Before long, Baili Wanwan arrived at Zhang Xiu's side, panting heavily, and quickly explained what had happened.
Zhang Xiu immediately took Baili Wanwan to the seaside.
The seaside was as calm as usual. Zhang Xiu looked around but didn't see any boats going out to fish.
"That's really strange. Could it be that all the fish have gone somewhere else?" Zhang Xiu shook his head in confusion.
Baili Wanwan pursed her lips, a rare serious expression appearing on her round face.
"Wanwan, let's go check out the sea!"
Before Zhang Xiu could stop her, he saw the little girl take off her outer garment and swim towards the seabed like a fish. He swallowed the words of advice that were about to be spoken.
Well then, Wanwan's swimming skills are beyond those of ordinary people, so it's good to let her go to the bottom of the sea to see for herself.
As soon as Baili Wanwan entered the water, he swam towards the deeper part and soon discovered a school of fish swimming around.
Instead of swimming around aimlessly on the seabed in search of food, the group of fish kept moving in one direction.
The little girl quickly swam her arms a few times, following closely behind the school of fish. The further she swam, the stronger the school of fish seemed to become.
She had just jumped into the sea and indeed found only a few small fish near the shore. But when she looked around, she saw not only a large school of fish, but also a school of shrimp following the fish.
Their target seemed to be just ahead, and Baili Wanwan had a premonition that she was about to come to the truth, so she paddled faster.
After swimming for a while, the fish and shrimp stopped and scattered in all directions, looking for food.
Baili Wanwan also noticed that the seawater around her was different from before. It was much darker in color and had mixed in a lot of broken entrails.
She swam a little further out into the water, intending to stick her head out to see what was going on, but then she heard two men talking on the beach.
Despite the fact that the two men couldn't see the winding seabed, she could hear their voices clearly.
There was a large bamboo basket at their feet, and they were talking as they threw the contents of the basket into the sea.
"I got these entrails from the butcher at the market early this morning; they're perfect for fish bait."
"That's right! After we finish this basket, we'll cast a net, and we'll be back with a full catch in no time!"
The two became more and more excited as they talked, and they started casting their bait faster.
Bloodied entrails scattered in the sea, filling the air with a stench that attracted even more fish and shrimp to scramble for food.
Baili Wanwan clenched her little fists in anger, wishing she could rush ashore right now and catch the two people who were secretly fishing.
No wonder there have been fewer fish in the sea lately; it turns out these big bad guys have secretly fished them all out!
But knowing she was small and weak, she secretly memorized the location and swam back in a flash.
Seeing Baili Wanwan swim ashore from the sea, Zhang Xiu hurriedly went to greet her, used his own clothes to dry her off, and then draped his outer robe over her shoulders.
"How is it? Have you found anything?"
At least half an incense stick's time had passed since Baili Wanwan entered the water, and Zhang Xiu was so anxious that he almost wanted to go into the water to find her.
Baili Wanwan didn't bother to dry her wet hair before reaching out to tug at Zhang Xiu's clothes, urging her to hurry with her to the place where she had just put out the fish bait.
"Someone is secretly using bait to catch fish! Auntie, we must go and arrest them right now!"
Thinking of the greedy faces of those people when they spoke, Baili Wanwan was so anxious that she wished she could drive all those fish thieves away right now!
As Baili Wanwan described what those people had done, Zhang Xiu frowned.
Although everyone can catch fish in the sea, the number of fish has clearly decreased these days. It must be because those who secretly cast nets to catch fish are only thinking about selling fish to make money, and the number they catch far exceeds the sea's production.
"Wanwan, you stay here and don't do anything rash. I'll row a boat and go check the situation first." Zhang Xiu was worried about Wanwan's safety, so he decided to go and check it out himself.
Baili Wanwan was also worried that Zhang Xiu would not be able to deal with the fish thieves alone. As soon as Zhang Xiu's boat left the shore, she frowned and jumped into the sea to follow Zhang Xiu.
Using the winding description of the river, Zhang Xiu quickly found the shore where the fish thieves were located.
Those people had already cast the first fishing net and were now pulling it up with a full net of fish.
Zhang Xiu looked closely and realized that among the people gathered on the shore were even waiters from the restaurant.
Could it be that all these people are connected to the restaurant?
The group on the shore, seeing another bountiful catch, were so delighted that they didn't even notice Zhang Xiu's boat not far away. They were busy shouting and picking up the fish and shrimp while they were still alive and putting them into their baskets.
"Damn it! You people don't even pick out the small shrimp and fish and throw them back into the sea. If you catch all these small fish and shrimp, we won't have any fish to catch next year!"
Zhang Xiu rowed the boat to the shore and spoke out angrily.
Only then did the group notice Zhang Xiu, but they disdainfully kicked away the pile of fish at their feet.
“These fish and shrimp were all caught with great effort by us. Who would bother to pick out the small ones? You're being too nosy, woman.”
These words left Zhang Xiu speechless. Just as she was trying to find a way to stop these people, she suddenly heard the people on the shore pointing behind her and exclaiming in surprise.
"A whale! How could a whale be here!"
Zhang Xiu felt the small boat rocking along with the turbulent sea.
She gripped the oar tightly and looked into the distance. Sure enough, she saw a huge shadow on the sea. Even whales had been attracted by the large amount of bait that these people had thrown in!
Baili Wanwan, submerged on the seabed, quietly reached out and waved to the whale as a sign of gratitude.
This is a great idea she just came up with!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com