Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King-Chapter 597 - 343: Late-Night Conversation

Zhang Yang put on his clothes and strolled downstairs, heading straight toward the parking spot.

From Zhang Yang's angle, he could only see half of Han Mocheng's face with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. This guy was looking down, not fiddling with his phone, lost in his thoughts.

"Hey! What are you doing, following us to the hotel in the middle of the night instead of resting?"

Zhang Yang, like a ghost, silently walked over to the spot beside the driver's seat and suddenly greeted.

"Whoa! You almost scared me to death!"

That unexpected greeting almost sent Han Mocheng flying. The cigarette hanging from his mouth fell onto his chest, and he awkwardly brushed it off.

"What's up? Is there something going on?" Zhang Yang glanced at Han Mocheng, trying to read something from his eyes.

To be fair, with Zhang Yang's experience of two lifetimes, claiming his savvy is near-mythical might be an exaggeration, but generally speaking, people of the same age are hard-pressed to hide their emotions in front of Zhang Yang.

But Han Mocheng was different. Zhang Yang observed intently for several seconds, yet he couldn't discern any hints from Han Mocheng's expression.

Facing the question, Han Mocheng didn't rush to answer but instead slowly took out a cigarette box, threw a cigarette to Zhang Yang, and lit one for himself.

"Hop in the car and let's chat!"

"Alright!"

Zhang Yang walked around to the rear of the car, opened the passenger door, and sat down.

Han Mocheng took a few deep drags of his cigarette, slowly adjusting his state.

"What's up, trying to be profound with me? We're all men here, let's just get straight to the point!" Zhang Yang grumbled with dissatisfaction, staring at him.

"Alright!" Han Mocheng nodded and opened up the conversation.

"You already know I have a contract with Northwest Wolf, right?

What I want to talk about next is related to them, but not much, more like a segue!

I'm seen by others as a good-for-nothing rich kid, with some ancestral wealth, no worries about food and drink, still some money to mess around with.

According to the standard path, I should have graduated from college in my twenties, then followed the family arrangements to get some job experience, gradually taking over my dad's role!

But that's not the life I want! I want to live for myself, not entirely for the sake of other people's expectations!

I used to play with cars, off-road, hunting, survival, extreme sports, anything that could get my adrenaline pumping.

Later, I realized these things only provided temporary excitement and weren't the life I wanted.

Until I accidentally got into fishing through a friend! Quickly I was completely captivated by the charm of the sport, utterly engrossed!

I'm quite a fast learner. Once I felt I found my direction, I seriously started diving into learning.

Within a year or two, I gained a bit of local fame, and then, through a friend's introduction, joined the Northwest Wolf Fishing Tackle company, becoming a signed angler in others' eyes.

You might wonder, I'm not short of money, so why sign with a company?

I don't lack money, and honestly, I don't care about the meager salary the company offers, but after spending time in the fishing circle, I realized it seems like an individual sport, but in reality, it's a team project!

I don't lack money, but I lack a team, teammates, and well-informed support staff.

At that time, there was an opportunity, and I joined Northwest Wolf.

Originally, I thought of making fishing my lifelong career path, working hard for a few years to earn some honors, maybe even become a Fishing King or a Special-level Competitive Fishing Master!

If I could leave something behind in the sport I love, I wouldn't have lived in vain.

But after joining, I discovered that under the sunlight, the industry's truths couldn't be seen. Even a second-rate fishing tackle company was riddled with issues, containing too many things I couldn't tolerate!

Want to know why I left Northwest Wolf?

They made me go easy on another angler in a competition; I endured. They made me play 'tactics' and 'coordinate', I endured.

The most excessive thing was when they wanted me to destroy others' fishing spots, interfering with the competition! This hit my bottom line!

I had a fierce argument with the team leader, and the conflict was irreconcilable.

I even went to Qiu Wu, the boss, only to be told the team leader was right! The reason was that all other teams did the same, and not playing would result in losses!

As the saying goes, when the whole world is dark, one's innocence is a sin! I found myself to be that sinful person, completely out of place with the team!

So I chose to leave! If I can't change those bad habits, I can at least play by myself!!

But speaking of it, I feel quite ashamed. Without the support of a team, I realized my own strength wasn't as great as I imagined!

It's not like I haven't interacted with other large and small fishing teams, but none of them caught my eye!

The people who approached me either hoped to freeload on my personal resources or had a bad atmosphere and malicious intent.

"""

Until I met you guys!

How should I put it, your team is different from other teams. You're not that old, but you have a kind of charisma I can't quite describe.

