Chapter 78: The Flood Shows No Mercy

Cao Shujie followed along as well. After finishing his own setup, he secured his fishing rod and picked up Mengmeng, saying to his wife, “Go ahead and get started.”

“Daddy, I want to fish too.” Mengmeng wasn’t content just watching. She wriggled hard in her father’s arms, insisting on fishing by herself.

Daha let out a loud “woooo,” and Erha followed with an “oh oh oh,” drawing Mengmeng’s attention away from fishing and back to the dogs.

“Puppies, come here!” she called out.

Cao Shujie breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that bringing the dogs along was the smartest decision he’d made today.

“Daddy, put me down,” Mengmeng demanded, eager to play with Daha and Erha.

Looking around and seeing only sand and dirt, Cao Shujie figured even if she fell, it wouldn’t hurt much. He pointed toward the water and warned, “You can’t go over there, or you won’t be able to see Mommy and Daddy anymore.”

Mengmeng seemed to half-understand. She looked at the water with lingering fear, then turned and clung tightly to her father’s leg. “No! I don’t want to!”

“Good girl.” Cao Shujie was deeply relieved. Then he turned to the dogs and said, “You two mutts, listen up. If Mengmeng runs toward the water, drag her back. If anything happens to her, I’ll break your legs.”

“Wooo!” Daha barked in protest, glaring at Cao Shujie—Why punish me?

Erha stared back with wide, almond-shaped eyes, barking “oh oh” as if to say, “That little rascal’s always looking for trouble. What’s it got to do with us?”

But Cao Shujie didn’t care about their canine rights.

He saw that his wife had already set her rod and cast the hook into the Yellow River. Carrying Mengmeng, he walked over. “How’s it going, honey?”

“Just cast it in. What do you think?” Cheng Xiaolin pouted, her eyes fixed eagerly on the colorful float bobbing on the water, hoping it would sink—or at least twitch.

“Do you think we’ll catch anything today?” Cheng Xiaolin remembered how they spent half the day last time without catching a single fish. The thought annoyed her.

Cao Shujie comforted her, “Don’t worry, honey. We’ll definitely catch something today. And if we don’t, I’ll go buy a lift net and scoop this whole section clean—wipe them all out.”

“You’re so ruthless!” Cheng Xiaolin laughed.

It was as if the Dragon King of the Yellow River had heard Cao Shujie’s threat. Suddenly, her float began to shake violently, dipping and rising, darting all over the place.

“Fish! Mommy, it’s a fish!” Mengmeng’s sharp eyes spotted the action before either of them and shouted excitedly.

Cheng Xiaolin reacted quickly. “Did I really hook one?”

She wasn’t sure.

“Don’t rush,” Cao Shujie said calmly. “Just use the method I taught you.”

As he spoke, he thought to himself, This fish really knows how to give face.

Seeing his wife fumbling a bit, Cao Shujie set Mengmeng down and reached over to help.

“Honey, this fish you’ve got is a big one,” he said, feeling the strong resistance as he pulled on the rod.

Cheng Xiaolin was thrilled. Before long, a carp over 20 centimeters long was reeled in.

After Cao Shujie removed the hook and dropped the fish into a water-filled bucket, Mengmeng stopped running around and crouched by the bucket to watch the fish swim.

Daha and Erha also lay beside the bucket, staring at the carp inside. Daha opened his mouth, tongue lolling, and drooled straight into the water.

“Puppy, that’s gross!” Mengmeng scolded him, disgusted by his antics.

But the next moment, Daha plunged his head into the bucket, jaws snapping at the fish at the bottom.

The carp panicked, thrashing wildly, but the bucket was too small—no room to escape.

Luckily, the bucket was tall and Daha was still too short. After several failed attempts, he could only bark “wooo, wooo” in frustration.

Erha, being the smarter of the two, used his head to push against the bucket, nearly tipping it over.

Mengmeng saw the danger and shouted for her parents.

Cao Shujie grabbed a nearby fishing net and started whacking them with the bamboo handle. “Daha! Erha! You damn mutts trying to get yourselves killed?!”

The bamboo strikes hurt, but Daha and Erha weren’t the type to back down. They barked furiously at Cao Shujie in protest.

“Oh, you two still have the nerve to argue?” Cao Shujie was about to stand up and teach them a lesson, remind them who the master was.

Just then, his wife shouted, “Honey, you’ve got a bite too!”

Cao Shujie immediately forgot about punishing the dogs and rushed to his rod. This was the first time he’d caught a fish since buying it—definitely worth celebrating.

But when he yanked the rod up, he realized it was a tiny fish, barely ten centimeters long. He glanced at the big carp his wife had caught in the bucket and suddenly felt deflated.

But Mengmeng was delighted. She clapped her hands and cheered, “Daddy, you’re amazing!”

Seeing the admiration in his daughter’s eyes, Cao Shujie beamed. He thought, Fishing is all about fun anyway—size doesn’t matter.

With a successful catch, the mood stayed light. They kept playing until the sun was high in the sky. Even the shady spot Cao Shujie had picked was getting hot, and the couple decided it was time to go.

Cheng Xiaolin watched over Mengmeng while her husband packed up the gear. Once everything was ready, they headed home.

…

Time quietly slipped past June and into the threshold of July. Rainfall became noticeably more frequent and heavier.

The news had been reporting on the rain for days, mentioning how water levels in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins were rising significantly. They urged the public to stay away from riverbanks to avoid drowning accidents.

But despite the warnings, drowning incidents kept happening.

Even Cao Family Village wasn’t spared.

Before Cao Shujie and the others could even plan another fishing trip, tragedy struck a household in the village. Gao Zongjian’s family broke into heart-wrenching cries.

His eldest son, a middle schooler in Qingshi Town, had secretly biked to the Yellow River to cool off, thinking it was too hot.

He assumed the water near the docked boats was shallow and jumped in—but he never came back up.

By the time the patrol boat on the floating bridge discovered him, it was already too late. Gao Zongjian’s son was floating lifelessly on the surface, his body severely swollen.

That day, Village Party Secretary Cao Jiangang was back on the loudspeaker again, making announcements.

“Listen up, all you young masters and elders of Cao Family Village! The Yellow River is rising, and the kids are about to start their summer break. Everyone better get a clue and keep a close eye on their children!” Cao Jiangang shouted furiously.

Perhaps the recent drowning had finally shaken the adults awake, making them realize that letting kids run wild wasn’t going to cut it anymore—they had to take responsibility and watch their children closely.

So the adults of Cao Family Village took swift action: they laid down a strict rule forbidding their kids from going anywhere near the Yellow River. They even went as far as threatening, “Anyone who dares go near it—we’ll break their legs!”

At the same time, these parents pulled out all the stops to keep their kids in check. Some tied red strings around their children’s ankles, others used red pens to draw a circle around them. When the kids got home from school, parents would scratch their legs with a fingernail to see if the skin changed color—just to make sure they hadn’t gone into the river.

After all, floodwaters show no mercy!

(End of chapter)