Chapter 81 Father and Son Fishing
At around 5 a.m. in the morning, Yan An woke Xiao Zhen up.
This was the weekend father-son outing that Yan An was looking forward to - fishing by the river.
Yan An had put all the fishing equipment in the car last night, and Xiao Zhen got in the car yawning. It was just dawn, the air was a little damp and cold, and there were a few pale white stars hanging in the gray-blue sky. The gauze-like mist flowed and diffused softly, disappearing under the gradually brightening skylight.
Xiaozhen got in the car and yawned again.
Yan An turned around and said, "Last time you insisted on going fishing with me. What? You're not in the mood now that we're really going?"
"Dad, I just got up too early, and my biological clock is a little out of tune."
Yan An turned his head and looked at Xiao Zhen, pointed at them and said, "Do you really want to take them with you?"
Next to Xiao Zhen, Mr. Cat and the chicken were sitting upright. They had followed Xiao Zhen into the car with open arms, not at all shy.
Xiao Zhen nodded.
Yan An was about to say something but stopped himself. He looked at Captain Ban worriedly. The chicken called him rudely, as if urging him to drive faster.
"Xiao Zhen, if the chicken poops, you have to clean it up."
"Who the hell would poop in the wild?" The chicken screamed. In Yan An's eyes, it was just the chicken screaming at him again. Seeing that his son was so determined to bring his two pet friends, he didn't say anything more and returned to the driver's seat to drive off.
Yan An drove very steadily. The sky began to brighten gradually, the sun peeked out from the morning mist, the veil-like mist was dissipating, the green leaves on both sides of the road were plated with shining gold edges, and the green plants, shrubs and flowers were dangling with sparkling dewdrops. It was a refreshing morning. Yan An opened the window slightly, and the fresh morning breeze blew slowly into the car, and Xiao Zhen felt refreshed.
Quiet and peaceful, this is the city that has just awakened. After the night, all the noise and boredom of the city seem to be washed away. Xiao Zhen is immersed in this peaceful and tranquil morning atmosphere. He can't help but think of a similar morning he had just experienced not long ago, and the two familiar yet unfamiliar boys and girls.
It turns out that Yan Zhen’s father and Liu Xingquan’s mother were classmates?
The car slowed down and they drove into a remote river road. There were several sun umbrellas on the shore along the way. They didn't come too early, and some fishermen had already found their spots.
Yan An drove the car into the parking area. Then the father and son unloaded the equipment from the car. Yan An prepared quite a lot of things, including fishing rods, fishing rod holders, parasols, fish boxes, buckets, folding stools, etc.
The father and son carried their equipment to the shore. Yan An inspected the shore for a long time and chose a fishing spot that he thought was okay.
Put up the parasol, set up the stand, and put down the small stool. Yan An began to spread bait to make a nest by the water. Xiao Zhen thought Yan An would at least give him a fishing rod to fish, but Yan An had a look on his face that said you can't do it, and just let him sit on the stool and watch.
“…”
"Son, just sit down."
"Aren't we going fishing today? Why are you fishing while I'm just sitting there?"
"You are a novice, so you can't start with the mature equipment of adults. The first thing a novice should do is to learn from the master with your eyes." Yan An said firmly. Xiao Zhen could only sit on the stool in anger and daze.
It seems that Yan An has been fishing in the wild by the river for some time. Occasionally, fishermen who know him would come over to say hello to him. One fisherman walked by and looked at Yan An's fishing spot and praised: "This nest is well made."
"Well, I looked for a while before choosing this place."
"Then I wish you, Brother Yan, that you don't have to be an air force today."
“Same here.”
After that, several passers-by came and said, "I don't want to be an air force." Xiao Zhen explored the word "air force" in their minds, and it was shrouded in a strange and cold black mist. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Dad, what is the air force..."
Ta-ta-ta…
The sound of a car stopping was heard not far away. A silver-gray Porsche stopped and a man wearing sunglasses got out of the car. He glanced at the river bank.
Xiao Zhen heard Yan An say, "Fuck."
The man in sunglasses walked straight towards Yan An with his equipment on his shoulders. He raised his head to greet Yan An, and then placed his fishing equipment about seven or eight meters away from Yan An and Xiao Zhen.
"Wei Hongzhuo!" Yan An said, "This is the nest I made first."
"Sorry, I set my eyes on this place a week ago. I've been planning it for three or four days." Wei Hongzhuo took off his sunglasses. He was a handsome man with a dignified appearance. When he was silent, his expression was as firm as a mountain. But when he spoke, he sounded a little frivolous and sarcastic.
Yan An glared at him, then turned his head and ignored him. Xiao Zhen was thinking about human etiquette. When he saw Wei Hongzhuo set his eyes on him, he shouted, "Hello, Uncle Wei."
"Hello Yan Zhen, you are more handsome than your father now." Wei Hongzhuo smiled at Xiao Zhen, squatted down and started to put away his fishing equipment.
In silence, the two men's fishing competition began.
Two hours later, they had caught nothing.
Xiaozhen yawned.
Wei Hongzhuo said, "Did you ruin the nest I made this morning? That's not right."
"It's you who came to my nest!"
"You are the one with the problem." Wei Hongzhuo turned his gaze to Mr. Cat beside Xiaozhen, "You actually brought a cat to fish?"
"What happened to the cat?"
"When the cat stands here, the fish are scared away."
"You're just talking nonsense."
