Qian Wanyin ran to the township police station to report the matter, insisting that Zhou Zhijun had poisoned the river dam and killed the fish fry he had just stocked.
Wang Jinlong, the Party chief of Qingshan Township, was in charge of both public security and economic development in the township.
Fish farming was also a poverty-alleviation project encouraged by the higher-ups, so the police station dared not take the matter lightly. With Wu Mingwei away, the deputy chief immediately took two officers and, under the blazing sun, headed straight for Wang Family Village.
All the way there, Qian Wanyin spat and ranted, repeatedly insisting that Zhou Zhijun was the culprit. But he had no evidence, so naturally the officers were not going to take his word for it.
By the time they reached the river dam, the villagers had already gathered in a circle.
Deputy Chief Wang walked to the water's edge and first bent down to smell the surface. There was not the slightest pungent odor of pesticide.
He squatted down, scooped up a fish fry floating belly-up, and gently pried open its gills with his fingertips for a close inspection.
The fish fry was white all over, and its gills were pale red, not the dark purplish color typical of pesticide poisoning.
Moreover, the dead fish were scattered here and there, rather than floating in dense clusters as they would have if they had all died from poison.
He reached into the water. The moment his hand touched the surface, his brows jerked together and he pulled it back.
“This water burns!”
Wang Jinlong stood up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked at Qian Wanyin, whose eyes were red with anxiety. His voice was calm and authoritative.
“The gills are a normal color. There’s no strange smell in the water, and there are no signs of poison being poured along the bank. This doesn’t fit the signs of poisoning at all.
“The weather is too hot and the water temperature is too high. The fish fry died from a lack of oxygen caused by the heat.”
“Died from the heat? Impossible! It was definitely Zhou Zhijun who poisoned them!” Qian Wanyin exploded on the spot, shouting with his neck stiff.
“You claim Zhou Zhijun poisoned them. Where’s your evidence?” Deputy Chief Wang fixed him with a sharp stare.
Qian Wanyin thrust out his chin and snorted. “What evidence? I don’t need evidence to know it was him!
“He’s wanted to lease this river dam for a long time, but I got there first. He couldn’t stand it, so he must have done this behind my back!
“Besides, when I was stocking the fish, he stopped me right there and told me not to do it!”
He swept his gaze over the surrounding villagers and raised his voice. “Everyone saw it happen. Tell the officers—didn’t Zhou Zhijun try to stop me?”
“Yes, I was there. Zhou Zhijun did say you shouldn’t release them,” one villager answered.
Qian Wanyin immediately gained confidence. “See, officers? I wasn’t making it up!”
But the villager quickly added, “But Zhou Zhijun was only trying to help you! He said it was too hot, and the fish fry probably wouldn’t survive if you put them in. You were the one who refused to listen and insisted on doing it anyway!”
The other villagers began discussing it among themselves.
“That’s right. Zhou Zhijun clearly meant well.”
“I didn’t know Zhou Zhijun understood fish farming.”
“Looks like the fish fry really did die from the heat.”
...
Seeing this, Zhou Dana sighed as well. “If you’d released them in the cool of early morning or evening, they might have been fine.”
He would have been better off keeping quiet. The moment he spoke, Qian Wanyin blew his top.
“Secretary Zhou! I was planning to wait until next spring before stocking the fish. You were the one who pressured me to do it now! I spent several hundred yuan on those fish fry, and they all died. Who’s going to compensate me for the loss?”
Zhou Dana’s face remained calm, though inside, his thoughts were churning violently. He merely said, “It was caused by the weather. That’s a natural disaster. There’s nothing anyone can do about it.”
With the police present, Zhou Dana was also worried about losing face as the village Party secretary and had no desire to argue any further.
He turned to Deputy Chief Wang and the others and said courteously, “Chief Wang, officers, you’ve worked hard. It’s so hot out. Come inside and have some water, cool off a little.”
“No need. We’ve determined the cause of death. We’ll be going back,” Deputy Chief Wang said, waving him off.
Qian Wanyin had lost several hundred yuan and was both heartbroken and unwilling to accept it. On the spot, he charged the entire loss to Zhou Dana.
“Officers, you can’t leave!”
He rushed forward and blocked their path, shouting with bloodshot eyes, “Even if the fish fry died from the heat, I’ll accept that. But I can’t just let this loss go!”
“It was caused by the weather.”
Deputy Chief Wang frowned. “Qian Wanyin, learn from this mistake. If you want to raise fish, you need to learn how to do it properly first. Consider this a lesson bought and paid for. Do things properly next time.”
