"Alright! I feel like your plan is more reliable, why don't we go with your approach then? You take care of handling the Jinghai Garden side of things? I'm not really good at these execution tasks!" Zhang Yang nodded and said.

Old Zhao nodded in agreement and said, "Okay! I'll gather information on the sponsored competitions at the black pits from the past year or two and come up with a cooperation plan! You don't have to worry about the execution details!

By the way, Meng Fan and Han Mocheng came back a day earlier than you. They were disheartened by the competition, you should find some time to check on them!"

"Disheartened? Wasn't it just a regular Category Four competition they went to? What happened?"

Hearing Old Zhao change the topic, Zhang Yang was a bit confused. With his understanding of Meng Fan and Han Mocheng's skills, this shouldn't happen!

"I didn't ask about the specifics, you can ask them yourself. It seems their performance was really bad. According to our set leave policy, after a competition, there is a day of relaxation for free activities. But this group, including the most playful Xiaobao, didn't take a break; they're all at the club's Practice Pole Pond training hard!"

"Uh... Got it, I'll go check! What are these guys up to, no one's mentioned anything on WeChat either!"

"Go have a look, it seems the hard-earned sharpness we cultivated is getting worn down, their mindset's not right, don't let them go astray!"

"Alright!"

...

After discussing and sorting out the sponsorship and competition preparation with Old Zhao, Zhang Yang strolled down the stairs, got into his car, and headed straight to the training base.

With the matter on his mind, Zhang Yang noticeably drove faster on the way, reaching the Practice Pole Pond base in no time.

Zhang Yang parked his car in the yard and strolled towards the Practice Pole Pond. None of the competitions team members were missing; they were all doing basic pole casting training at the Practice Pole Pond.

Approaching the Practice Pole Pond, Zhang Yang took a few glances at these people. He couldn't tell anything unusual from their actions and expressions. Was Old Zhao overthinking it?

With a quick reevaluation, Zhang Yang believed Old Zhao wouldn't shoot aimlessly. At his age, he's pretty perceptive in dealing with people and assessing situations, unlikely to joke idly with Zhang Yang. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

So, with that thought, Zhang Yang wandered over not too far behind the group, patiently watching.

A group of buddies was sitting side by side at this moment, following the temporary captain Han Mocheng in high-frequency pole casting, so they hadn't noticed Zhang Yang standing behind them.

After watching for about five minutes, Zhang Yang couldn't hold it any longer and cleared his throat twice.

"Hey, are you all practicing? Quite diligent!!" Zhang Yang said with a cigarette hanging from his lips, smiling.

Hearing the sound, everyone turned their heads to give Zhang Yang a look of respect.

"Boss!"

"Brother Yang!"

"Leader!"

...

Everyone gave their own greetings in unison.

"So, I heard you guys got handled at the recent competition, feeling down?" Zhang Yang didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.

...

Silence, everyone looking at Zhang Yang a second ago had their eyes filled with light, but as soon as Zhang Yang asked about the competition, the light in their eyes visibly dimmed.

Seeing this, Zhang Yang's heart sank, not feeling quite right.

For competitive anglers, not getting good results isn't a big issue. Everyone has times when they're unlucky or perform poorly, but if the 'spirit' in their eyes is gone, that's trouble.

"Captain Han, what's the situation? Why is everyone silent? Wasn't it just an ordinary Category Four competition? Why are you all acting like you lost a battle, looking dejected!"

Zhang Yang took out a pack of cigarettes to offer to everyone, lit one for himself, and took a deep drag.

Han Mocheng also lit a cigarette and after brewing for a few seconds, said with an ugly expression, "Damn it, this time the competition was spooky!

Starting from the practice the day before the competition, all the bait methods and tricks that used to work so well for us were completely ineffective during the actual competition day!

This time, none of us achieved a leading score in the competition, came dead last! Xiaobao even scored two blanks! The others weren't much better either!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yang instantly became alert.

"What's going on? Was the fish condition poor overall, or were just you guys performing way below your usual level?"

"The overall fish condition was average, anglers scoring small scores could still catch sixty or seventy fish, mixed catch around a dozen kilograms! Generally not that great, but we were just lousy, I doubt someone cast a curse on me, damn it, everywhere I go is where the fish aren't biting!" Han Mocheng continued.

"What happened, give me the detailed version!"

If the whole fish activity were poor and Han Mocheng and the others didn't perform well, that could be understandable, maybe just bad luck. But it doesn't seem like it was that kind of difficult fish condition.

"Let me put it this way, our basic bait that used to work on any fish had no dominance at all when facing the fish, its effects weren't even as good as regular blue carp packs!

Out of four competitions, it's like every drawing led to a neighbor catching fish and us just staring blankly, we made all kinds of adjustments, changed baits, adjusted setups, tried various adaptations, but there was dead zero effect!

Got beaten for over a thousand during the fish facing, and on competition day, lost several packs during side bets with others! Our mindset got completely wiped!"