"Everyone is looking at the fish, but aren't you curious about what kind of rod this is? It's so thin, yet it perfectly handles the weight and curve of a big crucian carp without even reaching its limit!"
"Is there a pro here, please share the rod's name and specs!"
"Can the host help ask about the rod? I really like it!"
"Could it be RBen then?"
God damn it, your RBen handles this well? A big crucian carp only bends it a little beyond the first two sections!"
"Whoever said it's RBen is a troll!"
Seeing that his live stream was about to go off-track, Liu Mingyuan quickly took control of the situation.
"Let's keep the stream friendly, don't start any trends or attack anyone. I'll go and ask for you!" Liu Mingyuan said bravely.
Yue Feng was very close to Liu Mingyuan, getting off the Fishing Box was just a formality since Yue Feng had already heard what he had just said in the stream.
"Hehe, this rod is custom made and not available for retail!" Yue Feng said with a smile, providing the answer.
"Can you show everyone the handle of the rod?"
"Sure!"
Yue Feng lifted the rod, showing the brand, size, and position details on the handle.
It only had "Qing Hong 12 feet" written on it, with no manufacturer's mark or identifiable brand logo. Indeed, as Yue Feng said, this rod was not for sale.
"Wow, the paintwork is so neat, and the text is beautiful too! Does any pro know about this Qing Hong rod?"
"Idiot, he already said it's a custom rod, not a retail product!"
"Did anyone notice how magnetic the voice of the guy who just spoke was?"
God damn magnetic voice, Liu Mingyuan was about to get frantic with the crowd in the live stream!
"Alright, alright, you've seen the rod, let's stop the random discussions and get back to the topic, continue fishing!" Liu Mingyuan forcefully brought the conversation back and continued casting and changing bait.
But often, the situation is not something you can control just because you want to control it.
Liu Mingyuan had just sat down on the Fishing Box, not even having time to put his phone on the tripod, when Yue Feng next to him caught another fish.
An observant Angler quickly noticed that Yue Feng had caught a fish and eagerly continued in the live stream: "Wow, wow, wow, the guy next to him caught another fish! He might hook them continuously!"
"Watch the slip of fish, watch the slip of fish!"
"Watch the slip of fish +1, let's start betting on the size of the fish! Seven ounces, I bet a bottle of Lao Gan Ma!"
"Eight ounces! I'm raising the stakes with a bottle of Lao Gan Father!"
"At least one pound! Raising the stakes with two packs of Wei Long spicy strips!"
...
No sooner had the previous conversation calmed down than a new trend was immediately started.
Liu Mingyuan, unable to resist the audience's spamming, slightly turned the camera, exposing half of Yue Feng's body in the frame.
Seeing the full view was impossible, as Liu Mingyuan was hosting his own live stream, not someone else's. The better others fished, the louder his face would be slapped.
Liu Mingyuan soon regretted his actions.
If he could do it over, Liu Mingyuan definitely wouldn't have carelessly taken his phone everywhere to shoot videos, let alone adjusted the angle of the phone holder to capture Yue Feng in the live stream.
Because he soon discovered that Yue Feng had started to connect his catches frequently.
At first, it was quite lively, with bait entering the water about once every half a minute, but as the fish density increased and the shoals became bolder, Yue Feng's catching speed increased rapidly, reaching a frenzy where as soon as the bait hit the bottom, there was a bite.
"Wow, is this guy your friend, host? Your friend is really awesome, catching fish continuously in broad daylight!"
"Did you guys notice that when the resolution is set to 4k, you can actually see the buoy's bites!"
"The guy upstairs is really a master, he can clearly see it!"
"Wow, unbelievable, what kind of buoy is that young man using, the bites are so fierce, did you see that pause just now?"
"Saw it, saw it, even a slight bite is clear, and a pause is even clearer, starting from two notches, that buoy's bites are really beautiful!"
"I want one too, host, can you ask what brand of buoy that is, I want to get a set!"
The chat in the live stream room was now completely chaotic! And Liu Mingyuan felt utterly miserable, as if he had swallowed a dead fly.
He wanted to end the live stream, but he couldn't bear to lose the high popularity he was enjoying. However, if he continued streaming, Yue Feng would steal all the limelight in the live stream room.
That guy was using some weird equipment, Liu Mingyuan could see clearly from his own fishing spot the precise movements of Yue Feng's buoy bites, which were much better than the Gold Eyes floaters Liu himself was using, which cost over a hundred each.
"Sorry guys, I rushed out to fish today and forgot to bring my power bank. My phone is about to die, so I'm afraid I can only stream up to here today. Let's meet another day!"
With a heartache, Liu Mingyuan still managed to retain a bit of sanity and found a somewhat plausible excuse to end the stream. If he continued, he felt he might actually suffer a heart attack.
"Phew..." Liu Mingyuan let out a long sigh after shutting down the live stream.
Throughout the entire process, a fellow angler named Xiao Zhang had been watching and noticed Liu Mingyuan's defeat. Xiao Zhang's lips slightly curled up: "Boss Liu, seems like your neighbor is luckier than you today!"
"Neighbor? Are you a host too?" Liu Mingyuan asked casually.
Yue Feng shook his head: "I run a fishing gear shop, in the alley at the intersection of Muxiang Road in town, Yue Feng Fishing Gear! Are you also in the fishing gear business?"
Now, Liu Mingyuan felt even more depressed. The neighbor, who looked quite young, spoke pleasantly, and was very handsome, turned out to be his local competitor. Being beaten by a fellow angler was acceptable, but being defeated by a competitor was hard for Liu Mingyuan to accept.
"Oh, I'm Liu Mingyuan, and I also have a store in town, Xinsheng Grocery Wholesale, and I also happen to sell fishing gear on the side!"
Yue Feng was slightly moved inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged: "Oh, so you're a senior in this field, I've long admired your reputation!"
As the old saying goes, peers are competitors, and this is true most of the time. After discovering that Yue Feng was in the same business, Liu Mingyuan's mindset underwent a significant change. Yue Feng also subtly felt a hint of indefinable hostility.
The atmosphere became strangely silent, with Yue Feng still maintaining a high frequency of catches, but Liu Mingyuan was suffering on his end, mostly just watching after his initial catch.
While the neighbor was catching one fish after another, Liu Mingyuan hadn't caught a single one, and for the first time, he felt that fishing was dull. He forced himself to stay by the riverside until past three and then found an excuse about a family issue to leave.
Watching Liu Mingyuan's van retreat in defeat, Xiao Zhang finally opened up.
"Dude, you are fiercely competitive! It's my first time seeing Liu Mingyuan lose face! Whenever I've seen Boss Liu by the river, he doesn't go home until it's dark, and today he just took off!"
Yue Feng initially had a good impression of Xiao Zhang, but after hearing what he had said behind others' backs, his opinion changed quickly.
Being nice in front of others and scheming behind their backs, such a person's character really isn't much to speak of.