I Can Fish Up Everything!

"Hey, if you don’t believe me, just watch. I’ll go land a big one for you right now." Seeing Gu Nan’s blatant disbelief, Lin Zhijian’s feathers were ruffled. He threw open the car door, determined to prove himself.

"Alright, let’s see what you’ve got, old-timer!"

Gu Nan grabbed his fishing rod and the groundbait and followed him.

There were indeed a lot of people fishing here at night. They walked for seven or eight minutes before they found a suitable spot.

Gu Nan opened the groundbait, mixed it with some river water to form a few balls, and tossed them into the water to chum the spot.

He didn’t fish for freshwater fish much, so as long as the groundbait could be rolled into a ball, he considered it good enough. He didn’t knead it over and over with the same meticulous care as the old man.

He didn’t even wait for the chum to attract fish. He just picked up his rod and cast his line, a Big Fatty lure attached. He wondered if he could catch a blackfish or a culter with it.

Lin Zhijian seemed to have forgotten the lesson from last time. Seeing Gu Nan casting his lure with such effort, he couldn’t help but advise, "You should really wait for the chum to work. Use my paste bait to fish for some silver or black carp. Nothing in this little river is going to bite an artificial lure..."

He had a lot more to say this time, but unfortunately, it seemed the heavens wouldn’t even let him finish.

And what do you know? Just as Gu Nan was reeling in his line, right as the words "bite an artificial lure" left the old man’s mouth, a blackfish from a nearby patch of weeds refused to cooperate. With a loud SPLASH, it bit down on the Big Fatty lure skipping across the water’s surface.

The old man: "Guh... guh..."

Gu Nan shot him an astonished look. ’This old man... he’s really got something going on!’

"Old-timer, you really know how to talk! You should do it more often when we’re fishing. I’ve got mineral water that costs over a hundred a bottle, and it’ll be an open tab!"

"Are you trying to make fun of me?!" Lin Zhijian was mortified. ’This is just plain weird! Why is it that every time I try to give this kid some well-meaning advice, I get proven spectacularly wrong before I can even finish? This is the third time!’

But setting that aside for a moment, he was quite curious about the fish Gu Nan had hooked. He switched on his flashlight and shone it directly onto the water’s surface.

His eyes lit up when he saw the big blackfish struggling on the surface as it was reeled in. "That blackfish isn’t small! It must be four or five pounds!"

Gu Nan braced the butt of the rod against his stomach and reeled in the line quickly. A rock fishing rod is pretty long, so it’s not easy to tuck under your armpit to reel in.

But a four or five-pound fish was no trouble for him to reel in. He had it on the bank before the lure and line had even finished draining its stamina.

Lin Zhijian expertly grabbed the landing net and aimed precisely for the fish’s head. One look and you could tell this wasn’t his first rodeo.

Gu Nan helped take it. The fish was thrashing wildly, and it looked like the old man’s grip on the net wasn’t very steady.

Carrying the net with one hand, he got it onto the bank before he carefully lifted the fish out.

’Sweet! Pickled vegetable fish soup for dinner tomorrow!’

Lin Zhijian watched with envy. He rubbed his hands together and said with a slightly fawning smile, "Ah Nan, listen. You’ve gotta admit, at least half the credit for catching this big blackfish is mine, right? If it weren’t for my running commentary, you’d just be working for nothing..."

Gu Nan was amused. "Old-timer, are you saying you want this blackfish?"

"Heh heh..." Lin Zhijian thought Gu Nan was about to give him the fish and was smiling, ready to accept it, when the blackfish before his eyes suddenly disappeared.

It turned out that Gu Nan had held the fish out, only to pull it back the moment Lin Zhijian reached for it. He even teased, "Old-timer, didn’t you just say you get a good haul every day? Maybe you’ll catch an even bigger one in a bit, huh?"

"So I won’t embarrass myself with this little fish. You probably look down on it anyway, right!"

