Bringing his adorable, sweet, and beautiful girlfriend home went exactly as Chu Mingcheng had expected. His parents were enthusiastic—so enthusiastic they completely ignored him.

But he was actually happy about it. At least this way, he wouldn't have to navigate the minefield between his mother and girlfriend.

He'd witnessed plenty of conflict between his own mother and grandmother growing up, which had nearly given Chu Yongxin premature gray hair from stress. He'd often come home from work only to soothe one, then go console the other. It was one reason he'd eventually bought a house in town.

Chef Chu took charge of the kitchen that evening. Jiang Luoluo tried to help, but An Xiuwen promptly shooed her away.

"Ah Cheng, why don't you take Luoluo for a walk nearby? Just be back for dinner when it gets dark."

Chu Mingcheng nodded and took her hand. "Come on, let's walk up the mountain behind the house."

"Sounds good!" Jiang Luoluo readily agreed.

Stepping outside, they spotted Mimi, who'd returned at some point with a mouse in her mouth.

"Huh, I thought Mimi stopped eating mice when we were in Xiamen. Why's she back at it now that we're home?" Jiang Luoluo found it strange.

Chu Mingcheng mused, "Maybe... this is the taste of home?"

"Haha, you might be right!" No longer in a hurry to leave, Jiang Luoluo pulled out her phone to film Mimi playing with the mouse.

Her situation was completely different from when Chu Mingcheng first met her. Back then, she'd had to hunt for survival, and with kittens on the way, getting enough nutrition was critical.

She'd rarely played with prey then. Usually, when she caught a mouse, she'd go straight for the kill.

But now, with no food pressure, eating mice was more of a habit and a way to get certain nutrients.

So this time, she was in the courtyard toying with the mouse, which had also attracted her three kittens.

The three kittens were almost two months old now. Though still tiny, under their mother's watchful eye, ganging up on a not-so-large mouse was no problem.

The poor mouse was in for torture. When it ran toward the three kittens, it met a flurry of six tiny paws.

When it ran toward Mimi, it got to experience the thrill of being an 'air mouse.'

Mimi would grab it, toss it skyward, then stand on her hind legs to bat it with her paws.

The battered mouse, having lost all will to live, suddenly leaped up and threw itself directly into Mimi's mouth.

The following scene is not suitable for young mice without parental guidance!

They didn't stick around to watch Mimi and family enjoy their meal. Instead, they walked out hand-in-hand.

"Where to?" Jiang Luoluo asked.

"How about the reservoir up the mountain? I can perform a magic trick for you." For Chu Mingcheng, there wasn't much to see on Yanmen Island. The beaches? Weren't Xiamen's more beautiful? Jiang Luoluo had probably seen plenty.

The only thing that might wow her now would be the glass-clear waters of the Xisha Islands.

So he thought of his Premium Aquatic Species' 'Fish Gathering' ability. If lucky, he might lure some premium creatures to shore.

Otherwise, he was completely out of ideas for entertaining his girlfriend.

Hearing him mention magic, Jiang Luoluo was skeptical. "You know magic? What kind of magic trick requires going to a reservoir?"

"You'll see when we get there."

With that, Chu Mingcheng grabbed a bucket and tongs from the house, put them in the backyard car, and drove toward the mountain reservoir.

The drive was quick—only ten minutes. Walking would've taken over an hour.

They got out and walked to the reservoir's edge.

The cold weather couldn't dampen fishing enthusiasts' spirits. Five anglers sat quietly on their tackle boxes by the water.

Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo made sure not to disturb them. He retrieved the bucket and tongs from the car and found an open spot in shallow water with thick water weeds.

"What are you trying to catch?" Jiang Luoluo followed, confused.

"Do you believe something will crawl out of the water on its own in a minute?" Chu Mingcheng had already activated Fish Gathering. Now he just had to wait for a premium creature within ten meters to come to him.

He'd chosen this weedy, shallow spot because he felt the odds of something being here were highest.

"Crawl out on its own? Do you think they're stupid, or that I'm gullible?" Jiang Luoluo sensed there might be something to his claim but still didn't believe it.

Chu Mingcheng chuckled and pointed to his cheek. "Simple. Just give me a kiss and you'll understand."

"Are you just trying to get a free kiss?" Jiang Luoluo looked suspicious. But he was her boyfriend, and they'd done far more intimate things. A cheek kiss was nothing.

So she leaned in, stood on tiptoes, and gave him a light peck. "There. Happy? You can tell me the reason now, right?"

Chu Mingcheng was about to tell her to wait when his sharp eyes spotted a thick creature crawling toward them in the water.

At first, he was startled, thinking it was a water snake. But on closer inspection—a swamp eel.

He immediately pointed. "Look, here it comes!"

"..." Jiang Luoluo hadn't expected to be proven wrong so quickly, but still thought it was a coincidence.

