In the next few days, the business in Zhang Yang's shop was not affected by the failure of the recent fishing competition. The sales of the main formula bait and the special black sugar paste remained stable.
The incident where Zhang Yang and his two friends were sabotaged seemed to pass by quietly, and Zhang Yang never mentioned it again during their tea sessions.
In the blink of an eye, another three days passed, and it was time for another official fishing competition. Before reserving a spot, Zhang Yang gathered Old Zhao and Wang Jun together.
"Let's go quickly? It's getting late, and the good spots will be gone if we're late!" Wang Jun said habitually.
Zhang Yang smiled and shook his head: "This time, let's go early, but don't rush for a spot! I need you and Brother Zhao to confirm something for me!"
"Why so polite? Just say what you want to do!"
Zhang Yang glanced over the shop entrance to make sure no one was around, then lowered his voice and muttered a few words.
After listening, Old Zhao asked, "You're not going today?"
Zhang Yang nodded: "We split up; you two go to the competition, and I'll go 'steal the donkey' tomorrow!
If the situation is as I suspect, we'll confirm who's behind the sabotage tomorrow!"
"Alright! Let's do what you said!" Old Zhao nodded and drove off with Wang Jun.
The entire afternoon, Zhang Yang waited in the shop for news. Not going fishing made him a bit anxious, but he suppressed these minor feelings.
Around five in the evening, Old Zhao called.
As Zhang Yang expected, the good fishing spots in the middle of the riverbanks remained empty. Lang Junfeng's team of five still chose the same peripheral spots as last time.
Having learned their lesson, neither Old Zhao nor Wang Jun took the middle spots, which were occupied by some casual anglers, and the fishing results in the evening were poor.
Zhang Yang's judgment was thus almost confirmed.
Once might be an accident, but twice in a row, there's definitely something wrong with Lang Junfeng's group!
Early the next day, Old Zhao drove to Zhang Yang's shop early to take Zhang Yang to 'steal the donkey.'
Nominally, it was to 'steal the donkey,' but actually, Zhang Yang wanted to further gather intelligence on the fishing ground. The breakthrough lay in those middle spots that weren't producing fish.
Zhang Yang didn't focus on fishing but waited for Diao Changhe to enter the room, then started his evidence-gathering work.
Zhang Yang added an extra set of small hooks for hanging water plants to his regular fishing setup and began searching around the non-productive middle spots.
After a bit of effort, he soon found results.
At the fishing hole positions in the middle of the riverbanks, he pulled up five packages of camphor balls and weights wrapped in cloth.
Camphor balls are effective at repelling fish, but they float in water because they are lightweight!
To be effective, weights must be added. This little trick isn't costly, but it's very effective at ruining a fishing hole.
After making this discovery, Zhang Yang and Old Zhao exchanged a look, and the three of them carried the retrieved camphor balls into Diao Changhe's shack.
"Wow, Diao Changhe! I didn't believe when others said you were throwing camphor balls into the fishing spots, but it turned out to be true! We just pulled these out of the water. How do you explain this?"
As soon as they entered, the burly Wang Jun grabbed Diao Changhe by the collar.
Diao Changhe was enjoying his soy milk and fried dough sticks while listening to the radio, but seeing the camphor balls, he turned pale.
"What is this? I didn't throw anything, I don't know!" Diao Changhe shook his fat head in denial.
"Still denying? The youngster with Lang Junfeng, Xiaotao, told me everything last night. With the evidence right here, how dare you not admit it?
Old Zhao, take pictures and post them in the anglers' group!" Zhang Yang also put on a serious face, deliberately bluffing Diao Changhe.
At the mention of Lang Junfeng, Diao Changhe's face looked even uglier.
This trick was taught to him by Lang Junfeng, and now that Zhang Yang mentioned names, Diao Changhe quickly realized there was no deception involved, and his mental defenses collapsed.
"It's nothing to do with me! It was Lang Junfeng who told me to do it! He said you guys were snatching his customers every time with your explosive catches, and asked me to help ruin the fishing spots. I was momentarily confused and made a mistake!"
The blustering Diao Changhe confessed everything under the combined trickery and intimidation of Zhang Yang and the others.
"How many camphor ball packages did you throw into the pond in total?" Zhang Yang continued to ask.
"Four in the previous event, and two this time! A total of six!" Diao Changhe looked down at his toes, already contemplating the consequences.
"Alright, since you've confessed honestly, we'll let you off this time!
You're worried about losing the caught fish, right? From now on, when I fish, I'll pay the fishing fee, but I won't take the catch, no matter how much I catch!
No more sneaky tricks, understand?" Zhang Yang offered Diao Changhe an irresistible deal.
"This... won't work, if you don't take the fish, I won't charge the fishing fee! Catching more fish saves me on costs!"
Diao Changhe quickly caught on. Seeing Zhang Yang take a step back, he promptly offered a deal to play for free without a fishing fee.
Without a conflict of interest, there's no need to target anyone. Zhang Yang's fishing trips were to advertise for the shop and products, and he didn't care about the small amount of money from the catch.
"You said it yourself! If it happens again, figure out the consequences yourself!" Wang Jun pointed at Diao Changhe's nose.
Diao Changhe waved his hands in surrender: "There won't be a next time!"
"Alright, Brother Jun, let him go, let's go!" Zhang Yang gestured for Wang Jun to release him.
Once in the car, Wang Jun, sitting in the back, was puzzled.
"You really guessed it, it was Diao Changhe and Lang Junfeng causing trouble! Are we just letting him go? Damn, purposely messing with us, I get angry just thinking about it! I haven't had a no-catch day in ages!"
Zhang Yang nodded: "What else can we do if we don't let him go? Call the police? Beat him up? It's hard to gather evidence for this kind of thing, at most, we'd get a refunded fishing fee!
Right now, there's no better option. We have to settle things with Diao Changhe first, then deal with Lang Junfeng's side!"
"What do you plan to do about Lang Junfeng?" Old Zhao asked in a deep voice.
"A little tit-for-tat is pointless; I plan to take out his foundation in one go!"
"Be specific, we're all on your side!"
Zhang Yang collected his thoughts and slowly said: "I want to promote our flagship product, get more people to sell it for us! We'll focus on real-world market promotion, recruit offline distributors, and scale up! That way, we won't have to fear sabotage from people like Lang Junfeng!"
"But there's only one charged fishing pit in the surrounding area, and the next closest charging pond is over seventy kilometers away! I asked a friend to check recently!" Old Zhao frowned slightly at Zhang Yang's proposal.
Zhang Yang remained calm, continuing, "Don't worry, the local fishing forums are already buzzing about this pay-to-fish business! I estimate within half a year, several fishing grounds will emerge following the trend!
The black pit industry currently has no competition; it's basically a sellers' market. If someone like Diao Changhe can make money, then with a slightly smarter owner, it's a sure gain with no loss!
The rice for making wine that I have has been consistently selling, and the sales data of other baits and micro lures are also good. I can afford to wait!"
Zhang Yang's confidence was inextricably linked to his memories from a previous life.
The Meng Village Fishing Ground and Nanhou Fishing Ground, where he spent several years fishing before, both started operations in 2012, so they should be opening soon based on the timeline.