"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Merfolk's Blessing (restricted to the host's use; grants a robust physique and the ability to breathe and swim freely in the ocean just like a merman)."
"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Eye of the Sea God (restricted to the host's use; allows clear vision of everything within a certain range in the ocean, even in the darkest deep-sea abyss)."
"Congratulations to the host for a set of intermediate fishing rods (guaranteed premium quality produced by the system; don't be fooled by how delicate it looks, landing a two-hundred-pound big fish is an absolute breeze)."
Jiang Nanzhou was dumbfounded. This was simply too heaven-defying! With a pounding heart and trembling hands, he now had everything he could possibly want.
After applying the Merfolk's Blessing and the Eye of the Sea God, he felt an incomparable lightness throughout his body. His vision became much clearer, and his mild nearsightedness of over a hundred degrees completely vanished.
Jiang Nanzhou sighed inwardly. *Is this too miraculous? Am I really the chosen son of heaven?*
Well, clearly he was.
Jiang Nanzhou re-baited his fishing rod and looked down into the sea. He was still profoundly shocked. He could see the seabed—extraordinarily, crystal clearly—including the tiny fish swimming along the bottom.
Holding his fishing rod, Jiang Nanzhou looked around, searching for a spot with big fish to cast his line.
Focusing his gaze, at a depth of about ten meters, he spotted a brown-marbled grouper, a species of grouper that tasted best steamed. He loved eating it, hehe.
Jiang Nanzhou cast his line near that brown-marbled grouper, gradually enticing it to bite, and within a few minutes, he had a hookup.
However, he had underestimated this brown-marbled grouper; it was truly full of fight. Besides, his grandpa's rod was an antique, and today's fishing line was quite thin, so he didn't dare exert too much force.
At that moment, Grandpa Jiang had also finished setting his net and returned. Seeing his grandson hooked into a fish, he hurriedly grabbed the landing net and came over. Before long, they hauled the brown-marbled grouper up.
Grandpa Jiang weighed the fish in the landing net and hefted it up and down.
"Oh, you've got pretty good luck! This fish must weigh around ten pounds and can sell for four or five hundred. You're doing all right, kid—just like your grandpa here, a dab hand at fishing, hahaha!"
"Didn't I learn this fishing skill from you, Grandpa? I've got to be just like you."
Watching his grandpa's happy expression, Jiang Nanzhou felt happy as well.
Afterward, Jiang Nanzhou cast his line a few more times, landing several large fish in a row. This completely shocked Grandpa Jiang.
"Little Zhou, your luck is simply too good!"
Jiang Nanzhou rubbed his nose, feeling a bit guilty. Who asked him to be a cheater with a system?
Seeing that it was almost time, they packed up today's catch. The two of them needed to head home for lunch; if they went back too late, Granny Jiang would start nagging them again.
Grandpa Jiang had originally planned to go pull up his net, but Jiang Nanzhou stopped him.
"Grandpa, let's keep one smaller brown-marbled grouper to steam for lunch, and take the rest to sell this afternoon. You can come back and get your net this afternoon."
Hearing that Jiang Nanzhou wanted to keep a brown-marbled grouper for steaming, Grandpa Jiang still felt a bit of a heartache, seeing as even the smallest brown-marbled grouper weighed four or five pounds and could fetch over two hundred.
Since his eldest grandson wanted to eat it, they would steam it.
"All right then, your grandma can steam it for you as soon as we get back."
From far away, they saw a black Audi sedan parked in front of the old ancestral house.
Grandpa Jiang recognized that the car was a new one his daughter had bought, and he'd heard it was very expensive.
"Your aunt and the others are back. It must be that your grandma called your aunt. They certainly have good timing for a meal."
Aunt Jiang's family ran a wholesale supermarket in town, and their family's financial situation was considered very good on the island. They were especially, exceptionally good to Jiang Nanzhou, treating him just like their own child.
