GRMFBS CH150

Zhan Yan didn’t bring much luggage. He was only going home for a few days this time, so a small backpack was enough.

When Bao Qingshan learned that he was going back to deal with company-related matters, he affectionately tried to clasp both his hands, but under Gu Jiancheng’s sharp glare, he changed it to a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t forget me when you’re rich and famous. If you inherit the company one day, I can be a consultant.”

He could use his “I reckon” power to help the company with some decision-making problems!

Zhan Yan mercilessly shattered his beautiful fantasy: “Don’t even think about it. I have an older brother and an older sister ahead of me.”

Bao Qingshan’s mind, corrupted by old-school melodramatic novels, instantly conjured up a hundred-thousand-word epic of wealthy family feuds.

Zhan Yan thought to himself, don’t even think about it. If it weren’t for the fact that his mom’s real identity was a Tianshi and the company was just a cover, they would be worrying about who would inherit the family business right now.

His brother was a severe social phobic who couldn’t talk to people, and his sister was obsessed with her niche aesthetic sculptures. Zhan Yan also had no interest in company affairs—he was dedicated to pushing the company onto his two older siblings so he could be a lazy salted fish living off dividends.

He figured that although his brother couldn’t talk to people face-to-face, he was perfectly fine communicating via his phone and could handle some of those affairs. As for his sister, there was no need to even mention her. If she could build a network of contacts with such a niche aesthetic, she would definitely have no problem handling external negotiations!

For internal affairs, find his brother; for external affairs, find his sister. He could just lie back and do nothing. How great!

While waiting for the train at the station, a fishing enthusiast sat next to Zhan Yan.

The fisherman was dragging a large suitcase, carrying a folding fishing rod, and kept looking left and right, clearly eager to chat with someone.

Zhan Yan made eye contact with him, and the fisherman immediately struck up a conversation enthusiastically: “Are you going to Yunjin City too?”

Zhan Yan: “Yes, my home is there. Are you from there too?”

The fisherman: “Yeah, yeah, I live over in the Wenhai District.”

Zhan Yan: “Are you going out fishing?”

The fisherman was delighted to find someone who would engage in conversation!

“Yes! I came to Beiling City to fish. Have you heard of Guimeng Lake? It’s a relatively niche lake. I heard from a friend that there are big fish there, so I came.

“Here, let me show you the fish I caught!”

The fisherman opened his phone’s photo album and showed Zhan Yan the fish he had caught. In every photo, the man was smiling brightly, using his arm or his height to show the size of the fish. The biggest one was almost half his height.

Zhan Yan made an impressed sound, playing along.

The fisherman was even happier and began to talk nonstop: “I caught this one in Hehua City. This is a Jian fish, not a grass carp, it just looks like one. Don’t let its size fool you, it’s very strong.”

Zhan Yan: “I’d say this one is not small either.”

The fisherman was extremely pleased and went through the photos one by one, introducing them to Zhan Yan.

He then swiped to another photo. The fish in this photo was only palm-sized and seemed to have a pair of very large fins. Before Zhan Yan could get a clear look, the fisherman swiped past it.

“This fish is too small, nothing much to see, hehe, let me show you other fish.”

The two chatted until it was time to board the train. Upon boarding, they discovered they happened to be in adjacent seats. The fisherman was very happy, and the two exchanged names and continued to chat.

Zhan Yan: “You’re amazing, how did you catch so many big fish?”

Yu Luo raised his eyebrows proudly: “I have a secret fish bait recipe. There’s no fish that doesn’t love my bait!”

Yu Luo’s hobbies weren’t limited to just fishing; he also liked to travel to places with water all over the world to fish. He was also a travel expert. Zhan Yan heard about many fun places from him and noted them all down to visit in the future.

Yu Luo: “Don’t wait for the future. We have a great spot right here in Yunjin City, in Qixia Mountain. There’s a lake there where you can go wild fishing. I’ll share the location with you.”

The two added each other as friends. Yu Luo’s personal signature was “I want everyone to know that this big fish was caught by me!”

