Chapter 1

"That kid from Li Zhuang, I don't know what he's thinking, giving up a good teaching job to raise fish in the mountains."

Two elderly people were chatting in front of a typical old house with white walls, black tiles, and a horse-head wall, typical of southern Anhui style. The weather was scorching.

"That's true, being a teacher is so good, with a pension. What future does fish farming have? Not to mention, what kind of fish can our reservoir raise? If the water level rises a bit, it could all be washed away."

"Right, I also heard that this kid sold his house in the city to raise fish."

"He sold his house? What's wrong with this kid? He's not planning to return to the city?"

This was too unbelievable. Selling a city house was no small matter. Without a house, how could he not return to the city?

"That's right. I heard from my daughter that this kid is still young, but he must be feeling down. What's there in the village now?"

As they spoke, an old woman walked over, carrying a basket, ready to wash vegetables by the stream. She stopped to listen.

"Auntie, are you washing vegetables?"

"Yes, there's no water in the ditch by the door, so I'm going to the stream to check. What are you talking about?"

"We're talking about how that Li family kid sold his house. What's he thinking? Who would come to our mountain village?"

"You don't know, I heard that the Li family kid's wife found someone else and divorced him. He couldn't stay in the city anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"That's why he came to the mountains. No wonder."

"But there's no need to sell the house. How many people would come to our fish farm and restaurant?"

"That's true. In the past few days, the number of people who came to eat and fish can be counted on one hand." The old woman shook her head slightly. This Li family kid must be a bit off. No wonder his wife left him.

As they were talking, a middle-aged man, about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, over 1.8 meters tall, and with a scholarly air, walked over. "Auntie, are you washing vegetables?"

"Yes, are you going to the reservoir?"

"This scorching weather, it hasn't rained for over a month. I have to walk a circle just to wash vegetables." Hanjiavillage was small but had some history. Previously, a small ditch was built around the village, paved with blue stone slabs, and vegetables were usually washed there.

Now, it hadn't rained for over a month, and the stream was almost dry. The small ditches around the village were long dry, so people had to go to the stream, which was a long way around the village.

"Yes, the reservoir is almost dry. I'm going to check it out."

"We don't know when it will rain. I need to check and close the water gates."

Li Dong smiled. The reservoir was leased by Li Dong, along with the two mountains and the dozen or so acres of wasteland at the foot of the mountains, totaling about one or two hundred acres. The annual lease fee was about ten thousand yuan, not too high or too low.

The area wasn't large, but Li Dong tried to set up a fishing farm. He built a small courtyard by the reservoir, not very big, with three large rooms and two small rooms, costing about twenty thousand yuan. If it were a few years ago, it would have cost more, as there was no cement road then.

Now, even though it was a mountain village, a cement road had been built, making the cost of materials much cheaper than before.

After building the courtyard, Li Dong bought over ten thousand fish fry and released them into the reservoir. It had been about half a year, but the farm's business was lukewarm. A few guests came to fish on weekends, but few stayed for meals, earning only a little money.

This was one of the reasons the villagers were discussing Li Dong. Not making money meant he wasn't very smart.

Hanjiavillage wasn't far from the city, about ten kilometers, plus a few kilometers of mountain road, totaling less than twenty kilometers. Most of the villagers had moved to the city.

In the entire village, there were very few young people. Apart from a few who didn't do much, most had found work in the city and stayed there.

Li Dong was also from the city and had been a teacher. Coming to Hanjiavillage to run a farm that didn't make much money, the elderly villagers had a lot to say about it.

Li Dong heard the gossip from a distance but ignored it, just greeting them and leaving the village. He walked along the blue stone path for about five minutes to reach his farm.

The farm had been open for half a year, and Li Dong had spent almost all of the sixty or seventy thousand yuan he got from selling his house.

Building the farm cost over twenty thousand yuan, leasing the reservoir and buying fish fry, plus buying an old house in the village for over thirty thousand yuan, and hiring people to improve the wasteland and build greenhouses, totaling over fifty thousand yuan.

The fruit trees on the two mountains needed tending, and he would need to hire one or two people for two months, leaving him with only about ten thousand yuan.

He thought running a farm wouldn't cost much, but it turned out to be much more expensive. Even if he spent more, the farm's business didn't improve, and it was hard to earn enough to cover the lease fees. Li Dong smiled bitterly, regretting his decision.

Why did Li Dong start the farm? It was partly because of his love for fishing. When he was a teacher, he often went fishing and picking with his family or colleagues on weekends, enjoying a meal of farm dishes, which was quite pleasant.

This year, after his divorce, he felt disheartened. He resigned from his teaching job, sold his share of the house, and came to the mountain village to start a farm. But he didn't realize how difficult it would be. If it weren't for some old friends and connections, and the occasional weekend tutoring, he would have gone bankrupt in less than a year.

Thinking of ways to improve the farm, he decided to hire two people to work on the vegetable greenhouses and see if he could sell some vegetables.

"Woof woof woof."

"Big Black, it's me."

Big Black, a local dog Li Dong bought for thirty yuan when he came to Hanjiavillage, was named for his large, black head. The dog was quite intelligent, making Li Dong's life easier by guarding the farm.

Big Black helped watch the reservoir, so Li Dong didn't have to worry about people sneaking in to fish. He patted Big Black. "Alright, let's go check the reservoir."

It hadn't rained for over a month, and it was the height of summer. The water level in the reservoir had dropped quickly, exposing a few small stone islands in the center. Actually, they weren't really islands, just a few large rocks, the largest being about ten square meters.

Li Dong rowed his specially customized boat to the center of the reservoir, tied it to the rocks, and got off.

"There's a small pool here!"

A few large rocks surrounded a pool of about five or six square meters, with some small fish and shrimp. Li Dong returned to the boat, picked up the net, and scooped some fish and shrimp to make a mixed fish pot for lunch.

A couple of bottles of beer would be nice. Li Dong thought there were no guests today, so he would prepare lunch and fry some small fish to take to his daughter on the weekend.

"Ouch."

"There's a big one."

Li Dong was delighted. The reservoir wasn't leased before, and the fish he had released were mostly carp, with some bighead and grass carp. In half a year, they couldn't grow that big, so this must be a wild fish from the reservoir.

A good catch. Many guests had asked Li Dong to keep the wild fish, as they were becoming rare and highly sought after.

"What a big one."

The bighead carp looked to be about seven or eight pounds, too big to catch with the net. Li Dong decided to get into the water, which wasn't deep.

"Woof woof woof."

Big Black barked at the pool. Li Dong laughed. "Don't worry, this water won't drown me." He rolled up his pants, held onto the rocks, and carefully stepped into the pool. The bighead carp, sensing the movement, swam over.

Li Dong yelped, losing his balance and falling into the pool. "Ah."

Instinctively, he tried to support himself, but he felt a sharp pain. His face changed as he quickly stood up and saw blood. His palm had been cut open. Before he could react, everything went black.

If someone had been there, they would have seen a strange phenomenon: a man disappeared in an instant, and Big Black barked at the pool.