Chapter 946: Chapter 927: Testing the Waters

Earlier, we were chatting happily, but as soon as Leng Xiaojun was mentioned, Hu Changsheng was clearly stumped for a few seconds.

“Uh… he’s in Han City, but he’s not at the club right now, went out for God knows what, but I guess he’ll be back by noon!” Hu Changsheng said vaguely.

“Oh, I see. I thought if Old Leng was here, we could have a face-off. Not to belittle myself, but I’ve met him quite a few times in competitions before, losing more than winning!

After all this experience, if I could have a direct competition with him in your youth training team, this trip would be complete!” Han Luofeng recalled past competitions and said.

“I can’t promise you that right now, if he comes back early, there might be a chance. Competing with me is not the same, what’s the matter, looking down on Old Hu’s skills?”

Han Luofeng nodded: “Alright then, we’ve had tea, isn’t it time to head to the training pool! Time is tight and tasks are many, there are several clubs to visit later, and if we delay too long, we won’t complete the rounds before the competition!”

“Alright, then let’s go to the pond for some fun!”

Soon, the group left the reception room and returned to the outdoor area by the competition pond.

When parking, Han Luofeng had already scoped it out. He quickly went to the car’s trunk to unload the equipment, skillfully shouldering the fishing box and carrying the rod bag and fish guard towards the pond’s edge.

Old Hu was even quicker than them; his equipment was stored in the basement storage room for years, all ready to go.

Eyeing Han Luofeng, initially, Hu Changsheng noticed nothing unusual, but when Han Luofeng opened the rod bag and took out the same kind of rods as Wang Xiaomin and Zhao Zheng, Hu Changsheng’s heart skipped a beat.

Although Yuefeng Fishing Tackle is close with Hua Clan, Han Luofeng, being the master’s disciple, certainly uses his own brand’s gear, it’s a basic requirement for a professional angler to promote his own company’s products.

Unexpectedly, Han Luofeng wasn’t using Dragon Pattern Carp nor imported goods, but a dark-colored raw material rod.

“Wow, captain, you’ve regressed, using basic rods now? I’ll send you a few new competitive models later,” Hu Changsheng said with a smile.

Han Luofeng instinctively glanced at the raw material rod in his hand: “Haha, just helping a friend test the newly made rod blank! Call your team over? What’s the fun in just the four of us competing!”

“True, let me call them over! Everyone, gather up!”

With a command, the fishing team members quickly stood up with great discipline, waiting for the captain’s instructions.

Their conduct seems to carry a bit of a military style.

“Captain Han and our guest anglers from Yue Feng Fishing Tackle, Zhao Zheng, Wang Xiaomin, three friends are here to visit our club, wanting to spar! I won’t say much, start preparing now! How much is the stake, Captain Han?”

Han Luofeng: “Guest follows host, anything’s fine!”

“Let’s make it 100 per game, with longer time, one hour per game! If the time is short, don’t say we’re bullying you!”

“Okay, what are we playing? Target fish?”

“Let’s start with target fish, finish a round by eleven, doesn’t delay anything!”

“Sure thing!”

Soon, both sides agreed on the fish-sparring rules and stakes and started preparing individually.

Wang Xiaomin hadn’t spoken much, but when the preparation started, he joined in, “Han, Zheng, the usual routine?”

Hearing that, Zhao Zheng and Han Luofeng nodded knowingly, “Hmm, the usual, let’s test the depth first!”

The so-called usual routine was a team fish-sparring technique the three came up with when challenging others,

It was simple, with clear division of labor; Han Luofeng has the highest overall skill, choosing to fish flexibly as per fish conditions.

Zhao Zheng and Wang Xiaomin are about the same, but Zhao Zheng’s extremity speed isn’t as fast as Wang Xiaomin’s, so Wang Xiaomin is in charge of floating fishing!

While Zhao Zheng has a deeper understanding of lead-flying and fishing different fish layers, he mainly focuses in this direction.

Three people, three different strategies, essentially ensuring at least one to two are on the right track, reducing losses in fish-sparring.

Finalizing the tactical arrangements, the three quickly got their baits and fishing gear ready.

By this time, Hu Changsheng and his team were ready too.

“You’re guests from afar, draw lots first!” Hu Changsheng shuffled a deck of cards with seat numbers written on them.

“Xiaomin, help us draw!”

“Alright!” Wang Xiaomin responded, immediately turning around to draw three cards from the stack.

Number 3, 5, 11, the luck was good, they weren’t adjacent, thus avoiding internal competition.

Without starting fishing, no one knew where the good spots were, they picked randomly and sat down, after all had drawn, quickly found their spots and proceeded with final preparations.

“The fish in our pond are quite tricky, giving you a heads-up! Old pond crucian carp don’t float up, watch out when fishing, don’t say we’re bullying you after losing!”

Hu Changsheng was one angler away from Wang Xiaomin, glanced at Wang Xiaomin’s prepared light floating loose bait with a fair amount of added light bran, and gave him a heads-up.

Wang Xiaomin responded, “Can’t float up? Thanks, Hu! Let me adjust the water ratio!”

As he said this, Wang Xiaomin casually scooped some water from the basin into the loose bait bowl and stirred vigorously.

Witnessing this, even the knowledgeable Hu Changsheng was puzzled.

With so much added light bran, what’s the point in adding water? It would just burst upon entering the water, too light to reach the bottom. It’s just a difference in state between dry float-spread and wet mid-layer spread.

Having informed not counting floats, Old Hu clearly wasn’t trying to mislead anyone, that would be provoking!

About half a minute later, Wang Xiaomin completed the water ratio adjustment, casually opening the fishing box to take out a package of coarse particles, throwing it into the loose bait bowl, mixing it swiftly,

Wow, the newly opened loose bait is of suitable water ratio, stronger gravity than before, astonishingly transformed.

Simply Wang Xiaomin’s casual bait adjustment, adding water and other basic bait, shocked the knowledgeable Hu Changsheng.

The saying goes, three years to hone the rod, ten years the bait, though exaggerated, it’s pretty true, among the young anglers of Tianyuan seated, few could grasp this precise bait status without using a measuring cup.

Bait prepared, Wang Xiaomin put the new loose bait into the food box, quickly entering standby state.

“All ready? Start fishing!”

Hu Changsheng gave the command, over a dozen rods simultaneously cast into the water, marking the official start of the fish-sparring battle.