Chapter 25: The Battle of the Bait! He Qiang and the Trio Compete!
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Zhou Hong nodded. “That’s right, Brother Fan. Didn’t you know?”
“Teacher He Qiang is an incredible fisherman. He understands the habits of all kinds of fish better than anyone. Though he doesn’t have as many followers as those masters with several hundred thousand or even millions of fans, netizens call him the Sweeping Monk of the fishing world.”
The Blondie nodded eagerly. “Exactly, exactly! I watch Teacher He Qiang’s videos all the time.”
He Qiang leaned on his cane with a cigarette between his lips, puffing clouds of smoke into the air.
“Hey, all that stuff online is nothing but empty fame.”
“Actually, there isn’t much difference between the fishing skills of an expert and a beginner.”
“Getting skunked is the norm. Catching fish is merely an accident.”
After saying this, He Qiang blew out another puff of smoke. With his cane in hand, he looked rather comical.
“Brother Fan, let’s get going. The fish are usually biting like crazy in the morning. By noon, it’ll be much harder to catch anything.”
“What if we’re late and someone else gets there first? Then it’ll be like a dung beetle running into diarrhea—we’ll have made the trip for nothing.”
Jiang Fan nodded and walked ahead. “All right. Let’s go.”
“But Brother He, why does one of your eyes look so black?”
He Qiang awkwardly scratched the back of his head and chuckled. “On my way here, I ran into a seventy-year-old grandpa carrying a pile of fishing gear. I wanted to say, ‘Grandpa, let me carry that for you,’ but I got too excited and mixed up my words.”
“I ended up saying, ‘You old geezer, let Grandpa carry that for you!’ Then he punched me.”
“…”
…
At the entrance to the underground river in the Water-Curtain Karst Cave, the group inflated their kayaks and installed the propellers before heading inside.
The moment He Qiang saw the water, he became excited. Sitting in his kayak, he pulled out his fishing rod and began casting into the underground river.
Zhou Hong, the Blondie, and Ma Dongdong were excited too, and each cast a few times.
Then the four fishing lines became hopelessly tangled together.
“Damn it!”
They did not manage to untangle all four lines until they had exited the cave.
The sight of the lake before them left all four men stunned.
The surface reflected the deep blue of the sky. As their kayaks glided across it, huge fish burst from the water, thrashing wildly.
“This lake has unbelievable resources!”
“Hahaha! The lake filmed by that fisherman’s drone earlier was this very place!”
“Brother Fan, I really admire you. You actually managed to find somewhere like this!”
Zhou Hong and the other two were thoroughly impressed by Jiang Fan.
It might have seemed easy for them to get inside, but that was only because Jiang Fan had known the route in advance.
If they had been on their own, not only would they have struggled to find the crack leading into the cave, they would never have dared enter that pitch-black cavern even after finding it.
Jiang Fan purchased five packets of Wild-Battle Blue Crucian bait from the system shop.
He gave two packets to Zhou Hong, one to the Blondie, and one to Ma Dongdong.
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Seeing this, He Qiang asked curiously, “Wait a minute, Brother Fan. You came all the way to a place like this to fish with Wild-Battle Blue Crucian bait? Isn’t that disrespectful to the big fish?”
Zhou Hong explained on Jiang Fan’s behalf. “Teacher He Qiang, Brother Fan’s Wild-Battle Blue Crucian bait is homemade. It isn’t the stuff sold on the market. It’s known as the Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King—War God Edition. Even without laying down a bed of bait, it can bring fish onto the line one after another.”
“The Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King—War God Edition?” He Qiang unconsciously raised a smile at a hundred-and-five-degree angle, making him look rather like the Dragon King himself.
“Homemade or not, Wild-Battle Blue Crucian isn’t very effective for fishing in a lake like this. You need to do it like I do…”
With that, He Qiang pulled a heap of assorted bait from his bag. It was practically a chaotic hodgepodge of Hainos Technology. He added water, kneaded it together, and began laying down a bed of bait.
The Blondie’s eyes widened. “Wait, if you actually catch a fish with that stuff, can anyone eat it?”
He Qiang grinned. “You don’t understand. I only fish. I don’t eat fish.”
