Chapter 503

The commotion on this deck naturally drew the attention of everyone else on the boat.

They all gathered around, staring at the fishing rod bent into an alarmingly sharp curve, murmuring in astonishment.

"How big a fish could that be?" Sister Zhao muttered, glancing at the stick in her own hand.

Could one blow with that stick knock it out?

But this meal won't be cooked by Chen Duling anymore—I'll do it myself!

Beside him, Huang Jiaozhu's lips twitched slightly. Holy shit, are they really going to hook up the Dragon King?

Looking at the arc of the bent rod, he couldn't help wondering how much Bai Liang would charge to let it go for a while.

Although Huang Jiaozhu himself wasn't particularly fond of fishing, hunting was written into the genes of most men.

And in China, fishing was the most legal form of hunting.

Seeing it naturally made him envious.

But watching Bai Liang strain backward against the rod, only to be yanked repeatedly back toward the railing, he abandoned the thought.

Don't let it actually drag you overboard.

At that moment, he noticed the two "Guardians" flanking Bai Liang—one on each side—and chuckled inwardly, then realized he hadn't brought an umbrella.

The rain had been heavy just now.

Just now?

He instinctively looked up—a pea-sized raindrop splattered on his face—but this was merely the last remnant of the earlier downpour.

He looked up at the sky and saw the rain was already lightening.

Even the dark clouds seemed less heavy, less oppressive than before.

He pulled out his phone to check the weather forecast, but it still showed a yellow alert for heavy rain—no change.

So… did the "Dragon King" eat the offering and stop the rain, or did it refuse to show respect and now face being reeled in, too preoccupied to care about the rain anymore?

But regardless, the fact remained—the rain was steadily lessening!

The production team had clearly noticed too—there might still be a chance for today's recording!

Of course, no matter what, they had to wait until Bai Liang pulled up the giant creature beneath the water.

Not long passed—thanks to the rod and line's exceptional durability, Bai Liang wrestled with the giant fish for a long while until its strength rapidly drained.

But when the fish was pulled to the boat's edge, the captain's face changed.

"Holy shit! Chinese sturgeon? No, this isn't—"

"This fish looks really weird," Zhou Ye crouched by the rail, curious.

It really did.

The fish's body was spindle-shaped, slightly flattened at the front, thick in the middle, and slightly compressed at the rear; its head was extremely long—longer than half its body length—covered with plum-blossom-shaped sensory pits; its snout was long and pointed, like a sharp sword extending from the front of its head.

When Bai Liang first suspected it might be a sturgeon, he'd already prepared himself for the possibility he'd hooked a Chinese sturgeon.

Worst case, he'd take a photo and release it—no big deal.

Besides, over the years, the Yangtze had released tens of thousands of artificially bred Chinese sturgeons.

Given his luck, catching one that was unusually large was perfectly normal.

But its mouth seemed too long… unlike the Chinese sturgeon he remembered.

Its body length was nearly two meters—definitely a giant!

"Wait, this thing should've gone extinct…" The captain muttered louder now, and several people heard him.

"What went extinct?"

"We're probably going to make the news," the captain shook his head and pulled out his phone to call.

The next second, Sister Zhao snatched his phone away, her eyes dangerous: "You're not calling the police to arrest him, are you?"

She didn't care about extinction or not—but if the captain tried to be a traitor today, she'd become the "Extinction Nun" herself!

At this moment, Sister Zhao's aura was terrifying!

For the first time, Chen Duling saw what the fierce, aggressive, top-tier "85 Flower" looked like when fully unleashed!

Her eyebrows seemed to stand on end, her aggression instantly maxed out!

She inwardly felt relieved: Thank goodness she'd never used this posture on me before.

The sister had cooled her fire—but not extinguished the stove!

"No no no! This is a bai sturgeon! Haven't seen one in nearly twenty years—we need to notify authorities immediately and ask what to do: release it right away or wait for experts to handle it!"

The captain hurriedly explained.

Under his explanation, everyone gradually understood what this meant—Bai Liang had hooked a fish believed to have vanished completely from the Yangtze?!

