Our destination today was a fis.h.i.+ng spot at Taihu Lakeview Park Resort. Guests could choose to hunt in its forest or fish at its lake. In our case, we were there to enjoy some recreational fis.h.i.+ng.

There were thirteen of us in total. After we paid the fee and put on the raincoats, we marched to the lake like traffic police. We rented four boats in total as each boat could only accommodate between 3 to 4 people. I, Du Thirteen and Chaos Moon shared a boat together. There were cooking tools and a few pieces of charcoal at the sh.o.r.e for visitors to cook the fishes they captured. Once I was inside the boat, I immediately started weaving the fis.h.i.+ng net.

Standing on the boat, Du Thirteen asked a confounding question, "So, does anyone here know how to row the boat?"

Chaos Moon blinked once before answering, "Sorry, I only know how to rock the bed…"

Du Thirteen immediately feigned embarra.s.sment. "What a coincidence, me too…"

I raged at them. "Have some shame, you two! And seriously, who's going to row the boat!? Thank heavens I learned how to weave and cast a fis.h.i.+ng net from my third uncle when I was younger, or we would be starving tonight…"

Du Thirteen replied, "Fine, I'll rock the bed… excuse me, I mean row the boat. Chaos Moon can help Lu Chen with his net. We've to catch more fish than Mamate at the very least!"

I smiled. "Yeah, it'll be nice if we can catch a mandarin fish or two. I love mandarin fish soup. All it takes is a bit of starch, chili peppers and fresh ginger to make a delicious meal…"

Chaos Moon shot me a look. "Stop. You're going to make me salivate…"

Me: "..."

……

Our hearts rippled like the waves undulating across the water surface. Heaven's Rain had rolled up her pants to her knees to avoid getting wet as she punted her boat. Unfortunately, all she managed to do so far was to make it spin in circles. Mamate grew so anxious that he said, "Little Rain, don't just punt the boat on one side! You need to do it on both sides!"

Heaven's Rain let out a giggle and said, "You can get someone else to punt the boat if you're not satisfied with my skill, Mamate. In fact, I think I'll hitch a ride with big brother Lu Chen…"

Mamate laughed sinisterly, "Don't even think about it, little girl! Chaos Moon and Thirteen already have him wrapped around their fingers, so young handsome me is your only choice left, muahahahaha!"

Unperturbed, Heaven's Rain pointed a finger at Mamate's nose and chided him, "Today's your 31st birthday, and you call yourself young and handsome? Boo! Boo! Where's your shame, you suspicious uncle!"

Mamate simply slapped his round belly once and said, "Whatever you say, girl. Anyay, I'm going to cast the net now…"

Pa!

Amazingly, his net landed on our boat and caught Du Thirteen. The guy immediately started struggling like a big fat loach.

I clapped my hands in astonishment. "Well cast!"

Chaos Moon laughed so hard that she was nearly in tears. After she recollected herself, she helped free the poor lad. Thank goodness Mamate hadn't reeled him in, or this would turn into a horror story about a captured merman.

Heaven's Rain, Diamond Dust and Chaos Moon were the only girls on this trip, so one boat was destined to be without female companions.h.i.+p. That boat was High Fighting Spirits, Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, and Gui Guzi's. However, their teamwork was surprisingly impeccable. Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun and Gui Guzi rowed the boat while High Fighting Spirits cast the net across the lake surface perfectly. He pulled in the net to reveal three fish and two lobsters. Not only that, one of the fishes was as long as a chopstick. Gui Guzi was so happy that he almost forgot to wipe his saliva. "Holy s.h.i.+t, I didn't know you're this skilled, Fighting Spirits!"

High Fighting Spirits laughed proudly, "I spent my whole childhood fis.h.i.+ng until I went to high school at 17, so this is nothing at all. That being said, this lake has way more fish than I thought. I wasn't expecting to catch so many so easily, not to mention the lobsters. Let's barbecue them for Chaos Moon later, shall we?"

I poked Chaos Moon once and said, "You hear that, Chaos Moon? Your dear cares about you so much…"

The corner of Chaos Moon's lips twitched as she glared at me. "Hmph. Tease me again, and I'll show you a world of hurt…"

After that, I cast the net across the water surface. The rocks tied to the edges of the fis.h.i.+ng net sank into the lake and formed a pocket. When I pulled it back in, I felt a new weight in my net and cheered happily, "Haha! Score at the first try! My 70+ Luck applies to real life as well, I see!"

"Ohh, nice! Ah, I can taste the fish in my mouth already, heeheehee…" Chaos Moon looked even happier than I was. She shuffled next to me and helped pull in the net.

However, it turned out that our celebration was premature. Sitting at the end of the net was a stinking, rotting liberation shoe that had clearly been submerged in the water for many years. Chaos Moon's complexion immediately turned purple.

"This is your 70+ Luck?" said Chaos Moon while staring at me.

My facial muscles twitched uncontrollably as I placed the net on the boat. There were two thumb-sized prawns in the net as well, but all I felt from the sight was shame.

Du Thirteen carefully put the prawns in the bucket and said, "You know what they say, a mosquito's leg is small, but it's still a leg. Anything's better than plain water soup…"

Deeply humiliated, I gave Du Thirteen a firm pat on the shoulder and declared, "Don't worry, I'll make sure to catch us something no matter what. At the very least, no one on this boat is starving tonight!"

Du Thirteen chuckled. "And if all else fails, I bought a pack of instant noodles, so…"

"f.u.c.k you. We don't need it!"

After that, I told du Thirteen to row deeper into the lake and cast the net again and again. It was every boat for themselves, so I had to catch something no matter what. No way I was going to let my pa.s.sengers go hungry.

