Chapter 21: Rebirth of the Fishing Master

At the riverbank, Xiulan and Caiyun were washing clothes. Even the new clothes had to be washed before they could be worn.

Lin Heng was in charge of killing the grass carp and taking care of his daughter, Xiaoxia.

However, now this task was given to Xiongba, with Xiaoxia chasing after him, playing fetch with a stick. She threw one, and he brought it back, making excited dog barks and the sound of her cheerful laughter.

In his previous life, Lin Heng was an experienced fisherman, so killing fish was naturally no trouble for him—scaling, gutting, and removing the gills was done swiftly.

"Xiongba, come eat some meat," Lin Heng said, tossing the fish's innards to the dog.

"Arwooo!!"

Seeing the meat, Xiongba dashed over, burying his head and devouring it greedily. For a poor family's dog, a meal of meat was a rare treat.

"Doggie~"

Xiaoxia didn't pronounce the word "dog" very well. Seeing Xiongba eating, she reached out to grab it.

"No, don't grab!" Lin Heng quickly smacked her little hand.

"Uuu~ (つд`)" Xiaoxia pouted, tottering over to her mother Xiulan and clinging to her arm, pointing at Lin Heng and mumbling in unintelligible words. From her aggrieved expression, it was clear she was complaining that her dad had hit her.

Lin Heng couldn't help but laugh. He raised his hands in surrender. "Just a little tap and I'm already in trouble? Is that fair?"

"Waaah~~" Seeing Lin Heng laughing, Xiaoxia's pout grew into a loud wail.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I won't hit you again!" Lin Heng quickly apologized and moved to hug her.

"Ah-woohoo! (｀⌒メ)" Xiaoxia turned her head away, clutching her mother's arm even tighter and crying louder.

Xiulan, unable to continue washing clothes, dried her hands and turned to hug her daughter. Looking at her, she said, "Daddy didn't hit you wrong. He just doesn't want you touching dirty things."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoxia's expression froze, as if saying, "Mom, how could you say that? Daddy hit me, and you should be avenging me!"

"Next time, I'll hit your hand if you try that again," Xiulan said firmly, tossing Xiaoxia into the backpack and resuming her laundry.

"Uuu~" Xiaoxia cried a couple more times, but when she saw no one was paying attention to her, she angrily turned away and started picking yellow flowers off nearby shrubs as if venting her emotions.

Lin Heng tried to hug her, but she refused and cried whenever he attempted to do so.

"Forget it, little princess, play by yourself."

Lin Heng scratched his head. Kids were really hard to handle.

He finished killing the last fish, threw the innards to Xiongba, and watched as the dog stuffed itself full.

Xiongba rubbed its head against Lin Heng's leg. Lin Heng petted it and said, "Go play with Xiaoxia."

"Woof woof!!" Xiongba seemed to understand, though it reluctantly ran over to Xiaoxia, licking her hand. In no time, Xiaoxia's bright laughter could be heard again.

Kids were like that—angry one moment and happy the next.

Lin Heng, feeling a bit bored while watching his wife and sister-in-law wash clothes, said, "Wife, give me that little pin."

Xiulan gave him a puzzled look but handed him the gold-colored pin she had just taken off.

Lin Heng took the pin, disassembled it, and sharpened it on a stone. He bent it, and a fishing hook was ready.

He found some cotton thread for the fishing line and used a thin bamboo shoot for the rod. A small fishing rod for stream fishing was ready.

The bait was simple—he could find earthworms under stones in the bushes.

His fishing cravings had long since kicked in, but since Taiwan-style fishing hadn't become popular in the country yet, he had to make all his own tools.

"Brother, you're not planning to fish, are you?" Caiyun eyed Lin Heng's setup with suspicion.

Lin Heng's voice suddenly rose. "What? You don't believe I can catch anything?"

You can doubt anything, but never doubt a seasoned fisherman's ability to catch fish.

Even if I don't catch any fish, I can catch crabs, frogs, or even some plants from the field. How could I not catch anything?

"I think it's unlikely. You might as well poison the fish," Caiyun shook her head.

Xiulan glanced at Lin Heng's gear and smiled but didn't say anything.

Lin Heng immediately felt dissatisfied. "You're my wife, and you don't believe I can catch fish?"

"Husband, poisoning the fish is a good idea. You can catch a lot at once," Xiulan winked at him.

"Alright then, I'll show you all. What if I catch a fish?" Lin Heng felt insulted.

"Second Brother, if you catch a fish, I'll wash your clothes for a month. If not, you have to go to the mountain and catch a squirrel for us," Caiyun laughed.

"No problem," Lin Heng patted his chest and then looked at Xiulan. "What about you, wife?"

"I?" Xiulan looked up, thought for a moment, and said, "I didn't think of anything."

Lin Heng responded, "Well, if I catch a fish, you'll wash my feet. If not, I'll wash yours. How about that?"

Xiulan blinked, recalling that night when Lin Heng kept touching her feet. Did he like her feet?

"Fine," she finally agreed.

"Then watch closely. I'm about to show off my skills."

Lin Heng threaded the earthworms onto the hook, walked over to a pond upstream, crouched down, and started fishing.

The water in the stream was clear, and there was no need for a float. Whether the fish bit or not was immediately obvious.

Lin Heng thought this would be easy—the stream's fish were likely unfamiliar with fishing hooks.

Soon enough, two stream bass emerged from the rocks. They seemed to detect food and hesitated for only a moment before eagerly biting onto the hook.

Lin Heng, who had clearly seen everything, excitedly raised his rod, but with a "plop," the fish dropped back into the water.

"They slipped off the hook?" Lin Heng was speechless, his face flushed with embarrassment, quickly lowering the rod again.

However, this time, the bass didn't come out. Only smaller fish were nibbling, which were impossible to catch.

"These stream bass are so tricky?" Lin Heng was surprised. They were usually easy to catch.

"Second Brother, we're almost done washing the clothes. If you don't catch anything, it doesn't count," Caiyun teased.

"Don't worry. I'll definitely catch something before you finish washing," Lin Heng was determined. There was no way he, a seasoned fisherman, couldn't catch these stream bass.

He found another pond, and there were plenty of stream bass there, including a couple of big "Old Blacks" (large dark-colored bass).

Lin Heng quickly cast his line, and "Old Black" referred to the particularly large bass species.

The Shiban River was relatively small, with limited fish species—only stream bass, ground tigers (sand loaches), mudfish, sand shrimp, yellow catfish, and peach blossom fish were common.

There were no carps or crucian carp in this river, which could only be found in the nearby Huangtan River, about four or five kilometers away.

In the Shiban River, the most common species were stream bass and ground tigers. Yellow catfish and peach blossom fish were rare and considered "SSR" species.

This time, Lin Heng remained patient, determined to wait until the fish fully swallowed the bait before raising the rod.

"What's going on?"

After a while, Lin Heng's face was full of confusion. The fish in the pond were swimming around wildly, but none of them bit the hook. This was too strange!

"Stupid fish, don't make me use poison!" Lin Heng muttered, his pride as a seasoned fisherman feeling deeply insulted.

"Dammit!!"

Suddenly, Lin Heng shouted and quickly took two steps back, dropping the rod.

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(End of chapter)