Chapter 463: Luring the Thieves onto the Hook

At his command, several people rushed back to the cabin and grabbed a few sticks, while Zhu Liwen himself took up a spear, poised to throw it over.

Seeing them arm themselves, we couldn't show weakness either, so Ye Cheng and the two others each took a weapon, and the two sides started shouting at each other.

"You're stealing fish, that's illegal," Ye Cheng shouted.

Zhu Liwen was utterly contemptuous,

"What law? Do you have any evidence? Besides, I'm not afraid to tell you, even if you call the police, once we're in we'll come out and kill you all the same."

"Exactly, with just you three you still want to fight our four brothers? Go eat shit."

"Hahaha, we brothers can take whoever's fish we want; if you have the ability, don't let us find you."

"If you're not satisfied, come over and we'll fight."

"Hahaha!"

The four laughed arrogantly; Xiao Hu was furious, stepped back two steps, and wanted to throw his stick at them, hoping to hit someone.

However, Ye Cheng stopped him, saying enough, he had already got what he wanted.

He didn't want to argue with them; he just wanted to give them one last chance.

"Xiao Hu, Uncle Duan, forget it, let's go."

Looking at the arrogantly smug Zhu brothers, Ye Cheng said lightly,

"No, brother, are we really just letting it go like that?"

"Exactly, A Cheng, damn it, they're being too bullying—there are four of them and three of us, and it's not like we can't beat them, let's take them on." This made Duan Chunsheng so angry he could barely contain his fury.

Ye Cheng gave the two a look; they stared for a moment, then realized.

Damn, right.

Ye Cheng had dug a pit today.

Imagining them falling into the pit later, the two instantly calmed down.

Seeing Ye Cheng's side stop shouting, the Zhu brothers thought they had been scared.

Ye Cheng had Xiao Hu turn around again, then pointed at them and said,

"Tell you this: if you steal our fish traps again, I'll report you directly to the police, and you'll bear the consequences."

Zhu Liwen was speechless; this Ye Cheng is so naïve, almost endearingly stupid.

"What kind of people are we four brothers, that you'd threaten us with the police? Who's afraid?"

"Big brother, they're scared and ran off, hahaha."

"Big brother's right: as long as we're overbearing, they'll be afraid—look at them, three people, just one less than us, and they still ran."

"Big brother, do you think they might not set out the fish traps?"

If they don't set the traps, they'll lose out.

Zhu Liwen pondered for a while, then drove the boat away, not pursuing Ye Cheng and the others inside.

As for Ye Cheng and company, after sailing a stretch they looked back and saw the boat was gone, now it was their turn to worry.

"Brother, they couldn't have really been scared off, could they?"

"If they really were scared off, that would mean they still have a bit of conscience, so they won't lose too much later."

The three followed the prearranged plan, found a spot, stopped the boat, and prepared to set the fish traps.

"A Cheng, today we're setting a trap; do I still need to put out this bait?" Duan Chunsheng said, holding the bag of bait.

"Put it in! We have to go all out with the act, otherwise why would they walk in?"

"Fine, Xiao Hu and I will handle the hooks; you take care of setting the traps—you're good at diving."

Ye Cheng's face darkened,

"I'm going—if I have to do it alone I'll die; Xiao Hu and I will split the work, you handle the hooks above."

"Alright, you go set the traps first, I'll handle the hooks; then we won't need so many—six lines will do, any more would be waste."

After saying that, Duan Chunsheng began rigging the hooks, while Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu baited twenty fish traps, attached floats, and then jumped into the sea with the traps.

After more than an hour, Ye Cheng and the others drove the boat back.

Just as they left, the boat that had previously left came racing back and headed to where they had set the traps.

On board stood the Zhu Family Four Brothers.

"Big brother, they've set them again—are they really not afraid we'll steal again?"

"Maybe they think that after saying a few harsh words we'll be scared."

"A bunch of idiots, they don't know what 'the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind' means."

Zhu Liwen gloated at the fish traps before him,

"If they dare set them, we dare take them; even if they guess later, what can they do? They have no evidence, and the police won't bother them if they report it."

"Tomorrow morning, get up early, come over and collect all of these; last time we left some behind, this time we won't."

Having said that, the four brothers drove the boat straight away.

After a night of quiet, at four a. m. a motor sound rose on the sea surface, and a fishing boat appeared like a ghost where Ye Cheng and the others had set their traps.

Zhu Liwen stopped the boat, stepped forward and kicked a few brothers awake,

"Up now, time to work—be quick, haul them in early and head back early, try not to run into anyone."

"Got it, big brother." A few yawned, got up, and began hauling in the traps.

The first trap came up, spilling out eight horsehair crabs and four catties of white shrimp.

"Big brother, what the heck, Ye Cheng's luck is great—one trap yields this much."

"Exactly, normally we'd be happy with two crabs per trap; this kid always gets a bumper haul."

Zhu Liwen gazed greedily at the traps on that side and urged,

"Don't bother counting, there's still plenty more."

He drove the boat, slowly approaching along the direction the fish traps were laid.

"You say these people, why are the fish traps still laid in a line? Couldn't they have placed them more densely? It would be more convenient to pull them up." Lao San complained.

"Ah ya, Lao San, having some help is already good, it's free, you still complain about the trouble? They must have their reasons for doing it this way; next time when we set our own fish traps we'll do it the same."

Several people excitedly collected the fish traps one by one; the catch on the deck kept increasing, just the crabs filled 2 baskets.

After they had finished collecting all the fish traps, several people still felt unsatisfied,

"No more? The fish traps are gone?"

"How come there are so few? Last time there weren't 50 fish traps?"

Zhu Liwen furrowed his brow,

"I guess they're afraid someone will steal again, so they deliberately placed fewer; don't worry about it, go and retrieve the longline fishing."

"See how many sets of the longline fishing there are."

Several people drove the boat forward a stretch; the sky was already turning pale, and the floats on the sea surface were clearly visible.

"Big Brother, I counted, it should be 6 sets."

"Last time it was 10 sets, this time 6 sets, damn, they're cutting corners."

Talk is talk, but several people still quickly reached out with the hook and hauled up the first set of rope.

"Wow, Big Brother, groupers, there are several groupers!"

"Damn, their hook-up rate is too high, this set of line has caught about 50 fish."

"Big Brother, we've struck it rich again."

Zhu Liwen looked at the fish all over the ground, his heart already blooming with joy; previously stealing those fish traps had been like a pauper's, but stealing here from Ye Cheng felt great.