Bai sturgeon: a Class I nationally protected species, listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, currently marked as: EXTINCT!

The last time anyone saw one in the Yangtze was back in 2003.

Click! Click!

While they were still talking, Bai Liang had already pulled out his phone and started taking pictures.

First sent to Sister Tian Tian, then didn't forget to send one to his dad to show off.

Oh right—he handed the fishing rod to Huang Jiaozhu, who'd been grinning beside him all along.

And told him: Take photos first, then post them on Moments as if you caught it yourself, and delete the post when the show airs.

This suggestion hit Huang Jiaozhu right in the sweet spot—he grinned wickedly and nodded eagerly.

Zhang Liang beside him said he wanted to join in too.

Bai Liang was generous: Go ahead, all of you—what's the big deal?

And only as the two of them happily took turns posing with the giant sturgeon, snapping photos and posting to Moments, did they finally hear the captain's explanation.

In an instant, their faces turned green.

Suddenly, he felt the fishing rod in his hands was as hot as a red-hot iron rod, scorching his grip.

To be honest, if this fish suddenly died right now, both of them would feel like even jumping into the Yangtze River couldn't wash away the blame.

A national first-class protected animal is scary enough—yet this is a nationally first-class protected animal that's already extinct? A living fossil?!

When people talk about rare animals, they always say, "as rare as a giant panda."

But this thing seems even more terrifying than a giant panda.

At this moment, Huang Jiaozhu, holding the fishing rod, had hands trembling slightly, eager to pass this hot potato to Zhang Liang.

But when he turned his head, he found the other guy had already sprinted several meters away, utterly avoiding any contact!

Ding!

Someone liked your WeChat Moments post~

Hearing the phone notification, Huang Jiaozhu snapped out of his daze and hurriedly prepared to delete his latest WeChat Moments post.

But… how to put it~

He was too popular in his circle, knew too many friends—in just two minutes, dozens of likes had already piled up beneath it.

There were even over ten comments.

Someone even recognized it as a Chinese paddlefish and asked if it was a special effect for a new drama.

Huang Jiaozhu: I'd rather this damn thing be a special effect!

After frantically deleting the post, he looked up at Bai Liang, his gaze so mournful it seemed ready to drip water.

No young lady had ever looked at Bai Liang with such sorrow as Huang Jiaozhu did at this moment.

Of course, it's normal for people to fear things.

Bai Liang gave him a glance: Don't panic.

Huang Jiaozhu: Bro, why don't you just take the fishing rod first?

Bai Liang: Oh come on, it's fine~ it's fine~ If things get really bad, I'll personally go defend you?

Huang Jiaozhu: You're my damn uncle.

At this moment, Zhou Ye lifted his head and said with disappointment: "Can we still eat it?"

Yang Chaoyue beside him chimed in: "Such a big fish isn't really tasty."

Eat eat eat! All you think about is eating!

The production crew was utterly exasperated by these two girls' shocking remarks.

Who dares eat it?!

First, Master Bai Liang truly fished up the Dragon King from the earth; second, he fished up everyone's "ancestor"!

After realizing how dangerous this thing was, the production crew wished they could immediately kneel on the deck and beg the fish to stay alive, please don't suddenly die.

Only Bai Liang actively responded to the two girls' remarks.

"Actually, if we were in a situation close to starving, we could eat it—but under normal circumstances, no."

"Even protected animals?"

"Yes. Human life comes first. If you're truly about to starve, eat a giant panda if you see one, eat a Northeast tiger if you see one—eat whatever you find, it's not illegal!"

Bai Liang gave these two girls, who clearly didn't understand the law, a quick lesson.

Of course, he just said it was allowed—but under near-starvation conditions, how exactly you'd kill these things? That's none of your business.

After he said this, everyone else looked at him strangely.

Bro, have you seriously studied this?!

Bai Liang: Don't rush, I'll explain to them which big fish are tasty.

Of course, most tasty big fish live in the sea.

