The four of them dragged Xu Laifu along, cursing under their breath so they would not disturb the villagers' rest and beating him as they went. His face had already been bruised and swollen, and by the time they reached Secretary Chen's door, it was almost as swollen as a pig's head.
Before knocking, Ye Yaodong remembered to smack him on the head. "Behave yourself!"
"Secretary Chen? Secretary Chen?"
Afraid of waking the neighbors, he kept his voice as low as possible. Before long, the door opened.
"Who is it? What's the matter at this hour?" Secretary Chen was still holding up his trousers and tying the drawstring as he opened the door. "Oh... A-Dong? What brings you here so late?"
"Secretary Chen, I'm really sorry. You were already asleep, and here I am waking you up."
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm up now. What is it?" Secretary Chen finished tying his waistband and craned his neck to look behind him. "Why are there so many of you?"
Ye Yaodong reached behind him and hauled Xu Laifu forward. "Here's what happened, Secretary Chen. For over a month now, the villagers who set Fishing Pots and Korean Nets have been having their catches stolen every few days. I only have four or five strings of Fishing Pots altogether, and their catches have already been stolen several times."
"Last night, I saw this fellow sneaking around with a bucket, so I thought I'd get a few friends to stake out the dock tonight. Sure enough, we caught him out at sea stealing from nets. When we caught him, he actually dared to struggle and resist, and even tried to talk his way out of it. We were so angry that we gave him a beating."
While Ye Yaodong spoke, Fatty and A-Guang