Just as Zhang Yang was giving a special lesson to Lao Zhao and the other three, the organizer of this weekend's friendship tournament, Lang Junfeng, reached out to a somewhat renowned player in the fishing community of W City with the help of his senior brother.
At this moment, in Lang Junfeng's shop, three people were calmly drinking tea. Opposite the old wolf sat a young man around thirty years old.
This guy was named Chen Xueqiang, tall and thin, with single eyelids, sporting the then-popular large sideburns and swallowtail split hairstyle. On the left side of his face, there was a mole with a tuft of hair.
Last year's champion of the Wuhan Tianyuan Cup fishing competition in W City, he had been at the Dragon King's Grudge fishing school for several years, which definitely counted as being "formally trained" at the time.
Li Chunsheng looked up with a smile and said, "Junfeng, I called Xiao Chen to help out this time; he'll definitely make you look good! What new product are you pushing? Tell him while there's still time!"
"Alright, I'll go get it! Let the expert give some guidance!" Lang Junfeng turned to the shelf and quickly retrieved a few packs of pre-packaged bait.
Zhang Yang's upgraded formula of fish bait was something that Lang Junfeng hadn't been able to perfectly replicate yet, but this didn't have a decisive impact.
As long as the basic components of the bait are up to standard, adding some flavors of bait at hand can also have a positive effect of gathering and luring fish, although the overall performance might not be that outstanding.
The formula bait in Lang Junfeng's hand now was a product of this approach. The main ingredients were still granules and Marukyu's style, with some barley grain-flavored bait added, paired with the shop's main promotion, sweet wild food, and the overall flavor direction was okay.
"This is a new formula I came up with after many experiments, and here's some imported additives to use in conjunction!"
Lang Junfeng placed the bait on the table and also took out a bottle of unopened additives.
In terms of fishing research, Chen Xueqiang was much more knowledgeable than Lang Junfeng, the tackle shop owner. He frequently participated in fishing competitions and had access to more information, and his understanding of bait and additives far exceeded that of average people.
Chen Xueqiang opened the bait package, glanced at it, then sniffed it with his nose. Finally, in front of everyone, he directly used his fingertip to dab some fish bait powder with saliva and tasted it.
"The stuff is legitimate enough, but the quality is too poor. The super bait inside seems to have gone rancid. Is the Marukyu used Tianjin-made? It carries a bit of a sweetener taste! The granule powder used is cheap too! The taste is somewhat like Tongwei's adult fish feed!"
An expert is truly an expert. Just with a glance, a sniff, and a taste, he had already figured out most of the composition of Lang Junfeng's bait.
After listening, Lang Junfeng's expression didn't change much, but inside, he couldn't help but feel turbulent waves.
All three points mentioned by the other party were spot on!
"Xiao Chen, do you think this bait is enough for the weekend's competition?" Li Chunsheng asked.
"It can be used, but it doesn't have any advantages; the material is too mediocre, and both the state and performance are lacking!" Chen Xueqiang said with a slight pout.
Seeing the low evaluation, Li Chunsheng continued, "The shop has all kinds of bait, can't you mix some on the spot if not?"
Chen Xueqiang took a sip from his teacup and said, "It's not impossible to mix some on the spot, but let me say upfront, the stuff I use to mix bait isn't cheap, there's no cost-effectiveness!"
"Results are the priority. It's already a huge favor you're here to help; it's all on me!" Lang Junfeng said without hesitation.
"Alright, then I'll give it a try!"
Soon, Chen Xueqiang turned to the shelves and swiftly gathered a heap of bait.
Imported Marukyu's Four Great Guardians, imported light bran, a kilogram of seaweed, Chishang, Huangji, @21, Gold Edition Shui Zhi Feng super bait, and bags of pure vegetable grain powder in coarse, medium, and fine.
Among this heap of bait, except for the granule powder and super bait, the rest were all imported from Japan.
He didn't even need a measuring cup, just grabbed a big basin and roughly controlled the bait ratio by feel, mixing them all together.
Seeing the things he used, Lang Junfeng felt a bit of heartache inside.
All of them were high-quality, expensive items. No wonder he's an expert; he didn't use a single cheap thing.
However, at this key moment of organizing a team to get results and save face, the heartache had to be endured, while silently spying and memorizing the opponent's general formula types and ratios.
"Do you have any large foil bags? To get results with farmed fish, you need a lot of bait, and this can't be skimped on! Your sweet wild food is the real deal; it's not easy to find around here, what's the point of one small bottle? Give me a couple more!"
Xiao Chen didn't hold back at all with the old wolf, then packed at least eight or nine pounds of the on-the-spot mixed large basin of bait into two large foil bags and asked the old wolf for two more bottles of additives, only then finished.
"With the bait and additives ready, what about the weekend's competition?" Lang Junfeng didn't continue but instead smiled expectantly.
"Since you are the organizer, who will be responsible for the draw recording? Did you invite people from Lao Ma's side to referee?" Xiao Chen didn't answer but asked a question instead.
"Are you talking about Ma Yuhua? The City Fishing Association folks?"
"Yeah!"
Lang Junfeng shook his head, "It's just a friendship match, we didn't invite professional judges! I'll personally record the list and seat numbers!"
"Then it's simple! Get a few smart fishing buddies to sign up for the draw together, if any of them get a good spot, quietly swap it for me, I'll definitely secure the top three for you!"
"This…" Hearing the tip from Chen Xueqiang, Lang Junfeng was slightly taken aback and hesitated with his expression.
Listening to these words, even with imported bait additives, it's not guaranteed to secure a top spot; Lang Junfeng still needed to cheat by swapping positions.
Chen Xueqiang continued, "You've been to fishing competitions before, haven't you? A good fishing spot can magnify your skills several times over!
If the spot is alright, I can definitely get results. If you sit at a dead spot with no fish, even if you invite the Fishing King, he'd just stare blankly!"
Li Chunsheng nodded in agreement and chimed in, "There's nothing wrong with that! It's just swapping for a good fishing spot from the draws among our own people, as long as the fishing buddies you find are smart, there's no problem! There are dozens of people drawing lots, it's all chaotic, who can remember!"
"Alright, I'll make some contacts!" Lang Junfeng gritted his teeth, nodded, and agreed.
After finalizing the bait and the matters for the competition day, Chen Xueqiang stayed a little longer at the store, then left after receiving a call.
When he left, he took the two full bags of high-cost formula bait and additives, without even saying a word of thanks to the old wolf.
Watching the expert leave, Lang Junfeng returned to his seat, worriedly.
"I've heard about this Chen Xueqiang's reputation more than once, but I wonder how his techniques are in this black pond carp competition?" Lang Junfeng asked.
Li Chunsheng took a sip from his teacup, a slight smile curling at the corners of his mouth as he asked, "Feeling the pinch for all those sponsored bait additives?"