Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

Zhao Lei, who was chopping wood in the yard, heard that the fishing boat had been stolen.

Suddenly feeling uneasy, he swung his axe at the wrong spot, and the blow landed on the bluestone, making his hand go numb.

"What? Zongbao, say that again!"

Wang Zongbao wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Brother Lei, Uncle Changlin and I just finished delivering fish and came back from the textile factory. We were thinking that the catch had decreased these past two days, so we were going to go upstream to check again, but we found that the fishing boat and nets were gone."

Zhao Lei dropped the axe, his brows furrowed.

Losing the fishing net isn't a big problem; you can buy a new one for a very low price.

But the key issue is that Old Zhou's fishing boat is in trouble.

If it's a loss, two or three hundred yuan should be enough.

But rebuilding a ship would take at least a month of work, which Old Man Zhou definitely wouldn't do!

Damn it, which son of a bitch?

They dared to steal such a big ship?

Wang Zongbao and Qin Changlin, who were standing nearby, were getting anxious when they saw that Zhao Lei hadn't said anything for a long time.

"Lei Zi, what should we do now? You need to give me some advice."

Zhao Lei suddenly calmed down, invited the two to sit down in the main room, and poured them two bowls of tea.

After discovering that the fishing boat and nets were missing, Wang Zongbao and Qin Changlin searched the surrounding area but still couldn't find them.

After confirming that the items had been stolen, he rushed back from Qinghegou without stopping.

By this time, they were both extremely thirsty.

He gulped down the tea in no time.

Wang Zongbao anxiously asked, "Brother Lei, the fishing boat is gone! What are we going to do? Not only will we not be able to catch so many fish, but we also won't be able to explain it to Director Li. Besides, we borrowed all of these from Old Man Zhou. What if we don't have anything to return to him?"

"Yeah, Lei Zi, not being able to fish and earning less money is a small matter, but the things they lent us are gone, what are we going to do?"

Zhao Lei raised his hand to signal the two to calm down, his mind racing.

How could things be stolen?

And it was stolen in broad daylight, something's not right...

According to Zongbao and Uncle Changlin, the items were lost while he was delivering them.

This shows that the thief had already figured out Zong Bao and his group's itinerary, which allowed them to take advantage of the situation.

And the most suspicious thing is that they've been fishing for over a week now, so why didn't something happen earlier or later, but now it's been stolen out of nowhere?

Zhao Lei pondered.

Based on the descriptions of Wang Zongbao and Qin Changlin, he analyzed many details.

Gradually, a general outline was deduced.

The fishing boat was definitely not stolen on a whim; it must have been done deliberately and planned for several days.

Most importantly, the thieves were a gang.

Because their fishing boat is three meters long, it's impossible to steal a person from them.

Qin Changlin urged, "Lei Zi, why don't we go look for it nearby now? If we delay any longer, the item might be stolen, and then where will we find it?"

Zhao Lei nodded slowly and got up to change his shoes.

"Actually, I thought about it. Our fishing boat is such a big thing. It's impossible that no one saw it being stolen in broad daylight. Let's go and check now to see if anyone upstream or downstream saw anyone rowing a boat on the Qingshui River."

After Zhao Lei said that, Qin Changlin suddenly realized what was going on.

"Yes! I was too anxious. There aren't many fishing boats in Qingshuigou, so fishing boats that appear in Qingshui River must be very conspicuous."

"Yeah, Brother Lei, I knew I'd come to you. You'd definitely have a solution. I'm going back now, on my bicycle."

Wang Zongbao immediately thought of his recently purchased bicycle. With a bicycle, it would be much more convenient to ask around and search for clues along the way.

It's a race against time with the ship thieves. If we're lucky, we might even catch them red-handed.

Zhao Lei shouted to Wang Zongbao, who was running outside, "Zongbao! Go and call Bowen first. Uncle Changlin and I will wait for you at the intersection. We'll go together."

"Okay, Brother Lei."

After saying that, Wang Zongbao hurriedly rode his bicycle away from Zhao Lei's house.

Zhao Lei locked the door and walked with Qin Changlin to the crossroads to wait for Qin Bowen and Wang Zongbao.

Qin Changlin said, "Lei Zi, what if we can't find the things?"

Zhao Lei lit cigarettes for the two of them, took a deep drag, and sighed, "Sigh, we've been making quite a stir lately, and I had a feeling someone would try something sabotaging us. Sure enough, the ones who shouldn't have come have come. If we can't find them, then we'll just have to pay compensation."

Qin Changlin also let out a long sigh.

"We can accept losing money, after all, it's better to lose money than to suffer a bigger disaster. But it's hard to explain to Director Li and Old Man Zhou. With this incident, we've lost our credibility."

Zhao Lei knew this all too well.

However, since things have come to this, we can only try our best to salvage the situation.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Uncle Changlin, have you encountered any suspicious people while fishing in the Qingshui River recently?"

Zhao Lei has been busy hunting in the mountains with Qin Bowen lately, as he is not good at fishing.

So he left the professional work to the professionals, and after that, he never went to Qingshuihe again.

Qin Changlin thought for a moment and said, "Lei Zi, now that you mention it, it's hard for me to tell either. Because these past few days, we've indeed been seen fishing by people from Qingshui Ditch several times, and their captain, Zhao Bangguo, even brought people to stop us once."

However, as you suggested, I brought up Zhao Chenglong's endorsement, and afterwards Zhao Bangguo indeed didn't bother with it anymore.

Zhao Lei nodded: "It seems that Zhao Chenglong is really doing his job."

"Yes, it's definitely much quieter now that no one's bothering us. However, many of the villagers in Qingshuigou are envious, and every now and then someone sneaks a fish or two away when we're not looking."

After all, we're on someone else's turf. Even with Zhao Chenglong's backing, we can only turn a blind eye.

Zhao Lei nodded to himself upon hearing Qin Changlin's words.

"Uncle Changlin, you did the right thing. It's better to avoid trouble. After all, if the villagers of Qingshuigou cause a disturbance, even with Zhao Chenglong protecting us, it will be very difficult for us to fish."

"Yes, Lei Zi, thank goodness you had the foresight. But if you're talking about suspicious people, I think everyone is suspicious, but if I really have to say who I suspect, I really can't say."

Zhao Lei and Qin Changlin chatted about their fishing trip over the past week.

Zhao Lei kept it in mind but did not make a definitive statement.

The two hadn't been waiting at the intersection for long when Qin Bowen and Wang Zongbao appeared on their own bicycles.

Having a means of transportation is naturally much more convenient than walking.

Qin Bowen and Wang Zongbao each took one of the cars and rushed to Qingshuigou.

On the way, Zhao Lei sat in the back seat of Qin Bowen, who kept cursing incessantly.

"Damn it, which bastard is so bold as to steal our stuff!"