Although Yin Qing and Hu Yun didn’t understand what Mr. Ji was doing, they knew the he must have his reasons, so they quickly followed Mr. Ji’s urging.

The journey back felt much faster than the journey in. After returning to the merchant path through Laohua Mountain, they could already see some teams driving ox carts, donkey carts, and horse carriages along the road, carrying goods, luggage, or passengers. Of course, there were also many people walking like Ji Yuan and Yin Qing.

As they walked along the road, Hu Yun frequently looked at the lotus leaf pack in Ji Yuan’s hand. He remembered that the man had asked for these dried lotus leaves in the store where he had bought snacks in Jiudaokou County. The red fox instinctively knew that this fish was not ordinary.

Yin Qing, in addition to occasionally looking at the fish in Ji Yuan’s hand, also frequently glanced behind Ji Yuan. After walking for a while, seeing that there were no pedestrians or vehicles nearby, he couldn’t help but whisper to Ji Yuan.

“Mr. Ji, where is the sword that just appeared in your hand? Why is it gone now?”

Yin Qing glanced at the cloth bag that Ji Yuan was carrying. It was obvious that the longsword couldn’t fit in such a small bag. Plus, the shape was wrong.

“You mean the Green Vine Sword? The sword was unwilling to reveal itself. Also, it cannot be shown lightly. It is hidden in a place where no one can see it.”

“Oh…”

Mr. Ji’s ambiguous answer indicated that he didn’t want to elaborate, Yin Qing gave up.

“But that sword is really beautiful. It was so green and vibrant. As soon as you catch sight of it, you can tell that it’s definitely a spiritual weapon. Right, Mr. Ji?”

Ji Yuan smiled and but didn’t have time to speak.

“Buzz…”

The quiet hum of the sword rang out, and a faint ringing filled Yin Qing and Hu Yun’s ears. They looked around, but could not find the source of this strange feeling. Ji Yuan merely chuckled twice and said nothing more.

The merchant road of Laohua Mountain was dug along the gently sloping terrain on the side of the mountain, and it did not take much effort to reach the ferry on the other side.

Even though Ji Yuan and Yin Qing were just walking at a normal pace, they reached the ferry crossing by the Xiaoshun River outside the mountain before noon.

In Yin Qing’s book pack were the pastries and snacks they had bought in Jiudaokou County, so they had no plans to sit and eat in the shops and taverns by the ferry. They went directly to find the ferry crossing.

When Ji Yuan had first arrived at the ferry crossing, it had been too early. Now, however, was a busy time for the docks, with boatmen loading and unloading cargo and soliciting passengers.

The wharf-like atmosphere of this place made Hu Yun, who was lying atop the book pack, a little nervous. Those muscular boatmen in particular were carrying wooden boxes and large frames up and down the the gangways, bare-chested with leather padding. The fox felt an inexplicable pressure, and always felt as though the boxes were about to hit him. It was Yin Qing’s fault for always telling him stories of villagers banding together to fight monsters.

Ji Yuan took Yin Qing and walked around the docks. Yin Qing felt that Mr. Ji was looking for something.

“Mr. Ji, are you looking for something?”

Ji Yuan walked back and forth, but couldn’t find the small passenger boat that he had taken that year. He wasn’t sure whether the boatman and his son had stopped doing business here, or if they had already sailed away and he had just missed them. The latter was most likely.

At Yin Qing’s question, Ji Yuan smiled.

“It’s nothing, I’m just looking around. Do you two want to take a big ship or a small boat?”

“Big ship!”

“Small boat!”

Two voices sounded one after the other. Yin Qing and Hu Yun had a rare difference of opinions. Yin Qing wanted to take a big ship, while Hu Yun wanted to take a small boat.

Yin Qing turned his head, and his gaze just happened to land on a slightly nervous fox’s expression. He was surprised for a moment, then changes his previous words to Ji Yuan.

“Mr. Ji, let’s take a small boat. It will be quieter with fewer people.”

“Okay, then let’s take a boat!”

Ji Yuan led Yin Qing to a small passenger boat that was similar in style to the one owned by the boatman and his son way back then. He greeted the man who was napping on the deck, with a straw hat covering his face.

“Boatman, is this ship going to Chunhui Prefecture? Boatman…”

After he had called out twice, the boatman took off his straw hat and straightened. He looked at Ji Yuan and Yin Qing, who stood on the dock. They appeared to be two scholars.

“Boatman, are you headed to Chunhui Prefecture?”

Ji Yuan asked again.

The boatman scratched his face and head, and answered in a somewhat lazy tone.

“Two taels to charter a boat. You can also wait for more passengers and split the cost. Space is limited to eight people.”

Looking at this man’s concealed qi and vital energy, he seemed to be a martial artist, with excellent talent. However, this cost was a bit much. Ji Yuan waved his hand.

