"Fish, why won't you bite!" Jiang Luoluo muttered, gripping the rod with both hands. Several minutes had passed without a single nibble.

"Ah Cheng, do you always have to wait this long when fishing?"

"Pretty much. When the bite is good, you'll get them one after another. But we didn't specifically scout for a hot spot today, so it's not surprising the fishing's a bit slow," Chu Mingcheng explained with a smile.

"That's why I don't understand why you guys love fishing so much," Jiang Luoluo said, tilting her head in confusion.

But in the next moment, her rod suddenly jerked.

Seeing the tip bend sharply downward, Chu Mingcheng quickly called out, "Lift the rod! You've got a fish!"

"Ah, ah, ah... like this?" Jiang Luoluo, slightly flustered, yanked the rod upward. The posture was a bit comical, but she'd managed to set the hook.

"Good, you've got it hooked. Now just turn that handle and reel the fish in," Chu Mingcheng said, relieved to see from the rod's gentle bend that it was a small fish.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Jiang Luoluo lowered the raised rod and began turning the handle to wind in the line, not knowing that pumping the rod could bring the fish in faster.

But for a small fish, it didn't matter. Simply reeling would do the job.

Jiang Luoluo did her best to hold the rod steady with her left hand. To Chu Mingcheng, it was a small fish, but sea fish fought fiercely, and with the light rod, she was struggling somewhat.

Every time the rod was pulled down, she would instinctively lift it, but her right hand never stopped reeling in line.

After a short while, a beautiful fish—white under the boat lights with a pale yellow tail—was brought to the surface.

"It's up, it's up! This fish has such pretty colors!" Jiang Luoluo, having caught her first fish, was ecstatic.

Chu Mingcheng had already grabbed the landing net and scooped the fish aboard.

"Not bad—it's a parrotfish. Let me check what species it is."

Chu Mingcheng now recognizes most fish, but with so many families and species, it was normal not to know the specific scientific name.

The fish's mouth was distinctly parrot-like. Recognizing that much was enough.

He placed the fish on deck, then went to the cockpit and retrieved a book: a comprehensive guide to marine life in Chinese waters.

He found the parrotfish section in the index, flipped through a few pages, and located the fish.

"What kind is it?" Jiang Luoluo asked curiously, leaning over.

"Here—it's called a long-headed parrotfish or long-snouted parrotfish. Probably named that because its mouth is longer than a typical parrotfish's."

Chu Mingcheng pointed to the book. "This fish is quite good. You can pan-fry it, grill it, or even keep it as an ornamental fish."

"An ornamental fish? No wonder it's so beautiful." Jiang Luoluo nodded in understanding, then happily went over and grabbed the fish, wanting to remove the hook. But looking at its rather intimidating mouth, she hesitated.

Chu Mingcheng put the book away and took a hook remover from his tackle box. "Use this to get the hook out—you won't have to worry about hurting your hand."

He inserted the hook remover into the fish's mouth, clamped onto the hook, and gently extracted it.

Jiang Luoluo nodded, indicating she'd learned something new, then personally placed the fish in the live well.

"How does it feel to catch a fish?" Chu Mingcheng asked with a smile, seeing how delighted she was.

"Pretty good!"

"Do you still think it's boring?"

"Not at all!"

"So now you understand the joy we anglers feel?"

"Absolutely!"

Jiang Luoluo nodded enthusiastically. The instantaneous thrill of landing a fish had brought her immense satisfaction.

She finally understood why, even though fishing was Chu Mingcheng's profession, he could still find joy in it.

Having successfully drawn the girl into the hobby, Chu Mingcheng was also very satisfied. He then moved to his own rod to concentrate on fishing.

He was an experienced angler and hadn't caught anything yet. He couldn't be shown up by a beginner!

Wei Jianguo, who had been watching everything unfold, had a faint smile on his lips. Then he thought of his son and grandson, who were so busy he rarely saw them, and shook his head. What was the point of being so exhausted all the time?