Fish that grow large in freshwater mostly have famous reputations, and eating many of them could land you in jail.

Sea fish are much better—for example, the tuna Bai Liang has always wanted to catch.

Some tuna are even bigger than this white sturgeon he just caught, and they're also delicious~

As for this white sturgeon~

As everyone knows, after a fisherman successfully takes a photo as proof, he doesn't really care about the "catch." Real fishermen don't fish for food, right?

Bai Liang glanced at it, saw it was just a bit sluggish and showed no sign of dying anytime soon, and stopped caring.

Of course, he does like small animals—but generally only two kinds.

One kind is something you can't go a single meal without; the other is cute.

If he'd caught a Yangtze River street runner—the finless porpoise—he'd definitely reach out to pet it, because porpoises are cute.

He'd done this before.

The Yangtze River flows through Jin Ling; back then, he went fishing with his father by the river and encountered a cheeky finless porpoise splashing water at him.

Bai Liang reached out and touched it directly~ the texture was amazing.

His father envied him for years over that.

But the white sturgeon? Forget it—this giant fish looks like a monster.

The "Dragon King" ancient people saw in the river might have been this very thing!

So… the Dragon King has been caught.

"The rain has stopped."

"Wow! A rainbow!"

Only now did everyone notice the rain, which had been heavy moments ago, had completely ceased; the dark clouds had cleared, and a rainbow hung across the sky, breathtakingly beautiful.

"Xiao Ming, look—isn't the rain stopped? My guess was pretty accurate," Bai Liang teased Huang Jiaozhu with a smile.

The other man forced out a hideous smile in return.

Big brother, sir, immortal, please, please pay some attention to this fish~

If it croaks, the rest of us are all done for.

The thing he now regrets most is no longer marrying his precious darling back in the day, but having just taken Bai Liang's fishing rod.

At the same time, Huang Xiaoming has now deeply sensed just how freakishly uncanny this "immortal" Bai Liang truly is!

That is absolutely, completely insane!

It's just a show, bro — what's the meaning of you pulling an extinct animal out with one cast?

Still, they didn't have to wait long before people from the relevant department charged onto the boat.

They really did charge up! One person even slipped on the wet deck and took a hard fall, then immediately limped on while still running.

For these researchers who study Yangtze aquatic animals, the appearance of the Chinese paddlefish was absolutely earth-shattering news.

When they first got the news, they thought it was a damn April Fool's joke.

And caught by fishing? That's total bull~.

But now nobody thinks it's bull anymore — this bunch is fanatically crowding around that paddlefish, the gleam in their eyes as if they were about to devour it raw.

"Who caught it?"

"Me~"

This time Bai Liang didn't "screw over" Sect Leader Huang and the others.

And his taking the initiative to admit it also let Sect Leader Huang and the others breathe a sigh of relief, their eyes gaining a few shades of gratitude as they looked at him.

Of course, he really hadn't meant to screw anyone over from the start — he just purely wanted everyone to be able to show off a little.

It's just that Little Zhao jiejie was a bit unhappy. She had just been about to remind Bai Liang to shrink back a little, but her hand was a beat too slow — this silly kid had already fessed up on his own.

Luckily, these researchers didn't seem to mean Bai Liang any trouble.

They just asked him what bait he'd used to actually pull up a paddlefish.

Bai Liang: My dad's secret recipe~

Although his old man can't catch fish, he does quite enjoy researching all sorts of recipes.

As for whether the stuff actually works — well, it works for Bai Liang, but on his old man's end, not so much.

The researchers examined it briefly and found it was a very ordinary recipe.

Likewise, they didn't give Bai Liang a hard time — just one of the younger ones couldn't help but say:

"Bro, how about another cast? Let's see if you can pull up a baiji — that one's extinct too~"

Bai Liang:.

That request is a bit much, bro — I'm not Doraemon, I don't just have whatever you want.

But~ it's not like it's impossible!

Step aside, broski's gonna show off for everyone today! Baiji, right? As long as there's one in here, there's nothing broski can't catch~

Gimme some applause!

