I was slacking off on a dating reality show when the female guests treated me like a treasure chest.

Chen Nian stood on his lure rod, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two rods.

As he walked around, he couldn't help but glance at Xia Yao a few more times.

This girl is really beautiful!

From the side, she's beautiful from every angle; it's only because she's wearing sunglasses that Chen Nian feels embarrassed to look at her like that.

Xia Yao was unaware of Chen Nian's gaze. Her eyes were fixed on her fishing line, her face full of seriousness, which added a touch of youthful vibrancy to her expression.

A gentle sea breeze blows, and the distant waves continue to rhythmically lap against the rocks.

The sea here is very calm, and the water is clearly visible, with fish occasionally swimming by.

After a moment of silence, Xia Yao's fishing line suddenly began to tug violently, much more forcefully than during the previous attempt. The fishing rod bent slightly, with a noticeable downward pull.

"It moved! This time there really is a fish!" Xia Yao's eyes lit up, her voice full of excitement. She instinctively reached out to raise her hand, but then immediately remembered Chen Nian's instructions, abruptly stopping her movement. She turned to look at him, "What do we do? It's so strong!"

"Don't panic, slowly reel in the line, follow its momentum, don't pull hard!" Chen Nian weighed down his fishing rod with a stone and came closer.

This time, he didn't directly handle it; instead, he leaned down to guide her, his eyes fixed on the fishing line and Xia Yao's hand. "Grip the rod firmly, and pull it back little by little. Yes, slowly!"

Xia Yao bit her lower lip tightly and carefully reeled in the line according to his instructions, her slender fingers gripping the rod firmly.

Feeling the pulling force in her hand, she was incredibly excited, overwhelmed by novelty and thrill.

Chen Nian kept whispering reminders from the side, "Don't rush, it'll be almost there, just hang in there a little longer, it's running out of strength!"

Soon, a shimmering silver sea fish was finally pulled out of the water, wriggling its body and splashing up tiny droplets of water.

"You can get up and pack up your fishing rods now," Chen Nian said.

Upon hearing this, Xia Yao stood up, pulled the fishing rod to the side, and the next moment, the fish landed on the beach next to her, jumping around, its silvery scales gleaming in the sun.

"I caught it! I really caught it!" Xia Yao smiled instantly, her eyes crinkling, her usual aloof demeanor vanished, and she prepared to go forward to take the fish.

"Don't touch it!" Chen Nian quickly reached out to stop her. "I'll take care of the rest."

As he spoke, he squatted down, pinched the fish's mouth, and skillfully removed the fishhook.

"Beginners often get scratched by fish scales or hurt themselves when removing the hook during the fish-catching process. You don't need to learn this now," Chen Nian said.

His fingertips touched the coolness of the fish scales. He weighed it in his hand and his eyes widened slightly. This fish weighed at least four or five pounds, much larger than he had expected.

"Great, the newbie gift pack is quite substantial!" Chen Nian couldn't help but exclaim, then put the fish into the bucket he had prepared beforehand.

Xia Yao leaned closer, squatted down beside the bucket, and looked at the fish still jumping around inside, her face full of curiosity and excitement: "What does 'newbie gift pack' mean?"

"It's like there's a lucky buff for the first time you go fishing," Chen Nian said, secretly thinking to himself, "As expected, newbies get newbie perks. I had a similar experience back then."

With their first fish caught, the two men gained more confidence, sat down again, and cast their lines once more.

Having gained confidence from her first success, Xia Yao's timidity vanished, replaced by anticipation.

However, for a long time afterward, the bait floating on the sea surface remained motionless.

"Fishing is a two-way street; if you're lucky, you'll catch a fish right away, but if you're unlucky, you might not catch anything for half an hour," Chen Nian said. "It takes patience; sometimes some people sit there for hours."

"Huh?" Xia Yao was surprised when she heard this. Even though she could sit and practice the piano for hours, it was still boring. She didn't expect these fishermen to be so patient.

Even so, Chen Nian looked at his bait and sighed inwardly. Where were his fish?

After an unknown amount of time, Xia Yao's fishing line stirred once again.

"They're here! They're here!"

Although the force of this catch was not as strong as the last one, it was still quite noticeable. She calmly followed the method Chen Nian had taught her and slowly reeled in the line. Soon, another slightly smaller sea fish was caught.

"Different fish!" Xia Yao's beautiful eyes darted around as she looked at the fish hopping around on the sand, her face full of curiosity.

Chen Nian stepped forward to help remove the fishhook and then put the fish into the bucket.

"It weighs about two or three pounds." Chen Nian looked at the two lively fish in the bucket, then at his own fishing line that wasn't moving at all, and fell into a deep doubt about life.

Who is he? Where is he? Wasn't he supposed to be teaching fishing beginners? How come he's getting crushed by the newbies instead?

"Could it be that the location is bad?" Chen Nian muttered, feeling that it didn't make sense.

Upon hearing this, Xia Yao couldn't help but laugh, a hint of smugness in her voice: "Is it because the rod is wrong? Your rod is different from mine, right?"

"Really? I'll give it a try." Chen Nian nodded thoughtfully, then switched to a rock fishing rod.

Xia Yao's newbie benefits will continue for the foreseeable future.

Fish would bite every now and then. Although one or two would occasionally escape, the overall catch was quite plentiful. Before long, two more fish were caught, all of them weighing more than two or three pounds.

Seeing this, Chen Nian wanted to change his position, but he couldn't just run away.

Seeing the bucket swell with fish, Chen Nian sighed, "Teach your apprentice, and you'll starve!"

Xia Yao smiled, her eyes crinkling with pride: "Really? Then I'm pretty lucky."

