The bighead carps' recently cald little heart imdiately began to pound wildly once more, terrifyingly as if its soul had flown to the heavens. It struggled desperately in an attempt to break free from the 'monster' behind it— but inadvertently, the more it fought, the tighter it got 'grabbed'.
As it thrashed about in a frenzy, the bighead carp sohow ended up in a stretch of fishing nets, with its tail getting hooked by the net.
Fishing nets are laid out with particular care; those set up by the experienced are not for catching fish, but rather for 'entangling' them. Once fish and shrimp co into contact with the nets, they get tightly bound. The more they struggle, the more the nets embed into their scales, making it difficult for even large fish to escape. In the end, they could do nothing but be entangled and wait for death.
At this mont, the net that ensnared the bighead carp extended indefinitely to both sides, forming a long underwater wall, encircling a vast expanse of water on one side of the Huating Reservoir.
On the other side of the net, the interior side, was a scene brimming with life.
Myriads of fish swam to and fro—finger-length crucian carp, three- to four-tael black carp and grass carp, stickleback-like silver carp, half-pound bighead carp. At the bottom of the water, in the mud, dark sleepers, four or five taels in weight, opened their mouths wide in search of any edible thing, ...
It was truly a world filled with fish.
"Don't be afraid, bighead, I'll send the shrimp soldiers and crab generals to rescue you right away!" Suming quickly dispatched a pair of crabs, charging towards the net, claws waving.
...
On the shallow banks on the east side of Huating Reservoir, dozens of boxes filled with juvenile fish were piled up. A bald man and a group of his n lifted box after box, dumping them into the reservoir. The cramped fishlings poured eagerly into the water, scattering rapidly in all directions.
Not far away, several trucks continued to deliver more boxes of fishlings to the shallow bank.
Countless fishlings kept being released into the lake; soon, the lakeside was overrun with various small fish, flapping their tails and thrashing about, before swimming off again, only to be followed by more new fishlings dumped into the lakeside...
The so-called 'fishlings' were not the kind that are semi-transparent and only a few milliters in size; common species like the 'Big Four' fish, only counted as juveniles when they grew to a few taels. Aquaculturists buy these juvenile fish, and within a fast half a year or a slow year, they can be reared to weights ranging from half a pound to several pounds, ready to be sold for money.
Since juvenile fish are relatively weak and incapable of competing with larger fish for food, they must be raised together until they grow to a certain size before they can be spread out to be raised with the other larger fish.
Zhou Jin, the owner of Huating Fisheries Company, clad in large rubber boots, stood on the shallow bank, very satisfied with the scene before him, and shouted loudly to his subordinates, "Stay sharp in the coming period, Baldy, you and a few others will live by the riverbank!"
The bald man waved to a few other fellows, signaling them to keep working, then he jogged over to Zhou Jin. He pulled out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, offering one to Mr. Zhou, and said with a flattering smile, "Don't worry, Mr. Zhou, with us here, no one dares to steal any fish!"
Zhou Jin took the cigarette and nodded, "I paid a lot for these fishlings. They are all first-rate. We can't afford any mishaps!"
The bald man showed a sowhat ferocious grin, baring his teeth and saying, "This is what we do. If anyone dares to co here and fish or steal, I'll break his damned legs!"
Zhou Jin glanced sideways at the bald man and said indifferently, "Mind your asure, don't maim them, and certainly do not cause any deaths!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Zhou. The brothers are all out of the big prison; handling a few people is no sweat. We all know the score!"
...
While Zhou Jin was releasing fish fry by the shore, Suming's crab rescue team had also arrived at the designated location.
Below the unseen surface of the water, a dozen large crabs scuttled onto the fishing net, and with a few clicks and clacks, they tore a big hole in the net that was trapping the bighead catfish.
The bighead catfish wanted to flee by shaking its tail, but then Suming issued another command.
Upon discovering the group of fry, Suming imdiately realized they must be those that Mr. Zhou from Huating Fisheries Company had released for cultivation.
There was only one contractor for the entire Huating Lake, no other.
The bighead catfish had no choice but to obey, and together with the group of crabs, they slipped through the hole in the net.
It wasn't until 9:30 in the morning, when the zoo was about to open, that the bighead catfish finished scouting the inside of the net. The number of fry inside was uncountable, mainly consisting of the four major families of fish, along with several other common food fish, such as the snakehead.
Mixed cultivation was not a sophisticated thod; most fish farrs adopted it, just differing in specific thods.
Suming did a quick calculation and estimated that so many fry, along with the associated water plants and shells, would likely require an investnt in the millions.
Shuijun Lake wasn't large, and according to what Zhu Chenggui previously said about mixed breeding of the four major families of fish and the snakehead, the initial investnt in fry alone would probably be around three to four hundred thousand. Furthermore, this was Suming's first foray into fish farming—he didn't know where to purchase such a large number of fry, and secondly, he lacked the experience to judge the quality of the fry. If he wasn't careful, he might spend a lot of money only to buy a large amount of sick or inferior fry.
If it were another fish farr, Suming might have given it so thought; after all, it's not easy for people to raise fish, and 'stealing' these fry would indirectly harm soone.
But as for Huating Fisheries Company, he had no such psychological burden.
When he initially sought advice, Zhou Jin's attitude was one thing, but the actions of his subordinates, who beat people and finessed money with their near-robbery 'fines', were enough to show these people were not of good character.
Not to ntion, they released attack dogs without a second thought that day. If it had been soone else without the capability of Animal Friends, they would have been mauled half to death by those two wolfhounds.
After the conflict with the bald man, Suming kept an eye out and made specific inquiries about Zhou Jin. His fisheries company indeed had a good reputation for the quality of its fish, but Zhou Jin and the company itself had a poor reputation. It was said that Zhou Jin had done quite a few bad things in his earlier years. He had relied on so dishonorable tactics to drive away several fishern who wanted to contract Huating Reservoir, and later in business, it was not uncommon for him to practice bullying and forced buying and selling.
The fisheries company had only contracted a small part of the reservoir, yet now they treated the entire reservoir as their own territory. On the Yangchuan forum, there were not a few posts about people getting bitten by guard dogs or beaten up while fishing near Huating Lake, and regardless of whether they called the police or went to seek justice, it all ca to nothing.
In plain terms, this fisheries company was a business gang with a background in darkness and evil.
Suming was not the least bit lenient when dealing with Huating Fisheries Company.
Now, all he needed to do was wait for a week or two until the waters of the reservoir and Shuijun Lake were fully exchanged and the water quality in Shuijun Lake improved, then he could make his move on the fry in the reservoir!
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