Deng Shilei had only wanted to catch some fish for extra cash during the farming slack season. He had never expected to land himself in the police station.
What rotten luck.
He had caught fish in Little Haizi before. Whether casting a net or setting a gill net, he always did it quietly on the southern side, out of sight.
Once or twice, he had run into someone herding sheep. Since the man had left him alone, he had thought nothing of it.
He had a bicycle and had visited quite a few nearby reservoirs. After setting his nets, he would retrieve them at first light the next morning, leaving the fish tangled in them, and head straight to Stone City Old Street to sell them.
Seeing those fresh fish still on the nets, the old men and women would all come over to buy.
He had discovered that fish from Little Haizi sold best and drew plenty of repeat customers. Some customers had sharp eyes and could recognize them at a glance. If he caught fish elsewhere instead, a few stubborn old men would refuse to buy them.
Over time, Deng Shilei came to realize that Little Haizi was his treasure trove.
Recently, seeing other people buying tractors had made him terribly envious. But his fields brought in little, and he also had a habit of playing cards for small stakes.
So he had decided to go for a big haul.
After the start of spring, fish had become plentiful in the lake. In particular, the eggs laid last autumn had grown over the past six months into little fish around ten centimeters long, and they had begun spawning too.
Fish that size were troublesome to prepare, but some people particularly enjoyed eating them.
He had tried explosives once