Chapter 149: Splitting the Loot (Monthly Ticket Bonus Chapter 4)

The four of them dragged Xu Laifu along, afraid of disturbing the villagers' rest, so they only cursed in low voices, punching him as they walked. His face was already bruised and swollen, and by the time they reached Chen Shuji's door, it was almost puffed up like a big pig's head.

Before going to knock on the door, Ye Yaodong slapped him on the head. "Behave!"

"Chen Shuji? Chen Shuji?"

Afraid of waking the neighbors, he called out as softly as he could, and in a little while the door opened.

"Who's there? What is it at this hour?" Chen Shuji was still tying the drawstring of his pants when he opened the door. "Oh… it's A-Dong? What's the matter, so late at night?"

"Chen Shuji, I'm really sorry. You see, you'd already gone to bed and I still woke you up."

"No worries, no worries, I'm already up. What is it?" Chen Shuji finished tying his waistband, stretched his neck and looked behind him. "Why are there so many people?"

Ye Yaodong reached back, grabbed Xu Laifu, and hauled him forward. "It's like this, Chen Shuji. For the past month or so, anyone in the village putting out fish traps or Korean nets has had their catch stolen every few days. I only have four or five rows of traps in total, and the catch inside has been stolen several times already."

"Last night I saw this guy sneaking around with a bucket, so I thought about getting a few friends to stake out the dock today. Sure enough, we actually caught him going out to sea to steal from the nets. When we caught him, he actually dared to resist and struggle, and even tried to talk his way out. We were so angry we just gave him a beating on the spot."

While Ye Yaodong was speaking, Fatty and A-Guang, very perceptively, brought the catch from the bucket forward for Chen Shuji to inspect.

Chen Shuji frowned as he looked at Xu Laifu, whose face was so bruised and swollen his features were unrecognizable. He really deserved that beating!

He continued, "I figured this petty thieving doesn't quite rise to the level of criminal law, and since we're all neighbors there's no need to make things so ugly. I thought it would be better to hand it over to you to handle. What do you think? Should we broadcast it over the loudspeaker tomorrow and make an announcement about this?"

"With petty theft, where there's one there's two. We can't just let it slide so casually. We have to make the villagers a bit more alert, and this guy needs a proper education too."

Whose money comes from a windfall? It's not easy to earn a bit of cash these days. People work hard putting out nets at sea, and you just steal whenever you feel like it?

Chen Shuji finally nodded and said, "Mm, I've also heard recently that someone's been stealing from the nets. I didn't expect it to be Xu Laifu. The young man has his hands and feet—work a little harder and there's nothing he couldn't do."

"Alright, it's already very late. You all go back and sleep! It's the middle of the night, I can't keep him overnight at my place either. I'll take him home first, have a talk with his parents, and give him a proper education. Parents can't just ignore their child all day long."

Ye Yaodong twitched his mouth recently, thinking the guy looked seventeen or eighteen already, and still calling him a child?

He seemed to have already forgotten that he himself had once been no better than a child…

"Tomorrow morning we'll see how to handle it. I'll discuss it with the others. It definitely has to be told to the villagers. This petty thieving can't be let off lightly. He definitely needs to be educated. Steal a needle as a child, steal gold as an adult."

After Chen Shuji finished speaking, he rolled up the arm of Xu Laifu, who had been keeping his head down and hunched over, and said to him, "Steal a pouch as a boy, steal an ox as a man. I'll take you home first."

This is a Hokkien proverb, an old saying elders use to warn children not to be greedy for small gains.

The path of crime always grows from small to large. Some acts that look like petty theft may, in the end, bring a prison disaster.

After Chen Shuji led Xu Laifu a short distance away, the four of them suddenly remembered.

"Huh? What about the goods?"

Xiao Xiao heard A-Guang's question and also caught on. "Huh? Right, the stuff Xu Laifu stole—what do we do with it?"

Fatty said with a beaming face, "What else? We split it up. We can't have worked all night for nothing, right?"

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Ye Yaodong also said with a beaming smile, "Consider it compensation for me and a reward for you all. Let's go back and divide up this catch."

"That works, that's great! We didn't work for nothing!"

Everyone unanimously agreed to split the loot—passed by a full vote!

"Wait, pick out a few big green crabs for Chen Shuji. We troubled him so late at night."

