Seeing the fishing rod being dragged away, the three of them immediately dropped their food and rushed over. By the time they reached the riverbank, the rod had already been pulled two or three meters into the water.
“Damn, what do we do now?” Lin Yue watched helplessly as the rod was slowly dragged away.
“I got this.”
Lin Heng chuckled, picking up his own rod and using the hook to snag the other one.
It was truly baffling—three meals a day, sleeping, playing with their phones, and nothing else would trigger a bite. The whims of fishing were downright mystical.
After a couple of attempts, he finally managed to hook the runaway rod and, with some effort, reeled it back to shore.
Lin Yue grabbed the rod and gave it a tug, exclaiming excitedly, “The fish is still on!”
Neither he nor Father Lin bothered with finesse—they just yanked the fish straight out of the water. Thankfully, Lin Heng had used a thick enough line.
“Another plum blossom fish! This one’s even bigger—must be around two pounds,” Father Lin remarked with a smile as he looked at the fish in his eldest son’s hands.
Lin Heng nodded with a grin. “This spot’s got plenty of fish. If we come back in a month or two, the fishing’ll be even better.”
The place was indeed teeming with fish, and the scenery was beautiful—a perfect spot.
After adding the new catch to the keepnet, the three of them returned to their meal. By the time they finished eating, the rods showed no further activity. Lin Heng spent half an hour trying his earlier method again, but no more fish bit.
Disappointed, he decided to wander along the riverbank, casting his line as he went. He refused to believe he couldn’t catch at least one more fish.
The sun was warm now, casting a golden sheen over the sand beneath their feet. The sky was a brilliant blue, and sunlight danced on the river’s surface, making it hard for Lin Heng to see clearly into the water.
He lost count of how many casts he made along the river. The constant back-and-forth had even killed the creek chub he was using as bait, so he caught two more and rebaited his hook.
Before he knew it, he had wandered nearly eight hundred meters away from his father and elder brother. One more bend in the river, and he’d lose sight of them entirely.
“Son, we got another one!”
Just as Lin Heng was about to press onward, the river breeze carried his father’s cheerful voice.
In the distance, he saw Father Lin holding up a plum blossom fish, its scales glinting in the sunlight. The wrinkles carved by time on his face were now filled with pure joy.
Lin Heng raised a thumbs-up from afar, sharing in his father’s happiness.
But he didn’t turn back. Instead, he pressed forward against the relentless river wind. Past the bend, the riverbank narrowed, but since it was winter, much of the riverbed was dry, allowing him to keep going.
Another two hundred meters or so brought him to a stretch littered with rocks—an ideal hunting ground for mandarin fish and fine-scaled salmon.
Checking the creek chub on his hook—still twitching feebly—he tossed it in and resumed his teasing technique.
On his thirteenth cast, the line suddenly jerked, and he felt a solid tug.
“Come on up!”
Afraid the fish might dart under the rocks and get stuck, Lin Heng opted for brute force, yanking a palm-sized mandarin fish straight out of the water. Its olive-green body was a thing of beauty.
“Not huge, but not bad either. I’ll take it home and raise it.”
After inspecting it, he placed it in a small pool he’d made nearby.
His hunch had been right—this spot was indeed hiding fish. The deep, complex underwater terrain made it an ideal hiding place.
After catching another lively creek chub, he cast again. Before long, another tug came, and he pulled up a plum blossom fish.
Though it only weighed about half a pound, it was still a decent catch. He tossed it into the pool and kept fishing.
After landing two fish in just ten minutes, the bites suddenly stopped. A full half-hour passed without action. Just as Lin Heng was about to move spots and retrieve his bait, the line jerked violently, and his rod bent into a deep arc.
“Holy crap, big fish! Big fish!!”
Lin Heng’s hands trembled with excitement. The force was unlike anything he’d felt before—the rod tip was nearly dragged underwater.
“No way, you’re not getting into those rocks!”
Gritting his teeth, he pulled with all his might. The bamboo rod was too flexible, making it hard to exert force.
Luckily, winter fish weren’t as strong. After a struggle, he managed to bring it close, played it for a bit, and finally got his first glimpse as it broke the surface.
“A mandarin fish! This one’s gotta be four or five pounds!”
Lin Heng was ecstatic. The fish was massive—its body even had a dark, almost blackish hue.
After just two rounds of playing it, he impatiently hauled it in by the line. Soon, he had it in his hands—its mouth so large it could’ve swallowed his daughter’s fist. Its deep brown, nearly black scales gleamed.
