Chapter 382: Chapter 231: Secret Weapon_2
This year is the last year for points to be counted, and I’m just short of about 500 points to get a rating. If I give up, all my efforts from the past few years will be in vain!"
"I don’t need you to pay me back all at once. If you have some extra cash, just lend me a thousand or so to cover the gas and tolls to drive back! Just consider it a favor, brother, will you?"
Still a good four or five meters away, Zhang Yang unexpectedly overheard Wei Song’s conversation.
Compared to the polite and cordial tone he had next to him that morning, Wei Song’s tone on the phone with his friend was very humbling, almost groveling.
Unintentionally overhearing this, Zhang Yang instinctively slowed down, and Wei Song didn’t notice anyone approaching outside, continuing to desperately plead for repayment.
Apparently not going well, a few seconds later, the call ended. Wei Song put down his phone and, frustrated, rubbed his face before taking several large gulps from his plastic water bottle.
"Eating lunch in the car?"
Right then, Zhang Yang’s greeting came a bit late.
Upon hearing the sound, Wei Song looked up, and upon seeing it was Zhang Yang, awkwardly forced a somewhat stiff smile.
"Oh, it’s Zhang Yang! Have you eaten?"
"Just came back from lunch. Saw you here, thought I’d say hi! How did the second round go?" Zhang Yang casually chatted.
Wei Song shook his head: "Not well, my schedule was off, didn’t practice in depth, and I am not familiar enough with the fish conditions in these two ponds!
I was hoping to perform well and get a result, but now it seems unlikely. I probably won’t even earn back the entrance fee!"
The entry fee was only two hundred bucks, and according to the contest rewards, those in the top fifteen of total points can earn back the entrance fee. This means that Wei Song estimated he wouldn’t even make it to the top fifteen after today’s four matches.
You could say he came a long way to just catch disappointment!
"Have you been pursuing the national competition points? How many have you scored?" Zhang Yang continued to ask.
"Just over 3,500; the accounting period ends this year. I was hoping to gain some points, but now it looks like this match will only add a few participation points. No extra points from good performance!" Wei Song pouted, unable to hide the disappointment in his eyes.
"Wow! Such high points, there are still a few months until the end of the year. As long as you perform steadily and win a few rankings, you’ll reach level three by the end of the year?" Yue Feng was shocked and commented.
"To achieve this rating, I’ve neglected my career, can’t take care of my family... dammit, it’s all about whether it happens this year. If I can’t get up there, I’m quitting competitive fishing!"
Wei Song casually felt his cigarette pack; only two Red Generals left. Without hesitation, he offered one to Zhang Yang and lit one himself.
"A few hundred points, the chance is huge! Your skills are very good too; push a bit harder and securing the rating will be stable!" Zhang Yang continued.
"Hope so!"
...
The two distant acquaintances chatted aimlessly for a while; Wei Song never mentioned his difficulties, and Zhang Yang didn’t proactively ask.
Once the cigarette was lazily finished, Zhang Yang took out a box of White Generals from his pocket, tossed it onto the car’s dashboard, and said: "Red Generals aren’t as strong as these Whites, try them! Do well in the afternoon match, I’m heading back!"
"Okay, thanks, buddy! You too, give it your best!"
Wei Song watched Zhang Yang walk away, and the forced smile faded, his eyebrows furrowed slightly again.
With not enough money for the journey home, Wei Song couldn’t feel cheerful. Before the cigarette in his hand burned to the end, he took one last drag and extinguished it on his shoe sole, then casually grabbed the White Generals Zhang Yang had given him.
When he opened the cigarette box, Wei Song’s hand trembled slightly, incredulous!
A pack of cigarettes normally holds twenty sticks, but Zhang Yang’s gift was missing some, only seven or eight were left, with the empty slots stuffed with rolled-up hundred-yuan bills.
Wei Song quickly opened it to check, finding six ’little red bulls,’ totaling six hundred yuan; finally, the fare for the journey home!
Could it be that the other normally carries cash and forgot there was money in the cigarette box?
Just as Wei Song hesitated whether to get out of the car and return the money, his phone chimed with a WeChat notification.
