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

However, Zhao Chenghu's loud roar had already awakened Zhao Shuisheng in another room.

Zhao Shuisheng rushed out of the house and saw his son being escorted out of the yard by several police officers.

He shouted anxiously, "Stop!"

Immediately, Zhao Shuisheng started arguing for a while, and every now and then he would bring up his eldest son, Zhao Chenglong, in an attempt to suppress Xiao Li.

But Xiao Li, despite receiving the captain's permission, refused to listen and remained very firm in his stance.

However, the commotion at Zhao Chenghu's house immediately drew the attention of the sleeping villagers, who all put on their coats and came out to see what was happening.

Let alone in this day and age, if a sheriff comes to a house to arrest someone, even in the highly information-driven 21st century, if something like this happens in a village, it will definitely be a sensational event for the whole village.

Soon, the news spread like a virus to Qingshuigou.

Many villagers witnessed Zhao Chenghu being escorted away.

People just parrot what others say, and all sorts of things are said.

hiss!

"Hey, what happened? How did Zhao Chenghu get arrested?"

"Yes, I just heard them arguing a lot at home. It sounded like they were saying something about Zhao Chenghu stealing Zhao Lei's fishing boat?"

"Really? No wonder that young man named Wang Zongbao hasn't been fishing in the river these past few days. Turns out his boat was stolen!"

"My goodness! This Zhao Chenghu is really audacious. He dares to steal such a big fishing boat. What else wouldn't he do?"

"Heh, Zhao Chenghu is just relying on his brother being the director of Qingfeng Town. Well, he's been caught red-handed! Even the sheriff didn't give them any face."

"That's right, I think Zhao Chenghu deserves it. He always bullies people in the village, he'll get arrested sooner or later."

Along the way, the villagers' harsh words occasionally reached Zhao Chenghu's ears.

No matter how assertive he usually was, he was like a deflated balloon at this moment, listless and unable to even lift his head.

Only now has he realized just how big a mess he has made.

But there was nothing else they could do but pin their hopes on his older brother.

Hopefully, his older brother can calm things down, suppress the matter as usual, and get him released.

Zhao Chenghu made a vow in his heart.

If I can get away this time, I will definitely behave myself and never do evil again.

But a question lingered in his mind.

hiss......

How did you expose yourself?

These past two days, he had been feeling quite pleased with himself for successfully getting revenge on Zhao Lei and the others, and was in a very good mood.

Zhao Lei not only humiliated him several times, but also beat up the matchmaker who came to arrange the marriage, completely ruining his plan to marry Su Wanqing.

His hatred for Zhao Lei had reached its peak, which is why he carried out this revenge without considering the consequences.

He was on the verge of success when he was inexplicably arrested, leaving him completely baffled.

As he was being led away with his head down, he whispered to Officer Li, "I'd like to ask, how did you manage to come after me?"

Xiao Li looked back at the villagers who had been following them all the way, feeling a bit of a headache.

Upon hearing Zhao Chenghu's words, he bluntly stated without any attempt to conceal his true intentions: "Your accomplices have all been arrested; you'll find out soon enough."

Accomplices?

Zhao Chenghu frowned.

He thought to himself, could it be Zhao Laosan and his gang?

Just as Officer Li was escorting Zhao Chenghu to the Qingshui Bridge at the village entrance, Zhao Bangguo, the production team leader, rushed over, trying to persuade Officer Li to give him some face.

I will personally take Zhao Chenghu to the police station to report tomorrow during the day.

Clearly, Zhao Bangguo overestimated his own pride and was flatly rejected by Xiao Li.

However, seeing the large group of Qingshuigou villagers following behind, Xiao Li whispered to Zhao Bangguo, "Captain Zhao, why don't you take the villagers back to rest first? Are you planning to come back to the station with me?"

Zhao Bangguo realized that he had done all the necessary persuasion. Even if Zhao Chenglong asked him about it later, he knew that he had done everything he could, and the other party wouldn't be able to say anything.

So he turned around and persuaded the group of villagers who had been following him to go home.

Everything from now on will proceed according to the rules and procedures.

Zhao Chenghu, Zhao Laosan, and Wang Xiaoqi were directly detained and placed under supervision, and underwent interrogation and had their statements taken.

Zhang Wuyuan, who had run away, didn't dare to go home until late at night.

As a result, the elderly in the family were also awakened by the news of Zhao Chenghu's arrest and could not fall asleep. After discovering that their son was not at home, they immediately thought of their son's recent strange behavior and grabbed Zhang Wuyuan to persuade him to turn himself in.

There was nothing Zhang Wuyuan could do; he knew he couldn't escape his punishment.

He turned himself in to the police station early the next morning.

Zhao Lei and his group also went to the police station to give their statements.

However, they left the police station after recording the statement that night.

Captain Zhou also emphasized that the matter was now clear, and the missing fishing boats, nets, and other equipment could be taken back by the crew themselves.

This event triggered a series of butterfly effects.

The next day, the matter became the talk of the town.

Not only did the members of the Peace Brigade know about it, but people in Qingfeng Town and several surrounding villages also heard about it.

Zhao Chenglong knew that his younger brother had done something stupid.

Faced with his father's various pleas, he could only put on a stern face and say that he was powerless to help this time.

The matter has escalated too much; if he gets involved, he'll drag himself down with him.

Zhao Shuisheng cried and wailed, and even fell seriously ill because of it.

Finally, Zhao Chenghu, as the mastermind and organizer of the theft of collective production materials, namely fishing boats, was severely punished and sentenced to four years in prison!

Zhao Laosan, a participant in the theft of collective means of production, and who violently resisted arrest, nearly causing someone to drown, was severely punished for his egregious intent and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Wang Xiaoqi, a participant in the theft, actively confessed to the crime and received a relatively light sentence of two years imprisonment.

Zhang Wuyuan, a participant in the theft, surrendered himself to the police and was sentenced to 17 months in prison.

With this, the incident of Zhao Lei and others' fishing boat being stolen came to an end.

This incident caused quite a stir at the time, and was known to almost everyone.

Not long after, Zhao Chenglong was transferred away from Qingfeng Town and sent to a more remote area to work at the grassroots level.

Because the incident caused such a huge uproar and had such a terrible impact.

Another week later.

Old Zhou even went to Zhao Lei's house specifically to find him.

The brigade stated that after learning of the theft of the fishing boat, although the losses had been recovered, the impact of the incident was still negative, and therefore decided to stop renting fishing boats and other equipment and to reclaim the collective means of production.

Zhao Lei expressed his understanding and cooperated by returning the items.

From the time he rented the fishing boat and other tools to the time he retrieved them, it took a total of 16 days, at 15 yuan per day. Zhao Lei even included the rental fees for the days when the theft occurred.

The total rent given to Old Man Zhou was 240 yuan.

I had already deposited 100, and then paid an extra 140!

Old Zhou highly praised Zhao Lei's straightforwardness.

"Zhao Lei, I'm sorry this time, but the brigade meeting asked me to take the things back, and I hope you can understand..."

"Uncle Zhou, I understand. You don't need to blame yourself."