Li Wei's complaints made Zhou Xuan snort, angrily saying, "You think it's wrong of you to interfere with my sister? Look at you, so spineless. Fine, I'll let Zhou Ying tell me whether it's right or wrong to interfere."
When Li Wei heard that Zhou Xuan was going to tell Zhou Ying, he immediately softened and quickly said, "No, no, no, my brother, I was just venting and chatting, you took it seriously again, okay, okay... By the way, didn't you just say you wanted to talk to me about something? What is it?"
At this moment, Li Wei remembered that Zhou Xuan had asked him to come here.
Zhou Xuan snorted before saying, "Look at you, you've remembered now? I'm asking you, where are some good fishing spots in the capital? Your sister-in-law wants to go fishing, and I'm going with her. Can you recommend a good place?"
"Going fishing?" Li Wei's voice rose sharply on the phone. Zhou Xuan could almost picture Li Wei with his feet on the table. "Then you've come to the right person. My grandpa's an old-timer at fishing. I'm the one who takes him to all the places. And besides the places, you need all the fishing gear, rods, bait, nets, and so on. You can't miss a single one. If you're missing one, you won't be able to catch any fish."
"Enough with the nonsense, just tell me where's the best place?" Zhou Xuan urged Li Wei as he started rambling. This guy's pile of troubles must mean he has ulterior motives.
Just as Zhou Xuan had expected, Li Wei immediately said, "Brother Xuan, none of these things can be missing. Otherwise, even if you get to the fishing spot, you won't be able to catch any fish. Tell Zhou Ying to ask for leave, and I'll prepare everything for you and send it over right away. This can't be done well without my personal attention."
Zhou Xuan said angrily, "Are you going to talk or not?"
Li Wei remained firm in his stance: "If you don't ask for leave for me, I won't tell you, I'd rather die than tell you."
Zhou Xuanzhi was both amused and exasperated. This guy was truly a stubborn fool, and now that he was going against him, there was no way to deal with him.
But looking back, it's good to give him a break. Li Wei has put an end to his previous laziness and cynicism. In the past few months, he hasn't been out partying with his old friends or rich kids, nor has he been going out to do bad things. He's been working honestly and living at Zhou's house. He must have been really bored.
To be honest, Zhou Xuan quite liked Li Wei. Although he was somewhat cynical, he had his own set of principles for living, which was fundamentally different from those real playboys. Li Wei's words could provoke extremes of laughter and anger. Zhou Xuan actually liked Li Wei's personality. His anger was actually feigned, an act.
Li Wei's coercion and threats left Zhou Xuan both amused and exasperated. Feigning anger, he said, "You bastard, I'll let you off easy today. Hurry up and tell me, then deliver the item to the antique shop within ten minutes."
Li Wei was overjoyed and quickly said, "Okay, okay, my good brother, my dear brother, I'll be right there, I'll be there right away." He paused and then added, "But you have to tell Xiao Ying... Xiao Ying, Xiao Ying... your brother is looking for you..."
On the phone, Zhou Xuan heard Li Wei loudly calling Zhou Ying over, and thought to himself that this guy was really meticulous.
Zhou Ying answered the phone with a puzzled look and asked, "Brother, is that you?"
Zhou Xuan suppressed a laugh and said, "Sis, I need to see Li Wei. Can you let him go and borrow him for the day?"
Zhou Ying hummed in agreement and then replied, "It's only right that my brother asks him to do something. I just don't like him going out with his bunch of scoundrels causing trouble. His dad and grandpa told me to keep an eye on him and to tell them if he doesn't listen. So what's there to say if my brother asks him to do something? I told him to come over right away."
Zhou Xuan smiled and was about to hang up the phone when he heard Li Wei say loudly on the other end, "Wait, wait, brother, ten minutes... ten minutes is difficult. We need to prepare the tools. It will take at least half an hour, just half an hour, okay?"
Zhou Xuan laughed and scolded, "Stop talking nonsense and hurry up!"