His rod trembled. Hey, a fish!

Wei Jianguo snapped back to attention. Dinner had arrived—he couldn't let it down.

The pull wasn't strong, but the weight was decent. With his experience, he immediately knew what it was.

He leisurely turned the handle, and the line was quickly wound back onto the spool. The hooked creature was drawing closer and closer to the surface.

When several tentacles first broke the surface, a look of "I knew it" flashed in his eyes. It was a large octopus.

It looked to be about a pound—excellent for pairing with drinks.

For Wei Jianguo, fishing wasn't about money; it was for the enjoyment.

And second, it was for ingredients to satisfy his appetite.

He was over sixty, and his appetite was steadily declining. He didn't know how many more years he could savor good food.

While he could still get around, he had to make the most of it.

When Wei Jianguo lifted the octopus, Jiang Luoluo, who was sitting sideways, spotted it. "Wow, you can even catch an octopus?"

"What can't an angler catch?" Chu Mingcheng laughed.

This was the ocean. If it were some river or ditch, you could even hook a sanitary pad.

"Ha! Then fishing really is fascinating. It's like a mystery box—everything's unknown until you pull it up."

Jiang Luoluo felt that when she was tired, she could occasionally go fishing to unwind. It was an excellent recreation.

And now that they had a boat, she could even learn to dive—an idea she'd harbored since Chu Mingcheng bought the vessel.

With a strong swimmer like him around, she didn't need to worry about safety.

After Chu Mingcheng had caught two fish in succession, Jiang Luoluo, who had been waiting patiently, finally got another bite.

This time was interesting. The rod was shaking. Jiang Luoluo was stunned for a moment, then quickly lifted the rod.

After watching Chu Mingcheng fish twice, she already knew she didn't need to lift the rod high—just a firm upward pull would suffice.

She then began reeling in line, but this time the sensation was different.

When she'd caught the fish before, she could clearly feel it struggling. This time, there was only a sense of weight.

"Ah Cheng, I feel like this catch is different. Why isn't it moving?"

"You didn't hook an octopus, too, did you?" Chu Mingcheng looked at her rod and guessed.

"Wow, is this what catching an octopus feels like?"

"Should be. After all, once an octopus is hooked, it can't swim away like a fish. It can only wrap around the line and get pulled up, which is why you feel weight but no struggle."

"You're right..." Jiang Luoluo was about to agree when what emerged from the water were two swimming crabs, their claws clamped onto the bait. They looked quite substantial.

Chu Mingcheng was instantly proven wrong, his expression slightly awkward. Seeing her teasing smile, as if she were about to mock him, he quickly reminded her, "Hurry and pull them up! If the crabs let go, they'll escape!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" Jiang Luoluo forgot about teasing him and quickly lifted the line.

But one crab released its grip before being completely clear of the water and scuttled away, making her cry out in disappointment, "Ah! My crab got away!"

Fortunately, the other one was a bit slower and was pulled onto the boat, only releasing its claw after its feet touched the deck.

"One escaped—what a shame!" Jiang Luoluo was annoyed. If she hadn't been thinking about teasing Chu Mingcheng for being wrong, she might have caught both.

Just then, Wei Jianguo came over, picked up the crab, and flipped it over. "This crab is quite plump—not bad!"

"Wow, Agong, how can you tell?" Jiang Luoluo's attention was diverted, and she immediately grew curious.

Chu Mingcheng approached as well. He knew how to assess whether a mud crab was meaty, but wasn't sure if the same applied to swimming crabs.

When he'd made crab hot pot before, two of the flower crabs hadn't been very meaty, which had been disappointing.

Wei Jianguo held the swimming crab belly-up and pointed to the markings on its underside. "First, look at these lines. If the lines on the belly are distinct, it's usually quite full."

"Also, this is a male crab. See how the sides of a swimming crab are very pointed? On a male crab, there's hair here when you flip it over. We check to see if the white of the shell extends to the hair. If it does, it means it's a premium crab and quite fat."

