"Daqiang, I know it wasn't you," Li Long said with a smile. "If it had been you, those water rats wouldn't have escaped either. Look, there are only signs of digging here, no signs of anyone catching water rats at all. Whoever dug this didn't know water rats have several entrances. They probably didn't catch a thing."
Li Long hadn't suspected him, which made Tao Daqiang breathe a sigh of relief. Then he grew angry again.
"Who could it be, then? I clearly found that hole first..."
Li Long comforted him.
"Daqiang, until a water rat's caught, it doesn't belong to anyone. Whoever catches it gets it. If you'd spotted it, marked it, wounded it, and then it escaped from you and someone else caught it, you might just about have a claim. But now, of course it belongs to whoever can catch it."
He recalled that later occasion when Li Qiang went fishing. Li Qiang had also felt that someone had betrayed him, bringing others along to catch fish that should have been his. But in reality, the fish were wild resources then. Until you caught them, they belonged to whoever did.
"It's just a shame about this nest of water rats. Judging by these nests, there must've been at least five or six."
"It's all right. Little Haizi's so big, there should be more." Li Long understood, but he hadn't planned on going home empty-handed today either. He pointed ahead and said:
"Let's look farther along and see if there are any holes up ahead."
Tao Daqiang still couldn't quite let it go. As they walked, he asked:
"How did anyone know we were catching water rats? And why did they have to dig up the very hole I found..."
"Someone must've heard or seen us. They only