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Lu Ao raised his eyelids. "Why are you afraid of me?"

"Your aura is so cold. You look like you're not someone to mess with."

Lin Manzhang smiled. "Lu Ao looks cold but has a warm heart. Once everyone spends more time with him, they'll know. How could we not get along?"

Lu Ao avoided the subject and gave a light cough. "Hurry up and take a nap. Get up at three and we'll set out."

"Alright, I'll shower first. We'll fight again tonight!"

They went to sleep, while Lu Ao returned to his room. Before his nap, he deliberately messaged his neighbor to check on the geese at home, then reminded Song Zhou to remember to make it rain over their fields.

Song Zhou had not gone to sleep, so the two chatted for a while.

It was not until one-thirty that Lu Ao finally seized the time to take a nap.

At three-forty in the afternoon, the six of them gathered at the dock on time, spiritedly carrying all sorts of equipment out to sea to fish.

When they reached the spot, there were thirty or forty fishing boats of various sizes as far as the eye could see.

It was clear that quite a few of them had been there all day, and the people aboard had sunburned red necks.

Many of those who stayed at sea wanted to catch more fish, while also saving on the fuel costs of going back and forth.

As for the scorching sun and having no lunch at noon, everyone came up with their own ways to endure it.

Their fishing spot that morning had been good. Chen Shengrong had originally wanted to steer the boat back to the same place, but when he looked over, five or six boats were packed tightly around where they had fished that morning.

Two of the boats were practically touching, and the people aboard could step straight onto the neighboring boat.

Chen Shengrong froze. "So many people?"

Lin Manzhang, who was also in the cabin, understood. "We caught fish this morning, so plenty of people must be here to share our luck."

Chen Shengrong raised his voice toward Lu Ao. "Fishing God Lu, where should we fish? Right nearby?"

"No. Wait, let me think." Lu Ao carefully sensed the fish in the sea. After a while, he said, "Head west for a bit first. Go slowly."

"Sure. Just tell me when to stop."

Lu Ao nodded.

Chen Shengrong slowly steered the boat west. Nearly ten minutes passed, and there were barely any fishing boats around them, yet Lu Ao had not told him to stop.

Neither Chen Shengrong nor Lin Manzhang urged him.

Lu Ao directed, "Veer a little toward your left."

Chen Shengrong immediately did as told.

After circling back and forth for a while, Lu Ao said, "Stop. This spot will do."

Everyone perked up.

Hu Xingjin sprang up from his chair. "Can we chum the water and start fishing?"

"We can." Lu Ao said, "Get ready. If we wait a little longer, fish should start coming over."

The sun hung high over the sea, casting blinding light.

The sea breeze was hot and sticky against their skin, while the salt made them itch.

Lu Ao took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. He meticulously chummed the waters around the fishing boat, then worked hard to probe the situation beside the boat.

There were fish near the boat, but none were particularly big—just some small miscellaneous fish.

Lu Ao did not fish. Instead, he deliberately tossed several balls of bait beside the school of small fish to feed them.

As the sun gradually sank westward, everyone began fishing in earnest.

Chen Shengrong was the first to catch something: a Red Grouper weighing more than two jin.

That fish sold for several hundred yuan per jin.

Chen Shengrong happily unhooked it, not disliking it in the slightest.

As night gradually fell, everyone began catching fish one after another.

It was not only Large Yellow Croaker; they caught some other fish as well.

Whether in quantity or quality, Lu Ao's catch was far ahead of everyone else's.

After ten that night, they reluctantly steered the boat back.

At that point, Lu Ao had caught the most: seven Large Yellow Croaker and thirteen other fish.

Lin Manzhang had caught the second most, with four Large Yellow Croaker and five other fish.

Tian Mingzhi had caught the least, but he still had one Large Yellow Croaker and one Black Seabream.

They went ashore and sold their fish. After taxes, Lu Ao had earned the most, taking home over twenty thousand yuan, while even Tian Mingzhi, who had earned the least, made more than thirteen hundred yuan.

Even after deducting fuel, bait, and other expenses, every one of them had made over a thousand yuan.

Lin Manzhang had a steady temperament, but as they returned to Lu Ao's house after dinner, even he could not help sighing at the bank notification on his phone. "This money is really easy to earn."

Lin Qiyan sprawled across the backseat of the taxi and murmured dreamily, "Too bad we only get to make it for a few days a year."

"I'm satisfied with just these few days." Lin Manzhang was still eager for more. "Lu Ao, shall we leave earlier tomorrow? We're only fishing, anyway. It's not tiring."

Lu Ao said, "You can discuss it among yourselves. I have no objections."

Tian Mingzhi and the others were thrilled with their earnings as well. After discussing it, they decided to go back and sleep now, then get up at two-thirty the next day to head out to sea earlier.

They worked hard, and their gains were good. That day, Lin Qiyan earned the least, but his after-tax income was still twenty-three hundred yuan.

Lu Ao again brought in more than thirty thousand yuan.

On the third day, they got up early as usual and went out to sea to fish.

Lu Ao was no longer human, so he did not feel tired even after staying up for two days straight.

The others could not manage it, especially since the early hours of the morning were when they were sleepiest. There were not many people fishing on the sea either, and the scattered blinking lights only made them drowsier.

They sat on small stools, loosely gripping their rods, all of them swaying with sleepiness.

Only Lu Ao sat with his back ramrod straight, focused on the dark sea.

The sea was calm at the moment. He could sense quite a few fish coming out to feed, and several of them were Large Yellow Croaker.

He quietly and slowly twitched his rod, gradually moving the hook closer to the Large Yellow Croaker.

Suddenly, the rod in his hand sank. A fish had taken the bait!

Lu Ao gently lifted it, but the rod abruptly jerked downward. The Large Yellow Croaker he had hooked was far larger than he had expected.

This Large Yellow Croaker was pulling with at least ten-odd jin of force.

Lu Ao's expression changed. He called quietly to Lin Manzhang beside him, "Zhang Ge, get the landing net!"

The others heard the commotion, and their drowsiness vanished. They hurried over and asked in low voices, "Did you hook a big fish?"