Chu Yongxin's question about how a soft-shell turtle could crawl ashore in winter was destined to remain unanswered.

Fortunately, he quickly forgot about it, saving Chu Mingcheng from having to concoct an explanation.

After dinner, once the kitchen and dining table were cleaned up, An Xiuwen sent Jiang Luoluo upstairs for a shower.

Chu Mingcheng's mind started wandering, but unfortunately, his parents were both home with no intention of leaving the old house, so he didn't dare act on his thoughts.

The old couple was staying deliberately, of course. Since another family was entrusting their daughter to them, they had to keep watch.

Otherwise, she'd arrive innocent and leave... well, how could they face her family then?

The next day, Chu Mingcheng took Jiang Luoluo to the high-speed rail station. She had to head back first.

Mainly because Zhou Jiayi was flying in today, and she needed to pick her up. Then they'd wait for the boat to collect them.

She'd mentioned the camping trip before, and Zhou Jiayi had eagerly agreed.

After returning, Chu Mingcheng began preparations. He bought crushed ice and fish bait—this camping trip at sea wouldn't stop him from fishing.

He didn't just invite Chen Yang; he brought Zhang Wei along too. He decided against calling Zhao Jun this time, as it wasn't really his scene.

The three bought camping gear, all sorts of food, and even a tent.

Once everything was ready, Chu Mingcheng took the two back to the fishing boat and they set off.

He needed to refuel first, and as usual, Zhang Wei insisted on paying. Thinking they'd be fishing today and picking up the others tomorrow, Chu Mingcheng let him.

"Ah Yang, how was that girl from last night's blind date?" As the boat sped across the sea, Zhang Wei, with nothing better to do, sidled up to Chen Yang.

Chu Mingcheng was surprised to hear this. "Ah Yang, you went on a blind date?"

Chen Yang nodded. "Yeah, I'm almost thirty. My family's getting anxious. The moment the shop closed, they started arranging things."

"Well..." Chu Mingcheng felt helpless. "Luoluo and I were actually planning to introduce someone to you. We wanted it to be a surprise, but looks like you beat us to it with a blind date."

"Since you met her last night, what did you think?"

"She was okay, I guess!" Honestly, Chen Yang's impression of last night's woman was decent enough. But hearing his friend was planning to set him up immediately piqued his interest.

His lukewarm opinion of the blind date instantly dropped a notch.

Just then, Zhang Wei seemed to realize something and said in surprise, "You're not talking about that sweet girl from Taiwan, Zhou Jiayi, are you?"

Chu Mingcheng saw no point in hiding it now. "Yes, that's her. Among Luoluo's unmarried friends, there are currently two who might suit Ah Yang, but Luoluo thinks Zhou Jiayi would be a better match, so the plan was to let you two meet first and see how it goes."

"Ah Yang, Ah Cheng definitely considers you a true brother. Didn't I mention Zhou Jiayi before? She's incredibly pretty, not far off from Ah Cheng's girlfriend, just a different style."

"As for personality and character, I'm sure Ah Cheng's girlfriend wouldn't set you up with someone terrible. If you can win her over, you'll have struck gold."

Chen Yang's heart skipped a beat. No man would ever complain that his wife was too beautiful.

Men with decent finances were very particular about a woman's age and looks, followed by personality and family background. Education and other factors were usually secondary.

He immediately backtracked. "Actually, I didn't want to go on that blind date yesterday at all. I was just appeasing my parents, really!"

He even put on an exceptionally sincere expression.

"Yeah, right, totally believe you!" Zhang Wei hadn't expected to see this side of Chen Yang and immediately scoffed.

Chu Mingcheng shook his head and laughed. "Then you should hurry up and decline that blind date. Keeping someone as backup isn't a good thing."

"And even if things don't work out with Zhou Jiayi, you'll probably have higher standards now. You'll never be satisfied with someone who doesn't measure up."

"Say no more. I'll call my mom right now and have her tell the matchmaker." Chen Yang was decisive. While the boat was still close enough to shore for a signal, he immediately made the call and explained the situation.

His mother objected at first, wanting him to try again. But as soon as she heard Chu Mingcheng was introducing someone even better, her tone completely changed.

That's just how blind dates worked. If it didn't feel right, you could refuse directly.

It wasn't like a real relationship where breakups had to be drawn out.

Chu Mingcheng had two goals today: fishing and finding a suitable camping spot.

He'd passed several deserted islands while searching for large yellow croaker schools before.

Even though it was winter, they were still covered in patches of green—not all plants withered in cold weather.

Of course, that wasn't the main point. The main point was whether there was a sandy beach.

Finding a small deserted island at sea wasn't difficult. After checking the few islands he remembered, Chu Mingcheng quickly picked one.

It was twin islands, connected in the middle by a reef. High tide now, and as the boat approached, the fish finder showed the deepest part was about twenty meters.

