38: Chapter 38 Regret?

Old Yu's eyes darted around several times. When they finally stopped, his entire face was plastered with a fawning smile.

Rubbing his hands together, Old Yu leaned in close to Chen Sheng and whispered with a smile, "Look, since your luck is already so good, my 'wife'..."

"What? Thinking of going back on your word?" Chen Sheng looked at Old Yu teasingly. "Forgotten 'a gentleman's word'?"

Old Yu curled his lip and didn't answer.

"Forgotten being a 'real man'?" Chen Sheng continued to twist the knife.

Old Yu took a deep breath and said, as if resigned to his fate, "Fine! State your conditions."

"We'll stick to what was agreed upon before. I'm not the type to break my word."

"No!" Old Yu said excitedly. "You don't even fish with lures! Why the hell do you want a lure rod? It'll just sit there gathering dust!"

"I can learn!" Chen Sheng replied righteously.

"Learn my foot! Lure fishing has requirements for the water. If you want to find a suitable spot around Shu City, it's at least an hour's drive. Do you have that kind of time? Are you not going to look for a job? Not going to support your family?"

"An Xiaonuan just got pregnant! Do you have the heart to not let An Xiaonuan go to a Postpartum care center? Do you have the heart to see your child use cheap stuff? You..."

"Stop!" Chen Sheng hurriedly called a halt. With a look of constipation, he gave Old Yu a thumbs up and said through gritted teeth, "I f*cking thank you for your concern."

Old Yu waved his hand dismissively. "You're welcome! Who told you to be my 'good son'?"

Chen Sheng: "..."

He was actually speechless.

However...

He had originally planned to let him keep his lure 'wife' out of pity, but now, he absolutely had to have it.

"Don't waste your breath. No matter how much you sweet-talk me, I'm taking that lure rod today. Even Jesus himself couldn't stop me."

Old Yu weakly reminded him, "I'm a Taoist."

"Heh!" Chen Sheng laughed in frustration. "A Taoist, huh? Forget Celestial Master Zhang Daoling, even the Three Pure Ones couldn't stop me."

Seeing Old Yu still hadn't given up, Chen Sheng spoke first. "Instead of hanging around me, you'd be better off guarding your fishing spot. A buy-back price of five yuan per catty isn't common. Rather than wasting time here, stick to your spot. If you get lucky and catch a red tag fish, what's an 1888-yuan rod compared to that?"

Old Yu admitted Chen Sheng had a point, but...

"I'm not the kind of person who likes the new and loathes the old," Old Yu said righteously.

"Anyway, no matter what you say, I won't agree to modify the bet."

Chen Sheng quickly shoveled the last bit of rice from his bowl into his mouth, bagged the trash, and set it with the bait bags to be disposed of after fishing.

Seeing Old Yu still trying to brainwash him into changing his mind, Chen Sheng quickly stopped him. "Stop your endless nagging. I'm telling you, if I don't fill three fish nets today, it'll all be because of your influence."

"You're blaming that on me too?" Seeing Chen Sheng's death stare, Old Yu quickly made a zipping motion over his mouth.

However, after walking a few steps away, Old Yu immediately turned around and flipped Chen Sheng the bird—the universal international gesture.

He might yield in appearance, but never in his heart.

Too lazy to deal with him, Chen Sheng picked up his rod again and sat on his fishing box, beginning his afternoon fishing... or more accurately, beginning his long afternoon wait.

The times when fish bite well can generally be divided into three periods: night, early morning, and evening. When the sun is at its peak at noon, it's the time fish are least willing to open their mouths.

From 1:30 PM until 4:00 PM, nearly two and a half hours, Chen Sheng caught a total of five fish: two Hemiculter, two Topmouth Culter, and the last one was a miraculously caught small Grass Carp, which Fellow Anglers also call Milk Grass.

Crucially, when this Milk Grass was dragged ashore, the hook was actually snagged on its fin. This scene prompted several sour remarks from Old Yu: "You've really got f*cking dog sh*t luck."

It was now 4:00 PM. The sun was dipping, the temperature began to drop, and the nearly motionless float on the water finally started to show frequent activity.

Chen Sheng quickly ran to Old Yu's fishing spot, scooped up some groundbait with a ladle and tossed it into the swim. At the same time, he quickly took out a basin to mix a new batch of bait.

Bait with rice vinegar added would develop an indescribable odd smell after sitting for a while. Perhaps the fish would like it more, or perhaps it would affect the taste. Rather than gambling on the former, it was better to just mix fresh bait.

Soon the new bait was ready. Chen Sheng baited the hook and cast his first line. However, when the float hit the water, a strange thing happened.

Instead of sinking, the float was slowly rising.

"Holy sh*t! What the hell!" Chen Sheng was certain he hadn't moved the float's position when baiting the hook.

From the side, Old Yu urged, "Quick, lift the rod! It's possible that when you cast, there was a fish right there that took the bait before it even reached its depth."

"Holy sh*t!" Chen Sheng quickly lifted the rod to set the hook.

The rod instantly bent into a beautiful, large arc, and the wonderful sound of the line cutting through the water was even louder than before.

"Holy sh*t! A big one!" Feeling the pull from the rod, Chen Sheng stood up quickly, legs spread to prevent being pulled into the water. He pressed the butt of the rod against his stomach, ready for a tug-of-war at any moment.

Seeing Chen Sheng's battle-ready stance, Old Yu quickly dropped his own rod and ran over.

Old Yu reached Chen Sheng's spot and immediately moved the fishing box aside to give him enough room to maneuver. Seeing Chen Sheng gritting his teeth, he hurriedly slipped the safety lanyard onto Chen Sheng's left wrist. After finishing all this, Old Yu stood by with a landing net and said sourly, "Judging by the reaction, this fish must be at least twenty catties. You really f*cking lucked out today."

"Be honest, did you really step in dog sh*t before leaving the house today?"

"Or did you secretly go and burn high-quality incense last night?"

"Can you f*cking shut up?" Chen Sheng roared through gritted teeth.

He was right there gritting his teeth, focusing on the struggle with the fish, while the other guy kept chattering away and distracting him. Honestly, if his hands weren't full right now, Chen Sheng really would have kicked Old Yu into the water.

Didn't he like heavy baiting?

He could just use his hundred-plus-catty body as bait.

"Fine! I'll stop." Old Yu looked at Chen Sheng's contorted expression, but after a thought, he couldn't help but add, "Can you handle it, Skinny dog? If you can't, don't force it; let's swap."

Watching Chen Sheng constantly adjust the rod angle to prevent the fish from escaping, Old Yu's hands felt itchy; he instinctively wanted to take Chen Sheng's place.

However...

Chen Sheng could only reply, "In your dreams."

As a Fellow Angler, even with the word "amateur" added in front, he was still a Fellow Angler. No Fellow Angler could refuse the joy of personally landing a monster fish.

At this moment, he was exhausted. His stomach hurt from the pressure of the rod, and he had even been tricked a few times by the sneaky Old Six fish's sudden bursts of power. Yet, the smile on his face never faded; instead, it grew even more radiant.

At the same time, he became even more cautious.

The rod pulled right, then left. He stepped toward the shore while holding it, then pulled back against the tension.

The whole process lasted nearly twenty minutes. As the fish's head broke the surface and it gulped air, its strength instantly weakened by thirty percent.

Chen Sheng's pressure was suddenly relieved.

After Chen Sheng withstood the fish's final death struggle, the completely exhausted fish was soon pulled to the surface.

Suddenly, Old Yu's exclamation rang in his ears, "Holy sh*t! The fish in the water has colors on it!"

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