Since he lived by the beach, with few neighbors around and some distance from the center of the village, he knew nothing about what the villagers had been discussing that morning.
Only when he carried his buckets to the dock did he hear the villagers talking about it. They said the thief who had recently been stealing catches from fishing nets had been caught-it was Xu Laisan's youngest son. Their conversation was peppered with curses.
He looked up at the loudspeaker on the purchasing station's roof. It was completely silent. Curious, he asked a villager beside him, "Then what? How are they dealing with him?"
"What else could they do? Apparently, they caught him red-handed last night, then Secretary Chen went over and gave him a dressing-down. He also said he'd announce it over the loudspeaker today as a warning and punishment. His family panicked and kept begging for mercy. Even the Old Lady in his family got down on her knees and begged Secretary Chen not to broadcast it. She said the boy still needed to find a wife, and they couldn't ruin his reputation. She kept asking him not to put it on the loudspeaker because it would be too humiliating."
Someone nearby added, "So they know what shame is, yet he's always stealing? Who in the village doesn't know he's light-fingered? What reputation does he have left?"
"If people just talk about it privately, it'll probably blow over before long. But if it keeps playing over the loudspeaker, his whole family will be disgraced."
"Exactly. But he's getting off far too lightly. Once or twice would be one thing, but he's a repeat offender. He's always been pinching things, and apparently he'd been stealing from nets for quite a while this time. Good thing they caught him.