Chu Mingcheng eyed the larger island, mainly because it had a small, sheltered beach in an inlet, and right next to the beach was a rocky area where the group could go tide-pooling.

However, he was democratic. He took a picture to show Jiang Luoluo and the others when he picked them up tomorrow.

If they thought it was good, they'd go there. If not...

Chu Mingcheng suddenly realized he should probably photograph a few more places to give them choices.

So he drove the boat to three other locations. Though he personally didn't think they were as good as the twin islands, he photographed them all.

With locations scouted, Chu Mingcheng was about to look for fish schools when Zhang Wei suddenly said, "Ah Cheng, do these deserted islands have any tide pools? Should we try pumping one while we're here?"

"That's a pretty good idea. I'll drop you off at the reef in a bit, and you can get on the island to see if you can find any pools." The idea of pumping a tide pool piqued Chu Mingcheng's interest, too.

He hadn't done it before, mainly because he was a spearfisherman. Wasn't diving and hunting fish much more exciting than pumping a tide pool, with bigger harvests too?

But with Jiang Luoluo bringing Zhou Jiayi along for fun, the entertainment value of pumping a tide pool was perfect for them.

So while maneuvering the boat toward the deserted island for Zhang Wei to scout, he made a satellite call to Jiang Luoluo, telling her to prepare two high-powered water pumps and buy waterproof waders for themselves.

Jiang Luoluo had no problem with that. After checking several islands that looked like they might have tide pools, Zhang Wei found three spots, including a large one on the twin islands.

Perfect. Even with two high-powered pumps, draining a large tide pool would take several hours.

They couldn't possibly drain every pool on their trip, so picking the closest one was best.

So Chu Mingcheng put smelly bait in a crab pot and dropped it between the twin islands. Later, they could smash the crabs they caught and use them to chum the tide pool.

With the crab pot set, Chu Mingcheng took the two to fish for large yellow croaker.

The number of large yellow croakers had indeed increased significantly. With the fish finder, they could almost always locate them at specific fishing spots.

The night passed, and all three had decent harvests, filling two coolers total, though there were no particularly large ones.

Chu Mingcheng fished until midnight, then went to sleep. Since he had to pick people up today, he didn't plan on using Life Conversion, so his catch was about the same as Zhang Wei's.

That was mainly because Zhang Wei had pulled an all-nighter, using the time to make up for the gap between him and the guy with a cheat system.

Since Chen Yang had to meet a beautiful woman today, he had also gone to bed early last night, so his catch was smallest.

Before dawn, Chu Mingcheng was already up, piloting the boat toward Hangzhou to pick them up.

He took the same waterway as last time, stopping where he'd dropped Jiang Luoluo off.

It was now past ten in the morning. Two beautiful women were already waiting on shore, each with a backpack. Next to them were two water pumps and a pile of hoses.

"Hello, long time no see!" Chu Mingcheng first smiled at Jiang Luoluo, then took the initiative to greet Zhou Jiayi.

Zhou Jiayi smiled and waved. "Yeah, long time no see. I can't believe that since we last met, you and Luoluo have already met each other's parents."

"Feel like your home base got stolen?" Chu Mingcheng joked.

"Yes, yes, my home got stolen!" Zhou Jiayi paused for a second, then nodded repeatedly, throwing her arms around Jiang Luoluo.

Jiang Luoluo patted the hands holding her. "Alright, alright, let's get on the boat first! We still have a few hours on the water. You two can discuss home-stealing then."

After the women boarded, Chu Mingcheng called Chen Yang over to help move the pumps and hoses onto the boat, placing them on the foredeck.

They could access the tide pool directly from the reef, so the foredeck was more convenient.

Once everything was loaded, Chu Mingcheng went into the cockpit, started the fishing boat again, found a dock to refuel, and set off.

Zhang Wei was awake by now. He greeted Zhou Jiayi and helped introduce Chen Yang, letting the two get acquainted.

Jiang Luoluo hadn't told Zhou Jiayi about their matchmaking plans, so she acted completely naturally.

Chen Yang, however, was different. He'd known since yesterday that today was basically a "blind date."

Plus, Zhou Jiayi was indeed beautiful. Seeing her in person made his heart flutter, so he was a little unnatural, seemingly nervous.

Fortunately, with three other people present, the atmosphere didn't become awkward.

For Chu Mingcheng, having Chen Yang and Zhou Jiayi meet today was just a side event.

His main goal was having a good time with his girlfriend, because he'd be spending lots of time fishing in the near future and would have less time with her.

He'd already sent them yesterday's photos. As expected, the two also chose the twin islands.

That way, seafood caught from the tide pool could be cooked on the spot for dinner.

He'd already smashed and thrown in over ten jin of crabs yesterday. Though most were small, worthless crabs with only three swimming crabs among them, carnivorous fish weren't picky eaters.