Lin Zhijian’s eye twitched. ’Look down on it, my ass! That’s a four- or five-pound wild blackfish! I haven’t seen anyone catch one this big in years. This isn’t some remote place with tons of water and few people. Any big fish around here were caught long ago.’

But as a veteran angler, he had his own pride.

The little old man lifted his chin and said haughtily, "Who wants your tiny fish? I’ll catch a silver carp of at least twenty pounds right now just to show you."

Silver carp and bighead carp are two different species, but they are generally referred to as bighead carp around here. The meat isn’t great, but the head is excellent for making steamed fish head with chopped chili peppers.

"Then I’ll be waiting with bated breath!" Gu Nan chuckled as he put the blackfish into the keepnet Lin Zhijian had brought along.

’It was just one blackfish; if the old man had really wanted it, I would’ve just given it to him. After that little experiment, I’m starting to think there’s really something mystical about him.’

’But I have to test it a few more times. This mystical power doesn’t need to be one hundred percent effective. Even if it only works fifty percent of the time, I have to find a way to coax this old man out to sea.’

It would still take some time for the chum to become effective, so Gu Nan went back to casting his lure.

Only, the little old man had wised up this time. He turned his head a few times, looking like he wanted to speak, but always swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. Gu Nan grew anxious watching him. ’Just say it already!’

The old man didn’t say a word, and sure enough, Gu Nan didn’t catch another fish.

Checking the time, he saw that the chum should be taking effect. Gu Nan reeled in his line, unclipped the Big Fatty, and switched to a night-fishing float and a hook. He pinched a large ball of bait from the old man’s stash, put it on the hook, and cast it out to his chummed spot.

When Lin Zhijian saw that he hadn’t had a bite in a while, he started looking smug again.

"You kid, you really should’ve given me that blackfish as a sign of respect. If I hadn’t opened my mouth, you wouldn’t have gotten any..."

The word "fish" hadn’t even left his mouth before the little old man’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. ’Holy crap, am I actually some kind of mystical master?’

The float on the water’s surface suddenly plunged out of sight, and the fishing rod bent into a deep C-shape.

Gu Nan’s eyes lit up. ’The old-timer lives up to his reputation! The moment he opens his mouth, there’s a fish on the line!’

He immediately jerked the rod to set the hook.

’It’s putting up a good fight. Feels no smaller than that blackfish from before.’

"How can this be? It shouldn’t be like this! Why does he get a bite every time I speak? What kind of logic is that?" Lin Zhijian stood to the side, having an existential crisis. He hadn’t gotten a single bite himself, so how come his power only ever benefited others?

Ignoring the fish on Gu Nan’s line, the skeptical little old man put down his own rod and ambled over to another angler about a dozen meters away.

"Getting skunked, little buddy? You’re not doing it right!"

The angler was taken aback. He turned to look at the man, but didn’t recognize him.

Still, he asked politely, "Do you have any advice, sir?"

To his surprise, Lin Zhijian completely ignored him. Instead, he descended into a self-doubting mumble, "That’s not right. Why didn’t he get a bite?"

With that, he continued on to the next angler.

The angler was left utterly baffled. "What was that all about? What a weirdo!"

By the time Lin Zhijian returned with an expression of utter disbelief, Gu Nan had finally landed the fish on his hook.

It was a five- or six-pound grass carp, which he hadn’t expected. This type of bait usually had a higher chance of catching silver or black carp. Grass carp, ironically, were easier to catch using actual grass as bait.

’But this is a great catch, too. I can make grilled fish!’

Seeing the old man was back, he laughed. "Old-timer, wandering around instead of fishing... looks like you’re going to get skunked tonight!"

Lin Zhijian gave him a complicated look. ’It must be a coincidence,’ he thought. He’d just tried it on more than ten people, and not one of them got a bite. Evidently, there was nothing mystical going on.

