You must have been reading too many female-oriented power fantasy web novels!

It was already nighttime when Jiang Fan and the others finally came out. Unwilling to let the massive thousand-jin beast go without a fight, they decided to head back to the North Gate River to resume their battle.

"Hahaha, those idiots at the paper mill! I heard they've all been arrested because of the sewage dumping issue!"

Chang Kongjun was overjoyed when he received the news upon coming out.

Thinking of old Li's village and that mother and son who had lost their father, his mood lightened somewhat.

Yet, the dead could not be resurrected, and what had happened could no longer be changed. All one could wish for was a little less oppression in this world and a little more care for the people at the bottom.

Only when the common folk lived well could things truly be considered good!

"Let's go, we're going back to catch that giant fish!"

Jiang Fan waved his hand and set off, accompanied by his cousin Chang Kongjun, Yellow Hair, and Ma Dongdong.

Suddenly, Zhou Hong panicked as he remembered that his father would find out he had been fishing again.

Once his old man got back, those seven-wolf leather belts were definitely going to work his hands to cramps!

"Damn it! How could I get distracted from fishing!"

"Hey, Fan Ge, Yellow Hair, Ma Dongdong, wait for me!"

...

"Hahaha, Ruyan, didn't I tell you? Jiang Fan is just no good. You wouldn't listen, and now look, he's locked up!"

As soon as Shen Zhiling got wind of Jiang Fan's situation, she rushed over to find Liu Ruyan, immediately launching into various accusations against Jiang Fan.

Liu Ruyan rolled her eyes at her and said, "My dad said it was just a frame-up by the paper mill, nothing serious. What are you looking so smug about?"

Shen Zhiling crossed her arms over her flat chest and declared, "Where there's a first time, there's a second! Today he dares to pick fights and provoke trouble, tomorrow he'll be hitting up high-end clubs for hookers!"

"Ruyan, seriously, you are just way too naive!"

Liu Ruyan knitted her delicate brows. "Is it really that serious?"

Shen Zhiling: "Of course! No one who fishes is ever a good person!"

"Think about it. You used to demand that he come home every night, and he did. But what about now? Doesn't he stay out?"

"Isn't this just pushing his luck step by step and testing your bottom line?"

"Besides, men turn bad once they have money. He just won a million from that competition, and now he won't come back at night. Who knows if he's keeping a mistress on the side!"

"Ahem, and think about it—Jiang Fan, I admit he's got a tiny bit of good looks, but that's a curse, not a blessing!"

Liu Ruyan: "Why is being handsome a curse?"

Shen Zhiling: "Guys like that—you aren't the only girl he likes. Other girls like him too. Gradually, he'll have more women around him, and sooner or later, his affections will wander!"

"Tell me, isn't that a curse?!"

"Ruyan, stop being foolish. Hurry up and leave that fisherman Jiang Fan."

Liu Ruyan: "Should I call him and tell him to come back now? No, how could I possibly disturb Jiang Fan's fishing? Instead..."

"I'm going to quit my job starting tomorrow and just follow Jiang Fan around fishing!"

Shen Zhiling dramatically jerked backward in a tactical retreat.

"Follow that punk Jiang Fan to go fishing?!"

"Hey! You silly girl! Did you not hear a single word of everything I just said?!"

"I heard it! I'm going to quit my job and go fishing with Jiang Fan!"

Liu Ruyan clenched her small pink fists, a budding interest in fishing suddenly taking root in her heart.

Shen Zhiling (▼皿▼): "I told you he's not coming home at night, and instead of chewing him out or screaming for a divorce, you're turning around and staying up all night fishing with him? Has your brain short-circuited, woman?"

Liu Ruyan: "Zhiling, you don't understand. I love Jiang Fan. You can try finding a man yourself and you'll know."

Upon hearing this, Shen Zhiling whipped her head away.

"I'm not looking! My heart has already been claimed by that man!"

"My blood can only flow for that one man!"

Liu Ruyan: "...Zhiling, look at you, you're doing it again..."

Shen Zhiling: "There's no one else here, I'll say whatever I want!"

"Look at you, you're already married, what haven't you seen? Why are you still so conservative?"

Liu Ruyan: "But you don't even know the name of the man you've had a crush on, and you don't even know where he is. Isn't that a bit unrealistic?"

Shen Zhiling pulled out a cheap, street-stall-looking necklace and studied it for a long time. "Ruyan, you don't understand. That's precisely why love is so romantic and great!"

"When I was little, I played too recklessly and almost drowned in the river. If my Prince Charming hadn't shown up, you probably would have lost me as your best friend forever!"

"Sigh, it's a pity that in my wild flailing in the water back then, I accidentally yanked this necklace right off his neck... Even so, more than ten years have passed, and his tender face has never faded from my mind."

"I believe that with this necklace, I will definitely see my Prince Charming again."

Shen Zhiling wore a starry-eyed, infatuated expression, fantasizing about her Prince Charming reappearing, walking down the aisle with him, doing all the loving things couples do, and having a whole bunch of babies together.

That kind of life... tsk tsk, it would definitely be better than Liu Ruyan's!!

"My Prince Charming, I know you're also in Yuanshan Town, but where on earth are you?"

"Achoo!"

Out fishing at that exact moment, Jiang Fan suddenly let out a sneeze!

"What's going on? Catching a cold? Or is Ruyan thinking of me?"

The scene cuts back to Shen Zhiling as she looked at Liu Ruyan. "Hey, Ruyan, what's with that look on your face?"

Liu Ruyan wore a depressed little expression. "You really should just find another man, or else you might as well stay single for the rest of your life."

Shen Zhiling: "Hmph! You're just jealous that my male god is better than Jiang Fan!"

Liu Ruyan: "I'm not jealous at all. Jiang Fan is the best person in this world!"

Shen Zhiling: "Bah! Jiang Fan is just a mere fisherman, totally unrefined. He's definitely not as good as my Prince Charming!"

"My Prince Charming must be a super gorgeous hunk, also a corporate CEO, standing 1.8 meters tall, with an eight-pack, and 20 cm... I imagine that the day we meet, he's going to pin me fiercely against the wall and say, 'Heh, woman, are you playing with fire?'"

Shen Zhiling drifted off into wild fantasies, acting even more childish than a schoolgirl.

"Sigh, Ruyan, just make sure you don't get too jealous when that time comes!"

"Who knows, maybe his friends are CEOs or something too. As your best friend, I can introduce you around."

Liu Ruyan: "You've definitely been reading too many romance web novels for girls!"

Shen Zhiling rolled her eyes. "You're just consumed by envy, jealousy, and hatred!"

Liu Ruyan: "I have no desire to be envious. Having Jiang Fan is enough for me."

Shen Zhiling: "That's right, that's right! Don't try to deny it!"

She paused for a moment before asking with a flushed face and mischievous curiosity, "Bestie, tell me, is Jiang Fan really that big?"