Leo had only ever watched others fish on Earth before; this was his first time trying it himself.
Feeling somewhat unsure of his own skills, Leo unconsciously released his senses, gaining a clear view of the underwater world.
"This isn't cheating. I'm just checking; it won't change the result," Leo muttered to himself.
When he and Alice left the Tower of Elements, they made a pact that neither of them would use wizarding abilities and that they would live like ordinary people.
Leo was worried about his catch as the net continued to descend.
After all, he promised Alice that he would give Alice a good life, and the starting point for a good life is having enough food.
Alice has gone to prepare salt to make salted fish; it would be too embarrassing if he didn't catch any.
They could clearly see the underwater world, and indeed, there was a large school of fish in the center of their fleet.
Uncle Luoke truly lived up to his reputation as the most experienced fisherman in Falling Sunset Village; his choice of location was flawless.
Within Leo's perception range, the number of fish here could be said to be among the top five. Considering the sea conditions and location, this was arguably the most suitable place for them to fish.
Moreover, although Uncle Luoke's fleet appeared chaotic and disorganized, it actually surrounded the fish underwater.
Large nets, cast in an instant, trapped many fish.
As for his own fishing net, it was cast very round and large, even larger than others'. However, the position was a bit off. While the other nets had thirty or forty fish, his only had a dozen or so, and they were relatively small. It was clear that he had cast his net to the edge of the school of fish, and he almost came up empty-handed.
Leo subconsciously wanted to use his mental power to drive them away; as long as he used his mental power, he was guaranteed to catch thousands of fish in one net.
But he immediately stopped the impulse; if he did that, what fun would there be between him and Alice?
I just watched quietly as the fishing net slowly floated down and then closed.
Feeling the net cable in his hand getting heavier, he heard the sound of nets being pulled in from Uncle Luoke's fishing boat not far away.
Leo also pulled the fishing net forcefully onto the boat, ensuring that he used no more strength than an average person.
But his basic physical fitness was too good; every joint and every muscle worked in perfect coordination.
With a sudden, forceful pull, a large section of the fishing net was pulled out.
Using the same technique and strength, he can unleash twice the force of others.
Seeing how hard the others were pulling the net, Leo had to slow down his own pace to avoid looking too special.
"Not bad, not bad, there are more than thirty fish."
"We've found a school of fish! Quick, cast the net! If you're too slow, they'll get away."
"Cast the net, cast the net."
The fleet stuffed the fish into the hold and cast their nets as quickly as possible. It seemed they weren't entirely sure they had located the fish, but rather relied on experience to sense that the fish were roughly in the same spot. Only after casting their nets and reaping a considerable catch did they make an accurate judgment.
Leo looked at the less than ten fish in his net and gave a wry smile. He had originally caught more than a dozen fish, but when the net was closed, a few fish were particularly clever and escaped.
After putting the fish they had worked so hard to catch into the hold, they immediately cast another net.
Leo didn't use any cheating methods; he simply chose a direction randomly, just like a normal person would.
When the net was pulled up, we were lucky to find over twenty fish.
The two nets startled the fish, causing them to flee quickly. As a result, the third net yielded only a handful of fish, and two fishing boats even caught nothing.
"Turn around, turn around."
Uncle Luoke shouted ahead, having also noticed the movement of the fish. Based on his past experience, he quickly chased after the direction the fish had fled.
As expected, he was very experienced; he followed the direction and movement of the fish perfectly.
If Leo hadn't known he was an ordinary person, he would have suspected he was a wizard, as he could clearly see the movements of the fish.
"Cast the net, cast the net."
As the sunlight dimmed and the fleet returned to Falling Sunset Village, Leo immediately spotted a beautiful figure among the crowd on the dock—it was Alice.
Why are you here?
Leo quickly rowed the boat onto the dock, panting as he asked.
"I've come to pick you up."
Alice reached out her arm and tenderly wiped the sweat from Leo's face.
Leo completely ignored the envious glances from those around him; their wives wouldn't wipe their sweat.
"Let me show you how much your man got today."
Leo carried out two large baskets of fish from the cabin, one in each hand, with more than a hundred fish in each basket.
"That's amazing."
Alice showed no disgust at the fishy smell and wanted to help Leo lift the fish basket.
"I don't need to do it myself."
Stopping Alice from helping, Leo greeted Uncle Luoke and the others, then, with a basket of fish in each hand, he and Alice walked towards home. In the afterglow of the setting sun, their two shadows gradually lengthened and then overlapped.
"Uncle Luoke found a school of fish today and had a very good catch."
"There were 234 fish in total. We kept 30 for ourselves and gave the rest to the other villagers as compensation for the help they had given us earlier."
