Chapter 9

"Hehe, still Brother Yi is considerate. I haven't had this monkey wine for years, even the dregs are fine..."

Smelling the long-missed scent of monkey wine, Sanpao's eyes instantly lit up. He snatched the wine gourd, opened it, and poured the cheap wine he had bought into it. After shaking it a few times, he took a sip, but knowing the wine had a strong aftertaste, he didn't dare to drink too much.

"Damn, you dead Sanpao, are you trying to make us drink your saliva?" Seeing Sanpao drink directly from the gourd, the Fat Man couldn't help but get angry. He snatched the gourd from Sanpao and took a swig himself. When they were kids, they would share a single lollipop among three people, so the Fat Man didn't care that Sanpao had just drunk from the gourd.

"You two, what can I say..." Fang Yi, standing nearby, was speechless. However, since he had made the monkey wine himself, he had drunk more of it over the years than Sanpao and the Fat Man. He didn't even look at the dregs and didn't join in the fight for the gourd.

"Hmm? Sanpao, where's the fish you fried?" Fang Yi shook his head and picked up his chopsticks, ready to eat, but suddenly paused. The table was full of dishes, but there was no fish.

You see, Fang Yi grew up in the mountains and often set traps to catch small animals, so he wasn't particularly interested in wild game. But he loved fish, and since there were no fish in the mountains, the fish he ate were always brought up by the Fat Man and Sanpao.

"Hmm? Peng Sanjun, you're not being considerate at all..."

Hearing Fang Yi's words, the Fat Man also noticed there was no fish and got angry. Pointing at Sanpao, he said, "You know Brother Yi likes fish, and you didn't even bring this dish? If you can't afford it, you could have gone fishing..."

"I really can't afford it, but I did want to go fishing..."

Sanpao smiled bitterly. He had been spending a lot of money on his girlfriend recently. He had spent a few hundred yuan buying clothes for Fang Yi in the city, and even his discharge allowance was gone. The dishes on the table were brought from his parents' house.

Sanpao had planned to go to the reservoir at the foot of the mountain to fish, but he didn't expect the police station in town to set up a checkpoint by the reservoir. A police officer in uniform and two security guards were stationed there all day. Even if Sanpao was brave, he didn't dare to throw the explosives into the water.

"You really forgot about that..."

Hearing Sanpao mention the checkpoint, the Fat Man was initially stunned, then nodded and said, "With the new city development, the water is being diverted from our reservoir. To prevent sabotage, they set up a checkpoint..."

The reservoir in Wei Family Village was surrounded by mountains on three sides and was quite large. It had always been a reserve water source for Jinling City. After the new city development, this reservoir, which had been built over thirty years ago, was naturally put into use.

As the saying goes, "rely on the mountains to eat from the mountains, rely on the water to eat from the water." The people of Wei Family Village used to go up the mountain to pick wild goods and often fished in the reservoir. But now, they were not allowed to set nets in the reservoir. However, the local residents could still go fishing, and the reservoir guards would turn a blind eye.

"Since that's the case, let's forget it. Missing one meal of fish isn't a big deal..." Hearing that the reservoir was guarded, Fang Yi said, "We're going down the mountain soon. Once we earn money, I'll treat you..."

"That's not right, I should treat you..." Sanpao felt he had lost face in front of his two childhood friends. His face turned red, and he said, "They didn't set up the checkpoint until I came..."

"Actually, it's not impossible to fish..."

The Fat Man rubbed his chin, and a sly smile appeared on his seemingly honest face. He said, "It's Saturday today. The police and security guards from town must have gone home. We can sneak over, throw a couple of bombs, catch the fish, and run. It should be fine..."

"Fat Man, are you sure they're gone?"

Hearing the Fat Man's words, Sanpao's eyes lit up. They were all from the countryside and had served in the army for a few years, but their legal awareness wasn't strong. They had fished with explosives many times, and as long as they weren't caught in the act, the police never arrested anyone.

"Of course they're gone. Do you think those guys would stay on the mountain during the weekend?"

The Fat Man nodded vigorously. He knew the police stationed there were from town, but the two security guards were from the village. When he brought Fang Yi back, the Fat Man had seen one of them carrying a bottle of wine home.

"Alright, let's do it once..."

Sanpao said excitedly.

"You can only do it once, I guess you're called Sanpao for nothing, hahaha..." The Fat Man laughed with a mischievous look.

"What does his name have to do with doing it once?" Fang Yi asked, puzzled.

"Never mind the Fat Man, he's just being a jerk..."

Sanpao understood what the Fat Man meant and said irritably, "Sanpao is Sanpao. Anyway, we won't have the chance to come back and fish once we go to the city. But I only made two, so I need to make another one..."