When his aunt was young, she was exceptionally pretty—no one on the entire island was more beautiful than her. When she went to the town market, she caught the eye of Uncle-in-law, and they had been sweethearts ever since they got together. Aunt's younger brothers and sister complained to him plenty; although she was nearly forty now, her skincare and maintenance were no worse than those wealthy madams from the big cities.
Jiang's father and Uncle-in-law were smoking and chatting in the courtyard when they saw Grandpa Jiang and Jiang Nanzhou walking into the yard carrying a bucket each.
Uncle-in-law hurriedly put out his cigarette, strode over, and took the bucket from his father-in-law's hands.
"This is so heavy! Looks like Dad had a bumper catch with the nets today, huh?"
Hearing his son-in-law's remark, Grandpa Jiang looked quite pleased, though he didn't forget to glare at his son, who was leaning against the window smoking. With a face full of pride, he said:
"I haven't even pulled up my nets yet. Both of these buckets were caught by Little Zhou. Take a good look at what kind of fish these are."
Grandpa Jiang pointed out a fish with a yellowish body, five irregular dark brown vertical bands along each side, and a body covered in dense, small brown spots. The spots on the bands were darker in color, with small black saddle-shaped markings on the rear half of the tail stalk, a depression in the brain area behind the eyes, and a wide-open mouth. Uncle-in-law recognized it at a glance.
"Good heavens, these two are both brown-marbled groupers, aren't they? This one must weigh at least ten pounds! Wild ones this big are hard to buy even if you want them. These two can fetch a great price."
"We'll go sell the big one this afternoon, and Little Zhou said we'll steam the smaller one today. You folks came back just in time for a treat."
With that, Grandpa Jiang carried the smaller brown-marbled grouper into the kitchen.
Seeing Grandpa Jiang enter the kitchen, Jiang's father finally dared to come over and join the excitement.
Uncle-in-law and Jiang Nanzhou dumped all the fish from the buckets into a large basin and hooked up the oxygen pump.
Looking at the four sea bass in the basin, Uncle-in-law said to Jiang's father: "You're truly the descendant of an old fisherman—I'm so envious."
Uncle-in-law's parents came from the mainland and knew nothing about fishing, whereas Uncle-in-law loved following boats out to sea to fish, except that every time he went fishing, he lacked a bit of luck.
Hearing his brother-in-law's remark, Jiang's father rolled his eyes.
If Jiang's father didn't look like he was carved from the exact same mold as his old man, he would have suspected he was picked up off the street. As the descendant of a fisherman, he actually got seasick and was terrified of water; he could only go tide-pooling when the tide went out. He had tried every possible method, but it was still no use, causing his old man and the island residents to frequently mock and tease him when he was young. To this day, whenever his old man had nothing to do, he would glare at him and never give him a pleasant expression, often saying that his entire fishing skillset would end with him.
Aunt Jiang was chased out of the kitchen by Granny Jiang and Mother Jiang because her gossiping was delaying their work.
Aunt pulled up a stool and sat down beside Jiang Nanzhou.
"Little Zhou, I heard from your mom that you aren't leaving until after the New Year."
"Yeah, I haven't had a proper rest in years, so I'm taking this opportunity to rest up well."
"That's perfect. Now you've got time. There's a relative on your uncle-in-law's side whose daughter is two years younger than you—twenty-five this year. I heard she sells clothes at a shopping mall in Modu and is even a store manager. She's pretty and tall, too. Her older sister is getting married in a couple of days, so she's coming back as well. You two should meet up then."
"My dear aunt, please spare me! I'm not in the mood to look for a girlfriend right now."
"Spare you? Who's going to spare me? Your grandpa and grandma nag me about it all the time, and which of your mom and dad isn't worried sick over you? You aren't young anymore; if there's someone suitable, we can just meet and check each other out first. It's not like going on a blind date means you have to tie the knot right away, don't you agree?"