"If it's not meaty, the color will be somewhat dark."

The two young people understood. They now knew how to select crabs.

But that was only for male crabs, so Jiang Luoluo asked, "Agong, how do you pick a female crab? You haven't explained that yet."

"Female crabs are simple. Look at the edge of the shell. If there's red coloring, it means the roe is full, and it's definitely plump."

Having learned something practical, Jiang Luoluo was energized. "Maybe the one that got away was a female. I have to catch it back."

The two men on the boat couldn't help but smile at her enthusiastic demeanor.

Chu Mingcheng returned to continue fishing, but to his surprise, he also hooked a swimming crab.

Then, whether it was Wei Jianguo or Jiang Luoluo, they all caught swimming crabs.

"Agong, is there a crab colony down there? Should we try using tandem rigs?"

Wei Jianguo nodded. "Could be. I think we should."

The two then began tying tandem rigs. Chu Mingcheng also helped Jiang Luoluo with hers to increase her chances of catching crabs.

With tandem rigs set up, catching crabs was indeed somewhat faster.

Occasionally, a fish or two would come up, but most of the time, two or three swimming crabs would be pulled up.

And then one or two would drop off as they emerged from the water.

Overall, efficiency had increased slightly, but not dramatically.

Chu Mingcheng sighed. "I didn't bring a dive light. Otherwise, I would have just gone down and grabbed them."

"You might as well have prepared some crab traps," Jiang Luoluo said, exasperated.

"Uh... that's true." Chu Mingcheng scratched his head.

Crab traps wouldn't increase his experience, so he'd subconsciously dismissed them.

But whether they added experience or not, sometimes there was no need to be so rigid.

However, in a spot with crabs, fish resources would be relatively scarce.

If he set crab traps here and went fishing elsewhere, and a passing boat spotted them, they'd definitely be taken.

He might even encounter someone nasty who'd steal the traps too.

In that case, it was better for him to just dive and catch them himself. It was faster.

Time quietly passed until ten at night. In two or three hours, Chu Mingcheng had caught only five fish. He had seven fat swimming crabs and many more scrawny and small ones, which were all released.

Jiang Luoluo hadn't experienced beginner's luck with a string of catches. She'd only caught two fish, but she had four more fat swimming crabs than he did, for a total of eleven.

He wasn't sure how many Wei Jianguo had caught. His harvest should be pretty good this time—enough to take home and eat for a while.

They'd agreed to return by ten, and Jiang Luoluo also needed to rest well to continue dance practice tomorrow, so Chu Mingcheng packed up his fishing rod and started the boat back to the harbor.

But before leaving, he checked the navigation and memorized the location. He'd definitely return after getting his license.

Entering the harbor, he remained at the helm. Although he was somewhat slow, he still parked the boat steadily in his berth.

Wei Jianguo took his catch and departed first. There were no major catches today, so nothing to linger over.

Jiang Luoluo had also placed the fish and swimming crabs in the cooler and, with Chu Mingcheng, moved them to the car's trunk.

"Ah Cheng, what should we do with these fish and crabs?"

"They're all good fish. You can take them back and keep them for now. If they can't be kept alive, put them in the refrigerator and eat them gradually. If you think you can't finish them, I can help you sell them."

"Then let's keep them. As for the swimming crabs, I want to make 'poison' with them."

"Poison?"

"Silly, haven't you heard of Chaoshan poison?"

【TN: "Chaoshan poison" is slang for Teochew-style raw marinated seafood, famous for being so addictively delicious it's nicknamed "poison"】

Chu Mingcheng understood. So that's what she meant.

He looked at his own catch for the day, thought for a moment, and ultimately decided not to sell them.

He loved crabs, whether made into "poison" or prepared other ways—they would be incredibly fragrant.

The fish were excellent too. Ever since he'd learned about "flat tofu," he'd grown fond of this preparation method.