Chapter 904: Openly Holding Back
"That's possible too! If they're leading significantly, the Hua Clan team would naturally notice. From this motivation aspect, it makes sense!"
"Damn! These guys seriously underestimate us. Next round, I'll take the stage and destroy them!"
Meng Weize spat viciously. Losing to someone else isn't shameful, but being ignored before the match even starts is a bit hurtful.
What do they say about this? Low harm but highly damaging!
The third round ended in this leisurely manner, and Meng Weize, who was boiling with anger, couldn't wait to step on stage. After taking the rod from Xiao Kai, he gave Wang Xiaomin a very unfriendly look.
Just as Wang Xiaomin was switching out, he looked over. Their eyes met in mid-air.
One had a fierce, frowning expression; the other had a sharp look in his eyes. After a brief confrontation, in terms of momentum, they were evenly matched.
"What's up?" Wang Xiaomin slightly raised the corner of his mouth and asked.
Meng Weize snorted coldly and said, "Hmph, nothing! Don't think that winning a few rounds means you can handle us! There's still a gap of about ten fish. Watch me overtake you guys!"
"Alright! Anyway, my job is done! Feel free to have at it! The guy taking over for me is my buddy, Wang Zhen. Go hard on him, just don't give me any face! If we end up losing this match, he can take the blame!"
"Uh... Xiaomin, don't do this, that's setting me up! I didn't do anything to deserve this!" Wang Zhen couldn't help but complain.
The nearly joking words from Wang Xiaomin made Meng Weize feel like he punched into cotton, indescribably uncomfortable.
"You guys do your best, I'm heading down! We can chat later!"
Leaving those words, Wang Xiaomin casually walked off the stage, leaving Meng Weize alone in the wind, feeling disordered.
But this disorder was only temporary. Despite temporarily falling behind, Meng Weize quickly adjusted his mindset and began to cast his rod wildly, speeding up the rhythm.
With this kind of play, Wang Zhen, who was up fourth, felt a bit uncomfortable.
Next to him, Meng Weize kept wildly casting to lure the fish, and Wang Zhen, trying to maintain his lead, could only forcefully match the rhythm. As he barely stabilized the fish situation, the added bait quantity made the pace quicken again.
However, Wang Zhen couldn't control the rhythm as skillfully as Wang Xiaomin. In a short while, the fish gathered, and soon the frequency of bites far exceeded that of Meng Weize beside him.
Now, Wang Zhen felt awkward.
Ignore the bites and not fish? It looked a bit fake, like it was deliberate.
Fish as fast as possible? He couldn't implement the tactics that Yue Feng enforced before getting on stage.
Struggling to find a middle ground between these two demands became a problem for Wang Zhen.
After fishing awkwardly for a while, Wang Zhen couldn't take it anymore. He decided to mimic Wang Xiaomin's carefree style and openly slacked off.
If there's a catch next door, I will follow; if there's nothing, I'll slack off a bit. Going back and forth, he got the hang of it. Just as the fourth round passed halfway, Wang Zhen found his rhythm.
Seeing Wang Zhen leisurely fishing, Meng Weize felt murderous.
What the hell was the problem? He had been casting so frequently that his hand was cramping, yet the fish weren't much faster. But the guy next door slacked off, and it seemed like there was always fish in his spot.
Once the mindset becomes unbalanced, it's hard to adjust in a short time, and Meng Weize got more and more frustrated as he fished,
seeing no hope of effort, anger boiled over, and recklessness kicked in. He directly pulled out a bottle of Barley Sweet Potato Paste, poured about three caps into the doughballs, making the well-prepared opening ingredient pellets sticky with a strong Barley Sweet Potato Paste composite aroma.
With this move, things got even worse. As a highly versatile bait, Barley Sweet Potato Paste could be considered a must-add for mixed fishing. With practice rounds and continuous competitions, this flavor left a bad impression on the pit fish, making them afraid to bite.
Throwing in the heavily doused doughball pellets into the spot, where there were originally quite a few fish, suddenly fell silent.
What Yue Feng had taught the students about the risk of overloading bait with additives was proved by Meng Weize's own experience.
Engulfed in emotion, Meng Weize blindly cast at least ten times before he realized.
Something was off, wasn't it? There used to be sporadic bites, but why did everything stop after the adjustment, not even little teasing nibbles?
Below the stage, Captain Hu Changsheng was sweating in his palms after witnessing this.
He had a bad feeling when seeing Meng Weize add the paste, realizing the dosage looked way over; even if it's all fresh fish, such a big dose isn't necessary!
Seeing the subsequent slowing fish bites, Hu Changsheng irritably lit a cigarette, taking a few puffs until only the filter remained, feeling that this match was too hard and frustrating!
In the following ten minutes, Wang Zhen was having a more comfortable time. With Meng Weize not catching any fish, he leisurely used two soft sticky bait cores, sometimes snagging fish even while slacking off, making Meng Weize internally explode.
Soon, the fourth round ended. Wang Zhen led the Tianyuan Youth Training Team by at least ten fish in this single round alone; combined with their earlier advantage, it approached twenty fish, over ten kilograms caught.
And this was with Wang Zhen suppressing and slacking off variously. If he'd been more proactive, the fifth round probably wouldn't have been necessary, entering garbage time early.
Zhao Zheng, the fifth angler to wrap things up, took the stage, accepting the rod while patting Wang Zhen on the shoulder.
"Not bad, the little rhythm in the last round was well handled!"
Wang Zhen scratched his head, "Hehe! Mainly because Team Meng next door gave opportunities! I got lucky, lucky, hahaha!"
Meng Weize, who was just about to step down, almost tripped hearing Wang Zhen's words. Was there a need to be so demoralizing? That was shameless!
"Hey, Brother Xiao Meng, don't walk so fast, wait for me, I feel we're pretty in sync, let's chat after the match!" Seeing Meng Weize almost slip, Wang Zhen deliberately teased Meng Zewei.
Meng Zewei kept his head down, pretending not to hear.
At that moment, he wished he could find a hole to hide in. The more arrogant he was before fishing, the more embarrassed he was now!
"Look at you, our coach often tells us, in a match, friendship comes first, competition second. Slow down for me, let's maintain our camaraderie even if the business isn't happening! Let's discuss how the fish could have been caught!"
Meng Weize couldn't hold back, biting his molars, and muttered lowly, "Shut up..."
"Hahaha," seeing the antics of these two jokers, even the usually calm Zhao Zheng couldn't help but burst into laughter.