……

The good news was that the heavens hadn't abandoned us. A couple more tries later, I finally caught a mandarin fish that weighed at least 0.5 kg, and a small crab that looked like chinese mitten crab. It probably wasn't seafood the resort owner had raised specifically for its visitors, but that also meant that its flesh would be tastier.

Chaos Moon was overjoyed even though it wasn't the crab-eating season. I bet she would fondle it all over if she wasn't afraid of getting pinched. She stared fervently at the crab and said, "I'm going to kiss you later, baby…"

Du Thirteen teased her. "You're going to wolf kiss a crab? d.a.m.n…"

"Pooh!"

We kept this up until the sun was almost completely set. When everyone had returned to the sh.o.r.e, we compared our catches and found out that High Fighting Spirits was the greatest catcher of us all. His catch literally weighed 2.5 kgs! The spot we were fis.h.i.+ng at had to be a breeding area because this haul was anything but normal. Even I had managed to catch a big mandarin fish, two baishui fish, one crucian carp, two crabs and a bunch of tiny prawns. It was definitely enough for a meal.

As expected, a resort employee came up to us a moment later to weigh our catches. In the end, Mamate had to pay almost a thousand RMB in total. What a rip-off!

Even the charcoal on the sh.o.r.e cost money, but let's not talk about the sad stuff. After we started the fire, our group decided to cook ourselves a pot of boiled fish. It so happened that mandarin fish, baishui fish and crucian carp were all suitable ingredients to make a soup. Of course, we threw the tiny prawns and the crabs into the pot as well. It so happened that I had seen a recipe like this before, so I put in the rest of the ingredients based on that memory.

Du Thirteen tried to blow the charcoal like how the farmer children did. He nearly burned his own eyebrows.

Gui Guzi's group chose to barbecue and boil their catch. They certainly caught enough to do so.

Mamate's group was the saddest of us all. They managed to catch six fish in total, but the longest fish they caught was less than 10 cm. There were literally more onions and ginger than there were fish in their pot of soup. As Heaven's Rain stared expectantly at the boiling water, she asked, "Mamate, is it just me, or is the food in the pot a bit… lacking?"

Mamate coughed embarra.s.sedly and said, "I know, but it's not like I can conjure seafood out of thin air… It's just for tonight, so don't think about it..."

I grinned. "If you're a man you'll give Little Rain the fish, understand?"

Mamate shook his head. "Fine. You know what, why don't we add some noodles to the soup? I bought some and put them in the back of the car. Fish and noodles sound pretty great, right?"

Heaven's Rain looked stunned. "Er, you sure this'll work…?"

"Of course it will! Be brave!"

"Well, okay, I'll go get it…"

"Oh, there's also half a bag of rice in the back of the car, grab that too. Fish plus noodles and porridge sound pretty great, right?"

This time, Heaven's Rain couldn't hold it any longer. "Right your sister! I'm joining big brother Lu Chen, dammit!"

Mamate: "..."

At this point it was just sad, so I grabbed a black carp from High Fighting Spirits' group and dropped it in Yamete's pot. I said, "You're the birthday boy, you deserve to eat more. Also, you need more chili in the soup, it'll be tastier that way. Lastly, you really don't need to make your own porridge. See that uncle? He's selling cooked rice, so just buy it off him…"

Mamate: "f.u.c.k…"

……

We dove in when the meal was ready. Surprisingly, the soup was pretty tasty. In fact, we almost died from overeating. It was overall a very satisfying dinner. Afterward, Heaven's Rain took out the cake, and we ate it around the bonfire. The birthday song sounded absolutely terrible.

"Seeing as today's Mamate's birthday..." I suggested smilingly, "Chaos Moon, would you like to grant him the honor of a kiss?"

Chaos Moon replied murderously, "I'm not a loose woman, okay!?"

"Come on, Mamate is waiting for you already. His face is literally red with antic.i.p.ation…" I teased.

Everyone else egged her on as well.

In the end, Chaos Moon relented and gave Mamate a quick peck on the right cheek. Then, she walked up to me and said murderously, "You satisfied now?"

I laughed. "Thanks for being a good—"

Chaos Moon abruptly bent down and kissed me on the lips before I could finish. What the h.e.l.l??

"f.u.c.k…"

I wasn't expecting her to be this bold. Nooo, my chast.i.ty!

The kiss lasted five whole seconds. That was also how long the stunned silence lasted until Chaos Moon moved away and said angrily, "This is the price of teasing me! Do it again, I will even encourage you!"

Du Thirteen asked me while drinking from his bowl of fish soup, "How does it feel?"

I wiped my mouth before replying, "It feels a bit like I was raped. What do you think?"

Everyone laughed, and Chaos Moon responded with a girly giggle.

……

We fooled around until it was past 8 pm before driving off to a bar in the city. However, I refrained from drinking because I had to drive the gang back to the base later. It had been a hectic few weeks until now; the WEL first, and the sudden Fury of the G.o.ddess of Death event later. It felt nice to come out and relax after all that stress.

As promised, there were beautiful girls in the bar. The hot ones, the cute ones, everything. Everyone had a great time playing games and flirting around with each other. On the other hand, I sat in a corner and read about Heavenblessed through my phone. Diamond Dust wasn't as wild as the others, so she simply sat beside me without saying a word. When it was almost morning, and we were finally going to head home, Du Thirteen patted me on the shoulder and said, "Man, Diamond Dust must love you sooo much. She's satisfied with just watching you the whole night…"

I shook my head. "The little girl can do better…"

Du Thirteen laughed knowingly. "Haha!"