"Sure, there are females—I saw them. Grab two red-paste crabs for him, and a sea bass too."

"There look like quite a lot of small yellow croaker in my bucket too. Let's set aside a bowl for him!"

The four of them didn't stand on ceremony. They pushed open the slightly ajar door with great swagger, and using a washbasin and a basket, put the catch inside.

Chen Shuji's wife, Wang Wang Xiumei, heard clattering sounds in the main room, couldn't figure out what was going on, and came out for a look. Seeing several dark figures, she got a huge fright. "Who are you?"

She hurriedly and flusteredly turned on the light.

"Ah? Auntie, don't panic. We were just talking with Chen Shuji a moment ago. He's gone off to handle something now. I figured I'd leave him a couple of things from the bucket, and I didn't want to wake you, so I didn't call out to you."

Wang Wang Xiumei patted her chest in fright and said peevishly, "You scared me half to death. In the middle of the night, I thought we were being robbed."

"Hehe~ How could we? We're just leaving a little something for Chen Shuji."

"What thing?"

"Just a bit of fish. It's nothing. We'll head back now and not disturb you any further."

After exchanging greetings, they headed out. Wang Wang Xiumei walked over curiously, saw a few small yellow croaker in the washbasin, a sea bass of about two jin, and noticed a basket covered nearby. She lifted the cover and saw two green crabs.

Late at night, she had no idea what business they'd come to find her husband about…

Time to split the loot—the four of them walked with light steps. This place was closer to Fatty's house, so they went there first to divide it up.

"Going to my place is fine, but you all have to be light-handed and light-footed. Don't wake my wife and kids!"

"Alright, alright, we're also afraid she'll come out with a knife."

The four of them acted like thieves, shining flashlights at Fatty's doorway, first sorting out all the catch there, categorizing them, and then each picking what they wanted however they pleased.

"I wonder just how many nets this guy actually stole from. Two big buckets of catch, and there's quite a lot of good stuff."

"We gave Chen Shuji two green crabs, and there's still more than enough for each of us to take one. Just take whatever you want, no need to be polite among ourselves."

Ye Yaodong directly picked out a female one—females have more roe and taste better. For the rest, he poured out about a jin of shrimp, took three spring fish to steam a bowl tomorrow, and didn't plan to take anything else. After all, he was going to check his traps tomorrow.

A-Guang saw him take so little and tossed several firmer red flower crabs and stone crabs into his basin. "Take more, what are you being polite for? It's free anyway. Maybe some of your trap catch is even in there."

"Damn it~ I'll go check tomorrow. I should've hit him a few more times just now."

He had been in high spirits splitting the loot, but now thinking that his own catch might be in there, he felt depressed again.

Xiao Xiao also tossed several small yellow croaker into his basin, but with his mouth he was stabbing at his heart. "Maybe your nets got stolen again last night."

"Hey, enough, enough. It's just the four of us eating now. Even if I take more, we can't finish it. Small fish and shrimp I'll just dry in the sun. These good fish still need to be steamed to eat. How much can four people eat? Besides, I'm going to check my own traps tomorrow."

Xiao Xiao chimed in, "The trap catch has been pretty good lately?"

"Not bad, pretty good. How many have you guys had made?"

"Just two rows. It's not that fast. Tomorrow when we go throw the net, we'll drop them in along the way."

"What time? Let's go together, and fish while we're at it! Fishing alone is no fun!"

A-Guang stared. "You guys still fish? Sea fishing?"

"Just finished pulling up the lobster pots, and figured I'd fish for a while on the way back. Where could a tiny little wooden boat like that go deep-sea fishing?"

Hearing Xiao Xiao happily agreed, "Sure, that works out perfectly. Tomorrow Ah Zheng has to accompany his wife back to her parents' house, so if it were just me casting the net alone, I'd be worked to death."

A Guang immediately looked at them with envy, "How come I'm starting to think running a little wooden boat sounds pretty nice too?"

"It wasn't bad to begin with. You're heading out to sea again tonight, right?"

"Yeah, all the wine I should've drunk is done, time to get back to work."

"Then forget it. I was originally thinking of going clamming on the first of the month, so I won't call you after all."

A Guang instantly felt it was a pity again. He felt that going to a deserted island had a real treasure-hunting feel to it, way more interesting than trawling, and besides, it'd be with friends.

Following his dad trawling every day — so boring~