Let's go back to 2008, starting with a recreational fishing park.

While they were eating, Jiang Xia saw a van with the words "Provincial TV Station" on its exterior parked in the parking lot.

Seeing this, he quickly shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice into his mouth, put down his chopsticks, straightened his collar, and went to greet the other person.

Upon reaching the car, he greeted us warmly:

"Oh, Sister Lan, you're finally back!"

As he spoke, he looked at a man in his thirties wearing a baseball cap who had just gotten out of the car and said:

"This must be Producer Zhou. Welcome to watch the competition here."

Xia Lan looked at Jiang Xia and introduced him to the man:

"Jianming, this is the owner here, the young man I told you about, President Jiang Xia."

After hearing Xia Lan's words, Zhou Jianming quickly reached out his hand to Jiang Xia and said:

"Hello, Mr. Jiang! Xia Lan mentioned you were young and promising yesterday when she left. Meeting you today, you are indeed very handsome!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia laughed and said, "Producer Zhou, please don't flatter me. I just organized this little competition; how can I be considered young and accomplished?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jianming waved his hand and said, "Hey, don't underestimate this competition you're organizing. After hearing about it, I immediately looked up various information and found that, in terms of prize money alone, it's comparable to many large-scale national fishing competitions in China!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia realized that the other party wasn't lying.

After hearing that Zhou Jianming, a producer from the provincial sports news agency, was coming, he took some time to learn about other fishing competitions in the country, as well as news and reports about the sports environment.

Then I realized that, by sheer coincidence, I had chosen the right time to compete!

At this time, the Summer Olympics, which had attracted nationwide attention, had just concluded at the end of August, ten days earlier.

The domestic sports boom has not yet ended, and with the hosting of the Olympics, many less popular events have also attracted a lot of public attention.

In April of the first half of the year, before the start of the Olympics, the neighboring Wuyue Province had already held a highly anticipated fishing star competition organized by the Wuyue Provincial Sports Bureau and the Provincial Fishing Association.

That competition, because of its lofty theme—it was a commemorative event for the 100-day countdown to the Olympics—led to athletes winning high rankings primarily for the honors they received; there was no related reporting on the prize money.

When Zhou Jianming, a sports journalist from Shandong Province, heard Xia Lan mention that the Shandong Provincial Fishing Association had also co-organized a fishing competition with a local fishing ground, he, being familiar with the hot topics in the sports world and various news, immediately felt that the Qingshan Fishing Masters Tournament was worth reporting.

Therefore, he didn't hesitate and ran over with Xia Lan as soon as he heard about the scale of the competition and the prize money.

…………

At this moment, Jiang Xia was helping the people from the TV station unload various filming equipment from the car.

Many tourists and athletes who had already arrived were whispering among themselves in curiosity upon seeing this scene.

An outgoing tourist, unable to contain his curiosity, asked Jiang Xia directly:

"Boss Jiang, what are you doing?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia didn't hide anything and immediately smiled and said:

"The provincial TV station is here to film the competition today."

Upon hearing the words "provincial television station" and seeing the demeanor of Zhou Jianming and his group, many contestants subconsciously glanced down at their own attire.

Then, several casually dressed contestants checked the time and quickly ran towards their cars, wanting to go back and change their clothes before participating in the competition!

Wang Guifen and the others at the fishing pond, who already knew the news, were somewhat reserved when they saw the TV station people actually arrive.

There's a conflicting feeling of wanting to be on TV, but also being a little afraid of it.

…………

In the midst of our busy work, time quickly passed to nine o'clock in the morning.

After two days of elimination rounds, the remaining 39 contestants were all ready and sat solemnly at their fishing spots.

Jiang Xia stood next to Zhou Jianming, checked the time, and asked, "Producer Zhou, are you ready? Our competition is about to begin."

Zhou Jianming nodded and gave an OK sign.

Seeing this, Jiang Xia took out his walkie-talkie and said directly, "The match begins."

On the small boat in the middle of the reservoir, the emcee, who had regained his former energy, took a deep breath with a serious expression after receiving the instruction, and the familiar baritone voice once again echoed throughout the fishing area:

"All players, please prepare!"

"Check the line setup and confirm the float!"

"Bait in place, rod in hand!"

Hearing this voice, even after two days of competition, the contestants on site felt inexplicably nervous.

"I now declare that the countdown to the finals of the first Qingshan Fishing Park Fishing Masters Tournament has begun!"

Then, the audience and the emcee shouted together:

"10……9……8……7……"

"6...5...4..."

"3……2……"

"1...Let's...start fishing!"

The sharp whistles of the twenty referees pierced the air, and then, all 39 fishing rods simultaneously shot up in beautiful arcs.

The final match has officially begun.

……

At this moment, the players Jiang Xia knew well were number 8 Li Hao, number 56 Big Brother, number 21 Linjiang's number one ranked player, number 60 Jinghai's strongest player, and number 86 Antai's player.

The results of today's final are the sum of the results from the previous two days' matches and today's results.

Among them, Li Hao, a regular customer of the fishing pond, ranks the lowest, currently at number 32.

The highest scorer is contestant number 60, who finished first on the first day of the competition. His total score is currently 46 points, leading the second-place contestant number 21 by nearly ten points!

The guy with number 56 is currently ranked sixth with his combined score over the two days. He still seems to have a slight chance of winning the championship, but it's not a big one.

It's worth mentioning that John Sr. from Britain also made it to the finals.

At this point, he was ranked quite high, at number 12, so it seems that when he said he was good at fishing, he wasn't just talking nonsense.

……

To Jiang Xia's surprise, perhaps because the weather had just cleared up, or perhaps because he hadn't fed the fish these past few days due to the competition, the fish suddenly stopped feeding.

Shortly after the start of the competition, the players began to catch fish frequently.

The first person to catch a fish was contestant number 2. He shouted excitedly, and then everyone saw a grass carp rolling around belly up next to him.

Before he could even net the fish, number 21 next to him suddenly jerked his rod up, perhaps because he was too hasty, and the fishing line almost brushed against the tip of number 2's rod.

This situation startled both players, who quickly grabbed their fishing rods and walked in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, Li Hao also made a move. His float bobbed twice and then slowly rose two notches, a classic sign of a crucian carp biting.

Seeing this, Li Dafu, who was eliminated yesterday and could only watch the match next to Jiang Xia today, couldn't help but sigh:

"Today's final was really intense!"