Seeing Gu Nan gloating now, he retorted irritably, "I was just giving you a two-fish head start. Now, I’ll show you some real technique."

After saying his piece, he picked up his rod again, pinched on a piece of bait, and cast his hook out to his own chummed spot.

Gu Nan shook his head and chuckled. ’This prideful little old man is actually pretty interesting.’

He glanced at the time. It was already 8:30 p.m. ’It doesn’t really matter if I go out to sea tonight or not.’

’My daily attempts can accumulate now, anyway. Besides, the Bering Sea fishing rod is too low-grade. I need to enter the Trial Tower competition and get a better rod first.’

’I also haven’t used the special fishing ground card, and I haven’t re-entered the beachcombing map. There’s a lot to get done, so I need to figure out this whole mystical phenomenon sooner rather than later.’

Gu Nan cast his baited hook back to his chummed spot. He was just thinking about how to get the old man to open his mouth again when the man himself spoke up.

"Looks like you’re done for the night with those two fish. You might as well pack it in, go home, and get some sleep!"

"..."

A light breeze rippled across the water’s surface... and then nothing.

Gu Nan and Lin Zhijian stared at each other blankly.

’The old man’s magic isn’t working anymore!’

’So it really was just a coincidence!’

One was somewhat disappointed; the other breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Zhijian had no desire for such a bizarre ability. If all the fish got hooked on his line, he’d be ecstatic. But if it only benefited others while he watched, green with envy, then he’d rather not have this "special power" at all!

Twenty-some minutes passed. The bait had dissolved and been replaced several times, but not a single fish took the hook.

Gu Nan was growing a bit impatient. Even with the low synchronization rate of his Bering Sea fishing rod, his chances of getting a bite were still higher than this.

’I’m used to fine dining, so a few bites of rough fare is one thing, but a whole meal of it just doesn’t taste good!’

"Old-timer, looks like you’re really going to get skunked tonight. Luckily, I’ve got two fish over here. A bountiful harvest!"

"Bah, bah, bah! Watch what you say! This old-timer just hasn’t gotten serious yet. I’ll catch at least three tonight, and they’ll all be bigger than yours. You just happened to get lucky with those two. There’s no way you’ll get a third—"

*WHIZZ—*

The rod bent sharply downward. Gu Nan quickly jerked it upward to set the hook, and an immense force shot up the line, pulling him forward a step.

His eyes lit up. ’Awesome! I was just teasing the old man one last time and didn’t expect to actually get a hit. And it’s a big one!’

’I, Gu Nan, hereby declare you the greatest support character of all time!’

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

’This one isn’t as big as the yellowcheek carp from last time, but it’s still not bad. I estimate it’s on par with a fifteen- or sixteen-pound saltwater fish.’

’Freshwater fish pull a bit lighter, so this might actually be a twenty-pounder.’

Lin Zhijian was dumbstruck. Snapping out of it, he slammed his own fishing rod onto the ground with a CRACK. "What the hell good are you to me!"

Gu Nan, of course, saw his reaction and grinned. He then braced himself and heaved the rod upward.

’A twenty-pound fish at most. I can muscle this one in.’

Then again, "muscling it in" was easier said than done. While the fish was still full of energy, he couldn’t actually haul it in, leading to a stalemate.

With an occasional burst of power, the fish could still pull a little line out, mainly because Gu Nan hadn’t locked the drag completely.

The riverbank was slippery underfoot, so it was safer to let out some line and tire the fish out.

Lin Zhijian was too preoccupied to stay angry. He grabbed the landing net and stood at the ready.

At the same time, he was thinking, ’This kid caught three fish thanks to my big mouth. No matter what, I’ve got to get at least one of them.’

’Without this mouth of mine, wouldn’t Gu Nan have gotten skunked tonight, just like me?’

Even letting the line out a bit to tire it, he managed to muscle the twenty-pound fish to the bank in just seven or eight minutes.