“It wasn’t only the weather! There was a human factor too!” Qian Wanyin argued stubbornly. “If Secretary Zhou hadn’t urged me to release the fish fry right away, would I have lost so much? He has to compensate me!”
The moment Zhang Dongsheng heard this, he hurried over and tugged at Qian Wanyin. “Cousin, stop making a scene. It’s so hot. Let the officers get back first.”
Qian Wanyin violently shook off Zhang Dongsheng’s hand. “Don’t pull me!”
The officers were no strangers to Qian Wanyin. He had once served time for attempted rape and was notorious throughout the township as a shameless troublemaker who was difficult to deal with.
The officer’s expression darkened, and he shouted, “Qian Wanyin, move aside!
“We’ve already ruled out a criminal offense regarding the fish fry. What remains is a dispute among you villagers. Settle it among yourselves. The police station won’t get involved!”
The shout cowed Qian Wanyin. He instinctively moved aside, though he still refused to back down. “Fine. If you won’t handle it, I’ll handle it myself!”
As soon as the officers left, Zhang Dongsheng called out to the watching villagers, “It’s sweltering. Break it up, everyone! Go back to whatever you were doing!”
Then he hurried over to Zhou Dana and lowered his voice. “Secretary, it’s hot. You should go home and rest. Leave the rest to me.”
Zhou Dana flung back his sleeve and stalked off with his hands clasped behind his back, grumbling under his breath. The villagers, all drenched in sweat, slowly dispersed while continuing to discuss the matter.
Only then did Zhang Dongsheng pull Qian Wanyin into the shade of a tree and coax him gently. “Cousin, the fish fry are dead. Buy some more next time. But if you really offend the secretary, you’ll never be able to lease this river dam.”
“Who cares about this lousy river dam? I don’t even want it anymore! You were the one who told me to come and drive up the bidding, and now look—you’ve gotten me into this mess!” Qian Wanyin fumed.
Zhang Dongsheng forced a smile. “Cousin, it’s true that I asked you to help drive up the price, but you were the one who decided to lease the river dam.”
At the time, Qian Wanyin had rashly offered to lease the river dam because he wanted to show off his wealth in front of Zhou Pandi, hoping that something might happen between them later.
Now that all the fish fry were dead and several hundred yuan had gone down the drain, he had not even managed to touch one of Zhou Pandi’s fingers. How could he possibly accept that?
“It’s true that I agreed to lease it, but Zhou Dana forced me to release the fish fry! Since the fish fry died from the heat, he bears the greatest responsibility and should compensate me!”
“You haven’t even paid the lease fee yet, and you want the secretary to compensate you? How does that make sense?”
“The lease fee is the lease fee, and the fish fry are the fish fry. They’re two separate matters! I’m not saying I won’t pay the lease fee, but he has to cover the loss of the fish fry!”
Qian Wanyin had never been a reasonable man. Zhang Dongsheng understood that perfectly and could only give ground. “Then pay the lease fee first. We’ll discuss the fish fry loss slowly afterward.”
“If he doesn’t compensate me, I don’t have the money to pay the lease fee! Even if I did have the money, I wouldn’t pay it! Let whoever wants it lease the river dam!”
“So you’re saying we can call it even? Neither side owes the other anything.”
Qian Wanyin’s eyes flew open, and his anger only grew hotter. “You’re my own cousin. How can you take an outsider’s side?
“If I don’t lease the river dam, then naturally I don’t have to pay the lease fee. But my fish fry died, and Zhou Dana has to compensate me!”
At that moment, Zhang Dongsheng’s guts were aching with regret.
Back then, he had brought in Qian Wanyin to inflate the price and help Zhou Dana suppress Zhou Zhijun. He never expected it would come back to haunt him as such an inescapable mess.
Zhou Dana certainly wouldn’t pay a single cent, while Qian Wanyin refused to let the matter go. Caught between them, Zhang Dongsheng was taking heat from both sides.
“Cousin, you’re loaded. For my sake, let this one go,” Zhang Dongsheng pleaded humbly.
A sly smile suddenly crept across Qian Wanyin’s face. “I can let Zhou Dana off the hook.”
Zhang Dongsheng breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s more like it. You have to think about the long term.”
“However, he can repay the debt with something else.”
Zhang Dongsheng’s heart tightened. “With what?”
Qian Wanyin lowered his voice and said ominously, each word deliberate: “A person!
“Give me Zhou Pandi as my wife, and I’ll become his son-in-law. We’ll call those fish fry fees her dowry!”