Actually, I've been quietly observing each of you since the first time I invited you all for roast lamb and drinks. Everyone's attitude towards you is definitely not because of your position, but from genuine recognition!

I also specifically looked into your company's background and found that you're a very young team, and the company hasn't been around for too many years. All the conditions are a perfect match for my requirements!

I originally wanted to have an open chat with you at the dinner table, using the excuse of being tipsy. But everyone was partying a bit too hard, and several times when I wanted to speak up, I never found the right opportunity!

After you guys drove off, I was filled with regret, and almost as if driven by some mysterious force, I drove to the hotel! I was hesitating whether to find you and try to communicate a bit more!

And unexpectedly, before I could make up my mind, you came down!

Damn, you scared the hell out of me, even burned a hole in my clothes with the cigarette!"

It seemed that after a whole night of brewing his thoughts, Han Mocheng decided not to hold it in any longer. He let everything out to Zhang Yang in one breath, spilling his guts like beans out of a bamboo tube.

Zhang Yang listened quietly, took a drag from his cigarette with a furrowed brow, and two seconds later exhaled a rather unsteady smoke ring.

Zhang Yang asked, "Don't you have a non-compete agreement? Even if we could absorb you here, Northwest Wolf won't just let it slide. Qiu Wu has already warned me about it!"

"Agreement? No matter how proper the contract is and how detailed the clauses are! If I, Han Mocheng, acknowledge it, then it's effective! If I don't want to acknowledge it, then it's just a piece of paper! At worst, I'll have to pay them some money. I'll handle the contract issue myself, no need for you to worry about it!"

When Han Mocheng mentioned that not acknowledging it made it just a piece of paper, his tone was calm, yet it gave off an incredibly dominant vibe.

"Oh!"

Zhang Yang nodded, leaving it at that.

From Zhang Yang's perspective, he really didn't want to get involved in this mess.

He had mentioned before that he only met Han Mocheng because of this competition, and they've only known each other for a few days. His impression of Han was still preliminary and not deep enough.

Moreover, Han Mocheng was different from Liu Zi and Xiaobao. He wasn't lacking money, nor did he lack family connections, and considering his age, close to Wang Yan's, integrating into the team would be challenging to manage.

A fisherman whose skills Zhang Yang found so-so, not lacking in money and bringing along a lot of baggage, had merely bought Zhang Yang's team a few meals and some good drinks, and now wants to join Zhang Yang's team. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed a bit unreliable.

At this point, someone might ask, hasn't Zhang Yang decided to invite Han Mocheng for the next competition together? Doesn't that count as acknowledging Han Mocheng?

It does! But acknowledgment can have different levels!

Finding like-minded interests and playing around within a limited scope is acceptable.

But formally accepting someone as an official team member, Zhang Yang felt that making such a decision would be a bit hasty.

Even for Xiaobao, to test him, Zhang Yang had him work at the bait factory for half a month!

"Still quite cautious, huh? I understand!"

Seeing Zhang Yang respond with just an "Oh" and no further comments, Han Mocheng took another drag from his cigarette and then extinguished the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray.

Zhang Yang further said, "I've understood your attitude and thoughts, but I can't immediately give you a response!

How to say it, we're all straightforward people, so I won't beat around the bush!

My team, these people, are not the same type as you.

The closest in personal situation is Xiao Meng, Meng Fan, whose family also has some influence. He used to drive for the boss! Later insisted on learning fishing, getting into competitive fishing, and is now gradually getting the hang of it, improving his skills quickly!

He was a friend who hung out with me when I opened the fishing tackle shop. From meeting to joining in, it took almost a year.

Someone of your age, with so many resources on hand, to put it bluntly, abruptly bringing you into the team makes it tough to position things!

At my current position, I can't just think about myself, I have to consider a lot of factors, you understand right?"

Actually, Zhang Yang was already being quite tactful, but to Han Mocheng's ears, it still sounded a bit harsh.

"Afraid that if I join the team, the other members will have issues, right?" Han Mocheng continued to ask.

"Yes! In terms of seniority, Brother Yan and the others have been with the company for years. Technique-wise, you're not much different from them, above the pass line, hovering between professional and semi-professional angler.

Before Xiaobao joined the team, I sent him to the bait factory for a half month stint. If I send you to the bait factory, would you go?"

Zhang Yang initially thought that if he mentioned the bait factory stint, Han Mocheng would certainly refuse.

Given his kind of privileged background, doing manual labor seemed impossible, something he would never do in his lifetime.

But surprisingly, Han Mocheng agreed.

"So if I stay at the bait factory for half a month and pass the test, I can join the team?

Fine, I'll go!"