"That's easy. You have plenty of explosives at home, just make another one..." The Fat Man laughed, not bothering to explain the difference between "doing it once" and "doing it three times" to Fang Yi.

"Strange..." Seeing the two of them laugh so mischievously, Fang Yi knew it wasn't something good. He said irritably, "Are we making bombs? Then let's get started. I've only heard about it, I've never seen it..."

Fang Yi grew up in the mountains and had read a few books on law, but compared to the Fat Man and Sanpao, he was a legal ignoramus. He didn't realize that making bombs privately was illegal.

"Let me show you. By the way, we don't call them bombs, we call them homemade firecrackers..." Sanpao said, "You two keep eating, I'll go get the materials..."

"Hurry up, we're saving room for the fish..." Hearing Sanpao's words, Fang Yi and the Fat Man felt hungry and started eating.

"I'm missing a bottle. I traded all the extra beer bottles to the convenience store..." A few minutes later, Sanpao came out of the inner room with a plastic bag, looked around, and took the bottle of cheap wine from the table to the yard, pouring out the wine.

"Making this thing is actually quite simple..."

Seeing Fang Yi's eyes fixed on him, Sanpao smiled proudly and said, "If I had an alarm clock, I could even make a timed firecracker. I didn't just waste my time in the army..."

Sanpao wasn't boasting. He was an engineer in the army and had been dealing with explosives since he was young. He was abnormally fascinated by bombs. Whenever the army needed to blast mountains or dig tunnels, the explosives he handled never failed.

If Sanpao hadn't insisted on leaving the army, his commanding officer would have already promoted him to a technical sergeant. His skill with explosives was his trump card.

"Stop boasting. Quickly mix the materials. It's still early. If we wait until midnight, we might be discovered..."

The Fat Man threw a peanut at Sanpao irritably. He couldn't stand Sanpao's show-off attitude. He had been kicked out of the army by the political commissar, while Sanpao had voluntarily left, which was quite a blow to his ego.

"Isn't making this thing quick?" Sanpao pouted, moved his bowl aside, and placed the plastic bag and wine bottle on the table.

Sanpao looked around, found a funnel from the kitchen cabinet, and inserted it into the mouth of the wine bottle. He then grabbed a handful of black powder with a sulfur smell from the plastic bag and poured it into the bottle through the funnel.

Sanpao was well-versed in the properties of explosives, but Fang Yi and the Fat Man were ignorant and fearless. They didn't know that the explosives Sanpao had were used for blasting rocks and were unstable, easily detonated by a small mistake.

When the bottle was about one-third full of explosives, Sanpao took a small thumb-sized object from his pocket. It was wrapped in yellow paper, half solid and half hollow.

Sanpao took a pair of scissors, cut a piece of rope about thirty centimeters long, and inserted one end into the hollow part of the yellow tube. After it was tightly packed, he placed the tube and rope into the bottle.

"That tube is the explosive, and the rope is the fuse. The fuse won't go out in water and burns slowly..." Seeing Fang Yi's puzzled look, the Fat Man explained. How many households in Wei Family Village hadn't gone fishing with explosives? The Fat Man's father, the village chief, had done it many times.

"Hehe, Fat Man, didn't your family buy the explosives from us?"

Hearing the Fat Man's words, Sanpao laughed, but his hands didn't slow down. After inserting the explosive, he quickly filled the rest of the bottle with explosives and found three chopsticks to pack the explosives tightly.

After that, Sanpao fetched some water, went to the yard, and made a ball of mud. He sealed the bottle with the mud, leaving only a ten-centimeter-long fuse exposed. The homemade bomb was complete.

"Is this thing powerful?" Looking at the bottle in Sanpao's hand, Fang Yi felt a sense of danger.

"Of course it's powerful. The explosives used for blasting mountains are even more powerful, and this is just a small amount..." Sanpao nodded proudly and said, "Fishing with explosives is different from blasting mountains. We just need to stun or kill the fish, so we need to use more explosives."

"Alright, we're done. Let's go now..."

The reservoir management had been strict in recent years, and fishing with explosives had become rare. The Fat Man hadn't done it in a while, so he was very enthusiastic.

"Do you two want to eat more?" Sanpao didn't mind, reached for a green bag behind the door, and took out two homemade bombs.

"We're half full already..." Fang Yi was also excited. He had heard the two of them talk about how fun it was to fish with explosives and wanted to see it for himself.

"Alright, the villagers are still awake, so it won't be too noisy..." Sanpao glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after seven. The villagers were either watching TV or drinking and playing cards, so no one would notice the reservoir.

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PS: Please give me a recommendation! The Fat Man is being very sincere!