Chapter Twenty-Seven: Brazen Theft

“There are fish! So many fish!”

Exclamations echoed across the beach once more.

The fishermen ran toward each other, shouting in excitement.

The reinforced fishing net was clearly much sturdier than last time; at a glance, the dense mass of fish struggled inside, unable to escape. Everyone worked together to haul the net onto the shore, and even before counting the catch, they were all stunned by the bounty.

Even Scarface, at this moment, sprang to his feet.

His underlings stared in disbelief.

“My goodness, there must be four or five hundred fish here!”

“We’re rich! We’re rich!”

With so many fish, if they could be sold in Jiangnan, how much money could they make? Scarface didn’t even dare to imagine it!

His breathing grew rapid, his gaze fierce and burning as he stared at the fishing net that symbolized untold wealth, a decision already made in his heart.

“Brothers, grab your weapons.”

With a grand wave of his hand, he led the way toward the beach.

Meanwhile, Qin Zhen was still tallying the harvest.

He didn’t recognize many of the fish, but he did know one called sea bass—the most numerous, over three hundred in all. The rest were a variety of odd-shaped fish, shellfish, jellyfish, and quite a few sea turtles. Strangest of all, there was a sea snake four or five meters long!

Qin Zhen killed the sea snake with a stick, picked it up with a smile, and thought to himself, “Sea snakes are much cleaner than those from the mountains. Today, Uncle Chen will get a taste of sea snake!”

“My goodness, just how long will it take to eat all this fish?” Shan Hai was dumbfounded.

He’d never eaten fish in his life; his first taste had been in the little fishing village, where he’d nibbled one tiny fish for three days, unwilling to let it go until even the bones had lost their flavor and he finally crunched them down.

“With this much fish, if we could raise them, no one in the village would have to worry about running out for a whole year!” Qin Zhen laughed.

“I’m convinced!” Shan Hai gave a thumbs up. “Brother Qin, my senior sister always said you weren’t ordinary. I didn’t believe it before, but today I’m truly convinced!”

Who else could craft such a wondrous fishing net and bring in such a catch?

“As usual, everyone who helped gets to pick a fish to take home.” Qin Zhen was in high spirits. “We’ll come again in a few days, and I hope you’ll all help us again!”

Cheers and words of praise filled the air.

Li Erniu had already dashed into the crowd, clutching the biggest fish for himself and refusing to let go.

Many secretly resolved to call all the strong young men from their villages to help next time, hoping to bring back more fish!

“Zhen, something’s wrong.”

At that moment, Liu Quan noticed Scarface and his crew closing in.

On the other side, nearly a hundred men gathered, each wielding wooden staves and spears—some even carried metal weapons!

Scarface, leading them, wore a dark, cold expression.

“What, you want to rob us again?!” Li Han stepped forward first. Having suffered at their hands before, he immediately pulled out his trusty wooden club.

His words snapped the other fishermen from their joyful reverie. The little fishing village’s crew readied their weapons and gathered at Qin Zhen’s side.

Those who had picked their fish also looked resentful.

Seeing Qin Zhen draw his repeating crossbow, a faint smile curled Scarface’s lips.

“That’s not fair—how could this be called robbery? We’re buying! Didn’t we agree on this before?”

He waved his hand.

The men behind him lowered their weapons.

“However, the price does need to drop a bit more.”

“How much?” Qin Zhen asked in a low voice.

“Fifteen copper coins for each fish,” Scarface named his price.

It was an offer no one could accept.

Perhaps Scarface never intended for Qin Zhen to agree.

“Impossible!”

Qin Zhen raised his crossbow, and the fishing villagers behind him braced their weapons as well.

Forty coins per fish, now slashed to fifteen?

Scarface could have simply robbed them, yet still offered fifteen coins—what nerve!

Suppressing the urge to shoot Scarface in the head, Qin Zhen said coldly, “If you don’t want to buy, then we’ll take the fish elsewhere. We won’t sell here.”

“Ridiculous!”

Scarface’s face darkened.

“Every fish in this sea belongs to me. You think you can just walk off with them?”

“Shameless!” Li Han couldn’t hold back, cursing, “Why not claim the stars in the sky as yours, too?”

Liu Quan’s face was also grim. “Scarface, we already paid earlier. What you’re doing now isn’t right.”

“Rules? I am the rules!” Scarface dropped all pretense. “This beach is mine. I set the rules however I want! If you’re unhappy, I can make a new one right now: from this day forward, no one from your little fishing village is allowed to fish here!”

Scarface had clearly identified Qin Zhen’s weak spot and was emboldened. What would these paupers eat if not fish? With bandits backing him, Scarface wasn’t afraid of pushing them too far or of Qin Zhen causing trouble. Dealing with a few ordinary villagers was nothing to him.

“Should we just kill him?” Shan Hai muttered under his breath, a murderous glint in his eyes.

He despised bullies, especially after learning these thugs were connected to the bandits on Mount Cap. The memory of his monastery engulfed in flames flashed before his eyes.

“We can’t kill him. If we act now, the bandits will come to the village tonight,” Liu Quan said through gritted teeth, helpless. “They’re all armed and probably came ready for this. If a fight breaks out, we’re at a disadvantage.”

“So we just let him trample us?” Li Han’s face twisted with anger. “If we give in today, this dog will push even harder tomorrow!”

“Zhen, what do we do? We’ll follow your lead!” All eyes turned to Qin Zhen.

In that instant, Qin Zhen had become the villagers’ leader.

He weighed the pros and cons in his heart.

Scarface had come prepared, nearly a hundred men glaring at them, some with real weapons. Even with the repeating crossbow, if things turned violent, he’d be overwhelmed before he could fire more than a few shots. The enemy outnumbered them, and the dozen or so from the fishing village would surely be beaten down.

The villagers from the other villages shrank back, not daring even to keep their fish. Though Qin Zhen had led them to two successful catches, they were not kin; no one would risk offending Scarface for a few fish.

Hoping for their help in resisting Scarface was a fool’s dream.

“Twenty coins per fish, and we take a hundred fish with us.”

After careful consideration, Qin Zhen made a concession.

This was still a huge profit for Scarface. As for letting Qin Zhen take a hundred fish, Scarface didn’t mind—his equipment could only transport two hundred at most, and with three or four hundred fish in the net, letting Qin Zhen take a hundred was nothing.

Scarface wasn’t eager for a fight, either; after all, Qin Zhen had a crossbow. If a bolt struck him, there’d be no one to cry to.

Feigning deliberation and reluctance, Scarface finally nodded.

“Fine, twenty coins it is! I’ll take a small loss!”

Then his tone changed.

“But you have to leave that fishing net behind!”