Chapter 147: Fishing Finals (VII)

The news that Ye Cheng had caught a big fish spread quickly throughout the venue, and even Jiang Weiyang came over, took a look at the big fish, and couldn't help exclaiming.

"Such a big fish, and you caught it with surf fishing!"

If you were using a deep-sea fishing rod on a boat, you'd have seen those several-hundred-catty tunas, but surf fishing is really rare.

Zhao Zhiming keeps telling everyone, "Look, this buddy is the one I introduced; I said he could win the championship, right, right, isn't this buddy really strong?"

He kept pulling Jiang Weiyang, saying, "President, I found talent for the association—shouldn't you reward me?"

"Fine, I'll reward you—can you have first dibs on buying this fish?" Jiang Weiyang teased.

Zhao Zhiming's face darkened, he shook his head vigorously, "I don't want it; I don't run a restaurant, what would I do with such a big fish? It would take a month to eat."

A fish this big, even a big restaurant couldn't finish it.

Moreover, this is a horse pomfret, not a high-end variety, so even fewer people would buy it.

Ye Cheng lay on the ground for a while before Xiao Hu came to help him up; after resting a bit, the referee blew the whistle, the match officially ended, and everyone brought their catch to the main venue to be weighed.

Cui Shuran's complexion was not good; it was obvious he already knew he wasn't the champion. He had always been the Fishing Association's top angler, and this was the first time in years someone had surpassed him.

Most importantly, the person who beat him to win the championship was still the one he disliked.

Cui Shuran's score was 170 catties, which is pretty impressive.

But everyone was waiting for Ye Cheng's horse pomfret; Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu carried it up, the referee took a look and announced excitedly:

"185 catties!"

Instantly, the crowd below erupted.

Although everyone knew it was a little under 200 catties, when the exact number was announced, everyone still couldn't help exclaiming.

"185, 185, holy shit, that's too exciting."

"Our association finally has a fish this big!"

"This is probably a historic first—Cui Shuran has never caught a fish this big."

"This kid is impressive; I heard he fished for over two hours."

"Two hours? One person, no wonder he's a youngster; at my age I probably couldn't do that."

"This fish alone already surpasses Cui Shuran; plus the rest will definitely be over 200 catties—impressive, breaking the historical record."

Next, the referee weighed Ye Cheng's remaining fish, calculated the total score, and announced it loudly:

"Number 27 Ye Cheng, final score 254 catties! He is the champion of this competition!"

As soon as his words fell, thunderous applause erupted across the venue—recognition of Ye Cheng's championship, a title truly deserved, and everyone was convinced.

Ye Cheng raised both hands, turned around, waved to the crowd, and bowed with his fists clasped in thanks.

"Brother, you really won the championship! Hahaha, first place! You've never even come first in an exam before." Xiao Hu was overjoyed, as if he himself had won first place.

"Now I announce, the awards ceremony begins!"

As Jiang Weiyang's words fell, the familiar sports meet march began to play, and the awards ceremony officially started.

The Fishing Association isn't a big organization, so the ceremony is simple: the top three come up one by one to receive a cash red envelope.

Third place is number 4, prize money 2000.

Second place is Cui Shuran, prize money 5000, but he showed no joy on his face, silently taking the prize money from Jiang Weiyang's hand, looking resentfully at Ye Cheng as he went up.

To be honest, Ye Cheng was still quite pleased inside, giving Cui Shuran a provocative glance.

Cui Shuran let out a cold, arrogant snort and turned his head away.

"Congratulations, Xiao Ye—I didn't expect Old Zhao to be right after all; you really can win the championship—I thought he was just bragging before." Jiang Weiyang said jokingly.

"That's because Brother Zhao thinks highly of me—do I have a 50,000 prize?" Ye Cheng excitedly rubbed his hands.

I came to the competition just for the prize money—hurry up and give the money, that's the right way; talking about anything else is nonsense.

"Hmph!" Upon hearing Ye Cheng so bluntly demand money, Cui Shuran couldn't help but let out another cold snort.

After two such snorts, Ye Cheng wasn't one to be provoked; he directly said in a neutral tone, "If your nose is uncomfortable, Young Master Cui, you can pick a booger—it's not embarrassing."

This guy is just showing off, damn it, pretending to be tough.

Cui Shuran gave him a cool, dismissive glance and said lightly, "You're just lucky today."

"Luck is also part of strength, isn't it?" Ye Cheng didn't indulge him at all.

Cui Shuran, unable to rebut the retort, simply grew too lazy to look at Ye Cheng, turning slightly away to ignore him.

Seeing the two not getting along, Jiang Weiyang hurriedly interjected, "Alright, alright, we're both top talents of our association—you're first today, he'll be first tomorrow, isn't that normal?"

Saying that, he turned to the others and said loudly, "Fishing, after all, the most important thing is whether everyone is happy, right?"

"Yes!" A crowd of onlookers who loved a spectacle shouted along.

Then let me tell you another happy piece of news: this time the first-place prize is 50,000, specially provided by our Honorary President President Wang; next we'll ask President Wang to come and give the prize money to the first-place winner, everyone welcome!

Applause sounded, accompanied by a few whistles; it seems President Wang is quite familiar to everyone.

Ye Cheng also joined in the applause; he'd only been in the association a few days—who cares about some honorary president or whatever nonsense, as long as they give the money.

A figure walked out from behind the curtain, and Ye Cheng looked over.

At first sight, he instantly stopped clapping, his eyes widened, his mouth opened, his face full of disbelief—how could it be this damn thing.

"Damn! Lao Wang!" Ye Cheng blurted out a curse.

The so-called Honorary President President Wang who came up was none other than Lao Wang, who had bought vegetables with him a few days earlier.

That Lao Wang, who had eaten a bowl of his pig liver noodles and then snatched away the girl he liked.

"'Little brother, long time no see.' Lao Wang stood before Ye Cheng, holding a big, thick envelope, looking like an old, crafty fox."

"'Get lost, who's little brother?' Ye Cheng raised his eyebrows, 'We still haven't settled the score for that bowl of pig liver noodles last time—you ate half and ran off; also, as a president, pretending to be a vegetable seller—is that even appropriate?'"

Seeing Ye Cheng speak to President Wang like that, Jiang Weiyang was stunned and interjected, "Do you two know each other?"

"We don't know each other."

"We do know each other."

The one who says they don't know is Ye Cheng, and the one who says they do know is Lao Wang.

This embarrassed Lao Wang, who gave an embarrassed smile: "Ah ya, that was also a special case for me; besides, I later went to look for you, but you didn't go."

"En, I'm not going, I'm hurt." Ye Cheng said displeased, thinking about how that old ox had eaten the tender grass that should have been his, which made him annoyed.