Chapter 56: That Distant Cousin of Mine is Pretty Badass!

However, who on earth was calling him? Why was it an unknown number?

Jiang Fan initially thought it was a call from his wife, Liu Ruyan, but upon seeing that it wasn't, he hung up right away!

At the same damn time, Jiang Qi on the other end of the phone was cursing away.

"Damn it! It's me! Your cousin Jiang Qi! Why the hell are you hanging up!"

Indeed, Jiang Qi knew Jiang Fan; he was actually Jiang Fan's distant cousin.

Jiang Qi called again, and predictably, he was hung up on once more.

Jiang Qi: (╬◣д◢)

Damn it! What on earth is that brat Jiang Fan playing at?!

Unable to bear it any longer, Jiang Qi dialed the number again, and this time, it went through.

"Hello! Is this Jiang Fan? I'm your distant cousin Jiang..."

"Beep!"

Before Jiang Qi could finish his sentence, Jiang Fan hung up on him yet again, and to top it off, he downloaded an anti-fraud app!

"Tsk, telecommunication scams are getting more and more sophisticated these days. They even know I've made a lot of money and tracked down my number to call me... What a pity, I've been sharp since I was a kid!"

Jiang Fan put away his phone and walked back to the others.

"Hey, aren't you guys fishing anymore? Why do you keep swarming around my fish and taking pictures?"

Liu Zhoucheng coughed, "Kiddo, choose between this fish and my daughter."

"If you choose my daughter, I'll haul this fish away right now. If you choose the fish, you'll divorce my daughter the moment we get back!"

Jiang Fan replied, "Old man, are you talking nonsense? Only children make choices; I want both your daughter and the fish!"

Liu Zhoucheng said, "Good, good, very good. So you're saying you don't take me, your father-in-law, seriously at all, right?"

Jiang Fan rolled his eyes, "Can I take you for a walk after I finish walking the street?"

Liu Zhoucheng was overjoyed, "Heh, you finally said something human. Fine, fine."

With that, Liu Zhoucheng returned to his own fishing spot to fish.

He Qiang followed behind him, limping, and said, "Director Liu, this giant catfish must be the one that ate people, right?"

Liu Zhoucheng frowned, "Judging by its looks, it's over five hundred pounds and nearly three meters long. I suppose it must be..."

He Qiang asked, "Should we still seal off the Water Curtain Grotto?"

Liu Zhoucheng replied, "With a Mekong giant catfish in a place like this, nobody knows what other behemoths might be lurking around. It's safer to seal it off."

By a little past four in the afternoon, Jiang Fan and the others packed up their rods and headed back.

The harvest this time was bountiful. Aside from Jiang Fan reeling in the 558-pound leviathan, Liu Zhoucheng, He Qiang, and Zhou Hong had also caught several big fish.

The largest one was caught by He Qiang, an 80-pound grass carp.

Next was the 35-pound mandarin fish caught by Zhou Hong.

The Water Curtain Grotto truly was a paradise for anglers.

Every time they went in, they could lug back hundreds of pounds of big fish.

Because of them, Jiang Fan had pocketed tens of thousands of yuan and gained 2,100 emotional value points.

However, what Jiang Fan and the others did not know was that an even greater super-behemoth still lurked within the dark waters of the Water Curtain Grotto's lake...

Not long after they had left, that colossal entity slowly swam up from the pitch-black depths of the lake in the Water Curtain Grotto. When it breached the surface, it delivered a fierce slap against the water, its massive silhouette looking a full circle larger than the Mekong Giant Catfish under the 4 or 5 PM sunlight!

It lingered on the surface for a few seconds, then slowly swayed its body and swam back down into the murky depths, entering an underground river and disappearing into the lightless abyss.

...

Chaonan Road, Hilton Hotel, Sanya City.

Because Yuan Hua's behavior during the livestream had been clipped into video segments by netizens and posted online, this privileged connection was once again pushed into the spotlight.

Netizens even dug up Yuan Hua's background and past scandals.

: This guy is way too arrogant!

