After chatting for a bit, Yao Xin said she'd call him the next time she was heading out to sea, then returned to her spot to tie her line and bait her hook.

Chu Mingcheng baited his hook and continued fishing, taking a moment to order some takeout and two fruit teas.

This female angler was well-connected. If he played his cards right, she might invite him along on a deep-sea fishing trip. Who would say no to a free boat ride?

Another half hour passed. Chu Mingcheng didn't hook any more giants, just a three-or-four-jin carp and a five-or-six-jin culter. Over on the other side, Yao Xin's groundbait had been stewing for about an hour, and she finally started fishing.

Just then, the takeout arrived. Chu Mingcheng decided to take a break. He started on his dinner and brought one of the fruit teas over to her. "Sister Yao, I got you a Qingji tea."

"Thanks! Ah-Cheng, you haven't had dinner yet?" Yao Xin took a sip of the tea and smiled. She was three years older than he, and as they got to know each other, their way of addressing each other naturally became more familiar.

"I just bought the rod, so I came straight over to test it out!"

"Haha, true. I wouldn't have been able to resist either."

Just as she spoke, Yao Xin got a bite. "Oh! A fish, a fish!"

She quickly lifted her rod, but it felt light. A tiny fish broke the surface. Seeing how small it was, she couldn't help but laugh. "Hahaha, this fish is too small."

As she guided it to the bank, before she could even reach for it, the fish thrashed a few times on the surface and suddenly vanished.

"Oh my god, it's gone..." Yao Xin knew something was wrong, but before she could react, the fish had thrown the hook and escaped, leaving her extremely annoyed. "It got away! A redfin!"

"It's over, I lost the first fish of the day. I have a bad feeling about this."

Translator Note:

In many Chinese fishing traditions, the very first fish caught after setting up is considered a good omen for the rest of the fishing trip. If this first fish escapes, it's often seen as a bad omen for the day's fishing.

Chu Mingcheng, watching from the side, was speechless. Hearing her lament, he offered some words of comfort. "Don't worry about it. The next one will be better."

"Ha, I'll take your word for it," Yao Xin said with a cheerful laugh, baiting her hook again.

This time, the bait was in the water for less than two minutes before the float sank again. Yao Xin beamed, her face lit up with joy. "Haha, my luck's turning around! Another one on the line!"

Chu Mingcheng took a sip of his fruit tea and chuckled. "See? Losing one is no big deal. There are thousands more where that came from!"

"Absolutely." Yao Xin was a little smug now that she'd hooked another one. It wasn't a big fish, just a culter about forty or fifty centimeters long. She laughed as she gripped the line, letting the fish dangle and swing.

"Ooh-yo-yo-yo, hehehehehe..."

Just as she was about to grab the fish, it began to struggle violently, startling a shout out of her. "Oh no, it's gone!" Sure enough, the cultur spat out the hook in a couple of shakes and fell back into the water with a plop.

Pfft! Chu Mingcheng sprayed a mouthful of fruit tea all over the ground. Was Yao Xin cursed today or something?

"Well..." The two of them stared at each other, speechless.

After a moment, Yao Xin snapped out of it, baited her hook, and cast it back out. Then she grabbed her landing net. "From now on," she declared fiercely, "I'm using the net for even a one-liang fish. I refuse to believe they can still jump out."

Chu Mingcheng opened his mouth to say something, but it was too late. With a flag, wouldn't it be almost rude for the next fish not to escape now?

As expected, her third catch was a carp of about three jin. She carefully scooped it up with the net, but before she could lift it completely out of the water, the carp gave a mighty leap and was gone.

"..."

At that moment, Chu Mingcheng began to suspect that maybe he was the problem, that his presence was messing with her luck. This was just too bizarre.

"Sister Yao, uh, I'm going to get back to my spot. You take your time. Don't rush. You'll land one."

Without waiting for her reply, he beat a hasty retreat.

Back at his spot, Chu Mingcheng switched his float to a glow-in-the-dark one. The sky was darkening, and it would be completely black in about half an hour.

The groundbait was still working. A few minutes after he cast his line, another big fish took the bait. It was too dark to see what it was, but it pulled with no less force than the black carp from earlier.

Chu Mingcheng huffed and puffed for another twenty minutes before finally wrestling the fish to the bank. Only then did he see it was a bighead carp. The body of this fish wasn't great to eat—too many bones—but the head was perfect for making steamed fish head with chopped chili.

During this time, he'd heard Yao Xin's frustrated shouts several times. He was convinced the woman was jinxed. He'd never even heard of someone losing so many fish off the hook.

Just as he was about to grab his landing net, a fragrant scent drifted over. The net was snatched away by someone else. It was Yao Xin.

"Sister Yao, what are you doing over here?"

"I'm done. My luck is completely rotten today. I hooked six fish, and every single one of them got away," Yao Xin said, still fuming. And who could blame her? Losing six fish in a row? She probably wouldn't be able to sleep for three days and three nights from the sheer frustration.

"Uh..." Chu Mingcheng gave an awkward laugh. "Well, my luck has been pretty good today. How about this? Pick any fish you want, it's on me."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then I'll take the black carp and this bighead carp."

"No problem. They're all yours."

Chu Mingcheng agreed without a moment's hesitation. It wasn't that he was after her or anything; it was just that these freshwater fish were dirt cheap. The two fish combined weighed about forty jin and would probably only sell for four or five hundred yuan.

He didn't care about a few hundred yuan these days, especially since he'd caught the fish himself and not bought them.

Hearing him agree so readily, Yao Xin's mood finally improved a little. "Alright, I was just teasing you. I do need these two fish, but I'll buy them from you."

"Sister Yao, it's just two fish! You don't have to!"

"I have a customer who wants them. He's the reason I came out to fish today. It's not my money anyway, so just take it." The bighead carp was now on the bank, and Yao Xin immediately transferred eight hundred yuan to him.

"Sister Yao, you sent way too much." The market price for black carp was around ten yuan a jin, and bighead carp was a little more expensive at fifteen or twenty yuan. Eight hundred was too much.

"It's fine. My friend gave me eight hundred, it's not from me. Just take it."

"Well... thanks, then!"

"Don't mention it. Hey, Ah-Cheng, can you help me move these to my car? I need to deliver them, so I won't stay to fish with you."

"Sure." Chu Mingcheng immediately helped her get the two large fish into her fish box, then carried the box to the trunk of her car.

"Thanks, Ah-Cheng. Next time I have a chance, I'll take you deep-sea fishing. Make sure you buy one or two sea fishing rods."

"Alright, I'll be waiting for your message."

That was the sentence Chu Mingcheng had been waiting for. If her earlier offer had just been polite, this one had a ring of sincerity to it. The whole reason he was trying to build a good relationship with her was to score a free boat ride and learn about finding good fishing spots and other deep-sea techniques.

The most important part of sea fishing was knowing how to find the right spots. Many anglers had their secret locations, all of which were discovered through experience.

The reason Chu Mingcheng planned to charter boats first, rather than just buying a cheap boat for a few tens of thousands of yuan, was that, as a novice, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to find any good spots and would just come home empty-handed every time.