When he woke again, Chu Mingcheng saw that it was already one in the afternoon.

After two consecutive all-nighters, coupled with yesterday afternoon's fishing and spearfishing, a single morning's rest wasn't enough to fully restore his energy.

But that was the nature of chartering a boat for deep-sea fishing. Everyone wanted to catch more—not just to break even, but to turn a profit. The only way was to put in the time.

This often meant that after returning to shore, everyone needed several days of rest to recover.

Although it was past noon, Chu Mingcheng could still get a meal at the canteen.

After filling his stomach, he went out onto the deck. He didn't see Jiang Yuqi, but he did spot four people sitting in a small dinghy being prepared for launch.

A crewman was responsible for driving the boat and netting the fish; one person sat at the bow holding a camera, and two anglers sat at the stern, each gripping a fishing rod.

The dinghy was slowly being lowered into the sea. They were going trolling.

Two other boats were already on the water in the distance—this was the third. There was one more boat trolling today than yesterday, which meant the boat owner would earn an extra thousand or two.

Chu Mingcheng happened to be in the mood for trolling as well. He quickly signed up for a dinghy and asked about the types of fish they might encounter.

The main targets were amberjack, mahi-mahi, and large Spanish mackerel, with a chance of encountering tuna.

Because they were in the Xisha Islands, they would mostly encounter large fish, so the requirements for rod and line setup were extremely high.

Chu Mingcheng's rod would work, and he had braided line.

But he still needed a smaller electric reel and some popper lures. The Sky High had them all available for rent.

Just as he was leaving with his gear, he saw Jiang Yuqi hurrying down the corridor. Her eyes lit up when she spotted him. "Ming-ge, are you going fishing? Want to try trolling? It looks like so much fun!"

"I was just about to go. I've already booked a dinghy," Chu Mingcheng said, genuinely surprised that Jiang Yuqi was also planning to go trolling.

That was perfect. Being on a boat with someone he knew was better than with strangers, and they could split the boat fee.

Five hundred yuan an hour was for the boat's time, not five hundred per person.

Jiang Yuqi had had the same idea when she came looking for Chu Mingcheng. She needed to film with her assistant, and it would be difficult to record with strangers on board.

Now that they both wanted to go trolling, it worked out perfectly.

They returned to the deck. Jiang Yuqi rented a full set of gear, while Chu Mingcheng rented an electric reel and lures. Then they boarded a dinghy.

The assistant sat at the bow, holding the camera and filming. All four people on the dinghy wore mandatory life jackets.

Chu Mingcheng didn't mind being filmed. He'd have to show his face eventually, and since he was facing away from the camera, there wasn't much chance of his face being captured anyway.

The dinghy was lowered to the sea surface. The crewman started the engine and headed toward the distant water in search of fish schools.

Trolling placed high demands on the crewman driving the dinghy. They had to have extensive experience in finding fish and then navigate the dinghy along the fish's feeding path.

There were two simple ways to locate fish schools. First was to look for flocks of birds—where there were birds, there were fish below.

Second, when large fish hunted smaller prey, they would cause a commotion on the surface. Driving the dinghy over to troll in that area would yield results.

But the crewman on their dinghy didn't need to go to that trouble. The anglers on the boat ahead had already landed a catch—he just had to follow them.

Chu Mingcheng deftly helped Jiang Yuqi assemble her fishing gear, attached a popper lure, and explained how to troll.

In truth, he had never tried it himself, but trolling wasn't particularly difficult. You just had to cast the lure out and let the boat's movement do the work.

But looking at her small frame, Chu Mingcheng couldn't help but add worriedly, "When you get a fish on, first grip the rod with both hands and set the hook. Setting the hook is just a sharp upward yank. The fish will have an explosive burst of power then."

"At that point, just lean back and hold on through that initial run, then press the button to reel the fish in. Otherwise, with your small size, you might get pulled right into the water."

Jiang Yuqi had one excellent quality—she was obedient.

Hearing Chu Mingcheng speak so seriously, she quickly nodded her head, indicating she understood completely.

Seeing that she had taken his words to heart, Chu Mingcheng still felt uneasy. He checked the drag on her electric reel and loosened it considerably.

This would effectively reduce the immense force of a large fish's initial strike, only increasing the speed at which the line was released, preventing the angler from being yanked into the sea by a sudden pull.

Jiang Yuqi was a quality customer, and if their relationship improved, they could even become ordinary friends.

He didn't want any "hero saves the beauty" scenarios that might capture her heart.

Being as handsome as he was, interacting with women was actually quite troublesome. If they got too close, it could easily lead to unnecessary complications.

After setting her up, he finally assembled his gear, cast the lure into the water, and waited for a fish to strike.

Pulled by the dinghy, the lure darted through the water like a fleeing baitfish, eye-catching and irresistible, just waiting for a predator to take the bait.

When the dinghy reached the fish's feeding lane, Chu Mingcheng's popper lure, which had been swimming happily in the water, was suddenly intercepted by a dark shadow from the side, vanishing into the waves.

But the bend in his fishing rod told Chu Mingcheng that a fish was hooked.

Chu Mingcheng lifted the rod and gripped it with both hands. He could feel a strong force pulling against it. Because the drag on the electric reel wasn't set to maximum, the line was being stripped out rapidly.

After getting used to the pressure for a moment, he could tell the fish wasn't particularly large, so he pressed the button to reel in the line.

With the combined power of the boat's momentum and the electric reel, the fish had no chance to resist.

Seeing that someone had hooked up, the crewman slowly eased off the throttle, letting the dinghy continue forward on its momentum.

Soon, the fish was pulled alongside the boat. It was a meter-long Spanish mackerel, weighing around ten-plus jin.

This size was only considered medium. In Xisha waters, you could catch Spanish mackerel weighing twenty or thirty jin.

The crewman used a gaff to hook it and dropped it into the fish box, then resumed driving the boat.

A short while later, Jiang Yuqi also got a strike. With the drag Chu Mingcheng had adjusted for her, she reeled it in with ease. Soon, an even larger Spanish mackerel was hauled onto the boat by the crewman—at least twenty jin, which made her especially happy.

"Haha, what a huge Spanish mackerel! I have perfect footage for my next video!"

But the fish you encounter while trolling aren't limited to mackerel—some very fast-swimming pelagic species will also appear.

Just as Chu Mingcheng was waiting for another fish to strike, a tremendous force suddenly hit his fishing rod, and his entire body was jerked forward violently.

Luckily, his drag wasn't locked tight; otherwise, that one pull could have dragged him straight into the water.

The other three people on the boat also felt the dinghy suddenly lurch to a halt, and then its speed began to steadily decrease.

The crewman was highly experienced. He immediately eased off the throttle, then shouted, "You've hooked a monster! Don't lock the drag all at once, or you'll be pulled overboard, and the boat might even capsize!"

"Wait for the boat to stop, then slowly guide it toward the bow, and gradually increase the drag. Let the fish pull the boat for a while first!"

"Okay, I got it!" Chu Mingcheng struggled to maintain his grip on the fishing rod. Line from the electric reel was being stripped out rapidly, making a high-pitched "woo-woo-woo" sound.

He began to adjust his center of gravity, using the rod to try to make the fish change direction.

"Ming-ge, you can do it!" Jiang Yuqi quickly reeled in her line and then cheered for Chu Mingcheng.