Removing the hook, Lin Heng cradled the fish and sprinted back downstream, wishing the whole world could see his four- or five-pound prize.
“Dad! Elder Brother! Look what I got!”
His triumphant shout reached them before he did.
Father Lin and Lin Yue, who had been staring at the river, turned their heads. Their eyes widened in disbelief.
“Damn, little bro, you’re a legend!” Lin Yue ran over to greet him. The fish was enormous.
Father Lin couldn’t stop praising him either. “Incredible! That’s easily four or five pounds. You caught it upstream?”
Lin Heng lifted his chin proudly. “Yep. I knew that spot had fish. Besides this big one, I got two smaller ones too.”
“Amazing! Let’s head up there!” Lin Yue was already itching to move.
“Let’s all go. This spot’s dried up,” Father Lin agreed.
Lin Heng secured the fish in the keepnet, double-checked its sturdiness, then grabbed a bucket and led the way upstream.
As they walked, Lin Heng couldn’t contain his excitement, recounting every detail of the catch to his father and brother. Their enthusiasm matched his, and they quickened their pace. Downstream, Father Lin had only managed one fish earlier, and the bites had stopped completely since then.
“Right here. These are the two small ones I caught.”
Lin Heng pointed to his fishing spot, then to the two smaller fish in the pool.
The ’80s were truly the golden age. Back in his previous life, wild fishing like this would’ve been unimaginable—nine out of ten trips would’ve been skunked, and big fish? Forget about it.
“Impressive,” Lin Yue said with a grin, wasting no time casting his line into the water.
Having already bagged a big one, Lin Heng was content to step back and coach his father and brother.
“I got one!”
Soon enough, Lin Yue excitedly reeled in a half-pound plum blossom fish.
Father Lin, meanwhile, felt a bite but missed it three times in a row. Even so, it was far more action than they’d had downstream.
“Don’t rush it, Dad. Let it take the bait properly,” Lin Heng advised with a smile.
Father Lin nodded. “Alright, I’ll try that.”
About three minutes later, another bite came. This time, he followed Lin Heng’s advice and waited before setting the hook. Soon, a beautiful mandarin fish broke the surface.
“Hey, this spot’s the real deal,” Father Lin said, his face lit with genuine delight as he held up his catch.
“Keep at it, Dad. I’ll go catch some more creek chubs.”
Lin Heng headed toward a small upstream creek, leaving his father and brother to their fishing. Even if they didn’t catch anything else, he was happy just being out here with them. This was how life should be.
After some searching in the creek, he nabbed ten five- or six-centimeter-long chubs. Winter might’ve made the water freezing, but it also made the fish slower and easier to catch.
With his haul, he turned back.
“Son, why don’t you take a turn?” Father Lin offered.
“Nah, you two keep at it. I’ll wander around a bit.”
Lin Heng waved him off and set the bait aside. Seeing he wasn’t interested, Father Lin resumed fishing.
Lin Heng ventured a little farther upstream and spotted a massive black boulder by the riverbank, shaped like a flat disc. Its surface had been polished smooth by the water, feeling almost like glass under his fingertips.
To him, it was the perfect natural bed. Climbing up, he lay down on the sun-warmed stone, its heat seeping into his body.
Pulling his shirt over his head, he basked in the winter sun—its warmth just right.
With the river breeze whispering past his ears and the rush of water filling the air, all his worries melted away. He felt weightless, peaceful, free—grounded yet solitary.
Before he knew it, he’d dozed off. When he woke, his watch told him half an hour had passed.
Heading back, he found his father and brother still fishing, though they’d moved spots.
“How’s it going?”
Lin Heng asked curiously.
Father Lin shook his head. “After you left, we got another half-pound mandarin fish, then nothing. Tried moving around, but no luck.”
“Alright, let me give it a shot.”
Lin Heng nodded, picking up his rod and baiting it with a creek chub before testing the waters again.
In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed. The time had already reached three-thirty, and the sun had moved from the river valley halfway up the mountain slope. Without sunlight and with the chilly river wind blowing, the air grew colder.
“Forget it, I’ll go check if I can catch any crucian carp where I baited earlier,” Lin Heng shook his head and gave up. In winter, fish barely moved, and once you caught them in one spot, it was hard to get more.
The truly big fish were all in the deep water.
“Let’s try for crucian carp too.”
Father Lin and the others also decided to stop fishing for plum blossom fish and mandarin fish.
