The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 39: Keeping Two Jin

He took a look at the secret bait recipe Yao Xin had sent him and realized it was surprisingly complicated to make.
The main ingredient was oatmeal, which had to be steamed. Then peanut powder and sweet potato powder were added at a specific ratio of roughly 4:1:0.5. After that, it was seasoned with egg-milk essence and Zhilan fragrance (a type of orchid fragrance), carefully blended until it gave off a faint, sweet, milky scent. The mixture was then steamed again and left to sit for a period, allowing the oatmeal to ferment until it developed a slightly sour yet sweet flavor. The stronger the aroma, the more attractive it was to the Spotted Creek Chub.
"Yao-jie, since it's such a hassle to make, why don't we just fish for something else?"
Yao Xin shook her head with a smile. "Let me put it this way: I'm in a group chat full of gourmands. When one of them gets a craving for a specific type of fish, they'll hire me to go catch it for them. And they pay very well."
"I love fishing," she continued, "so if I can fish and make money at the same time, of course I'm going to do it!"
It all made sense to Chu Mingcheng now. No wonder she'd go to all this trouble to come out here and fish for Creek Chub.
By now, He Zheng and Xu Fang were already set up and had started fishing. Yao Xin stopped explaining, tied on her line and hook, and prepared to start as well, handing Chu Mingcheng a portion of the secret bait.
Fishing for Spotted Creek Chub wasn't just about climate, timing, habits, and bait—the technique also mattered. For this pool, they were using a method for murky, flowing water known as "tight-tip fishing," a type of bottom fishing.
Yao Xin had already told him which rod and line to use. Now Chu Mingcheng added a heavy sinker but no float. He chummed the water a bit, using the secret oatmeal bait directly. He rolled the bait into a ball the size of a green pea, pressed it onto the hook, and left the tip slightly exposed.
Then he cast his line into a spot where the current was slower and sand had settled at the bottom of the stream.
After casting, he had to rely on the feel of the line and the movement of the rod tip to detect a bite. If the line suddenly tightened and then slackened, or if it twitched, he had to set the hook immediately.
It was Chu Mingcheng's first time fishing for this species, so he watched his line intently, far less relaxed than Yao Xin and the others. After more than ten days of consistent fishing, he was starting to genuinely enjoy the sport. During the wait, he no longer felt the urge to pull out his phone and read novels like he did at the beginning. He had discovered that the anticipation itself—waiting for a fish to bite—was its own kind of pleasure.
The pool was quite large, so the four of them were spaced a good distance apart.
Suddenly, He Zheng's rod tip shot up, and a small fish broke the surface as he reeled it in. It wasn't big, only about ten centimeters long, but from the smile on his face, it was clear he'd caught a Spotted Creek Chub.
Chu Mingcheng had assumed Xu Fang, who had cast his line earlier, would be the next to get a bite, but unexpectedly, he was the one who hit the jackpot.
He saw his line go taut and immediately lifted his rod. A small fish burst from the water, its tail whipping so fast it became a blur, making it impossible to see the fish.
He raised his rod higher, letting the fish's momentum carry it toward him, and snatched it out of the air.
There wasn't anything particularly special about the fish. Its mouth didn't seem to glow, which made him wonder why it was also called the "light-lipped fish." However, it had six distinct vertical black stripes along its side. Perhaps that, combined with its delicious flavor, was what earned it the "chub" part of its name.
Seeing that Chu Mingcheng had landed one so quickly, Yao Xin called out, "Ah-Cheng, is that a Creek Chub? Does it have black stripes on its side?"
"It has black stripes! It's a Creek Chub!" Chu Mingcheng replied, scooping some stream water into his fish box and tossing the fish inside.
"Excellent! Catch as many as you can. Whether or not I complete my mission today depends on you guys!"
Yao Xin had already mentioned that if her group didn't catch enough, she would buy some from him. She was offering a hundred yuan per jin—an offer Chu Mingcheng was more than happy to accept. A single fish weighed about two or three liang (100-150g), meaning it would take three to five of them to make a jin. He needed to get to work!
