The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 16: Want Some?

Since he hadn't gone grocery shopping today, Chu Mingcheng decided to catch a fish for dinner. He swapped to his M-action lure rod and tied on a 2.5-gram spoon lure. Such a small lure really should be used with a thinner line and a softer rod, but he didn't have those, so he made do. Besides, he was eating alone and didn't need to catch a huge fish.
Adjusting the tension of his spinning reel, the spoon lure whooshed out over ten meters, then came splashing back as he reeled it in. If he had a softer rod, casting an extra ten meters wouldn't be a problem.
He'd instantly hooked an alligator gar with his very first cast earlier, but now, after over thirty casts, there was no action whatsoever. This highlighted the utility of his Aquatic Codex; without its capture chance bonus, he was just like any other angler—lure fishing all day could leave him with an aching back and no fish to show for it.
After another ten minutes of casting, the sun was already setting. Chu Mingcheng sighed, ready to head to the market. Just as the spoon lure was almost back to shore, a fish suddenly took the bait. It was Chu Mingcheng's first time using the M-action lure rod today, and the feel was indeed different from the MH-action. The softer rod provided more sensitivity. The hooked fish was thrashing on the surface. It didn't look large, but the pulling force felt quite strong. However, the fish was only five or six meters from the bank, so Chu Mingcheng pulled and reeled, bringing it close very quickly. He squatted down, picked up his landing net, and easily scooped the fish out of the water.
When he picked up the fish from the net, he realized he didn't recognize it. The fish's color was similar to a wild crucian carp, but its body was flattened, higher in the middle, and slightly rhomboid. Its head and mouth were very small. It was a good thing his lure was small enough; if it had been any larger, this fish wouldn't have been able to bite it. Thankfully, its body wasn't small. Chu Mingcheng estimated its weight to be about 1.5 to 2 jin. He just didn't know if it tasted good. Since he didn't recognize it, he decided to check his Aquatic Codex to see if it was listed.
[Aquatic Codex (Level 0)]
[Current Experience: (7/50)]
[Unlocked Capture Tools: Hands, Fishing Gear]
[Max Aquatic Species Level: 50]
[Unlocked Species: Mantis Shrimp, Crucian Carp, Dace, Common Carp, Odontobutis obscura (Padihu), Horn Snail, Bream]
[Special Abilities: None]
"So, this is a bream." Now that he knew the fish's name, things were easier. Chu Mingcheng took out his phone and looked it up, learning that its flesh was very delicious, suitable for braising or steaming.
Now he had dinner!
The sky was growing dark, his stomach rumbled, and he had ingredients. He immediately packed up his fishing gear and headed back home with the fish.
Back home, he first put rice on to cook, then took a knife and a cutting board to the front yard. Just then, Chu Mingcheng suddenly slapped his thigh—he'd forgotten to prepare fish for the cat! Yesterday, when he came back, he'd specifically checked the front yard and found the fish by the well were gone, so he figured that the tabby cat had visited. He stood up and looked around, but found no trace of the cat.
"Did it come late today and leave already?" Chu Mingcheng wasn't sure, so he decided to clean the fish first. He picked up the knife and gave the bream a smack on the head with the blunt side of the blade. The thrashing bream immediately quieted down.
"Meow~"
Just as he was scraping off the scales, a cat's meow suddenly came from above. Chu Mingcheng looked up and saw it was the tabby cat. "So you were hiding up there! No wonder I couldn't find you." He had always wanted to keep a cat or a dog, but his previous job made it impossible to care for them, so he never did. That was why he had taken such an interest in this tabby cat since returning home.
Chu Mingcheng looked at the fish, thought for a moment, then, after scraping off the scales, chopped off the head and tail, gutted it, and carried the remaining fish meat away from the well.
The tabby cat watched him intently. After he left, it stared at him for a little while longer before leaping down. It went over, sniffed the leftover fish head, tail, and guts, then looked up at him and let out a soft "meow," as if thanking him, before beginning to eat.
A smile appeared on Chu Mingcheng's lips as he watched it. After it finished eating and left, he carried the fish into the kitchen and started making dinner.
He sliced the remaining bream body into small pieces, arranged them in a circle on a plate, chopped some green onions and a few slices of ginger to place on top, added a few chopped bird's eye chilies, and then put it into the steamer.
The fish was already cut into small pieces, so it didn't need much steaming time—five minutes after the water boiled would be enough.
With the fish steamed and the rice perfectly cooked, Chu Mingcheng decided to enjoy dinner in the nice weather outside. He set up the folding table in the front yard, wiped it clean, and then headed back inside. There, he drizzled the steamed fish with seafood soy sauce and hot oil, completing a fresh and delicious dish. Grabbing a bowl of rice, he carried both out to the front yard to savor his dinner.
He took a bite of the fish, and its texture was tender and smooth, without any lingering fishiness. The taste was indeed excellent, almost as good as sea bass, just without that distinct fresh ocean flavor. However, after only two mouthfuls of rice, Chu Mingcheng noticed the tabby cat had returned. And this time, it wasn't empty-pawed; it was carrying a large rat, at least a jin in weight, in its mouth.
'Didn't it eat enough?' Chu Mingcheng was surprised.
Then he watched as the tabby cat came to a stop not far in front of him. He heard a "crunch, crunch" of bones being bitten, and the dying squeals of the rat. After a moment, once the rat's spine and skull were crushed and it couldn't escape, the tabby cat picked it up again and brought it to Chu Mingcheng, dropping the rat and meowing.
It seemed to be asking, "Want some?"
"..." Chu Mingcheng's eye twitched, and he managed a strained smile. "I appreciate the offer, but you should eat it yourself. I don't need any." He then held up his rice bowl and fish as if to illustrate his point. The tabby cat seemed to understand. It picked up the rat again, went back to where it had eaten the fish before, and then bit down on the rat's head with more "crunch, crunch" sounds and the characteristic smacking of a cat eating.
He distinctly saw the rat's blood flowing, and its head being eaten first by the tabby cat.
"Ugh~"
Chu Mingcheng suddenly felt nauseous. His appetite, which had been so good, instantly vanished.
"What a mess!"
He could only take his rice and fish back inside to eat, out of sight, out of mind. Unfortunately, his appetite was gone, causing him to eat very little rice and only a few bites of fish. Defeated, Chu Mingcheng took the fish and rice back to the kitchen. He put the rice back into the rice cooker and wrapped the fish in plastic wrap, placing it in the refrigerator. After cleaning the kitchen, he went to the front yard to move the table back inside, only to see the tabby cat happily playing with the half-eaten rat carcass, its organs scattered all over the ground.
"Damn cat," he muttered, a frustrated sigh escaping him. "I really want to curse at you, but you can't understand me."
Now that he wasn't eating, he didn't feel as disgusted, just the primal aversion to rodents. But he had to admit, this cat was smart. No wonder, despite being a stray, it was plump, sturdy, and had soft fur. It had been eating rats all along. If it were in the city, it would probably be starving.