“Two taels? Ji Province safe and sound, and supplies are plentiful. The boat fare shouldn’t have increased that much, right? How about chartering a boat for two hundred coins, then paying for the meals on board?”

The boatman leaned out to the river, scooped up a handful of water to wash his face, then carefully fixed his eyes on the shore.

“Oh, we have an expert here. How about this? If you want to charter a boat immediately, it will cost 200 coins. If you are willing to wait for more passengers, then your total fare combined will be 400 coins. How about it?”

Ji Yuan nodded.

“Okay, then let’s depart immediately. We will charter a boat!”

“Alright, Sir, you are quite the straightforward person. Hey, wait a minute, young man, be careful, I’ll let down a gangway!”

Hearing that Ji Yuan was ready to charter a boat, the man’s attitude turned more enthusiastic. He busily affixed the wooden boards to the boat to help Yin Qing cross the gangway and board.

As Yin Qing was carrying the book pack on his back, the boatman also stretched out his hand to help him. However, just as Yin Qing stepped onto the boat, Hu Yun jumped off of the book pack and onto the deck.

Although the red fox was extremely light, when he landed on the boat, the boatman frowned, glanced around subconsciously, and then called Ji Yuan to board.

“Boatman, are you the only one aboard?”

Ji Yuan looked around the boat, only to see that there was no one else in the inner cabin. That meant that there was no one else to take turns on shift.

“Haha, the only other person on this boat is me. Don’t worry, sir. If others take three days on a journey, then I will do the same. If it takes others five days, it would take me five days, too. I won’t be slow!”

As he spoke, the boatman had already unmoored the ropes from the pier and used a bamboo pole to push the boat gradually away from the dock.

“Sit tight, sit tight, let’s set sail! Heave… ho…!”

The boatman’s vital energy and Qi surged. His muscles were clearly visible as he rowed the boat. The entire vessel swayed violently from side to side as it left the wharf and sailed onward.

Yin Qing’s balance was unstable, so he quickly sat down on a bench in cabin to stead himself. Even the red fox, who was experiencing his first time on a boat, lay on a bench, his front and back paws gripping the surface.

Only Ji Yuan stood steadily in front of the cabin, gazing out at the surface of the Xiaoshun River. His body did not even sway, causing the boatman behind him to narrow his eyes and take a closer look, wondering if his sight was going bad.

The man rowed the boat with even greater force than the original boatman back then had, and by afternoon they had already reached the confluence of the Xiaoshun and Chunmu rivers.

However, just like the boatman had back then, this boat also stopped here. The man walked from the stern to the bow and took out a long-handled harpoon from the cabin. A long rope was attached to the handle of the harpoon.

“Please wait a moment, guests. There are a lot of big fish at the mouth of the river. Our dinner tonight depends on them!”

Yin Qing and Hu Yun couldn’t hide their curiosity, so they walked outside to watch the man spearing fish. Ji Yuan stood by the mast¹

with a smile on his face.

He remembered how some small boats and large ships had sailed past, while some smaller boats had stopped in this spot to cast nets or fishing lines.

The boatman stared at the surface of the water intently, analyzing the subtle changes underwater through the rippling of the waves. If he were a novice, he might not have been able to judge whether the fish were at deeper or shallower depths due to the refraction of the light. However, this boatman obviously had no such issue.

“Mr. Ji, why is he standing still?”

“Shh… just watch!”

As soon as Ji Yuan finished speaking, the boatman suddenly moved. In an instant, his muscles seemed to bulge, and he threw out the harpoon with fierce momentum.

Whoosh–

“Crash…”

Water splashed, and the harpoon shot out several feet diagonally into the water. Only a small palm-sized length of the entire ten-foot-long handle was left exposed above the water.

“Hahaha… I got it!”

The man laughed and quickly reeled the rope back in. A moment later, a large silver carp,² still wriggling, was pulled up.

“You’re very skilled!”

As Ji Yuan praised him, Yin Qing also exclaimed “awesome!”

There was sporadic applause from a little distance away. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw a large ship passing by. The passengers aboard had seen this scene and were applauding and cheering from afar.

“Hahaha, thank you for the compliment. We must make a living on the water!”

The boatman didn’t stop his movements. Feeling that one silver carp was not enough to eat, he removed the silver carp from his harpoon and placed it in a wooden basin beside him. Then he raised the harpoon once again and concentrated.

This scene made Ji Yuan inexplicably think of Runtu and the Cha,³ whose postures were the same in the illustrations from the text in his previous life.

The man’s next catch was a silver carp weighing four or five catties, and a grass carp of similar size. He then happily went back to rowing the boat. They sailed out of the estuary and towards Chunhui Prefecture.

There was no wind on the river today, so the sails were of little use, but the boatman’s energy in rowing never diminished. It was as though he were ready to row until dark. However, when they had reached a certain spot on the Chunmu River, Ji Yuan called out for a stop.

