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

"Don't let me catch this thief, or I'll beat him to death!"

The group was anxious, and it took them about twenty minutes to get back to Qingshuigou.

Previously, it would take them at least forty or fifty minutes to get to Qingshuigou by walking or taking an oxcart.

But with bicycles, the time was reduced by more than half.

After arriving at the place where they were fishing.

Zhao Lei first led everyone to inspect the site.

Wang Zongbao pointed to a shallow beach covered with dense aquatic plants: "Brother Lei, this is where we hid our fishing boat."

There are no farmlands around this place, and few people come here. From a distance, you can't see that there is a fishing boat hidden here.

Zhao Lei nodded to himself, which further confirmed his thoughts.

That means the other party had been planning this for a long time, and it was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment idea to steal the ship.

Besides, there has to be a purpose to steal a boat, right?

This thing is so big, even if you could move it, what could you do about it?

Are you going to steal it and sell it?

The fishing nets might be able to be resold, since it would be difficult for someone else to tell the difference once they sold them.

But Old Zhou's fishing boat is different; it's a shared asset of Sanhe Township, and the words "Sanhe Township" are engraved on it.

Meanwhile, who would you sell such a large item to?

Who would dare to accept it?

Apart from Sanhe Township, there are very few places in the villages under the jurisdiction of Qingfeng Town where fishing boats can be used, and the number of families who own fishing boats is extremely small.

Therefore, once this item is sold, it can be found very quickly.

Zhao Lei took a deep breath.

He felt that the other party probably didn't steal the fishing boat to sell.

That can't be sold. Why go through all that trouble to steal a fishing boat?

Zhao Lei could only think of one answer.

That would just annoy them!

You, Zhao Lei, led the Heping Brigade to Qingshui Ditch to catch fish and pocketed the money in your Heping Brigade members' pockets.

How can the people of Qingshuigou feel at ease?

Zhao Lei also learned about Qin Changlin and Wang Zongbao's fishing progress over the past week from them.

Almost every resident of Qingshuigou who saw them fishing would come up and ask them a question or two, or criticize them.

If it weren't for Zhao Chenglong's guarantee, their business would have been completely unsustainable.

Therefore, Zhao Lei strongly suspected that the person who stole the boat was not doing so for personal gain.

They simply wanted to sabotage their business, cause them trouble, and create problems for them!

Otherwise, why would the other party go to such lengths to steal a small fishing boat that's only three meters long?

Murder requires a motive, and so does theft!

If it's not for money, then it can only be because of jealousy or revenge.

suddenly.

Zhao Lei thought of revenge...

The only person who had a grudge against him in Qingshuigou was Zhao Chenghu.

Because of his previous promise, Zhao Chenglong had to outwardly protect Zhao Lei and his group.

It's not surprising that Zhao Chenghu would resort to underhanded tactics to humiliate his brother.

After thinking it through, Zhao Lei placed Zhao Chenghu as the prime suspect.

He then assigned Qin Changlin and Wang Zongbao to work together to inquire about matters upstream.

Along the way, we searched for nearby houses and asked them if they had seen anyone rowing a boat on the Qingshui River this morning.

Downstream operations were handled by him and Qin Bowen.

"Zongbao, Uncle Changlin, let's divide up the tasks and find some eyewitnesses. Judging from the timeline, even if they rowed away, they wouldn't have gone too far. Let's meet here again in an hour."

"Okay, Brother Lei, we'll get on it right away."

After saying that, Wang Zongbao led Qin Changlin upstream.

"Brother-in-law, let's go too."

"it is good."

Zhao Lei nodded, hopped on Qin Bowen's bicycle, and headed downstream to search for him.

Along the way, they asked every passerby or family living near the river.

But the answers were almost unanimous: everyone shook their heads, indicating they hadn't seen it.

Under the blazing sun, Qin Bowen's clothes were soaked with sweat. He complained, "Brother-in-law, it seems the thief didn't go downstream; he probably escaped upstream."

Zhao Lei frowned and remained silent.

At first, he guessed that the thief who stole the boat was from Qingshuigou, so it was very likely that the villagers of Qingshuigou might protect and cover for him.

He asked more than a dozen families, including the elderly and children, and the answers he received were almost identical.

No one had ever seen it before.

After all, although Qingshuigou occupies a section of the upper reaches of Qingshuihe River, the river is usually a small ditch except during the rainy season when the water is plentiful.

Therefore, no one builds fishing boats specifically, unlike the Sanhe Township area where the rivers are abundant and the fishing industry is thriving.

Therefore, the appearance of fishing boats on the Qingshui River was an extremely rare occurrence, and it was impossible for no one to notice it.

Undeterred, Zhao Lei and Qin Bowen continued downstream for a while, asking around at several households.

Finally, when they were almost at the border of Heping Township, the two turned back home.

"Alright, Bowen, let's go back. We can only see if Zongbao and the others have found out yet."

When Zhao Lei and his companion returned to their fishing spot.

Not long after, about ten minutes, which is roughly the time it takes to smoke two cigarettes.

Wang Zongbao and Qin Changlin also returned dejectedly.

The four met and exchanged information.

Neither upstream nor downstream did anyone see any fishing boats passing through Qingshuigou this morning.

Qin Bowen roared in disbelief, "How is this possible? Such a big ship, did they just carry it away?"

Wang Zongbao said with a bitter face, "But Uncle Changlin and I went around to the other side of the mountain valley, and everyone said they didn't see anything."

Qin Changlin also remarked, "This is truly bizarre. Could it be that the thief didn't travel by water, but rather by land?"

Zhao Lei nodded and concluded: "It seems very likely that it was carried away by someone. There are no traces upstream or downstream. It's possible that this group of thieves carried it into the mountains and hid it."

After Zhao Lei said that, Qin Changlin felt that it made a lot of sense.

Because in broad daylight, such a large ship would be a rare sight for anyone to see, and it would attract a great deal of attention.

How could I not see it?

Wang Zongbao asked, "Brother Lei, what should we do? We won't be able to deliver the fish that Director Li and the others want tomorrow."

Upon hearing the name of Director Li, Zhao Lei suddenly had a flash of inspiration and an idea came to him.

"Yes, now that you mention it, I have an idea."

"Brother Lei, what's your idea?"

"Lei Zi, do you have a solution?"

"Brother-in-law, tell me your idea quickly, I'm so anxious!"

"Come here and listen to me. I suspect these people are specifically targeting us."

"Huh? Are the people from Qingshuigou really that bad?"

Zhao Lei waved his hand to interrupt them and continued, "However, I have a way to lure them out..."

"What method?"