Chapter 288 Part 2: Wei Jiaguo—Let's Give It a Dignified End

On the boat, the two anglers had already picked up their phones to call an ambulance, but the thrashing in the river water made them hold back.

Then, right before their eyes, Chu Mingcheng's head broke the surface. He was holding a temporarily stunned black carp that was floating on its side.

Angler A: "Holy crap!"

Angler B: "Badass!"

Angler A: "Holy crap!"

Angler B: "Badass!"

The two said it twice, then suddenly locked eyes, a look of mutual understanding passing between them, and then...

Angler B: "Holy crap!"

Angler A: "Badass!"

Their coordination was so perfect, they looked at each other and smiled again.

Meanwhile, Chu Mingcheng, swimming back with the fish, suddenly felt a chill and shivered.

Something was off about these two anglers. They'd paid the boat fee so readily... could it be it wasn't for the fish, but for him?

Luckily, the fish regained consciousness right then and started struggling again, distracting him. Otherwise, the two anglers wouldn't just be out their money; they'd also be suspected of being into fencing.

When the fish woke up, its strength was so great that Chu Mingcheng couldn't hold on, mainly because it was just too big.

Plus, he didn't have his diving knife, so he couldn't deliver a fatal blow to the black carp.

Therefore, he gripped the fish's upper lip tightly with his left hand, while his right hand, to the stunned disbelief of the two anglers, delivered another—Bang! Bang!—two-punch combo.

"So brutal!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"That poor fish!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

After two more punches, the fish was stunned again. It was a good thing its skull was thick, or Chu Mingcheng might have smashed it to bits.

This time, he successfully dragged the fish back to the boat. The two anglers quickly reached down to help, straining to haul the fish aboard.

Chu Mingcheng let out a sigh of relief and, with their help, climbed back onto the bass boat.

"Thanks!"

"No problem, no problem!" Angler A waved his hand quickly, his eyes shining as he stared at the massive black carp. "Bro, can I take a picture with this black carp?"

"Of course. It's fate that we met. Take a picture, post it to your Moments, and then release the fish back into the wild and go home empty-handed. As compassionate anglers, isn't that just standard procedure?"

Chu Mingcheng gave them a knowing look and smiled.

The two anglers understood instantly and lit up with excitement.

They helped each other take photos with the fish, then posted them to their Moments with a deliberately ambiguous caption.

It made it seem like they had caught the fish, but they never actually admitted it.

They were all anglers, so it wasn't strange to have a bunch of other anglers as friends on WeChat.

Reading the amazed comments under their posts, the two anglers felt every pore on their bodies relax in satisfaction.

While they were posting to their Moments, Chu Mingcheng wasn't idle. He first found a tape measure in the bass boat and measured the fish.

One meter thirty-six. He couldn't weigh it for now.

Then, he snapped two pictures of the fish and sent them to Wei Jiaguo.

"Agong, do you or your friends want a hundred-jin level black carp? If not, I'm releasing it."

A moment later, Wei Jiaguo replied.

"A hundred-jin black carp is already very old. We must give it a dignified end. How could you release it and let it fend for itself?"

Chu Mingcheng's expression was odd. Agong, you're being mischievous! What happened to your persona?

But he understood what he meant. He quickly dried himself off as best he could, explained the situation to the two anglers, refunded their money, and immediately started the boat to head back.

He was heading back before the agreed-upon time, so refunding the money was the right thing to do.

Besides, Chu Mingcheng wasn't short two hundred yuan. He'd only asked for the money because he thought it was funny; he never expected the two anglers to actually pay.

But since they offered, he naturally accepted.

And now that he was refunding it, the two anglers made a show of refusing, but their hands didn't hesitate to take the money back.

Everyone was on the same page!

A short while later, Chu Mingcheng passed the fishing platform and returned to the bank.

A massive, meter-plus black carp cruising past right under his nose—the angler on the fishing platform was dumbstruck.

He quickly stood up and shouted, "Hey, bro! Are you selling that big black carp?"

"Not for sale, it's spoken for!" Chu Mingcheng refused without a second thought.

Since Wei Jiaguo wanted it, he would definitely give it to him.

The man had just given him a top-quality four-eyed iron-clad gold. Now that he'd caught a big fish, he naturally had to return the favor.

Although his fish was worth more money, friendship wasn't always about that.

However, the angler on the platform seemed to have money and wasn't willing to let such a big fish slip by.

He gritted his teeth and called out again, "Bro, is the fish still alive? If it's alive, I'll pay fifty thousand!"

"Not for sale even for a hundred thousand. I told you, it's spoken for!" Chu Mingcheng refused again, unhesitatingly.

This made the two anglers beside him click their tongues. Fifty thousand yuan! That was almost a year's salary for an average office worker!

But one look at the Raptor and the bass boat told them Chu Mingcheng wasn't short on cash.

The angler on the fishing platform could only sit back down in disappointment. For a rich person, the fish was naturally more important than the money, especially a rarely seen, massive black carp.

It was a clear, sunny day, and the sun was blazing. Chu Mingcheng and the others took turns splashing water on the black carp, trying to keep it alive as long as possible.

Chu Mingcheng even opened the fish's gill cover, allowing its gills to get more oxygen from the air.

This was similar to the principle of "arcing" a fish—all to keep it alive longer.