“Boatman, stop the boat!”

“Ah? If the guest needs to pee urgently, just go to the stern of the boat and face the river. There are only forests and wilderness around us, so you can face the shore, no one will see you!”

Ji Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Boatman, I don’t need to relieve myself. Let’s rest here, and leave tomorrow!”

“Huh?”

The boatman looked at the sky and felt a little baffled. At the speed he was rowing, they could definitely sail for a good distance more before dropping anchor.

Ji Yuan bowed and explained.

“Some interesting things happened the last time I passed through this section of the river. I was just reminded of the past. I would like to stay here for one night as I did then. I’m afraid I must trouble you, boatman.”

The boatman scratched the back of his head and returned the bow.

“Okay, okay, okay. The customer is always right, you can do whatever you want! Ah, scholars are troublesome…”

The first half of his answer was loud and clear, while the second was just a soft muttered complaint, but Ji Yuan heard every word.

Since Ji Yuan insisted, the boatman dropped anchor here and began to clean out the two fish in advance. Then he took out the stove to prepare dinner.

Before sunset, the boatman had already finished preparing the food. Both fish dishes were steamed with ginger slices and some sauces the boatman had mixed. However, after setting up the meal, Ji Yuan borrowed the boatman’s stove and pot, saying that he would carry them to the bow to make soup.

The boatman took a look out of curiosity, and found two palm-sized silver fish in a large pot of water. He had no idea where they had come from. Perhaps there was a small water tank in the book pack. The fish seemed to still be alive. Although they floated belly-up when they entered the water, their gills and fins would still occasionally move.

“Uh, sir, do you want me to help you clean these two fish, like removing their gills and internal organs…”

“No, no, this is fine!”

Ji Yuan smiled and rejected the boatman’s kindness. The latter was dumbfounded. He thought to himself, ‘These pedants are truly bookish fools!’⁴

The sky gradually darkened. In the cabin, Ji Yuan, Ying Qing, and the boatman all ate with their bowls in their hands. Hu Yun lay at the table, staring with gluttony in his eyes. Occasionally, Yin Qing “accidentally” dropped a piece of fish, but this was completely unable to satisfy the fox’s appetite.⁵

There was one thing that made boatman very happy: the gentleman surnamed Ji actually brought out a pot of Qianrichun during the meal. This famous wine was not cheap. The boatman felt a little embarrassed to drink it. After all, this wine was more expensive than the boat fare.

Once they had almost finished eating, the boatman went to the stern of the boat to relieve himself. Yin Qing hurriedly filled a bowl of rice, poured the sauce and fish broth over it, put a spoon in it, and placed it on a stool to the side.

Hu Yun grabbed the spoon with his claws at lightning speed, and shoved the rice into his mouth. The rice tasted so delicious. The sensation of having his appetite stoked for such a long time, then secretly eating, was much more delicious than having a full meal in Ning’an County.

After relieving himself, the boatman moved to the other side of the boat to scoop some river water to wash his hands. Then the boatman went to the bow to add some charcoal to the stove.

“It tasted quite fragrant… But I think Mr. Ji didn’t seem to add any seasoning…”

The man’s nose twitched. He couldn’t help but wrap his hands with his sleeves to prevent burns and lift the lid of the pot to take a look inside.

Immediately, a rich fragrance overflowed from inside. The smell made his whole body feel numb. When he looked inside, the two fish were nowhere to be seen; only a pot of silvery transparent soup remained.

“Crash…”

Suddenly a splash sounded on the river surface. The boatman immediately came back to himself and closed the lid with a guilty conscience. He looked out over the river surface, only to see ripples dissipating a couple feet away.

“Crash…”

This time, the sound came from in front of the bow. The boatman suddenly moved a few feet further and gazed in the direction of the ripples. He faintly saw a flash of green light, stirring up chaotic ripples of water. This definitely did not look like an ordinary fish.

Although he was skilled in martial arts, the boatman still felt uneasy. Could it be that there was a Lord of the Water?

T/n: I liiiiiiiiiiiiive… *collapses like a zombie* … more or lesssss…

1. T/n: Not sure why there are sails on the boat since they specified numerous times that they were sailing an awning boat, which doesn’t have a mast, but I guess it’s a different kind.
2. Silver carp, also known as a silverfin
3. Characters from the autobiographical narrative “Hometown” by Lu Xun. In the book, the cha (chá 猹: a badger-adjacent wild animal) likes to steal melons, and Runtu sneaks up on the cha to pitchfork it as it is distracted. Here is the image.
4. i.e. book-smarts but no wisdom. Also translated in MTL as “these nerds are nerds” which I think is hilarious
5. T/n: I’m not gonna lie, just… something about Hu Yun rubs me the wrong way. I don’t like him

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read