chapter 46 Night Fishing By The Stream, Actually Caught A Barrage

By the time he finished selling, it was already late. Chu Mingcheng hurried home to feed Xiao Mi, who had, besides cat food, a steamed mackerel that was ready for dinner.

Chu Mingcheng carefully stripped the fish flesh, cut off and discarded the small bones on the spine, and then cut the remaining spine into sections to feed to Xiao Mi along with the fish flesh and head.

Xiao Mi ate voraciously. Perhaps because it grew up outdoors, it wasn’t picky like some other pets.

After petting twice, Chu Mingcheng gently touched its belly and felt that it seemed to be getting bigger.

This worried him a bit, so he decided not to go fishing tomorrow and instead take Xiao Mi to the hospital for a checkup.

When he drove back to town and just got home, he saw Mr. Chu, with a “bang,” chop the neck of a soft-shelled turtle.

Chu Mingcheng grinned. That was indeed fast, fierce, and accurate.

An Xiuwen was helping out, processing a black chicken. Seeing him return, she asked, “Where are Ah Wei and Ah Yang?”

“They finish work at five, they’ll get here around half past.” Chu Mingcheng had also felt a bit tired from fishing all afternoon, especially his hands.

He felt that his biceps were getting more defined lately, and even a four-pack was beginning to show on his abdomen.

Since there was still some time before dinner, Chu Mingcheng lay on the sofa and started looking up issues about getting snagged while fishing in the rocky areas on his phone.

He hadn’t expected to experience so many snags and getting stuck on the bottom today. The financial loss didn’t matter much, but it was a real shame to have lost that big fish.

The first thing he found was the inverted hook technique, which meant changing the hook to an inverted one.

There was also the Awa-shima method, which had detailed explanations in the videos. The key was still to find the bottom, and he could buy a few bottom-searching sinkers specifically designed for the task. @@novelbin@@

Having found a solution, Chu Mingcheng noted down the details of these two fishing methods on his phone, especially the items he needed to buy.

He just didn’t understand why, in the videos, others also frequently got snagged while rock fishing but never seemed to get stuck on the bottom. Were those parts edited out?

By the time he had finished researching, Mr. Chu’s “Farewell My Concubine” dish was also ready, coincidentally just as Zhang Wei and Chen Yang arrived.

“Uncle Chu, Aunt An, we’re here! It smells so good. Uncle Chu’s cooking skills are still so amazing, the smell alone is making my mouth water.” Zhang Wei, being a bit more exuberant, talked nonstop as soon as he entered.

Chen Yang, more composed, simply greeted everyone quietly.

“You’ve arrived just in time, I was about to ask Acheng here to check when you’d be here. All the dishes are ready, go wash your hands and let’s eat,” said An Xiuwen, welcoming them as they arrived.

Mr. Chu simply nodded with a smile.

“Alrighty~” Zhang Wei wasn’t the least bit shy and went straight for the food after washing his hands, but he served rice for everyone else as well.

Chen Yang helped carry the dishes. They used to divide tasks like this often and were used to it by now.

Chu Mingcheng wasn’t idle either; he had chopsticks to distribute.

During the dinner, a three-pound soft-shelled turtle and a three-pound black chicken were devoured completely, leaving hardly any soup behind.

Ever since Chu Mingcheng’s constitution had gradually improved, his appetite had increased a lot, and he could almost keep up with the big eaters.

After eating, the three men walked slowly around the downstairs community area to aid digestion.

Zhang Wei rubbed his belly, let out a satisfied burp, “So satisfying. Uncle Chu’s cooking is still unbeatable. The taste of the wild soft-shelled turtle is truly awesome.”

“Didn’t you say you were going to fish for soft-shelled turtles? How about we head to Yanmen Island’s reservoir on the mountain now?” Chu Mingcheng also wasn’t ready to stop, as wild soft-shelled turtles were good for nourishing yin and reinforcing the kidneys—it wouldn’t hurt to eat more.

