They launched the bass boat with life jackets required for all passengers. Chu Mingcheng accepted the one the old man handed him, strapped it on, and settled into the middle seat.
The boat featured a driver's seat up front with two passenger seats in the back.
The old man took the helm, steering the vessel as smoothly as if he were driving a car.
"Agong, do you need a license for a bass boat like this?"
"Of course you do. And all the boat's docuntation has to be in order."
"Agong, how much did this boat cost you? Was it expensive?"
"Not too bad. Just over a hundred."
"…"
Chu Mingcheng fell silent. A small boat—only about five-point-four ters long—that looked so high-tech had cost over a hundred thousand. It was even more expensive than his fishing boat. Talk about an eye-opener.
The bass boat sped across the water, quickly reaching a spot facing a small island where a stream flowed into the lake.
The old man pointed toward the stream's mouth. "Peach blossoms, flowing water, and plump mandarin fish. Rember this—if you want to catch mandarin fish, these are the kinds of places you look for."
It was a piece of fishing wisdom, and Chu Mingcheng nodded, committing it to mory.
The old man then retrieved a white soft plastic lure and a lead-head hook from his tackle box. After rigging it up, he handed it over. "Just tie this to your leader, and you're ready to go."
Chu Mingcheng took the rig, examined it carefully, and tied it to his leader.
But he didn't start fishing right away—he wanted to observe the old man's technique first.
He watched as the old man unhurriedly set up his own line, tied on the sa rig, and, gripping his lure rod, cast gently toward the stream's mouth. The lure landed softly on the water's surface.
As he reeled in, he made the lure dance along the bottom.
Mandarin fish have a habit of hiding in rock crevices, and they especially favor clean water with abundant vegetation.
It was morning—a ti when fish were most active. The dancing lure, with its enticing movents, seed to taunt, "Co and get !"
Who could resist such provocation?
Mandarin fish are every bit as aggressive as snakeheads. This one shot out and swallowed the arrogant little white intruder in one gulp.
But the mont it clamped down, it realized this wasn't food. Sharp pain told it that it had been deceived.
Seeing the strike, the old man lifted his rod sharply with his right hand, and the line went taut.
Once the hook was set firmly in the fish's mouth, he began reeling in with his left hand.
The mandarin fish was easily pulled to the surface and, after a brief struggle, was brought alongside the boat.
Chu Mingcheng quickly used a fish gripper to lift it aboard. He checked the weight—a full jin and a half.
A mandarin fish over a jin was considered a good size. No wonder the old man had said he would take him to catch "big" mandarin fish.
"This is a delicious fish—lots of at, few bones. You can sell it at the market for a hundred and twenty a jin. Even the smaller ones go for sixty or seventy."
"You should get started. The bite is good in the morning."
Chu Mingcheng finally understood. The old man had probably invited him along because he'd ntioned selling fish the night before.
Compared to fishing from shore, catching big mandarin fish here was much more profitable.
The old man fished from the left side of the boat, so Chu Mingcheng cast from the right. The boat sat only about ten ters from the stream's mouth.
He first added about a third of water to his fish box, then cast his line.
His first cast landed just below the stream's mouth. He let the lure sink, then began reeling in, occasionally twitching and pausing. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his line, and the tip of his rod bent sharply.
After watching the old man's easy, leisurely catch, he had assud the fish wouldn't put up much of a fight.
He hadn't expected this strike to feel so much like battling a snakehead.
But he was a veteran who had landed hundreds of jin of large fish. A situation like this was nothing new.
He lifted his rod and reeled in. In just a few turns, the fish was at the surface. He continued reeling, and the fish was easily brought alongside the boat. With the drag locked tight, he simply released his grip with his right hand, grabbed the fish gripper, and lifted it aboard.
One jin and eight liang—nearly two jin.
He'd seen others catch mandarin fish before, and they were usually only a few liang. He hadn't expected the fish in this hidden gem of a spot to be so large.
And since mandarin fish commanded high prices and were considered premium aquatic products, he had really struck gold today.
He placed the fish in his box, turned on the aerator, and cast out again.
