Forest Ranger: Starting with a Giant Panda Mom Clinging to Me
Chapter 24 - Panda Mom Fishes

Chapter 24: Panda Mom Fishes

After taking out the fishhook, Lin Tian found a straight, dead branch nearby. He tied the fishing line to one end of the branch, attached the fishhook to the end of the line, and hung a cut-up mineral water bottle in the middle as a float.

With that, a simple fishing rod was complete.

> “Is Brother Tian planning to fish??”

> “This fishing rod… emmm, it’s like the ones I made as a kid!”

> “Does Brother Tian really think he can catch fish with that?”

> “The environment here is great, but isn’t this fishing rod a bit too dismissive of the fish?”

…

The audience saw Lin Tian’s shoddy-looking fishing rod and started poking fun. Lin Tian didn’t mind. No matter how fancy a fishing rod was, it was useless if it didn’t catch fish. He was confident that even with this crude hook, he could still catch something.

The fishing rod was ready, but now he needed bait.

Lin Tian glanced at his basket. Besides a biscuit saved for lunch, there were only wild fruits he had picked along the way. Among them were snakeberries, sweet and fragrant, especially after being nourished with spiritual water. Fish would probably like them.

After thinking it over, Lin Tian mashed the snakeberries into a paste, mixed it with soil, stirred in some spiritual water, and hung it on the hook.

Then he cast it into the river.

The mother panda saw this, waddled over, and fixed her small eyes on the water’s surface.

> “Host, using fruit as bait?”

> “Can this catch fish?”

> “Fish: Who are you looking down on? Testing me with this? Who are you underestimating?!”

…

The audience scoffed at the bait, thinking Lin Tian was likely to come up empty.

Lin Tian didn’t care. He cast the hook into the river. Plop, the hook hit the water, splashing a small ripple. The hook sank beneath the surface. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for a fish to bite.

Lin Tian used his jacket as a cushion, sat cross-legged by the stream, while the panda squatted beside him, her small eyes gleaming as she stared at the water.

While waiting for a bite, Lin Tian was about to take a sip of water. Just then, the float on the river’s surface suddenly started shaking wildly.

Lin Tian’s eyes lit up. A fish had taken the bait!

The livestream audience noticed it too, realizing a fish might be hooked, and their eyes locked on the scene.

Meanwhile, Lin Tian, seeing the bite, quickly stood and yanked the hook upward.

As he pulled, he felt something was off. The hook felt too light.

Splash.

The hook broke the water’s surface, arcing perfectly through the air. It soon landed by the riverbank. The audience’s eyes immediately focused on the hook, eager to see what kind of fish Lin Tian had caught.

When they looked, they burst out laughing. On the bait, several fish were hooked. But these fish were tiny.  About the length of a finger.

> “Hahaha, I thought Brother Tian had caught some big fish, but they were thumb-sized fish!”

> “Do these even count as fish?”

> “Those fish aren’t even enough for a single bite!”

> “Brother Tian, forget it. Those tiny fish should be released.”

…

The comments roared with laughter.

Lin Tian was a bit helpless too. He hadn’t expected his first cast to avoid an empty hook, but the catch was indeed small. Lin Tian was about to reel in the hook and release the tiny fish back into the river.

At that moment, he noticed the fish and suddenly froze. Why did these fish look like… a really tasty kind of fish?

Lin Tian examined them closely. Their tails were short and thin, their scales glinting pale blue in the sunlight.

Hm? These are leaf fish! Lin Tian was instantly delighted.

“Haha, looks like my luck wasn’t bad. Everyone, check it out, these are leaf fish!”

Leaf fish. They typically lived only in the Sichuan-Shu region. They were a small fish with an exceptionally delicious flavor. Highly sought after, they cost at least over 100 yuan per jin in supermarkets.

The leaf fish hooked on the bait weighed at least a few dozen grams.

> “Leaf fish?”

> “What are leaf fish?”

> “Holy crap! I just looked it up on Baidu, these leaf fish are expensive!”

> “People online say these fish are really tasty.”

> “And these fish only grow this big.”

> “Damn, jealous!”

…

The audience, hearing they were leaf fish, grew envious.

Lin Tian smiled with satisfaction. Not bad, not an empty catch. The mother panda, seeing fish on the hook, hurriedly trotted over to grab them.

Lin Tian quickly stopped her.

“Panda Mom, don’t move. Watch out for the hook,” he said.

Lin Tian was worried the mother panda, eager to eat the fish, might bite the hook. He beat her to it, carefully removing the fish from the hook and placing them in the bamboo basket nearby.

Just a few small leaf fish weren’t enough to eat. He needed to keep fishing.

Lin Tian squatted back down to fish. Meanwhile, the mother panda, seeing Lin Tian catch fish but not giving her any, felt aggrieved.

She nuzzled Lin Tian with her round head, acting coy.

“Ying ying”

(Fishy fish, want to eat.)

The mother panda knew this cute act worked well on Lin Tian. But Lin Tian didn’t nod. These fish weren’t even enough for one bite for her.

“Don’t rush. Wait till I catch a few more, then you can eat,” he said. Lin Tian rubbed the mother panda’s round head to comfort her.

The mother panda huffed, still feeLin wronged. Her gaze fixed on the fishing rod in Lin Tian’s hand, and she suddenly nudged him.

“Ying ying.”

(Fishy fish, I’ll catch myself.)

The mother panda nuzzled Lin Tian while pointing at the fishing rod.

Though Lin Tian understood what the mother panda meant, he didn’t quite process it at first.

Panda Mom wants to fish herself? No way. This is a panda. How is she thinking of fishing?!

Lin Tian was astonished.

Seeing Lin Tian not respond, the panda nuzzled him again, continuing to act coy and pointing at the fishing rod.

At that moment, Lin Tian confirmed the mother panda really wanted to fish.

“Alright, I’ll make you a fishing rod, but can you even catch anything?” Lin Tian looked at the mother panda’s clumsy paws, highly doubting she could learn to hold a fishing rod.

Even if she could, she probably wouldn’t have the patience to wait for a fish to bite before wandering off.

Whatever, he’d just treat it as making a toy for the mother panda to play with. Shaking his head, Lin Tian didn’t think much of it.

He found a sturdier branch nearby, made another simple fishing rod, and handed it to the mother panda. He even helped her attach the bait.

The audience was stunned by this scene.

> “????”

> “No way, Brother Tian, whare are you doing?”

> “Letting the mother panda fish?”

> “Good grief! Really, good grief!”

> “Brother Tian, this move is wild, truly wild!”

> “Can the mother panda fish?!”

> “Isn’t this a joke?!”

…

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