Chapter 19: Chapter 17 Mental Breakdown
When Lu Qing and Little Yan appeared at the fishing spot,
the villagers who were still fishing there were stunned by the sight of the fish on Lu Qing's back.
"Lu, Lu Qing, what... what are you carrying on your back?" a villager stammered.
"A fish," Lu Qing took a breath and replied.
He really felt a little tired.
His body had not fully recovered yet, and he had struggled with the Green Armored Fish and the Red Moon Carp for so long.
Now, walking with so much on his back was becoming too much.
However, his answer somewhat exasperated the villagers.
Nonsense, they obviously knew he was carrying fish!
The question was, where had he managed to catch such big fish?
The villagers looked at the fish on Lu Qing's back, which was almost as tall as his body and dragged its tail on the ground, and felt a bit dizzy.
Oh my god, it was the first time they had seen such a big fish!
But some villagers noticed Lu Qing's difficulty and quickly stepped forward to help him unload the fish.
"Come on, let me carry it for you. Your body has just recovered not long ago, don't get tired again."
Lu Qing didn't refuse.
He really was struggling to keep up; he had thought he could carry the fish home, but it seemed he had overestimated his strength.
"Thank you, Brother Da An."
Lu Qing set the fish down and took a deep breath.
"Heh, no need to thank me. It's the first time I've seen such a big fish, and touching one is a blessing, no wait, there's another one in this bucket, such a beautiful fish!"
Villager Da An was delighted and bent down to look, then exclaimed in surprise.
The other villagers, hearing this, could no longer hold back and immediately crowded around to look into the bucket.
"It really is, there's another big fish in the bucket!"
"What fish is this, bright red? I've never seen this before!"
"This fish is so beautiful, the nobles in the city will surely like it."
"My goodness, Lu Qing, how did you manage to catch two big fish at once?"
When the final question came out, everyone looked at Lu Qing.
"How I fished them? Just like you guys," Lu Qing reached out and took the fishing rod from Little Yan's shoulder, "I just chose a spot upstream, never expecting to catch two big fish; it was luck."
"Where exactly did you fish then?" a villager asked, eyes shifting.
As soon as this was asked, a few other villagers looked at him with some disdain.
His intentions were too obvious; he didn't even try to hide it, taking advantage of kids here.
Feeling something was amiss after he asked, that villager quickly smirked, "I'm just curious, don't tell me you guys aren't curious."
Lu Qing certainly understood what the villager meant, but he wasn't too concerned.
After all, even if he didn't tell them, they would certainly go searching eventually.
He couldn't hide the traces of where he had set up his fishing spot.
So he straightforwardly said, "Just not far ahead, but I advise you not to go there now."
"Why not?" the villager blurted out.
"Because that spot blew up earlier, now there aren't even small fish there, let alone big ones, otherwise I wouldn't have come back so soon," Lu Qing half-truthfully said.
The other villagers found this reasonable.
Lu Qing had caught two big fish, especially the one on the ground, which was incredibly large.
Such a big fish would definitely make a lot of noise when caught; it was no wonder the other fish would have scattered.
However, despite what was said, there were still villagers who held onto a glimmer of hope.
For example, the villager who had asked about Lu Qing's fishing spot had already decided to sneak over there later to see exactly where Lu Qing had been fishing.
Lu Qing didn't care what the villagers were thinking.
After all, he had said his piece, and if others refused to believe and insisted on fishing there, he had no control over it.
Moreover, even if someone did go fishing there, he didn't care.
As for the small fish, they meant little to him, but the big fish...
It wasn't that he looked down on the villagers, but with their skills, they simply couldn't catch a big fish.
Even if they were lucky enough to hook a big fish, their fragile twine couldn't withstand the enormous impact of a big fish.
After resting for a while, Lu Qing felt his strength partially return.
"Everyone, Little Yan and I are heading back, you all continue fishing."
Having said that, he prepared to pick up the Green Armored Fish.
Upon seeing this, Brother Da An quickly bent down and lifted the fish, "Weren't you supposed to let me do this, Lu Qing? You just carry the bucket. Man, this fish is heavy, must be nearly forty pounds!"
Only when he truly lifted the Green Armored Fish did Da An realize it was even heavier than he had anticipated.
He couldn't help but glance at Lu Qing, finding it hard to imagine how Lu Qing, with his slight build, had managed to reel in such a big fish.
"Then thank you, Brother Da An. When we get back, I'll treat you to fish!"
Lu Qing didn't refuse the help, as he was actually quite happy to accept it.
"That sounds great, I've never eaten such a big fish before!" Brother Da An became instantly cheerful.
Watching Lu Qing and the others head toward the village, the remaining villagers looked at one another.
Suddenly, one villager shouted, "Stop fishing! Let's go back to the village to see the excitement!"
"Exactly, we've been here all morning and only caught a few small fish. Better to go back and see how Lu Qing handles the fish!"
"I haven't had enough of those two big fish just now, need to go back and take a few more looks."
If, before Lu Qing's return, the villagers still had the patience to keep waiting here,
Now, watching Lu Qing leave with two big fish, they couldn't help but feel a little discouraged.
They had been guarding this spot for two or three days, yet couldn't compare to the scraps Lu Qing had gained in just a couple of hours. How was that fair!
Might as well not fish at all!
With their morale shattered, the villagers began packing up their things, preparing to head back to the village.
Lu Qing and his group had just left, and if they hurried, they might even catch up.
"Old Zhao, aren't you going back?"
Everyone was packing up, but one person remained unmoved, still sitting and fishing.
Seeing this, someone asked.
"You guys go ahead, I'm going to fish a little longer. Maybe the fish will bite soon."
Old Zhao, who had earlier inquired about Lu Qing's fishing spot, grinned.
"Alright, you keep fishing. But I'm telling you, this place has been fished by me for several days already; it's been cleaned out. Didn't you see how much Lu Qing disliked it here?"
Initially, people didn't take Lu Qing's fishing skills seriously, thinking he caught those many small fish just by using earthworms as bait.
But after seeing those two big fish, nobody dared to underestimate Lu Qing's fishing skills anymore.
Such big fish, if it were up to them, they surely couldn't catch them.
These past few days it wasn't that nobody had tried being bitten by big fish; the result was always failure.
Either the fishing line would break, or the rod would snap, not one of them able to pull up the big fish.
After packing up, the villagers gradually left.
Only Old Zhao remained alone, calmly continuing to fish.
After a while, ensuring no one else could see him, Old Zhao suddenly leapt up.
He hurriedly packed up his things.
"Idiots, all believing whatever that kid Lu Qing says, I don't believe he has fished out all the fish from that place!"
Saying that, he picked up his belongings and ran toward the direction Lu Qing and Little Yan had gone back to.