Just then, with a splash, the old man landed his second fish. His speed was incredible.
With the bite this good, Chu Mingcheng didn't dare waste any ti and quickly cast his lure.
Often, when you spend a full day fishing, the actual ti you're catching fish is surprisingly short.
That's why you can't waste a single second when the bite is on.
He missed two casts, but on the third, he got another hit.
It was another fierce strike, making it impossible to judge the size of the fish.
Only when he reeled it in did he see it was another fish over a jin. This one was slightly smaller than the last—one jin and one liang.
They fished until ten-thirty that morning. Chu Mingcheng had caught a total of thirteen mandarin fish. The smallest weighed one jin and one liang, and the largest was exactly two jin.
In over three hours, based on their initial efficiency, they should have caught more.
In reality, between the two of them, they had caught twenty-three fish, with over a dozen landed in the first hour alone.
They had probably cleaned out all the mandarin fish in the area. After that first productive hour, it took increasingly longer to get another bite.
It would probably be quite a while before this spot was replenished.
Chu Mingcheng was about to ask the old man to take him back to shore when he pulled out his phone and saw a ssage from Jiang Luoluo. She and Zhang Ruoi had sothing to do and wouldn't be ho for lunch.
Well, in that case, he might as well keep fishing. An angler could always skip a al.
But then the old man received a call. After he hung up, he reeled in his rod. "Ti to go. I have sothing this afternoon, so I need to head back. Give your number—I'll call you next ti I go fishing."
"Sure." The old man was a master. As a stranger in Xian, Chu Mingcheng needed to follow this expert around.
After adding him on Tencent, he saw that the old man used his real na for his account: Wei Jianguo—a na very characteristic of his generation.
[TN:Tencent is a major Chinese tech company known for platforms like WeChat and QQ. The na Wei Jianguo—literally “Build the Nation”.]
Back on shore, Chu Mingcheng said goodbye to Old Man Wei and tried to return the lure.
Old Man Wei just waved his hand, telling him to keep it, then drove off with his boat in tow.
Chu Mingcheng loaded his rod and fish box into his car and headed back.
There were so many mandarin fish here. Even though finding a good spot without a boat would be challenging, he could always try spearfishing!
The only problem was that he'd have to catch them by hand or with a snare to keep them alive.
Unlike seafood, which could be sold at high prices even when iced, freshwater fish had to be sold live.
It was almost noon, so he decided to sell the thirteen mandarin fish first.
He went to the sa spot at the scenic area entrance as yesterday. Coincidentally, just as he got out of his car, he ran into the family of three who had bought his grouper.
"Hey, brother, what a coincidence! Selling fish again?"
"Yeah, I went out this morning and caught so mandarin fish. It's almost lunchti, so I thought I'd co see if I could sell them."
"Mandarin fish? That's good stuff. Let take a look!"
"Sure." Chu Mingcheng opened his trunk, lifted out the fish box, and opened the lid.
The man peered inside and exclaid, "Whoa, did you catch these at a fish farm?"
"They're completely wild, caught in a lake." Chu Mingcheng picked up a mandarin fish. "Don't be fooled by the size. They're long and slender. Fard ones are much fatter."
Chu Mingcheng then used the fish gripper to lift it. "Look at this one. It's a good size, right? But it only weighs a little over a jin."
"If it were fard, a fish this size would weigh at least two jin. Plus, wild mandarin fish have almost no black mbrane in their bellies, and their gallbladders are small."
The man was quiet for a mont. Rembering how excellent the fish he'd bought yesterday had been, he said, "Weigh the biggest one for . By the way, what's your price?"
"One hundred twenty a jin. They're all over a jin. No haggling."
"One twenty? That's pretty steep!" the man's wife said with a frown.
Chu Mingcheng smiled and explained, "That's the going rate for wild mandarin fish, and ones over a jin are quite rare. An old man took to his secret spot, and I only managed to catch a few."
The man was a foodie and knew the market. He nodded. "The price is fair. I'm eating at the restaurant right next door. I'll know if it's wild or not as soon as they clean it."