: Getting a spot in the Amazon Rainforest Giant Competition through connections is one thing, but running onto a livestream to smear someone? That's just utterly shameless!

: So I'm shameless, what of it? What can you bunch of losers do to me? A bunch of brainless trolls, bottom-feeder peasants!

: So arrogant! He's actually trash-talking with us online?!

: Brothers, assemble firepower and go after him!

: Everyone, look at this video. Some netizens have dug up this brat's identity.

: His father really is a district chief, and his mother is a senior executive at a state-owned enterprise! His grandfather is..., and his grandmother is...!

: Holy crap! Is that the scandal from a few years ago where he bullied a classmate into disability? Wasn't that huge on the internet back then? The one where the parents knelt at the school gates begging for justice! So the perpetrator was him!

: They managed to dig this up too! This batch of netizens is truly awesome!

: This batch of netizens can find anything except a girlfriend.

...

Upon seeing the pile of scandalous dirt unearthed about him, Yuan Hua was utterly infuriated!

When had he ever suffered such humiliation?!

Damn it! The root cause of all this was that accursed Jiang Fan!

I must destroy him! I must destroy him!

"Second Uncle, tell me, are the people you found actually competent?"

Yuan Jun smiled, "Nephew, rest assured. If he can't get it done, who else can?"

"He's right here in Sanya City, on his way to us."

"And all we need to do is get the money ready!"

Before long, Jiang Qi arrived at the Hilton Hotel on Chaonan Road in Sanya City and met with Yuan Jun and Yuan Hua.

"Mr. Jiang Qi, you really are too polite. Since you were coming over, I could have just gone to pick you up. Why go to all this trouble?"

"Still, this works out well. I can hand the money over to you right now."

Yuan Jun smiled broadly, then opened a suitcase filled with 1.5 million yuan in cash.

Pausing for a moment, he continued, "Mr. Jiang Qi, knowing how much you love money, we added an extra half a million as a token of esteem from our young master."

Jiang Qi merely glanced sideways at the cash on the table, then shifted his gaze to Yuan Hua, "You're Yuan Hua of the Yuan family?"

Yuan Hua nodded, putting on a haughty and arrogant expression, and said, "That's right, got a problem with that?"

"Slap!!"

In the next second, a tight slap landed squarely across his face!

No doubt about it—it was Jiang Qi who struck him!

"Why the hell did you hit me? Do you have a death wish?!"

Yuan Hua's temper flared up instantly, and he stood up ready to beat Jiang Qi up.

"Slap!!"

Unflustered, Jiang Qi delivered yet another slap to Yuan Hua's face.

"Damn it!"

Yuan Hua could no longer contain his rage, but just as he was about to make a move, Yuan Jun stopped him.

"Second Uncle, why are you stopping me?! Help me beat this punk up! He hit me! He actually slapped me twice!"

"I'm asking him if his grandfather is in the military?! How dare he be so bold!"

With an awkward expression on his face, Yuan Jun could only force a smile at Jiang Qi, then hurriedly tried to explain to Yuan Hua, "Ahem... Nephew, his grandpa isn't, but, his third grandpa is... and his status is several times higher than your grandpa's!"

Yuan Hua protested, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!!"

Yuan Jun stammered, "Ahem, several times, or even dozens of times higher!"

"Th-th-that makes sense then..." Yuan Hua's expression shifted abruptly, transforming from utter arrogance into servile flattery.

"Brother Qi, it was just me, Yuan Hua, being blind and failing to recognize Mount Tai earlier. I hope you'll be the better man and not hold a grudge, please don't be angry..."

Jiang Qi asked, "Did you idiots not know that Jiang Fan is my distant cousin?"

Yuan Hua stammered, "Ah? You mean... we need to pay more???"

"Pay your sister!"

Cursing loudly, Jiang Qi kicked Yuan Hua flat onto the floor, snapped both of his wrists underfoot, and then strode out of the hotel carrying the 1.5 million yuan, looking utterly carefree.

"Go back and tell your Yuan family to watch their steps, or I'll beat you every single time I see you!"