Chapter 287 - 288: Luring Fish into the Deep Pool
They definitely weren’t going to the county town, but they couldn’t just stay at home either—who knew if Wang Xueyong would come knocking again? They wanted to celebrate the New Year properly.
Gao Jiaxing didn’t want to see Wang Xueyong at the moment, and Xia Xiao felt the same. As for Ge Lai’s son, they had the intention to visit, but they also knew they couldn’t.
"Brother Gao, where shall we go?" Xia Xiao asked.
Gao Jiaxing didn’t want to go too far, but it also didn’t seem right to just wander around the production team’s base without working. Thinking about the creek from last night, Gao Jiaxing said, "Let’s go to the creek and see if we can catch some fish to bring back."
"Brother Gao, we might as well prepare a net, it would catch more," Xia Xiao suggested.
Gao Jiaxing laughed, "You think the fish in that creek are just waiting for us to catch them? Who knows how many people go there every day. Now that it’s the New Year, everyone surely wants to get some meat. We were just lucky to get fish yesterday."
Sure enough, when Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing arrived at the creek from the previous night, they saw people fishing there. Gao Jiaxing said, "There are still people up in the mountains hunting at this time too."
"Then Brother Gao, there’s another river over there. We can catch fish in the river too," Xia Xiao said.
"How about we go deep into the mountains and fish in a pond there? Around the production team base, the fish, loaches, yellow eels, frogs, and snails—anything edible—are being caught by people. So the edible ones are almost extinct."
Xia Xiao nodded. She had seen people catching these as well, but she herself didn’t dare.
However, for snails and periwinkles, Xia Xiao loved them the most, especially when spiced with chili, they were even more delicious.
When she heard Gao Jiaxing mention fishing in the mountain ponds, Xia Xiao immediately shook her head, "Brother Gao, let’s not go to the mountain ponds. Who knows if there’s something more than fish in there."
Xia Xiao felt that the deep, bottomless ponds were very dangerous and didn’t know what could be in them, let alone in the depth of the mountains.
"It’s fine, let’s just have a look."
So the two of them headed towards the back mountain, which was quite a trek. Little did they expect that upon reaching the pond, there would be people fishing there as well.
"Brother Gao"
Xia Xiao saw Fang Yuejin first; she had not expected Fang Yuejin and a group of people to be fishing here. He was waving to Gao Jiaxing.
It turned out to be people from their production team. Seeing Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing come over, everyone said, "How did you guys end up here?"
Gao Jiaxing responded, "Xia Xiao and I wanted to go to the creek to catch some fish. Thinking there would be too many people there, we decided to come here instead. We didn’t expect to find even more people."
"Brother Gao, you’ve come to the right place, I’ve already caught a fish," Yuejin chimed in. "Almost everyone has caught one or two."
Upon Fang Yuejin’s words, not just Gao Jiaxing but Xia Xiao, too, were surprised.
"It seems that there are quite a lot of fish here," remarked Gao Jiaxing as he prepared a fishhook and Yuejin passed him a can of fish bait.
The pond was quite large, with a waterfall nearby; the water here flowed strongly. There was a river, but their spot wasn’t at the waterfall or along the river flow, but rather at a pool formed by the waterfall’s outflow.
No one knew how deep the pond was, and the water flowed out into a mainstream river, with tributaries being small creeks and the like.
Everyone present was male, except for Xia Xiao, who felt a little uncomfortable, sensing that everyone was being careful with their words around her.
She also thought the leisurely pace of fishing was too slow and grew impatient, but she couldn’t just wander around—Gao Jiaxing definitely wouldn’t allow her to leave on her own.
So Xia Xiao could only squat by the pond with a small net, attempting to catch fish. Gao Jiaxing cautioned her, "Xiaoxiao, be careful, don’t get too close to the edge; it’s very dangerous."
Yuejin said, "You’d be surprised if you could actually net any fish like that. With the pool so deep, fish don’t easily come up to the surface."
Xia Xiao said, "I’m just playing around. You guys keep fishing; don’t let me bother you."
She was indeed just playing. Even Xia Xiao wasn’t sure she could actually catch fish with her net, especially since she had released spring water but was still uncertain in her heart.
So, when no one was looking, Xia Xiao’s hand gently touched the net, and the spring water from the space slowly flowed out of the net.
"Xia Xiao, you’re wasting it," Shitou said.
"I’m just trying it out. You think I’m not distressed about it?" Xia Xiao muttered softly.
"With the pool so deep, how much would you have to let out for it to be enough? It’d be better to use a fish hook," Shitou was skeptical about Xia Xiao’s method of netting fish.
Moreover, the spring water from the space was priceless, and now Xia Xiao was using it to attract fish, which was truly a waste.
Xia Xiao ignored Shitou, and suddenly she saw a fish swim towards her. She was overjoyed and whispered to Gao Jiaxing, "Brother Gao, there’s a fish."
Gao Jiaxing had been paying attention to Xia Xiao’s direction. As soon as he saw her movement, he immediately asked Fang Yuejin to watch his fishing rod while he walked over to Xia Xiao.
By the time Gao Jiaxing arrived, there were already two fish at Xia Xiao’s location. His eyes lit up, and he gently held Xia Xiao’s fishnet.
One, two, three... a total of five fish. Gao Jiaxing didn’t wait any longer and quickly pulled the net in, instantly netting five fish, each about a pound, onto the shore.
Wow, everyone turned to look. Seeing the five fish, Yuejin gave Gao Jiaxing a thumbs up, "Niiice , Brother Gao. You’re amazing, netting five fish at once."
"It’s just luck that five fish all swam this way," Gao Jiaxing said with a smile.
Everyone had been fishing for a long time and had one or two to show for it, but Gao Jiaxing took out a fishnet and caught five in one go, making everyone regret not bringing a net. A fishnet seemed even better than a fishing rod.
"Wow, suddenly so many fish appeared."
"Did all the fish from the bottom of the pool come up?"
Everyone gasped, suddenly seeing so many fish show up, but they didn’t feel their hooks sinking. Everyone wished they could dive into the deep pool to catch fish.
At this time, the net in Gao Jiaxing’s hands was very useful, and his movements were extremely quick. With one scoop, he netted another dozen or so.
At this moment, everyone was even more envious and jealous. It’s true what they say, comparing people can be infuriating.
However, soon enough, everyone’s fish hooks began to sink steadily. When everyone pulled up their fishing rods, they all had some success, but of course, none matched Gao Jiaxing’s catch.
"Wow, there’s a big one over there!" someone suddenly exclaimed.
Another person shouted, "Catch it!"
Xia Xiao, seeing them hastily jumping in, couldn’t help but scream out, "It’s dangerous!"
"I’ll go down and take a look," Gao Jiaxing said.
Xia Xiao quickly grabbed Gao Jiaxing, "Brother Gao, don’t go. If you’re in danger, I’ll jump in after you."
Gao Jiaxing helplessly said, "Xiaoxiao, don’t say such foolish things in the future." However, in the end, Gao Jiaxing didn’t jump in, only staring intently into the pool with a slight frown on his brow.