After gathering all the fish and placing them in the keep net, Lin Heng counted them—exactly ten in total. He had caught four, his father had caught four, and Elder Brother Lin Yue had only caught two.
Among these ten fish, five were mandarin fish and five were plum blossom fish, weighing over ten pounds altogether. The main reason was that the mandarin fish Lin Heng caught was particularly large, accounting for half the total weight.
These were all carnivorous fish, much tastier than ordinary ones.
Switching to the smallest hook and baiting it with earthworms, they began fishing for crucian carp.
Snap!
Half an hour later, Lin Heng directly snapped his bamboo fishing rod in two.
“Let’s stop fishing. Let’s just take a walk around instead. These damn fish don’t know what’s good for them.”
As he reeled in his line, Lin Heng grumbled. If not for the lack of explosives, he would’ve loved to toss a charge into the water just to see if there were any fish left—it was downright infuriating.
“Let’s go then. There’s really no point staying,” Father Lin also started reeling in his line.
Once the lines were all collected, they poured the fish into two plastic buckets they had brought, leaving their survival to fate.
After packing up their gear and taking their trash with them, the three got into the motorcycle.
Lin Heng, behind the wheel, wasn’t planning to head back just yet. Instead, he drove further upstream to scout the area for future trips.
As they ascended, the cliffs on either side grew steeper, and the road narrowed dangerously—falling off would mean certain death.
After another four or five kilometers, the paved road disappeared, replaced by a half-meter-wide path. Across the way, remnants of ancient plank roads could still be seen.
“They say if you walk five kilometers inward from here, you’ll reach the foot of Mount Taibai. There are still one or two villages over there,” Father Lin remarked.
Lin Heng nodded. Looking up from here, Mount Taibai already seemed within reach. The slopes here were mostly covered in shrubs, moss, and wild grass, giving them a somewhat barren appearance.
But as the saying goes, the mountain may seem close, but the journey wears out the horse—reaching Mount Taibai would likely still require a trek of over ten kilometers. Still, it was undoubtedly much closer than approaching from Red Maple Mountain.
Moreover, there was an ancient path here that led straight to the summit, though it was rough going, with some sections possibly deteriorated from years of neglect.
“I’ll find a chance to explore this place and climb Mount Taibai,” Lin Heng muttered to himself. The path to the mountain’s base was too narrow for a three-wheeler, but a motorcycle should manage just fine.
“Yeah, once I buy a hunting rifle, we’ll go together,” Lin Yue agreed with a nod.
After observing for a while, all three dismissed the idea of getting out and walking further. Time was running short, and it was time to head home.
On the way back, every time they passed a water source, they stopped to refresh the fish, trying their best to keep them alive.
The first half of the trip went smoothly, but in the latter half, the road veered too far from the river, so they gave up on changing the water.
Bathed in the fading glow of sunset, the three returned to Red Maple Village by five-thirty. As soon as the motorcycle stopped, Lin Heng rushed home with a bucket in hand.
“What’s the hurry? You’re all flustered,” Xiulan asked, opening the door as Lin Heng dashed inside.
“I’m worried my fish will die. These are all good fish!”
Still talking, Lin Heng hurried to the backyard, with Xiao Xia and Xiong Ba following close behind.
Pouring the fish into a large wooden basin, his heart sank—only three small mandarin fish and one plum blossom fish were still gasping weakly.
“So many fish, Dad! I want to eat this one!” Xiao Xia pointed at the largest mandarin fish.
“I’ll cook it for you tomorrow,” Lin Heng said as he transferred the three mandarin fish and the plum blossom fish into the secondary reservoir fed by the well, where oxygen was most abundant.
The rest had already stopped breathing—beyond saving.
“You had a pretty good haul today. Who caught the biggest one?”
Xiulan walked in, eyeing the fish in the basin curiously.
“Me, of course,” Lin Heng lifted his chin proudly.
“That impressive?”
“Naturally. I’m a master angler.”
After a few more words, Lin Heng ran back out to drive the motorcycle inside.
When Father Lin and the others came in and learned only four fish had survived, they all sighed in regret.
“Don’t feel bad, Dad. You can split the rest—I’ll just take this big mandarin fish,” Lin Heng said with a smile.
“Split what? Just cook them, and we’ll come over to eat,” Father Lin shook his head.
Lin Yue added, “Exactly. We’re all eating anyway—might as well enjoy a free meal at your place.”
Lin Heng didn’t argue. “Alright, let’s cook these fish tonight then.”
(End of Chapter)
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