Fortunately, Wei Jiaguo was fast. They didn't have to wait long before a small pickup truck drove over.

In the back of the truck was a huge water tank, with two small aerators running next to it. It seemed Wei Jiaguo was determined to keep the fish alive.

Black carp are quite resilient. If it had been a sea fish, it would probably be dead by now.

Wei Jiaguo hurried out of the truck and onto the bass boat.

He first looked at Chu Mingcheng's clothes, which had dried a bit, with surprise. "Did you jump in the water?"

"Well, the rod snapped. To keep the fish from getting away, I had to jump in and grab it," Chu Mingcheng said with a laugh.

Wei Jiaguo frowned at his words. "You're not a kid anymore, and you have Luoluo. Try not to be so reckless in the future."

As an elder showing concern, Chu Mingcheng, as a junior, naturally agreed with a good attitude.

As for next time... he'd still do it...

Wei Jiaguo thought he had taken the advice to heart and didn't say more.

He sized up the fish and nodded in satisfaction. "Ah Cheng, give me a hand. Let's get this fish into the tank."

"Got it!" Chu Mingcheng and the two anglers helped lift the fish onto the truck and into the water tank.

The moment the fish dropped in, water from the tank exploded everywhere, soaking the entire truck bed.

Fortunately, although the fish had been on land for a while, it quickly regained some vitality upon returning to the water.

Wei Jiaguo asked him to help return the bass boat, then hurriedly drove off in the small pickup.

Chu Mingcheng, soaked to the bone, had no interest in fishing anymore. He said goodbye to the two anglers, pulled the bass boat back onto its trailer, and drove it off to be cleaned.

On the way to the cleaner, Chu Mingcheng sold the rebar as scrap.

One hundred yuan. Just enough to cover the cleaning fee.

As for the few fish he'd caught, he gave them to the two anglers.

After the bass boat was cleaned, he went to Wei Jiaguo's house.

"Agong, the bass boat is all clean for you. I'm heading home now."

Wei Jiaguo nodded and didn't try to keep him. He still had plans with friends; that long-overdue drink was calling.

But he didn't forget about the fish. He took out his phone and transferred fifty thousand yuan to him.

Chu Mingcheng saw the money on WeChat and immediately declined the transfer.

"Agong, let's forget the money. Just consider it a return gift for the puppy!"

Wei Jiaguo opened his mouth, thought for a moment, and then nodded, accepting the fish.

This gesture also signified that their relationship had grown closer.

Chu Mingcheng didn't think that far ahead. With his clothes still damp, he just wanted to go home and shower, so he said goodbye and left.

Back home, he immediately went to the bathroom to shower.

After his shower, he threw his clothes in the washer, and once they were hung up to dry, he drove to Jiang Luoluo's film location.

When he arrived, he saw she was on a break, holding Blacknight in one arm and her phone in the other, click, click, click, snapping several selfies.

After she was done, she put Blacknight down, picked up the quieter Wujin, and click, click, click, took a few more. A perfect example of equal favor.

Chu Mingcheng walked over, greeted a few people he knew, and went to Jiang Luoluo's side. "Finished filming the dance?"

He had been picking her up every day, so Jiang Luoluo wasn't surprised to see him.

"Almost. Just one more short section. Wait a little longer."

After speaking, she seemed to remember something. She looked her boyfriend up and down, her eyes growing brighter.

"Ah Cheng, my dance instructor designed a dance that needs a partner—a male role."

"We were originally going to have the instructor dress in men's clothes, but a woman dressing as a man just feels... lacking. Do you want to try?"

If it had been anyone else, Chu Mingcheng would have already waved them off.

But looking at Jiang Luoluo's expectant eyes, he hesitated. "But I don't know how to dance!"

"It's fine, it's fine! It's called being a partner, but it's just a few shots. There aren't many dance moves—only two. You could probably learn them tonight and be ready to film. It's really simple."

Seeing that Chu Mingcheng hadn't refused, Jiang Luoluo's enthusiasm surged.

Filming a dance video with him was something she had wanted to do for a long time.

But previous dances were too difficult, there weren't many duets, and Chu Mingcheng had no dance background, so she had never brought it up.

But this time, her studio had chosen a song based on current trends. The dance moves were extremely simple and very catchy.

That's why she'd suddenly thought of it when Chu Mingcheng arrived.

Chu Mingcheng considered it for a moment and said, "Is there a demo video? Let me see it."

"Yes, but it's just a solo..." Jiang Luoluo quickly ran to the car, grabbed her laptop, and played the demo video for him.

In the video, the dance instructor, wearing a white, ancient-style gauze skirt, began to dance to the music.

The video was short, less than two minutes.

The first half looked fine, but it wasn't amazing.

It wasn't until the song reached its climax that Chu Mingcheng saw the dance moves, and his eyebrows shot up.

The dance moves at the climax only had three sets, and two of them were indeed very simple.

Jiang Luoluo pointed to the two simple sets. "You only need to know these two moves. Practice them tonight, get your body a little more flexible, and we can film. What do you think? Want to try?"

Chu Mingcheng rubbed his chin and nodded. "Okay. The moves are simple and not hard to learn, and they aren't embarrassing."

"But I have a few ideas for the shoot. We can add them in later to flesh out the video."

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