However, just as he was about to reach for the fishing rod, Little Zhao jiejie finally couldn't take it anymore — she smacked the back of his hand, snatched the rod away, and swore nothing today was going to let him keep fishing!

Fishing? Don't end up being a case of them doing a "fishing sting" on you!

Chen Duling: Darn, scooped again.

She had wanted to give the senior a heads-up too, but in a situation like this, Little Zhao jiejie's reaction was way faster than hers! And so decisive — a complete change from her usual slow-and-gentle style.

Clearly. This is the real her.

That earlier "sparring" with Chen Duling — she hadn't been serious at all, and really hadn't taken her seriously.

Only now did Miss Dudu realize the gap between herself and the other person, and a deep wave of dejection swept over her~

Wang Yanbing's little tune, let's go!

Luckily, Bai Liang noticed Miss Dudu's mood in time, gently patted the back of her hand, and promptly gave her some warmth and comfort.

It just treats the symptom, not the cause.

Little Zhao jiejie's move this time basically shattered Miss Dudu's mindset of trying to climb the ladder.

At least in the short term, she probably won't have the courage or the thought.

Honestly, she's pretty unlucky.

Even running into Reba and Nazha wouldn't have gotten her "targeted" this harshly — every move a precision strike!

She just happened to run into a jiejie who seems to naturally counter her.

Zhou Ye: Hm? Seems like I smell the scent of a defeated dog after a failed battle.

Her "dog nose" is still pretty sharp.

——

Once that paddlefish finally left the range of their boat, and since it had stopped raining and the water level was fine, allowing them to continue on to Wuhan and film the show as normal, "Chinese Restaurant" set sail once more.

Only now, everyone's mindset was completely different from yesterday.

The stir that paddlefish caused was honestly a bit too big.

Even the domineering CEO Sect Leader Huang had wilted, because he got "caught in the crossfire" and got a fright.

Apart from happy little puppy Zhou Ye and her newly-made friend Yang Chaoyue — those two little girls were still full of pep, bustling about all over the place.

Mainly because they didn't sense how serious it was. Youth really is something~

And today's second contestant in the chaos-making lineup comes from Chef Lin!

He really does have something up his sleeve!

Nobody knows if Chef Lin did it on purpose, but at lunch he actually made a sturgeon!

Of course, it definitely wasn't a protected species — there are plenty of sturgeon varieties.

But the effect of that dish hitting the table was absolutely explosive~

When Sect Leader Huang heard the word "sturgeon," he instinctively shuddered a little — it seemed the psychological shadow would linger for a while.

But as the "chief culprit," Bai Liang ate quite happily and gave Chef Lin high praise.

To be fair, it really was delicious!

He would want to come back to this show in the future.

"Next season, can you guys open a restaurant by the sea? Then I could go fishing in the ocean," Bai Liang said offhandedly.

"I don't even dare imagine what you might fish out of the sea," Sect Leader Huang sighed helplessly. "How big was that fish you caught in that little lake on 'The Yearning Life'?"

"About a meter long, several dozen jin."

"That was already exaggerated enough, and today really opened my eyes — next time you won't go fishing for a whale, will you?!"

Bai Liang shook his head, then suddenly burst out laughing.

Because he thought of Sister Tian Tian's very cute line, which had stayed fresh in his memory.

"I don't have a landing net that big."

"Haha. I give up~"

One line and the whole table laughed.

And speak of Cao Cao — Cao Cao arrives at once.

Bai Liang got a message from Sister Tian Tian; she was very dissatisfied.

Although she hadn't recognized it as a beluga sturgeon, she sent: "Next time you go fishing, you must take me along! I'm your best fishing buddy!"

"Okay~"

"Hmph! I'm going to post on Weibo to scold you~ for not taking me!"

"Huh?"

"Begging for mercy won't help, I've already posted it, and I posted that fish for you too~ it looks so weird and ugly!"

Whose brilliant idea was that?!

Bai Liang felt he already knew what today's top trending topic would be.

(End of chapter)