Financial freedom begins with fishing

Chapter 82 Spotted mandarin fish!

"good!"

Seeing the other person catch a fish, Xiao Kai was genuinely happy for him and gave him a thumbs up.

"hey-hey!"

Seeing Xiao Kai give him a thumbs up, Ma Hongjun immediately smiled a little embarrassedly.

After returning the thumbs-up, he immediately got back to fishing.

Soon, Xiao Kai cast his line into the water again.

This time, thanks to previous experience and finding the fish layer, another bass was quickly brought ashore.

Seeing this, Ma Hongjun was not to be outdone and quickly followed suit by throwing his own.

However, perhaps because he couldn't see the small aperture, his casting path was slightly off this time, and he didn't catch any fish.

But soon, he won again the next time.

The two of them fished like that, one after the other, for over an hour without realizing it.

During this time, without the interference of other people, they fished even more unrestrainedly.

Before they knew it, the two had caught several dozen kilograms of bass.

.....

"Ugh, another sea bass! Where's my mandarin fish?"

As another bass was caught, Xiao Kai's face, which should have been happy, showed a hint of helplessness, as if he was very dissatisfied with catching this bass.

Upon hearing Xiao Kai's words, Ma Hongjun, who was about to cast his line, immediately stopped.

"Brother Xiao, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have told you there would be mandarin fish, otherwise you wouldn't have been so excited!"

Seeing Xiao Kai's distress at not catching any mandarin fish, Ma Hongjun, knowing the reason behind it, felt somewhat guilty.

"It's nothing, who can really say for sure about these things? I was just venting. Catching a bass is good too, don't overthink it!"

Upon hearing Ma Hongjun's words, Xiao Kai realized he had gone too far and waved his hand.

"But if I hadn't told you there were mandarin fish, you wouldn't have had such high expectations. In the end, I was too overconfident. It's also my fault for not asking my cousin how to catch mandarin fish here!" Ma Hongjun added.

Xiao Kai shook his head: "It has nothing to do with you. The situation down here is complicated. There might really be mandarin fish, who knows? It's just that I haven't found the right fishing method yet."

"Forget it, let's take a break!"

Seeing that Ma Hongjun was still thinking about it, Xiao Kai suggested that they take a break.

Upon hearing this, Ma Hongjun nodded and followed Xiao Kai, putting down his fishing rod and sitting down to rest.

As they chatted and admired the rare spring scenery, their conversation drifted to the cave divers.

"Brother Xiao, why haven't these people come out yet? We've been here for over an hour. Don't they need to come up for oxygen?"

Looking at the still water, Ma Hongjun couldn't help but ask with some concern.

Hearing Ma Hongjun suddenly mention those divers, and with a hint of worry in his tone, Xiao Kai couldn't help but feel a sense of goodwill towards him.

When I watched him argue with that fisherman earlier, I thought Ma Hongjun was a very assertive person, but now it seems he was pushed to the limit. Judging from the fact that he can care about strangers he has never met, he must be a warm-hearted person in life.

Xiao Kai shook his head. "I can't dive either, how would I know? Maybe it'll be enough!"

That's true. Although he can swim, he's not a very good swimmer, otherwise he wouldn't have been rescued twice after falling into the water.

If someone accidentally falls into the water, that's one thing; if you can think of a way, you might be able to help in some small way.

But when it comes to things like diving, which have absolutely nothing to do with him, there's nothing he can do.

As for how long the oxygen cylinders can be used, that's even more unclear.

However, he has one advantage: he never worries about things he's not good at.

Although he always felt that these people seemed to have stayed underwater for too long, he didn't dare to draw any conclusions without knowing the specifics.

To put it another way, even if something really happened to these people, given their abilities, it seems there's not much they can do besides calling the police.

This place is so far from the city that by the time the emergency services arrive, it probably won't be of much use.

Ultimately, these people still have to rely on themselves.

However, the fact that they chose to come to the cave for diving means they are confident in their abilities, so it's not our place to worry about them.

Thinking this to himself, Xiao Kai said, "Let's wait and see. If they don't come out in another hour or two, we'll call the police!"

"All right!"

Ma Hongjun nodded.

He's just worrying unnecessarily; he doesn't even know how to do it himself.

Xiao Kai thought so too. Instead of worrying about things that he wasn't even sure would work out, he might as well focus on fishing.

After resting on the shore for about ten minutes, the two picked up their lure fishing rods again.

This time, Xiao Kai changed his strategy again and started searching from the bottom of the water once more.

He was still somewhat unwilling to give up on catching any mandarin fish.

According to his understanding, mandarin fish are bottom-dwelling fish, so you have to look for them at the bottom if you want to catch them.

And so, Xiao Kai searched for another half hour.

During this time, he caught several more bass, but still did not see any mandarin fish.

Just as he was about to return to the upper waters to focus on bass fishing, he was suddenly caught off guard by a strong bite.

Unlike the texture of sea bass, this fish had a very strong, intense flavor.

And before Xiao Kai could react, it dragged the lure into the rocky area with surprising strength.

A series of clanging sounds echoed all around, and after a series of erratic movements, Xiao Kai felt his fishing line get stuck. He didn't know if it had caught on some obstacle or if the fish had burrowed into a hole; in any case, it wouldn't move.

No matter how much he pulled, it didn't budge.

Faced with this situation, Xiao Kai was also having a headache and was planning to switch lines and start over.

At this moment, Ma Hongjun noticed his situation and asked, "Brother Xiao, what's wrong?"

Xiao Kai explained his situation with a wry smile.

He thought Ma Hongjun would laugh at him, but to his surprise, Ma Hongjun immediately became excited after hearing Xiao Kai's words.

"Brother Xiao, please don't cut the line! It could be a mandarin fish. These fish are very cunning and always try to burrow into the water."

Upon hearing about mandarin fish, Xiao Kai's expression instantly changed from gloomy to delighted.

The hand that was about to forcefully cut the line was quickly withdrawn.

Seeing this, Ma Hongjun said again, "Quick, Brother Xiao, let out some line! These fish are very wary; if you loosen the line a bit, they might just come out!"

"good!"

Xiao Kai listened to the advice and immediately gave it a try.

As soon as he relaxed, he heard some movement from the other end, but it was still on the line.

Seeing this, Xiao Kai quickly hung up the line.

But it got stuck again very quickly.

And so, Xiao Kai kept letting the line go and reeling it in, and the fish and the man remained locked in a stalemate.

Ten minutes later, with a series of rapid reeling sounds, Xiao Kai finally managed to pull the fish out of the rocky area.

"Phew, finally out!"

As the fishing line got shorter and shorter, Xiao Kai immediately relaxed.

He knew he had a sure thing about the fish.

Soon, a large mandarin fish appeared on the surface of the water.

As the fish emerged from the water, before Xiao Kai could even speak, Ma Hongjun, who had been waiting expectantly, immediately exclaimed in surprise.

"Holy crap, it's a mandarin fish!"