Yu Luo used a sketchy map app to navigate and share the location with Zhan Yan, complaining as he did so: “Don’t follow the navigation route it gives you. I’ll mark a route for you. Last time I used it for navigation, it directed me to a riverbank and told me to swim across.

“Let me tell you, this lake isn’t just suitable for wild fishing, it’s also great for bird watching. There are many wild birds by this lake, they’re beautiful.”

Zhan Yan checked his gossip feed. Qixia Mountain was his dad’s territory, home to many bird demons. It was designated as a nature reserve by humans, and the lake Yu Luo mentioned was right outside the reserve. As long as it wasn’t the fishing ban period, fishing was allowed.

The bird demons of Qixia Mountain lived very comfortably under the protection of the Chongming Demon King. Often, bored bird demons would come to the lakeside to watch people.

[Yu Luo was slapped by the tail of a large carp he had caught. The large carp successfully escaped. A spectating cormorant bird demon cackled loudly and caught a large silver carp right in front of Yu Luo.]

Yu Luo not only shared the address with Zhan Yan but also enthusiastically took out a box of fish bait from his backpack and shared it with him: “You’ll know once you try it. My fish bait is super effective! If you can’t use it all, just freeze it. In another week, the fishing ban will start in our area, so we won’t be able to fish.”

As the two chatted, it started to rain outside. Before long, the rain grew heavier.

The high-speed train began to slow down, and an announcement over the intercom informed passengers that due to a sudden downpour, the train would be operating at a reduced speed and would not arrive at the next station on time.

The passengers on the train started to murmur.

“Why is there a sudden downpour? The weather forecast didn’t say anything before we left.”

“Let me see, this rain is really heavy.”

In just a few minutes, the rain outside the window had become as heavy as falling pearls, a continuous patter.

The people on the train complained and marveled. Fortunately, the signal wasn’t affected, and everyone took out their phones to inform their friends and family about the train delay.

Zhan Yan also sent a message in his family group chat.

The train’s speed became slower and slower, and eventually, it came to a complete stop. The noise in the carriage suddenly grew louder. The train attendants walked back and forth, comforting the passengers and explaining to those who loudly asked, “Why have we stopped?”

This sudden downpour had severely affected visibility and train operations. For safety reasons, the train had chosen to make a temporary stop and would continue its journey after the rain passed.

Zhan Yan looked out the window. The heavy rain had blurred into a white sheet, and nothing could be seen clearly.

Neither Beiling City nor Yunjin City were regions that frequently experienced heavy rainfall. It was still spring, not the rainy season.

The passengers were calmed down and waited for the rain to stop, discussing this rare, heavy storm.

No one thought this downpour would last long.

After Zhan Yan had been browsing his gossip feed for nearly four hours, the train still hadn’t started. The heavy rain showed no signs of letting up.

The passengers were no longer as calm as they were at the beginning. The noise grew louder and louder.

“…When will the rain…”

“…Is it… rescue…”

“…Too late…”

Children started to cry, more and more people went to the restroom, and some people’s phones had run out of battery. Many people were starting to feel hungry, but this short-distance train was not equipped with boxed meals, only instant noodles, biscuits, and the like.

“Little brother, are you hungry? I still have some small bread here.” Yu Luo was very kind in sharing his food.

Zhan Yan was indeed a little hungry. He had only eaten breakfast before leaving school, and thinking it was a short trip and he would be home soon, he hadn’t packed any food.

He thanked Yu Luo for the small bread and, while nibbling on it, searched for keywords related to the rain in his gossip feed. He felt that something was not right about this rain.

[The Luoyu awakens from the box, finds itself trapped, becomes very agitated, and causes a large-scale gathering of water vapor in the southern suburbs of Beiling City.]

The Luoyu, a fish with a bird’s wings, its sound like that of a mandarin duck, its appearance heralding great floods in the city.

This was a natural mythical beast with the divine ability to cause great floods.

Zhan Yan switched to “Luoyu” as the keyword for his search.

[The Luoyu is tempted by the fragrance of Yu Luo’s secret fish bait, swallows the bait, and becomes drunk.]