The eel was crawling straight toward them, so she held her tongue, waiting for Chu Mingcheng to catch it first.

Chu Mingcheng wasn't about to miss this chance. Before the eel got close, his tongs were ready.

Holding his breath, he watched the eel break the surface, crawl onto the bank, and come right up to him. Only then did he strike, clamping down with the tongs and tossing it in the bucket before it could react.

Jiang Luoluo finally spoke. "That eel's huge! But it seems kind of dumb. Two big people standing right here, and it still crawled this way."

"It's not dumb. I used magic to lure it over."

"When did you do any magic?"

"The moment you kissed me, of course!"

"They're not coming out to beat us up for excessive PDA, are they?"

"Wow, my Luoluo's so smart."

"Stop messing around, I'm serious!"

While Chu Mingcheng bantered with her, his eyes stayed glued to the water weeds. He'd expected a fish or two to swim over, but after a while, another eel appeared. He pointed to his left cheek. "If you don't believe me, kiss this side and see what happens!"

This time Jiang Luoluo didn't hesitate and kissed him directly.

The moment she finished, Chu Mingcheng immediately pointed to the eel in the water. "See? Didn't another one just come?"

"..." Jiang Luoluo followed his finger and saw there was indeed another one. Now she was really questioning reality. "How's that possible?"

"Nothing's impossible. Haven't you noticed? Every time you come out to sea with me, my harvest is especially good?" Chu Mingcheng was talking complete nonsense.

But Jiang Luoluo's resolve wavered. "Really?"

"Of course. I noticed long ago," Chu Mingcheng nodded seriously. "That's why we're a match made in heaven."

"You're talking nonsense!" Jiang Luoluo felt embarrassed by his words, but in her heart, she was starting to believe it.

Next, Chu Mingcheng wandered along the bank. Every time she kissed him, an eel would crawl ashore. There were even mandarin fish.

They were harder to catch and got away.

Losing the fish was disappointing. On a whim, Jiang Luoluo gave Chu Mingcheng a deep kiss. A wild soft-shell turtle crawled ashore.

It wasn't huge—only a little over two jin—but enough to pleasantly surprise her.

In just a short while, they'd caught six eels and one wild soft-shell turtle.

Of course, this was just Jiang Luoluo thinking it was kiss-for-catch. In reality, Chu Mingcheng only asked for kisses after he'd already spotted something.

He was just here to explore and tease his girlfriend. He never expected this reservoir to have so many eels.

The Fish Gathering effect was only at 10%, yet it had attracted six eels. What would higher levels be like?

But he knew when to stop. The other anglers were already giving them strange looks.

Made sense. It was cold now—fish were hiding in the deep and not feeding much.

The group of anglers were mostly getting skunked, or at best catching one or two small white-striped fish.

But here they were, not only showing off their relationship but catching an eel every few minutes, plus a wild soft-shell turtle.

All that PDA and a great harvest in such a short time.

If he kept going, he'd really be rubbing it in and definitely make people jealous. To avoid looking like a complete show-off, he decisively took Jiang Luoluo and left.

The moment their figures disappeared, the anglers moved in unison—packing rods, grabbing tackle boxes, and immediately rushing toward the spot they'd just vacated.

Chu Mingcheng had no idea what those anglers were doing. He was in great spirits.

With Fish Gathering ability, finding prey while diving near coral reefs or rock clusters would be so much easier!

And his chances of catching things alive would be much higher. Live catches always brought more than dead ones.

"Ah Cheng, where to next? How about we try the beach?" Jiang Luoluo, sitting in the passenger seat, was eager to continue. She clearly found this game interesting and hadn't had enough.

"No rush. Let's wait for camping. We can mess with Chen Yang and the others then. Besides, there aren't many resources on this coast—we wouldn't attract much worth bragging about."

"Ooh, great idea. I'll listen to you then."

So the two, who hadn't even been out half an hour, headed home.

After parking, Chu Mingcheng carried the bucket into the kitchen. "Dad, I caught some things. See what you can do with them."

Chu Yongxin looked down. "Where'd you buy these?"

"Didn't buy them. Just caught them at the mountain reservoir."

"Who are you kidding? How could you catch these so quickly?"

Chu Yongxin didn't believe Chu Mingcheng, but when Jiang Luoluo spoke, he had no choice. "Uncle, it's true. I saw Ah Cheng catch them myself. These eels were just kind of dumb and crawled out on their own, so they were easy to catch."

But he was still confused. "How could they possibly come out in winter?"

Never mind the eels—though they usually stayed in holes, maybe they'd had a cramp and come out.

But soft-shell turtles were supposed to be hibernating in winter. He was genuinely curious how Chu Mingcheng had managed to catch one.

But he was busy now, so he held back his questions, planning to ask when he had time.