In the end, the man bought the two-jin fish for two hundred and forty yuan.
He took the fish to the restaurant and had the owner clean it on the spot.
Chu Mingcheng's fish selling here had boosted the restaurant owner's business. And since the owner didn't stock these types of fish, there was no conflict of interest.
After cleaning the fish, the owner told the man honestly that it was indeed wild.
The man was pleased. Having bought excellent fish from Chu Mingcheng twice now, he happily returned.
"Brother, let's add each other on Tencent! If you have any good stuff in the future, you can just ship it to !"
"Sure. I'll add you to my custor group. Most of the fish I caught in the Xisha Islands were shipped to them. But you'll have to cover shipping yourself—just so you know upfront."
"Hey, as long as the quality is good, what's a little shipping fee?"
After joining the group, the man saw that there were over twenty people. He also noticed photos of various catches in the group album and was amazed.
"Whoa, what a huge amberjack! And what's this red fish? It's enormous! Is this what you caught in Xisha?"
"Yeah, the red fish is called a Bin Diao snapper. It's a deep-sea species."
The man's family wasn't short on money, but living inland, getting fresh seafood was both costly and inconvenient.
Now that he had connected with Chu Mingcheng, he was very glad he'd made the right choice.
In high spirits, he noticed a crowd gathered around, skeptical that the fish were wild and hesitant to buy. He imdiately started promoting for Chu Mingcheng. "These mandarin fish are all wild. I just bought one and had it cleaned at that restaurant over there."
"If you don't believe , go take a look for yourself. Or just buy one and have the owner clean it—you'll know right away."
Encouraged by his endorsent, a young man imdiately bought a fish from Chu Mingcheng. It was one jin and three liang, for one hundred and fifty-five yuan.
The young man was there with his girlfriend. Since it was lunchti, he took the fish and ran to the restaurant.
A crowd followed to watch. When they confird it was wild, they all rushed back to buy.
After all, there were only a dozen or so fish left. If they didn't hurry, they'd be gone.
In a short while, all the remaining mandarin fish were sold. Chu Mingcheng tallied his earnings—just over two thousand yuan.
Thirteen fish, weighing about seventeen jin total. A single morning's work had earned him as much as the entire previous day.
This was the advantage of having a local guide. If he had been left to explore on his own, how would he have known that the small lake contained mandarin fish, especially such large specins?
With the fish sold, Chu Mingcheng packed up and headed back, stopping at a noodle shop along the way for lunch.
Then he went ho, stored his fishing gear, and gathered his freediving equipnt, including his speargun—though he wasn't sure if he'd need it.
He didn't forget to bring dry towels, so he wouldn't get Jiang Luoluo's car dirty.
With everything ready, he didn't rest but drove straight back to that morning's fishing spot.
He changed into his wetsuit in the car, put on his weight belt, live fish stringer, and snare. He left behind the safety rope, float, fins, and mask.
Since he was diving from shore, bringing too much gear would be inconvenient. Besides, he didn't need it.
Finding a suitable entry point, Chu Mingcheng slipped into the water and swam toward the spot where he had been fishing that morning, curious to see if any mandarin fish remained.
He swam slowly. The lake's surface appeared very clear, but once he was underwater, he found it was a murky green, with visibility of only about ten ters. He had expected much better clarity.
But the fish population seed healthy. He could see many small fish sheltering under aquatic plants or at the base of the mountain.
Occasionally, he would encounter one or two large topmouth culters darting through the water. They were quite impressive—five or six jin each.
It took him about ten minutes to reach that morning's fishing spot.
Chu Mingcheng approached slowly, but not too close.
One reason was to avoid spooking the fish. The other was to watch out for water snakes.
The Aquatic Species Codex gave him the ability to move freely in water, but it didn't provide any resistance to venom.
If he got bitten, would he end up being fished out by another angler in a few days and make the news?
It was a cloudy day, and the light underwater wasn't great. Between two rocks on the bottom, a large mandarin fish was hiding.
Chu Mingcheng almost missed it. He realized he would need to get a dive light when he returned.
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