Song Tan's Notes

Late at night.

The river wind was strong, and the engine had stopped, so the two of them could easily make their way into the river bend by simply following the wind and controlling their direction. They even had time to chat.
"That's why rich people are so shrewd! The richer they are, the stingier they become."

"Exactly! They own several fishponds and have leased this riverbank, but when they take their friends fishing, they refuse to stay at their own place and insist on going to that other section of the river!"

It was just bad luck; the spot they chose didn't have many fish. Even God couldn't stand these stingy people, so they came up empty-handed.

Otherwise, if we catch another fish and fill our baskets to the brim, they'll be green with envy.

"Did you find out the price of their fish last year, which was forty?"

Sigh! How come other people's fish can be sold for such a high price?
Although the decision to steal fish was made hastily, my brother often fished in this section of the river, so he knew a thing or two about it:
"Most of the fish have been contracted out to fixed owners this year, so I don't know the prices. But there are refrigerated trucks coming to pick up the goods every morning—you can tell from the freight costs that the fish aren't cheap."

The older people sighed.

"Whether it's cheap or not, we don't have this brand, and the fish are hard to store... What price should we set? We definitely can't afford forty."

On the quiet, deserted river, the two glanced ahead every now and then by the moonlight, already beginning to worry about selling the fish.

They have experience fishing with nets.

They wouldn't steal much, just enough to take advantage of the opportunity to pull in a net, then tow it directly to the city's dock, where they'd load a small truck and head to the market...

"What a pity! Who knows when this opportunity will come again."

The two sighed together.

They just happened to be planning to fish in the river, which is why they saw them lower the net.

It would be an absolute crime not to seize this opportunity.

Unfortunately, this might be the only chance.

"If we can't sell it for forty, we can surely sell it for fifteen, right?"

The two, with considerable experience, went back and forth in their discussion:
"It's so cheap. The residents in the community are selling crucian carp, which are also caught in the reservoir. They can sell them for five yuan each, weighing two or three ounces."

"Let's take a look at the fish in the net. If they're bighead carp or silver carp, we'll sell them by weight. If they're crucian carp, we'll definitely sell them one by one, which will save us trouble."

They don't have the means to set up an oxygen supply box to keep them alive; it wouldn't be good to leave them in this weather for too long. They have to take advantage of the early morning rush at the market and sell them all quickly.

After thinking about it for a while, the two felt that this method was feasible and would sell quickly, so they became even more hopeful.

It also helps to boost my confidence in my target price:
"Look at his lotus pond, can you smell the fragrance of lotus flowers? In this place, they are even wilder than wild ones! Last year, they dared to sell them for 41 kilograms and people were still scrambling to buy them, so the quality is definitely guaranteed."

"We only need 15 or 21 kilograms, that should be fine."

Thinking about it this way boosted their morale, and the two of them were filled with confidence again.

After all, farmed fish are kept very close together; once a net is cast, hehe...

"Hey! I see something on the water ahead. Bro, I can't see it clearly, turn on the light."

The speaker squinted and looked ahead, but the moonlight mixed with the ripples on the water, appearing and disappearing in varying shades, making it impossible for him to see clearly.

However, this requirement was not met.

The older brother, with a strong sense of thievery, was even whispering a reprimand:

"Are you afraid people won't notice or something?!"

“There are dogs on this riverbank. If you turn on the light, aren’t you just alerting them—it’s all water, there’s nothing there?”

The young man's eyesight wasn't very good, and the water was blurry under the moonlight. He looked around but couldn't be sure if it was really there.

After waiting a while, the older brother, not hearing any further noise, said impatiently, "Don't be so jumpy. I think this place is fine, otherwise we can just use the internet cafe here." They couldn't really get too close to the riverbank.

Hearing that it was a serious matter, the brother finally regained his composure and carefully examined the side of the boat again.

The water was pitch black; the closer you got, the more you could see the increasingly deep and eerie ripples. It was a pity we couldn't use lights to attract any fish to come out and investigate.

He stood up, then, supporting himself with one hand on the masthead, looked back:
"It should work, let's fire a net first, holy crap holy crap—!!!"

He suddenly shouted, "Brother! There really is something behind you!"

The river wind suddenly became noisy.

The brother felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end, and stood there stiffly, afraid to move.

Then, trembling, he asked, "What kind? Where did I get it?"

"Could it be a water ghost?"

Oh no, oh no! I heard that water ghosts only appear when they're looking for a scapegoat!

"No, no!" the brother cried anxiously. "Look! Look behind us! Aren't those ducks or something rushing towards us on the water?"

Not only did it charge, but it was also incredibly fast!
In just a few words, we can already see what the leader looks like!

It looks like a goose!
What a big, strong, round, and fierce goose!

There was silence.

Geese are known for their loud voices; when they call, you can hear them across a hill. But for some reason, they are silent right now.

The little brother's hair stood on end.

The moonlight falls quietly, mingling with the shimmering river water. Occasionally, as the angle changes, you can clearly see that besides the large goose at the head of the flock, there is another goose of slightly smaller size beside it.

The small boat was being pushed towards the riverbank by the wind, while the geese were swimming desperately against the wind, with great momentum.

Under the moonlight, the orange-red crown was clearly visible!
Isn't Baymax quite menacing?
It was late at night, a time when everyone should be sleeping and recharging, but these people insisted on coming to cause trouble in the middle of the night.

It's a good goose now, no longer croaking loudly in the middle of the night to disturb people's sleep.

It can endure it, but some people can't. How absurd!

Moreover, it was originally a master at guarding the house and yard; the slightest disturbance could wake up the entire village.

Now that the dogs have taken over these tasks, Big White's usefulness seems to have diminished.

So hard!

A thief has appeared on the water!

This is precisely the time for it to show its magnificence!
Big White stands tall and proud, full of fighting spirit!
It waded through the water, resisting the oncoming wind, its rear end practically swaying round and round, its soles almost sparking as it stomped the clear water...

What gave him even more confidence was that behind him was a goose and several other ducks, who were equally obedient and sneaked out in the dead of night!

They swam silently and in large numbers from the edge of the lotus pond, getting closer and closer!

Only then did the two people on the small boat finally see them clearly.

These aren't just two geese, they're a whole flock of waterfowl!

"Brother, what do we do now?"

This one isn't chirping now, but judging from its posture, it doesn't seem like it's always been silent.
If I give a loud shout, the person on duty will definitely rush over! (End of Chapter)