“What are you yelling about? Can’t you see we’re busy?” Zhuo Wenxuan looked up and scolded her unhappily.
“If you delay everyone’s work, can you take responsi—”
“—bility…”
The rest of her sentence got stuck in her throat.
Lin Ruiyang’s eyes widened.
Th-this…
Am I seeing things?
Excited, Lin Ruiyang ran toward Huang Xiaoxiao.
Hearing Huang Xiaoxiao’s shout, everyone else turned to look at her.
Then their pupils shrank.
What were they looking at?
The ice had cracked open!
Wasn’t that the thickest section of ice?
How had it broken?
Could they be seeing things?
Everyone rubbed their eyes at the same time.
Then looked again.
They weren’t mistaken.
The ice really had split open.
“Hiss!”
Everyone gasped.
Immediately afterward, their eyes lit up with excitement.
“Lin Hai! Xu Jingtian! Get over here!” Lin Ruiyang quickly shouted to his friends.
Lin Hai and Xu Jingtian snapped out of their shock.
“Hurry! Let’s go!”
At the same time, they released a powerful aura of pressure.
They had opened this ice hole.
Nobody else was allowed to steal it.
Seeing this, Huang Xiaoxiao realized that her shout had attracted far too much attention.
She immediately shrank her neck.
She wanted to show off.
But not that much.
If someone stole the ice hole she had worked so hard to open, it would be a huge loss.
“Sister-in-law, did you open this?” Lin Ruiyang asked, staring at Huang Xiaoxiao, who seemed to be trying her best to make herself smaller.
“Mm.” Huang Xiaoxiao nodded calmly.
“The ice wasn’t even that thick. One explosive bead was enough.”
Her smug expression made Zhuo Wenxuan grit her teeth.
The surrounding crowd was speechless.
What do you mean it wasn’t that thick?
This was the thickest section of ice on the entire river.
There were over a hundred people here, and not a single one had chosen this spot.
Even the Zhou family, one of the Six Great Families, had avoided it.
That alone showed how difficult it was.
Yet this impossible location had been broken open by a completely unknown person.
What were they supposed to say?
“Haha, amazing! Sister-in-law is incredible!” Lin Ruiyang praised enthusiastically.
“It’s nothing, really.” Huang Xiaoxiao waved her hand modestly.
“Hmph.”
“What’s so impressive about it? She just got lucky.” Zhuo Wenxuan snorted.
She refused to believe Huang Xiaoxiao had actually done it.
With those toy explosive beads of hers, she probably couldn’t even make a splash.
The others thought the same.
No one believed that this seemingly foolish woman had opened the ice.
They all assumed she had simply stumbled upon a weak spot.
“I saw a fish!” Huang Xiaoxiao had been about to brag some more when she caught sight of a long fish swimming beneath the broken ice.
Everyone immediately lowered their heads.
Lin Ruiyang only managed to glimpse a tail.
The others saw nothing.
Still, that didn’t stop them from believing her.
“Quick, let’s clear away the ice.”
Although the ice had cracked, chunks still blocked the opening.
The ice needed to be pushed underwater before they could fish properly.
“Don’t waste energy clearing it. Use my explosive beads.” Zhuo Wenxuan immediately took out more beads and shot a challenging look at Huang Xiaoxiao.
Huang Xiaoxiao couldn’t be bothered competing with her.
The biggest credit had already gone to her.
No matter what happened afterward, it wouldn’t change that.
Besides, this was her first time fishing through ice.
She stared eagerly into the hole.
She absolutely had to try it herself.
“Alright, the ice has sunk. We can start now,” Lin Ruiyang announced.
Everyone immediately pulled out their fishing tools.
More than ten people instantly surrounded the opening.
Holding her fishing net, Huang Xiaoxiao stood there blankly.
Wait a minute. I was the one who opened this spot.
Couldn’t you at least leave me some room?
She circled the group twice.
There wasn’t even a tiny gap she could squeeze into.
“Forget it. I’ll just make another hole.”
She gave up.
Pulling out another explosive bead from her storage space, she decided this time she’d find a hidden location and tell absolutely nobody.
She would catch fish all by herself.
Having made up her mind, she started wandering across the ice.
Looking left.
Looking right.
Then her eyes lit up.
“That spot looks good.”
Not only was no one there, but several trees blocked the view.
If she went there, nobody would notice.
Whoosh!
Her shoes slid against the ice.
She wobbled from side to side.
At this rate, she figured she’d master skating after a couple more attempts.
She glanced around to make sure nobody was watching.
Then decisively threw an explosive bead.
Pop!
Another muffled sound echoed.
Huang Xiaoxiao waited.
A crack appeared in the ice.
Nice!
She was very satisfied.
She threw another explosive bead.
The ice shattered.
The broken chunks sank beneath the water.
A fishing hole appeared before her.
Clutching her net, Huang Xiaoxiao ran over excitedly.
Fishing!
She was finally going fishing!
She lowered the net into the hole.
Waiting for fish to swim right in.
“Fishies, fishies, get in the net.”
She muttered to herself while lying beside the hole and peering into the water.
Unfortunately, perhaps because the light was poor, she couldn’t see anything below.
Eventually she gave up.
Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long.
Less than two minutes later, her hand suddenly felt heavier.
“Got one!”
She tightened her grip and pulled hard.
The net emerged from the water.
Droplets sparkled under the sunlight.
But aside from water…
There was nothing else.
“Where’s my fish?”
Huang Xiaoxiao blinked repeatedly.
For a moment, she even wondered whether she’d accidentally flung the fish away.
She looked around.
The ice surface was completely empty.
Nothing.
Forget it.
It was her first try.
Not catching anything was normal.
Huang Xiaoxiao wasn’t discouraged.
She continued waiting patiently.
Meanwhile, Lin Ruiyang’s group was having tremendous success.
With a single cast, they pulled up more than ten fish.
Each fish weighed over ten kilograms.
Huang Xiaoxiao watched with envy.
It would be great if I could catch that many too.
Then I could even share—
Suddenly, something tugged at her net.
Her attention snapped back.
Instinctively, she gripped the handle tighter.
But the force below was enormous.
Huang Xiaoxiao stumbled forward and nearly got dragged away.
Panicking, she hugged a nearby tree.
“Whew, that scared me to death.”
After calming herself down, she hurriedly looked into the ice hole.
There, beneath the water, was a fish larger than she was.
Oh my god!
Huang Xiaoxiao’s eyes and mouth opened wide.
She was completely stunned.
“Th-this… it’s so huge! How am I supposed to pull it out?”
She looked toward Lin Ruiyang’s group.
She wanted to call for help.
But she was afraid of being discovered.
If other people saw a fish this big, they would definitely come to steal it.
But there was no way she could just let it go.
Absolutely not!
Huang Xiaoxiao immediately became frantic.