Wei Song opened it to find a message from Zhang Yang.
"When you’re out and about, everyone runs into difficulties. There’s a little cash in the cigarette box for emergencies; repay me when you’re able! Good luck!"
Seeing this message, Wei Song, a man over 1.8 meters tall, instantly got teary-eyed!
It was just a casual fishing acquaintance, yet the other chose to help him in such a face-saving way.
Looking at this young lad not much older than himself, and thinking about the so-called friends who owed him over a hundred thousand yet couldn’t repay a penny, Wei Song felt a mixed brew of emotions.
After a lengthy silence of over ten seconds, Wei Song came back to his senses, hands trembling slightly, typing the word ’thanks’ into his phone and sending it.
Upon seeing a brief reply from the other side, Yue Feng, who had returned to the passenger seat, grinned and reclined his seat back.
"What’s got you smiling, Yang? What’s with the strange vibe after going out?" Meng Fan twisted open a bottle of iced red tea, handing it to Zhang Yang while opening one for himself and taking a big swig.
"Nothing, just met an interesting person!" Zhang Yang vaguely replied, not mentioning his gesture of giving money.
"There are still two matches this afternoon, what should we do? One is target fish, the other is mixed breeding! Based on our practice in the past couple of days, even with oxygen pumping at noon, the fish conditions aren’t going to be great!" Liu Zi, sitting in the back seat, asked worriedly.
"What else can we do? Just mix it up! How we practiced in cutting fish earlier, is how we’ll compete!" Meng Fan pouted and glanced at Liu Zi.
"Uh, it’s just that I’m not confident and wanted Yang to make an analysis," Liu Zi didn’t retort, fixing his gaze on Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang thought for a moment: "The two matches in the afternoon are bound to be extremely difficult. The third match starts at two; at this time, fish biting is influenced by the temperature!
And the last match at three-thirty, after three rounds of rod withdrawal before, the fish condition is very poor for the last round!
Before entering later, I’ll prepare two targeted bait mixes; tough fish conditions, we’ll try our lab’s secret weapon!"
"Secret weapon? What weapon?"
Upon hearing this term, both Meng Fan and Liu Zi suddenly sat upright, simultaneously asking.
Zhang Yang pouted: "Excited for what? If there’s any good stuff, would I use it secretly from you two?"
"That’s not what I mean, what exactly is the secret weapon? Our curiosity is killing us, like we’re clawing cat-like!!" Meng Fan continued to inquire.
"It’s a special state bait; you’ll know when we prepare later!
Stop overthinking, use the time to get some rest, recharge and perform well this afternoon! Oh, and turn down the AC a bit, don’t catch a cold!"
"Okay!" Meng Fan responded at last, no longer pressing the matter.
The three guys stayed in the car with the air conditioning until one o’clock when the phone alarm prompted them to get out.
"Boss, what exactly is the secret weapon you mentioned?" Liu Zi asked as soon as he got out, eyes roving around, not at all looking like someone just woken up.
"Wash your face, you’ll see when we prepare the bait!" Zhang Yang retrieved his tackle box and found an unnoticeable corner, starting to prepare the bait in front of Meng Fan and Liu Zi.
Aside from the normal base bait, Zhang Yang took out a small bottle of white powder from his tackle box.
He carefully mixed half a lid of the powder into the bait, stirring evenly, and then added water far exceeding the normal amount for bait preparation.
Watching such a large water proportion, the good bait turning into rice soup, Liu Zi and Meng Fan exchanged looks, unsure of what Zhang Yang was up to.
Zhang Yang didn’t explain, simply stirred evenly and then quietly waited.
In less than three minutes, all that water was completely absorbed, and the bait at the bottom of the bowl appeared shiny, soft, sticky, and slippery.
"This is called jelly bait! I just added jelly powder, a special high-water ratio substance! After micro-adjusting some gelatin, it turned into this state now! Aren’t you complaining the fish mouth’s too slippery and hard to catch? Try this in normal fishing adjustments and see how it works!"
During practice, Zhang Yang didn’t let Liu Zi and the others use this bait, but now in the key match, he finally brought it out.