A sudden slap frightened Zhang Yang, and just as he looked up, the guy's second slap came down again.
This time it hit the neck, clearly a seasoned move, as the side angle of the slap was just right.
"I'm asking you a question, are you mute? Was it deliberate? Damn, my sneakers that cost over four thousand got dirty! The nest's ruined too, how am I supposed to fish?" The guy with the Cruiser cursed relentlessly.
Seeing this, Zhang Yang couldn't hold back any longer.
As the saying goes, killing someone is just sticking a finger in their ear, doing this in public is too arrogant. It's like masters in the old society hitting servants over a disagreement.
"Hey, man! That's enough, why are you hitting people?"
A sense of justice overpowered the desire to avoid trouble, and Zhang Yang couldn't help but speak up.
The guy was already holding in anger, and when he saw Zhang Yang standing up for his subordinate, he immediately looked up and gave Zhang Yang a very sinister glare.
"Which zipper wasn't pulled properly to let you out? I'm disciplining my apprentice, what business is it of yours!" The guy said stubbornly with his neck stiffened and eyes glaring.
"There's no such thing as disciplining an apprentice like this, it's a society ruled by law now, do you know hitting people is illegal?" Zhang Yang wasn't intimidated either, retorting tit for tat.
Zhang Yang's temper is like that, within his tolerance, he can remain indifferent.
But once things exceed his bottom line, he is willing to speak up for justice.
The guy's behavior had completely crossed Zhang Yang's line.
"Damn! You sure mind others' business! I provide him food and lodging! Teach him fishing and pay him, and if I hit him for doing something wrong, so what? Mind your own damn business!
Ask Liu Zi, why am I hitting him? Liu Zi, look up!"
The guy pointed at Liu Zi's nose with confidence.
Although Liu Zi took a beating, there wasn't much resentment in his eyes. Hearing the call, he instinctively raised his head again.
The next second, another backhand slap landed solidly on his face.
Now a frontal slap, a backhand slap, and a slap on the neck, Liu Zi's face quickly swelled up. Covering his face and hanging his head, he looked like a bullied little wife afraid to fight back.
"Damn! Are you freaking insane?"
Zhang Yang felt worse than if he had been slapped himself and raised his voice in anger.
With his shout, dozens of anglers around immediately looked over.
"What's going on here? What's the fuss about?" Just then, a staff member with a referee badge came over quickly.
The guy seemed afraid the situation would get out of hand and instantly changed his face, smiling: "Nothing, just messing around with a friend! The anglers nearby thought we were fighting, so they shouted! Liu Zi, we're just messing around, right?"
Liu Zi covered his face and hesitated for at least two seconds before nodding, forcing a smile while wiping his tears: "We're just messing around, it's nothing!"
The referee saw this and understood what happened but felt it was better not to intervene, warning: "Just focus on the competition, don't cause trouble, stay quiet! If it gets serious, you'll be disqualified and kicked out of the venue!"
"Okay, we won't mess around, I'm hoping to win a car by winning the championship!"
Seeing this unfold, Zhang Yang felt inwardly exasperated but didn't know what else to say.
There's an old saying that those who are pitiable must have something despicable, but Zhang Yang, even being someone who's lived two lives, still feels this saying is unfair.
Today's events taught him a hard lesson.
Faced with such blatant hitting and scolding, when the person involved is fine with it, what else can Zhang Yang say?
There wasn't much point in intervening further, and it just made him feel disgusted, like swallowing a bug.
Once the referee turned and walked away, the guy resumed his fierce expression and glared viciously at Zhang Yang: "You fucking did it on purpose, didn't you? My name's Zhu Wu, I'm a local in Fengcheng, do you dare leave your name? After the competition, I'll definitely find someone to deal with you!"
Zhang Yang, angry yet amused, replied: "So what? You wanna spar with me? Just 'cause you're driving a Cruiser, don't know who you are?"
Mentioning the word Cruiser, Zhu Wu slapped his forehead, suddenly remembering who Zhang Yang was. It was Zhang Yang in the Wuling van they encountered while overtaking!
"Damn! Thought you were somebody important! Driving a crappy van to a competition, got no horsepower, huh?
"What, just you, this stuff, are going to stick up for my stupid son?"