Speaking of fishing for soft-shelled turtles, Chen Yang suddenly remembered something, “Speaking of fishing, one of my clients gave me a secret fishing spot. He himself went night fishing there the day before yesterday and filled his keepnet in just three hours. How about we check it out tonight?”

“Filled the keepnet?” Chu Mingcheng and Zhang Wei, the two fishing enthusiasts, were immediately interested. Fishing for soft-shelled turtles in the reservoir could wait; they could first check out that secret spot tonight.

Zhang Wei hurriedly said, “Then what are we waiting for, let’s get going, I have a fish keeper in my car, let’s see if your client has been bullshitting or if there really will be a big catch.”

So the three of them scurried off in the car to the so-called secret fishing spot.

It was only after they arrived that they realized it was a small river, filled with aquatic plants and looking not too dirty.

But whether they could actually land a massive haul here, Zhang Wei and Chu Mingcheng were both quite skeptical.

Since they were there already, naturally, they had to give it a try.

Chen Yang usually didn’t fish, but since both his buddies were doing it tonight, he would have been bored alone, so he borrowed a hand rod from Chu Mingcheng to play around with.

Bait, groundbait, and even mineral water were all available in the car; he just had to mix them himself.

The other two felt that there might be black fish in the little river, so they started lure fishing.

As Zhang Wei was reeling in, his fishing rod was the first to dip, and he laughed, “Ah Yang, your client wasn’t lying. There are lots of fish here. I got a bite on my first cast with the lure, and in all my time of fishing, I’ve never come across such good fortune…”

Before he could finish, a beverage bottle appeared in everyone’s sight and started “papapa” slapping his face.

Chen Yang and Chu Mingcheng fell silent for a moment and then burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, even a beverage bottle is a catch. Congratulations, congratulations!”

“Don’t panic, maybe I’ll get a beverage too…” Chu Mingcheng’s playful words were also cut short, as he felt his rod dip as well, but without the sensation of a fish struggling, which gave him a bad feeling.

Indeed, as he reeled in the line, another beverage bottle appeared in everyone’s sight.

“…” Chu Mingcheng’s mood for enjoyment instantly turned to resignation, “Another beverage bottle. People these days just litter too much.”

“Fishing, well, isn’t it just that you don’t catch fish, but everything else?” Zhang Wei chuckled as he pulled up the beverage bottle and put it into the fish keeper, “Bring yours over too, we’ll put it in the keeper and take it away later.”

“Okay.” Chu Mingcheng nodded and placed the beverage bottle into the keeper.

On Chen Yang’s end, the effect of the groundbait wasn’t apparent yet, but since he was just tagging along, he baited the hook and let it down into the water.

And in less than half a minute, the float started to move.

“Haha, looks like I’m the first to catch a fish tonight.”

With no fishing experience, he didn’t wait for the float to fully submerge before lifting his rod, luckily managing to haul up a fish by accident.

Seeing the small whitebait not even two fingers wide, Zhang Wei teased, “Wow, what a huge fish!”

“No matter how small, it’s still a fish. If it’s too tiny, it can be a little snack for Acheng’s house’s cat.” Chen Yang didn’t mind the size of the fish and happily unhooked it, took the tackle box from Chu Mingcheng’s car, and tossed it inside.

Just then, Chu Mingcheng pulled up another beverage bottle, “What’s up with this river, why are there so many bottles?”

“I have no idea!” Zhang Wei shook his head, also retrieving a mineral water bottle.

The two looked at each other, feeling something off about this fishing spot, so they moved away separately to try different spots, leaving Chen Yang alone to fish for his small whitebait.

Two hours later, Chu Mingcheng and Zhang Wei were certain that Chen Yang’s client hadn’t lied—they had indeed filled the fish keeper.

Zhang Wei looked at the keeper full of bottles speechlessly and said, “How are we going to take these away?”

Chen Yang sighed and said, “I’ll drive and find a garbage collector to come over!”

Chu Mingcheng, however, was in good spirits, taking out his phone to snap pictures of the evening’s haul.

Filling a fish keeper with bottles, this kind of experience is also bound to be unforgettable, worth recording.