It took a few minutes to tie up all the crabs and put them away in Space to prevent them from dying.
Once that was done, he wasted no more time and headed out toward his uncle Wang Mancang's house.
Along the way, he ran into childhood friends and brothers Li Zhengwen and Li Zhengwu.
Seeing that both brothers were carrying fishing rods, they were obviously heading out to fish. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, offered them out, and greeted the two brothers.
"A-Wen, A-Wu, where are you two heading off to fish in the middle of the day?"
The brothers took the cigarettes, and the older one, Li Zhengwen, looked at him and said, "A'an, we slept in after drinking too much last night. With nothing to do after eating, we thought we'd head down to the pier to see if we can catch any fish. What are you up to?"
"I don't have much going on either. I'm heading over to my uncle's place right now to haul back the supplies we need for tomorrow's banquet banquet cooking!"
Li Zhengwen lit his cigarette, took a puff, and asked, "Need any help?"
Li Zhengwu chimed in, "Yeah, Brother An, just say the word. We're all like brothers here!"
He waved a hand at them and replied, "There's not that much stuff. It's all sitting on my uncle's flatbed cart, I just need to pull it back. You guys are going to fish at the pier, right? I'll come find you in a bit!"
"Alright, go take care of your business then. Shout if you need anything!"
"I know, I wouldn't stand on ceremony with you guys!"
"Good to hear. We'll head on ahead then. Come look for us at the pier when you're done!"
"Got it!"
...
After parting ways with them, it didn't take long to reach his uncle's house.
Seeing the main gate open, he stepped inside. Finding the courtyard empty, he called out loudly, "Uncle, are you home?"
Hearing the shouts, his uncle Wang Mancang, his aunt, and his cousin Wang Lulu all came out from the house together.
"Ah, San'er is here. Have you eaten yet? Come on, hurry inside and have a drink of water," his aunt asked with a smile.
"Auntie, I've already eaten!" He followed his uncle and the others inside and handed his uncle a cigarette.
His uncle took the cigarette and asked, "What brings you over now?"
His cousin poured a cup of water, handed it to him, and said, "Third Brother, drink some water."
He took the cup, held it in his hands, and replied to his uncle, "Oh, right. My mom sent me over to haul back the ingredients for tomorrow's cooking ahead of time, and by the way, test out the earthen stove we built yesterday to see how it works."
"Does that even require you to make a special trip? I could have just hauled it over for you later."
"I didn't have anything to do at home anyway, so I just thought I'd get out for a stroll and unwind."
"Haha, are you a little nervous and excited about becoming a groom tomorrow?" his aunt teased with a smile.
Hearing his aunt's words, he blushed and said with a laugh, "Haha, no such thing. I just didn't really know what else I should be doing."
To be honest, having never even been in a relationship in his past life, getting married tomorrow—saying he wasn't excited would be a lie, but mostly he was just nervous.
Seeing his expression, his aunt stopped teasing and sighed with emotion, "In the blink of an eye, you're getting married. To think that just a few years ago you were just a little kid, and now you've grown into a strapping young man over six feet tall."
Seeing his aunt rambling on endlessly, his uncle quickly interrupted, "Alright, enough talking. Let San'er get the things hauled back so he doesn't waste any time!"
"Fine, I'll go pack up the things. Lulu, come with me."
"Okay!"
With that, his aunt took his cousin and went over to the flatbed cart to remove the items they wouldn't be needing.
Seeing his aunt and cousin go off to work, it didn't feel right just sitting there, so he followed after them.
Seeing him trail along, his aunt quickly said, "San'er, you don't need to do anything here, go sit down and rest!"
"Ah, it's just a matter of lending a hand."
Seeing that he was already pitching in, his aunt said no more.
Once everything was packed up and the flatbed cart was pulled out to the entrance, he said to his uncle and the others before leaving, "Uncle, Auntie, and Lulu, don't forget to come over for dinner tonight!"
"Alright, we'll be over in a bit!"
"Great, then I'll head back first."
"Watch your step on the way!"
"Yup!"
Pulling the flatbed cart, he took a detour to his grandparents' house to greet them and tell them to come over for dinner that evening.
His grandparents lived very close to his uncle's house, only about fifty meters away. Despite being in their seventies, his grandparents were still in pretty good health.
Perhaps feeling more comfortable living independently, they didn't live with either of their two sons, though his uncle and father bought things for them and sent them over every month.
After leaving his grandparents' place, he pulled the cart home, set the large pots in place over the stove, and lit a fire to test it out. Finding that everything worked well, he put the fire out.
Returning to the house, he let his mother know, then went to the shed to get his fishing rod, grabbed a bucket, and headed for the pier.
...
When he arrived at the pier, he saw the Li brothers fishing near a small grove of trees. He walked over to them and asked, "How's it going? Any luck?"
Hearing his voice, Li Zhengwen shook his head and replied, "Haven't hooked anything yet. The fish just won't bite!"
Today was July 9th, right in the dead of summer. It was only a little past 1 PM, so the fish weren't biting at all. The two brothers had simply planned to come out and pass the time.
He handed each of the brothers a cigarette and said, "Did you guys bring bait? I didn't bring any."
Li Zhengwen puffed on his cigarette and pointed to a small iron box nearby, saying, "That's some sandworms we just dug up, help yourself!"
He opened the box and looked at the sandworms inside. They looked a bit like centipedes—dense and utterly disgusting.
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He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and grabbed a dozen or so from the box, putting them into his bucket.
"Well, you guys fish here, I'm going to go check out that spot over there."
"Alright, go ahead."
He walked a short distance away, glanced back at Li Zhengwen and the others, and saw that they were just blocked from view by the trees.
There was a small grove of trees here, which happened to provide shade from the sun.
Without baiting his hook, having already figured out how to use his skills after reading the skill introduction, he stood on a protruding rock and activated Scan.
A 150-meter radius circular halo appeared in his mind. Looking inside the halo, he saw patches of glowing dots of all sizes, large and small, scattered everywhere.
He ignored the tiny and the largest glowing dots for now. According to the manual, he should pick the largest ones to fish, but his homemade fishing rod would probably only be able to haul in a fish of around ten pounds; anything bigger would likely snap the rod.
He selected a medium-sized glowing dot and cast the skill "Fairway Dredging" right at it.
The fishing hook acted as if it had been cast by magic, instantly flying straight toward that glowing dot.
"Whoosh—thwack—"
The moment the hook caught the fish, the fishing rod instantly bent into an arc. Following the rhythm of the fish's exertion, he began reeling it back in.
After a brief tug-of-war, he suddenly thought of his passive skill and wondered if it would work well in this situation.
With that thought, he immediately triggered the passive skill and pulled hard. He felt as though the fish had suddenly stopped struggling, and he realized instantly that the passive skill had taken effect—the fish was restrained.
Taking advantage of the fish's hesitation, he exerted a burst of raw strength and hauled the fish flying straight up out of the water.