"Dearest Father and Mother, your son has been living quite a leisurely life recently, doing nothing in particular, so this report on my unofficial visit might be a bit brief."
"The reason I've been idle is that I've recently become engrossed in a new hobby."
"Birong Star Travel City, a bustling metropolis with a population just over five million. I was merely passing through, planning to stay for two days and then leave, but on the very first night I arrived, around one in the morning, I witnessed a massive convoy of hovercars flying past my window. It was late at night, and there shouldn't have been such a large procession of vehicles."
"The next night, at midnight, I sat in my car by the roadside, waiting. If I saw that convoy again, I would follow it. If not, I would set off for the next city."
"After waiting for over an hour, the convoy truly reappeared, at least five hundred vehicles strong, sweeping across the night sky. Their red taillights were like a vast expanse of burning arrows. I immediately followed, maintaining a distance. Soon, the convoy reached the riverbank outside the city and began to descend, one by one."
"I landed my car as well and saw that everyone getting out of each vehicle was carrying fishing rods and various fishing gear. This was the night fishing army. Every night at one in the morning, the night anglers drive out of the city to the riverbanks outside to start fishing. I later learned that the night fishing army isn't unique to Travel City; all major cities on Birong Star with populations over five million have them. They are wealthy city dwellers, often with monthly incomes exceeding fifty thousand, who come in droves to fish at night."
"The reason for fishing in the middle of the night is that at this hour, many shellfish at the bottom of the water become active, causing many fish to become particularly excited and actively seek out shellfish to eat. Fish at this time are the least vigilant and are ideal for lure fishing."
"Lure fishing is a special technique, very different from traditional fishing."
"Traditional fishing is more about waiting for the fish to bite. You chum the water, bait the hook, and sit by the bank quietly waiting. Old folks like it, but it's not for young people like me."
"Lure fishing, however, is an active pursuit. It's the angler seeking the fish, like hunting, quickly bringing the fish in. Lure fishing doesn't require chumming, and it doesn't even use bait that fish eat. Instead, it uses lures made of plastic or metal that mimic small organisms in the water, thereby provoking aggressive predatory fish to bite."
"Legend has it that it was inspired by someone walking by a river, fiddling with a small wooden chip. Bored, they threw the chip into the water, and immediately a fish surfaced and snatched it away. This sparked the idea for lure fishing."
"At first, I stood by the river watching. I saw someone using a small iron chip as bait to fish. I thought it was ridiculous – how could an iron chip work? But that person actually caught a fish, completely changing my understanding of fishing."
"I bought a lure rod and hired a master at a high price to teach me. The master was exceptional, a professional lure angler. In the first lure fishing competition on Birong Star, he caught fish relentlessly for half an hour. In the final cast, after a grueling half-hour struggle with the fish, he landed a Mandarin fish that was 1.53 meters long and weighed 78.5 catties, clinching victory."
"My first night yielded no results. I was constantly practicing my casting, couldn't get the feel for it, and kept getting line tangles."
"The second night, I used a shrimp-shaped lure. As soon as I cast and gave it a twitch, a powerful force transmitted through my hand. It felt like someone underwater had yanked hard, very distinctly, and the tip of the rod curved downwards towards the water."
"That sensation is something I will never forget. I trembled with excitement. In just a few seconds, I was hooked. The moment the fish bites, it feels like you've established a mysterious connection with it. I was born on another planet, passing by this river by chance. This fish might have been born in the ocean thousands of miles away, also passing by this river by chance. We would never have met in our lives, but because of this fishing rod, we began a contest across the water. It's not simply me fishing; the fish is also trying to fish me, attempting to pull me into the water."
"With that cast, I caught a wild bass, a full five catties. The master said that in the industry, this is called a 'silly bass' – not very intelligent, willing to bite any lure. More intelligent fish, like trout, will observe the lure for a long time, and even brake suddenly just as they're about to bite. Some fish even have a 'mantis stalks cicada, oriole behind' scenario, where as soon as one fish bites, another immediately appears to snatch the prey from its mouth."
"The master taught me for a week, and I learned a great deal, such as the habits of different fish, which waters have more fish, the influence of weather and seasonal changes, alternating between soft and hard lures, and so on. Then I graduated and started fishing on my own."
"Birong Star has an app called 'Fishing World.' Registering an account requires ten thousand yuan, and becoming a member costs another twenty thousand, yet it has over four million members."
"'Fishing World' is an exclusive app for fishing enthusiasts on Birong Star, Jiangye Star, and Exile Star. On it, you can share fishing experiences, show off the big and strange fish you've caught, and team up with experienced anglers. Fishermen from each city also have gatherings, often involving fishing trips to the wilderness followed by picnics where they eat their catch."
"These people are all quite wealthy, belonging to the elite class of the three planets, with the least being comfortably well-off. They include game designers, local government officials, actors, singers, mining magnates, corporate executives, and more. Those with annual incomes in the tens of millions are common, and many earn over a hundred million."
"I joined a group, and perhaps because my conversations were quite interesting, many group members invited me to fish in their areas."
"I accepted their invitations one by one. First, I met Wu Yarun, a retail business owner from the Three Kings Islands of Birong Star. She owned a yacht, and we went sea fishing for yellowtail amberjack for three days. We had a great time and became friends. We then went to Muzhen Island to rest for two days, ate the local grilled bird eggs, and then set off for Bai Ci Lake on Ze Ming North Island. There, we found a fly fishing instructor, Pan Wenhan, the CEO of Yuan Teng Star Film and Television Company stationed on Birong Star, and stayed in his four-story villa locally."
"This Pan Wenhan is exceptionally sturdy, with a muscle level comparable to yours, Father. He can do 58 pull-ups without swaying and can deadlift with ease. He can easily pull up fish weighing thirty to forty catties and can even contend with giant fish weighing seventy to eighty catties. I hooked a total of twelve fish weighing over forty catties on Bai Ci Lake, all of which he helped me land after long struggles."
"During our casual chats, Pan Wenhan mentioned he had seen you, Father. At last year's Planetary Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting, he stood at the very back of the venue and saw General Jiang from afar. When you were shaking hands with entrepreneurs, Pan Wenhan tried hard to push forward for a chance to shake your hand, but you left before he could get close. I didn't reveal my true identity to him, just saying I was a wealthy idler."
"Afterward, the three of us flew to the Eight Divisions Archipelago. The Eight Divisions Archipelago is in the Southern Hemisphere, and it was March, early autumn, the prime season for fishing cold-water fish like trout. We were hosted by a local actor who was the star of a highly popular drama currently airing in prime time on Planet Two Channel. However, this person was temperamental, and we didn't like him. We left after two days, having caught very few trout."
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng looked down at the fishing record, which spanned tens of thousands of characters.
Jiang Senlin had traveled all over Birong Star during this period, visiting freshwater and saltwater environments, streams and rivers, urban rivers and uninhabited areas, highlands, ice mountains, forests, and even deserts. He had caught a total of 512 fish of over a hundred different species, with a combined weight of 3072 catties.
"You scoundrel, not focusing on proper business," Jiang Ye commented briefly.
"It's quite good," Cen Yemeng said with a gentle motherly smile. Her son was happy traveling the world, which naturally pleased his mother.