Li Wei hung up the phone with great joy. Zhou Xuan glanced at Fu Ying, then said to Lao Wu and Zhou Cangsong, "Sit a little longer. Li Wei won't be here for another half hour. Let's sit for a while. It's hot, and there's nowhere to go if we drive. It would be best to go directly to our destination when Li Wei arrives."
Li Wei's speed was indeed impressive. Before Zhou Xuan and the others had even finished their pot of hot tea, and the quartz clock on the wall showed only twenty-six minutes remaining, Li Wei arrived. However, Zhou Xuan was surprised to find that Li Wei's grandfather, Old Li, was with him.
The old man, dressed in casual fisherman's attire, seemed to have lost much of the fierce and domineering aura on his face. Following Li Wei into the shop, he greeted Zhou Xuan and the others with a smile, "Little Zhou, Li Wei said you wanted to go fishing. That's my specialty! I couldn't leave without accompanying you, hehe. Come on, everything's ready, the equipment is top-notch, but..."
He chuckled as he spoke, "Hehe, the tools are top-notch, but fishing techniques are different. As the saying goes, the fishing rod is inanimate, but the fish is alive. Whether you catch a fish or not, or how big a fish you catch, depends on your skill."
When Old Li talked about fishing, his face was full of pride, while Li Wei stood by with a smile, remaining silent.
Li Wei is experienced. He doesn't like fishing himself, but he has always served his grandfather. He went fishing with his grandfather when he was very young, so he is very familiar with fishing and knows the necessary tools. However, he doesn't know much about fishing techniques. Asking him to sit quietly and fish would be a sin.
Li Wei thought that if he went fishing with Zhou Xuan, he could ask his grandfather to accompany him, and Zhou Xuan would naturally not be able to call him. The fishermen could fish, and he could be carefree.
Zhou Xuan wasn't angry that Li Wei had called his grandfather over. He smiled and said, "Grandpa, Yingying and I are fishing for the first time, so our skills are definitely not as good as yours. I'll just have to learn from you."
Zhou called Old Li "Grandpa," following Li Wei's naming convention. Old Li was naturally pleased and said, "I'm an old man, I hope I won't be bored keeping you two young people company."
"Grandpa, look at what you're saying, I like you very much," Fu Ying said with a smile. "I basically spend all my time at home with my grandfather and great-grandmother. I've rarely spent time with my parents since I was little, so I really like the elderly."
Old Li chuckled and said, "No, young lady, you have a sweet tongue and you're pretty too. Hmm, not bad, not bad. Let's go then."
When they arrived, Zhou Xuan decided not to drive. Li Wei's car was big enough for everyone. Zhou Xuan and Lao Li sat in the back, while Fu Ying sat in the front passenger seat. Li Wei drove, and after leaving the antique shop, they headed straight north onto the highway. He took Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying to a place about a mile below the reservoir. There were several huge fishponds in that area, nestled against the mountains and beside the water, with beautiful scenery. It was a favorite spot for old anglers in Beijing. Even when the weather was hot, the area around the fishponds was cool and breezy, so it wasn't hot at all. Moreover, the fishpond owners had built sunshades and rain shelters in the fishing area, and the seats were particularly comfortable, allowing people to lie down, sit, or lie down – it was exactly what they wanted.
Of course, while the setup is complete, the cost of fishing is also not cheap. In ordinary places, the seat fee for a fisherman starts at fifty yuan, but here it starts at two hundred yuan. The fish caught must also be sold at market price. Some fishing experts can easily catch dozens of kilograms of fish in a day. At twenty yuan per kilogram, the cost of the fish is several hundred yuan. So, the cost of living here is definitely not cheap.
But the number of customers here has never decreased. For ordinary people, if they come two or three times a week, or about ten times a month, their spending would be over three thousand yuan. That's about half a month's or even a month's living expenses for an average family. So ordinary people can't afford to come here. Those who come are people with better financial conditions, or officials and cadres, who don't care about money.
