"Putting other matters aside for now, I'm very sure of one thing—I've never carried a 'Safe Travels' sign in my mouth," Ansheng said.
"That 'Safe Travels' paper was something I accidentally knocked over when I was roughhousing with a bag of chips, and its tail flipped the trash can over, spilling everything out..."
Seeing Ah Qing slandering him, Ansheng turned around and used his mouth to vigorously poke Ah Qing's cheek.
But as Ansheng turned the gun on Ah Qing, his behind was exposed right in front of Qiu Lingling.
Sitting in the back seat, Qiu Lingling's eyes lit up, and she reached out with her hands to stroke the tail.
"Ying-ying—" An unexpected rush of pleasure made the little fox abandon the idea of covering Ah Qing's mouth and shift its position back on the armrest compartment, staring intently at Qiu Lingling.
"Ah Bai, regulate your little master!" Ansheng looked over to Ah Bai and said.
"Awooo..." Ah Bai was lounging in the back aisle, resting his chin on Qiu Lingling's lap, his expression utterly relaxed as he enjoyed the air conditioning breeze with heavy eyelids. He murmurously responded to Brother Fuli.
Feeling a bit sleepy after eating...
Brother Fuli, aren't you taking an afternoon nap?
"Ah Qing, we're about to leave the village, cover your face a bit. My car windows aren't that good at keeping prying eyes out."
They deviated from the fishing ground to leave the village. The main entrance to the fishing ground was already swamped with fishing enthusiasts, and a bunch of delivery drivers carrying takeout were mingling with them, forming a new patchwork of sorts.
One group was there to make a pilgrimage.
The other was there to deliver takeout.
Although M fast food is a bit pricey, they still follow some basic rules. After negotiating with Ah Qing, they charged an extra hundred bucks, prepared a fresh batch of coarse fries, and arranged for a delivery driver to bring it over to avoid missing the optimal eating time.
The Orca had just finished a round, swam a few laps to digest, and the second batch of fresh fries arrived.
With Chen Zhiyu leading, Ah Qing wasn't hassled much, but there was only one way out of the village.
From the vacation village workgroup, it was clear that because Ah Qing caught a whale...
Local fishing enthusiasts, TV stations, streamers, and some fishing gear vendors all crowded over.
If it weren't for the staff holding people back, requiring them to register identification to enter, the entrance to the fishing ground could have been packed tight as a drum.
"I'm not really a big star, right?" Ah Qing said, adjusting the sun visor, turning the car window to cover half of their face, and asked somewhat curiously.
"You just don't get fishing enthusiasts..." Chen Zhiyu smirked and shook her head, then glanced at the live stream screen and asked:
"Are there any fishing enthusiasts in the live stream?"
"So, let's say, if I auction off the rebar fishing rod that Ah Qing just used to catch the orca, would anyone here be interested in bidding? Or maybe let Ah Qing bless your main fishing rod, any offers?"
Before running the fishing ground, Chen Zhiyu was a veterinarian and a local ingredient supplier, and she didn't really understand fishing either.
But after mingling for a while, she still didn't quite get the fishing enthusiasts' mentality. However, Chen Zhiyu was well-versed in the shared nature of fishing enthusiasts and gamblers: the desire to make a killing.
[Really? Godmother? I'm willing to pay 30,000 for the rebar rod the streamer used to catch the whale.]
[Pick me! I'll offer a carnival to bless the fishing rod!] As Chen Zhiyu spoke, the screen was quickly filled with offers ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands.
Ah Qing looked at Sister Zhiyu in shock, seemingly unable to fathom the flurry of comments on the screen.
Rebar, steel cables, and fishing cages—a set of these costs just a few dozen bucks from a hardware store.
"They're into mystical fishing, although we don't promote superstition," Chen Zhiyu explained with a mild chuckle. "In this circle of fishing enthusiasts, they seem to really care about the first day for a new fishing rod."
"If everything goes smoothly on the first day, it's a good rod. If it catches a big fish, it's considered blessed, increasing the chances of catching big fish in the future." she adds.
"If the first day is full of misfortune, like no fish, dead fish, snagging the bottom, or catching corpses, then... well, they either break it or return it to the store no questions asked within seven days."
Chen Zhiyu's acquaintance with mystical fishing enthusiasts began when Ah Qing managed to catch a sturgeon with a fishing rod.
That rebar rod is displayed in the exhibition hall as the current record holder in the fishing ground.
Later, someone went there to burn incense and light candles, hoping to borrow the rebar's spiritual aura to bless their own fishing rod.
After that encounter, Chen Zhiyu learned about the mystical faction among fishing enthusiasts.
They're just so desperate...for the thrill of the hunt.
It's entirely normal for someone to spend two to three thousand on a single fishing trip just for the experience of catching a big one.
The bigger the fish in the pond, the higher the fee, even four to five thousand for three hours of grouper fishing.
"Harnessing the powers of heaven and earth, invoking the dragon's fortune, bestowing grace upon your fishing rod—300 for a small blessing, 500 for a large one! Authentic blessed grounds of master monks, specializing in blessings and similar rites, with my Taoist credentials right here..."
At the village parking lot entrance, a skinny middle-aged man dressed in Taoist robes sat at a booth loudly shouting.
Chen Zhiyu instinctively looked over, her expression momentarily frozen as her mouth twitched slightly. She pulled out her phone and sent a voice message to the workgroup for the vacation village:
"Ah Wei, gather some people and go to the village entrance. Throw out that Taoist who's offering blessing services."
"If he asks why, just tell him you saw him selling crosses last week, pitching to foreigners that Jesus doesn't work in Xia Country, and that Xia Country's believers need to pray to Hong Xiuquan for blessings."
Blessings might be okay.
But just last week, he said he was a priest, capable of interpreting scripture for believers.
A week later, he's a Taoist now.
Your credentials sure are varied!
[???]
Chen Zhiyu's words, clear within the relatively enclosed car space, reached the ears of the livestream audience effectively, and the formerly attentive viewers were slowly filled with question marks.
Soon after, the audience in the livestream burst into laughter.
[This is definitely the Taoist master!]
[It's official! The Taoist master's seamless art is unrivaled, melding all magical powers into one, with no self, no others, no beings.] Ah Qing heard and chuckled, completely unprepared for the fact that the stern gentleman outside the car window would engage in such shameless activities.
He instructed the fishing ground staff to drive away the quack attempting to fleece the fishing enthusiasts.
Chen Zhiyu then steered the car cityward, turning into a shaded path about five or six minutes later, following the winding cement road to the mountainside.
Halfway up the mountain, on untended barren land with overgrown weeds, if you looked inside, you could see a red brick wall covered in moss.
Inside the red brick wall was a five-story old structure, appearing half-finished due to financial issues, its concrete and brickwork exposed to the elements through time.
Even in broad daylight, gazing from afar, you could feel an eerie chill.
The strange building's entrance bore a new and somewhat incongruent plaque.
[Stray Pet Home Rescue Center] These words stood out to the crowd and the livestream audience.
"Ah Bai..."
"Are you sure there was no embezzlement? If there was, just split it with me honestly!"
Brother Fuli, coming to the stray home for the first time, side-eyed Ah Bai as he inquired.
You spent over ten million on this?
Did you embezzle nine million from that ten million?
"Awoo!" Ah Bai gleefully reassured Brother Fuli not to worry, saying that while the place looked rundown on the outside, it was exceptionally luxurious inside.
If it weren't for Grandma Hedgehog's help, the wealthy owner wouldn't have considered selling this holiday villa at all.