Leo handed the empty lunchbox to Alice, then began to clean up the fish. If the fish wasn't cleaned up quickly, it would spoil in a very short time.
"I traded some salt with Uncle Luoke and Aunt Luoke; enough to salt these fish."
Alice took out a large salt jar, which was full of coarse salt that she had traded for.
"I also went for a walk in the back mountain today and picked a lot of wild fruit. They taste quite good. Try some after dinner. If you like them, I'll go again tomorrow," Alice said.
"They said there are wild beasts in the back mountains, so we shouldn't go there anymore." Leo looked at Alice with concern. They had agreed not to use witchcraft, and Alice would be in danger if they encountered wild beasts.
"It's alright, I just followed the paths they'd made before, there's no danger," Alice said with a smile, completely unconcerned. Even without using witchcraft, she was far more powerful than the average person; if ordinary people could go, why couldn't she?
"It's better not to go. If you want to go, wait until I'm not at sea, and I'll go with you." Leo was still worried.
"Okay, okay, then I'll stay home and cook for you, and I won't go anywhere. Is that alright?" Alice rolled her eyes at Leo; this pampering made her very happy.
"There's no need for that. Apart from dangerous places, you can go wherever you want," Leo said.
"Let's eat."
Under the dim light of an oil lamp, they talked about simple family matters, which, though trivial, were full of fun.
The next day, Leo went out to sea to fish as usual. He salted the fish he caught, which he couldn't eat, and waited for the villagers to go to town together to sell them.
As the catch of fish increased, Leo's house was filled with cured salted fish, and the air was filled with the smell of salted fish.
Two weeks later, every household had so much salted fish that they had to stop going out to sea and instead sell their salted fish in towns.
Because they had a fixed sales channel and the Leo family didn't have a car to travel long distances, they could only entrust the salted fish to Uncle Luoke and his family to sell on their behalf, with 20% of the selling price going towards travel expenses.
Leo didn't ask for money; instead, he told Uncle Luoke and the others what he wanted to buy and asked them to help him purchase it.
The other families were in a similar situation. They brought back the money from selling salted fish, but they couldn't spend it all in this small village. They exchanged it for other scarce goods to bring back.
" Heavenly Capital, I'll go with you to the back mountain."
Leo took out a tetanus-enhanced wood-chopping knife and said to Alice with a protective look.
"Then this humble woman thanks you."
The mountain behind Falling Sunset Village is actually a mountain range, and their village is located at the top of the mountain range. Between the two is a small flat area, which is simply divided into several farmlands. Because Leo and Alice came later, they did not receive any land.
If you really want a piece of land, then you'll have to cultivate it yourself.
Leo currently has no plans to farm, as the return on investment is not as high as that of going to sea.
Leo hadn't gone far when he saw the path Alice had mentioned. It was a path worn into the ground by villagers who often went into the mountains to pick wild fruits.
Since we weren't going out to fish today, many villagers were gathering wild fruits on the way to the back of the mountain.
They greeted Alice, who was carrying a wood-chopping knife and a small basket, and the villagers had a good impression of the hardworking young couple.
Especially among his fishing companions, Leo initially caught the fewest fish, but after a few times, Leo caught more fish than most of them.
His net-casting and boat-navigating skills were not those of an ordinary novice, but rather those of a seasoned fisherman with decades of experience.
As for Alice, she's now called Xiaobai's Wife.
She's beautiful, hardworking, and never afraid of hardship; she does more work than any other wife—she's practically a model wife.
Such a young couple will certainly have a poor life at the beginning, but given some time, they will live a good life.
Alice led Leo to a spot with fruit trees. It was the season when the fruit was ripe, and large, bright red fruits hung on the branches, making one's mouth water just looking at them.
"You wait down here, I'll go pick it from the tree."
The lower-lying fruit had all been picked, leaving only the higher-lying fruit; this kind of work of climbing trees had to be done by men.
Be careful.
"Hehe, don't worry, I've always been the best tree climber in our village since I was a kid."
As he spoke, Leo tucked his wood-chopping knife into his waistband and quickly climbed up the tree, his agile movements resembling those of a monkey.
With a few swift strokes of the machete, large bunches of fruit fell to the ground.
"Uncle Luoke and his family went to town to sell salted fish, and when they got back, they gave some of this fruit to Aunt Luoke and the others."
Alice packed the fruit into her basket, but there was so much fruit that it couldn't all fit.
"I'll listen to you."
Leo had anticipated this, so he took out a large cloth, spread it on the ground, and packed all the fruit up to take away.
"I'll set some traps tomorrow to catch some prey."
Leo looked at the lush vegetation on the back mountain, where animal calls could be heard everywhere, as if they were challenging him.
With such abundant natural resources, it would be a disservice not to hunt them.