When Li Wei arrived, after parking the car, he first helped carry the fishing gear to the fishpond. Behind the fishpond was a small hill, and along the shaded fishing seats were lush trees. The water in the fishpond was clear and green, reflecting the hills and water, making the scenery extremely beautiful.
After Li Wei settled the location, paid the fee, and got a number, he accompanied the three people to the fishpond. The three fishponds were extremely large, covering at least several hundred acres, making them look more like lakes than fishponds. There were at least a thousand fishing spots along the long row, but most of them were occupied, indicating that business was good.
When they arrived at the fishing spot, Li Wei had reserved three spots for himself, Zhou Xuan, and Fu Ying. He himself didn't fish, but he patiently explained the fishing methods and how to use the fishing gear to Zhou Xuan and Fu Ying. Fu Ying was very interested, but she was a little afraid of the small insects used as bait.
Girls are basically like this. No matter how strong a girl is, she always has a vulnerable side. Fu Ying is skilled, straightforward, gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, but she is extremely afraid of small animals such as mice and caterpillars. It's a girl's nature.
Zhou Xuan chuckled as he helped her thread the small insects onto the fishing hook. Then, following Li Wei's instructions, Fu Ying adjusted the float and cast the hook into the lake. Zhou Xuan did the same almost simultaneously. Although he wasn't very skilled, he wasn't completely clueless about the steps of fishing.
Compared to the two of them, the old fisherman, Old Li, slowly prepared his fishing gear and bait. Unlike Zhou Xuan and the others, he didn't rush to cast his hooks. Instead, he tidied up his bait box by his seat for a while, and then scattered some more bait into the lake.
Fu Ying asked in surprise, "Grandpa, if you just scatter bait into the water, aren't you just feeding the fish for nothing? How are you going to catch them then?"
Old Li chuckled and said, "That's the difference, hehe, just you wait and see. I'm not feeding them these baits for nothing. I've added a tiny bit of spice to them. Fish have a very sensitive sense of smell, but their eyesight is relatively poor. My bait can attract fish by the scent, but the number of them is not large. Only a very small number of fish can eat it, but the scent will linger in the water, so the fish will generally stay here."
"Oh, I see," Fu Ying nodded, then looked at her fishing float. Old Li was talking about experience, but she didn't need to learn it. Besides, she didn't want to use her hands to catch those disgusting insects.
Each fishing seat is spaced about three meters apart. If they are too far apart, there will be fewer seats, which will affect business. However, if the seats are too close together, the lines are likely to get tangled. So the seats need to be just right, not too far apart.
Zhou Xuan was simply keeping Fu Ying company to relax. He used his supernatural abilities to probe the fishpond. The pond was about two meters deep, a little deeper in the middle, but no more than three meters deep. There were quite a few fish in the pond, but fishing for them wouldn't be easy. Any experienced angler knows that fish that are used to being caught are not easy to catch. It's like people: when you haven't experienced being cheated, you're easily cheated, but after one, two, or three times, you become less likely to be cheated. Anyone who continues to be cheated after being cheated multiple times is a fool.
Even fish, which lack the capacity for thought, possess this same level of alertness.
The three people were seated in the following order: Lao Li, Zhou Xuan, and Fu Ying at the back. Fu Ying's neighbor was a middle-aged man in his forties who looked very dignified and had a rather high opinion of people, as if he had his eyes on his forehead.
Zhou Xuan guessed that this person might be an official. Such an official's position might be neither too small nor too large. Too small and he wouldn't have that kind of imposing presence, while too large and he wouldn't be so domineering. As the saying goes, a full bucket of water makes no sound, but a half-full bucket makes a lot of noise.
Look at Old Li, and you'll understand what kind of person he is. Even though he's retired, he can still stomp his foot and the ground will tremble. But now, by the fishpond, wearing a sun hat, he looks just like an ordinary old man.
The middle-aged man was accompanied by another man. The fishing gear was laid out in front of him, and the fishing hook was thrown into the water. The float was pulled straight into the water by the fish, but he seemed not to see it. His eyes were fixed on the middle-aged man with a fawning look.