Chu Mingcheng baited his hook and cast out again. While he waited, he rolled more of the oatmeal bait into small pellets to save time later.
Unfortunately, the Spotted Creek Chub was still at Level 0 in his system, so he received no special attribute bonuses. Relying solely on Yao Xin's bait, he couldn't seem to get into a rhythm of non-stop bites. He was only catching one every three to five minutes. He also caught some other miscellaneous fish, which didn't even register in his Aquatic Species Codex. He did, however, finally reach the milestone of having caught twenty different species.
The only thing he felt was lacking was his rod. He realized he should have brought a softer carbon pole. The improved sensitivity would have allowed him to detect bites more sharply.
Still, the day's harvest was pretty good. Among Yao Xin's group, only He Zheng was catching them with any efficiency. The other two were having less luck, and even changing spots didn't seem to help much.
They fished until noon. By then, Chu Mingcheng's fish box was a third of the way full, teeming with a dense school of small Creek Chub, none of them reaching even twenty centimeters in length.
The temperature had risen by now, and he hadn't had a bite in over ten minutes.
Yao Xin reeled in her line and walked over. "Nice, very nice. I'm so glad I invited you today. Otherwise, He-ge's catch alone wouldn't have been enough to complete the order!"
"Happy to help," Chu Mingcheng said with a smile as he packed up his rod.
The four of them cleaned up their spots and headed down the mountain together. Yao Xin took an electronic scale from her car to weigh the fish and pay them on the spot.
Chu Mingcheng's haul came to seven jin and three liang, which at her price would be seven hundred and thirty yuan.
But this was his first time catching this fish, and he'd heard how tender and delicious the meat was. He wanted to try it for himself. "Yao-jie," he asked, "how many do you need for your order?"
"As many as I can get, but twenty jin is the minimum. Why?"
"Well, I've never eaten this fish before, and I was hoping to keep two jin to take home for my parents to try. The three of you have about sixteen or seventeen jin combined, so you have enough. Is it okay if I keep two jin?"
"Pfft, is that all? Of course! I'll leave you two jin, no problem."
"Thanks a lot!"
"Don't mention it. I should be thanking you! You saved the day."
Earning five hundred and thirty yuan in a single morning was pretty good. Chu Mingcheng declined Yao Xin's invitation to lunch. The main reason was Xu Fang, who kept shooting glances their way whenever he and Yao Xin spoke. It made him feel a bit uncomfortable, so he decided it was best to go his own way.
As Chu Mingcheng drove off, He Zheng chuckled and said, "That kid is pretty perceptive."
Yao Xin knew what he meant and felt a little exasperated. Xu Fang, on the other hand, silently breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure from Chu Mingcheng's good looks had been immense.
On the road, Chu Mingcheng found himself thinking about bringing Zhang Wei and Chen Yang here for a fishing and camping trip next time. Trying to make a living off Creek Chub wasn't feasible, but coming here for fun, bringing a grill, and cooking the fish right after catching them sounded like a great time. He had plenty of free time now, so they could come at the end of the month or early next month. The weather would be perfect then, and the fishing would be good.
Then an image of Jiang Luoluo's smiling face popped into his mind. Camping with her would be nice.
What a shame
, he thought with a sigh.
Long-distance relationships were just too hard. He didn't want to tie Jiang Luoluo down to this small town, and he didn't want to be too far from his parents. He was their only son, and they probably wouldn't be happy with him living far away for an extended period.
He found a place to eat lunch. The afternoon wasn't a good time for fishing, so Chu Mingcheng decided to finally use the "Tracking" function from his Apple snail panel.
As soon as he activated it, the Codex projected a detailed route directly into his mind. He followed it effortlessly and soon found himself at his destination: an unharvested rice paddy.
It wouldn't be right to trample into someone's field, but he could see some apple snails clinging to the walls of the adjacent irrigation ditch.
Chu Mingcheng found a spare bag in his car—he had plenty left over from selling the snakeheads. He grabbed it and started walking along the ditch, picking up the snails and their bright pink egg clusters.
They weren't very dense. It was clear that someone was already trying to manage these pests, but unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to get rid of them completely.