“Heh heh, what do you say? How about the four of you compete with me? Let’s see who catches the most fish today.”
Jiang Fan had no interest in competing.
He had come here to land that three- or four-hundred-pound monster.
But Zhou Hong, the Blondie, and Ma Dongdong were extremely interested.
They had all entered the TikTok Fishing Cup, and after passing the preliminary rounds, they would face many powerful competitors.
So they decided to use He Qiang as a benchmark and test the power of the Crooked-Mouthed Dragon King—War God Edition Wild-Battle Blue Crucian bait.
If they beat He Qiang, they might actually have a chance of winning a prize in the fishing competition.
“Then let’s compete!”
“Loser calls the winner Dad!”
“Exactly!”
He Qiang was delighted. “You three little brats dare to challenge the Great Emperor He Qiang? Calling me Dad is too ordinary. You’ll call me Grandpa!”
Swish!
He Qiang rapidly cast his line and began waiting for a fish to bite.
Jiang Fan’s Wild-Battle Blue Crucian was homemade bait, but wasn’t He Qiang’s Hainos Technology hodgepodge homemade as well?
“Hey! Nobody even said start! You’ve already cast. That’s not playing fair!”
He Qiang paid no attention. “How about I reel in and let the three of you catch a few first? You’re Brother Fan’s friends, after all. I really don’t want you to lose too embarrassingly.”
The moment Zhou Hong, the Blondie, and Ma Dongdong heard that, their competitive spirits flared.
Zhou Hong baited his hook and cast quickly. “With one cast, I’ll pass you like I’m crossing an empty street at dawn!”
The Blondie began spouting nonsense. “He Qiang doesn’t work weekends!”
Ma Dongdong added, “You’re here to fight for fourth place, aren’t you?”
The corner of He Qiang’s mouth lifted. “You three little brats dare to trade trash talk with me? You don’t know that besides being called the Sweeping Monk of the fishing world, I have another nickname—the King of Filthy Mouths?”
Zhou Hong said, “I’m not your wife. How would I know?”
The Blondie said, “I’m not your girlfriend. How would I know?”
Ma Dongdong said, “I’m not Number Eight at the club. How would I know?”
“…”
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“All right, all right! You’ve successfully made me angry!”
He Qiang had no idea where these three brats got their confidence.
But now he was taking things seriously.
He began adding even more bait to his bed, scattering it all across the surface of the lake in front of him.
Just then, Zhou Hong shouted, “Hahaha! I’ve got one!”
Before long, he hauled up a three-pound tilapia.
Ding ding ding!!! Zhou Hong has caught a three-pound wild tilapia. The system has triggered a one-hundredfold cash reward!
…
“Hahaha, Teacher He Qiang, take a look! Isn’t mine a big one?”
He Qiang rolled his eyes. “Pure beginner’s luck.”
“Aha!”
The instant he finished speaking, the Blondie’s rod began pulling wildly as well. Before long, he hauled up a wild carp weighing more than four pounds.
“…”
“I’ve got one!”
Ma Dongdong also landed a freshwater grouper weighing about a pound.
A three-pound fish, a four-plus-pound fish, and a one-plus-pound fish right from the start…
He Qiang stared at them, utterly bewildered.
“Hmm? Teacher He Qiang, how come you still haven’t caught anything?”
Zhou Hong looked over smugly.
He Qiang cursed under his breath. “The resources are just good, that’s all. Even my grandmother could catch something here! Just wait. I’ll show you how to land a grass carp weighing dozens of pounds!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Hong, the Blondie, and Ma Dongdong caught more fish.
Then a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth…
“What the hell? Did you three cheat?!”
He Qiang had yet to catch a single fish, while the three of them kept hauling them in one after another. He was beginning to lose his mind.
“Teacher He Qiang, we’re going to crush you right here. Get ready to call us Grandpa!”
“Damn it! I was only playing with you before. Now I’m getting serious!”
As he spoke, He Qiang continued scattering bait furiously, throwing half of what he had left into the water. Before long, he finally got a bite too.
But when he hauled it up, it turned out to be a freshwater grouper weighing barely a tenth of a pound.
Zhou Hong and the other two nearly died laughing.
“Ahahaha! I’m dying! Hahaha!”
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