"Why is there a chicken here?" Wei Hongzhuo asked in surprise, "This chicken can't be yours. Are you planning to have a picnic after fishing?"
"This is my pet chicken!! It's not for eating!"
Wei Hongzhuo looked at Yan An as if to say, "Brother, are you crazy?" and turned around to continue fishing.
An hour later, neither of them caught anything.
Xiaozhen yawned .
A passerby fisherman came up to them and curiously peeked into their fish boxes. Of course, there was nothing inside. "Oh, you haven't caught anything yet?"
"Yes, it's a pity that the nest I made was wasted." Yan An emphasized the second half of the sentence and glared at Wei Hongzhuo beside him.
"Look, this is what I caught." The passerby proudly showed Yan An and Wei Hongzhuo his catch, a large silver-gray crucian carp. He was beaming with joy, "I used a sequined lure and caught it in less than half an hour. It weighs more than six kilograms."
Xiao Zhen felt that Yan An and Wei Hongzhuo began to emit a dark aura, and this passerby fisherman was obviously unwilling to let them go. He happily chattered about his fishing experience for more than ten minutes before leaving.
When he left, Xiao Zhen received his clear and pleasant shallow consciousness: "Haha, two air forces."
Yan An and Wei Hongzhuo glared at each other and returned to the bench to continue fishing.
Another hour passed, and Yan An and Wei Hongzhuo still caught nothing.
Xiao Zhen took out his phone and searched what "air force" meant in fishing. After checking, he thought it was a good term. Soon after, Mr. Cat came to him and whispered that he had found a lobster nest.
He followed Mr. Cat to the shore and found a round hole in the mud and weeds on the shore. Yan An shouted from a distance, asking him to be careful and stay away from the water. Xiao Zhen responded, squatted down, used his consciousness tentacles to find the location of the lobster, and then threw out the order "Come out!"
Lobsters crawled out one by one. Xiao Zhen caught the stupid lobsters one by one and threw them into the bucket. He caught half a bucket. He carried the bucket back to Yan An and showed his father his results.
Yan An and Wei Hongzhuo: "..."
"Dad, you and Uncle Wei still haven't caught anything ?"
"...This is very common when fishing." Yan An said seriously, "Sometimes I can catch a lot of fish at once. Sometimes I can catch nothing all day."
Wei Hongzhuo came over and tapped the lobsters in the bucket. "That's a lot. It's enough for a good meal. Yan An, your son is much more capable than you."
“You didn’t catch any.”
"No rush. Even if we can't catch crucian carp today, there's still hope for tilapia."
"I also think we should be able to catch at least one tilapia today."
The two men returned to the bench and continued fishing in silence.
Xiao Zhen yawned. Captain Ban came to him and told him that he had found a crab nest. Xiao Zhen followed with a bucket.
Unlike lobster nests, crab nests have horizontal holes. So Xiao Zhen squatted down and did the same thing. A group of crabs lined up in front of Xiao Zhen for inspection. Xiao Zhen threw the crabs into the bucket one by one, and picked up half a bucket and carried it back.
Yan An: “…”
Wei Hongzhuo: “…”
Xiao Zhen said, "Dad, Uncle Wei, you still haven't caught anything?"
"Son, today is not over yet." Yan An said softly. Xiao Zhen felt that he had suffered a great blow.
Wei Hongzhuo laughed and sat back on the bench, continuing to fish for his last hope - tilapia.
But unfortunately, the Tilapia, the last face of the fishing air force, still did not give Yan An and Wei Hongzhuo any face for the next two hours.
The sun sets and the sunlight turns from gold to rose red.
Yan An sighed and put down his fishing rod. In the end, he only caught some water chestnuts with his net. This was his final harvest of the day. "I used to eat this when I was a kid. Xiaozhen, you can try it later."
Xiao Zhen looked at the water chestnuts curiously. Under the green leaves were hard fruits shaped like ox horns. Yan An washed the water chestnuts in water, then took out the equipment he brought, a small outdoor barbecue grill.
Remove the leaves of the water chestnuts, throw them into a pot, add water and boil them, then use a knife to cut open the hard shell, and you will get the tender and delicious water chestnut meat.
After the water chestnuts in the pot were cooked, Wei Hongzhuo sat down beside them without hesitation, took a few water chestnuts and started eating. Xiaozhen broke a few water chestnuts and threw them to Mr. Cat and Captain Ban. They also tasted them with great interest.
"The taste of this water chestnut is almost the same as the one we ate when we were kids." Wei Hongzhuo said, "Yan An, do you remember our spring outing in high school? The ones we brought home from the river tasted like this."
"Uncle Wei, are you my dad's classmate?"
"Yeah, your dad and I are old classmates." He said with a smile.
Xiao Zhen said: "So Liu Xingquan's mother is also your classmate?"
"Who?" Wei Hongzhuo asked.
"Liu Xingquan's mother...are you talking about Xiao Luo, Luo Qingxi?" Yan An reached out and turned off the barbecue grill.
Wei Hongzhuo was stunned and asked, "Luo Qingxi, who is that?"
"My former driver's wife." Yan An turned to Xiao Zhen and said, "Luo Qingxi is not our classmate. Luo Qingxi seems to be from another place. She came here after your uncle Liu got married."
"Yeah?"
"Luo Qingxi, Luo Qingxi. Oh, I remember now." Wei Hongzhuo said, "I met the parents of Liu Xingquan, the top student in the grade, at the parents' meeting. But she wasn't a local before."