As time passed, the setting sun gradually slanted westward, slowly sinking into the sea and dyeing the surface of the ocean a golden-red hue.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled onto the beach and the coconut grove, even bathing the two figures in a warm glow.

Before we knew it, it was already evening.

Fortunately, Chen Nian managed to catch two fish, though they might only weigh a little over three pounds each, but they were still fish nonetheless.

Xia Yao caught four.

The afternoon's catch yielded six fish, which was quite unexpected.

"Twenty catties is definitely enough." Chen Nian estimated that one of them weighed at least five catties, and the remaining five should weigh around three or four catties each.

Looking at the sky, Chen Nian realized it was almost time for the mission's deadline. He sighed and packed away his lure rod, which had yielded no results.

"Alright, it's about time. Let's pack up and head to the market."

Xia Yao nodded upon hearing this, put away her rock fishing rod, her movements much more skillful than before, and then imitated Chen Nian's way of reeling in the line.

After putting away the fishing rods, Chen Nian tidied up the scene and then picked up the heavy bucket.

Carrying about twenty pounds of fish and water all at once is quite a challenge.

Chen Nian had Xia Yao carry two sets of fishing gear, and then he carried a bucket and walked outside.

If Xia Yao hadn't put in the effort today, I probably wouldn't have caught even 20 jin (10 kg).

Meanwhile, the other groups were also gradually finishing up.

Everyone was really looking forward to tonight's feast, completely forgetting that they hadn't even had lunch yet.

By the time we left the resort, the sun had already set considerably.

Unlike the quietness at noon, the path was now much more crowded with tourists, mostly those who came to the beach to watch the sunset.

When everyone saw the heavy bucket in Chen Nian's hand, which contained several fish, they all turned their curious eyes to him, and many people went up to ask him questions.

"Hey handsome, where did you catch these fish? You caught so many!"

"Yeah, yeah, we've been fishing all afternoon and haven't caught anything. You guys are amazing!"

Could you tell me the exact location?

Several anglers were shocked. They had been fishing all day with little to no catch, while the young couple had caught five or six fish. There was simply no reasoning with them.

Upon hearing this, Chen Nian chuckled and said, "I fished nearby, in the woods over there. You guys can find the exact location; it's a good fishing spot anyway."

He didn't just point out a random location, because their fishing area was indeed in the woods over there.

As for whether they were separated or not, let's not talk about that, since it's within the resort area, and we just told them that they can't enter the current resort anyway.

Xia Yao, who was following beside her, blinked when she heard this. She peeked into the buckets of the tourists and noticed that the fish inside were not as good as hers, which made her shrug slightly.

For the rest of the journey, Chen Nian acted as if he were on a parade, with more than a dozen groups of people gathering to watch him along the ten-minute route.

This surprised Xia Yao; she hadn't expected that fishing could lead to such a situation.

The two returned to the fishing tackle shop. The shop owner's eyes lit up when he saw the buckets in their hands, and he quickly came over: "Wow, you caught so many? Looks like you've got good luck!"

"Yes, today's newbie gift pack is really generous." Chen Nian nodded, put down the bucket, and rubbed his sore arms.

Upon hearing this, the shop owner chuckled and said, "You're really something, beautiful lady. You might become a very skilled angler." As he spoke, the shop owner skillfully scooped the fish out and placed it on the scale to weigh it.

"Five pounds and two ounces, this one is three pounds and eight ounces, this one is four pounds..."

After weighing them, the six fish weighed a total of over 26 jin (approximately 18 catties). At a buyback price of 5 yuan per jin, the total came to over 130 yuan.

The shop owner smiled and handed the money to Chen Nian: "That's one hundred and thirty yuan and five mao in total. Here's one hundred and thirty-one yuan for you!"

"So many?" Chen Nian was a little surprised, not expecting it to exceed the limit.

Shop owner: "That's right, that's right. The fish you caught are all quite big. One of them weighs a full 5.2 pounds. That's amazing. I thought they wouldn't meet the standards."

Chen Nian took the money with a smile on his face. This round of over-spending had been completed. First place should be pretty much secured now, right?

Now let's see how the other groups fared.

Xia Yao also came over to look, and seeing the money in her hand, her face was full of a sense of accomplishment: "We've exceeded the limit! Can we use the extra money to buy candied hawthorns?"

As she spoke, Xia Yao looked at Chen Nian.

"Candied hawthorns?" Chen Nian asked in surprise. "What do you mean? Where are the candied hawthorns?"

"I saw this on the street just now, but I haven't tried it yet. Do you want to buy a couple of skewers?" Xia Yao said, looking expectant.

The two thanked the shop owner and then left the fishing tackle shop.

Chen Nian looked at the money in his hand and said, "Go ask first. If it's cheap, we can buy it. It should be five yuan a skewer."

"Okay!" Xia Yao nodded and then led the way.

Before long, the two arrived at a roadside stall selling candied hawthorns. Chen Nian went up and asked the price. Good heavens, it was twenty yuan a skewer. He was immediately shocked.

"So expensive!"

"How about we come back to buy it next time?" Chen Nian asked.

"Uh, it's too expensive, let's forget it." Xia Yao nodded. They only had 130 yuan, which wasn't enough to buy two skewers.

"It's alright, I'll go to the resort and look for them later, they should be available for sale," Chen Nian said, offering some words of comfort.

The two left the stall and headed towards the resort.

Sunset, afterglow.

At this moment, Liu Ting and Li Tian were looking for the housekeeper to confirm the sand sculpture they had built, Su He and Su Xiao were returning with the collected materials, and the others had also completed their tasks one after another.

As everyone passed by the plaza on the beach, they noticed the bonfire that was being built and guessed that it was probably prepared for them.