[Yu Luo discovers he has caught a fish with wings and is very surprised, thinking he has discovered a new species.]

[Yu Luo puts the Luoyu in a sealed water tank and takes it away, preparing to make a big profit from the Luoyu.]

Zhan Yan remembered the photo Yu Luo had quickly swiped past earlier. Using the system’s backup function, he reopened it and looked closely. My god, those weren’t two big fins at all, they were two big wings! He had really caught a Luoyu!

What kind of secret fish bait recipe was this?!

Zhan Yan closed his eyes and contacted the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau through his gossip system.

Half an hour later, the train doors opened, and two people in raincoats came aboard. After showing their credentials, they took away a bewildered and terrified Yu Luo and his large suitcase.

To protect his identity, the most Zhan Yan could do was give him a reassuring glance.

Another half an hour later, the rain stopped, and the train started moving again.

The people in the carriage were buzzing with discussion. Before long, rumors of the police arresting an escaped convict on the train began to spread. Someone even came over to Zhan Yan to ask him what Yu Luo had talked to him about, and if the large suitcase contained a body.

Zhan Yan: “…If it were a body, it wouldn’t have passed the security check.”

The gossiper: “Hey, didn’t he give you that bread?”

Seeing the way he stared at the small bread as if it were poison, Zhan Yan slowly took another bite. “It’s fine. If there were really a problem, I would have been affected by now, having eaten it for half a day.”

The small bread was innocent, and Yu Luo would be fine. He was currently at the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau receiving an education. The Bureau had a mature and complete process for ordinary people who accidentally came into contact with the supernatural. After the process was completed, they would arrange a car to send him back. He might even get home before the rest of them on the train.

The gossiper looked at him as if he were a fool.

Such a nice young man, how can he be so dense?

A small bread was not enough to fill a young man’s stomach. Zhan Yan was starving when he got home.

As soon as he opened the door, Xingxing was the first to rush out. It had been over a month, and the little cat had grown a circle bigger. It tilted its head up at him and meowed, dragging out a long “meow—meow—.”

“Where did you go?”

“Why were you gone for so long?”

“Why didn’t you take me?”

“I thought you had abandoned me.”

“I looked for you for so long!”

Zhan Yan felt guilty from the little cat’s meows and picked up Xingxing as he entered.

“Sis, is there anything to eat at home? The train was delayed for several hours, I’m so, so hungry.”

Zhan Suiru fed her younger brother the lovely cookies made by Xiao Ran.

“Where did you buy these? They’re so delicious!” Zhan Yan untied the ribbon and wolfed them down.

“A friend of mine made them,” Zhan Suiru said. “Eat slowly, there’s also food Dad made at home.”

Zhan Jinli went to heat up the food for his younger brother, not at all minding that his sister hadn’t brought him cookies last time—with his sweet tooth, Zhan Suiru couldn’t have bought anything he liked anyway.

Their younger brother’s train home was delayed for several hours, and both high-level figures had been paying close attention to the situation. Zhan Jinli and Zhan Suiru had already learned about the foodie Luoyu situation from their respective channels and both felt their younger brother was a bit unlucky.

What kind of fish bait is so delicious it can even catch a mythical beast?

Zhan Yan found the recipe in his gossip feed.

This was a fish bait recipe that could lure a mythical beast; of course the Abnormal Affairs Management Bureau wouldn’t let it go. They had gotten the recipe from Yu Luo, so Zhan Yan also saw the recipe he had dictated in his gossip feed.

Most of the ingredients were normal, common materials for fish bait. Only one was rather special—he used the leftover lees from his homemade wine.

The yeast for the wine was also homemade, using smartweed, a plant also known as wine yeast grass or drunken fish grass. The function was in the name.

Zhan Yan took out the bait Yu Luo had given him and sniffed it. There was a faint smell of alcohol.

Zhan Jinli, who had just come out of the kitchen, suddenly looked over.

Zhan Yan looked up and saw his brother’s expression, hesitating for a few seconds.

Could it be that his brother wants to eat this?

Has he gone from a sweet tooth to having pica?

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