From being called a disciple at the beginning, to being referred to as a friend when facing the referee, now Zhu Wu suddenly calls Liu Zi his stupid son, with no attempt to hide the disdain in his words.
Zhang Yang shook his head with a smile, "I did want to stick up for him, but looking at it now, forget it. If he took a beating and dared to look at you again, even if the referee didn't intervene, I'd stand up for him! Spineless people aren't worth it!
I came to compete, not to stir up trouble, but if you really think you can handle me easily, go ahead and try, see if I'm like those helicopter parents!"
One second ago, the atmosphere was tense, yet the next moment, Zhang Yang shook his head with a smile, leaving Zhu Wu somewhat taken aback.
This feeling was awkward, like throwing a fully-powered punch into a pile of cotton.
"Damn!" Zhu Wu held back for several seconds, finally spitting out a single word.
Zhang Yang smiled coldly, his eyes narrowing slightly but said nothing.
This confrontation of words seemed to suggest that Zhang Yang had backed down, giving Zhu Wu a slight upper hand, yet Zhu Wu didn't press the matter further.
Seeing that Zhang Yang stopped talking, Zhu Wu didn't continue provoking. He piled the bait material to one side and sat back down on his fishing box.
"Don't need your help anymore, go hang out in the car, you're bad luck!"
Zhu Wu pulled the car keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Liu Zi, who, having taken a beating, caught the keys and dashed away from the fishing spot, quickly disappearing from everyone's view.
Zhang Yang saw this scene and couldn't help but shake his head inside.
...
Unknowingly, the half-hour preparation time ended, and all participating anglers took their positions. The referee in control of the venue shouted through a loudspeaker, declaring that the car grand prix was now starting!
The next second, dozens of anglers at the reservoir platform fishing spot began an intense hand-thrown bomb baiting!
The sound of bombs hitting the water was lively and vibrant, instantly amplifying the competitive atmosphere.
In contrast, Zhang Yang was relatively calm,
disdaining the lowly method of hand-thrown baiting. He casually grabbed a large handful of yellow surface scatter bait, squeezed it onto the lead strip, and with a flick of his wrist, it landed precisely in the targeted spot.
Once the bait material was in position, he lightly lifted the rod to shake and disperse the bait, quickly repeating the action for the next cast.
A full basin of bait, and in less than five minutes, Zhang Yang had nonchalantly used up about half of it.
With the initial baiting done, Zhang Yang started the double-hook Triangle Cannon frequency casting. The earlier quarrel didn't affect Zhang Yang's fishing; he performed all actions according to the predetermined fishing strategy.
Meanwhile, Zhu Wu next door seemed to vent his frustration by tossing all the random bait from his small bucket into the water.
Using a 7.2-meter fishing rod, Zhu Wu even cast the bait outside of the bobber. This baiting technique screams amateur, not even knowing the basic principle of baiting close and fishing far.
The first five minutes of the competition flew by in this noisy state. When the baiting was over, everyone quieted down, patiently waiting for the fish to bite.
Among the surrounding anglers, Zhang Yang was definitely an oddball, continuing to cast with frequency even after baiting as if he didn't know fatigue.
In the stage of casting frequency to attract fish, Zhang Yang's attention remained focused on the feedback from the fish in the baited area. However, what frustrated him slightly was that the fish behavior on competition day didn't quite match his expectations.
In the first half-hour of fishing, no one within Zhang Yang's line of sight caught any fish; everyone had baited their hooks without any bites, and the entire competition ground suddenly took on an eerie vibe.
Could the intelligence be off? Did thousands of pounds of farmed fish not open their mouths?
As he continued the repetitive casting to lure fish, Zhang Yang's heart grew uneasy.
This uneasy state lingered for about an hour until it was finally broken by a nearby angler!
A piercing sound of a fish being hooked rang out; someone had caught a fish!
Zhang Yang turned his head towards the sound and saw an angler standing from the fishing spot, roughly playing a caught fish with both hands on the rod.
After a few moments, the first fish emerged, a plump, wide-backed big carp!
Seeing the appearance of this hooked carp, Zhang Yang couldn't help but frown. The organizers were a bit stingy; why put in such fish?