Chapter 114: Fishing Qualifying Round (I)

Don't worry, when I go back I'll tell your aunt, she also regrets it to death, originally... sigh, never mind, Lao Er, you're really a good person.

Duan Chunsheng, talking about his family, wore a helpless expression; when Ye Cheng first lent him money, he only lent 3000, which was almost enough.

Over this period, only Duan Yong in his family earned money, and he spent it on himself, so household expenses were huge.

He had enough of the situation where money only went out and none came in, and he had scolded his own wife several times.

If he couldn't scrape together money, he might have to go to a construction site in the city to do hard labor; he didn't want to live a life of leaving his hometown.

Fortunately, Ye Cheng is now willing to lend him money; with a boat, the family can have income and start a normal cycle.

Moreover, the interest on the money Ye Cheng lent is still this low.

Ten thousand dollars, with annual interest of one thousand, he could surely repay it within five months, meaning less than five hundred in interest.

Really, there's nothing more to say.

These village people all day behind his back say Ye Cheng is no good this, no good that, but the only one who can truly help him is Ye Cheng.

After Duan Chunsheng thanked Ye Cheng profusely, he walked a bit farther away and began to go out gathering seafood.

"Brother, why do you want to lend money to his family again?" Xiao Hu asked, a bit curious.

"We're from the same village; if things are fine, I don't mind helping them out, but if they're just showing off, then let whoever wants to deal with it."

Since Ye Cheng said that, Xiao Hu had no objection.

The two continued gathering seafood, worked another hour or so, really had no harvest, and then packed up to head back.

This time the harvest was not small; fortunately Duan Chunsheng brought a snakeskin bag, otherwise even the coconut snails wouldn't fit.

"Uncle, we're heading back, aren't you coming? It's not early." Ye Cheng shouted toward the distant Duan Chunsheng.

Duan Chunsheng looked up at the sky, nodded, and said, "Then I'll head back too; there's nothing left to pick up."

The three regrouped; Ye Cheng looked at Duan Chunsheng's catch—about half a bucket of shrimp, the rest miscellaneous, worth at most a hundred dollars.

Looking at his own side, just the coconut snails filled three snakeskin bags, plus the pipa shrimp and shuttle crab, it was truly incomparable.

The three tied up the snakeskin bags, together carried the goods out of the small grove; Ye Cheng's motorcycle was parked by the roadside, next to Duan Chunsheng's bicycle.

After loading the goods, Ye Cheng took Xiao Hu on the motorcycle back first, having agreed to wait until after tomorrow's competition to give Duan Chunsheng his money.

After returning, it was almost twelve; Ye Cheng left the items at Xiao Hu's house, and tomorrow he'll have Xiao Hu take them to Boss Qian to sell, while he still needs to go participate in the fishing competition's qualifying round.

Although it was his first time participating in such a competition, Ye Cheng was still a bit nervous and didn't sleep well all night.

At around six o'clock he got up, took a hot shower, instantly felt refreshed, and wasn't as greasy.

He opened the system and looked:

Luck: 10+20

Points: 350 points

Savings: twelve thousand

Seeing this luck value, Ye Cheng's face darkened; "Damn, this is intentional, right?"

Knowing full well that he had a match today, they gave him a 10-point luck value; if not for his own 20-point bonus, he'd be done for today.

Now the total luck bonus is only 30 points; given his actual skill level, Ye Cheng feels it might be difficult to even pass the qualifying round.

Or should he ask for leave?

Ye Cheng thought it over and decided to forget it; whatever will be, will be. Besides, he'd fished for two days and had a feel for it; although his casting wasn't great, hooking fish was no problem.

Why think so much? Just do it.

Of course, because of this luck value, Ye Cheng played it safe, exchanging all his points for fish bait—over sixty baits; if his luck were high, he should be able to catch over a hundred fish.

Now with low luck, those sixty baits should at least yield twenty fish; let's do this, damn it.

Around seven-thirty, Ye Cheng set out with his fishing rod and water tank; everything else was fine, just this water tank felt a bit big.

Next time, if he catches a lot of fish, he'll still need to buy a more professional fish box; his current one looks like a fish stall at a market.

Mounting his motorcycle, Ye Cheng sped straight to Si Liang Shan.

When he arrived, it was already 7:50; although the scene wasn't a sea of people, there were still about a hundred.

However, the organization was rather loose; they casually set up a table as a sign-in desk and issued numbers.

"Lao Er, why did you come so late? You might not even make it to sign in." Zhao Zhiming immediately spotted Ye Cheng squeezed in the outer circle and hurriedly pulled him over.

Ye Cheng gave a wry smile: "I didn't expect there to be this many people."

"Well, here's your number badge; I've already signed you in." Zhao Zhiming handed Ye Cheng a number, like the kind used at a sports meet for running, except there was no requirement to stick it on the chest—just keep it with yourself.

"Number 99, Brother Zhao, this number is kind of high—are there really that many participants?"

"Yes, it looks like there are over 120 in total."

Ye Cheng looked at Zhao Zhiming, who himself had no number, and asked, "You're not participating?"

Hearing Ye Cheng's question, Zhao Zhiming waved his hand with a proud, aloof expression: "I'm management, responsible for running the competition; I'm not like you."

Ye Cheng carefully pinned the number badge onto his left sleeve, then gave Zhao Zhiming a white-eye,

"You're just not skilled enough, are you?"

"Nonsense, I might be a bit off compared to you, this freak, but I'm still fine compared to them." Zhao Zhiming (Brother Zhao) still had a tough mouth.

After saying that, Brother Zhao pointed at Ye Cheng's water tank and asked, "Are you going to bring this over later?"

"Huh? Is it not allowed in the competition?"

"It's not prohibited, it's just a bit showy, you get it?" Brother Zhao pointed to the other contestants' fish boxes nearby.

Everyone else uses those small fish boxes that hold about ten fish; Ye Cheng's can hold double, and standing out like that easily invites unnecessary trouble.

Sure enough, Ye Cheng's oversized fish box drew the attention of many competitors, each pointing and commenting at him.

Although he couldn't hear what they were saying, Ye Cheng could still gauge it from their expressions.

Since ancient times, there's no first in literature nor second in martial arts; fishing enthusiasts are much the same—nobody yields to anybody.

"Brother Zhao, does it say how qualification is calculated?" Ye Cheng asked, this rule definitely needs to be figured out.

"Top 30 advance, about a quarter, right?"

Ye Cheng nodded; a quarter—today, this Luck Value of 30 still offers hope.

"How does advancement work then? Is there a requirement to catch a certain type of fish?"

Ye Cheng really had no confidence; with a Luck Value of 30, he definitely couldn't get any grouper—if he really had to get such high-end fish, he'd have to think of a way.

"We're not that kind of professional fishing ground; how could we stipulate what fish? It's just based on weight—higher-end fish count more weight, while ordinary fish are calculated by quantity and weight."