PCJ – Chapter 597 Fishing Chronicles

“Hey, can we go soak in the hot springs?” Mute suddenly asked, saying something that instantly ruined the mood.

Although it was summer, the mountain weather wasn’t too hot. But since there was a girl present, soaking in the hot springs was naturally a bit inconvenient.

“I could just kick you in myself,” Zhang Jiaohua said grumpily.

“You guys go soak. I’ll just stay in the tent,” Ji Jiaxin said with a smile.

Zhang Jiaohua thought for a moment and then said, “If you want to soak in the hot springs, you can — just head downstream, go a bit further. Don’t go polluting the water.”

Mute and Zhang Yuanbao both looked tempted.

“Jiaohua, seriously? We can really soak in the hot springs?” Mute asked.

“Why wouldn’t you be able to? If you want to go, then hurry up and scram. Just make sure to test the water temperature before getting in. If you get scalded, don’t come crying to me,” Zhang Jiaohua replied, clearly annoyed.

Once Mute and Zhang Yuanbao had left, Ji Jiaxin asked with a smile, “Zhang Jiaohua, you’re not going?”

“What’s so great about soaking in a hot spring? If I left and a wild beast came and carried you off, that’d be a disaster,” Zhang Jiaohua said, clearly concerned for her safety.

“The water here is still this hot… wouldn’t it be even hotter at the source?” Ji Jiaxin asked, looking toward the mist-shrouded mountains in the distance.

Zhang Jiaohua nodded. “It’s all boiling water. You can throw a wild chicken into it and it’ll be cooked in no time. But the flavor’s not great — most of the nutrients get boiled away.”

“Of course. Normally, you stew chicken in a small pot. If you try stewing it in a pond, of course it’s not going to taste good,” Ji Jiaxin said with a laugh.

“Ji Jiaxin, you’ve been following me into the mountains — exhausted, completely worn out, and the scenery isn’t even that great. Don’t you feel like it’s been a waste?” Zhang Jiaohua asked.

Ji Jiaxin smiled sweetly. “A little.”

When Zhang Jiaohua looked over at her, she continued, “Of course not. Actually, I really enjoy this kind of back-to-nature feeling. It’s not like being outside in the world, always having to deal with all kinds of people and all kinds of things. Busy all the time, and never able to do things the way I want. But here, I feel really relaxed. I don’t have to think about anything. Eat well, drink well, sweat a little each day — it’s really nice. Ah, if I could find a place to soak in a hot spring, that would be perfect. What are you looking for here, anyway?”

“Nothing much. I’ve been here once before and thought the place was mysterious, so I wanted to come back and see what was really going on.” Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head, suddenly feeling like coming back here hadn’t been that meaningful after all.

As they were talking, Zhang Yuanbao and Mute came running back, all fired up.

“Jiaohua! Jiaohua!” Zhang Yuanbao shouted anxiously.

“What, done soaking already?” Zhang Jiaohua asked, surprised.

“We found a stone cave over there. The water inside is clean, the temperature’s just right — super comfortable! The cave has several separated areas, and there are even fish in the water. Can you believe it? Fish — in hot water!” Zhang Yuanbao said excitedly.

“Fish? What kind?” Zhang Jiaohua was intrigued. He had never seen fish in a hot spring before.

“They look a bit like guangxianzi fish. Judging by their appearance, they should taste pretty good. But they swim really fast, super hard to catch. See if you have any ideas — if we can catch them, I bet they’ll be delicious,” Zhang Yuanbao said.

“Let’s go have a look. Ji Jiaxin, come with us. Maybe you can soak in the hot spring there,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

The group followed Zhang Yuanbao and Mute to the cave they’d discovered. A stream flowed directly into it. The cave was large, and the sound of the running water echoed inside like music in a concert hall.

Once the stream entered the cave, it seemed to calm down, and the water became deeper. Just like Zhang Yuanbao had described, the cave was unevenly shaped and divided into various chambers, almost like separate rooms. Zhang Jiaohua walked in and found that the water wasn’t too deep — about 1.5 to 1.6 meters in the deeper areas, and only ankle-deep in the shallows. You could walk around the edges without even stepping into the water.

Sure enough, schools of fish were darting back and forth in the water. They were about two to three fingers wide and as long as a chopstick, moving incredibly fast. Their silver-white scales shimmered, reflecting the light alongside the ripples of the water, creating a dazzling display.

“Jiaohua, got any ideas?” Zhang Yuanbao asked.

“You’ve never eaten this fish before, right? I bet it tastes good,” he added.

“You dare eat something you’ve never tried before? What if it’s poisonous?” Zhang Jiaohua teased.

Zhang Yuanbao hadn’t considered that and thought for a moment. He’d never heard of anyone in Meizi’ao getting poisoned by fish before. “Really? Fish can be poisonous?”

“Plenty of fish are. But judging by how these ones look, they probably aren’t,” Zhang Jiaohua said with a smile.

“It’s just that they’re really hard to catch — even faster than guangxianzi fish,” Mute added, eyes fixed on the water as he suddenly lunged to grab a fish that darted past him.

Water splashed up and hit his face, but when he pulled his hand out, it was empty.

The startled fish scattered, but after a while, a whole new school swam back. They seemed to be constantly moving in and out of the water, darting around.

Ji Jiaxin chuckled softly and quickly covered her mouth.

Zhang Yuanbao burst out laughing. “Mute, what the heck was that?”

Mute scratched his head with a grin. “They’re just too fast.”

Zhang Jiaohua watched the fish swimming like wind through the water and got an idea. He went back to grab some materials and made a simple fish trap, placing some potato slices from the secret realm inside it. Then he set it into the water.

The trap had four entrances, but once fish swam in, it was hard for them to get out.

As soon as he put the trap in the water, the fish scattered instantly.

“Jiaohua, you’re seriously trying to catch fish with that? No way. These fish are too smart. If you used some wild chicken guts or something, maybe. But potatoes? No way they’re falling for that,” Zhang Yuanbao said, shaking his head.

“Want me to go dig up some worms?” Mute offered, clearly thinking the bait wasn’t right either.

“Look! The fish are coming back!” Ji Jiaxin suddenly pointed, delighted.

Zhang Jiaohua was confident in his contraption. Though it was just potato slices, they weren’t ordinary ones — they were from the secret realm, imbued with spiritual energy. No animal could resist that kind of lure.

As expected, the fish seemed incredibly sensitive to the spiritual energy. The moment the potatoes hit the water, the fish noticed. And this time, the group that showed up was even larger — over a hundred of them, at least. They quickly found the trap and eagerly swam toward it.

“This is wild! They actually like potatoes!” Zhang Yuanbao exclaimed in disbelief.

“Shhh! Don’t scare them off!” Mute whispered, gesturing for silence.

But Mute’s warning was unnecessary — the fish were completely entranced, swarming into the trap without a second thought. In no time, the trap was jam-packed with fish.