Initially, all the bites were from those blue-purple catfish.
These fish aren't very big, the longest being under 30 centimeters. They're fierce, fighting even in a bucket, with sharp teeth that leave round bites on other fish, making the bucket full of shredded meat and fine scales.
Gazing at the self-fighting fish, Chen Zhou disliked their appearance and found a sunlit stone to sun-dry them.
Perhaps sensing the miserable fate of their kin, after catching more than twenty blue-purple catfish, no more took the bait.
Then, Chen Zhou caught a new breed.
It was a small fish with large eyes, two rows of red scales on its back, a black tail, less than ten centimeters in length, and no more than an ounce of meat.
This tiny creature was too small even for a cat, so Chen Zhou was naturally unwilling to keep it; he took it off the hook and tried reasoning.
