12: Chapter 12 The Angler

It was the afternoon, one week after the grand opening.

"What the hell is up with this pond?"

Yang Shiguang was sitting by the pond, fishing.

It all started this morning when An Miaomiao said her parents' restaurant was closed for the day.

An Tian had invited him over for dinner, and since An Miaomiao wanted to eat fish, she planned to go buy some.

Yang Shiguang had volunteered, saying there was no need to buy fish when he could just catch them.

And so, an entire morning had passed, half the afternoon had gone by, and he still had an empty net.

Gazing at the calm surface of the pond, Yang Shiguang began to reflect on the month since his rebirth.

There was no longer much to worry about with Shuicifang; customer traffic was overflowing and stable.

In addition to You Li and the two servers, he had since hired two more servers and two chefs.

He no longer needed to man the kitchen, You Ge had returned to being a gaming addict, and while An Miaomiao still went to help out a few days a week, it wasn't strictly necessary.

"The layout for the branch stores needs to begin as well."

Muttering to himself, Yang Shiguang was already considering the matter of opening branches.

Once there were branches in every district of Jianning, his career could be considered to have had a perfect start.

Suddenly, he recalled that before his rebirth, You Ge had mentioned that An Miaomiao's heart condition had relapsed.

Normally, congenital heart disease shouldn't have a possibility of recurrence after surgery, nor should it affect the future.

Thinking about this little sister potentially lying in the ICU one day made his heart ache.

"The hospitals in Jianning probably won't be able to find anything; should I go to Star City?"

"It's perfect timing to also research the seafood catering market in Star City; Shuicifang will have to expand to Star City sooner or later anyway."

Yang Shiguang pulled up his rod, re-baited the hook, swung his arms, and cast the line back into the water.

"Not a single thing."

Thinking of Star City, the capital of Hunan Province where he had spent seven years in his past life, memories flooded his mind.

Zhang Zishan and Chen Yiheng had met at a tutoring center. At the time, Chen Yiheng was a freshman at Xiangtan University, working as a tutor for high school seniors.

From a civil service family, sunny and ambitious, with excellent grades, gentle and refined—Chen Yiheng was the typical high-quality boyfriend.

Compared to the Yang Shiguang of his past life.

Alone, indulgent and decadent, skipping classes to fight, spewing profanities. Zhang Zishan hadn't done anything wrong.

After graduation, Zhang Zishan and Chen Yiheng were both admitted to graduate school at Central South University, and they stayed in Star City until they got married.

Meanwhile, the Yang Shiguang after graduation had achieved some initial success in his startup, but he was too reckless, leading to a broken capital chain and being squeezed by the banks.

In order to save the company, he sought help from many sources and finally received assistance from a man named Sun Chao, who coordinated with the banks to help him through the crisis.

He thought he had met a benefactor, but it turned out to be a trap. Sun Chao was the son of the fourth-ranking official of Hunan Province; helping him was just a way to turn him into a "white glove" for himself and his father.

In the end, when the scandal broke, he was abandoned as a scapegoat and fled to Southeast Asia.

"In this life, Sun Chao, I will watch your family fall apart!"

But right now, to others, he was just an ant that could be easily crushed.

Therefore, he needed backing—not the kind of backing from his past life that kept him under someone else's thumb, but one of equal cooperation, or even one where he held the lead.

"Then I must have value, and by demonstrating that value, the backing will naturally come to me!"

...

The azure sky slowly darkened. Yang Shiguang took out his phone to check the time.

"Damn, it's 5 o'clock."

Indeed, he still had an empty net.

It wasn't that he hadn't caught anything. He had actually caught quite a lot.

He turned his head to look at the "trophies" on the ground to his right.

A worn-out leather shoe

Rotten cabbage

A plastic Ultraman

A used balloon

Battle-damaged black stockings

A BB gun version of an AK-47

A weirdly vibrating, unidentified rod-like object

"What kind of crap do these people throw into the pond?"

What was he supposed to do now? He had bragged that they would eat fish until they were full.

Although An Miaomiao certainly wouldn't blame him, he couldn't stand the thought of her peach-blossom eyes showing disappointment.

He really loved An Miaomiao's smiling eyes.

Of course, the main thing was that a big brother couldn't lose face in front of his little sister!

Yang Shiguang stared intensely at the motionless float, his scalp tingling.

"Are all the fish in this pond dead? Yes! It's definitely not that I'm bad at this; there are just no fish in this pond!"

Just then, Yang Shiguang discovered that his world had collapsed.

In the pond, very close to him, right by his feet.

A bighead carp was floating with its head above the water, blowing bubbles, facing him directly, as if it were watching him fish like it was watching a joke.

Yang Shiguang was annoyed and ashamed; he wanted to pick up a brick from the side to smash it, but before he could even move, the fish swam away.

"Get lost! If I see you again, I'll scoop you up with a net!"

Impotent rage.

Not long after, that bighead carp actually surfaced again, in the same spot.

And it had brought another, slightly smaller bighead carp along to watch him.

The two fish would occasionally touch mouths and then look at him.

Yang Shiguang felt like his anger was causing auditory hallucinations.

"Honey, look, that single idiot has been fishing all day and hasn't caught a thing."

"Really, honey, he's so stupid! Come on, give me a kiss."

...

6:00 PM. At An Miaomiao's doorstep.

"Brother Shiguang! Welcome!"

When An Miaomiao saw it was Yang Shiguang, she threw herself into his arms.

She tilted her face and saw that Shiguang was holding two fish, each weighing nearly 3 jin, in his hand. Her peach-blossom eyes widened, shimmering with an admiring gaze.

"Brother Shiguang, you're so amazing! You even caught such big fish!"

An Miaomiao rubbed her little head against Yang Shiguang's chest and continued.

"Miaomiao has never caught a fish before. Will you teach Miaomiao next time?"

After saying this, she hugged Yang Shiguang's arm to her chest and walked into the house.

Watching his little sister look at him with such admiration, Yang Shiguang struck a pose and said:

"Miaomiao, fishing isn't that easy to learn. Your Brother Shiguang is the Fishing Venerable, a disciple of the Great Emperor He Qiang—shortened to, The Angler! I'm not your average fisherman."

Just then, You Ge also stood up from the living room and walked over. Yang Shiguang looked at him, feeling a bit puzzled.

"Why are you here?"

Before You Ge could speak, An Miaomiao huffed:

"He came uninvited."

You Ge didn't bicker with An Miaomiao and looked at Yang Shiguang with confusion.

"Shiguang, did you catch these fish?"

Yang Shiguang looked disdainful.

"If I didn't catch them, did you?"

"Look at this bighead carp, the scales, the luster, these round and bright eyes—you can tell at a glance it's wild."

"Do you know how much fight a wild bighead carp has? I spent tens of minutes playing it in the water before I reeled it in. This is all skill!"

"Even if I hooked this fish for you, you wouldn't be able to catch it!"

You Ge didn't refute Yang Shiguang's rapid-fire attack, but rather, looking thoughtful and still confused, he said:

"It's nothing, just that when I was coming over, I passed by the market and saw two fish at a fish stall that looked a bit like these two of yours..."

"Shut the hell up!"